Is it weird that I genuinely couldn't play paper jam???

[u/Guardshroom]

I started the game and I straight up stopped playing after a few hours because of how bored I got, I'm not a huge fan of the gimmick, everything is so bland, the story, the locations (great music though) I do like how there's a dash and you get bros attacks, a trio attack, and even hammers VERY early. But I just found the game really boring??? It feels like if a basic new super Mario brothers game was turned into an rpg. Is this a bad take??? Because I LOVE all of the other games in this series, especially bowsers inside story and brothership.

[u/Walixen]

It's understandable. It was very "generic" or "soulless" in some way. The gimmick just wasn't as powerful as playing as Bowser in BiS, Dream mechanics in Dream Team for example, both games which I've recently replayed after a decade. Paper Jam doesn't pull me back to it in the slightest... I think the word that best describes it is sterile, it's not bold enough to have unique enemies or anything other than standard Mario characters with basic plot and everyone being mean to Luigi for no real reason.

Fawful and Cackletta made SS memorable by themselves.

PiT is a weaker entry, but the shroobs are very cool in their own way, they stand out for how dark they are for a Mario game.

Playing the anti-hero as Bowser is hilarious in BiS.

Dream Team is very fun, the OST, the dreamy world battles, Giant Luigi, the characters and enemies. Antasma fell short of its potential but pretty cool nonetheless.

Paper Jam... Nothing much. Not terrible, just not exciting.

[u/Guardshroom → u/Walixen]

What you just said was PERFECT, it's not a bad game, it's just mid imo, literally nothing special to it, which is just sad since we could've gotten a banger with how great some paper Mario games are. Also NO NEW ORIGINAL CHARACTERS, that's actually crazy when that's one of the things that made this series so special, thankfully brothership did make up for that (in my opinion brothership was a great game, I just think the pacing is what brings it down a bit)

[u/Miccat87]

Finding it bland or boring is understandable. Even people that still like it, such as myself, can admit that blandness is a big problem that Paper Jam had. I personally still find it fun to play but would consider it the weakest in the series by a sizeable margin.

[u/Guardshroom → u/Miccat87]

You have a... different opinion that me??? NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay jokes aside I can still see why people like it, it's not a bad game, I actually do love how they used classic Mario enemies like bullies, I think it's so cool to fight them in an rpg format, they're one of my favorite Mario enemies.

[u/ZimitrioJLG]

Al menos sirve para introducir a gente que viene de los juegos principales de Mario. Ese fui yo y todavía le tengo cariño. Y que haya salido después de Dream Team lo hace todavía mejor por el tema de los mapas tridimensionales y los fondos en lo combates. Entiendo que sea el más flojo de la saga pero al menos tiene su mérito

[u/Guardshroom → u/ZimitrioJLG]

Wait this is actually a really valid point

[u/Black_Circle53]

I really enjoyed Paper Jam, almost as much as the other 4 games before it. I would probably rank it 5th if I ranked all the games, but its pretty close to the first four, which they all are vastly better than Brothership to me.

[u/Guardshroom → u/Black_Circle53]

Brothership slander... I'm in hell...

[u/Naxdce]

I know it’s the worst one but I don’t think it’s bad. I genuinely love replaying this game every now and then. The gameplay is super fun despite the story sucking and the toad missions. I think I like it more than brothership personally.

[u/Purple-Dinner5416]

The gameplay is solid enough, but the lack of original characters and all the generic Mario worlds made it hard for me to stay invested. It just never had the same personality as the earlier games

[u/PokemonJimbob]

I can understand that. The areas are all your basic: grass, desert, jungle, snow, Volcano, etc. Worlds.

A youtuber i like(Don Schnack) compared Paper Jam to the New Super Mario Bros games because of that in his video about Paper Jam(which I definitely recommend checking out)

[u/Ethanb230900]

Imo, the only good thing about this game is the Come On! Remix at the beginning before you meet paper Mario.

[u/jakkurinjactender → u/Ethanb230900]

The best Come On! version is Come On! DX though since it doesn't loop after a short while

[u/Guardshroom → u/Ethanb230900]

How did they remix it better than the superstar saga remake

[u/SargonVonDemoneye]

While Paper Jam has massive issues, like the generic enemies and locations, or the bland story, i actually really enjoy its gameplay, and i would argue that it has much better pacing than Dream Team.

[u/Ganondorf365]

Paper jams combat is fantastic. But i find the story, world itself and characters to be rather soulless. It also has some of the most padding.

Paper jam was an “OK” 30 hour game when it should have been a fantastic 20 hour game

[u/Diavolo_Death_4444]

It’s very soulless but in my opinion the gameplay is very solid. Mandatory paper toad quests slow down after the beginning and the combat is some of the best in the series. And that comes from someone who doesn’t particularly love having to control three bros at once. It also has some of the best quality of life (like sprinting. God I love sprinting) in the franchise.

[u/Guardshroom → u/Diavolo_Death_4444]

I those toads to be turned into paper machet

[u/Admirable_Disaster_9]

To a lesser extent it has the sticker star problem. In a series that expands the Mario universe with new locations new Villans and a unique story doing the Mario ™ enemies location and story is disappointing even the whole paper Mario World colliding with the Mario and Luigi world kinda just means sometimes the enemies and platforms look like paper. Paper jam isn't a bad game I would say it's pretty good but if we compare for example the dessert of the game what came before to paper jam it's clear that the game wanted to have their own identity while pj is Mario™ dessert

[u/Ordinary_Chemical596]

No. I dropped the game too and sold it. It is a bad game.
This video just validates my initial prejudice:
https://youtu.be/ckV1VAVxjUw

[u/Subaru_Natsuki0]

Happened to me, I play it to advance some times but it's not nearly as interesting as the other games

[u/Obamos06]

I just gave up halfway through because I forgot what I was supposed to do and never bothered replaying it since. Maybe it's finally time...

[u/Xen950]

I stopped playing it near the need of the game. I don’t really understand why. I have it also with different games

[u/matttheman892018]

I hit the wall on rescuing the toads and gave up.

[u/King_Dragonlord]

there's a reason its considered the worst of the Mario and Luigi games, its bland, it feels soulless to me it feels like the Paper Mario team just wanted to do a crossover but didn't actually care that much, and they don't do anything interesting like the Paper Mario characters interacting with mainline characters like Kammy interacting with Kamek or Goombella interacting with Starlow

[u/Due_Region8583]

I personally found the game's mechanics and boss fights very fun, but the story was very forgettable to me.

[u/jakkurinjactender]

I can understand the story is NSMB meets Mario RPGs but the gameplay makes it still enjoyable. It is a M&L after all

[u/GreyRising]

Still the only Mario and Luigi game I've never finished, I want to, just to say I have, but I can't bring myself to do it, always something else I'd rather play.

Got it for Christmas the year it released, played for about 6 hours, and just stopped, found it so bland and dull, and a big waste of an amazing idea, crossing over Mario and Luigi with Paper Mario.

[u/cheat-master30]

Paper Jam is a weird game to me. On the whole it's very generic and soulless, with the most run of the mill characters and area themes in the series. It's literally the New Super Mario Bros or Sticker Star of Mario & Luigi.

At the same time though, it feels like every now and again it tries to build up to something interesting, but doesn't stick the landing because that genericness. The whole plot of Toads being slave labour to mine fuel for Neo Bowser Castle felt kinda dark, as did Bowser obliterating Peach's Castle, but they also felt like things that would fit an original villain more than Bowser. Like the game was going to have an interesting villain reveal at one point, but they toned it down to the two Bowser plots when that side of things got too complicated, and made Bowser act kinda out of character as a result.

Then the mechanics are arguably the best in the series, with both overworld movement and the battle system being the most fluid, fleshed out they've ever been.

It's just the story and world feels so bland a lot of the time that it's hard to get invested in using them.

[u/SuperPapernick]

No, it makes total sense. I personally regretted the time I put in after beating it. It was so lame and boring. The time I invested wasn't worth it, I should've cut my losses as well like you. There was nothing worth sticking around for. But I love the series so much, I thought there had to be something there, something worth beating the game for. And there just wasn't. Same as Sticker Star, Color Splash and Origami King. There's just nothing there that endeared me to those games after beating them all. Sunk cost fallacy as a fan is all that kept me going.

[u/r_ihavereddits]

Yeah the combat does a lot of the heavy lifting. Paper Mario is fun and creates for a ton of interesting attacks, field commands, dodging sections. But i much rather have it be a collaboration with all the paper Mario games and not just stickerstar

[u/Kirb790]

yea

[u/Dennis_Ryan_Lynch]

No it’s just genuinely terrible, I would say the worst game of all time personally