Why is Paper Mario Sticker Star hated so much?

'Cause the plot revolves around stickers doing everything, and Bowser can't say stuff, and Kersti is the only original character, and you can't play the game without mistaking the butt-spring sticker for MuchiMuchi from KDL3, and more.
 
I dislike it because it doesn't really seem to have any kind of direction. And after fighting so many enemies it really dawned on me that there was no reason to do so. They removed any kind of leveling up system, which is there in most games as an incentive to fight random enemies. The only 'rewards' you got for defeating enemies were...stickers... Which you have to use up to fight the enemies in the first place.

The idea of playing the game because incredibly tedious after that.

It's like they took what was once an amazing series and sucked everything good out of it.
 
I'm going to list the main reasons that I disliked it, so this may get long.
1. It had little story. It was literally bowser causes havoc, breaks the sticker star, and kidnaps peach. Other games had more interesting stories (Bowser steals the Star rod so that only his wishes are granted, The X-Nauts are trying to revive a 1,000 year old demon with the crystal stars, Count Bleck wants to destroy the entire universe)
2. It had no memorable characters. The other games had the partners/ pixls who were very memeorable, and even the NPCs were memorable (Don Pianta, Merlon, the previous 3: bowser) but this had Kirsti, who was as flat as the world that you inhabit.
3. There were no reason to battle enemies. They don't give any EXP, only coins which you use to buy more stickers. And because your attacks are stickers, which you consume, you eventually avoid battles to save enough stickers for the boss, speaking of which
4. The boss fights sucked. You could only defeat them efficiently if you use their Weakness 'Thing,' but the game gives no indication of what it's weakness is. As a reference, in TTYD, early on in hooktail castle, Kolorado's father writes in his letter that Hooktail dislikes the sound of crickets, and right after you get the ability to turn sideways, there is a badge that makes Mario's attacks sound like Crickets. However, if you somehow missed the badge, you can still beat him as the badge only affects his attack/defense. In this game, If you didn't find the specific Thing laying on the ground a few stages before the boss, then you'll waste all of your stickers trying to fight him. And if you win after using all your stickers, Kersti will ask you if there was a more efficient way of going about it. If a game basically demands that you use a guide to make sure you have the boss's weakness, then that isn't good. (and Bowser has 5 forms, each with their own weakness)
 
Last edited:
I'm going to list the main reasons that I disliked it, so this may get long.
1. It had little story. It was literally bowser causes havoc, breaks the sticker star, and kidnaps peach. Other games had more interesting stories (Bowser steals the Star rod so that only his wishes are granted, The X-Nauts are trying to revive a 1,000 year old demon with the crystal stars, Count Bleck wants to destroy the entire universe)
2. It had no memorable characters. The other games had the partners/ pixls who were very memeorable, and even the NPCs were memorable (Don Pianta, Merlon, the previous 3: bowser) but this had Kirsti, who was as flat as the world that you inhabit.
3. There were no reason to battle enemies. They don't give any EXP, only coins which you use to buy more stickers. And because your attacks are stickers, which you consume, you eventually avoid battles to save enough stickers for the boss, speaking of which
4. The boss fights sucked. You could only defeat them efficiently if you use their Weakness 'Thing,' but the game gives no indication of what it's weakness is. As a reference, in TTYD, early on in hooktail castle, Kolorado's father writes in his letter that Hooktail dislikes the sound of crickets, and right after you get the ability to turn sideways, there is a badge that makes Mario's attacks sound like Crickets. However, if you somehow missed the badge, you can still beat him as the badge only affects his attack/defense. In this game, If you didn't find the specific Thing laying on the ground a few stages before the boss, then you'll waste all of your stickers trying to fight him. And if you win after using all your stickers, Kersti will ask you if there was a more efficient way of going about it. If a game basically demands that you use a guide to make sure you have the boss's weakness, then that isn't good. (and Bowser has 5 forms, each with their own weakness)

Lol i actually felt really bad when Kersti said that i did not do my boss fight too well, i was all like: ***** I BEATED HIM UP AND I STILL HAVE SOME OF THOSE SHINY STICKERS LEFT FOR YOU TO DATE WITH SO SHUT UP!
 
On top of the 'no partners' gag, the game doesn't tell you crap. When you find a new 'thing' Kersti's like, 'lol idk what this is', and you end up never turning it into a sticker and then when you get to the boss, she's like, 'this would be a lot easier if you had that thing with you'. LIKE, YEAH THANKS FOR TELLING ME THAT NOW. HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT ON MY FIRST RUN THROUGH THE GAME?!

When you get stuck and ask her for tips, she ALWAYS states the obvious. Goombario, Goombella, and even Tippi talked at great lengths about every single thing ever and always give nice, little hints. Kersti doesn't do crap. If you're not blind, you don't need to ask her anything. Ever.

Also, you can't do anything without stickers, which is beyond dumb. Stickers should be like Flower Points or Bros. Attacks in the Mario and Luigi series. I should not need a sticker to use basic hammer and jumping attacks. No leveling up makes fighting pointless and not rewarding at all.

And the absolute worst thing about the game is THEY DON'T TELL YOU THINGS IN ADVANCE. They always wait until you get to the next section before you reach a blockade or something and Kersti tells you to backtrack and get some stuff you could've been collecting prior to this point. AND THIS FIRST HAPPENS RIGHT AFTER THE FIRST BOSS. I know games tend to make you backtrack, but that early?!
 
I haven't played a lot of the game, but I don't think it is a bad. The concept is just much different than I expected for a Paper Mario game. In all the other Paper Mario games you can level up by beating up all the enemies. There seems to be no level up system from what I seen and each attack uses up a sticker so I feel I can't really enjoy beating up every enemy I see like I used to in the other Paper Mario games.
 
However i liked this game a lot, but i hope Paper Mario (if it comes) for the Wii U uses the classic Paper Mario style once again :p
 
I don't know, really. I only played it briefly myself and as a 3DS game it's much better than a lot of the things we get in the West, in my opinion. But probably nostalgia ******s or something.
 
Sticker Star is trash as hell.
The only thing good that came out of that game were these guys:

468px-PMSS_Shy_Guys.png
 
Last edited:
okay. I have not played this game. yet.
but from what I've heard from multiple people, I can see why it's disliked. as a big fan of the first 2 Paper Mario titles, I'm sure I won't like it either. but I would still like to at least try playing it, whenever I finally get a hold of it.

I'll be honest, I was turned off from the game the first time anything about sticker gameplay was said. I don't like gimmicky things like that. so I stopped paying attention to anything regarding the new Paper Mario. it was finally released, and after a while, pretty much all I saw was complaints.
"not an open world" "Bowser doesn't talk" "no new villains" etc. and that's just the realest bummer. it is. it's very easy to understand why people would complain if they liked the previous games. sorry, but when a series does things pretty similar through 3 games and then changes it near completely with the 4th installment... some people aren't going to be happy.
I think the game could have been slightly more interesting if it had at LEAST gotten a new villain. maybe. not sure if that would really be good enough.
my friend did say there are some good things in the game, so I am willing to try it... but I'm not expecting to enjoy it.
 
It's not a bad game. My issue is that it is not Paper Mario. It's just a Mario game with a gimmick disguising itself as Paper Mario.


Super Paper Mario was great because it played differently, yes, but the story made it awesome.

I only care about stories...
 
Last edited:
It's not a bad game. My issue is that it is not Paper Mario. It's just a Mario game with a gimmick disguising itself as Paper Mario.


Super Paper Mario was great because it played differently, yes, but the story made it awesome.

I only care about stories...

So much mixed opinions, a lot of people hate the story and there are people who liked it a lot too wow. xD
 
I have Paper Mario Sticker and I REALLY like it! that being said, the game actually has some obvious flaws which caused all the hate...
the game looks beautiful and has some cute ideas but many of the levels are kind of similar-ish and the game has a seriously broken battle system and the fact that you can't level up makes the random encounters kind of useless and the game feeling more like a platformer than an rpg, also the lack of partners and a deep story especially in comparison with the older games makes it a step backwards.
I still really love the game though because it's still really fun despite its flaws ^^
 
Back
Top