Topic: Pikmin 3 Impressions

[NWR_Neal]

Yeah, it's Pikmin.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/30647

Pikmin 3 is probably the most stunning game on the show floor on Wii U with its wonderful cartoony yet photo-realistic art style. The game itself, while familiar, is very fun.

There were two demo segments shown at E3 2012. One was a Challenge Level where the goal was to collect as much fruit as possible in certain amount of time. The game played like Pikmin from there, as you had access to Red and Rock Pikmin to take out obstacles and bring back fruit to your ship. The rock Pikmin are new, and have more attack power.

The coolest thing that I noticed about that mode was the replay that was available at the end. You could watch a replay of your entire playthrough, allowing you to devise a new plan of attack to be more efficient and get a higher score. The replay was even cooler because you could watch it on the TV while looking at all the movement done on the larger map on the Wii U GamePad. You could also easily rewind, fast forward, pause, and more on the touch screen.

The second demo was a boss battle, where you faced a rock snake-looking thing. To defeat him, you had to throw rock Pikmin at his outer shell, and then when his gooey innards were exposed, you were best off chucking some Reds in because they would cling to him and keep attacking when he moved around the arena.

The one disappointment to me with the whole demo was the GamePad controls. Compared to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk setup, the GamePad controls were pitiful. Things like throwing Pikmin were oddly mapped to the face buttons instead of the triggers, and there was a distinct lack of precision in throwing your Pikmin. It is possible that a customization option could fix the issues, but I doubt I will spend much time working that out, because the Wii Remote and Nunchuk setup is wonderful.

The latest entry in the mostly dormant series doesn't have anything amazing presented in this demo, but it is a damn fine rendition of the Pikmin gameplay, which is wonderful.

Pikmin 3 is set for a launch window release for Wii U.

[Sundoulos]

I wonder if they've done away with the cave exploration in this version...

[MagicCow64]

I hope so, as I really dislike randomly generated content, and I thought Pikmin 2 leaned way too heavily on those caves. That said, the steamroller goo man enemy was terrifying.

[Fiendlord_Timmay]

I also hope for less of an emphasis on caves than in Pikmin 2, but I don't really understand why everyone harps on the randomization so much. Every sublevel will always have the same treasures and enemies, but the placement of them and the number of enemies can be randomized.

There are also a good number of levels whose layouts can change, but never very drastically, and they always contain the same key environmental elements. And I can think of a number of levels whose layouts never change at all.

Not to say that they should continue using randomization in Pikmin 3 because I would much rather have meticulously designed levels, but its effect on Pikmin 2's quality is WAAAAAY overblown.

[MagicCow64]

Yeah, I mean, Pikmin 2 is still a great game, but also the kind of game that most people will only play through once or twice, and I have to believe that planned design is going to trump randomization in that case. More than the randomization, I thought the ratio of time spent in the caves was the real problem with 2.

[Fiendlord_Timmay]

Fair enough. I agree with that. Although I guess I'm in the minority of people who have 100%'d Pikmin 2 three times, and one of those was a no pikmin death run. And I've played Pikmin 1 to completion 10 times at least, and my fastest time was 9 in-game days. XD So maybe I'm not the right person to ask about these games if you expect an average opinion.

[TJ Spyke]

I had no problem with the randomization in caves, it made it interesting that it would be different each time.

[Kairon]

Man, that Armored Mawdad is FEARSOME!

[NWR_insanolord]

Neal, I don't think I'd say the rock Pikmin have more attack power. They do more initial damage when thrown, but I'd still rather have reds with me going into a fight because unlike the rock ones they'll cling on and continue to fight. Rock Pikmin are similar to the purple ones in Pikmin 2 in that way.

[SPP25]

Yellow Pikmin with bombs will cause the most damage in my opinion.

[NWR_Neal]

Neal, I don't think I'd say the rock Pikmin have more attack power. They do more initial damage when thrown, but I'd still rather have reds with me going into a fight because unlike the rock ones they'll cling on and continue to fight. Rock Pikmin are similar to the purple ones in Pikmin 2 in that way.

I guess "attack power" is too broad of a word. Doing more initial damage could be construed as "attack power," but so could doing more damage over time (as the Reds) do.

On that note, though, do you think the Rocks will take over for the Purple? They seem to do similar things.

[NWR_insanolord]

The main benefit of the purple ones in Pikmin 2, at least for me, was their ability to carry 10 times as much as other Pikmin types, which the rock ones don't. They are very similar, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

[GoldenLeaf]

I think purple and white pikmins are going to be optional or later in the game.