I haven't even gotten to Pikmin 4 yet, but I will say you were right the first one's greatness . I thoroughly enjoyed the first one, despite my lack of love for more open, sandbox style games. I thought I'd enjoy the more linear Pikmin 2 more, but I can see why more linear map design doesn't work as well for this game, especially with an emphasis on multi-tasking. 5:30 As soon as I heard that I was like "So basically shrines." and then was surprised when you said exactly that. I'm fine with the disconnect since I don't even think I know what immersion IS despite it being treated like the end-all-be-all of video games. Nah, the shrines sucked because the puzzles were shallow and simple thanks to your limited toolset mainly revolving around playing with physics.
The original Pikmin is an extremely unique game. For all that Pikmin 3 was designed to recapture the feel of it by bringing back a sense of urgency, I don't think it really succeeded. That's lightning in a bottle that we'll probably never see again; thank goodness it's such an easily acquired game and such an easy one to replay. And yes, I agree that immersion is almost impossible to define in any objective sense. To me immersion is when I take the virtual world in a game seriously and sort of get lost in it, but that's not always due to great world design or atmosphere. It happened to me when I played Banjo-Tooie as a little kid just because the game was so much fun. One thing I brought up in my original script that I didn't here is that Pikmin 4 is obviously aimed at younger children than the previous entries. The create-your-own protagonist, the Buzz Lightyear-esque space rescue organization, and the constant warnings and limitations on gameplay make that very obvious. Kids don't take stories nearly as seriously as adults, so I understand that my inability to click with Pikmin 4's story isn't universal and isn't, strictly speaking, a problem with the game. It's just something that bugs me.
For me personally, four main appeals of Pikmin are: - Dandori - Freedom/Exploration - Difficulty/Brutality This what I think each mainline Pikmin title has.... Pikmin 1: All three Pikmin 2: Everything except Dandori Pikmin 3: Only Dandori Pikmin 4: Everything except Difficulty So yeah, I mostly agree with you. Dandori is part of the appeal, but all by itself it isn't enough. The only part where I differ is I think Pikmin 4 offered freedom while Pikmin 3 forced it (at least from a gameplay perspective, not a story one). For me, the big missing ingredient is difficulty. Whenever I mess up I want the game to punish me for it, not give me a free rewind back time pass.
I can certainly see where you're coming from. And I'd never deny that dandori, as Nintendo defines it, is an essential element of the original Pikmin; my problem is that it was far from the _only_ essential element and actually had very little to do with the game's atmosphere, which is my favorite thing about Pikmin. My biggest aesthetic problem with Pikmin 4, which I touch on in the video, is that the game practically refuses to stop talking and let you soak in its admittedly great world and enemy design. The original Pikmin may have had a big emphasis on strategic task planning, but the game mostly stayed quiet during the day and let you choose how to do it. Pikmin 2 was a bit more intrusive and had more cutscenes, but it still mostly left you alone to solve challenges yourself. Pikmin 3 has way too much dialogue and complaining from the captains, both during the day and at the end of it, and this is mostly because it emphasizes multitasking so much and dialogue balloons are a simple way to remind you of what's happening on a part of the screen you can't see. With Pikmin 4, we've reached the point that the game is chattering almost nonstop for both valid and invalid reasons, and the result is a game that feels overly ebullient and hectic, more like a children's cartoon and less like a science fiction story. In much the same way as Pikmin 3, the design makes me feel as if Pikmin 4 doesn't _want_ you to have a good time unless you're playing it "correctly". The difference is that Pikmin 3 actually has a reason for butting in, while Pikmin 4 largely doesn't, and so even though I think Pikmin 4 is more reminiscent of the older games in terms of its design, I still don't like it very much.
@@cinnamonnoir2487 I see what you're saying now and completely agree. I think I just got a little confused with the title (which probaly shaped my perspective on how I viewed the video) Pikmin 1 - hands down - definitely has the best atmosphere in the entire series and it is something Nintendo sadly never got back into. It is the only Pikmin game that I'd I describe as serene. I think a big part of that is what you said. The captains just don't stop talking.
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I haven't even gotten to Pikmin 4 yet, but I will say you were right the first one's greatness . I thoroughly enjoyed the first one, despite my lack of love for more open, sandbox style games. I thought I'd enjoy the more linear Pikmin 2 more, but I can see why more linear map design doesn't work as well for this game, especially with an emphasis on multi-tasking.
5:30 As soon as I heard that I was like "So basically shrines." and then was surprised when you said exactly that. I'm fine with the disconnect since I don't even think I know what immersion IS despite it being treated like the end-all-be-all of video games. Nah, the shrines sucked because the puzzles were shallow and simple thanks to your limited toolset mainly revolving around playing with physics.
The original Pikmin is an extremely unique game. For all that Pikmin 3 was designed to recapture the feel of it by bringing back a sense of urgency, I don't think it really succeeded. That's lightning in a bottle that we'll probably never see again; thank goodness it's such an easily acquired game and such an easy one to replay.
And yes, I agree that immersion is almost impossible to define in any objective sense. To me immersion is when I take the virtual world in a game seriously and sort of get lost in it, but that's not always due to great world design or atmosphere. It happened to me when I played Banjo-Tooie as a little kid just because the game was so much fun.
One thing I brought up in my original script that I didn't here is that Pikmin 4 is obviously aimed at younger children than the previous entries. The create-your-own protagonist, the Buzz Lightyear-esque space rescue organization, and the constant warnings and limitations on gameplay make that very obvious. Kids don't take stories nearly as seriously as adults, so I understand that my inability to click with Pikmin 4's story isn't universal and isn't, strictly speaking, a problem with the game. It's just something that bugs me.
For me personally, four main appeals of Pikmin are:
- Dandori
- Freedom/Exploration
- Difficulty/Brutality
This what I think each mainline Pikmin title has....
Pikmin 1: All three
Pikmin 2: Everything except Dandori
Pikmin 3: Only Dandori
Pikmin 4: Everything except Difficulty
So yeah, I mostly agree with you. Dandori is part of the appeal, but all by itself it isn't enough. The only part where I differ is I think Pikmin 4 offered freedom while Pikmin 3 forced it (at least from a gameplay perspective, not a story one). For me, the big missing ingredient is difficulty. Whenever I mess up I want the game to punish me for it, not give me a free rewind back time pass.
I can certainly see where you're coming from. And I'd never deny that dandori, as Nintendo defines it, is an essential element of the original Pikmin; my problem is that it was far from the _only_ essential element and actually had very little to do with the game's atmosphere, which is my favorite thing about Pikmin.
My biggest aesthetic problem with Pikmin 4, which I touch on in the video, is that the game practically refuses to stop talking and let you soak in its admittedly great world and enemy design. The original Pikmin may have had a big emphasis on strategic task planning, but the game mostly stayed quiet during the day and let you choose how to do it. Pikmin 2 was a bit more intrusive and had more cutscenes, but it still mostly left you alone to solve challenges yourself. Pikmin 3 has way too much dialogue and complaining from the captains, both during the day and at the end of it, and this is mostly because it emphasizes multitasking so much and dialogue balloons are a simple way to remind you of what's happening on a part of the screen you can't see. With Pikmin 4, we've reached the point that the game is chattering almost nonstop for both valid and invalid reasons, and the result is a game that feels overly ebullient and hectic, more like a children's cartoon and less like a science fiction story.
In much the same way as Pikmin 3, the design makes me feel as if Pikmin 4 doesn't _want_ you to have a good time unless you're playing it "correctly". The difference is that Pikmin 3 actually has a reason for butting in, while Pikmin 4 largely doesn't, and so even though I think Pikmin 4 is more reminiscent of the older games in terms of its design, I still don't like it very much.
@@cinnamonnoir2487 I see what you're saying now and completely agree. I think I just got a little confused with the title (which probaly shaped my perspective on how I viewed the video)
Pikmin 1 - hands down - definitely has the best atmosphere in the entire series and it is something Nintendo sadly never got back into. It is the only Pikmin game that I'd I describe as serene. I think a big part of that is what you said. The captains just don't stop talking.
@@adamkahmann2937 Yeah, my titles don't always do the best job of summarizing my thoughts on the subject matter...
Love your videos.