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Pikmin 3 |OT| Starvation, Slavery, and Savage Creatures in a Cute, Colorful Package

I know this is a bit random, but I really like turning on my TV with the gamepad. :lol

It really is convenient. Same with being able to adjust your tvs volume quickly as youtube videos tend to be louder.


I know i left some really positive impressions of the game, without any negatives.

One thing that stands out the most is sometimes pikmin get caught on an corner of of an object and you have to back-track. This doesnt happen often, but should be fixed.

Im also not sure why the hand-cursor on the menu is somewhat sluggish. This should be fixed. Its also sluggish in animation when the juice jars fill up.

The days can feel like they can use more time. This is obviously debatable, and is balanced with the levels design and scope. As well as the amount of fruits present.

This is my first pikmin game, so I cant compare it to the other two.

...but man, the music is great. Especially what plays when youre picking a region to land on.
 

bart64

Banned
Been playing with the wiimote and I'm really impressed with the sophistication of the gamepad use.

It works nicely to immerse, as in all the video communications that also show up on screen and the way the sound interacts between the pad and screen. Now that I'm used to it, I enjoy being able to tap the map to assign a route or grab the pad for an extended look into all the piklopedia stuff. But what really got me is how the map is accessible throughout the spaceship sequences in viewing replays and planning the next day, independent of the story portions happening on the tv screen.

The whole setup just envelops your senses, it really is a new way to play that I hope to see more of. A practically perfect motion controller coupled with the touch gamepad pretty much covers all the best control options available to gaming, so I hope more developers are inspired by Miyamoto's experiments.
 

GC|Simon

Member
I'm close to the game's last area. So far a great experience. Currently, I'm trying to get all the fruits. Already finished the river and ice are.

pikmin3_05t2b9o.jpg


I will probably finish the campaign next weekend.
 

Teknoman

Member
Its really easy to dodge the first boss, even without knowing about charge or disperse for full attacks.

All I did was run around, whistle, and switch between rock and red whenever necessary. Had a few losses, but nothing devastating or frustrating.

Speaking of charge, is that something you need to unlock?

Also it still strikes me as strange that the Pikmin planet has all these Earth fruits and daily (although pretty old looking) items. Unless it is Earth...just after all the humans have left?

EDIT: Heh guess so -

"Although ambiguous, the Pikmin planet is at least very Earth-like with similar geography. In an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, he states that the Planet of the Pikmin is in a state where humans are extinct. This explains why no human life-forms are encountered during the entire duration of the game. Pikmin 2's areas are comparable to those in its prequel, and there are new human objects, which can only be described as remnants of society before humans died out."

Thats almost as sorta dark as Shiver Star in Kirby 64 being Earth enveloped in a second ice age.
 
Gah. You gotta make sure to explore! I was looking around for some bridge pieces when I decided to start digging in one of the holes...there they are! Found them within the last minute or so of the day.

One of the small improvements to the mechanics that I like is that you don't have to wait for the pikmin to sprout up to pluck them. Makes growing them go so much faster. I also like the fact that bombs can be carried by any pikmin now.

Got to a pretty view.

zlCfzRE8ebAmA_vYio
 

Yuterald

Member
As someone who's been with the series since the original, I gotta say I'm slowly starting to think that the 3rd one is my favorite of the bunch. I'm only 4 hours in, but as some veteran fans have already stated, I too feel like Pikmin 3 strikes the perfect balance between Pikmin 1 & 2. This game feels like the perfect evolution to the original Pikmin. This may sound weird to some people, but Pikmin 3 feels more like how Pikmin 2 should have been.

As you may have guessed, I didn't care too much for the second game. As much as I enjoyed myself with it, I felt like Pikmin 2 was overindulgence in ideas. It's almost like an "anything goes" kind-of-sequel. That game was just packed with content. The amount of collectables and treasures to collect in that game was insane. It basically became a dungeon crawler at one point too (the randomly generated caves, in my opinion, are unarguably awful). Although, if you think about it, it really was a brilliant marriage of gameplay and narrative. You need to collect treasure in order to "survive", but there's so much of it to unearth that you find yourself saying, "Just one more treasure..." and before you know it you've collected everything there is to find in the game. Without spoiling anything, what was cool and interesting was how a particular character basically shared the players sentiment and if you've played the game to the "real" ending, you know how that turned out for him (and you)...

For me though, Pikmin is all about the surface/world design. It's about those moments when you create a shortcut with a particular Pikmin type that allows you to access a boss/item/resource/area quicker. Pikmin 2 had those design philosophies, but the focus on randomly generated, underground cave "exploration" ruined it. It also completely went against the idea of having a time limit and allocating your resources and objectives during a day. When time froze underground there was no urgency, which I feel was a big part of the appeal to the original game. Again, Pikmin 3 hit a perfect balance with the new juice resource/system. It doesn't feel as tense as the original, but it's just enough to make you think about how to approach (or get enough out of) a day.

Just a few other things I LOVE about the 3rd game compared to the others. I can't believe how balanced the Pikmin types feel now. Reds can one shot small enemies when thrown from above. Also, the fact that your characters can't attack now means you have to rely completely on your Pikmin to deal damage. I thought it was a bit weird that Olimar and company could wipe out large monsters in the second game on their own. Having more definitive "weak" points now too is a god-send. Targeting body parts to stun/damage enemies more efficiently feels so perfect and natural with the Wii Remote. There's just so many small adjustments that a lot of newcomers probably don't even realize/notice that just elevate this game to the number one spot for me. It truly is the most refined entry in the series. I could probably talk about this game forever, but I'll just leave it at this for now.
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
Just a few other things I LOVE about the 3rd game compared to the others. I can't believe how balanced the Pikmin types feel now. Reds can one shot small enemies when thrown from above. Also, the fact that your characters can't attack now means you have to rely completely on your Pikmin to deal damage. I thought it was a bit weird that Olimar and company could wipe out large monsters in the second game on their own.

Fair sentiment, as I think much of Pikmin 3's strengths are in the fine tuning of the abilities and the mechanics. But I have to note, you could always one-shot dwarf bulborbs and bulbears in the previous games if you landed a Pikmin directly on top of them, regardless of the color. Also, you can indeed still attack with your characters in Pikmin 3. I was fighting a little grub with Brittany last time I played. To little avail, but she was indeed punchin its health down.
 

Yuterald

Member
Fair sentiment, as I think much of Pikmin 3's strengths are in the fine tuning of the abilities and the mechanics. But I have to note, you could always one-shot dwarf bulborbs and bulbears in the previous games if you landed a Pikmin directly on top of them, regardless of the color. Also, you can indeed still attack with your characters in Pikmin 3. I was fighting a little grub with Brittany last time I played. To little avail, but she was indeed punchin its health down.

lol, really? It's been awhile since I've played the original, but I just came off the post-game stuff in Pikmin 2 and I swear all colors but Purple wouldn't one shot the little guys. Actually, I found myself exclusively using Purple to damage almost EVERYTHING in the game at one point. I wouldn't even bother to use Reds on the giant fire variants because you could just purple bomb them and whistle them out of their "on-fire" state.

Is the player punching an upgradable capsule you'll find later or what in Pikmin 3? I couldn't find a button/way to clobber dudes with your guys yet, hah!
 
As someone who's been with the series since the original, I gotta say I'm slowly starting to think that the 3rd one is my favorite of the bunch. I'm only 4 hours in, but as some veteran fans have already stated, I too feel like Pikmin 3 strikes the perfect balance between Pikmin 1 & 2. This game feels like the perfect evolution to the original Pikmin. This may sound weird to some people, but Pikmin 3 feels more like how Pikmin 2 should have been.

As you may have guessed, I didn't care too much for the second game. As much as I enjoyed myself with it, I felt like Pikmin 2 was overindulgence in ideas. It's almost like an "anything goes" kind-of-sequel. That game was just packed with content. The amount of collectables and treasures to collect in that game was insane. It basically became a dungeon crawler at one point too (the randomly generated caves, in my opinion, are unarguably awful). Although, if you think about it, it really was a brilliant marriage of gameplay and narrative. You need to collect treasure in order to "survive", but there's so much of it to unearth that you find yourself saying, "Just one more treasure..." and before you know it you've collected everything there is to find in the game. Without spoiling anything, what was cool and interesting was how a particular character basically shared the players sentiment and if you've played the game to the "real" ending, you know how that turned out for him (and you)...

For me though, Pikmin is all about the surface/world design. It's about those moments when you create a shortcut with a particular Pikmin type that allows you to access a boss/item/resource/area quicker. Pikmin 2 had those design philosophies, but the focus on randomly generated, underground cave "exploration" ruined it. It also completely went against the idea of having a time limit and allocating your resources and objectives during a day. When time froze underground there was no urgency, which I feel was a big part of the appeal to the original game. Again, Pikmin 3 hit a perfect balance with the new juice resource/system. It doesn't feel as tense as the original, but it's just enough to make you think about how to approach (or get enough out of) a day.

Just a few other things I LOVE about the 3rd game compared to the others. I can't believe how balanced the Pikmin types feel now. Reds can one shot small enemies when thrown from above. Also, the fact that your characters can't attack now means you have to rely completely on your Pikmin to deal damage. I thought it was a bit weird that Olimar and company could wipe out large monsters in the second game on their own. Having more definitive "weak" points now too is a god-send. Targeting body parts to stun/damage enemies more efficiently feels so perfect and natural with the Wii Remote. There's just so many small adjustments that a lot of newcomers probably don't even realize/notice that just elevate this game to the number one spot for me. It truly is the most refined entry in the series. I could probably talk about this game forever, but I'll just leave it at this for now.

Nice post.

Captains can attack, tho. I remember reading a memo that says when youre near an enemy, you can punch them. I believe this is when you dont have any pikmin with you.

Unless you meant in the other games that you can attack with pikmin and your captain at the same time.
 

Yuterald

Member
Nice post.

Captains can attack, tho. I remember reading a memo that says when youre near an enemy, you can punch them. I believe this is when you dont have any pikmin with you.

Unless you meant in the other games that you can attack with pikmin and your captain at the same time.

Yeah, I'm just hearing/reading now that your Captains can attack on their own. I hadn't seen it yet in my game so I figured it was silently removed. Yeah, I mean, in the other games you could wail on baddies with your Pikmin and your Captains. Wasn't there an upgraded punch item you could collect in Pikmin 2 as well? I don't remember the damage dealt by Olimar in the original being all that great compared to how overpowered you were in the Pikmin 2. I just came off of a zero death run in Pikmin 2 and I found myself either exclusively using Purples or literally clearing out entire rooms/areas with Olimar and his partner.

I'm actually attempting a Pikmin 3 zero death attempt for my first run of the game and I find myself using all the types now.
 
Like many others, this is my first experience with Pikmin and thus far I'm really digging it. Just got to the
Tundra area where you get separated from Brittany
.

With the different captains is the general strategy to send them off on their own and just keep switching betwixt them?
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
lol, really? It's been awhile since I've played the original, but I just came off the post-game stuff in Pikmin 2 and I swear all colors but Purple wouldn't one shot the little guys. Actually, I found myself exclusively using Purple to damage almost EVERYTHING in the game at one point. I wouldn't even bother to use Reds on the giant fire variants because you could just purple bomb them and whistle them out of their "on-fire" state.

Yep I played Pikmin 1 on Saturday and was one-shotting the little goobs left and right. It's really the safest way to approach them, just keep throwing, hoping for that one hit. I definitely used to use the Purples to do it in 2, though, just because I grew accustomed to trying to get them to land on top of all enemies. I find myself usually using the rock pikmin to do it in 3, they feel like they have a larger hitbox for landing on things. But it's probably just a placebo effect from being conditioned to always use rocks for throwing, and the rest for latching-on.

Is the player punching an upgradable capsule you'll find later or what in Pikmin 3? I couldn't find a button/way to clobber dudes with your guys yet, hah!

I've got a couple upgrades, but none of them actually mentioned enabling the punch. Maybe it was just because Brittany was by herself, with no Pikmin squad. Just hit A and punched. Maybe it's an enemy-proximity thing, and they won't punch unless there's something to hit.
 

zroid

Banned
Just got to the
Tundra area where you get separated from Brittany
.

With the different captains is the general strategy to send them off on their own and just keep switching betwixt them?

That bit was definitely an eye-opener for me. Really legitimized the multiple leaders angle in this game compared to Pikmin 2, IMO. I also sucked horribly at first, but it was a good lesson in multitasking which has helped me so far. :)
 

Yuterald

Member
Yep I played Pikmin 1 on Saturday and was one-shotting the little goobs left and right. It's really the safest way to approach them, just keep throwing, hoping for that one hit. I definitely used to use the Purples to do it in 2, though, just because I grew accustomed to trying to get them to land on top of all enemies. I find myself usually using the rock pikmin to do it in 3, they feel like they have a larger hitbox for landing on things. But it's probably just a placebo effect from being conditioned to always use rocks for throwing, and the rest for latching-on.

Maybe because the aiming wasn't as precise in the original games (using a GC controller instead of the Wiimote) I never noticed that you could one shot them if properly thrown. Still, the Purples were way overpowered in the second game and generally Pikmin 3 feels way more balanced so far.

I've got a couple upgrades, but none of them actually mentioned enabling the punch. Maybe it was just because Brittany was by herself, with no Pikmin squad. Just hit A and punched. Maybe it's an enemy-proximity thing, and they won't punch unless there's something to hit.

Ah, I see. I'll look into it next time I boot the game up.
 
Yeah, I'm just hearing/reading now that your Captains can attack on their own. I hadn't seen it yet in my game so I figured it was silently removed. Yeah, I mean, in the other games you could wail on baddies with your Pikmin and your Captains. Wasn't there an upgraded punch item you could collect in Pikmin 2 as well? I don't remember the damage dealt by Olimar in the original being all that great compared to how overpowered you were in the Pikmin 2. I just came off of a zero death run in Pikmin 2 and I found myself either exclusively using Purples or literally clearing out entire rooms/areas with Olimar and his partner.

I'm actually attempting a Pikmin 3 zero death attempt for my first run of the game and I find myself using all the types now.

Couldn't answer that. This is my first pikmin game. :)

Good luck on the zero deaths.
 
I don't have any nunchucks. I hope the game pad is serviceable. I have never played a Pikman game before so hopefully I just wont know what I'm missing.
 

SegaManAU

Gold Member
Ok so I've always sucked at Pikmin games.

Can anyone please let me know if you can fail the story mode? I've been looking at some guides and I'm way behind everyone else! I'm up to day 11 and I haven't saved the third captain yet.

Do I keep playing or am I better of restarting the game now?
 

Moze

Banned
How do you take a screenshot? I know you can take pictures with the camera in game but how are you guys taking pics inside the drake?
 
Ok so I've always sucked at Pikmin games.

Can anyone please let me know if you can fail the story mode? I've been looking at some guides and I'm way behind everyone else! I'm up to day 11 and I haven't saved the third captain yet.

Do I keep playing or am I better of restarting the game now?
You are fine. The game is very lenient with throwing fruit at you.
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
Ok so I've always sucked at Pikmin games.

Can anyone please let me know if you can fail the story mode? I've been looking at some guides and I'm way behind everyone else! I'm up to day 11 and I haven't saved the third captain yet.

Do I keep playing or am I better of restarting the game now?

You'll only be in danger of failing if you somehow run out of juice. Which means several days with no fruit being found. Even if that ended up happening, you can always go back a day or two to try again with a renewed focus on fruit-collection. I wouldn't worry about it.

How do you take a screenshot? I know you can take pictures with the camera in game but how are you guys taking pics inside the drake?

Same way as any Wii U game: press home, go to Miiverse to make a post, you'll see screens of what was on your TV and GamePad when you hit the home button. You can share them then, and then copy them off the Miiverse website once they're posted.
 

Xun

Member
My copy came today and it's my first time playing a Pikmin game. I absolutely love it.

It's so charming.
 

Moze

Banned
You'll only be in danger of failing if you somehow run out of juice. Which means several days with no fruit being found. Even if that ended up happening, you can always go back a day or two to try again with a renewed focus on fruit-collection. I wouldn't worry about it.



Same way as any Wii U game: press home, go to Miiverse to make a post, you'll see screens of what was on your TV and GamePad when you hit the home button. You can share them then, and then copy them off the Miiverse website once they're posted.

Thanks
 

ohlawd

Member
beat the game. lol just wanted to rush the final boss so I lost a crapload of Pikmin.

I'll collect as many fruit as I can today and put 100%'ing the game into the backburner.
 

Cbajd5

Member
Okay, just finished with not 100%.

Lost 87 Pikmin overall, so there's that.

Some things I have to say about the end:

Final Boss seems pretty easy, but time consuming, if you go at it with a group of only Rock Pikmin. The stab attacks it does won't kill them, just knock them back a bit.

The elemental blobs are a bit trickier to deal with, but if you can while them all back when they're out then it's good. I think I lost less than 20 Pikmin during the battle, although I don't remember the exact number.

I only lost Pikmin on the final boss and the first two boss fights.
 
Hey guys, how do I get to that middle area surrounded by rocks in Tropical Wilds? Feel free to answer in spoiler tags, I'm stumped here.
 

btrboyev

Member
I went to pick this game up at Target last night and they didn't have any copies, and from the looks of it, they didn't sell out but never got any in at all. I didn't see a spot for it anywhere.
 

Teknoman

Member
You arent penalized by taking as long as possible to finish right? I want to 100% the game the first go (really like exploring areas to the fullest).
 
Argh, I'm so confused. Does anyone have advice on how to get to the area with the seesaw blocks in Tropical Wilds?

EDIT: Nevermind, I got it.
 
About six hours in.
I have defeated the third boss and am about to get the pink pikmin.

Can't wait to go back through this campaign and 100% it.
 
Thank goodness for the retry day option. I was steering my Pikmin over a bridge, and I was staring at my Gamepad (not the TV). I guided my whole 100 Pikmin squad into the river. Restarted.

But at the end of the day, I still managed to kill 88 Pikmin by accidentally hurling three bomb rocks at a Swooping Snitchbug. The bomb rocks didn't get the Swooping Snitchbug.

They got 88 Pikmin.
 
Holy crap. I just wanted to pop in and share my opinion a bit.

So I played the first Pikmin when it came out and I didn't really care for it. Skipped the second. Then for some reason, I really wanted to play Pikmin 3. All the trailers and pics made it look amazing. So I picked it up and met up at my friends and played it for hours. Me and 4 other friends just kept passing the controllers and unlocking levels.

This game is So. Much. Fun.

There's so much thought that has to go into playing a match. Finding certain Pikmin for certain enemies/walls. Finding items on your bingo card, stoping your opponent by getting items before them. I've been missing out!

I can't wait to play single player.
 
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