God I love Pikmin [2]
The game of all time.
P.S. Louie is stranded on the planet and he isn't coming back.
P.S. Louie is stranded on the planet and he isn't coming back.
why did this get a metacritic must-play award over the first game
Me standing outside your house with a bomb is also a trap, it’s to prevent you from having fun
This is one of the most polarizing games I’ve ever played. Even going into it, I knew this game had a reputation, but I still went in with an open mind. My objective was to collect all the treasures (and beat every dungeon by proxy). It ended up being one of the most annoying experiences in gaming ever.
To start, there are a lot of ideas here that I think are fun and make for an interesting challenge that I wished carried over to the future titles. But the remaining chunk of garbage? I’m hoping it never sees the light of day ever again.
The good? The bosses. With the exception of one boss (Empress Bulblax and her disgusting Larvae spawn), I feel every boss was fun and always had me trying to think about how to tackle them while suffering very few casualties. They all fill me with the fear and anxiety that any good horror game wish it could instill onto me. Huge highlights go to Water Wraith and Man-at-Legs. I think the inherent flaws of the game rear their ugly head when it comes to literally everything building up to the bosses.
The dungeons… This is unfortunately a concept that will not have been perfected until Pikmin 4. What we have here is, at first, a harmless means of getting treasure in secluded areas away from the Daily Timer… then you experience the latter half of the game’s dungeons. Nothing but horrible floor layouts with some of the cruelest enemy design ever and gotcha traps that only the “I love when games do that!” crowd enjoy.
I think what harms this entire concept is Purple Pikmin. There is no feasible way to replenish Purple Pikmin in this game without needing to revisit one of the game’s worst dungeons (Subterranean Complex) at a semi decent sub level every single time. It wouldn’t be so bad, however, if you’re going after every treasure in the game, you NEED a minimum of 100 Purple Pikmin to achieve that goal. Playing the game normally does not net you that much at all, meaning that you already have to repeat dungeon visits numerous times. It’s BECAUSE OF THAT that I restart my game if I lose even a SINGLE Purple because I am not trying to waste anymore time than what the game is having me do to remain “comfortable”.
“Don’t bring Purples then”, why would I not? They’re the best Pikmin in the game, no contest! This game is already asking a lot of me by tippy-toeing across every dungeon floor so I’m not blindsided by some gotcha moment that could cause me tens of casualties at once, so you’re asking me to not use the Pikmin that can take out enemies in seconds because if I don’t they’ll still kill tons of my Pikmin with ease???
I hear this game is as hard as you make it, which I agree is true, but the way it wants you to play sucks the fun out of everything. Whereas the first game asks that you slim down on time management for an exciting tense experience, this game says slow WAY DOWN because you don’t want bombs and rocks dropping on your Pikmin because you decided to play the game just a tad too fast or didn’t spend your in game days doing nothing but grinding Bitter Spray.
May Gatling Groinks never have a happy day in their life.
The only reason this game isn’t lower than 2 1/2 stars is because the rest of the game is still Pikmin. Refined from 1 mechanically and introduces so many cool elements that made the game more exciting to play. But man. The only reason I even beat this game was because I knew Pikmin 3, a better game, was right after this.
This is one of the most polarizing games I’ve ever played. Even going into it, I knew this game had a reputation, but I still went in with an open mind. My objective was to collect all the treasures (and beat every dungeon by proxy). It ended up being one of the most annoying experiences in gaming ever.
To start, there are a lot of ideas here that I think are fun and make for an interesting challenge that I wished carried over to the future titles. But the remaining chunk of garbage? I’m hoping it never sees the light of day ever again.
The good? The bosses. With the exception of one boss (Empress Bulblax and her disgusting Larvae spawn), I feel every boss was fun and always had me trying to think about how to tackle them while suffering very few casualties. They all fill me with the fear and anxiety that any good horror game wish it could instill onto me. Huge highlights go to Water Wraith and Man-at-Legs. I think the inherent flaws of the game rear their ugly head when it comes to literally everything building up to the bosses.
The dungeons… This is unfortunately a concept that will not have been perfected until Pikmin 4. What we have here is, at first, a harmless means of getting treasure in secluded areas away from the Daily Timer… then you experience the latter half of the game’s dungeons. Nothing but horrible floor layouts with some of the cruelest enemy design ever and gotcha traps that only the “I love when games do that!” crowd enjoy.
I think what harms this entire concept is Purple Pikmin. There is no feasible way to replenish Purple Pikmin in this game without needing to revisit one of the game’s worst dungeons (Subterranean Complex) at a semi decent sub level every single time. It wouldn’t be so bad, however, if you’re going after every treasure in the game, you NEED a minimum of 100 Purple Pikmin to achieve that goal. Playing the game normally does not net you that much at all, meaning that you already have to repeat dungeon visits numerous times. It’s BECAUSE OF THAT that I restart my game if I lose even a SINGLE Purple because I am not trying to waste anymore time than what the game is having me do to remain “comfortable”.
“Don’t bring Purples then”, why would I not? They’re the best Pikmin in the game, no contest! This game is already asking a lot of me by tippy-toeing across every dungeon floor so I’m not blindsided by some gotcha moment that could cause me tens of casualties at once, so you’re asking me to not use the Pikmin that can take out enemies in seconds because if I don’t they’ll still kill tons of my Pikmin with ease???
I hear this game is as hard as you make it, which I agree is true, but the way it wants you to play sucks the fun out of everything. Whereas the first game asks that you slim down on time management for an exciting tense experience, this game says slow WAY DOWN because you don’t want bombs and rocks dropping on your Pikmin because you decided to play the game just a tad too fast or didn’t spend your in game days doing nothing but grinding Bitter Spray.
May Gatling Groinks never have a happy day in their life.
The only reason this game isn’t lower than 2 1/2 stars is because the rest of the game is still Pikmin. Refined from 1 mechanically and introduces so many cool elements that made the game more exciting to play. But man. The only reason I even beat this game was because I knew Pikmin 3, a better game, was right after this.
I think I like this gameplay loop better than Pikmin 1, but for ever good change this game makes there's a bad one made. Why can Purple and White pikmin only found 5 at a time? Why are the last few caves just so poorly designed compared to the rest of the game. Why does Louie still breathe. As much as this game made me almost have a stroke I definitely think I still had fun?
I found the Rogue-style caves to be exhausting, not necessarily in a bad way but the survival aspects made the treks feel arduous.
White and purple Pikmin are cool inclusions although the fact that they live in the ship and can only be gotten from flowers feels... sloppy?
I found a lot of the puzzles in the game to feel a bit busy worky.
I love the premise of "just find treasure we broke". The two captain system feels a bit under-utilized and the puzzles it is required for are kind of annoying?
I enjoyed this a lot while playing it but reflecting back I'm finding it to be messier than Pikmin 1 and some of the ideas feel a bit undercooked. I also thing it suffers a bit from "more is more" by the time we got our 10,000 coins (we is my obsessed four-year-old) we were pretty exhausted with the game. We enjoyed our time but didn't have much appetite left for "post-game" including any more taxing spelunking adventures.
Core Pikmin gameplay is still wonderful here but this doesn't feel like an all-timer like the first one. I'd rather that replayable 5 hour experience to this big fat 20 hour one. Still pretty happy to play through this one if nothing else just for my chunky purple buddies.
White and purple Pikmin are cool inclusions although the fact that they live in the ship and can only be gotten from flowers feels... sloppy?
I found a lot of the puzzles in the game to feel a bit busy worky.
I love the premise of "just find treasure we broke". The two captain system feels a bit under-utilized and the puzzles it is required for are kind of annoying?
I enjoyed this a lot while playing it but reflecting back I'm finding it to be messier than Pikmin 1 and some of the ideas feel a bit undercooked. I also thing it suffers a bit from "more is more" by the time we got our 10,000 coins (we is my obsessed four-year-old) we were pretty exhausted with the game. We enjoyed our time but didn't have much appetite left for "post-game" including any more taxing spelunking adventures.
Core Pikmin gameplay is still wonderful here but this doesn't feel like an all-timer like the first one. I'd rather that replayable 5 hour experience to this big fat 20 hour one. Still pretty happy to play through this one if nothing else just for my chunky purple buddies.
Probably the best pikmin game out of the first 3. Would probably be a 9 or 10 with some more polish like pikmin randomly glitching, a quick restart option for each floor and a couple of minor design changes. Extremely recommended but keep in mind it's also way harder than pikmin 1 and 3
evil but sooo good
Pikmin has seriously become one of my new favorite IPs and this one was the last one i needed to play to finish them all ( minus pikmin on 3ds naturally)
why the fuck can't i skip the cutscenes in this version
Now that's a damn good sequel.
Pikmin is seriously the most underrated Nintendo series of all time. There really is no other game like it out there, the satisfaction of taking down massive enemies with your mob of pikmin that you've painstakingly generated opening the way to a treasure that you can successfully carry is so satisfying. On the other hand this game is like a horror game. One misstep and your entire squad could be wiped out in an instant. I finished in just over 9 hours and the ending was funny, but the open world aspect kinda prevented any final boss encounter because each cave had its own boss which was a massive undertaking in their own right. I liked how Pikmin 2 got rid of the time limit, but at the same time it removed a whole layer of urgency that Pikmin 1 demanded and also made each encounter more intense. Still a very fun game and really glad I got to play it.
Love the new pikmin types, and the new areas. The idea of the semi-randomized dungeons were excellent and offered a great challenge. Most of the new enemies and bosses were a delight to figure out. The difficulty increase to this game is dramatic and most of the time it felt great. Trying to slowly figure out a boss or stress-fully working through many layers of a dungeon to keep a healthy amount of pikmin for a boss felt wonderful. However, for all the great new ideas this game is held up almost entirely by how hard it is to easily and safely separate pikmin when trying to do pikmin specific tasks. All the late game dungeons have very specific hazards that will near instantly kill all but 1 pikmin type and it is often incredibly frustrating trying to grab only that type of pikmin.
Les grottes mama meilleures trucs !
Amazing how these guys misunderstood what made one fun. A game that feels like it should be well-designed but just is not. At least the rest of the series is good.
woooah
This is one of the all-time greats, but god, I have. So many questions. About their design choices.
First of all, I just want to say, god, I miss all the product placement in the Switch version. I think that's a big reason why this isn't getting a 5 from me. It just added so much flavor and flair to the world and the game to see what ancient artifact you plucked out to sell on Planet Hocotate that is something we use in our daily lives.
As for the rest. It's a great game! Great music, and it expands on the original game in a lot of great ways. The caves are such a great idea, adding so much more depth (HEH) to the world and giving you so many more places to explore. It allows more bosses without overly cluttering the world, and allows tight level design in each area while giving a pretty neat roguelite, procedurally generated dungeon crawler.
However, there are some elements of the caves that... don't feel great. In later caves there will be hazards that fall from the sky. Some when you're alone, some when you have Pikmin, and some when you move treasures. Sometimes this will manifest in 3 bomb rocks or 3 Volatile Dweevils trapping you in a corner of a small room and blowing you to hell. Or boulders will just drop all over you and absolutely ruin your day. It's offset by the fact that caves save at the beginning of each floor, but it still doesn't feel fun. Were it not for progress saving, a lot of these later caves would be absolutely miserable. It's a really neat idea and great core gameplay loop that is just sort of marred by this messiness.
Not to mention that there are some cave floors where the best option is to go up to enemies and punch them to death with your captains isn't fun. It doesn't feel like satisfying. I understand I can use Pikmin and it'll take far less time, but the risk-reward isn't there. Why risk a bunch of my little guys and need to spend a day or two building up my numbers again when I can spend 10 minutes slowly punching stuff to death after I get the combat upgrade?
Combining that with the massive nerf to swarming and the sheer strength of Purples, to the fact that they're the best to use in all but a few situations, and it's a very messy game. A messy game I LOVE, but a messy game in terms of balance of gameplay.
At least the Pikmin AI is SO much better and I don't have to worry about them just all flying off a bridge, thank god. That was one of the roughest parts of 1.
It's also a very lovely game, the areas are all remixes of the areas from 1, save for the first one, and the way they recontextualize these old locations in a new way, with new landing sites, new terrain, and new enemies, through the passage of time since returning to Hocotate and coming back is fantastic, and I think was the best choice they could've made! The way they're all themed to seasons rules.
Also, the way the music changes instruments depending on the captain you're currently controlling? What a brilliant and fun idea that gives some variety as you swap between captains to get stuff done during the day.
Although purples are overpowered, I do like what they and white Pikmin add to the game overall! With the basics of fire, water, and electricity (finally added in this game, lol), extra carrying strength and really fast speed + digging are cool extras!
It's just a wonderful game with wonderful creatures, a wonderful gameplay loop, and some fantastic additions. Even for its problems, it's still an incredible Pikmin game, and even though I was too bad to beat it as a kid, I'm happy I finally was able to go the distance.
First of all, I just want to say, god, I miss all the product placement in the Switch version. I think that's a big reason why this isn't getting a 5 from me. It just added so much flavor and flair to the world and the game to see what ancient artifact you plucked out to sell on Planet Hocotate that is something we use in our daily lives.
As for the rest. It's a great game! Great music, and it expands on the original game in a lot of great ways. The caves are such a great idea, adding so much more depth (HEH) to the world and giving you so many more places to explore. It allows more bosses without overly cluttering the world, and allows tight level design in each area while giving a pretty neat roguelite, procedurally generated dungeon crawler.
However, there are some elements of the caves that... don't feel great. In later caves there will be hazards that fall from the sky. Some when you're alone, some when you have Pikmin, and some when you move treasures. Sometimes this will manifest in 3 bomb rocks or 3 Volatile Dweevils trapping you in a corner of a small room and blowing you to hell. Or boulders will just drop all over you and absolutely ruin your day. It's offset by the fact that caves save at the beginning of each floor, but it still doesn't feel fun. Were it not for progress saving, a lot of these later caves would be absolutely miserable. It's a really neat idea and great core gameplay loop that is just sort of marred by this messiness.
Not to mention that there are some cave floors where the best option is to go up to enemies and punch them to death with your captains isn't fun. It doesn't feel like satisfying. I understand I can use Pikmin and it'll take far less time, but the risk-reward isn't there. Why risk a bunch of my little guys and need to spend a day or two building up my numbers again when I can spend 10 minutes slowly punching stuff to death after I get the combat upgrade?
Combining that with the massive nerf to swarming and the sheer strength of Purples, to the fact that they're the best to use in all but a few situations, and it's a very messy game. A messy game I LOVE, but a messy game in terms of balance of gameplay.
At least the Pikmin AI is SO much better and I don't have to worry about them just all flying off a bridge, thank god. That was one of the roughest parts of 1.
It's also a very lovely game, the areas are all remixes of the areas from 1, save for the first one, and the way they recontextualize these old locations in a new way, with new landing sites, new terrain, and new enemies, through the passage of time since returning to Hocotate and coming back is fantastic, and I think was the best choice they could've made! The way they're all themed to seasons rules.
Also, the way the music changes instruments depending on the captain you're currently controlling? What a brilliant and fun idea that gives some variety as you swap between captains to get stuff done during the day.
Although purples are overpowered, I do like what they and white Pikmin add to the game overall! With the basics of fire, water, and electricity (finally added in this game, lol), extra carrying strength and really fast speed + digging are cool extras!
It's just a wonderful game with wonderful creatures, a wonderful gameplay loop, and some fantastic additions. Even for its problems, it's still an incredible Pikmin game, and even though I was too bad to beat it as a kid, I'm happy I finally was able to go the distance.
quite before finishing the final world. too frustrating.
Beter than one
my wife, the grind.
Pikmin 2 is a good game that unfortunately falls short of its spectacular predecessor and successors. Pikmin 1 and 3 approached their designs a lot differently, and Pikmin 4 is basically a much better take on this style of gameplay. It's still worth playing though.
This game is very bullshit.
BUT,
I can't help but let it sit on the top of my Pikmin list. The Hocotate Freight Ship is the best character this series has ever added, Louie is so fucking funny, everything this game does just makes me happy and I can't explain how
BUT,
I can't help but let it sit on the top of my Pikmin list. The Hocotate Freight Ship is the best character this series has ever added, Louie is so fucking funny, everything this game does just makes me happy and I can't explain how
Amazing experience. Disgustingly difficult, but that's exactly what I loved the most. It's not hard to get to the credits, but the thing is, the real game begins after that. And it's been a long time since a game has put me on edge so many times, this is really one of the hardest games I've ever played, but in a good way. When Nintendo feels like it, they're godlike at making insanely difficult post-game challenges and here they REALLY felt like it. I 100%'d the game and enjoyed every second of it.
I also loved the characterisation done in the enemy and treasure logs, for both Olimar and Louie. Louie you crazy bastard.
I also loved the characterisation done in the enemy and treasure logs, for both Olimar and Louie. Louie you crazy bastard.
Not as good as the first, still an absolute delight worthy of multiple playthroughs during sad times.
This review contains spoilers
I love a lot about Pikmin 2. I love how brutal it is, I love the weird but memorable soundtrack, I love how interesting the level design becomes with the random dungeons, and I love the new Pikmin types.
But I do have some gripes with this game. It is pretty dated visually, and I also don't like how the two captains are handled. Since I played this after Pikmin 3, I want to multitask like in that game, the go here function sets the "Dandori" bar for the rest of the series. I feel like Louie is only useful for holding all of the Pikmin while the other Captain goes around the floor triggering the bomb rocks and other traps. Otherwise, they're just kinda there.
Still a great game! Not as replayable as 1 and 3, and that brings the game down a little bit for me but it's still Pikmin so I am really glad I was able to finally experience it.
But I do have some gripes with this game. It is pretty dated visually, and I also don't like how the two captains are handled. Since I played this after Pikmin 3, I want to multitask like in that game, the go here function sets the "Dandori" bar for the rest of the series. I feel like Louie is only useful for holding all of the Pikmin while the other Captain goes around the floor triggering the bomb rocks and other traps. Otherwise, they're just kinda there.
Still a great game! Not as replayable as 1 and 3, and that brings the game down a little bit for me but it's still Pikmin so I am really glad I was able to finally experience it.
There are some things that make Pikmin 2 better than its predecessor. I like the new Pikmin types and the quality-of-life improvements. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first game. The caves, while a nice change of pace at first, become incredibly tedious and repetitious as you progress. I also found no interest in collecting more treasures than was needed to complete the game.
I don't mind some additional challenge in a game like this, but I found Pikmin 2 to be a more stressful experience than a relaxing one.
I don't mind some additional challenge in a game like this, but I found Pikmin 2 to be a more stressful experience than a relaxing one.
Le deuxième opus de la saga Pikmin, l'ambiance atypique est toujours là grâce notamment aux musiques.
Dans cette suite plusieurs nouveautés, on était rajouté, les plus notables étant les deux nouveaux types de Pikmins ainsi que les donjons. La limite de temps est elle aussi est supprimés, ce qui ne rend pas pour autant le jeu plus facile au contraire, les donjons apporte un véritable challenge ainsi qu'une utilisation plus judicieuse des Pikmins (limités à 100).
Une suite réussie, car elle garde l'esprit du premier jeu et développe ses idées.
Dans cette suite plusieurs nouveautés, on était rajouté, les plus notables étant les deux nouveaux types de Pikmins ainsi que les donjons. La limite de temps est elle aussi est supprimés, ce qui ne rend pas pour autant le jeu plus facile au contraire, les donjons apporte un véritable challenge ainsi qu'une utilisation plus judicieuse des Pikmins (limités à 100).
Une suite réussie, car elle garde l'esprit du premier jeu et développe ses idées.
My appreciation of Pikmin 2 is the definition of dichotomy. I love what it adds to the Pikmin formula as much as I hate its sheer excess. I love its spunk and hate its rough edges. The only way I could love this game more is if it had been cut in half.
The first half is a fun romp of collecting, battling and exploring strange new territory. The new environments are far more ineresting to explore, with stronger theming than in the first game, so much so that I hardly noticed how most of them ARE from the first game, heavily revamped and tweaked. The game is at its best aboveground in my opinion, in these wonderfully realised pockets of natural beauty.
The debt mechanic is a fun twist, expanding on the themes of man's relationship with nature and the value of individual Pikmin lives in the first game in a literal sense. The caves are an awesome idea and I loved venturing through these smaller, self contained challenges to find goodies.
The addition of a second Captain to control is another welcome addition (though the mechanic is very limited in this entry) and the Piklopedia alone is enough to solidify this game's importance to the series.
Unfortunately, the second half is where the experience really starts to dip. The regular stress of Pikmin management is compounded by harder enemies, deadlier hazards and random elements that evoke fanmade kaizo content in ways that seem very out of place in an official Nintendo game.
The little foilables of the games controls that were tolerable in safer areas become infuriating hindrances that only serve to make Pikmin 2's gameplay even more painful. The becomes a marathon of cave after cave, each more demanding than the last. It was a struggle to finish this game, but finish it I did with 100% completion.
I have played Pikmin 2 since and like the first game it has grown on me with the benefit of experience. I have no desire to complete it ever again.
There are good ideas here and an edge that the series has lacked since. This game demands a lot of you and while that might be too much for my tastes, I can see the appeal for certain players.
For me at least, it sits as my least favourite Pikmin title, but that by no means makes it a bad game. Just an unforgiving one.
The first half is a fun romp of collecting, battling and exploring strange new territory. The new environments are far more ineresting to explore, with stronger theming than in the first game, so much so that I hardly noticed how most of them ARE from the first game, heavily revamped and tweaked. The game is at its best aboveground in my opinion, in these wonderfully realised pockets of natural beauty.
The debt mechanic is a fun twist, expanding on the themes of man's relationship with nature and the value of individual Pikmin lives in the first game in a literal sense. The caves are an awesome idea and I loved venturing through these smaller, self contained challenges to find goodies.
The addition of a second Captain to control is another welcome addition (though the mechanic is very limited in this entry) and the Piklopedia alone is enough to solidify this game's importance to the series.
Unfortunately, the second half is where the experience really starts to dip. The regular stress of Pikmin management is compounded by harder enemies, deadlier hazards and random elements that evoke fanmade kaizo content in ways that seem very out of place in an official Nintendo game.
The little foilables of the games controls that were tolerable in safer areas become infuriating hindrances that only serve to make Pikmin 2's gameplay even more painful. The becomes a marathon of cave after cave, each more demanding than the last. It was a struggle to finish this game, but finish it I did with 100% completion.
I have played Pikmin 2 since and like the first game it has grown on me with the benefit of experience. I have no desire to complete it ever again.
There are good ideas here and an edge that the series has lacked since. This game demands a lot of you and while that might be too much for my tastes, I can see the appeal for certain players.
For me at least, it sits as my least favourite Pikmin title, but that by no means makes it a bad game. Just an unforgiving one.
Really funny how in this game they gave more personality to the Pikmin by making them make little noises when they walk around and react more, but along with that Nintendo has manifested the true embodiment of evil itself in this game by dropping unwarranted bombs out of the sky on you and enemies that will wipe out your entire squad in half a second like Nintendo themselves is punishing you for even thinking of playing this game while they scream in horror and you see their spirits leave their bodies and float up into little Pikmin heaven. This game is awesome thank you Nintendo.
I was having fun until I entered Cavern of Chaos. I can't think of any other time I have been this stressed in a videogame. Not even with Waterwraith and this is my first time with this game. I thought it was my fault since I want the 100% and I didn't want to lose any pikmin so I kept resetting until I got the level clear (or if I lost less than 5) but god I'm so tired.
That said I love the game: better controls that the first game and I enjoy picking up the treasures more than the ship's parts but I liked Olimar's notes and thoughts at the end of each day so not having that here feels like the game lacks something more... personal. Although we get those messages from the president and later from different family members which are not really the same but they are a nice touch since we don't get to meet them personally :)
That said I love the game: better controls that the first game and I enjoy picking up the treasures more than the ship's parts but I liked Olimar's notes and thoughts at the end of each day so not having that here feels like the game lacks something more... personal. Although we get those messages from the president and later from different family members which are not really the same but they are a nice touch since we don't get to meet them personally :)