It's the GREATEST solo RPG Mario game to date, with only a few flaws
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is one of the greatest Mario RPG's you'll ever play and they ever made. From the storyline to the characters, this game is a masterpiece and a MUST play if you haven't.
This is a game, especially during your first playthrough, that requires one to both be strategic and patient. The strategy aspect comes into play when building your character stats that include health, (Hp) flower points (FP), and badge points, (BP). If you favor only ONE over the other, such as HP, then you run the risk of not having enough power to take out enemies in the future. The price of this is it could literally interfere with how you progress. You need FP to give you the power to do more powerful moves. And you need BP to have the room to put new abilities in. My personal favorite badge is the powerbounce, where you can completely destroy enemies by tapping A as you land on their head. Starpower is also an aspect of gameplay and increases after you obtain a new crystal star. Then there are the character stats you can increase as well. The point is, the game mechanics of this game have so much expression, and are I believe out of all the RPG's PMTTYD did it the best.
Now don't get me started about the characters you'll meet. I'm not going to spoil the exact names of these guys, but I will say, from their unique personalities, abilities and lore, I don't know if we've EVER received such a deep character dive from any nintendo game to date, and I don't believe we'll ever get one like this again. One you can name, one doesn't shut up, one has huge boobs, one's wife left him, one is ousted by their sisters; i think you catch my drift - these characters are INTENSE, and each have their own unique dialogue too. For instance, if you the character, Goombella, follow you for the entire game, she will give unique responses the entire wat. Now if there wasn't a shit ton of dialogue, then this wouldn't be as impressive, but the fact that these character will spit LITERAL BARS UPON BARS makes this aspect so much more special.
The worlds are also just as spectacular, including the hubworld rogueport, that is literally littered with secrets from the start. The hub world is repeatedly returned to throughout the game and influences how you find new worlds. Sometimes you must put A LOT of work in before you can actually start a new world. When I say a lot of work, DEAR GOD DO I MEAN IT. The one thing that separates this game from any Mario RPG is the complexity of "what to do next". In fact, if I were to play this game again right now, I probably would need to put in the work just to remember how I did something, that's how inexplicably unclear and vague this game can be. Unless I was willing to perform trial and error for eternity, I might just pick up an old guide book or YouTube it. In fact, when I was younger I did just that so I could progress. But when I imagine the people who decided to run through this game cold turkey without asking a friend or the internet for help, I often wonder how many hours they spent on each riddle, and how long their beard was by the end of it.
An example of what I mean can be explained by the following, obtained from the Super Mario Wiki: "After two Piantas bump into Zess T., she drops it, and then Mario accidentally steps on it. Zess T. refuses to allow Mario to pass into Rogueport's West Side until he buys her another. Mario orders a replacement for her at the Toad Bros. Bazaar, and after Chapter 1, Mario can buy them for 10 coins. The Contact Lens comes in after the current chapter from when it was ordered is completed, though if Mario orders the Contact Lens after Chapter 2, it is available for purchase AFTER LEAVING THE SCREEN AND COMING BACK. After Mario gets her the Contact Lens, Zess T. gets out of Mario's way and is even willing to cook food for him.
Despite this looking clearly easy to follow, the process, especially for a new player is super hard to figure out. The woman blocks the entrance and get pissed, asking mario to get her new contact lens. BUT THAT'S ALL YOU GET! SO IT'S LIKE, THAT'S COOL WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO GO NEXT?? SO then you search for 20+ mins until you find the Bazar shop ON TOP OF A LITERAL BUILDING. But then you go to the place to order and YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHEN IT'S GOING TO COME IN. So you pace back and forth and it never appears. So your like fuck it, let me go do something else. Now imagine that something else is chapter 1. aka the first world. So you beat chapter 1 after you know x amount of hours, and only then you receive an email ,(yes there is an email system in this game), they say it's arrived, you pick it up and then you can finally advance to the other side of the map. But then let's say you do what most people do and progress to chapter 2. You don't get the luxury of a text, nope. You have to WALK OUT AND THEN BACK IN. NOW IMAGINE YOU WALKED DIDN'T SEE THEM AND LEFT LIKE ANY NORMAL HUMAN! MAN, I LOVE THIS GAME!
