Did you know I hate Dark Souls? I mean REALLY fucking hate it, to the point of probably thinking more about it then people who are like "Yeah it's pretty neat" like that kind of hate. It feels like a monolith, an anthesis of everything I feel games should be. Something to be shared with others in times where it can be, to be played alongside others or even to an audience weather via streaming or just your friends in a front room. This idea that this aspect of a game should be suppressed in order to retain a series "Integrity" brings bile to my mouth. If a game is exclusionary then it has no integrity. Harsh words perhaps, but if a piece of art loses integrity because more people can experience it, it belays a cowardice that it has no meaning outside of it's exclusionary nature, it's hallow, the anthesis of art itself (I told you I hate this game lol). This was an opinion I'd assume I would carry till my grave.
But now Pikmin 4 is here and as a life long fan of the series... This opinion still stands lol you know who played this game with me when it came out? Above the value of: Fuck all which has never been true with the previous 3 entries. I can talk about Pikmin to normal people now, this fuckin' rules.
I don't like being negative sorry for the intro there lmao but I just wanna hammer home the point that this view is misguided, even as I am actively feeling what people who say this silly shit feel as I play the newest Pikmin.
Cos to be fair for a second this isn't just the boys club whinging... Least not 100%. We know this because Nintendo actually did a series of interviews before Pikmin 4's release, which is a vital read for anyone who wants to know why 4 is the way it is. Miyamoto laments on the low sales of the series and supposits the solution to remedy this is to make the act of playing Pikmin as unintrusive as possible. Removing as much of the barrier from Want to Do as possible, which easier said then done when it comes to Pikmin!
For me the original Pikmin's are all ABOUT that disconnect between Want and Do, how you can make Do manifest when you command 100 of the stupidest plants boys in existence. Pikmin voluntarily walking into the path of the boulder or taking seven million years to run from the path of a Bendy Long Leg's paw isn't a glitch, it's the entire point. But it's easy to see this misinterpreted, especially when the game encourages a Score Attack mindset on repeat playthroughs.
The streamlining of being able to sort and command your army, the limitations of only 3 Pikmin types initially and the relaxed consequences of the elements, electricity in particular getting a huge nerf. It changes "The Point" of Pikmin dramatically, from the struggle to make Want from Do, but with the buff to your PC to make Want to Do instantaneously, can you use those abilities to manage effectively, y'know: Can You Do Dandori Do? (Can you?) But many still lament this has made the hypothetical fail-state of Pikmin impossible to achieve, which robs the game so much of it's personality.
But the results speak for themselves, Pikmin 4 is annihilating previous series records, meaning the games approach to accessibility has paid off. This is good! Possibly opening up Pikmin as a new pillar in Nintendo R&D's line up, hopefully securing a 5th entry on the Switch's successor with similar gameplay. This is GOOD! This is the kind of trajectory a series should go, when it is the IP of a Corpo developer.
As for the chaos of the earlier entries? Well think of it like this: Nintendo couldn't do a game with the chaos element of the first few games, while convey said chaos as intentional. Couldn't convey it in a way that was enjoyable and approachable to everyone. Maybe it's as simple as that, Nintendo CAN'T make the 4th Old Style Pikmin successfully, or maybe we've hit the limit of how enjoyable the Old Style can be within the Pikmin framework
Cos that's my pet peeve personally, the way we all surrender control of this dilemma to Corpos, as if Nintendo could only possibly make this style of game. Rather we should surrender this burden to any takers who can take a crack at this formula. This feels like a very baby post to make like... Duh right? Well apprently not as I see, even on Cohost people lamment the cardinal sin of Normal People being able to enjoy Pikmin, so apprently it does! Let Pikmin be accessible for more people to see why it's so beloved and let a another dev tackle making the best "OH GOD 90 OF THEM ARE DEAD AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" style of Pikmin game.
