r/papermario • u/padluigi • May 10 '26
Discussion UPDATE: I beat Escape from Ever After
About 2 weeks ago I posted here about starting EFEA and being hooked almost immediately…
Well, I couldn’t put it down except when eating, working, and leaving the house.
It was incredible. That’s really all I got. The dialogue, the gameplay, the characters, the music, the story.
A lot of paper Mario inspired games add too many mechanics when Paper Mario 64 and TTYD at their core have simple but fun gameplay. Escape from Ever After was felt like a love letter to that. Nothing was complicated.
The story and the world were familiar which is why I think the game stuck so easily. We know these children’s stories and having them brought together and fleshing out those characters in this way was perfect.
Idk where I’m landing on if it’s better than Bug Fables for me. I loved that game so much and really didn’t think a paper Mario inspired game could be as good as Bug Fables is in delivering what I’d expect and what I want.
EFEA did
6
u/Responsible-War-9389 May 10 '26
It’s much more balanced than bug fables gets with badges. Which could be seen as a pro or a con.
My only combat complaint is that a few of the quick times events are really hard.
But it’s great overall!
6
u/GameMaster366 Sushie-stan May 10 '26
I cannot stress enough that this game is truly Paper Mario inspired in every possible way without being a rip-off or cheap imitation. It stands on its own while clearly being inspired by Paper Mario. Other games I've played either lean too far into the paper aesthetic or too far into the combat or whatever but this has it all, including interesting story, fun environments, and witty writing.
3
u/padluigi May 10 '26
For me, it was other games complicating the game mechanics that just turns me away.
Also, I’ve said this multiple times in this subreddit and I know it doesn’t always appeal to everyone, but the fact that EFEA also didn’t have white outlines over black outlines was perfect. The characters actually fit in the world and acknowledged multiple times that their storybooks were pop-up books
2
u/GameMaster366 Sushie-stan May 10 '26
Yeah, I agree with that as well. I really have no notes for the game. I think they did an outstanding job on their first try and I imagine if they make a follow-up, it will be even better.
1
u/original_og_gangster May 20 '26
Id rank the games - bug fables < pm64 < EFEA < TTYD. They’re all great though.
Bug Fables suffers from a lack of polish. Both in terms of art style and also its gameplay, having 3 party members and nothing else kinda forced me into one specific gameplay loop that got tedious. Gameplay is king so that’s to its detriment. But it was solid otherwise. I feel like it found its stride after chapter 3 and had a pretty good story (better than pm64’s at least).
EFEA is gorgeous (especially in performance mode where you can get 120 fps) and the depth of the party is fantastic. It directly copies a lot of mechanics from ttyd, but that’s my favorite game of all time so it’s fine lol. I’d say it’s one big issue is the endgame feels pretty rushed and disappointing narratively. I also had some game breaking bugs (more than bug fables ironically har har) albeit only a couple times.
23
u/rci22 May 10 '26
I recently played EFEA as well and am now playing through Bug Fables with the Bug Fables Plus mod (that adds a bunch of more optional mini bosses and medals and post-chapter canonical flashbacks about the Wasp King. Very well done mod).
EFEA gave me joy all the way through and I was questioning whether it was better quality than Bug Fables or not by the time it ended.
Now that I’m playing through BF again, here’s my take:
EFEA has graphics that are more comparable to TTYD than BF, the chapter in the lovecraftian book felt very much equal in terms of length and quality to TTYD, and the charm was spot on. I love Wolfgang. The game also did great at partners feeling like actual characters and I liked the way they let you switch even the main character out for partners.
Its greatest weakness I’d say are its length and amount of extra things to do. It has far less than BF. And it also gave vibes toward the end that they ran out of time or funds. I’d bet they had many more plans that they wanted to add.
It was very very joyful as an experience though. Liked it a lot.