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Marek

Viva Pinata

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Is anyone playing Viva Pinata?

I've played it for about 4 or 5 hours now and I'm enjoying it a lot. In the beginning the game just keeps throwing new shit at you, and new animals keep appearing all the time, and animals turn into residents, and it's all super exciting. But right now I'm wondering what's next. I'm not really sure what to do. I have one villager left to unlock, and that's the only thing I can tell that I have to achieve. Other than that I don't really see any obvious goals and I can't think of any to set for myself either.

Good game though. I've hardly touched Gears because of it.

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I love it. I often get packages sent from my friends with wacko pinatas featuring mental headgear. I love the fact that one of the accessories you can decorate your pinata with is GRANNY'S 'TACHE. Which is a frightening grey wispy moustache. The "Student Hat" is hilarious too.

it's a traffic cone

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I bought it just this past week and played it for a few hours. It's VERY DECEPTIVELY a child's game, and I'm afraid Microsoft may have mis-marketed it, seeing as how seriously deep, complex, and engrossing it becomes not long after you start it. I've even been reading the raves of hardcore gamers (FPS, RPG, and strategy afficionados) about it and how it sucked up most (if not all) of their time otherwise spent playing Gears. It's that addictive.

:teddy: I could easily envision little Brandon and Ashley getting it for Christmas and after puttering around the garden for about an hour watching all the cute pinatas do their thing, they start getting confused about the micromanagement and ask Mom and Dad for help, only to end up looking helplessly on some time later as Mom and Dad refuse the give the controller back and laugh gleefully as they watch Whirlms do the 'romance dance'.

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My copy still hasn't fucking arrived. Stupid eBay buying. Judging by their shipping date, it'll be showing up at my house right in the middle of exams. At least I'll have time to finish Zelda. *sigh*

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Yeah this is definitely not a kids game in terms of mechanics. You have to manage a lot of complex things at the same time.

I disagree with the apparent general sentiment on forums that it would be unsuitable for kids though. I mean, yeah, don't give this to a 4 year old kid. But kids who are a bit older will figure this game out. It might take them three times as long, but they can do it. When I was really young I figured out really complex games (that weren't even in my own language) purely by trial and error. And I was not a particularly "smart kid".

I've been playing pinata for a couple of days now. At one point I had so many animals that there were fights constantly, so I sold everything except the whirlms and started over. Now I'm trying to get the master breeder awards for all the animals.

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Apparently the sales of Viva Pinata isn't so hot, which I hope doesn't send Microsoft the message that only FPSes and RPGs work on this platform. If you're going to introduce something new, it will take a while for it to catch on...

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And because it's supposed to be a family game they can market it in two different ways - cute and cuddly for the litttle brats, and as a more sophisticated and complex strategy game for the brats' 'rents. Double the chances for $$$.

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Yay! Finally arrived today, along with Gears of War. I played Gears for a bit this afternoon, and damn. Much better than I'd expected. The "We are big men with big guns" thing instantly had me skeptical about its greatness, but I gotta say I'm enjoying it. As for Pinata, well that's why I'm in this thread.

Holy crap, a greater time sink there never was. This game eats hours like popcorn. I figured that I needed some sleep after watching Colbert, but I wanted to give Pinata a try so planned on maybe a half hour of play. Exams are over and I work nights, so it's not like I have to be anywhere in the morning. At around 4:30 in the morning, I became aware of what time it was. Whups. Damn that thing pulls you in. My fucking Mousemallows don't want to breed. I can't seem to get my hands on any daisy or buttercup seeds, and they need to eat 'em to want to copulate. Of course, maybe it's a blessing. After watching a few of the "Romance Dances" I'm wondering if this game really should have gotten the E rating. It's not like there's anything explicit, but I wouldn't want to have to be the parent who bought it for a 4 year old and had to explain why the bass-heavy music in the background of the Whirlm dance made me chuckle so much.

I now have 7 achievements already and just got my first garden size upgrade. I'm only about 4 hours in and the game has ahold of my brain. I am very, very impressed. Good on Rare for taking this amazing step in ending their slump.

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I've seen one or two buzzlegums flying around, but haven't had any take up residence yet. The problem with the flying pinatas is that you can't select them until they're near the ground, so I can't pop up the info window to see what they need to stay. What do I do? How do I make the buzzlegums like my garden?

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Pretty sure you need four buttercups in your garden to get one to reside. I mean, duh. EVERYONE (who watches the show?) knows that!

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OK, got the Buzzlegums. 4 of them, in fact. Can I stop them from killing Raisants, or is their holy war destined to carry on in the battlefield of my garden for centuries to come?

And for the record, I found the Buzzlegum romance dance hilarious. Not as good as the Squazzil dance, (Backflips using the other's tail as a springboard? How can you top that?) but awesome nonetheless. Is there any way to call these up for later viewing? I think some friends of mine are going to need proof of how funny this game can be, and I'd like to show some of these to them.

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You can call 'em up again, but you need to romance them again. When they're romancing, you can click on the house to take a look. I'm fairly sure that's how you do it, at least. I love the Twingersnap's dance. And also that the Crowla's house is GHOULHAVEN HALL. :tup:

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Can't seem to get a Crowla to stay. I converted a Sour Shellybean, but that's the only sour I've brought in so far. I've got the birdbath, but I can't figure out where I'm supposed to find medicine. It isn't in any of the shops and doesn't seem like the kind of thing I can grow. I've tried wounding one while the doctor is on call for something else, then telling the doctor to fix the Crowla too. Unfortunately, when I say I want to heal the Crowla, it won't let me select it. What's the tech for getting a bottle of medicine down the bastard's throat?

Oh, and the Buzzlegum/Raisant holy war has ended, albeit forcibly. I gave up and sold all my Buzzlegums. If those assholes want to keep starting shit with the other Pinatas, they can damn well do it in someone else's garden. My garden is a place of tranquility and harmony, and no amount of honey is worth giving that up.

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Isn't Viva Pinata all about cannibalism?

I have it, I just haven't gotten around to playing it yet. I don't know if I ever will. It just doesn't look like something I'll dig.

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Cannibalism and jovial incestuous sex with insane moves and positions.

It's worth at least a try (by which I mean the game :shifty:). I didn't think I'd enjoy the game but I blasted through the first three hours. But if you don't like it after that initial period, that's pretty understandable.

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Normally I get sick of these open world games (Animal Crossing, the Sims, etc) in which there is no defined goal pretty quickly. Something about this one keeps drawing me in though. Maybe it's that the game is always taunting me by having new creatures show up on the borders of my garden but never quite coming in until I figure out what they want. That seems to be keeping me focused and driven. Maybe it's the thought that I can convert the evil sour pinatas to the side of good with the proper actions. I really don't know. It's pretty awesome, at any rate.

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Hahah, you're going to love this, Miff. To make medicine:

You need honey! Time to bring back those Buzzlegums! (Or you could just buy it from the store.) But yeah, use Tinker on a bottle of honey, and he'll turn it into medicine for you. I'd reccommend going straight for the gold Tinker - cheaper Tinkers can stuff up your item so it just disappears instead.

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Grah! Stupid Buzzlegums. Screw it, maybe I'll just buy some honey. I could never get them to go inside the honey-maker thing anyway. I'd direct them to it and they'd just sit on top. Thanks, man.

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