RPGs aren’t a genre for everyone.
When you consider how non-interactive the game portions of titles
like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy are, it’s a wonder that the genre ever
caught on. That’s not to say that there weren’t more interactive alternatives
to the typical DQ battle system, there were. Square’s own Parasite Eve and
Super Mario RPG created inventive new battle systems that forced players to pay
attention and stay invested in even the easiest of battles. The Super Mario RPG
style of battle, which is heavily dependent on timing button presses, found its
way into its spiritual successor series, Paper Mario. Paper Mario: The Thousand
Year Door, the 2nd title in the sub-series, expands on concepts
first presented in the 1996 SNES RPG but in doing this, reveals some problems
with the interactive battle system.
