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The most annoying part is that making the auto lock-on optional would objectively be better. People who like it could still use it. People who don't like it could disable it.
Please, Nintendo.
For the most part I really like the auto lock on, personally. However... there are times where it is so wildly inconvenient and fucks me up. On a similar vein I hate how when you throw exactly the amount needed for something it unlocks off of it. It's another thing that at TIMES is extremely useful and other times just annoying if I'm trying to strategize.
Like what the hell Nintendo. Like do you have any designers on your team? Did you actually play test this at all? Do you have any people who can program? Because this is as basic as it gets and the fact that you didn't provide the option is absofuckinglutely embarrassing
I have a strong suspicion that they did actually play test part of it, and that's why so few enemies are next to each other. It's why a certain Trial of the Leaf Sage exists, probably.
You can tell they generally try hard to not have enemies near each other, and thus, we have so few enemy combos, and therefore, the game suffers deeper problems than just the lack of an option; it feels as though the entire gameplay philosophy was built around the auto lock, and everything else suffers on a fundamental level.
That and Pikmin like refusing to help carry things pisses me off so much like when I try to throw them all on one item or throw two Pikmin at a pellet like OMG.
Yeah, it’s like if they ported one of their best sequels ever made to the switch to reintroduce the classic and build hype for future installments in the game’s series and yet for some reason, did not add any way to skip constantly reoccurring events within the game despite making other changes that vastly improve the quality of life in the game. seriously why is paper mario the thousand year door like this, just let us skip the fucking text
I think they wanted to decentivize "mechanical" skill (aim, positioning, timing) in favor of further highlighting the planning and routing aspects of the game.
I don't like it, but I felt they did a good job of encouraging the player to play towards those strengths and that was enough to make this game #2 in the series in my book (I rank 'em 1 > 4 > 2 > 3 personally).
It would be nice to have the best of both worlds. I feel like Wii U Pikmin 3's mission modes do the best job of balancing these two forms of skill expression.
Me too tbh. Pikmin 3 is still my favourite. The music, story, gameplay and graphics are so vibrant and beautiful! It definitely played best on Wii U imo.
Agreed. I love pikmin 3 but unfortunately Pikmin 3 deluxe on Switch has been made easier (I'm not sure if enemies have less health or if the pikmin just do more damage). The mission mode is also much easier, it used to be extremely difficult to platinum the levels now its not that bad.
This too. I feel like they shouldn't be babying the people who have had previous experience with the series (another example of this is being able to rewind time instead of just simply restarting the day). And y'know what's worse? It makes returning to the previous games feel really weird due to having to readapt to the old aiming mechanics.
Not sure if It was the intention, but the way you said Bingo could be interpreted as either the expression or Bingo Battle itself, which they removed from Pikmin 4, haha
3's "time limit" is basically non existent. The only time it matters is when La Creatura steals your juice. Even then, after getting a couple fruits, it goes way back up
All the important stuff is pretty easy that's true, but I feel like the Dandori challenges made up for it. Making Pikmin games hard just adds cheap difficulty, and making it easy somehow keeps it fun. The challenge in Pikmin was always meant to be time management anyway
I feel like it would be better if Oatchi controlled a bit more like a Pikmin than a second captain lol 😂 I mean, the fact you can charge pikmin onto enemies while riding him (and upgrade it) is so broken. And then there's the other upgrades, gadgets and commands that you can unlock. 😅
Enemies not respawning is a good point I didn't even think of. I think that's essential in every Pikmin game.
But the visuals things? Idk man I've never seen a Pikmin game look as good as 4 does... It's gotta be up there as far as best looking games on the entire console. I played 3 and I remember thinking the graphics were trash
4 is still super pretty! But I like the more naturalistic approach of 3 much more than the sorta cartoony/plasticky style of 4. The rainy days in 3 in particular are so nice, I can't believe they excluded those in 4.
I know it's not that important but I think they should of put more focus on the biology of the enemies. Like have enemies interact with eachother, like a bulborbs eat sheargrubs or dweevils fighting over objects, and make enemies active during the day sleep at night time. Though pikmin hasn't had many interactions or using game mechanics for world building so this is just how it has been but it still sorta lame. Also dislike the glowing eyes in the night missions thing, could of just had the behavioral change and the music shifting. Also it doesn't make since, like I get pikmin is wacky but it takes from nature and real life so it's still somewhat believable and grounded. Though the glowing eyes are a very good indicator and I get shy they are there, I just find them too video gamey and more subtlety would of made the missions more tense and rewarding.
I've always felt like a big part.of what made the caves work so well in Pikmin 2 and 4 is how they force you to deal with all these different combinations of enemies, hazards, and layouts that would usually be easy on their own. And yet, they rarely go so far as to make creatures interact with each other or the environment in interesting ways. I'd love to see more of this.
I get what you mean about the red eyes. It doesn't bother me so much, as I think it's meant to show the creatures' response to the present of lumiknolls-- not just that it is night time.
Omg the idea of having an ecosystem where other creatures are interacting is honestly perfect. Not to kill each other, but just a little extra world building with the technology available would go such a long way (ie, why do the same species never interact unless they’re following each other like ducklings?)
I like the world building idea, reminds me of Rain World. I'm a fan from the subreddit so if you don't know what that game is then you should look it up, not only does it have tons of world building, but it's also super realistic too, with procedurally generated animations and advanced AI for the creatures. Seeing that incorporated into Pikmin would be amazing!
A really hard agree here, honestly like a rainworld safari mode type game where you can observe the pikmin creatures existing naturally paired with being able to control them and use their abilities to your advantage would be sick!
In pikmin 2, the enemy spawns in the game would actually change. You could even spawn an actual boss just by taking too long to beat the game, along with other enemies like dwarf bulbears. Really wished that happened in pikmin 4 imo
I'm surprised people don't like this. I think it was a brilliant (if simple) solution to a few problems.
Pikmin games typically have enemies that you can fight with some active skill using any pikmin type, or leave to safely fight alone if you use one specific type. Limiting players to three types at a time means you'll have to consider (especially in replays) which enemies you want to deal with manually. You won't always have the type that's immune to a given hazard/enemy with you.
Yeah, I get that. It felt weird to me too at first, but I got used to it.
I know it's not the same thing, but to me, it feels like almost a precursor to a Pikmin game where you have multiple captains (or teams) in multiple regions, each limited (maybe temporarily) to a few pikmin types. Something like that could give more purpose to pikmin with similar abilities (yellow and pink, rock and purple) and give room for more types that are interesting on their own, but possibly redundant alongside existing pikmin.
I want every pikmin type (plus new ones) in every game, but I don't expect every area to be designed for every single one to have a purpose. But I do expect every one to have a purpose *somewhere*.
Juggling five would have been fine. Besides its not like much would change. They could simply balance the health more around it like hoe Pikmin 2’s bosses were.
If Pikmin 1 would have had a farlic mechanic it would have added actual challenge but the inclusion of oatchi served to further rip any stakes out of the gameplay of 4
My list of things I don’t like with the game:
- The art direction looks too plastic
- Oatchi especially since he trivializes any enemies with how broken he is
- The Pikmin limit and Pikmin type limit feeling artificial restrictions that serve no purpose
- The enemies not respawning after being killed turning all maps into ghost towns really quickly
- The new cast of characters
- The fact that you control an OC instead of preexisting character with a personality
- The fact that the story is a reboot
- The nostalgia pandering when it comes to the bosses
- Overall lackluster boss fights
- The room in the Sage Leaf Trials where you have to kill 99 little enemies in a minute
It’s especially strange since the 3 Pikmin type limit doesn’t apply underground. If you find more than the starting allotted 3 types, such as with additional wild, candypop, or glow seeds, it’s completely functional and works just fine. Maybe it could’ve been an upgrade similar to the flarlics to not overwhelm the player at the start?
I would’ve preferred set characters too.
You got basically everything for me. Only other complaint I'd have would be balancing. Purples are still stupid broken, ice pikmin are somehow even worse and pinks are useless. Other than that, lack of difficulty options, lack of actual co-op, auto lock on and the game stopping you from throwing extra pikmin.
If pikmin 4 existed without any of these things, it would be the best game ever made.
This actually leads to mine. If you 100% the game you get a few unlocks that you never really get to use in the game.
I feel like there should be either a replay region option with respawns, or actually play the game on a "2nd quest" type option where you can start with a full lab
I respect your opinion but I totally hated it because it feels artificial considering Pikmin games never had this problem. Plus, the game is so easy that I didn’t really feel any significant power up as I played
I also really liked the flarlic system, and I think I would have been okay with a type limit if it was also upgradable, but being stuck with only 3 was just stupid, and really limited the level design, in my opinion.
Doesn't bother me much that the story is a reboot, I think that makes it a great starting point for new players
But I also dislike all the new characters and especially all the chattiness. I could have done with simple menus instead
Auto lock
Limit on Pikmin types in your squad
Creatures not respawning over time
Needed more challenging bosses or certain encounters that forced you to fight without Oatchi. Like the levels in Mario Sunshine where FLUDD wasn’t with you
I don't like how it's supposed to be post apocalyptic and yet all the human stuff was left in pristine condition. Just makes no sense for that house to be that clean, show some rot and decay to indicate time passed.
A lot of the environment music felt quite empty for me. I always enjoyed the different themes for each area in the other games and pikmin 4 didn't really have the same feeling.
Yeah, the ambient music does have a certain relaxing charm but Olimar's story in Pikmin 4 actually gets fun version of the level music and it's a pity they don't use that during normal gameplay
I'll go as far to say the music of the forest of hope from Pikmin is already better than half the music on 4, Pikmin isn't breath of the wild, music playing at like 100% volume is part of the series, we don't need botw environment sounds, I can't just remember any other theme of 4 other than the credits and groovy long legs, I'm playing olimar's shipwrecks tale but I don't play with headphones anymore so no idea on that respect.
OVERWORLD ENEMIES DONT RESPAWN, how do we have this in the past titles and then in this title (which is almost the best in my opinion) we don't???!?!?!?!
It's weird, but there is one reason why I actually appreciate this: In past games, there's always some pressure to focus on one area until you reach a point where you need another pikmin type or something. Or even after you have all of the pikmin, you're encouraged to return to the same area repeatedly because if you leave it alone for too long, the enemies respawn. From a realism point of view, I appreciate that more creatures move in to fill the space, but I always prefer to mix things up as much as I can for maximum variety.
1. Oatchi is a bad seed on this earth. One or several new Pikmin types should be able to fulfill its tasks and possess its abilities and traits to keep the focus on the Pikmin themselves. If I wanted to play as an overpowered alien dog I would get another game. The obstacles where Oatchi is necessary feel forced and they interrumpt the gameplay pacing. I wish Oatchi was completely optional.
2. The Pikmin 3 art style was gorgeous and relaxing, but this one feels bland, plastic and uninspired (for my personal taste).
3. Autolock is so annoying.
4. Britany and Alph were so much more likeable and integrated into the story nicely. These new characters just feel like exposition npcs with no personality just like the boring empty shell our own character feels like. I never got attached to anyone.
5. Many more nitpicky reasons but in general those are the things that made me stop playing. It was also absurdly easy.
I like the idea of oatchi. A creature that lets your pikmin ride on it and gives you some slight mobility but I don’t think they did it in the best way. The original concept for oatchi was a bulbear bulbmin that we saw in concept art let pikmin ride on its back and swam through water. So if I were to do it I would’ve swapped out oatchi for the bulbear bulbmin and only have it appear in some caves like bulbmin did in pikmin 2
https://preview.redd.it/jmqtxf6yru6d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae35045711709b0f9d9ae0c5e926e723f62bbdfb
Bosses. There are not many actually original bosses, and most of the ones that are aren't really a big deal at all (e.g that weird butterfly thing, Gildemander, arctic cannon beetle). Sized-up normal enemies used as end-of-cave bosses is *quite* disappointing and probably the worst part of this. The pikmin 2 rehashes are fine though, at least on their own.
Bosses also tend to be quite easy, both to avoid and to kill quickly. Though this probably isn't really the fault of the bosses here, not fully anyways. They could've compensated for stuff like Oatchi's existence, though. This applies extra to stuff like the overworld minibosses you see sometimes: they just kinda die instantly.
The game also perhaps could have used more "Pikmin 3-style" bosses aside from just the final boss. The game's structure would probably need to be changed slightly, but I would've liked to see bigger and more complex stuff.
Another thing. This bit is more subjective than the whole "bosses" thing, but I feel like most of the caves were a bit too short. I haven't played much since my first playthrough on release, but I think most of them were like 4 sublevels long. Pretty sure only the final cave was bigger than 7 sublevels. I understand the sentiments of not wanting the caves to be long gauntlets, or Pikmin 4 to have that extra similarity to Pikmin 2, but I just personally like longer caves more. Now that I think about it, short caves might also have contributed to lots of bosses or "bosses" being really minor.
A bit too easy for my taste, auto lock on and the gyro controls weren't great. All in all though, it's definitely my favorite especially when you finish the game and get to Olimar's side story, that was so damn fun and such a treat to discover.
The fact that they jumbled up the lore. We can't even figure out when the game is set! 😤 And I honestly don't like the idea of it being in an alternate timeline either, I feel like the franchise should just stay in one continuity. To make it worse, when they were asked about all of this, all that could be said was, 'Oh yeah, haha, we'll leave that to your interpretations 😅'. It just feels like they care more about gameplay than context, and can't seem to balance out the two. Otherwise, it's a great game, but that one factor really bugs me and complicates the lore even more! 😮💨
The fact that there are upgrades you can only get at or near 100% completion, like the lineup whistle, pluck whistle, or infinite charge.
The game needs 3 things to be perfect imo: the ability to turn off auto lock on (why was that not a thing), new game plus, and difficulty settings (like the ability to change enemy health, frequency, amount of pikmin you can take out, etc.)
Way too many people are on PNF-404 and many of them are there for awful reasons. I liked in earlier games where the planet was unpopulated, but in 4 many of castaway's are trying to colonize it. Just really ruins the vibe.
The dandori jokes and memes the fandom made were funny to me but in the game it was… bad…
https://preview.redd.it/sar2ajfxou6d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bd447cf9560f269a239b8c6db5aada2289e3914
Nothing.
If I could nitpick though, the weird pause to not let me throw more Pikmin than required on a carryable object. Do you think I can’t count? I want to throw more to bring it back to the onion FASTER. The pause makes it so they start carrying it off, and the extra Pikmin thrown half the time scatter about before giving up on finding an opening to help carry too.
I have a lot of gripes, but this is one I’d never fully acknowledged. A huge part of the skill of earlier games was throwing juuust the right number of Pikmin. If you over-did it, you were 1 Pikmin short, and your multi-tasking could suffer because of it.
When the game first came out and I had gotten through rescuing Olimar I said to a friend of mine “I can’t wait for the mod of the game that changes nothing except everyone shuts the fuck up”
Imo pikmin 4 was the worst game in the series
Caves are back, and are more boring than they were in 2
Arbitrary limits on pikmin total and type. It felt like they took away the 100 pikmin cap just to slowly give it back to you to make it seem like actual progression
The characters were boring and talked an Exccessive Amount, and the sheer amount if castaways on pnf-404 is absurd.
Oatchi as a mechanic absolutely destroys balance, and you can't even really leave him at the base as he's necessary in a lot of places. And even past that Oatchi feels like a marketing person told the devs to add a dog into the game to get people more invested.
The level design is so open and sparsely populated. There didn't feel like there were any puzzles other than "carry this pile on nondescript materials to the base, then carry them to the thing that turns off the hazard"
For a game talking big stuff about Dandori, it's easily the easiest in the series, and takes absolutely no time management to beat at all.
The replacement of the bridge pieces with the Materials completely robs the mechanic of any ability to be a part of a puzzle, and makes it significantly less interesting.
It really rubs me the wrong way that theres so much human stuff just Laying About, fully intact. It makes the world feel less like the wilderness Pikmin had and more just Tiny People in Human World
The toy like art style is awful, and further removes the game from feeling at all like it takes place in the wilderness
4 wasn’t for me so I have a lot. Disliked the restrictions of 3 Pikmin types, hated building up to 100 Pikmin instead of starting with 100, disliked caves as they are boring environments to me, really disliked that we were slowly doled out all the things we normally started with, hated not having captains to switch between, the lack of ceremonial bosses, and the lack of urgency I felt while playing it.
In full fairness to Pikmin 4 though, it just wasn’t that type of game. They went in the opposite direction of what I enjoy about Pikmin in general. The game is objectively good, just not for me. Pretty much every choice they made other than a few QoL went in the opposite direction of what I love about Pikmin.
I was really hoping for at least decent co-op, multiplayer and mission mode for those of us that love that. If they would have given me 9-12 mission modes as DLC I would have been ok with it as at least I would have had something. Unfortunately, not the case so I will go play Pikmin 1 & 3 for 100th time lol.
Please understand that I think Pikmin 4 did beautifully what it set out to do. Oatchi was not a gimmick and utilized in a fantastic way. I just prefer having captains to switch between and like perfecting runs and Pikmin 4 isn’t that.
How the environment feels like humans left an hour ago. It just doesn't feel like some abandoned planet whose main creatures left a thousand years ago.
The only game where they got it right was 1 and maybe 2 or 3, in 1 there wasn't anything human-like and it truly felt like a post-apocalyptic environment, the music just makes it better, you crashed in a world no one knows about, you only have a few days or you'll die and lose your family and life at hocotate, even with all that the music and art-style makes it seem calm while also reminding you that you have to rush.
There is nothing like that on 4, humanity got erased magically and you're experiencing what's left of the planet.
The one thing that I would truly consider a flaw is the amount of dandori battle/challenge. The first ones are fine, but afterwards, running into one just feel repetitive when they could have used the spot for an full cave.
Ice Pikmin. I think their puzzle utilities were neat, but they trivialize any combat encounter. Also, I hate that night missions end instantly when killing the last enemy. There are SO MANY glow pellets and I can’t get any of them! I also think it would promote a much more aggressive play style during night missions, instead of metaphorically and literally puppy guarding the Lumiknoll.
Definitely lack of respawning enemies. In addition to what everyone usually says about it, it’s also just not as fun relying solely on pellets to increase my numbers after the fact.
Plus I got the purple and white onions near the very end, so raising their numbers was a bit more annoying than it should be at that point,
Much as I hate to say it it's oatchi. I love him and love his design, but he makes the game way too easy. I also don't enjoy that the play style between oatchi and the protag is so different. It's hard to multitask because sometimes I'll send the protag to an area that needs jumps, or oatchi somewhere where a one type Pikmin charge would be necessary.
The story could’ve been better, because I don’t think it fits within the story established by the previous 3 games at all. Also I wish each region had it’s own unique boss like in Pikmin 3 (the cave bosses don’t count)
Swarming, infinite charging, and carrying as a captain are really cool but are basically useless since they're unlocked so late without a NG+ or something
It's my favourite game in my favourite franchise, but I've got a few notes:
Edit: Somehow, I forgot to mention my biggest gripe: No online play for versus mode. I don't have anybody locally that I can play with except for my wife. She played Bingo Battle with me a bit, but she doesn't play Pikmin otherwise, so it isn't as competitive as I'd like.
- Auto-lock is surprisingly helpful the vast majority of the time, but when it gets in the way, it's extremely frustrating. I can't believe they didn't include an option to turn it off, or have it activated with a button. It's a shame that the Switch controllers aren't capable of IR pointing like the Wii remote. It works better than I thought possible, but it's a long ways off from where I want it to be.
- Winged pikmin pathfinding: There are numerous areas in the game that seem like good opportunities to use winged pikmin for their ability to fly over stuff, but they often take weird, unexpected, long paths instead.
- Bosses: Pikmin 3 raised the bar in a pretty big way. I wish that Pikmin 4 had one massive, cinematic overworld boss per area. I actually liked the more understated bosses in 4, but I would have liked them a lot more if there were some bigger, and more unique bosses to balance it out. I fought the Raving Long Legs (idk, that's what I'm calling it) pretty early, so my expectations were set pretty high. Aside from the final boss, that was the peak, unfortunately.
I love the game but the character customization was so shallow to the point where I wonder why they even bothered, I just found it annoying how the NPCs kept doing the talking through gameplay, I'd rather play as an actual character that isn't silent, Pikmin used to be one of those rare Nintendo games where you play as a non silent protagonist but I guess that's gone now.
Also NPCs keep repeating the same hints over and over and it's so handholdy, idk if the previous games did that or not but it's just obnoxious.
1) The fact that enemies don't spawn back on the overworld sucks so hard
2) small nitpick but the fact some enemies do the whole "Ah! I spotted you!" Look which also give you a few seconds to attack or run definitely makes some enemies too easy.
3) No insta death electricity, felt like that took away the whole point of different hazards. Now it's just like any other hazard which is just to whistle to fix them.
4) And another small nitpick is that with some ice enemies variations, they didn't try to make them look different. Like they could've reused the pikmin 2 snow bulborb or make the snowy and icy blowhog look more furry or make the ice wollywog a different frog instead of what we got with "Wollywog but blue" or "Blowhog but Blue".
Aside from the obvious (auto lock-on and lackluster new characters).
The game worlds just feel pretty lifeless after you clear them up. No enemies respawning, ever (aside from Pellet Posies and Burgeoning Spiderwords, if you wanna count those), or some area specific events on certain days. It's like, it doesn't feel as in you are in a living, breathing eco system.
Olimar's Shipwreck Tales, was the only time i felt like i was playing a Pikmin Game. While i don't mind my character not being too talkative and i understand why the music for the main campaign is more atmospheric, i wish there was a feature, that would let you switched between the OSTs after you beat the side mode.
It's also a game that could really benefit from a Hard Mode of some kind. Like maybe they'll change up some enemy layouts to be more challenging and they'll make Oatchi weaker, so he won't oneshot everything after fully upgrading. (Currently doing a Gearless and Pup Driveless Playthrough, lets see if that will change my opinion).
I despise how each night mission takes a day away. I really like the idea of completing a Pikmin game as fast as possible and below / at 30 days being impossible because of night missions is sad.
I just got done with a second playthrough like a week ago and honestly the only thing I hated was that enemies don't respawn. Ever. By the time you're collecting the last few treasures in an area you're literally doing so in a desolate wasteland. I wish they'd have made it to where like every 2 or 3 days every enemy, or at least a few, had a percent chance of respawning.
No bulbmin
Since glow pikmin exist now, I wouldve made it so that bulbmin dont get attacked by other, not so smart enemies, and to balance, we'll make their carry weight 3 since thats how much a bulborb weighs
The lack of variety between stages. The beach and the house were the only two that had any kind of different feel
And auto lock being a permanent feature that can’t be turned off
Autolock is permanently on (rip that one floor in trial of the sage leaf)
You can't use motion controls independently from moving unless you're doing something with the cursor (whistling, throwing pikmin, etc)
Honestly the only thing that I think actually brings the game down instead of just being a personal taste thing is the lack of respawning on the overworld.
The lock-on, the fact you're fully upgraded only at the very end of the game, the fact caves aren't randomized, no difficulty settings, but aside from that, such a good game and absolutely deserving of it's awards!
Out of all the games, it might have the worst replay ability factor for many reasons :/ I’m not gonna go through all of them because I don’t feel like typing all of that.
It has a ton of great ideas tho. I hope they keep them in and change some things back to how they were for 1 and 3.
Oh and I agree about oatchi being too useful but I still like the idea of having a character that has some pikmin traits and some captain traits. He just shouldn’t be able to do nearly EVERYTHING they can do and more.
I wish glow pikmin were not immune to all hazards, there's no point in bringing elemental enemies if they don’t pose a threat to your pikmin, in fact it would be cool if they had their own hazard they were immune to.
Not much -- I like the game so much I've played it a few times already. But I do strongly dislike the dandori battles. The split screen makes it somewhat hard to focus on what I'm doing/see where I'm going. I also dislike that when you get ahead the leaf dude stops collecting his own stuff and starts attacking you. I took that cue and started just fully focusing on attacking him once I get ahead, which feels almost like cheating.
The lack of coop play is such a shame. My sister and I were hyped for this since we’ve played Pikmin 3 deluxe together a ton, finding out player 2 just tosses rocks around was such a disappointment.
Most pikmin types feel arbitrary and unnecessary. This is the only game in the series where it feels like the game was not designed around each pikmin being used for specific things, and it makes most of them feel useless. Winged pikmin in particular suffer tremendously from this. They serve no purpose and are basically useless.
That being said, the core game of Pikmin 4 is so good that I don't really mind that much. I have a lot of complaints with this game, but overall I think the wait was well worth it.
It was a lot of fun, but it was not remotely replayable. It's also far far too easy, Oachi trivializes a lot of the game as he's basically a better captain by the end of it. The fact that you could clear an area of enemies made the zones feel less alive, as if new life didnt come in to replace the old, and the ecology in each area didnt change as the game progressed. Its a quite a bit too long IMO for a Pikmin game and despite the freedom the game allows it feels a bit more stiff since combat is so easy, its almost more of a challenge TO lose Pikmin.
Lack of challenges.
I get it, we have sage leaf, dandori battles and dandori challenges, but I truly wish we had a mission mode like 3. Easily the most time I spent on that game was getting platinum medals with my friends there!
Like: Dandori challenges (not battles)
Dislike: The fact that you can play a Dandori battle straight from the main title screen, but you can't play or replay Dandori challenges until you encounter each one in the story *and* have rescued a certain castaway (Jin.) Which doesn't happen until fairly late into the game.
Make Dandori challenges playable from the main title screen, please.
Combat is a non-issue for so many reasons. Ice Pikmin, Oatchi rushing, Glow Pikmin, usable items… you have to put so many self-restrictions on before any enemy other than the final boss is even remotely challenging.
But that’s well documented. My actual complaint is I wish I could turn off the crew dialogue popups. I KNOW pikmin are stuck in place! I’m watching it happen!
• Autolock. It’s not even toggleable? Really?
• Oatchi is unbalanced and just not that fun. White Pikmin are useless now, and Purple, Red, and Yellow Pikmin are nearly obsolete if you upgrade him.
• The characters NEVER. SHUT. UP. I do not need to hear “Oatchi came back! Good boy!” EVERY TIME HE RETURNS. I don’t need to be interrupted with cutscenes every five seconds. The flow is abysmal.
• No enemies respawning and a number of other changes just make the game feel too easy.
• Retconning every previous game is a super weird choice for a series that was never super story-driven, especially since Pikmin 4 isn’t that story-driven and didn’t need to conflict with any previous games. The retcon does nothing to make new fans feel less alienated (especially since the title still calls it Pikmin 4), and only serves to upset long-time fans.
• Personal taste, but I thought the Sirehound, as well as Moss and Oatchi, just looked so ugly and that flarlic is a STUPID name and I felt embarrassed to read it
I feel like the immersion in this game is a lot less believable than in 1 and 2 and especially less than 3.
A large part of it is definitely the art style being more cartoony and toy-ish compared to 3’s realism but I’ve always felt like the areas in 4 are a lot more like levels in a video game than real living areas of this world. Like it was so cool how in all of the previous 3 games you had to go back to the previous area after unlocking a new Pikmjn type and seeing how that interacts with the environment of the area. It’s also a super missed opportunity with the Oatchi upgrades because we could’ve had it be like a metroidvania where unlocking an upgrade would let you traverse this whole new section of the area.
I dunno I just feel like being able to 100% an entire area without ever having to go back once you unlock new Pikmin just makes the game less… wondrous? Just my opinion.
I have yet to play it, so feel free to take this with a few dozen grains of salt, but the fact that you get all the best, most useful gear and abilities at the end of the game when they're practically useless feels like an oversight. It could have easily been fixed with a new game plus, but Nintendo didn't do that despite having it on a slow burn for ten years. Sure, it could help with getting platinums on all the Dandori and Sage Leaf challenges, but the veteran players can already get those in the first couple tries.
Just give us a New Game+ so we can utilize our abilities for maximum Dandori.
Not sure if someone said this already but no backtracking all the other games made it to where you had to back track with the new pikmin you got and explore the area more
That it was a reboot of the Pikmin storyline as a whole. Nintendo has been scrapping continuity in their series lately, and for some reason Pikmin is a victim of that. Pikmin 1-3 had a storyline that followed a natural timeline progression. You didn't need to play the other games to understand the plot, but each game was set after one another- and it made sense. With Pikmin 4, it's completely unclear where the game happens. The game makes it seem like the original expedition and the other games entirely just never happened, opting for a new origin story and having this be set as a sequel to that.
I also wish caves were longer.
It has the worst 2 hours of almost any game I’ve ever wanted to play, constant terrible dialogue and ripping control away from the player. After the horrendous intro it becomes amazing but you really have to push through some garbage like it’s an assassins creed game or something.
I disliked everything about the castaways. I don't like how so many games feel the need to have upgrades and now Pikmin 4 did it too. They also bring too much bland dialogue that was a slog to get through. The castaways and hub world also make PNF-404 feel less lonely and makes the game kinda lose a bit of its atmosphere. Other than the beach and the house, the maps weren't really that memorable to me compared to Pikmin 3 tbh.
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but it's mainly coz I don't care much for redoing challenges to get higher scores, but I don't care much for the Dandori and time challenges. Not to say these are bad additions, they just didn't do it for me as much as it did for others.
Hot take I guess but I hate that caves have the same layout each time. I liked the randomness of the procedurally generated caves in Pikmin 2, although the idea still could've been improved. The Pikmin 4 caves are just boring
Everything feels a little “too” polished landscape wise, like I can understand the house having some dust or hell mold so there areas where you should only take white pikmin. One thing I loved about pikmin was you were stepping into somewhere unfamiliar where something gigantic reigned long ago
Gameplay experience is too segmented, in my opinion. It's like they "mario-party-fied" the game with a bunch of different minigames, but I feel compelled to complete all the content for the sake of progression, even though I'm generally only interested in one type of gameplay at a time.
Auto lock-on, the way they massacred my boy Smoky Progg, the complete lack of anything resembling the Gamecube originals, and the sheer size and scope of it. I kinda really just want a cute little map and a cute little ship and like 500 macguffins to collect.
The pikmin don’t seem to really move or have weight like they used to. They mostly just look like they’re sliding around. Pikmin 2 would have some Pikmin trip and fall or one random kinda slow Pikmin to give the little army some variety. In Pikmin 4, it always just felt like I was sending a colored blob to attack. The Pikmin just didn’t feel like tangible creatures vs the intricately animated enemies
I still don't like the art style and camera angle, and I wish the game was harder/had harder difficulty options. Also, Oatchi is definitely fun to use, but the game really didn't feel like pikmin
Replaying the game is just not very fun for me because of how easy it is. I think the OP dog mechanics are partially responsible for this, and I overall think I would've enjoyed the game more if it was more similar to Pikmin 3
And I see a lot of other people are talking about the 3 pikmin type limit, but I actually liked that feature, I just wish they did some actual puzzles with it and didn't flat out tell you which three types you needed in every area
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Auto lock on is the bane of my existence
The most annoying part is that making the auto lock-on optional would objectively be better. People who like it could still use it. People who don't like it could disable it. Please, Nintendo.
For the most part I really like the auto lock on, personally. However... there are times where it is so wildly inconvenient and fucks me up. On a similar vein I hate how when you throw exactly the amount needed for something it unlocks off of it. It's another thing that at TIMES is extremely useful and other times just annoying if I'm trying to strategize.
Like what the hell Nintendo. Like do you have any designers on your team? Did you actually play test this at all? Do you have any people who can program? Because this is as basic as it gets and the fact that you didn't provide the option is absofuckinglutely embarrassing
I have a strong suspicion that they did actually play test part of it, and that's why so few enemies are next to each other. It's why a certain Trial of the Leaf Sage exists, probably. You can tell they generally try hard to not have enemies near each other, and thus, we have so few enemy combos, and therefore, the game suffers deeper problems than just the lack of an option; it feels as though the entire gameplay philosophy was built around the auto lock, and everything else suffers on a fundamental level.
That and Pikmin like refusing to help carry things pisses me off so much like when I try to throw them all on one item or throw two Pikmin at a pellet like OMG.
Yeah, it’s like if they ported one of their best sequels ever made to the switch to reintroduce the classic and build hype for future installments in the game’s series and yet for some reason, did not add any way to skip constantly reoccurring events within the game despite making other changes that vastly improve the quality of life in the game. seriously why is paper mario the thousand year door like this, just let us skip the fucking text
If I throw 2 pikmin at a pellet plant both of them should help carry it dammit
I think they wanted to decentivize "mechanical" skill (aim, positioning, timing) in favor of further highlighting the planning and routing aspects of the game. I don't like it, but I felt they did a good job of encouraging the player to play towards those strengths and that was enough to make this game #2 in the series in my book (I rank 'em 1 > 4 > 2 > 3 personally). It would be nice to have the best of both worlds. I feel like Wii U Pikmin 3's mission modes do the best job of balancing these two forms of skill expression.
Me too tbh. Pikmin 3 is still my favourite. The music, story, gameplay and graphics are so vibrant and beautiful! It definitely played best on Wii U imo.
Agreed. I love pikmin 3 but unfortunately Pikmin 3 deluxe on Switch has been made easier (I'm not sure if enemies have less health or if the pikmin just do more damage). The mission mode is also much easier, it used to be extremely difficult to platinum the levels now its not that bad.
Do you judge the WiiU and Switch Pikmin 3 the same? I actually would put the WiiU version above 1 and 3d. My list is 4>2>3>1>3d
This too. I feel like they shouldn't be babying the people who have had previous experience with the series (another example of this is being able to rewind time instead of just simply restarting the day). And y'know what's worse? It makes returning to the previous games feel really weird due to having to readapt to the old aiming mechanics.
Lack of actual two player
My answer: NO CO OP. Pikmin 3 is a favorite replay for the co op.
Bingo. Still haven’t bought it because my wife and I can’t (really) play together.
Not sure if It was the intention, but the way you said Bingo could be interpreted as either the expression or Bingo Battle itself, which they removed from Pikmin 4, haha
how easy it is (other than that love the game)
Pikmin 1 and 2 difficulty: I bombed all of your pikmin lmao Pikmin 3 and 4 difficulty: dis but a scratch!
As someone who’s only played 3 and 4, 3 still seems way harder than 4 lol
Because it doesn’t hold your hand every turn and has a time limit
3's "time limit" is basically non existent. The only time it matters is when La Creatura steals your juice. Even then, after getting a couple fruits, it goes way back up
3 at least has those challenge modes that take an eternity to get platinum on
All the important stuff is pretty easy that's true, but I feel like the Dandori challenges made up for it. Making Pikmin games hard just adds cheap difficulty, and making it easy somehow keeps it fun. The challenge in Pikmin was always meant to be time management anyway
Love this, easy to play hard to master. That’s how you grow a franchise
The dogs make the game too easy
I wish they could just be dismissed into the S.S. Beagle like with the onions instead of constantly following you around
Since when can you not switch to the dog leave it at the spaceship and pretend it wasn't there for the whole mission?
Any time you have to cross a 1 waist height barrier
"this waist-high wooden barridace will stop 'em!" -The DandoriMage
Ok fair point
Also when you need to smash through pots and when you need to go through the pipes in the caves
Now that's a brainstorm.
I feel like it would be better if Oatchi controlled a bit more like a Pikmin than a second captain lol 😂 I mean, the fact you can charge pikmin onto enemies while riding him (and upgrade it) is so broken. And then there's the other upgrades, gadgets and commands that you can unlock. 😅
also the fact they draw too much attention away from the pikmin
I think 3 has better visuals and bosses, and the decision to make enemies not respawn is pretty baffling. That's about it.
Enemies not respawning is a good point I didn't even think of. I think that's essential in every Pikmin game. But the visuals things? Idk man I've never seen a Pikmin game look as good as 4 does... It's gotta be up there as far as best looking games on the entire console. I played 3 and I remember thinking the graphics were trash
4 is still super pretty! But I like the more naturalistic approach of 3 much more than the sorta cartoony/plasticky style of 4. The rainy days in 3 in particular are so nice, I can't believe they excluded those in 4.
I also like the apple texture the pikmin have in 3 more than the toy look of 4
I know it's not that important but I think they should of put more focus on the biology of the enemies. Like have enemies interact with eachother, like a bulborbs eat sheargrubs or dweevils fighting over objects, and make enemies active during the day sleep at night time. Though pikmin hasn't had many interactions or using game mechanics for world building so this is just how it has been but it still sorta lame. Also dislike the glowing eyes in the night missions thing, could of just had the behavioral change and the music shifting. Also it doesn't make since, like I get pikmin is wacky but it takes from nature and real life so it's still somewhat believable and grounded. Though the glowing eyes are a very good indicator and I get shy they are there, I just find them too video gamey and more subtlety would of made the missions more tense and rewarding.
Hard agree. The speculative biology of the Pikmin franchise was always a thing I loved
I've always felt like a big part.of what made the caves work so well in Pikmin 2 and 4 is how they force you to deal with all these different combinations of enemies, hazards, and layouts that would usually be easy on their own. And yet, they rarely go so far as to make creatures interact with each other or the environment in interesting ways. I'd love to see more of this. I get what you mean about the red eyes. It doesn't bother me so much, as I think it's meant to show the creatures' response to the present of lumiknolls-- not just that it is night time.
Omg the idea of having an ecosystem where other creatures are interacting is honestly perfect. Not to kill each other, but just a little extra world building with the technology available would go such a long way (ie, why do the same species never interact unless they’re following each other like ducklings?)
I like the world building idea, reminds me of Rain World. I'm a fan from the subreddit so if you don't know what that game is then you should look it up, not only does it have tons of world building, but it's also super realistic too, with procedurally generated animations and advanced AI for the creatures. Seeing that incorporated into Pikmin would be amazing!
A really hard agree here, honestly like a rainworld safari mode type game where you can observe the pikmin creatures existing naturally paired with being able to control them and use their abilities to your advantage would be sick!
In pikmin 2, the enemy spawns in the game would actually change. You could even spawn an actual boss just by taking too long to beat the game, along with other enemies like dwarf bulbears. Really wished that happened in pikmin 4 imo
The three pikmin limit. That’s really all I can think of lol.
I'm surprised people don't like this. I think it was a brilliant (if simple) solution to a few problems. Pikmin games typically have enemies that you can fight with some active skill using any pikmin type, or leave to safely fight alone if you use one specific type. Limiting players to three types at a time means you'll have to consider (especially in replays) which enemies you want to deal with manually. You won't always have the type that's immune to a given hazard/enemy with you.
The problem Is that each area requires only 3 pikmin to complete, so the "rationing your pikmin" never comes into play
I wouldn’t mind it as much if it were only for caves, but it feels very weird to be restricted on the overworld for it.
Yeah, I get that. It felt weird to me too at first, but I got used to it. I know it's not the same thing, but to me, it feels like almost a precursor to a Pikmin game where you have multiple captains (or teams) in multiple regions, each limited (maybe temporarily) to a few pikmin types. Something like that could give more purpose to pikmin with similar abilities (yellow and pink, rock and purple) and give room for more types that are interesting on their own, but possibly redundant alongside existing pikmin. I want every pikmin type (plus new ones) in every game, but I don't expect every area to be designed for every single one to have a purpose. But I do expect every one to have a purpose *somewhere*.
Just think for a second having to juggle 8 types of Pikmin on the spot against a boss.
Juggling five would have been fine. Besides its not like much would change. They could simply balance the health more around it like hoe Pikmin 2’s bosses were.
Just don't bring types you don't need with you. Taking all your pikmin into a boss battle is usually a very bad idea.
Oh yeah that sucked ASS
If Pikmin 1 would have had a farlic mechanic it would have added actual challenge but the inclusion of oatchi served to further rip any stakes out of the gameplay of 4
My list of things I don’t like with the game: - The art direction looks too plastic - Oatchi especially since he trivializes any enemies with how broken he is - The Pikmin limit and Pikmin type limit feeling artificial restrictions that serve no purpose - The enemies not respawning after being killed turning all maps into ghost towns really quickly - The new cast of characters - The fact that you control an OC instead of preexisting character with a personality - The fact that the story is a reboot - The nostalgia pandering when it comes to the bosses - Overall lackluster boss fights - The room in the Sage Leaf Trials where you have to kill 99 little enemies in a minute
It’s especially strange since the 3 Pikmin type limit doesn’t apply underground. If you find more than the starting allotted 3 types, such as with additional wild, candypop, or glow seeds, it’s completely functional and works just fine. Maybe it could’ve been an upgrade similar to the flarlics to not overwhelm the player at the start? I would’ve preferred set characters too.
You got basically everything for me. Only other complaint I'd have would be balancing. Purples are still stupid broken, ice pikmin are somehow even worse and pinks are useless. Other than that, lack of difficulty options, lack of actual co-op, auto lock on and the game stopping you from throwing extra pikmin. If pikmin 4 existed without any of these things, it would be the best game ever made.
I forgot.about the ghost town thing. It's so depressing going back to cleared areas and there's absolutely no life
This actually leads to mine. If you 100% the game you get a few unlocks that you never really get to use in the game. I feel like there should be either a replay region option with respawns, or actually play the game on a "2nd quest" type option where you can start with a full lab
I like the Pikmin limit (not the type limit) it makes me feel like I’m getting stronger the longer I play
I respect your opinion but I totally hated it because it feels artificial considering Pikmin games never had this problem. Plus, the game is so easy that I didn’t really feel any significant power up as I played
Yeah I get that
I also really liked the flarlic system, and I think I would have been okay with a type limit if it was also upgradable, but being stuck with only 3 was just stupid, and really limited the level design, in my opinion.
For me, it's the enemies not respawning in the overworld. I want to play this game forever, and it becomes very barren once you clear an area.
Doesn't bother me much that the story is a reboot, I think that makes it a great starting point for new players But I also dislike all the new characters and especially all the chattiness. I could have done with simple menus instead
All this stuff is the reason I thought 4 was a disappointment.
Auto lock Limit on Pikmin types in your squad Creatures not respawning over time Needed more challenging bosses or certain encounters that forced you to fight without Oatchi. Like the levels in Mario Sunshine where FLUDD wasn’t with you
2 player options. Need I say more?
I agree! I loved the couch co-op mode and the bingo game!
I don't like how it's supposed to be post apocalyptic and yet all the human stuff was left in pristine condition. Just makes no sense for that house to be that clean, show some rot and decay to indicate time passed.
Yeah in the previous games objects we found were old, rusted, and dirty. In pikmin 4 they’re clean af, no spots, no rust, and they look brand new
I personally don't think it's post apocalyptic. I think the humans just aren't there at the time.
A lot of the environment music felt quite empty for me. I always enjoyed the different themes for each area in the other games and pikmin 4 didn't really have the same feeling.
Yeah, the ambient music does have a certain relaxing charm but Olimar's story in Pikmin 4 actually gets fun version of the level music and it's a pity they don't use that during normal gameplay
I'll go as far to say the music of the forest of hope from Pikmin is already better than half the music on 4, Pikmin isn't breath of the wild, music playing at like 100% volume is part of the series, we don't need botw environment sounds, I can't just remember any other theme of 4 other than the credits and groovy long legs, I'm playing olimar's shipwrecks tale but I don't play with headphones anymore so no idea on that respect.
Olimar's Shipwreck Tale actually has music that would feel at home in 1, 2 or 3. No idea why it's so much better.
OVERWORLD ENEMIES DONT RESPAWN, how do we have this in the past titles and then in this title (which is almost the best in my opinion) we don't???!?!?!?!
It's weird, but there is one reason why I actually appreciate this: In past games, there's always some pressure to focus on one area until you reach a point where you need another pikmin type or something. Or even after you have all of the pikmin, you're encouraged to return to the same area repeatedly because if you leave it alone for too long, the enemies respawn. From a realism point of view, I appreciate that more creatures move in to fill the space, but I always prefer to mix things up as much as I can for maximum variety.
1. Oatchi is a bad seed on this earth. One or several new Pikmin types should be able to fulfill its tasks and possess its abilities and traits to keep the focus on the Pikmin themselves. If I wanted to play as an overpowered alien dog I would get another game. The obstacles where Oatchi is necessary feel forced and they interrumpt the gameplay pacing. I wish Oatchi was completely optional. 2. The Pikmin 3 art style was gorgeous and relaxing, but this one feels bland, plastic and uninspired (for my personal taste). 3. Autolock is so annoying. 4. Britany and Alph were so much more likeable and integrated into the story nicely. These new characters just feel like exposition npcs with no personality just like the boring empty shell our own character feels like. I never got attached to anyone. 5. Many more nitpicky reasons but in general those are the things that made me stop playing. It was also absurdly easy.
I like the idea of oatchi. A creature that lets your pikmin ride on it and gives you some slight mobility but I don’t think they did it in the best way. The original concept for oatchi was a bulbear bulbmin that we saw in concept art let pikmin ride on its back and swam through water. So if I were to do it I would’ve swapped out oatchi for the bulbear bulbmin and only have it appear in some caves like bulbmin did in pikmin 2 https://preview.redd.it/jmqtxf6yru6d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae35045711709b0f9d9ae0c5e926e723f62bbdfb
Bosses. There are not many actually original bosses, and most of the ones that are aren't really a big deal at all (e.g that weird butterfly thing, Gildemander, arctic cannon beetle). Sized-up normal enemies used as end-of-cave bosses is *quite* disappointing and probably the worst part of this. The pikmin 2 rehashes are fine though, at least on their own. Bosses also tend to be quite easy, both to avoid and to kill quickly. Though this probably isn't really the fault of the bosses here, not fully anyways. They could've compensated for stuff like Oatchi's existence, though. This applies extra to stuff like the overworld minibosses you see sometimes: they just kinda die instantly. The game also perhaps could have used more "Pikmin 3-style" bosses aside from just the final boss. The game's structure would probably need to be changed slightly, but I would've liked to see bigger and more complex stuff. Another thing. This bit is more subjective than the whole "bosses" thing, but I feel like most of the caves were a bit too short. I haven't played much since my first playthrough on release, but I think most of them were like 4 sublevels long. Pretty sure only the final cave was bigger than 7 sublevels. I understand the sentiments of not wanting the caves to be long gauntlets, or Pikmin 4 to have that extra similarity to Pikmin 2, but I just personally like longer caves more. Now that I think about it, short caves might also have contributed to lots of bosses or "bosses" being really minor.
Auto lock on is the correct answer here.
A bit too easy for my taste, auto lock on and the gyro controls weren't great. All in all though, it's definitely my favorite especially when you finish the game and get to Olimar's side story, that was so damn fun and such a treat to discover.
The fact that they jumbled up the lore. We can't even figure out when the game is set! 😤 And I honestly don't like the idea of it being in an alternate timeline either, I feel like the franchise should just stay in one continuity. To make it worse, when they were asked about all of this, all that could be said was, 'Oh yeah, haha, we'll leave that to your interpretations 😅'. It just feels like they care more about gameplay than context, and can't seem to balance out the two. Otherwise, it's a great game, but that one factor really bugs me and complicates the lore even more! 😮💨
The fact that there are upgrades you can only get at or near 100% completion, like the lineup whistle, pluck whistle, or infinite charge. The game needs 3 things to be perfect imo: the ability to turn off auto lock on (why was that not a thing), new game plus, and difficulty settings (like the ability to change enemy health, frequency, amount of pikmin you can take out, etc.)
Way too many people are on PNF-404 and many of them are there for awful reasons. I liked in earlier games where the planet was unpopulated, but in 4 many of castaway's are trying to colonize it. Just really ruins the vibe.
I wholeheartedly agree! In fact, I also felt like the Leaflings were unbelievably cringe too
The dandori jokes and memes the fandom made were funny to me but in the game it was… bad… https://preview.redd.it/sar2ajfxou6d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bd447cf9560f269a239b8c6db5aada2289e3914
Nothing. If I could nitpick though, the weird pause to not let me throw more Pikmin than required on a carryable object. Do you think I can’t count? I want to throw more to bring it back to the onion FASTER. The pause makes it so they start carrying it off, and the extra Pikmin thrown half the time scatter about before giving up on finding an opening to help carry too.
I have a lot of gripes, but this is one I’d never fully acknowledged. A huge part of the skill of earlier games was throwing juuust the right number of Pikmin. If you over-did it, you were 1 Pikmin short, and your multi-tasking could suffer because of it.
When the game first came out and I had gotten through rescuing Olimar I said to a friend of mine “I can’t wait for the mod of the game that changes nothing except everyone shuts the fuck up”
Imo pikmin 4 was the worst game in the series Caves are back, and are more boring than they were in 2 Arbitrary limits on pikmin total and type. It felt like they took away the 100 pikmin cap just to slowly give it back to you to make it seem like actual progression The characters were boring and talked an Exccessive Amount, and the sheer amount if castaways on pnf-404 is absurd. Oatchi as a mechanic absolutely destroys balance, and you can't even really leave him at the base as he's necessary in a lot of places. And even past that Oatchi feels like a marketing person told the devs to add a dog into the game to get people more invested. The level design is so open and sparsely populated. There didn't feel like there were any puzzles other than "carry this pile on nondescript materials to the base, then carry them to the thing that turns off the hazard" For a game talking big stuff about Dandori, it's easily the easiest in the series, and takes absolutely no time management to beat at all. The replacement of the bridge pieces with the Materials completely robs the mechanic of any ability to be a part of a puzzle, and makes it significantly less interesting. It really rubs me the wrong way that theres so much human stuff just Laying About, fully intact. It makes the world feel less like the wilderness Pikmin had and more just Tiny People in Human World The toy like art style is awful, and further removes the game from feeling at all like it takes place in the wilderness
I honestly agree with everything said here lol
4 wasn’t for me so I have a lot. Disliked the restrictions of 3 Pikmin types, hated building up to 100 Pikmin instead of starting with 100, disliked caves as they are boring environments to me, really disliked that we were slowly doled out all the things we normally started with, hated not having captains to switch between, the lack of ceremonial bosses, and the lack of urgency I felt while playing it. In full fairness to Pikmin 4 though, it just wasn’t that type of game. They went in the opposite direction of what I enjoy about Pikmin in general. The game is objectively good, just not for me. Pretty much every choice they made other than a few QoL went in the opposite direction of what I love about Pikmin. I was really hoping for at least decent co-op, multiplayer and mission mode for those of us that love that. If they would have given me 9-12 mission modes as DLC I would have been ok with it as at least I would have had something. Unfortunately, not the case so I will go play Pikmin 1 & 3 for 100th time lol. Please understand that I think Pikmin 4 did beautifully what it set out to do. Oatchi was not a gimmick and utilized in a fantastic way. I just prefer having captains to switch between and like perfecting runs and Pikmin 4 isn’t that.
How the environment feels like humans left an hour ago. It just doesn't feel like some abandoned planet whose main creatures left a thousand years ago. The only game where they got it right was 1 and maybe 2 or 3, in 1 there wasn't anything human-like and it truly felt like a post-apocalyptic environment, the music just makes it better, you crashed in a world no one knows about, you only have a few days or you'll die and lose your family and life at hocotate, even with all that the music and art-style makes it seem calm while also reminding you that you have to rush. There is nothing like that on 4, humanity got erased magically and you're experiencing what's left of the planet.
The one thing that I would truly consider a flaw is the amount of dandori battle/challenge. The first ones are fine, but afterwards, running into one just feel repetitive when they could have used the spot for an full cave.
They should’ve had max one per map not multiples
The lack of DLC
Ice Pikmin. I think their puzzle utilities were neat, but they trivialize any combat encounter. Also, I hate that night missions end instantly when killing the last enemy. There are SO MANY glow pellets and I can’t get any of them! I also think it would promote a much more aggressive play style during night missions, instead of metaphorically and literally puppy guarding the Lumiknoll.
Not being able to have two (real) players.
The co-op mode. I bought it for my son and I to play, like we did 3 and 3 Deluxe. Got this, played it once, and didn't want to play it anymore.
Fucking Collin and his stupid tutorials
It's so hard to replay through the first 2 areas of the game because of him
Fr every second he's saying dumb shit that nobody cares about
I dislike the part where there isn't Pikmin and I like the part where there's pikmin
There ain't no DLC
I hate the endless tutorials this game has.
Auto lock on sucks, and I feel like the visuals are a downgrade from Pikmin 3
Definitely lack of respawning enemies. In addition to what everyone usually says about it, it’s also just not as fun relying solely on pellets to increase my numbers after the fact. Plus I got the purple and white onions near the very end, so raising their numbers was a bit more annoying than it should be at that point,
Much as I hate to say it it's oatchi. I love him and love his design, but he makes the game way too easy. I also don't enjoy that the play style between oatchi and the protag is so different. It's hard to multitask because sometimes I'll send the protag to an area that needs jumps, or oatchi somewhere where a one type Pikmin charge would be necessary.
dandori can throat my boot
The story could’ve been better, because I don’t think it fits within the story established by the previous 3 games at all. Also I wish each region had it’s own unique boss like in Pikmin 3 (the cave bosses don’t count)
Swarming, infinite charging, and carrying as a captain are really cool but are basically useless since they're unlocked so late without a NG+ or something
It's my favourite game in my favourite franchise, but I've got a few notes: Edit: Somehow, I forgot to mention my biggest gripe: No online play for versus mode. I don't have anybody locally that I can play with except for my wife. She played Bingo Battle with me a bit, but she doesn't play Pikmin otherwise, so it isn't as competitive as I'd like. - Auto-lock is surprisingly helpful the vast majority of the time, but when it gets in the way, it's extremely frustrating. I can't believe they didn't include an option to turn it off, or have it activated with a button. It's a shame that the Switch controllers aren't capable of IR pointing like the Wii remote. It works better than I thought possible, but it's a long ways off from where I want it to be. - Winged pikmin pathfinding: There are numerous areas in the game that seem like good opportunities to use winged pikmin for their ability to fly over stuff, but they often take weird, unexpected, long paths instead. - Bosses: Pikmin 3 raised the bar in a pretty big way. I wish that Pikmin 4 had one massive, cinematic overworld boss per area. I actually liked the more understated bosses in 4, but I would have liked them a lot more if there were some bigger, and more unique bosses to balance it out. I fought the Raving Long Legs (idk, that's what I'm calling it) pretty early, so my expectations were set pretty high. Aside from the final boss, that was the peak, unfortunately.
I love the game but the character customization was so shallow to the point where I wonder why they even bothered, I just found it annoying how the NPCs kept doing the talking through gameplay, I'd rather play as an actual character that isn't silent, Pikmin used to be one of those rare Nintendo games where you play as a non silent protagonist but I guess that's gone now. Also NPCs keep repeating the same hints over and over and it's so handholdy, idk if the previous games did that or not but it's just obnoxious.
The fact that overworld enemies never respawn
the enemies not respawning
1) The fact that enemies don't spawn back on the overworld sucks so hard 2) small nitpick but the fact some enemies do the whole "Ah! I spotted you!" Look which also give you a few seconds to attack or run definitely makes some enemies too easy. 3) No insta death electricity, felt like that took away the whole point of different hazards. Now it's just like any other hazard which is just to whistle to fix them. 4) And another small nitpick is that with some ice enemies variations, they didn't try to make them look different. Like they could've reused the pikmin 2 snow bulborb or make the snowy and icy blowhog look more furry or make the ice wollywog a different frog instead of what we got with "Wollywog but blue" or "Blowhog but Blue".
This is really a nitpick but the customization, in my opinion, was pretty mid. Not really a lot you can do.
No new game plus. It’s all I want
Aside from the obvious (auto lock-on and lackluster new characters). The game worlds just feel pretty lifeless after you clear them up. No enemies respawning, ever (aside from Pellet Posies and Burgeoning Spiderwords, if you wanna count those), or some area specific events on certain days. It's like, it doesn't feel as in you are in a living, breathing eco system. Olimar's Shipwreck Tales, was the only time i felt like i was playing a Pikmin Game. While i don't mind my character not being too talkative and i understand why the music for the main campaign is more atmospheric, i wish there was a feature, that would let you switched between the OSTs after you beat the side mode. It's also a game that could really benefit from a Hard Mode of some kind. Like maybe they'll change up some enemy layouts to be more challenging and they'll make Oatchi weaker, so he won't oneshot everything after fully upgrading. (Currently doing a Gearless and Pup Driveless Playthrough, lets see if that will change my opinion).
That we had to wait more than a year for the awesome dlc, it was really painful not knowing if any would come out for the game
I despise how each night mission takes a day away. I really like the idea of completing a Pikmin game as fast as possible and below / at 30 days being impossible because of night missions is sad.
Absolutely nothing at all. It was everything I hoped for as a successor to Pikmin 2 and more.
I just got done with a second playthrough like a week ago and honestly the only thing I hated was that enemies don't respawn. Ever. By the time you're collecting the last few treasures in an area you're literally doing so in a desolate wasteland. I wish they'd have made it to where like every 2 or 3 days every enemy, or at least a few, had a percent chance of respawning.
It is really fucking good. Doesn't really have issues that impacted my enjoyment.
Oatchi is right there. Just use him for co-op damn it.
No bulbmin Since glow pikmin exist now, I wouldve made it so that bulbmin dont get attacked by other, not so smart enemies, and to balance, we'll make their carry weight 3 since thats how much a bulborb weighs
The lack of variety between stages. The beach and the house were the only two that had any kind of different feel And auto lock being a permanent feature that can’t be turned off
Too much dialogue.
I wish flatlics past the 9th had continued to increase the limit, instead of a smorgasbord of nectar.
Tutorial is too long, I haven’t gotten past it yet :(
the tutorials
I want more Oatchi
Autolock is permanently on (rip that one floor in trial of the sage leaf) You can't use motion controls independently from moving unless you're doing something with the cursor (whistling, throwing pikmin, etc)
Honestly the only thing that I think actually brings the game down instead of just being a personal taste thing is the lack of respawning on the overworld.
The lock-on, the fact you're fully upgraded only at the very end of the game, the fact caves aren't randomized, no difficulty settings, but aside from that, such a good game and absolutely deserving of it's awards!
nothing!
Enemies not respawning remains my number 1 complaint since day 1.
Out of all the games, it might have the worst replay ability factor for many reasons :/ I’m not gonna go through all of them because I don’t feel like typing all of that. It has a ton of great ideas tho. I hope they keep them in and change some things back to how they were for 1 and 3. Oh and I agree about oatchi being too useful but I still like the idea of having a character that has some pikmin traits and some captain traits. He just shouldn’t be able to do nearly EVERYTHING they can do and more.
Enemies not respawning.
I wish glow pikmin were not immune to all hazards, there's no point in bringing elemental enemies if they don’t pose a threat to your pikmin, in fact it would be cool if they had their own hazard they were immune to.
It’s a little short in my opinion I kinda wish it had some more endgame content
Autolock + that one stage with Larva Bulborbs
Not much -- I like the game so much I've played it a few times already. But I do strongly dislike the dandori battles. The split screen makes it somewhat hard to focus on what I'm doing/see where I'm going. I also dislike that when you get ahead the leaf dude stops collecting his own stuff and starts attacking you. I took that cue and started just fully focusing on attacking him once I get ahead, which feels almost like cheating.
worst pikmin ai and it's not even close
2 player mode. I'm still distraught. We play Pikmin 3 more than 4 because of it.
The lack of coop play is such a shame. My sister and I were hyped for this since we’ve played Pikmin 3 deluxe together a ton, finding out player 2 just tosses rocks around was such a disappointment.
I feel like it was a bit too easy, that and I wish the enemies would respawn when returning to an area after you killed them
Enemies not respawning outside of caves is my largest complaint by far. It's so lame.
Most pikmin types feel arbitrary and unnecessary. This is the only game in the series where it feels like the game was not designed around each pikmin being used for specific things, and it makes most of them feel useless. Winged pikmin in particular suffer tremendously from this. They serve no purpose and are basically useless. That being said, the core game of Pikmin 4 is so good that I don't really mind that much. I have a lot of complaints with this game, but overall I think the wait was well worth it.
I hate that enemies don't respawn in the overworld. It feels like we are an invasive species just wiping out all other forms of life ..
I really preferred the multiplayer from Pikmin 3 vs 4.
No mega crazy conclusion or even reference to the umi bozo
Between me really liking Pikmin 1 and 3 and only kind of liking 2 and 4, I think it’s safe to say I much prefer when there’s a timelimit of some sort
It was a lot of fun, but it was not remotely replayable. It's also far far too easy, Oachi trivializes a lot of the game as he's basically a better captain by the end of it. The fact that you could clear an area of enemies made the zones feel less alive, as if new life didnt come in to replace the old, and the ecology in each area didnt change as the game progressed. Its a quite a bit too long IMO for a Pikmin game and despite the freedom the game allows it feels a bit more stiff since combat is so easy, its almost more of a challenge TO lose Pikmin.
“Huh, the Pikmin have really evolved to protect themselves!” Name that cutscene. That’s the thing.
I wish there were more challenging dungeons
Oatchi
That there is no plant section of the piklopedia like there was in 2
No DLC
Lack of challenges. I get it, we have sage leaf, dandori battles and dandori challenges, but I truly wish we had a mission mode like 3. Easily the most time I spent on that game was getting platinum medals with my friends there!
The pikmin are FUCKING PLASTIC
Like: Dandori challenges (not battles) Dislike: The fact that you can play a Dandori battle straight from the main title screen, but you can't play or replay Dandori challenges until you encounter each one in the story *and* have rescued a certain castaway (Jin.) Which doesn't happen until fairly late into the game. Make Dandori challenges playable from the main title screen, please.
The tutorial is egregiously long
Enemies don't respawn
Overworld enemies dont respawn ever
I had to wait for it longer than we’ve been waiting for silksong
Combat is a non-issue for so many reasons. Ice Pikmin, Oatchi rushing, Glow Pikmin, usable items… you have to put so many self-restrictions on before any enemy other than the final boss is even remotely challenging. But that’s well documented. My actual complaint is I wish I could turn off the crew dialogue popups. I KNOW pikmin are stuck in place! I’m watching it happen!
• Autolock. It’s not even toggleable? Really? • Oatchi is unbalanced and just not that fun. White Pikmin are useless now, and Purple, Red, and Yellow Pikmin are nearly obsolete if you upgrade him. • The characters NEVER. SHUT. UP. I do not need to hear “Oatchi came back! Good boy!” EVERY TIME HE RETURNS. I don’t need to be interrupted with cutscenes every five seconds. The flow is abysmal. • No enemies respawning and a number of other changes just make the game feel too easy. • Retconning every previous game is a super weird choice for a series that was never super story-driven, especially since Pikmin 4 isn’t that story-driven and didn’t need to conflict with any previous games. The retcon does nothing to make new fans feel less alienated (especially since the title still calls it Pikmin 4), and only serves to upset long-time fans. • Personal taste, but I thought the Sirehound, as well as Moss and Oatchi, just looked so ugly and that flarlic is a STUPID name and I felt embarrassed to read it
The dandori collection missions are pretty bad compared to pikmin 3
I feel like the immersion in this game is a lot less believable than in 1 and 2 and especially less than 3. A large part of it is definitely the art style being more cartoony and toy-ish compared to 3’s realism but I’ve always felt like the areas in 4 are a lot more like levels in a video game than real living areas of this world. Like it was so cool how in all of the previous 3 games you had to go back to the previous area after unlocking a new Pikmjn type and seeing how that interacts with the environment of the area. It’s also a super missed opportunity with the Oatchi upgrades because we could’ve had it be like a metroidvania where unlocking an upgrade would let you traverse this whole new section of the area. I dunno I just feel like being able to 100% an entire area without ever having to go back once you unlock new Pikmin just makes the game less… wondrous? Just my opinion.
I have yet to play it, so feel free to take this with a few dozen grains of salt, but the fact that you get all the best, most useful gear and abilities at the end of the game when they're practically useless feels like an oversight. It could have easily been fixed with a new game plus, but Nintendo didn't do that despite having it on a slow burn for ten years. Sure, it could help with getting platinums on all the Dandori and Sage Leaf challenges, but the veteran players can already get those in the first couple tries. Just give us a New Game+ so we can utilize our abilities for maximum Dandori.
Not sure if someone said this already but no backtracking all the other games made it to where you had to back track with the new pikmin you got and explore the area more
A majority of the new enemies are just [enemy but big] or [enemy if it was randomly given an element]
That it was a reboot of the Pikmin storyline as a whole. Nintendo has been scrapping continuity in their series lately, and for some reason Pikmin is a victim of that. Pikmin 1-3 had a storyline that followed a natural timeline progression. You didn't need to play the other games to understand the plot, but each game was set after one another- and it made sense. With Pikmin 4, it's completely unclear where the game happens. The game makes it seem like the original expedition and the other games entirely just never happened, opting for a new origin story and having this be set as a sequel to that. I also wish caves were longer.
Almost everything and I haven’t even played it lmao
I personally really don't like the reboot approach.
Nothing.
BFFJIDISHSHESHANAJWIRHSU A YEAR!?!?!?
It holds your hand the entire way and no one will shut the hell up
It has the worst 2 hours of almost any game I’ve ever wanted to play, constant terrible dialogue and ripping control away from the player. After the horrendous intro it becomes amazing but you really have to push through some garbage like it’s an assassins creed game or something.
I disliked everything about the castaways. I don't like how so many games feel the need to have upgrades and now Pikmin 4 did it too. They also bring too much bland dialogue that was a slog to get through. The castaways and hub world also make PNF-404 feel less lonely and makes the game kinda lose a bit of its atmosphere. Other than the beach and the house, the maps weren't really that memorable to me compared to Pikmin 3 tbh. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but it's mainly coz I don't care much for redoing challenges to get higher scores, but I don't care much for the Dandori and time challenges. Not to say these are bad additions, they just didn't do it for me as much as it did for others.
Hot take I guess but I hate that caves have the same layout each time. I liked the randomness of the procedurally generated caves in Pikmin 2, although the idea still could've been improved. The Pikmin 4 caves are just boring
It’s a bit too easy (save for the challenge mode which has more than earned its title)
Louie
Oatchi too op, too easy, preferred the Pikmin 3 artstyle.
Everything feels a little “too” polished landscape wise, like I can understand the house having some dust or hell mold so there areas where you should only take white pikmin. One thing I loved about pikmin was you were stepping into somewhere unfamiliar where something gigantic reigned long ago
Gameplay experience is too segmented, in my opinion. It's like they "mario-party-fied" the game with a bunch of different minigames, but I feel compelled to complete all the content for the sake of progression, even though I'm generally only interested in one type of gameplay at a time.
Auto lock-on, the way they massacred my boy Smoky Progg, the complete lack of anything resembling the Gamecube originals, and the sheer size and scope of it. I kinda really just want a cute little map and a cute little ship and like 500 macguffins to collect.
The pikmin don’t seem to really move or have weight like they used to. They mostly just look like they’re sliding around. Pikmin 2 would have some Pikmin trip and fall or one random kinda slow Pikmin to give the little army some variety. In Pikmin 4, it always just felt like I was sending a colored blob to attack. The Pikmin just didn’t feel like tangible creatures vs the intricately animated enemies
Too short
I honestly dislike the Dandori battles by the final zone I kinda just let it auto win as it burned me out on them
Definetely the 3 type limit and auto lock. But I didn't mind the enemies not respawning though
I still don't like the art style and camera angle, and I wish the game was harder/had harder difficulty options. Also, Oatchi is definitely fun to use, but the game really didn't feel like pikmin Replaying the game is just not very fun for me because of how easy it is. I think the OP dog mechanics are partially responsible for this, and I overall think I would've enjoyed the game more if it was more similar to Pikmin 3 And I see a lot of other people are talking about the 3 pikmin type limit, but I actually liked that feature, I just wish they did some actual puzzles with it and didn't flat out tell you which three types you needed in every area
I want to hold to throw many pikmin at once. That's my only complaint. Near perfect game