Pikmin 3

[miffy495]

I just spent a couple of hours playing this. At the end of Day 4 now, with a backup of 6 days of juice if I have a few rough days of no-fruit. Already further than Navarro was at Day 5 in the quick look on Giant Bomb, so I must conclude that he's really bad at this. God DAMN this game is beautiful. From the first second it hit my TV, I was in love with it. The Nintendo art team did a fine job with NSMBU and Game and Wario, and had some great moments of show-off-ery in Nintendoland, but every single thing you ever look at in Pikmin 3 is absolutely gorgeous. Not a graphics snob at all, but holy shit is it pretty. Quite fun so far too, though I do find it somewhat frustrating that both movement and pikmin aiming are both on the left stick. It's nice to have the camera control on the right, but that makes aiming a weird thing. Maybe there's a "plant your feet" button that I'm missing. I guess I should look into that. The other option would be to play with the Wii remote and nunchuck, which would have the same control scheme as the Wii ports of Pikmin 1 and 2. The thing is, the stuff on the second screen is super useful. The map is actually really useful, and not having it with the levels as relatively open as they are (as in, they're maze-like but have pikmin-type-specific gates all over the place to keep you from getting to parts of them too early) does not feel like a good trade off. Again, if there's a plant your feet button, I'd be happy with that.

 

Fought my first boss as well. Dude was rough, and fighting him took fully half of a day. In fact, I beat him just as the sun was setting and had to come back the next day to retrieve his corpse and the item he spit up. Luckily, boss corpses seem to be persistent. I have no idea if the same is true of lesser enemies.

 

Yeah. Check this game out, people.

[Sno]

Wow, it feels like this really came out under the radar.

Right? It feels like such an important game for Nintendo, but it's kind of sneaking out there with absolutely no fanfare.

They seem to be intent on casting more attention towards that flippin` Wind Waker remake, which is super baffling to me.

[Dewar]

I just spent a couple of hours playing this. At the end of Day 4 now, with a backup of 6 days of juice if I have a few rough days of no-fruit. Already further than Navarro was at Day 5 in the quick look on Giant Bomb, so I must conclude that he's really bad at this.

 

As much as I like those guys, it's fairly obvious that all of them save Brad are pretty bad at video games. Part of that I'm sure is about trying to talk and play at once, but they constantly miss the most obvious clues on where to go next. Usually I'm able to not think about it too hard, but watching Alex try to take on that boss was infuriating.

[miffy495]

In fairness to him, that boss took me two tries. The first time, I was doing fine, but the day ran out when he still had 3/4 of his life bar left. Dude was sturdier than I thought he'd be. I had to take a second run at him, and it still took me half of the day in which I was successful and I had to come back the next day to grab the loot. Dude was not easy, and I'd assume that trying to explain mechanics while fighting him would have made him harder. I was referring more to Alex's dwindling juice and that it took him an extra two days of game time to get to the same point I'm at with less supplies. The on-camera stuff I can always understand, but that all his off-camera play doesn't seem to have got him anywhere either is a bit harder to take.

 

That's not a knock against GB at all, by the way. I don't give a shit if my journalists are good at video games or not. I'm interested in their opinions and insight, not their abilities. Alex Navarro is still rad (despite sometimes reminding me uncomfortably of a slightly younger version of my stepfather) and I enjoy his stuff.

[miffy495]

Hey! I found a "plant your feet" button after all! I don't think they say it in any tutorials, but if you hold right bumper, you can move the cursor independently of your dude. It's pretty good.

[miffy495]

Third post by me in a row? C'mon guys, this game is fantastic. I know I'm not the only Wii U owner on here. How is no one else playing this?

[shammack]

I'm playing it, but I can't play very much at a time because I find it stresses me out. Even though I have like 10 jars of juice stockpiled, I'm constantly worried that I'm not being efficient enough with my days and I'll end up falling behind. This is the same problem I had with Pikmin 1 and why I never finished it.

[lobotomy42]

I started it, but I'm so swamped with life and other games that I haven't had the chance to put much time in.  It's pretty, though!

[lobotomy42]

Oh, and I really miss using the Gamecube's c-stick to "swing" a bunch of Pikmin at a task at once.  Is there any equivalent for the Wii U controls? It seems that, since the second stick on the GamePad is used for the camera, the answer is no.

[shammack]

If you hold the left-trigger you can lock onto something, then press B to make all your Pikmin charge at it at once. It's much less useful than the C-stick swarm, but it's slightly better than throwing them all individually.

[lobotomy42]

I'm playing this for realsies now.

 

It's fantastic! Really superb level design with surprises everywhere.  It's been long enough that I don't remember Pikmin 2 all that well, but my sense is that these levels are more intricate and bigger.  (Although obviously much fewer in number.)  The commentary between the crew members is adorable, too. 

 

I also dabbled in the multiplayer with my brother and had a blast, although the experience is completely different.  I have not tried co-op yet.

[miffy495]

Man, I haven't had a chance to play this since starting school. I need to go get back on that horse. I loved what I played so much.

[RubixsQube]

So, I played three hours of Pikmin 3 multiplayer last night, on each of the multiplayer maps. My only experience with the multiplayer was via watching the Pikmin 2 Idle Thumbs stream. The mode was absolutely a blast. I'm pretty horrible at competitive multiplayer, but each match was pretty close, and I never felt overwhelmed. Ok, there was one time on the final map where I was pretty flummoxed, but that was mostly due to the map being bonkers, and I did come back and win, so it wasn't so bad.

 

So, the game works like this. You are presented with a 4x4 grid of possible elements scattered throughout the map that you have to drag back to your ship. If you get any four in a row (up/down left/right, and diagonal), you win. Easy. There's an option to add a "victory macaroon" which is a capture the flag element (read: red or blue marble from Pikmin 2), but we never played with that, preferring to stay with the basic options. The items on your bingo board range from marbles to various sized fruit and enemies. I really liked the fact that you'd spend the first few minutes of a match building your army and scouting for the easiest, nearby pickups, and then you'd have a look at your bingo board to see what was worth going after. Should you attack a large bulborb? Or should you go exploring for a gold strawberry? There was a great risk/reward element to the game. It keeps the basic idea from Pikmin 2 that you are going after the same items (the yellow marbles), but it mixes things up such that you may initially pass by an item because it's not helpful for your bingo board, but maybe you get it anyway since it'll block a victory for your opponent.

 

Cherries are still scattered around, and require one or two pikmin who very quickly zip back with the item providing a Pikmin 2-esque reward, like meteors you can call in, Pikmin power-up gas, or even one that re-arranges your opponent's bingo board. My least favorite reward was one that transported your opponent across the map to a random location. While my friend found that the rewards tended a little towards rewarding random chance versus skill, I don't think I agree. The rewards are so varied that it's unlikely that one will really sway the match in the long run.

 

There are a ton of maps (10? I think) and each one is quite different. Some are quite symmetrical, while there is one map with a central rise (tower) that one character starts on, while the other is near the bottom. Most of the game's enemies make an appearance on the various maps, and all of the different type of Pikmin show up, but on a map by map basis. For instance, one map will feature water, and you'll have to scout around to find the blue Pikmin. We both played with the Wii Remote / Nunchuk set-up, and kept the gamepad between us as a quick way to look down and see where the various items were in the map. 

 

Overall, it was one of those good multiplayer gaming experiences that you want to have, where you're shouting at the screen because a win is imminent on both sides. The type of experience where you just immediately finish a game and then go in to play on another map. Really, really fun stuff. I'm just sad that it's not online, because it's pretty hard for me to find opponents.

 

(We didn't even touch the mode where each player has two captains they can control. Jeez.)

[lobotomy42]

I haven't played much of the multiplayer yet, but much of what RubixsQube says matches up well with my experience.  It was pretty accessible, even for newcomers, and very hectic.

 

I just finished the single-player story mode.  This game was great! I'm slightly disappointed that

the game ends with a huge final boss fight, instead of another exploration level,

but I'll get over it.  What I felt most acutely was the pacing and the sense of balance.  I was constantly shifting between exploring, puzzle-solving, fighting bosses and resource management - no element overwhelmed the others too much.  The tone also shifts from quiet to hectic depending on what you're doing at any given moment.  The whole experience just felt very smooth, everything transitioned from one thing right into the next. Pikmin's "one more day" isn't quite as addictive as Civilization's "one more turn," but it was a similar feeling.  (Well, except Pikmin ends.)  I don't remember if Pikmin and Pikmin 2 had the balance down this well or not.  I seem to recall Pikmin being fairly self-contained as an experience, but Pikmin 2 having some frustrating spikes.  (Those caves!)

 

One thing I'm not crazy about is the savegame-rewinding feature.  Perfectionism, to me at least, is the antithesis of the chaotic experience of venturing into the unknown, which is so much of the fun of the story game.  (I did rewind a few times when I suffered devastating morning losses, but never more than a day.  )  The mechanism seems to be there to prevent people from getting stuck, but how much of a threat is that?  I had about 50 surplus days' worth of juice by the end and about 1,000 Pikmin.  This seems like a problem that could be alleviated by simply doling out some emergency rations if someone is suffering some truly serious losses.

 

All that aside - Pikmin 3 is everything I hoped it would be! It's wonderful!

[tegan]

Guess what I'm finally gonna' get to play!

[Dewar]

Pokemon X?

[tegan]

That too.

 

 

Man, this game's got its hooks in me. I'm trying to savour it and not overdo it, but you pretty much end every day wanting to play through another. I've got three captains, three types of Pikmin, and a good two weeks or so of juice ready. Also, in fucking classic Idle Thumbs Pikmin 2 style...

 

[lobotomy42]

Incidentally, I just redeemed some Club Nintendo points for their new Pikmin tote bag.  I finally received it today and discovered that, for whatever reason, it features the Pikmin 2 cast (Purple, White) instead of the Pikmin 3 cast.  And this is a recent item! Or maybe they're leftovers from some promotional thing ten years ago? Lazy design? I don't know!

[tegan]

I have that same bag! I use it all the time and I love it. It was a Japanese Platinum reward from a few years back, which is also why it has a weird engrish translation of the lyrics to Ai no Uta on it.

[tegan]

Pikmin 3 has DLC now you guys!

[Dewar]

Purple and white show up in multiplayer right?

[tegan]

Purple and white show up in multiplayer right?

 

Yes. I think you have to use the candypop buds.

[lobotomy42]

I have that same bag! I use it all the time and I love it. It was a Japanese Platinum reward from a few years back, which is also why it has a weird engrish translation of the lyrics to Ai no Uta on it.

 

Well that explains why it's so old!

[tegan]

I finally got the winged Pikmin! I lost so many goddamned Pikmin to the boss right before then, but I'm happy to finally have another new strategy available to me.

 

I had no idea Louie was in this game

[lobotomy42]

The winged Pikmin are the best.  It took me a long time to realize

you could take them into the water with you.