I don't know who needs to hear this, but before you engage with my Wall of Nitpicks, I just want you to know that I had a lot of fun playing this game. It is very good. Here, I'll even give you a paragraph of the things I love about it.
This game is drop-dead gorgeous. The camera angle not being top-down anymore is a bit disorienting at first, but I do recognize that keeping it low to the ground helps emphasize just how small you are in comparison to these massive areas. You get to explore a lot of man-made structures, including a portion of a house, probably my favorite area of the game. Dandori Challenges are like the mission modes from Pikmin 2/3, but have been integrated into the main game, and they fit in very nicely. Caves are no longer randomly generated, therefore intentionally designed, and they're better off that way. The night expeditions are a fun distraction, even if they're pretty simple in execution. Pikmin tower-defense is a neat concept that I wish they did more with.
Alright, time to nitpick.
I really do not like Dandori Battle, if I'm being honest. The versus modes across the Pikmin series have always felt like afterthoughts to me. They're fun with friends, but not much else. In a 1P vs. COM setting, I just don't see the point. That, and I am absurdly bad at them. Feel free to slam me with the "dandori issue" insults, but the amount of unpredictable chaos just feels out of place to me. They also chose the worst possible style of split screen: a vertical slice. I can't see anything around me, how do you expect me to react to my opponent's actions, even though they're taking up the right half of my screen?
Why is the lock-on so bad in this game? Why can I not turn it off? Why is it exclusively automatic? Why is this such a downgrade from Pikmin 3's lock-on, which worked perfectly? Didn't this company effectively invent lock-on in Ocarina of Time, back in 1998? I feel like there's plenty that it shouldn't lock onto as well, like stray material shards. The lock-on also prevents you from throwing more Pikmin than necessary at items, which is a bit too hand-holdy for my tastes. Adding more Pikmin makes items get carried faster, but it's like the game wants you to not do that, and focus your attention elsewhere. It considers that task "done", and I'm here to say that you don't make those decisions for me, game.
Speaking as someone who finished ultra-spicy difficulty in Pikmin 3 Deluxe, I'm not sure how this game benefits from limiting the amount of Pikmin you can have in the field, and restricting you to using three Pikmin types. I know there's an overwhelming amount of choice when you have eight Pikmin types in a single game, but that's completely undermined by the game letting you push a single button to give you the exact types of Pikmin you'll probably need. Why would I ever use tools like the Survey Drone when the auto-select gives me an idea of what to expect anyways?
Oatchi is a very good boy. Too good for his own good, in many cases. It's not particularly hard to take down most enemies by gathering your team on Oatchi, charging a rush, and slamming your face into your foe. New additions like Ice Pikmin only amplify this kind of power imbalance as well. Spray 'em, Rush 'em, freeze 'em, shatter 'em, and turn them into more spicy spray droplets than I know what to do with, Oatchi alone is just that useful. On the other hand, I feel like the Pikmin AI has regressed a tiny bit. Pikmin seem to do whatever they damn well please once they've finished a task and should go idle. Instead, they gravitate towards anything they possibly can, whether it be something to carry, or something to attack. Listen, I love these little guys. I do my best to protect them, and feel remorse when I fail to do so. HOWEVER, when Steve casually decides to 1v1 a sleeping Bulborb of his own volition? That's his own damn fault, he was asking for it.
The pacing can be a real drag at times. I'm not talking about the moment-to-moment gameplay, I'm talking about the dialogue and cutscenes. Lots of repeat dialogue to sit through, and repeat cutscenes that you'll find yourself (graciously) skipping. The characters didn't really charm me as much as I think Nintendo hoped they would. They sure talk a lot for crew members that are sitting back and watching the Oatchi Rush Livestream all day, every day. Collin told me to rewind time because I lost a bunch of Pikmin during the final boss fight. Not cool, Collin. Not to mention there's like, a 30-second load time between the end of day animation and actually seeing your results. Many of the castaways you save have side missions for you to do, but they're all just busywork and things you'll already be doing anyways. Everyone begging Nintendo to add achievements to their games needs to realize that Nintendo can't make an interesting set of side objectives to save their life. The best rewards are saved for the absolute end of the game, when you won't have a damn reason to use them at all, because everything you can do has been done.
Listen, I'm sorry to those who think this game is a masterpiece. I'll reiterate, I still had a ton of fun with this game, my rating is just a stupid number! All the Pikmin games are good (except maybe the 3DS one) and you should play them! Miyamoto and his team cooked this one for a full decade, and you can feel that with how much content is condensed into this game. It may have ended up being too much for me though.
This game is drop-dead gorgeous. The camera angle not being top-down anymore is a bit disorienting at first, but I do recognize that keeping it low to the ground helps emphasize just how small you are in comparison to these massive areas. You get to explore a lot of man-made structures, including a portion of a house, probably my favorite area of the game. Dandori Challenges are like the mission modes from Pikmin 2/3, but have been integrated into the main game, and they fit in very nicely. Caves are no longer randomly generated, therefore intentionally designed, and they're better off that way. The night expeditions are a fun distraction, even if they're pretty simple in execution. Pikmin tower-defense is a neat concept that I wish they did more with.
Alright, time to nitpick.
I really do not like Dandori Battle, if I'm being honest. The versus modes across the Pikmin series have always felt like afterthoughts to me. They're fun with friends, but not much else. In a 1P vs. COM setting, I just don't see the point. That, and I am absurdly bad at them. Feel free to slam me with the "dandori issue" insults, but the amount of unpredictable chaos just feels out of place to me. They also chose the worst possible style of split screen: a vertical slice. I can't see anything around me, how do you expect me to react to my opponent's actions, even though they're taking up the right half of my screen?
Why is the lock-on so bad in this game? Why can I not turn it off? Why is it exclusively automatic? Why is this such a downgrade from Pikmin 3's lock-on, which worked perfectly? Didn't this company effectively invent lock-on in Ocarina of Time, back in 1998? I feel like there's plenty that it shouldn't lock onto as well, like stray material shards. The lock-on also prevents you from throwing more Pikmin than necessary at items, which is a bit too hand-holdy for my tastes. Adding more Pikmin makes items get carried faster, but it's like the game wants you to not do that, and focus your attention elsewhere. It considers that task "done", and I'm here to say that you don't make those decisions for me, game.
Speaking as someone who finished ultra-spicy difficulty in Pikmin 3 Deluxe, I'm not sure how this game benefits from limiting the amount of Pikmin you can have in the field, and restricting you to using three Pikmin types. I know there's an overwhelming amount of choice when you have eight Pikmin types in a single game, but that's completely undermined by the game letting you push a single button to give you the exact types of Pikmin you'll probably need. Why would I ever use tools like the Survey Drone when the auto-select gives me an idea of what to expect anyways?
Oatchi is a very good boy. Too good for his own good, in many cases. It's not particularly hard to take down most enemies by gathering your team on Oatchi, charging a rush, and slamming your face into your foe. New additions like Ice Pikmin only amplify this kind of power imbalance as well. Spray 'em, Rush 'em, freeze 'em, shatter 'em, and turn them into more spicy spray droplets than I know what to do with, Oatchi alone is just that useful. On the other hand, I feel like the Pikmin AI has regressed a tiny bit. Pikmin seem to do whatever they damn well please once they've finished a task and should go idle. Instead, they gravitate towards anything they possibly can, whether it be something to carry, or something to attack. Listen, I love these little guys. I do my best to protect them, and feel remorse when I fail to do so. HOWEVER, when Steve casually decides to 1v1 a sleeping Bulborb of his own volition? That's his own damn fault, he was asking for it.
The pacing can be a real drag at times. I'm not talking about the moment-to-moment gameplay, I'm talking about the dialogue and cutscenes. Lots of repeat dialogue to sit through, and repeat cutscenes that you'll find yourself (graciously) skipping. The characters didn't really charm me as much as I think Nintendo hoped they would. They sure talk a lot for crew members that are sitting back and watching the Oatchi Rush Livestream all day, every day. Collin told me to rewind time because I lost a bunch of Pikmin during the final boss fight. Not cool, Collin. Not to mention there's like, a 30-second load time between the end of day animation and actually seeing your results. Many of the castaways you save have side missions for you to do, but they're all just busywork and things you'll already be doing anyways. Everyone begging Nintendo to add achievements to their games needs to realize that Nintendo can't make an interesting set of side objectives to save their life. The best rewards are saved for the absolute end of the game, when you won't have a damn reason to use them at all, because everything you can do has been done.
Listen, I'm sorry to those who think this game is a masterpiece. I'll reiterate, I still had a ton of fun with this game, my rating is just a stupid number! All the Pikmin games are good (
2 Comments
I agree with pretty much everything here, but ESPECIALLY the Pikmin AI, I feel like that's not being talked about by enough people. My Pikmin 1-3 muscle memory doesn't help, but it's telling that (for the most part) Pikmin behavior has been very consistent up until 4, and I struggle to learn their new rules. Examples:
Even though my cursor was locked onto a treasure, the Pikmin ignored it and attacked an enemy instead: https://twitter.com/SBW_64/status/1682964631156043777
Their radius for interacting with things has apparently increased to an absurd level: https://twitter.com/SBW_64/status/1683002483940134912
Even using the OP Oatchi rush strat, the Pikmin here decided it was more important to go after a mushroom: https://twitter.com/SBW_64/status/1698933500831842341
Even though these are worst case scenarios, the game is full of all these little moments where I'm struggling to find some consistency, and having done a near complete playthrough, I'm still in the dark about some things. Sometimes dismissed Pikmin come right back to you when you're near, other times they ignore you completely. Every game in the series has had its faults in the Pikmin AI department, but I'd go out on a limb to say that even 1's isn't as bad as 4's. Even with 1's annoyances, those annoyances can be avoided because the Pikmin behave CONSISTENTLY.
Even though my cursor was locked onto a treasure, the Pikmin ignored it and attacked an enemy instead: https://twitter.com/SBW_64/status/1682964631156043777
Their radius for interacting with things has apparently increased to an absurd level: https://twitter.com/SBW_64/status/1683002483940134912
Even using the OP Oatchi rush strat, the Pikmin here decided it was more important to go after a mushroom: https://twitter.com/SBW_64/status/1698933500831842341
Even though these are worst case scenarios, the game is full of all these little moments where I'm struggling to find some consistency, and having done a near complete playthrough, I'm still in the dark about some things. Sometimes dismissed Pikmin come right back to you when you're near, other times they ignore you completely. Every game in the series has had its faults in the Pikmin AI department, but I'd go out on a limb to say that even 1's isn't as bad as 4's. Even with 1's annoyances, those annoyances can be avoided because the Pikmin behave CONSISTENTLY.
BlazingWaters
7 months ago