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jp's Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
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| [May 28, 2004 01:41:16 PM]
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At last! I prevailed! After more attempts than I care to recall I was finally able to win the game!
My parting words to this GameLog will be that this game is definitely interesting and fun. There as a nice mix of RPG and action elements. The combat system is fun, interesting and full of surprises! In particular I enjoyed the wide variety... I rarely felt that I was running a treadmill or falling into repetitive tasks.
I definitely recommend this game!
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| [May 27, 2004 10:51:10 AM]
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I'm a few minutes shy of 24 hours on my save game. As far as progress in the game..I'm pretty sure I'm at the end. In fact, I'm positive.
I'm at a point where I'm fighting Bowletta (basically Bowser), he tricks me, knocks Mario and Luigi out, swallows them and then I fight Cackletta. Cackletta HAS to be the last fight.
It is really annoying since Cackletta's fight starts (can't do anything about it) with both Mario and Luigi at 1hp. Cackletta also has the initiative so I'm forced to dodge her multiple attacks..one hit is death. Sigh. If you lose, its back to fighting Bowletta again which is REALLY annoying. On the other hand, I can now beat Bowletta in 6 attacks! Hehehe...
I've fought (and lost) to Cackletta at least 6 times...and this isn't getting any more entertaining. Sigh.
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| [May 17, 2004 02:40:03 PM]
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Today, this games design surprised me, and in a good way.
My current (just finished) mission involved finding buried Bean Fruit. I had to get 7, and their locations where marked in a general basis on my map. Funnily enough, I had already (purely by chance) found one beanfruit. I didn't really pay attention to the markings and I supposed that they didn't take into consideration that I had already unearthed one of the fruits. Lo and behold, I was wrong. Dead wrong. The locations on the map coincided with the undiscovered fruit only!! Wow. I found this out the "hard" way since I miscounted the markings on the map and then skipped one. (the one I thought I had previously uncovered). Of course, I had to head back... but it was purely my own fault.
It the little details such as these that make a game so interesting to me. It shows the amount of care and dedication that has gone into making sure that the game experience is as good as possible. Kudos to Mario& Luigi!
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| [May 17, 2004 11:27:03 AM]
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I'm clocked in at almost 17 hours. Time flies when you're having fun!
Mario and Luigi are both level 28 though I suspect they could be a bit higher since I've been dodging fights in order to advance the story a bit more.
One of the things I like best about this game is the humour (the characters are insanely fun) and the way there is so much variety. At one moment you are tromping through like a typical RPG, then there is a side-jumping platform mini quest, then a mini-game, etc. This game is as fresh today as it was the first time I booted it up!
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| [May 12, 2004 12:44:34 PM]
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Saved game is at 12+ hours and Mario and Luigi are both over level 22. I don't know if this is good or excellent! :-)
The more I play this game, the more I like it. The initial idea, control both Mario and Luigi in an action-RPG, has definitely been developed with a lot more depth than I had originally anticipated. In particular, I'm impressed by how the game surprises me by introducing new mechanics and combinations of mechanics that are interesting. For example, the combat system maintains its basic scheme but there is plenty of variety in the enemies you fight (and how they attack you!), your choices to attack them and strategies you must employ to defeat them. In particular, there is a monster that when hit changes color. Usually, there are 2 or more of the same kind and to defeat them you have to hit them so that they are all the same color! Cool!
Also, there is plenty of variety in the way the game changes over time. Initially you control Mario and Luigi. Then, you learn moves that allow you to play with them separately. After that, you encounter situations where it is important to coordinate both characters at the same time. Finally, there are ocassions (like the one I'm in currenly) where you only control one character for an extended period of time. In fact, there is even an entire section where you must control Mario and Luigi so that Princess Peach doesn't run into trouble. I really liked this part since it was very "consoley" (coordinated jumps, no time to think..just act!) but in a RPG game. Wow!
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| [May 10, 2004 02:21:34 PM]
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Savedgame is at 9+ hours and me previous fears have been dispelled. Right after the last thing I did I went back to Beanbean town. Instead of immediately following whatever mission I had to do I decided to wander around the town and check things out.
It so happens that the town is littered with stores where I can, amongst other things, buy mushrooms, pants, badges, etc. In other words, my fears of running out of stuff (and being stuck with a load of gold) where completely unfounded. Apparently, I missed out on an earlier visit to Beanbean town where I should/could have noticed this. In fact, this may be the reason why the game got difficult all of a sudden and I started to worry. Presumably the game designers assumed that I would have stocked up on gear at the town before moving on? Moral of the story here is...do look around all the time. Curiousity rewarded the cat!
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| [May 7, 2004 05:28:01 PM]
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My current saved game is at about 8 hours. I reckon I must be about halfway through the game and the experience of playing it has changed a lot.
First of all, the game suddendly got a lot harder. I was really breezing through all the fights and all of a sudden I'm having to use healing mushrooms a whole lot more. Not only that, but (gasp!) I'm starting to run low on these things. What happened? These mushrooms don't grow on trees and my skills at not getting wounded in battle are all that good. Will I be doomed to reaching a point where I can no longer advance? This got really worrying when I fought Cackleeta (the main baddie) and almost lost. I seriously depleted my reserves of healing items.
The situation was so bad that I had to change my approach to the game in general! No longer would I fight every single monster I encountered. From now on I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible...
Can it be that I'm missing out of something here? Where is the traditional RPG thing of having places where you can "train" and build up xp/skills/equipement? I'm hoping that at some point I will be able to buy mushrooms and things... otherwise I'm doomed to fail!
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| [May 3, 2004 11:32:55 AM]
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Mario & Luigi surprised me this morning!
Today I lost my first battle. It was my fault because I hadn't noticed that both Mario and Luigi where wounded and weak. Also, the fight was significantly more difficult than all the previous ones. Well, it wasn't DIFFICULT, just harder because the enemies I was fighting kept stealing my mushrooms (healing potions) and using them! Dirty bastards!
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| [April 29, 2004 09:40:52 AM]
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Both Mario and Luigi are now Level 7 and I've clocked 2:24 on the saved game.
I have certain mixed feelings about this game. On the one hand, I think it is very well designed with an attention to detail that is really appreciated. This title breathes and exudes Mario-ness. On the other hand, I'm not really drawn into it that much. It has the cutesy aspects I liked in Yoshi's island, but none of the challenges. (at least thus far).
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| [April 23, 2004 11:42:52 PM]
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It is so funny that everyone I meet in the game can't remember Luigi's name. Ha! Ha! Ha! It really cracks me up. Poor guy. The enternal You're Marios brother, the green dude!
This game is interesting and worth a play around. In particular I like how it plays with the "Mario World" world.
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jp's Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Friday 23 April, 2004
GameLog closed on: Friday 28 May, 2004 |
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