Okay, took my time getting there, but I finally beat the game. And oh my goodness, I loved this game so much! It was incredible!
I'll admit right off the bat that yes, it still suffers from several of the problems that plague modern Paper Mario games, but it also does so much right and is great game simply on its own merit. It's characters (for the most part) were great, it's story was great, it's dialogue was top-notch, and I personally enjoyed the puzzle-solving aspect of the battle system. For me, when it comes to Paper Mario, I care way more about the story and the dialogue than I do about the gameplay. That's why Super Paper Mario is my favorite of the series, as its story and dialogue were both utterly amazing. And this game comes so close to being as good as Super was, it's crazy. So many parts of the game just had me cracking up. And then Bobby, Kamek, and Bowser were all great partners (Professor Toad and T. Ode not so much, but oh well, 3 of 5 isn't too bad). This games just hit all the right notes for me.
As for gameplay, I would have liked a more complex battle system, but the puzzle system almost covered it up enough that it didn't matter. Then there were the boss battles, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I really felt like the bosses were challenging me to think at times. As far as the ever-controversial lack of an experience system goes, I would agree the game would be better with one, but as long as I just forbid myself from running from battles, I never felts like I missing out on anything compared to a more traditional RPG battle system. Also on the gameplay front, I loved this game's overworld battles against the Paper Macho enemies. It added a really unique flare to the game and they were fun to partake in. Also, the areas were probably some of the best designed in the entire series, being as open as they were, but not too open either. And I can't express how happy I am that they ditched the world map and level system, that limited their creative ability way too much.
There is only one thing I can say that truly bothered me about the game, and that's the way it treated its lore. We have so much lore-rich stuff in this game, and yet almost none of it is explored. There's the Vellumentals, the Ancients, T. Ode, and the Shangri Spa. All of those things seem to have some sort of interconnected lore, and yet we barely learn of any of it, and it's hardly connected to the main plot. Mainly, I want to learn more about the Vellumentals. What exactly are they? What did they look like before Olly turned them to origami? What is there connection to the Ancients? What is there connection to the Shangri Spa? What did Olly want with them?
Why was one of them a polar bear instead of a tiger? So many unanswered questions, which could have made for an even more interesting story if they were answered.
All in all, I can honestly say that this is my second favorite Paper Mario game. After Sticker Star and Color Splash I had lost hope in series, but this game has done so much more than renew it.
Also, even though I'm a few months late, to all you people who were dissing Super Paper Mario, how could you?