8 was the last decent game imo, 7 was the last great game. ****ty motion controls or the freaking car brought down the gameplay. Bro **** that car I hate it
I have to at least give credit to MP8 for maintaining the classic MP style of gameplay, but there were still some changes I didn't agree with.
The candy was kind of a poor substitute for the orbs from 6-7 (also 5, but they worked slightly different than the later counterparts), I mean, they worked, but they weren't as impactful as the orbs. Not to mention there were a crapton of orbs compared to candy. And you could only use it on yourself (I know it's candy but still), which means you couldn't halt someone's advance to a Star or something, pepper an area with character spaces to absolutely murder someone who passes by that area or none of the character specific orbs of MP7. MP8 didn't have that element of controlled chaos that 6 and 7 did.
I also wasn't too fond of the final stretch in MP8, where coins were scattered across the spaces. This mechanic kind of sucks for players who might need a coin buff, because they might be tailing another player on the board (who may or may not have a candy to help them move far) and might not be able to get much out of it. Someone can have an unfair advantage in this case. I much prefer the space multiplier from previous games. The effects apply to every player, so it's more forgiving in its balance.
MP8 also took away the roulette that's supposed to help the last place player in the final stretch, instead giving them a Duelo Candy. Why not just have the Duel Spaces? Or the same-space duel mechanic from MP6 in the last 5 turns?
Nintendo didn't need to reinvent the wheel with Mario Party. Mario Party 8 was terrible, 9 was a snoozefest, and while 10 was slightly better thanks to Bowser Party, it was still pretty bad. Doesn't help that the mini games in all three games are pretty lackluster too. In 9, there was a mini game dedicated to just getting points. That is lazy. Also, the car should have been its own mode. Bowser Party is how the car mechanic should have been implemented in the first place. Having the car be the main style of play loses the chaos and fun factor Mario Party had. At least 8 gave the players freedom to go their own way.
**** Mario Party these days.
I've played MP9 and 10, while I don't necessarily hate them, they're just.....blah. I can't seem to get excited about MP these days since they don't maintain the gameplay that drew me to the series in the first place. 8 is forgivable, but it's still one of the weakest in the series. As far as I'm concerned, MP6 and 7 are at the top of the class. They didn't really do anything too fancy or groundbreaking, they just did what any good series should do, take a very functional formula and build upon it while adding features that complement the formula well. Keeping a game fresh shouldn't mean sacrificing the base.
Unfortunately, that's Nintendo's problem these days. They've been trying to draw new players to their games by reinventing some of the series that many of us have enjoyed thoroughly, and I'm getting the impression that it's backfiring on them. Look at Paper Mario. They took everything we loved about it and just tossed things out the window to the point where the newer games are related to the older ones in name only. And Nintendo's "reasoning" behind it? The fact that Mario & Luigi is an RPG spinoff. Like we live in a world where both can't exist as RPGs. I thought Sticker Star was decent, but it's not what I want from a Paper Mario game and I'm sure a lot of players agree.
The way I see it, how can a developer hope to appeal to new players if they completely abandon what made fans, well, fans in the first place? Do they intend to replace the old breed or something? I don't know, I just don't understand Nintendo's logic at times.
