Why Pikmin 4 is both a Step Up and a Step Down from Pikmin 3

This is literally how i felt about the game, loved it all the way through but still felt something i loved from 3 was missing. This video puts it into words

Oatchi is very weird in terms of multitasking because on one hand, he is an excellent second captain capable of everything you can, even more technically, but on the other hand, because you cant jump on your own, its not feasible to send him away So multitasking is possible, encouraged in some dandori challenges, but not really needed on most of the game, where as the entirety of Pikmin 3 is about that satisfaction of doing so much stuff in a single day, seriously the Christmas challenge is peak Finally, coop, i swear Pikmin 3 is the perfect starting point just because of coop

22:30 fun fact: it seems like you actually can have all pikmin types in the final cave, because on the second-to-last floor you have 5 candypop buds (red, yellow, blue, white and ice). So if you came in with purple, rock and flying pikmin, you could change them into the other types and have all 8 at once, 9 if you count the glow pikmin that can also be spawned in But then if you actually try this, then two of the candypop buds will stealthily have their color changed to match a pikmin you already have (in my case purple). Even with the 3 type limit lifted in a cave, the game is still physically incapable of allowing more than 7 types for whatever reason.

The one thing i wish they did in pikmin 4 is that once you are able to have 100 pikmin every flarlic after that increases the pikmin type limit instead of just giving some nectar and sprays

LET ME TURN OFF THE AUTOLOCK GOD DAMN IT

I feel pretty passionately that the 3 type limit is the biggest flaw of 4. I could go into more detail but the main reason why is because of the way it limited them from designing the game in a more interesting way. The game will "recommend" 3 types to you for each area and they do this because they are the only 3 types you need in the area. If whites are not recommended, you won't see any poison. If yellows aren't recommended, you won't see any electricity, etc. You can bring out other types for exploration if you want, but there's really no need to. This screws over the game in ways such as you don't get to experiment with secondary abilities the types have, like rocks being immune to crushing, or yellows being fast diggers, or whites carrying things faster because you're not going to be using them very often. They also couldn't make up their mind on what they wanted to use when, so this leaves some of the types never really getting a chance to shine, mainly affecting whites and wings. I'm not really sure why they picked those two in particular, probably because they were having to prove to people that ice didn’t make blues worthless and made way too much of the game not encourage but require blues specifically, which takes a lot of design space away from other types. But some of the types barely get to be useful and it really sucks. One of the best parts of the previous games (heck even 2 had this) was having all your Pikmin with you and having to decide which type was the best to use for a situation, because they would usually allow you to mix things around as you wanted, at least once you got past certain elemental obstacles. This game doesn't really let you do that because most of the stuff that you need certain types to do is very strictly something only they can do. It's just very restrictive when it just doesn't need to be. The game does have some good improvements (like the Sage Leaf trials mode is INCREDIBLE), but there are also some massive flaws this game has that others in the series don't (most of them you mentioned in the video) but I feel like because it's so aggressively average when you combine those factors, I really agree with the overall take of your video. And I thought that one of the reasons I believe that seems to be different from your view so I thought I'd mention it

one thing I love about the pikmin series is how, you could say any one of them is your favorite, and it would be a respectable opinion among fans. like, even if you don't like a specific aspect about one game, you most likely still enjoyed it. the fact that this is a series spanning over 2 decades with only 4 games, makes this extremely impressive.

I feel like the Pikmin community has always been broken in half. The ones who think Pikmin 2 is the best, and the ones who think Pikmin 3 is the best. Or, in other words, it’s people who play Pikmin for time management vs people who play for exploration and challenge. Most people I know who preferred Pikmin 3 still preferred it over 4 because 3 is based on time management where 4 is like 2 – exploration and challenge.

I think Pikmin 4's biggest structural issue is that it feels kind of spread thin and unfocused. The first 3 games all have a unique vibe that makes me revisit each of them. 1 is the most cohesive and emotionally investing. 2 is laid back and has some of the most in-depth character building and worldbuilding. 3 is streamlined and has the most dramatic and exciting plot. 4 kind of tries to do all of the previous things at once, and while it doesn't fumble any of them, no single aspect of the world scratches those itches like the other games do for me. That combined with the weird retconned story makes it where I can't really immerse myself in it like the first 3.

Personally i miss the big bosses of 3 being sort of mini puzzles with a bit of pressure 4s cave bosses don't really reach the same highs for me as solving puzzles in the dark with an invisible phosbat on the attack, or having to shatter the armour using your brand new pikmin type before you can even hurt the mawdad Most of 4s fights boil down to "hit it with oatchi" the only ones i really found fun were the ones that had other steps to them like that icy butterfly or the foolix Plus fighting massive creatures as a tiny guy was also just fun on it's own, mireclops is among my favourite bosses in gaming, would be top 5 if it weren't for the pools of water that stick around for just slightly too long for my taste

i kinda feel like oatchi makes the pikmin feel... unimportant. not irrelevant, but not a focus anymore. the characters dont talk about them a lot either, the pikmin are just there for the sake of being there. i find it kind of annoying when the game constantly forces oatchi onto me and the pikmin feel obsolete i also think pikmin 4 just absolutely lacks the grim yet comforting space atmosphere the first three games totally nail. many people say pikmin 4 is the best pikmin game and honestly i can agree with that.. but i could never say its my Favorite pikmin game. its a great game, it really is, but i just cannot feel the way about pikmin 4 that pikmin 3 makes me feel

One thing I feel needs to be clarified... Real-Time Strategy DOES NOT mean time management! Pikmin isn't an RTS because of the time management aspects, its an RTS because you command an army to fight enemies in real time instead of having turn-based battles. In other words, what I'm trying to say, is that just because there's less focus on time management doesn't mean that Pikmin 2 isn't an RTS game. I feel like Pikmin fans in particular don't even really know what RTS games are by definition. Pikmin is unlike any other RTS game, its gameplay loop and time management focus is unique to the series, NOT the genre. And yes, Pikmin 2 does require strategy (its a lot deeper than just "bring purples" 🙄). The caves are all about RESOURCE management rather than time management. People often complain that the caves are unfair, but almost all of the traps in the game can be countered or avoided with careful planning and quick thinking. This is Real-Time Strategy! (sorry for ranting, people misunderstanding RTS is one of my biggest pet peeves within this fandom. I am convinced that most Pikmin players have never even played any other RTS games before).

What I found annoying with pikmin 4 is that you could complete an area on your first visit, in the others you got blues way later so you had to return and expore more of the area you already knew. But with pikmin 4 I kinda just entered an area 100% it then never returned it made the game feel different, even to 2.

One of the aspects of Pikmin 4 I enjoy most is how diverse the gameplay can get with the extra 'modes'. The Dandori Challenges, night expeditions, and Olimar's Shipwreck Tale all revamp the gameplay to focus more on time management, but they all do it in different ways. With how long of a game Pikmin 4 is, those extra modes do a great job of breaking up the general dungeon-crawling gameplay loop, and I actually enjoy all three of them more than the main game. That said, it's telling that the parts of Pikmin 4 I like the most are the parts that diverge furthest from that dungeon-crawler experience of clearing through caves. Oatchi's also a part of the game I have... complicated feelings on. I think the devs figured Oatchi would be balanced out by the fact that he can only do one thing in one place at any given time, but in practice, he has too many things to do. His mobility as a second captain and his power as a one-dog Pikmin squad are mutually exclusive, and using him for either compromises the mobility of your main captain and Pikmin. Ironically enough, I preferred to just use Pikmin for everything to keep Oatchi around as a mount, meaning I barely ever utilized his strengths. The only exceptions were using him as a Pikmin squad in the Dandori challenges (where you start with too few Pikmin to not use him) and as a second captain in the night expeditions (where his shortcomings on his own are made especially apparent). I honestly think Pikmin 4 would've benefited from having Oatchi not be rideable and letting both characters jump, or something.

What I really liked about Pikmin 3 is that it really felt you're on earth. For the other parts, especially 2 and 4, it just seemed like a fictional world where there's just minigames and seperate levels. In Pikmin 3 you're in realistic nature, there are no liminal space-like houses or dungeons... I think it's the best one by far.

I know this doesn't matter to everyone, but music is really important to my gaming experience. Pikmin 3's OST is the most memorable, pleasant and consistent in the whole series.

i lowkey hate how 4’s crew just watches you do everything and judges, and then the excessive cutscenes and tutorials like damn man i know kids are not that dumb 😤

i was so disappointed in the final cave when i attempted to get all 9 types at once I hypothesized a way to get all 9 types at once using candy pop buds, as every bud exists but rock and pink in the cave, so i thought if i bring in those types and then use the buds to get the rest i can get a complete 9 types at once, but the game sadly doesn't allow that, having a cap of 6 types + glow, and just changes the color of any candypop buds that are not one of the 6 (not counting glow) types you currently have. it was really soul crushing to me tbh, had to take a small break from the game after that lol, came back and finished everything though, is a really fun game just a bit too easy and limiting at times. 8/10

Honestly all games in the whole series are amazing but 3 is always be the best to me personally. It's such an unbelievably polished experience with beautiful graphics and the definitive best side modes.

15:45 "Slightly overpowered" dog does literally everything in the entire game. The only thing it isn't is two places at once.