This was my first Pikmin game and as an introduction to the series I'm very impressed. I ordered the 3rd game and blew the dust off my Wii U. I am officially in on PIkmin. I wanna be a Pikmin guy. Pikmin captures "nature" so effectively. It balances the quiet beauty, indifferent cruelty, and sheer BIGNESS all in one tasty gumbo. The cute aesthetic juxtaposed with the games willingness to display mortality was chef's kiss. This is a game for people in their 30s who do yard work and go to funerals. That's me baby.
The biggest point of contention I see from the Pikmin diehards is Oatchi. From my perspective as a new player I would say Oatchi is implemented very well. He is certainly very powerful but he really eases the player into Pikmin's most complicated gameplay mechanic of splitting up the playable characters. Oatchi is strong enough to get a new player through the main game without splitting up the playable character and Oatchi to perform anything too complicated, but the option is still there and in a lot of the higher level challenges is necessary. Also he's a cute little doggy so like how could he be bad for the game guys, c'mon guys.
A mechanic that I did have mixed feelings towards was the multiple base locations. I think it splits the maps into subsections and made them feel a bit smaller. I think a single centralized base would have been more effective at promoting more complicated Dandori techniques. You never feel all that far away from a base at any point in the game, which does damper the exploration which is a huge part of the appeal. The further you get from a base the more tedious and dangerous the environment becomes, the more you need to spread your Pikmin out. To me multiple bases made the game feel smaller and less complicated and that is in direct opposition to the Pikmin mission statement.
Overall the game is a banger and I now have the sickness. The frustration and anxiety that not enough people have played these games and they all really really need to. In a weird way Pikmin as a franchise is a fascinating reflection of itself. Beautiful and fun but also conscious of its own mortality. Ten years is a long time.
The biggest point of contention I see from the Pikmin diehards is Oatchi. From my perspective as a new player I would say Oatchi is implemented very well. He is certainly very powerful but he really eases the player into Pikmin's most complicated gameplay mechanic of splitting up the playable characters. Oatchi is strong enough to get a new player through the main game without splitting up the playable character and Oatchi to perform anything too complicated, but the option is still there and in a lot of the higher level challenges is necessary. Also he's a cute little doggy so like how could he be bad for the game guys, c'mon guys.
A mechanic that I did have mixed feelings towards was the multiple base locations. I think it splits the maps into subsections and made them feel a bit smaller. I think a single centralized base would have been more effective at promoting more complicated Dandori techniques. You never feel all that far away from a base at any point in the game, which does damper the exploration which is a huge part of the appeal. The further you get from a base the more tedious and dangerous the environment becomes, the more you need to spread your Pikmin out. To me multiple bases made the game feel smaller and less complicated and that is in direct opposition to the Pikmin mission statement.
Overall the game is a banger and I now have the sickness. The frustration and anxiety that not enough people have played these games and they all really really need to. In a weird way Pikmin as a franchise is a fascinating reflection of itself. Beautiful and fun but also conscious of its own mortality. Ten years is a long time.