The Thousand-Year Door Exploits You (and That's Okay!)

[@wiiuandmii7619]

Man, I've literally never thought about the General White quest in the context of a sightseeing tour of all the effects you've had on the world around you. Reframing it like that honestly makes me appreciate it a lot more as a point of reflection before heading to confront the foe the entire game has been leading up to. ...Still _very_ glad they added that pipe room in the remake, though.

[@yeon_ster]

Just want to say I always appreciate having actual closed captioning on your videos

[@lunarasteroidofficial]

Now that you brought it to the forefront (and this is coming from someone who’s never played much of this series so far), I think TTYD’s theme of nostalgia is a big reason why its the frontrunner for the best Paper Mario game. There might be parts of Paper Mario (N64), Super, Colour Splash, and Origami King that may be better, but TTYD is explicitly designed to be remembered (helps that it's a great game). Combine that with the fact that the people who grew up with the Gamecube are now old enough to BE nostalgic for it, and it's no wonder the internet is so head over heals for it. Fantastic video. One of my new favorite channels.

[@vianabdullah2837]

I'm such a sucker for the trope at the end where everyone you've met along the way gives you the power to defeat the final boss.

[@xaviere1644]

Honestly insane how it hits the same EVERY TIME

[@WesleyC5771]

Earthbound anyone?

[@IAmNotASandwich453]

Its like that time in Dragonball Z when everyone on earth gives Goku his power for the final Spirit Bomb

[@nekonomicon2983]

Isn't that just the power of friendship? Maybe with extra steps.

[@Existant_one]

@@WesleyC5771 me praying for giygas's downfall while all my party members are almost dead

[@KaptenKetchup]

I love how you pointed out all those references. I noticed a lot of them when I played the remake. One is of them is in chapter four. While on the path to the Creepy Steeple, you have to blow away a big pile of hay with Flurrie. You know, like the wolf in "The Three Little Pigs"?

[@azuresquirrel]

I love the doodles in this video, they add to the charm alongside the game

[@michaelr3077]

finally someone understands the general white sections purpose. I thought this kinda trope was done more often to be obvious. Its the typical fetch quest going back to every area you've been to just before the final battle...

[@Quandtuniverse]

Your first video about Paper Mario was very thoughtful and original and got me to reflect about something I hadn't considered before. This video is equally as thoughtful, albeit about something I did think about before, but one that I don't think is discussed enough when it comes to this game. Everyone has such strong emotions about what TTYD means to them, and I think on some base level your analysis about the game being nostalgic for itself has a big part in that. Good job! And I second the comment appreciating the closed captions.

[@SirCacto]

I just beat the game in June and absolutely adored everything about it. There was some emotion that I felt I couldn’t figure out - almost like a sense of nostalgia - and I think this video perfectly explained it. Thank you. You did a great job with this video.

[@lewis9s]

This video really just helps me appreciate how amazing each and every chapter of this game is.

[@westongale5899]

Thanks so much for creating this video man. I remember getting TTYD for Christmas in 2004 and just loving the game growing up, and now I hope that I will get it again for Christmas in 2024! This game will always hold a special place in my heart! 😇

[@justaspidercrab]

i recently found your channel from the "not the main character" video (which im sure is quite common given its view count) and watched the rest of your videos the same day. your editing is sharp and your scripts are really well written. i wish you the absolute best in your future creative endeavors, which i selfishly hope will include many more videos like the ones you've already made. cheers

[@PowPowSmash]

I think you really got to the heart of why so many of us love TTYD as much as we do. Besides the great battle system, you did such a great job of breaking down what makes the game's characters and story so memorable besides it's fantastic writing. The layers of nostalgia make you grow even more attached to the game by the time you complete it and on the ensuing playthroughs. Well done 👍

[@Existant_one]

the fifth layer of nostalgia is how this video made me feel nostalgic for a game i first played less than a year ago.

[@cardula7]

Just finished TYYD for the first time (I had a physical copy at one point but never left Rogueport/finished Chapter 1) and I noticed all of what you discussed, love this video! So many great RPSs have used the nostalgia for itself trope and it just works, especially when you go back to those places after beating the game (Earthbound, the Lunar games, etc). Just found your channel today, instant sub, I hope you go far - you deserve it.

[@arcticpossi_schw1siantuntija42]

This is a wonderful, beautiful angle to an already fantastic game

[@untoages]

I love this channel! You always manage to bring out things about a game that I’ve never thought about. And the production quality is great too!

[@infizer0]

This video is really great, I love hearing people talk about this game more in-depth. I love TTYD so so much

[@chloepatti9734]

Hello! I just found this channel today and wanted to tell you how lovely all your videos have been so far. Your narration is amazing, your video quality is excellent, and your points are thorough and poignant. I was absolutely enthralled when you referred to one part of the game as "a common fantasy married to a universal pain". Beautifully written and thoughtfully made, you deserve many more subscribers.

[@samanthajayne4444]

This analysis is absolutely stellar. You describe genre in ways that make it so meaningful and purposeful!!

[@CakeKingYT]

This was an amazing vid! I loved how detailed and well-explained it was! Great work!

[@videogameprobro]

I would’ve never thought of the concept you’ve explained in the video. It makes this game all the more enjoyable

[@Tiwill]

Your videos are incredible.

[@i_am_a_dot]

Thank you so much!

[@megascopsasio2015]

Your love for the game really shines through, as your sincerity does in all your videos. Another great one!

[@andrewmah2962]

I never played the original Thousand Year Door when it originally came out. I started with the remake, then got the original game.

[@largeyoshi]

i've watched everything you've put out thus far, and i gotta hand it to you. you put so much heart and thought into these videos, and i and many others undoubtedly appreciate it

[@LuigiXP]

This was such an amazing watch tahnk you for making it TTYD is Peak!

[@KareemZebib]

I never thought about ttyd like that before

[@nickk3077]

If we ever get a true sequel to TTYD, I'd like to see it implement stories that relate to real life history and the past but demonstrated in a Mario style. Perhaps every world has its own bit of lore and that is when the game makes an allusion to that piece of history. If they wanted to flesh out the whole time travel aspect, they could make it a core part of the gameplay; they could make the game about time travel where Mario's past actions in a world effect the present, as Mario makes history. I am imagining something like "The Revolutionary War" where you befriend a George Washington-like mayor partner. And, of course, there is a lot of creative inspiration one can gather by reminiscing on past human history. Maybe a Steampunk, Postmodern, or Rennaissance inspired world.

[@CakeKingYT]

Another vid! Yes! Love this channel!

[@SugaredEdits]

Delightful as always!! Thought provoking, and interesting. I love how you present your points and edit these together. It’s always felt like an instant classic. As a child, the general white quest never bothered me. I don’t think I ever really fully caught how we plan and pay off with chapter 8, but being GRIPPED by the intrigue and everything finally coming to ahead. 📖 long live the original paper Mario trilogy and their delightful story telling.

[@wisp7627]

never played the game but now i want to. great vid!!

[@ghoulishdevastation5205]

kinda funny that this is the only Mario game I have played, just to find that it wasn't even as big as other titles but still loved alot and now there is a remake (guess i have even more of an excuse to get a switch)

[@Asterluna]

This is so good. Great to see someone getting into the depth of the nostalgia this game holds, and in ways I don't often see touched on

[@daniellelondon439]

Paper Mario TTYD my beloved!

[@sprites4ever482]

👏👏👏 Bravo, that was wonderful! One of the best video essays I have ever seen on a video game and a simulataneous commentary of its central themes! The theme of nostalgia can arguably tied into the game's other theme, too, that being the clash of the ancient with the current. How an ancient legend makes you explore the current world, and how looking at it this way makes you see the world in a way you you've never thought about before. The part where you explained that The Thousand-Year Door has essentially become an ancient legend on its own was also amazing. I coined a term for this is a while back, the game has become a 'metaparallel'; a story, or parts of a story, which serve a similar purpose in the real world is they do within the story's fictional world. Another inspiration of the game I want to point out is early 20th century pulp fiction, what with its eclectic way of taking inspiration from all sorts of fiction, burying ancient mysteries in the mundane, modern world, and contrasting a strong villainous darkness against a lighthearted world and characters. After all, the X-Nauts are clearly inspired by the Nazis, which becomes even clearer when you realize that it's hinted at that their soldiers aren't a specific species, like you so often have with enemies in Mario games, but that any resident of the Mushroom Kingdom could be beneath those uniforms. And Nazis trying to unearth an ancient evil, but instead of using it, they end up unleasing it on everyone, is a page right out of the Indiana Jones Textbook on how to write Adventure Fiction. I'm so very glad to see people like me, who look at the fundamental aspects of stories, media, personalities and the world as a whole, in order to understand their meaning. I feel like a lot of what you said in this video went above most people's heads. Heck, I've been a Paper Mario fan since my childhood, and I hadn't recognized all of the comparisons and conclusions you drew from the game until you did! I guess we can say the real Crystal Stars were the friends we made along the way.

[@ryhanna.]

great, well edited, well commentated video. keep going!

[@xaviere1644]

My god, Dot. You're quickly becoming one of my favorite channels. Every video has been fantastic, even for games I've never even played.

[@Barquevious_Jackson]

Nostalgia is Evil. I for one have anti-nostalgia, I hate everything I have ever experienced and desperately long for it to spontaneously combust and be erased from my memory.

[@joeyjose727]

Wow I’ve never played TTYD but I’ve seen let’s plays of it, I never put together the way it evokes old stories like that 😭 embarrassing… such a cool game

[@LeoAngora]

Incredible video, thanks a lot! Have you played Wandersong? It has many similarities with this Paper Mario than I believe it was one of the developer's inspirations.

[@skyhighlander6447]

Funnily enough, this game does pull a lot from stuff that might make you nostalgic indeed… like a ton of paper mario 64. And paper mario 64 was, to me, a better experience, better execution of its ideas. So it made me nostalgic for a game I enjoyed more, and now I remember 64 much better because I liked it more than I thought I did. The ending of ttyd was decidedly epic though. I see the points made make sense, but in a funny way, it made me nostalgic for paper mario 64, and made me enjoy ttyd’s story less, for being reminded of a game that did some of its concepts better. I can see this game means a lot to people, but I wonder how that rests on them not having played 64 before that, on it being nostalgic because it was their first exposure to this kind of game.

[@donaldthescotishtwin]

Rawk hawk is hulk hogan not the rock.

[@sebastianmayer2501]

what a lovely video.

[@mrlucasftw42]

Conker's Bad fur day was AFTER the Matrix ..... what!?! Granted I only had the pleasure of playing it once or twice at a friend's house. It was a blast

[@Chocolatepain]

One of my favorite games, I enjoyed this perspective on it.

[@xekiyo]

I really love this channel, great stuff!!!

[@GTPvZGamers]

is this the paper version? it looks great

[@MisterDrBob]

It probably goes without saying that TTYD's climax owes a lot to EarthBound, but that makes me wonder just how many of this video's points could be applied to EarthBound as well. There are certainly points where you have to backtrack, and callbacks to earlier parts of the game, but it's not really one to one. I'd be curious to know how much of it was intentionally to make players nostalgic for the game they were still playing.

[@i_am_a_dot]

That's a really good point! Earthbound's conclusion is one of the all-time greats!

[@A08J]

This..... This style of video....... This genre of online media...... this is the best genre by far. I need to know the name

[@andyblargextra]

Yet again, I'm rewarded and proud to say Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is my favorite game of all time. My nostalgia for this game will never die. Even if I'm not in the mood to play it at times, the memories of the game stay fresh with me and bring me joy.

[@Aukejorrit]

Top tier video.

[@jega3593]

Your videos are amazing

[@skullisbones]

man i wanna play thousand year door now

[@Crash-lm4zb]

great video

[@hyenalingo]

HE SAID THE YAKKO WORD!!!!

[@diddly_dude]

honestly i love everything ttyd does with its story, but it doesnt change my opinion that the game is incredibly tedious to play, battles become repetitive and the only incentive is a slight xp boost, almost every world is filled with nothing but a bunch of hallways, and honestly i had a better time with origami king and 64, which i played around the same time as the remakes release. (great video btw, i loved the sections with the drawings!)

[@Mandarynki]

your another video I'm in love with

[@pokepress]

As someone who thinks TTYD is just decent, I find several of these layers (particularly the third and fourth) seem to be made of Swiss cheese. I think the pacing may have diminished them by placing the moments too far apart for me.

[@ashleyblack7419]

well there's only 2 downsides to paper mario but those have always been there, length and backtracking but the good outweights the bad and in the end TTYD is a masterpiece and held up better than most other games

[@CamCommand99]

Uhhh, good fucking video alert

[@Big_Dai]

TTYD made me nostalgic for a better and actually-innovative game, the N64 version it parodied.

[@PaulCabanlit]

Thank you for the spoiler warning! I'm currently on my Nostalgic Quest - the 3rd Chapter!

[@ethanwalker7865]

Make an Animal Well video next!

[@Robloamji]

I am 9 years old

[@ivanzoneBR24]

I can see your point of view throughout the video and yeah the first two layers of nostalgia, can work because of real life experiences and thats fine, but the third layer is so artificial that it doesnt work. How can you feel nostalgic about a location or characters if you are being forced to go back to them? This is just filler, nothing more, nothing else. Those areas didnt CHANGED at all since you last seem them, if the point was to appreciate this time off to reexperience what you just did a few hours ago, there needs to be changes, otherwise you are just talking to random people the faster as possible to just continue with the story. My suggestions would be add new items, enemies, minibosses, minigames, sidequests or anything meanigful to each location you went for, this way, it wont give the feeling to the player that they are wasting their time. In conclusion, General White fundamentely sucks and while you can try to make the game more fun, talking to the characters, ultimately its still a big issue to an otherwise great game.

[@soulcalibrII]

TTYD on Switch is just a remaster, not a remake. All Nintendo did was update the original game code. Nearly everything is the same, right down to some bugs existing in both games, proving it is just updating code, assets, and game design that already exist. Come on dude, people have known it is just a remaster before the game even released. Do better.