Ask The Tropers

Darker and Edgier isn't a YMMV trope, so opinions shouldn't factor into it. First off, the sentence in parenthesis is nattery and opininated, not to mention off topic, so I can see someone wanting to snip that part.

Also, as I haven't played a Mario game since Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES, I cannot tell from this example how the game is Darker and Edgier than previous games. The spoiler tags give some context, but without mentioning anything about the prior games, it's rather meaningless.

As it's written? No, two-thirds of the parenthetical is bashing it. Rewrite that bit and it'd probably be fine.

(edit: cool ninja)

Fair enough on the Sticker Star/ Color splash bashing, but I do feel the game is Darker and Edgier. There's a lot more creepy imagery and set pieces in the game than previous. You're right; I'll get rid of the parenthetical and sight this query.

Edit: Would this work?

• Darker and Edgier: Compared to Sticker Star and Color Splash, which were Lighter and Softer and seemed to fall back on the standard Mario formula, The Origami King seems to hearken back to Super Paper Mario in terms of dark tone and epic-scale story. There's far more creepy imagery and Olly is a tyrant whose end-goal of making a wish to wipe every single Toad out of existence clearly puts him on the line of the end-goals of Count Bleck before his redemption, Dimentio, or the Shadow Queen, as opposed to a simple Take Over the World plot, and it's also the first Paper Mario game with permanent onscreen deaths for heroic characters.

^That's better, in my opinion.

I would like a few extra opinions before I add it back.

"Seems" is Weasel Words; is it factually correct or not? What qualifies as "creepy imagery"? All black and bats (suggested because those are actually lucky images in some Asian cultures)? Genocidal endgoal? Definitely fits D&E, but who are Count Bleck, Dimentio, and the Shadow Queen (I'm not familiar with the work)?

I love the last line; a Player Punch is a good way to establish Darker and Edgier. Overall, the reason why it isn't much of an improvement is because you haven't done much to add context to the example.

Fair enough on that. How about this?:

• Darker and Edgier: Compared to Sticker Star and Color Splash, which were Lighter and Softer and seemed to fall back on the standard Mario formula, The Origami King hearkens back to Super Paper Mario in terms of dark tone and epic-scale story. There's far more creepy imagery such as Origami Peach being used as a stained glass mural and Olly is a tyrant whose end-goal of making a wish to wipe every single Toad out of existence which distinguishes him from a simple Take Over the World plot Bowser usually tries, and it's also the first Paper Mario game with permanent onscreen deaths for heroic characters.

I think the lack of context seems to be from the circular reasoning employed, the example says that this game is Darker and Edgier because the prior games were Lighter and Softer.

"Seemed to fall back on the standard Mario formula." is also a phrase that conveys no information to people who don't know what the "standard Mario formula" is.

Alright I'll delete those as well making it:

• Darker and Edgier: Compared to Sticker Star and Color Splash, which were Lighter and Softer, The Origami King hearkens back to Super Paper Mario in terms of dark tone and epic-scale story. There's far more creepy imagery such as Origami Peach being used as a stained glass mural and Olly is a tyrant whose end-goal of making a wish to wipe every single Toad out of existence which distinguishes him from a simple Take Over the World plot Bowser usually tries, and is more comparable to Dimentio's Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum, and it's also the first Paper Mario game with permanent onscreen deaths for heroic characters.

I will say this is on the games main page, so I'm not sure I have to define who Dimentio is (if it were on the Darker and Edgier page, I would understand that), but it is still in the same series as Super Paper Mario.

So any feedbac on my last iteration? Would you not mention Sticker Star and Color Splash at all?

No, they need to be there because D&E has to be in comparison to other parts of the franchise. I think one spoiler can be avoided by saying "more comparable to Super Paper Mario, in which the very existence of the world is at stake". I would also suggest chaning "hearken" to "harken", it's the modern spelling. Other than that it looks fine.

My first thought is that the "which were Lighter and Softer," part is completely unnecessary. You could write the frist sentense as "In contrast to Sticker Star and Color Splash, The Origami King is more like Super Paper Mario in terms of dark tone and epic-scale story."

Second, give more examples of creepy imagery instead of just one. Also, leave the creepy imagery as its own sentense.

Third, a minor thing but there's a small grammar issue: The word "which" does nt belong there. In fact, the last part of the examle would be better split in multiple parts. Something like this:

• Olly is a tyrant whose end-goal of making a wish to wipe every single Toad out of existence distinguishes him from Bowser (who usually tries a simple Take Over the World plot). Olly is more comparable to Dimentio and his Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum. This is also the first Paper Mario game with permanent onscreen deaths for heroic characters.

The wording needs work, but I hope you get the idea.

Alright if there are no objections this is what I am going to be adding:

• Darker and Edgier: In contrast to Sticker Star and Color Splash, The Origami King harkens back to Super Paper Mario in terms of dark tone and epic-scale story. There's far more creepy imagery and scary situations such as Origami Peach being used as a stained glass mural or a deserted ship where you get very little hints about what went wrong until the end of the set piece. Olly is a tyrant whose end-goal of making a wish to wipe every single Toad out of existence distinguishes him from the simple Take Over the World plot Bowser usually tries, and is more comparable to Dimentio and his Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum, and it's also the first Paper Mario game with permanent onscreen deaths for heroic characters.

Alright since there were no objections, I added it back.