Pssssh I dunno how to feel about this one. It's super weird. On the surface, it seems to be just a straight improvement over the first one. You get 2 new types of pikmin to play around with, you control 2 captains instead of 1, and the time limit is removed. It's like wow they're trying to make the game more approachable, WHILE still not sacrificing the strategy. Looks like a straight win. Yep. Sure.
And shortly after the beginning you get introduced to caves. AWESOME RIGHT. Caves can deliver more compact, concentrated, deliberate challenges, while still having the overworld housing the usual strategy from the first game. Except... huh there are no ship parts to collect. You're collecting treasure to pay off your company's debt—thrilling right. But wait... there's barely any treasure in the overworld. And then you say ok I'll go to caves and do a little spelunking nothing wrong with that. And then you do more, and more, and you realize huh weird these caves are mostly randomly generated and not handcrafted at all EXCUSE ME.
Like yeah sure each cave can have its own unique fun gimmick—if your idea of unique fun is breadbugs and waterwraiths sure ok. After awhile they blend in, and just kEEP ON GOING. AND THEN YOU REALIZE CAVES ARE BASICALLY THE ENTIRE GAME. The overworld might as well be a glorified world map. You can't even breed the 2 new pikmin in the overworld only in caves why. Weeeelll they basically are just a premium subscription. Subscribe to caves and you too can amass an army of... a handful of purple pikmin. Like yeah they're fun and overpowered, but why was there such an imbalance between the aboveground and underground? Also yeah 2 captains woo yippee really makes a difference in the overworld that is used.
Also this game's difficulty curve is so much stranger than in the previous entry. In Pikmin 1, the world was cruel and unforgiving—just like mother nature intended. The difficulty was based on the player's skill, observation, intuition, and decision making. It was survival of the fittest in the purest form.
So for the sequel, the logical step was to make the game bullshit hard. We removed the time limit so we haaaave to compensate somehow. I won't lie, there is a delight in having everything out to kill you, but it becomes kind of exhausting when you're 7 floors deep and the cave is still not over oh my god please. I only got the "paid debt" ending so uh fuck Louie is dead but whatevs. I'm not a masochist out to get every treasure.
I've been very negative throughout because the game's structure is so confounding I DON'T GET IT. But this game survives by the fact that it follows the first game closely. Pikmin 1 had such a strong foundation that even a sequel that decides to risk it all in the pursuit of... caves(???) is still gonna be inherently fun and interesting.
And shortly after the beginning you get introduced to caves. AWESOME RIGHT. Caves can deliver more compact, concentrated, deliberate challenges, while still having the overworld housing the usual strategy from the first game. Except... huh there are no ship parts to collect. You're collecting treasure to pay off your company's debt—thrilling right. But wait... there's barely any treasure in the overworld. And then you say ok I'll go to caves and do a little spelunking nothing wrong with that. And then you do more, and more, and you realize huh weird these caves are mostly randomly generated and not handcrafted at all EXCUSE ME.
Like yeah sure each cave can have its own unique fun gimmick—if your idea of unique fun is breadbugs and waterwraiths sure ok. After awhile they blend in, and just kEEP ON GOING. AND THEN YOU REALIZE CAVES ARE BASICALLY THE ENTIRE GAME. The overworld might as well be a glorified world map. You can't even breed the 2 new pikmin in the overworld only in caves why. Weeeelll they basically are just a premium subscription. Subscribe to caves and you too can amass an army of... a handful of purple pikmin. Like yeah they're fun and overpowered, but why was there such an imbalance between the aboveground and underground? Also yeah 2 captains woo yippee really makes a difference in the overworld that is used.
Also this game's difficulty curve is so much stranger than in the previous entry. In Pikmin 1, the world was cruel and unforgiving—just like mother nature intended. The difficulty was based on the player's skill, observation, intuition, and decision making. It was survival of the fittest in the purest form.
So for the sequel, the logical step was to make the game bullshit hard. We removed the time limit so we haaaave to compensate somehow. I won't lie, there is a delight in having everything out to kill you, but it becomes kind of exhausting when you're 7 floors deep and the cave is still not over oh my god please. I only got the "paid debt" ending so uh fuck Louie is dead but whatevs. I'm not a masochist out to get every treasure.
I've been very negative throughout because the game's structure is so confounding I DON'T GET IT. But this game survives by the fact that it follows the first game closely. Pikmin 1 had such a strong foundation that even a sequel that decides to risk it all in the pursuit of... caves(???) is still gonna be inherently fun and interesting.