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Pikmin More
Jul. 29th, 2023 12:01 amI thought I'd challenge myself to see how quickly I could get to the credits from a cold start in Pikmin 4. Just under five hours! I'm sure I can shave off another half hour but beyond that... hmmm.
SPOILERS:
There's some shenanigans in that castaways that you need to access later areas do not always hide in the same hole. I *think* you get them in a set order regardless of the caves you go down, suggesting that going down the quickest ones to complete would be best. But I also think that the key one, Bernard the sexy pilot, is always a leafling so possibly you can only find him via Dandori battles and / or challenges. This time I did three battles and two challenges but went down many fewer holes overall. So it might be possible to make a bee line for those types of caves and avoid others entirely (though getting 20-30 ice pikmin is still a good idea). Also I think world three is best for getting the blue onion, there doesn't seem to be one on world two and the one on world one is a faff. On three you just have to climb the sandcastly thing and be there post-meridian with a squad of 20. I made heavy weather of this by assuming you needed 20 blue first, but this wasn't entirely my fault - a bug meant that the area didn't appear drained the first time I went there PM. There again, do you really need the blue onion? It helps with some caves but those ones may be avoidable.
Beyond that, no need to return to earlier areas once you have enough sparkly-yum to move on. In particular, you can avoid everything in world four, just get two of the three playing cards, switch on the fan (you don't need to kill the boss near the switch) and guess the third number. One playing card is near the entrance before you even see Moss, and another in accessed on the steps via the slidey thing. You can then beat Olimar and take him back to the onion in much less than half a day. I *think* Oatchi's rush move needs to be upgraded to get the first playing card down, since I think when I tried to rush it first it didn't come down.
I did four night missions which were all fine enough, but I'd rather see if I can get that down to three by not getting any leaflings other than Bernard and Olimar, but that may not be feasible. Alternatively, do one of the double-reward ones even though they're a bit harder, but perhaps they weren't unlocked early enough? Speaking of unlocking, not getting Oatchi's swim skill until what, day four?? is a pain when you're trying to dandori the whole thing. Why I couldn't be allowed that on day two I don't know.
EDIT:
Got it down to 4 hours 20 minutes. Didn't bother with a blue onion. The reason the water doesn't drain is because the onion is plugging it, for which you need 20 blue. It also seems like Bernard is always the leafling from whichever dandori battle you do third? So it's a double waste of time doing the challenges, because in addition to never being Bernard, they pile up leaflings to cure meaning more night missions. Reckon I could shave off another half an hour that way. Also I forgot to switch the fan on but it was already on, so the switch must not control all fans??
EDIT 2:
Final attempt, just under four hours. I could have shaved off the odd minute here and there but I think that's close to my best possible time. Did no Dandori Challenges (and in one battle I got around 200 more than Olimar!!), though I only did single-lumiknoll night missions so could have saved a few minutes there. (For comparison purposes, one pro reviewer claimed it took her twenty hours to do the same thing, though there's no shame in taking a more exploratory approach if you'd rather, since there isn't the ticking-clock aspect of 1 and 3.)
According to the Internet Oatchi learns to swim two days after struggling in the water, which I understandably tried to avoid. Not the only instance of the game penalising you for playing better or rewarding you for playing worse (example: if you do night missions when structures aren't built, enemies have to take a longer route and sometimes won't even get near the lumiknoll by the end of the night).
SPOILERS:
There's some shenanigans in that castaways that you need to access later areas do not always hide in the same hole. I *think* you get them in a set order regardless of the caves you go down, suggesting that going down the quickest ones to complete would be best. But I also think that the key one, Bernard the sexy pilot, is always a leafling so possibly you can only find him via Dandori battles and / or challenges. This time I did three battles and two challenges but went down many fewer holes overall. So it might be possible to make a bee line for those types of caves and avoid others entirely (though getting 20-30 ice pikmin is still a good idea). Also I think world three is best for getting the blue onion, there doesn't seem to be one on world two and the one on world one is a faff. On three you just have to climb the sandcastly thing and be there post-meridian with a squad of 20. I made heavy weather of this by assuming you needed 20 blue first, but this wasn't entirely my fault - a bug meant that the area didn't appear drained the first time I went there PM. There again, do you really need the blue onion? It helps with some caves but those ones may be avoidable.
Beyond that, no need to return to earlier areas once you have enough sparkly-yum to move on. In particular, you can avoid everything in world four, just get two of the three playing cards, switch on the fan (you don't need to kill the boss near the switch) and guess the third number. One playing card is near the entrance before you even see Moss, and another in accessed on the steps via the slidey thing. You can then beat Olimar and take him back to the onion in much less than half a day. I *think* Oatchi's rush move needs to be upgraded to get the first playing card down, since I think when I tried to rush it first it didn't come down.
I did four night missions which were all fine enough, but I'd rather see if I can get that down to three by not getting any leaflings other than Bernard and Olimar, but that may not be feasible. Alternatively, do one of the double-reward ones even though they're a bit harder, but perhaps they weren't unlocked early enough? Speaking of unlocking, not getting Oatchi's swim skill until what, day four?? is a pain when you're trying to dandori the whole thing. Why I couldn't be allowed that on day two I don't know.
EDIT:
Got it down to 4 hours 20 minutes. Didn't bother with a blue onion. The reason the water doesn't drain is because the onion is plugging it, for which you need 20 blue. It also seems like Bernard is always the leafling from whichever dandori battle you do third? So it's a double waste of time doing the challenges, because in addition to never being Bernard, they pile up leaflings to cure meaning more night missions. Reckon I could shave off another half an hour that way. Also I forgot to switch the fan on but it was already on, so the switch must not control all fans??
EDIT 2:
Final attempt, just under four hours. I could have shaved off the odd minute here and there but I think that's close to my best possible time. Did no Dandori Challenges (and in one battle I got around 200 more than Olimar!!), though I only did single-lumiknoll night missions so could have saved a few minutes there. (For comparison purposes, one pro reviewer claimed it took her twenty hours to do the same thing, though there's no shame in taking a more exploratory approach if you'd rather, since there isn't the ticking-clock aspect of 1 and 3.)
According to the Internet Oatchi learns to swim two days after struggling in the water, which I understandably tried to avoid. Not the only instance of the game penalising you for playing better or rewarding you for playing worse (example: if you do night missions when structures aren't built, enemies have to take a longer route and sometimes won't even get near the lumiknoll by the end of the night).
