While the RPG aspect of the game may feel dumbed down, that Paper Mario charm is still there.
So what about Paper Mario Sticker Star did they stay with the same formula as Super Paper Mario or did they bring back the RPG element? Well they brought the RPG element back but it's a bit dumbed down, for instance you don't gain any experience, yeah I know what you're thinking are you serious? well yeah that may be true, however you get more coins at the end of the level to get more powerful stickers which you can buy so it's not completely broken, there are some really interesting stickers and there are certain real world items you can get and paperize them into really powerful stickers. You must use them wisely against some really strong bosses, and while it might not be the same old, Paper Mario, this makes the game feel fresh and interesting.
The levels in this game are set up like an actual 2d Mario game, you have six worlds to go through every single world has something really special it's still got that special charm that all Paper Mario games do, There are 6 Royal stickers you must find, each boss that has one is very strong and you must rely on using brain over brawn, you must find certain stickers that are very effective against these bosses and I like that. (Spoiler Alert) The Final Boss is Bowser this is an amazing Boss battle it's very challenging and again you must use your stickers wisely, you must go through five parts of the battle, the first part bowser will continue to bring out his army of koopa bros, hammer bros, Etc. there's no real catch to this part you just might want to use stickers that aim at all enemies so that you don't take a lot of damage. The second part of the battle there is a whomp defending bowser, you must continue to use the eek hammer on it so it will fall down and then you can use some scissors to cut him to pieces and then you will advance to the third part of the battle. In this part you must beat up bowser but there are flame enemies everywhere and they will deal quite a bit of damage, you must freeze them with the freezer, air conditioner, or other cold stickers and this will help you out quite a bit, then you will advance to the fourth part of the battle. The trick here is to use the raccoon tail to knock bowser and the chain chomp over the edge. At this point you will think this is the end of the battle but it's not bowser will fight you in a final battle and this time it seems pointless it just seems impossible, but after bowser preforms two turns Kersti makes a heartfelt speech and you can use her as a sticker, and this part is so cool finally it feels like the battle is finally in your control, you can attack up to 6 times and you are really strong, this still won't be an easy part, but play it smart and you will beat Bowser and that will be the end of the game. I was actually really disappointed with the ending, they totally copied super Mario Rpg and then they show bowser trying to steal the sticker star again but this time he gets yelled at by Kersti and she reveals that Mario wished to revitalize him, so this part isn't a bad ending, but like I said they stole the parade idea from Mario Rpg.
The ending battle was truly special to me I had to replay it three times but this was honestly not a bother to me, the reason being is that while it was challenging it was a fair challenge and you could beat bowser if you strategized correctly. There are a lot of people that complain that boss battles in Mario are too easy well this battle would shut them up it's not easy and you are probably not going to beat it on your first try, but that's why I think it's so great, you are truly using your own wit against Bowser, and not only Bowser but throughout the whole game, and while many people might disagree with me and say that the sticker aspect wasn't good I would respectfully disagree with them because while it's not the actual Paper Mario Rpg formula, it can be really enjoyable to strategize with them. Look I'm not saying its perfect the execution of the RPG aspect could have been a little bit better, but I could see what the developers were going for on this, and at first I was a little disappointed with the combat, but I truly felt like it grew on me in the end.
Overall I could sit here and be disappointed with Intelligent Systems, and say that they are trying to kill what made Paper Mario so great or I could welcome the change. I honestly liked this game, I was being a little close minded when I played through World one and two but after that I was hooked to this game. Look if you're looking for Paper Mario 64 or Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, you're going to be disappointed but if you are willing to give this one a chance you will see that this one is worthy of the name Paper Mario.