I've heard middling things in regards to it, but I was especially curious because I absolutely loved Superstar Saga, but hated Dream Team.

If anyone has played this yet, how's the writing, the story and the gameplay?

Dream Team turned me off so much because the Dream World was so bland, and the game was so over-tutorialised it never let you figure out anything for yourself. If anyone had similar complaints, I'd love to know what you think of this one.

I'd like to know as well .

Doesn't it not come out until January?

@lilman1101:Have you played Bowser's Inside Story?

Depends where you live...

@beachthunder: Man, Nintendo of Europe, why you gotta release Paper Jam on the same day as Xenoblade Chronicles X? C'mon, have some sense. Space those RPGs out.

Wait, this is already out in Europe? Huh. I'd like to hear how good this is as well. Hopefully the trend of "The odd-numbered Mario and Luigi games are the good ones" continues.

Id like to know too, dream team really felt like a baby-game to me...

@beachthunder: I never had a DS so I missed it there, but I heard it was really good (well, funny at least). Is it worth buying a physical copy of it and playing it on a 3DS, or has it aged poorly ?

I didn't realise it wasn't out in USA yet, must be why there's little buzz about it. It was released in Australia/NZ December 10th. Apparently it's not out for you guys till the 22nd of January?

@lilman1101: I have no idea if it aged poorly; I played it when it came out and I thought it was fantastic. It's filled with some genuinely funny moments and a lot of whimsy. It's basically like Dream Team but without the terrible design decisions and excessive hand-holding.

Eurogamer's review makes it sound worse than Dream Team http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-12-02-mario-and-luigi-paper-jam-bros-review

And there is some discussion of it on this thread where those who have played it are panning it. (Bottom of the page onwards) http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?/topic/267539-nintendo-3ds/page-331

Seems like it makes the same mistakes as Dream Team except to a much greater extent.

I have played about 6 hours of it and I'm enjoying it much more than Dream Team, I gave up on that game after about 20 hours. However I can not speak to how it compares to games before Dream Team because I haven't played them.

@pompouspizza: Just so I understand your opinion more, what was it exactly that made you dislike Dream Team ?

@beachthunder: Definitely gonna try and check out Bowser's Inside Story. I didn't realise DS games were still really expensive though? It's going for anywhere between $25-$40. Maybe PC Gaming has ruined me for paying for old games.

I read both of those and it seems to definitely have the same issues as Dream Team. I found the below quote that put the nail in the coffin for me:

"In those two hours I think I've only had about 10 battles and one of those was the kind of battle that killed Dream Team for me where it takes forever because of a new attack they want to teach you that takes forever to perform and does barely any damage anyway."

Even if that quote isn't 100% accurate of the rest of the game, it seems like they've stuck to the same formula enough that they've lost me.

@lilman1101: I felt like Dream Team took much longer to get going and I don't think Paper Jam holds your hand as much. I also think it's funnier than Dream Team so far.

Dream Team was such a downer. The premise and writing just weren't that clever. Any Mario game that takes place on a resort island that Mario and Peach have gone to is bound to suck. The areas all really blow and are bland because they're just like, parks and towns and stuff. There is really no clever overworld gimmicks like in Bowser's Inside Story, nor is there any cool alternate combat like how Bowser's combat varied a lot from Mario & Luigi's combat. The dream world was a complete waste of an idea; it doesn't explore Luigi's psyche or subconscious in any way except for one brief 5-minute sequence really early in the game. Instead, Luigi's "dreams" are always just mildly psychedelic versions of the current area you're in, with pallet-swapped enemies. Not nearly as clever as all of the stuff you got up to inside Bowser's body. I mean, the combat is fine, and the mini-game battle skills are about on par with Bowser's Inside Story, though ultimately that's a pretty low bar because the combat in Super Mario RPG/Mario & Luigi is always functional but secondary to my enjoyment, because the main attraction is the characters, writing, and humour in an interesting, creative world, and Dream Team felt like it lacked everything but the functional combat aspect. Also really bland vampire bat main villain, who ultimately doesn't really matter because Bowser just hijacks the game by the end anyways.

@bisonhero: I feel like the majority of people share this same opinion in regards to Dream Team, but it makes me wonder why it did so well critically.

Was it just so strong mechanically, or could it be that the individual parts were very highly polished it made everyone look past the glaring faults?

@lilman1101: On paper, the Dream Team is technically competent, and doesn't have glaring flaws, and maybe reviews went into it wanting to like it because they've liked past Mario RPG games. The game isn't awful, but its environment art and writing are just so uninspired compared to the developer's previous work.