Topic: Pikmin 4

So before June I had never played Pikmin (outside of the Wii U Pikmin 3 demo back in the day).

Over July I decided to give Pikmin 3 a shot in anticipation of Pikmin 4. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and quickly moved onto 4 once that came out.

I have been obsessed with this game. I was originally going for 100%, until some of the post-game Dandori battles and the Trial of the Sage Leaf ruined that idea for me (I managed to complete them, but Platinum was out of the question). Still, I managed to collect every treasure and rescue every crew member, which was enough for me to feel satisfied that I'd beaten the game (with an unexpected 40+ hours play time...Jesus).

Yet...I still want more. Tempted to jump back to Pikmin 1 and 2, but I'm afraid that they'll be missing a lot of the things that I loved about 4. Even tempted to just replay 4 at this point for how much I enjoyed it.

I can totally see how Pikmin fans have been clamouring for a sequel this whole time. The game is just so addictive.

@Buizel What do you think might be missing from 4 in 1 and 2? In my opinion as a fan who played all of the games in order, Pikmin is one of those series where each game has its own strengths but the core of the gameplay/what makes it fun is very consistent. In a way, 4 is pretty much a redo of Pikmin 2.

Basically, unless you can't go without Oatchi and/or night expeditions, there's not much you'll miss from 3 or 4 by playing Pikmin 1 and 2. And they're fantastic games in their own right.

@PedroMatos I'm just expecting a much simpler experience tbh: things like the diversity of content on offer in Pikmin 4 (the large worlds that focus more on collecting, combined with the caves, Dandori Challenges, Dandori Battles and the tower defense-style night levels), the range of Pikmin, Oatchi, plus various other quality of life features. As much as I enjoyed Pikmin 3, I found 4 to be a step up in pretty much all areas outside of the multi-tasking aspect of 3.

I'm sure I'll enjoy Pikmin 1 and 2, but I am also really tempted to replay 4.

I think this was just a point you can throw Pikmin onto to get them across a gap. The way I got to it I didn't need to use it which is why I was confused.

Anyway, just finished the main story (I know it took me a while, I haven't had a lot of time recently). It's funny how the last thing I did before rolling credits was just a normal night mission because I didn't have glow sap to cure Olimar. Even if I hadn't had to do that, the final Dandori battle is not a particularly climactic ending. Brilliant game though, and I'm glad there's still more to do.

Game Informer just did an interview with some of the staff behind Pikmin 4 and by god: they brought up the 'almost close to completion' quote.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to get more sparklium, if everything is unreachable? Played 1 & 2 areas. Not finished with them yet though. Started to go into old caves, in order to get a few more ice pikman (have 15 now). I didn't build bridges right away and should have. Now I am out of sparklium, and can't get to any more. How do I continue to build bridges--now that I finally figured out how to build them? lol Also, how many ice pikman do you need to get the sparklium pellets in the first area? I have tried throwing 5 at those pellets, and they do absolutely nothing. They just stand in the water right next to the small pellet piles. How do I get them to move the pellets?

@Rosebud4600 When you say you're out of sparklium, do you mean raw material? That's what you need to build bridges. Off the top of my head I'm not sure where you can find more, but make sure you've spoken to everyone at the landing area if you haven't already because some of them give you raw material as a reward for doing side missions.

Ice Pikmin can go in water but they can't carry things through or out of it, oddly. You'll need to come back to that when you have blue Pikmin. (Or upgrade Oatchi to be able to go underwater if you can, but he'd have to go back for each pellet individually so it would take a while.)

@Dogorilla, thank you for your response! Yes, I was meaning raw material. I was able to get a little more. But now stuck again, and needing more for another bridge. lol. And I can't get any more from anyone else yet--as I haven't met the side mission completion amounts yet for most of those. (Only completed 1 side mission--but that sparklium is already used up-lol). I'll have to go back into caves in area 2 to get more blue pikman. I only have 2 left (rest were killed by a creature), for the areas of water, and sparklium lying in them.

I don't get what the ice pikman are good for? They can freeze creatures-which makes it easier to kill them---but what else are they good for?

@Rosebud4600 Hmm, sounds like your only option might be to get more blue Pikmin from the cave to get that material then.

Sometimes you'll come across big jelly things in your way which can only be broken by getting Ice Pikmin to freeze them. If you have enough Ice Pikmin they can also freeze bodies of water so your other Pikmin can walk across.

@Dogorilla Yes, I agree. I will need more blue pikman, for sure. Can you explain the freezing with the ice pikman, please? I have tried throwing them in water, and all that I can see is that a tiny (very tiny) space around them looks frozen. (just around their bodies). Definitely not creating a walkway of any sort that the other pikman can walk on. Am I doing something wrong? Or do I have to do another sort of directive to have them freeze a larger area?

@Rosebud4600 When you throw them in the water it should come up with a number, which is how many need to be in the water for it to freeze. If I remember right it's usually around 10 to 30 depending on the size of the water.

@Dogorilla, OMG! I haven't noticed that number! lol. I will have to look for that. Odd. That helps, though. Thank you! I wasn't sure if I needed to use the "Charge" directive for them too, to get them to form more ice (as in a path)? Thanks again!

@Rosebud4600 No problem! You don't have to use charge but it does make things a bit quicker as it sends the required amount into the water in one go.

@Dogorilla Thank you for confirming that also. I wondered about the charge directive. I did see what you mean by the number. I didn't see that number before, as I was riding Oachi with all of the pikman. So, you can't be riding the pup, if you intend to use the ice pikman....just a note on that.

15 hours in and I am really liking it. Fun and meaty Pikmin game. I love the caves. Night missions are fun too. People said the game was very easy, but I already did get into trouble in 2 caves. In one I just left most treasures to get them later.

@Henmii I thought Pikmin 4 had a good level of challenge in the base game. Obviously, it's not much compared to 1 and 2, but I think if their goal was to make Pikmin more accessible to a broader audience, they achieved that well.

Endboss was pretty fun and creepy. Also a bit challenging. I mean, I came there with only 25 Pikmin. Most died in the last cave (especially the rolling queen was nasty). So yeah most of the game is pretty easy, but there are also quite some challenging parts.

Well, I have done most of the stuff. It took me over 41 hours. I also want to do the last stuff (the remainder of Olimar's shipwreck tale, a few missions, reading all the treasure/creatures logs), so that may take me another couple of hours. Overall lovely and meaty game. I might still prefer Pikmin 3, since that's the first one I played from start to finish and that one just gave me a really good feeling. Like its one small, very shiny gem of a game. But number 4 was also great. I'll definitely play 2 and after that 1 (I have them loaded on my Wii u) someday.

I just lost a Pikmin at sunset because it was glitched into the floor. RIP Rocky.

I'm desperately trying to get back to this game but I have so many on rotation right now it's like whack-a-mole

@JaxonH I never even played it. After years of waiting lol!

Real life got in the way big time for me. Really hoping to dig into it this year.