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Gar's Gaming Blog (Animal Crossing: New Leaf)

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I_like_Nonon
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« Reply #1020 on: 28 June, 2013, 04:16:49 pm »

I think the ship may be out to get you.
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« Reply #1021 on: 28 June, 2013, 04:43:11 pm »

I think it's just kind of a douche.
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« Reply #1022 on: 29 June, 2013, 06:16:49 pm »

Three days today. Again, you'll find out why below.

Day 7
The opening fly-over of the area just before the ship landed revealed the prescence of some Yellow Pikmin to me, but before I went looking for them I decided to scout the immediate area with Olimar. The Perplexing Pool consists of a central land mass with large pools of water on either side that are connected by a stream running along the top. The landing site is situated on a walled platform at the edge of the land mass with part of one of the pools behind it. I didn't get far with my scouting however, in fact I'd just left the platform, when the Ship pointed out the wild Yellows to me. They seemed to be watching from on top of a high branch (well, from Olimar's perspective) in the middle of a hollow stump. Further exploration showed me some winged creatures that emerge from the ground (Shearwigs) and an un-built bridge in one direction (the sticks were on the opposite side to me), and a longer path in the other direction right next to the connecting stream. This led me past some Yellow Wollywogs (one on the path and some others in the stream), a Burgeoning Spiderwort with red berries in the middle of the stream, some fast insects under leaves that ran away from me (Skitter Leafs), an electric fence on the opposite bank and a hole that the Ship said was making its sensors give off "foreboding signals", concluding that it was full of "wretched, nasty bugs". At the end of this path was a set of see-saw blocks, so I headed back to the landing site and took out 15 Purples & 50 Reds and headed out.
I need to refine my strategy for taking on Wollywogs, because the one on the path managed to kill one of my reds in one of its leaps. Maybe next time I'll throw in the Purples first instead of trying to swarm it, although that won't help me much with the ones in the stream... Anyway, after getting my army (save Louie and two Purples for weight) past the see-saw blocks, I was immediately set upon by a Swooping Snitchbug, which hovers around and dives down to carry off some Pikmin. Now, I've heard that this nuisance doesn't actually kill the Pikmin it takes, but it could still be very annoying so I made sure to bring it down before it got too carried away (arf!). The path to the Yellow Onion was blocked off by a wall with poison spouts and a sleeping Fiery Bulblax (basically a black Bulborb that's on fire), so I sent Louie to get the Whites out while I killed the enemy. I was about to sent Olimar's forces around to start building the bridge but was distracted by a Fiery Blowhog and a nasty-looking mold-like growth on the ground, which the Ship claimed was "suffocating" other plant life beneath it, so I killed them both and set about building the bridge, leaving a pair of purple Spiderworts to grow where the ground mold had been. After the bridge had been finished and I'd beaten up the Shearwigs that were on the other side, I got the Whites and set them to work on the wall, while I had the other Pikmin harvest some purple berries. BTW, I was saving the corpses of all the enemies I'd killed so far so the Yellows could take them.
Finally the wall was broken down and the poison spouts disabled so I could enter the stump area and whistle the Yellows down from their perch for a proper introduction, during which the example Pikmin sparked and the Ship said its static electricity sensors were reacting violently. Guess I've found a means of getting rid of electric fences. However, the wall and everything else had taken so long that I was forced to end the day with just a meager 14 Yellows, since there was no way I'd be able to get all those enemy carcasses to the Onion in time. *sigh* Still, at least they didn't all go to waste as some were close enough to the landing site that I was able to get some more Reds out of them. And from tomorrow onwards both Onions will be in the same place, so I won't have to choose between them because one's too far away.

Day Summary
Treasure
None
Day Total: 0 pokos
Overall Total: 3,225/10,000 pokos

Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 44
Killed: 1
Day Total: 43
Overall Total: 272

Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 33

White Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 14

Yellow Pikmin
Obtained/Sprouted: 14
Killed: 0
Day Total: 14
Overall Total: 14

Total Pikmin: 333
Total Deaths: 9

Day 8
This day is a serious contender for the title of least productive day in this playthrough. In hindsight it was probably a mistake to kill all those enemies yesterday, because as a result today the area was almost deserted save a few enemies that I can't even get to, like the Yellow Wollywogs in the stream. I even went all the way to where the Yellow Onion had been to see if there were any Pellet Posies there but no such luck, although I did see a treasure behind that electric fence on the opposite side of the stream. No idea how I'm going to be able to knock that down... And if either of my readers know, don't tell me. Anyway, I cracked some eggs open for some nectar to mature my Yellows and also got a free Bitter Spray, then headed over to the Spiderworts to harvest some more purple berries. Looking around the immediate area, I saw a treasure (Impediment Scourge, 50 pokos) up on a high stump so I threw some Yellows up to grab it while the other Pikmin were busy. On the opposite side of the Spiderworts was a large group of stone blocks and at the top of a particularly tall sloped one was another treasure, but when I finally got into the correct position to get the Yellows up there I discovered I was one Pikmin short, and since there was no way to get any other types up there I had no other option than to comb the whole area in the hope of finding an enemy I hadn't killed yet. Eventually I remembered the Skitter Leafs that I found yesterday but didn't fight, so I immediately killed them and spawned a couple more Yellows so I could finally get that treasure. Or at least I could if I'd been able to get any Yellows on top of that block before time ran out. Tomorrow I'm heading back to Awakening Wood to properly build up my Yellow forces.

Day Summary
Treasure
Impediment Scourge (bottle opener) - 50
Day Total: 50 pokos
Overall Total: 3,275/10,000 pokos

Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 272

Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 33

White Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 14

Yellow Pikmin
Sprouted: 2
Killed: 0
Day Total: 2
Overall Total: 16

Total Pikmin: 335
Total Deaths: 9

Day 9
The first thing I did was take out 15 Purples and 40 Reds and kill all Sheargrubs and all three Bulborbs in the landing area. Then I put away all the Reds, took out all 16 Yellows and set about gathering up the corpses and harvesting the pellets, making sure to assign at least one Yellow to a Purple as for some reason the Purples kept trying to carry stuff to the Red Onion. All this brought my Yellow numbers up from 16 to 54. Next I left some Pikmin to pull up the grass for nectar while I took the others to destroy the ground mold that had grown over the two red Spiderworts. After it was cleared up, and I'd used the nectar to mature some of my new Yellows, I killed a couple of Cloaking Burrow-nits (just beyond the Spiderwort area and near the White Flower Garden) and Creeping Chrysanthemums (near the first Burrow-nit and where the poison wall had been) and sent their corpses back to the Yellow Onion. While this was happening I was finally able to get that bottle cap treasure (Hypnotic Platter, 100 pokos) on top of the high stump after throwing some Yellows up there. After maturing the Yellows with some nectar dropped by a Honeywisp (and killing some Whiskerpillars that had apparently wasted no time in attacking the Spiderworts after they'd just grown back), I decided to quickly head through the White Flower Garden again to get some more Whites, so I put away all the Yellows, took out all my Whites and enough Reds to bring my army up to 95 and headed in there. The journey was, thankfully, uneventful as a path around the side of the boss arena I hadn't noticed before meant I wouldn't have to fight the Burrowing Snagret again, so that was good to learn. I spent the last few hours of the day boosting my Yellow numbers a little more.

So yeah, I now have a proper Yellow force, I've doubled my number of Whites, I was finally able to get a treasure that had been irritating me whenever I passed it, and I learned that it's not too much trouble to get more White Pikmin if I need to. Tomorrow I'm heading back to the Perplexing Pool to get that treasure and explore the first cave.

Next time: Crawling through the Citadel of Spiders.

Day Summary
Treasure
Hypnotic Platter ("Vitamalz" bottle cap) - 100
Day Total: 100 pokos
Overall Total: 3,375/10,000 pokos

Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Converted: 15
Killed: 0
Day Total: -15
Overall Total: 257

Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 33

White Pikmin
Sprouted: 15
Killed: 0
Day Total: 15
Overall Total: 29

Yellow Pikmin
Sprouted: 95
Killed: 0
Day Total: 95
Overall Total: 111

Total Pikmin: 430
Total Deaths: 9
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« Reply #1023 on: 30 June, 2013, 04:33:26 pm »

Not liking spiders, I think that's one of the scariest things I've ever heard. 'A citadel of spiders'.
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« Reply #1024 on: 30 June, 2013, 04:36:29 pm »

Well, they weren't really spiders, as you'll see in today's update, just the nearest Pikmin equivalents.
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« Reply #1025 on: 30 June, 2013, 06:01:59 pm »

Day 10
After looking up what Pikmin types were required for the upcoming cave (which contained fire, electricity and buried treasure), I decided to take out 10 Whites, 15 Purples, 45 Reds and 30 Yellows and headed over to the hole. It's very close to the landing site and the Yellow Wollywog on the path hadn't respawned yet, so there wasn't any trouble. Upon entering the first floor I saw that we were back to the regular tunnel style. In fact it was even more tunnel-y than previous caves as there were lots of roots about, which was fitting given that the hole is right under a stump. Anyway, the only enemies about were some Shearwigs and Skitter Leafs so I quickly dispatched them and gathered my first treasure: the "Love Nugget" (40 pokos). Or a tomato as we would call it. I've no idea how a tomato ended up underground without being eaten by any wildlife, though. Presumeably the same way that a tangerine could be found intact underground in the Emergence Cave. Which is in an area seemingly in permanent winter, and thus not an ideal growing location for tangerines.
Floor two was where things started to get tricky. It consisted of a fairly large square area connected to the smaller Research Pod site and a passage connecting another side of the Pod site with the another side of the other area. There were a number of fire geysers around the larger area, including one in each of the entrances, and it was inhabited by three Yellow Wollywogs and a number of red spider-like creatures with small bodies and four long legs called Fiery Dweevils. There was also a pair of walls, a black one in the Research Pod area (which had nothing behind it) and a white one in the enemy area. Now, the first step would have to be to get rid of the geysers, which was simple enough, but one of the Wollywogs was unnervingly close to one of the entrance geysers, so I first had to send Louie with some Purples through the side passage to lure the Wollywog through the entrance and away from the geyser so it could be knocked out from the other side. I then killed the Wollywog with the Purples by waiting for it to jump and throwing them onto it as soon as it landed. Each of the other two Wollywogs was taken out in the same way (though at different times as I spent quite a long time in this floor being careful and taking out one enemy at a time so as not to lose any Pikmin by blundering in). The biggest complication came from the unfamiliar Dweevils, which steal treasure by carrying it on their bodies (so I was subjected to the rather surreal sight of a tube of lipstick with spider legs skittering around the place), can shoot fire (meaning I could only attack them with Reds) and couldn't be swarmed so I had to throw Pikmin on top of them. And if they were carrying something then they couldn't be damaged until I'd thrown a few Pikmin at them and knocked it off, leaving them bare. Eventually the floor was cleared of enemies and geysers and I could set about salvaging the Lip Service (50 pokos), the Activity Arouser (30 pokos) which had been coughed up by one of the Wollywogs, and a partially buried treasure that had been behind the white wall called the "Paradoxical Enigma", which was valued at 80 pokos.
The third floor was even more troublesome, as it was filled with more new creatures called Anode Beetles, which could shoot jolts of electricity between them, and a few Swooping Snitchbugs. As long as I only took Yellows into the enemy areas then none of my Pikmin could actually be killed, but it was still very irritating as not only did I have to worry about my Pikmin being snatched (and thrown down and re-planted, which is what Snitchbugs do if not forced to drop their captives), but the Beetles can only be swarmed if you first throw a Pikmin on top of them to flip them over. So doing this while also trying to get the Snitchbugs to drop your 'Min, and also stop any thrown ones that missed their targets from gathering the corpses or digging up a partially-buried treasure and decreasing your force while they head back to the Research Pod and also plucking any that the Snitchbugs re-planted... It was pretty annoying. Eventually I was able to take everything down and claim the two treasures, one of which was completely buried (Memorial Shell, 100 pokos) and one, as I said earlier, was only partially so (Open Architecture, 130). Oh, and I was ambushed by a third Snitchbug as I went into an alcove with a nectar egg to re-mature the Pikmin that had been re-planted, as they also lose their flowers when that happens.
The fourth floor was a nice breather, even if it brought two previously-unknown enemies. The first was a kind of, blue slug-like thing called a Water Dumple which could be easily swarmed (and is apparently a relative of the Bulborb, though I see no resemblance at all), and the second was a Hermit Crawmad, which are basically large hermit crabs that hang in burrows instead of shells and shoot out to grab Pikmin and drag them back into its hole. It was a simple matter to just lure them out and swarm them as they tried to get back home. I was gathering up the three treasures on the floor, two of which were only worth a piddly 10 and 15 pokos (the Flame of Tomorrow and King of Sweets, respectively. Actually the sweet was inside the Crawmad so I'm not sure how appetising it is anymore...) when I also came across a White Candypop Bud, so I threw some Reds in and got five more Whites. Oh, and while I'm on the subject, in another alcove up on the third floor a Queen Candypop Bud suddenly dropped down. A Queen Candypop is a white flower with polka-dots that cycle through red, yellow and blue, but since I had no need for any of those Pikmin types I just let it be.
On the final floor I could easily have completely avoided the boss fight, as the exit geyser was down a separate passage, but I wanted to get its treasure so I left all my Pikmin apart from my 30 Yellows by the Research Pod and headed into the arena. The rest of the floor was pretty dim so I'm glad the boss room was lighter so I could properly see what I was doing. I could also see the shadow of a large spiderweb on the floor, so apparently this room had an open ceiling, from which dropped a huge creature called a Beady Long Legs. Basically a ball with four great big spindly legs. I'm guessing this, along with the Dweevils earlier on are the "spiders" mentioned in the cave's name. Anyway, I know it's only the third boss I've fought, but it was a surprisingly easy fight. The BLL's "attack pattern", if it can really be called that, is just to stomp around a bit and then lower its body a bit as if trying to catch its breath. The idea is to throw your Pikmin onto its body when it lowers (so the extra height Yellows get are particularly useful) and then call them off before it shakes them off. The only danger came from the feet which could squash any stray Pikmin if you're not careful, so you have to keep an eye out for any Pikmin that start to try and attack the feet and call them back before it's too late, as well as keeping your squad out of harm's way. The latter point means that it's generally a good idea to go into the fight with a relatively small force rather than the full 100. After the last of its health was depleted, which took a surprisingly short time, the BLL's body cracked into two halves like a party ball and dropped the treasure it had been keeping ("The Key", 100 pokos) and then the creature seemed to crumble into dust, leaving no remains. The Key was carried back to the Research Pod, whereupon it got a special fanfare and the Ship said it had suddenly detected "a massive dimensional shift at a distant location" and picked up an interdimensional message that said "Challenge Mode can now be accessed from the title screen", but proclaimed it to be gibberish. I wasn't finished yet, though, as the Treasure Gauge hadn't powered down. It detected something up on a low ledge so I threw my Whites up and they excavated a rather pretty diamond (Regal Diamond, 100 pokos). BTW, have I mentioned how insanely fast a group of White Pikmin travel when no other types are slowing them down? They had that treasure to the Pod in seconds. Anyway, with the 11th(!) and final treasure of the cave salvaged, there was nothing left to do but jump into the exit geyser and get blasted out. Oh, and I waited a few minutes on the "Cave Completed" screen so that I could hear Totaka's Song.
The first order of business after landing back at the Ship and Onions (sounds like a Pikmin-themed pub) was to finally get that treasure by the two purple Spiderworts, so I headed straight over there, pausing only to beat up some Shearwigs that got in my way, clear up the ground mold so the Spiderworts could sprout, and kill a Snitchbug that was buzzing around nearby. There were some odd pools of water in and around that group of stone blocks, but I was able to carefully navigate a small group of Yellows around to the treasure (Gherkin Gate, 100 pokos) and finally salvage it. The next stop was to get some more Yellows out (putting away some Reds, Whites and Purples in the process) and take them over to a place near the see-saw blocks where there was an electric fence blocking the way into a hollow stump and the next cave I'd be tackling, so I sent Olimar over there with them and set to work, killing another Snitchbug on the way, while Louie harvested some more berries and took the corpses & pellets left by the Shearwigs back to the Red Onion. Once the fence was knocked down I investigated the hole, which caused the Ship's odour detectors to sense a strong scent wafting from underground that, according to its observation of Olimar's face, was something delicious. After this I threw the Yellows back up onto the higher area where Louie and the others had been, but forgot that the only way up there from this side for a captain was the see-saw blocks, so Olimar had to go the long way around to collect them. I then had the Snitchbug corpses (and some Whiskerpillars) taken back to the Yellow Onion, harvested some more berries and called it a day. Oh, and by the way, in addition to "unlocking" Challenge Mode (it was already accessible to me thanks to an old file) and having a special fanfare, The Key also brought me up to 4,000 pokos so when I reached the surface I got the "40% DEBT CLEARED" sign. I'm nearly halfway there!

Next time: What's cooking in the Glutton's Kitchen?

Day Summary
Treasure
Love Nugget (tomato) - 40
Activity Arouser ("Sinalco" bottle cap) - 30
Lip Service (tube of lipstick) - 50
Paradoxical Enigma (rubber duck head) - 80
Memorial Shell (half a scallop shell) - 100
Open Architecture (can of salmon) - 130
Time Capsule (locket with a dog photo) - 70
King of Sweets (dark chocolate truffle) - 15
Flame of Tomorrow ("Bowser Breath" box of matches) - 10
The Key (golden key) - 100
Regal Diamond (clear diamond) - 100
Gherkin Gate ("Vlasic" pickle jar lid) - 100
Day Total: 825 pokos
Overall Total: 4,200/10,000 pokos

Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 10
Converted: 5
Killed: 0
Day Total: 5
Overall Total: 262

Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 33

White Pikmin
Sprouted: 5
Killed: 0
Day Total: 5
Overall Total: 34

Yellow Pikmin
Sprouted: 36
Killed: 0
Day Total: 36
Overall Total: 147

Total Pikmin: 476
Total Deaths: 9
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« Reply #1026 on: 01 July, 2013, 03:49:04 pm »

What is challenge mode? Is it a time attack thing, a survival mode thing?
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« Reply #1027 on: 01 July, 2013, 04:04:53 pm »

You're basically made to complete mini-caves within a certain time limit while collecting as many teasures and losing as few Pikmin as possible. You also start with a set number/selection of Pikmin but can sometimes change them with Candypop Buds, and have to find a replica of The Key before you can access the next hole/geyser. It can also be played by two people.

I think it's returning in Pikmin 3.
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« Reply #1028 on: 02 July, 2013, 07:45:59 am »

Ah, okay. Does it unlock something, or is it just for bragging rights? I assume there weren't any leaderboards or anything, since it was on the gamecube.
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« Reply #1029 on: 02 July, 2013, 08:20:59 am »

I think it's mostly bragging rights, but if you clear every level without losing any Pikmin then you unlock a secret movie.

That doesn't have to be very difficult, though. You can just skip all treasures except The Key if you want and just focus on not letting Pikmin die. You just won't get a very high score is all.
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« Reply #1030 on: 02 July, 2013, 07:48:34 pm »

Two updates in one again today, as it got a bit too late last night to properly write up yesterday's adventure. Day 11 was played yesterday and Day 12 was today.

Day 11
I begin this update with a heavy heart, as my total Pikmin deaths almost tripled in a single day. But more on that later. As there were no fire or poison hazards or buried treasure in the upcoming cave, I decided to give my Reds and Whites the day off and set off with 50 Yellows and 20 Purples. As I headed up the (wrong) path towards the hole I'd be exploring I only met some Shearwigs and a pair of Dwarf Bulbears, the latter of which I decided to test the Ultra-Bitter Spray on. Why do this for a couple of minor dangers that could be easily swarmed? Because there's an enemy in the Glutton's Kitchen that I'm definately going to need Bitter Spray for and I didn't want the Ship to interrupt at a crucial moment, like what happened when I discovered the Blue Pikmin back in Awakening Wood. Anyway, it turns out that Bitter Spray petrifies enemies for a few seconds and if you kill them in that time they just crumble into dust without leaving a corpse to use as Pikmin fodder. They do give a couple of nectar blobs, though, so it's not a total loss. Anyway, I swiftly realised I was going the wrong way and before long I was jumping into the hole.
The Glutton's Kitchen was easily the most bizarre cave I've explored thus far. Instead of a series of earthy tunnels or rusty platforms floating in a huge cavern, every floor appeared to be a wide open space with wooden floorboards and the borders marked out by small toy blocks. It was quite easy to accidentally throw Pikmin outside these "walls", but thankfully the blocks were sloped so you could just whistle them back. Oh, and one final thing about this cave: because of it, I now hate Bulbears. Mainly the Dwarf variety but also the Adult/Spotty Bulbear.
Anyway, the opening floor was littered with about 12 Dwarf Bulbears, who I couldn't even swarm effectively because they were all in groups of about 3-4. It wouldn't be too bad, but they were spaced just far enough apart that I couldn't take all members of a group in one go and while I was busy killing one or two Bulbears, my Pikmin would accidentally grab the attention of nearby enemies and risk getting eaten. I lost a Purple in the process, but I was eventually able to kill them all by luring them apart from each other with a captain and then ambushing the strays with my army. There was still one problem, however. Off to the side of the floor was a large wooden box structure that had a treasure and a single Dwarf Bulbear in it. Swarming wasn't an option so I had to very carefully aim my Pikmin and throw them, hoping I could get enough over in time to stop any being eaten. Sadly I failed and lost a Yellow, but it went down swiftly afterwards. I then got the Pikmin to pick up the treasure (Master's Instrument, 30 pokos) and carry it out of the box via some sloped blocks and over to the Research Pod.
The second floor carried on the toybox theme by having a large toy train track running around and through the area. There was a fairly large central section inside the track and a path going around the outside where a new type of creature lurked: Breadbugs. These things are harmless to Pikmin, but they can be mildly annoying as they wander around and grab treasures and enemy corpses to drag back to their holes, and the only way to get a treasure back is to kill the Breadbug that stole it so it pops out of the hole again. Trouble is that they can't be swarmed for some reason, so I was stuck trying to throw Purples on top of them and lowering their health chunk by chunk. Not really difficult but fairly time-consuming. There is another way to kill them, which involves sending Pikmin after a treasure or corpse that a Breadbug's trying to steal and dragging them over to the Research Pod so they get sucked up and bang their heads, but then the corpse will almost certainly be collected and I'm trying to avoid that in this playthrough. No enemy corpses, just actual treasures. Besides, they're only worth a few pokos each. There were also some Sheargrubs and a Cloaking Burrow-nit around the place, which lead me to wonder how it was possible for them to burrow into floorboards... Anyway, I claimed one treasure from a high table (Imperative Cookie, 25 pokos) and got another from a Breadbug hole (Survival Container, 130 pokos), and was ready to descend further.
The third floor consisted of one large area with a huge xylophone in the middle of it, a smaller area with a tambourine and a few winding passages connecting them to each other. Here I found electric nodes (two small objects that shoot jolts of electricity between them and have to be knocked out by Yellows), Anode Beetles, some more Breadbugs, and a large, purple, floating creature called a Puffy Blowhog. The only real dangers were the nodes and the Beetles, but within its territory the Blowhog was very annoying. Unlike its grounded Fiery cousin, this species can't directly hurt Pikmin, but instead it blasts out great gusts of wind that blow them and the captains about, potentially into enemies or hazards, making it difficult to do anything useful until it's been taken down. This is done by throwing some Pikmin up at it until they bring it down to earth where the rest of you army can swarm it. It's much easier with the heavier Purple Pikmin, but this particular Blowhog was very close to some nodes and Beetles so I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. I was eventually able to kill it, whereupon it deflated like a balloon and seemed to fly away into nothingness (it may not actually be properly dead, as the Piklopedia describes them as having an emergency escape mechanism that sounds a lot like this, but it's still "dead" as far as gameplay is concerned), along with all the other creatures and retrieved the floor's two treasures (Director of Destiny and Harmonic Synthesizer, 100 and 120 pokos respectively). I also discovered another use for Purple Pikmin. They don't panic when Mitites appear, and throwing one into the middle of a swarm kills everything caught in the landing shockwave and produces a huge amount of nectar from the corpses, so from now on, where possible/sensible, I'm going to use Purples to crack open eggs. I also found a Yellow "Golden" Candypop Bud that can be used to produce Yellow Pikmin, but I didn't need any at this point and didn't feel like sacrificing any Purples, so I moved on.
The fourth floor brought a complication in the form of a Spotty Bulbear, the adult form of a Dwarf Bulbear. Unlike other enemies of that size and type, it's wide awake when you enter the floor and patrols a set route, so I couldn't do my usual thing of leaving the Pikmin behind and scouting ahead with Olimar otherwise the Bulbear would probably come across my army while I was away and eat most of them before they started fighting back. Another complication is that any Dwarf Bulbears the adult passes join it on its route, meaning you have a whole cluster of enemies to deal with. And to add to that, Spotty Bulbears revive if you take too long to get them to the Research Pod after killing them. If you hadn't worked it out yet, this was the enemy I wanted to use Bitter Spray on. No remains, no chance of revival. So I froze it, threw my Pikmin on and shattered it. I lost two more Yellows to the two Dwarf Bulbears that had been following it, but they were quickly avenged. After that it was a simple matter of killing the few remaining Bulbears dotted around the place, along with two more Breadbugs, and tracking down the three treasures. One was on top of a table (Invigorator, 130 pokos), another was on top of a toy house (White Goodness, 60), and another had been inside the Spotty Bulbear (Drone Supplies, 100 pokos).
My experience on the fifth floor was both a positive and negative one. The first thing I should mention is that a new enemy appeared called an Armoured Cannon Beetle Larva. It was positioned in a dish filled with soil in the middle of a large square area, and would pop out when a captain got too close and spit balls of dirt that roll across the floor. Now, this can be very hepful for getting sweet revenge on the various Dwarf Bulbears dotted around the place (just stand between one and the Larva and get out of the way at the last minute), but the Larva itself was a bit nasty to try and take down. First you need to wait until it's just fired a rock, then you need to quickly throw Pikmin at it and try to call them back before it shakes them off, because it somehow shakes them all off in front of it, ready to be squashed by another rock. I took care of the first one without too much trouble, but then I wandered in a certain direction and came across another area with some more Bulbears and two more Larvae, both up against a wall this time so I had less room to work with. I was able to defeat the Bulbears and one Larva without much trouble, but the second one managed to flatten ELEVEN Yellows before I killed it. And all with a single rock... After that huge blow all that was left was to make some more Purples in a Candypop Bud I found, and collect the two treasures (Sulking Antenna and Magical Stage, both 150 pokos). Oh, and the Sulking Antenna, in addition to being pretty damn massive, also raised my funds to 5,045 pokos. I'm officially past the halfway point!
The sixth and final floor saw the culmination of the overall food theme that's been present almost throught the whole cave. It was a picnic-like area complete with a large blanket on the floor, three food-themed treasures and three huge plates, the largest of which was the home of the boss: the Giant Breadbug. And this one really lived up to the name as it literally looked like a big square loaf of bread with legs and a Breadbug face. This was a very unusual boss encounter for a number of reasons. Firstly, there wasn't an "arena" like there had been for all the other bosses so far. It was all just one big open space. Secondly the Giant Breadbug was already up and wandering about when I entered the floor, I didn't have to walk around and let it ambush me. Next, the Giant Breadbug has to be the smallest boss I've faced so far, only about the size of an adult Bulborb. It also didn't have the usual boss theme, instead having a thus-far unique piece of music for the whole floor. Finally, like its smaller cousins (two of which were also present), the Giant Breadbug doesn't prey on Pikmin, meaning that the only hazards on the floor were some electric nodes and Anode Beetles. So while it was busy wandering around and stealing treasures I took out the Anode Beetles and any nearby nodes so my Purples could act freely, then I focused on the Giant. It was basically the same as killing any other Breadbug except longer, due to having more health and being harder to land a Pikmin on. Eventually I finally wore it down and was treated to the slightly disturbing sight of one of the regular Breadbugs grabbing the corpse and dragging it into its hole. So Breadbugs don't attack Pikmin but they're apparently perfectly willing to engage in cannibalism. This was useful, though, as the Giant's corpse had been lying on top of the treasure it had been guarding: the Dream Material (100 pokos). After getting it to the Research Pod the Ship said it could use the non-conductive properties of the treasure to improve Olimar and Louie's suits, making them immune to electricity. And it worked a treat as I tested it by standing right between to electric nodes as the Yellows worked on disabling them, so that's handy. After this I was free to collect the three bits of food that had emerged from the recently-killed Breadbugs' holes (Hideous Victual, 100 pokos, Meat of Champions, 35 pokos, and Sweet Dreamer, 40 pokos) and leave the cave. With 16 fewer Pikmin than I went in with... *sniff*
Upon reaching the surface again I was disappointed to find that the corpses of the Shearwigs I'd killed earlier had gone, so I had to look elsewhere for corpses to use as Yellow fodder. I carefully killed a Fiery Blowhog with my Purples, and also lured a couple of Water Dumples out of the stream with Olimar before swarming them. Unfortunately I lost another Purple to one of the Dumples, but it still turned out mostly okay. I spent the rest of the day harvesting berries, which actually wasn't as long as I would have liked due to spending too much time trying to get the Dumples far enough out of the stream that my Pikmin wouldn't fall in. Still, now that I've done everything here that I currently can, I'm off back to the Awakening Wood where I can finally complete my Pikmin set.

So yeah, not a good day for Pikmin, but a pretty great one for treasure. 50% debt cleared! And, incidentally exactly 50 treasures collected so far. Seems like another milestone to me.

Day Summary
Treasure
Master's Instrument (Mario Paints pastel stick) - 30
Imperative Cookie (cookie with a cinnamon swirl) - 25
Survival Container ("Clabber Girl" baking powder container) - 130
Director of Destiny (compass) - 100
Harmonic Synthesizer (castanet) - 120
Drone Supplies (bag of Haribo sweets) - 100
Invigorator (upside-down coffee mug) - 130
White Goodness (white chocolate truffle) - 60
Sulking Antenna (rabbit ears TV antenna) - 150
Magical Stage (Japanese-styled compact mirror) - 150
Dream Material (eraser) - 100
Hideous Victual (fried egg) - 100
Meat of Champions (ham slice) - 35
Sweet Dreamer (ring doughnut with pink icing) - 40
Day Total: 1,270 pokos
Overall Total: 5,470/10,000 pokos

Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 262

Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 5
Killed: 2
Day Total: 3
Overall Total: 36

White Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 34

Yellow Pikmin
Sprouted: 18
Converted: 5
Killed: 15
Day Total: -2
Overall Total: 145

Total Pikmin: 477
Total Deaths: 26

Day 12
I started out by taking out 40 yellows, 30 reds and 15 purples and killing the two Dwarf Red Bulborbs in the landing site. It was then that I noticed some Sheargrubs were eating away my nice wooden bridge that I built back in Day 5! Unfortunately they were eating it from this side so by the time I got to them they were out of reach. Still, right now I had more important things to worry about. I headed down the usual path, killing two Cloaking Burrow-nits as I went before reaching the low ledge with the electric fence. I threw most of my army up there, went up the side slope with water at the bottom, and quickly rallied my army to kill the Burrow-nit that had just woken up, thankfully without any casualties this time. I then set the Yellows to work on the fence while Louie took the Reds and Purples to get revenge on the Sheargrubs and repair the bridge. After both teams were done I had Louie collect the Yellows so he could set them to work collecting pellets and corpses. I also put all my reds away so nothing would be carried to the wrong Onion. Meanwhile, Olimar whistled to stop the Blues from attacking the Wogpoles and I finally got a formal introduction. Now I have the whole set! I immediately started harvesting all the nearby Pellet Posies and, when I had sufficiently increased my numbers, went back for the three burrow-nit corpses. While all this was going on, back at Louie's end, I discovered that some truly massive Pellet Posies had appeared on one side of the landing site. There were three with "10" pellets and a fourth one with a huge "20" pellet. All went into the Yellow Onion and boosted my Pikmin numbers very nicely. Unfortunately that was about it for this day, but I'm already planning my approach for the next day. Now that I have a decent number of all five Pikmin types, all areas are potentially open to me. I just need to figure out some order in which to do it.

Next time: Access All Areas - Part 1

Day Summary
Treasure
None
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 5,470/10,000 pokos

Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 262

Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 36

White Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 34

Yellow Pikmin
Sprouted: 76
Killed: 0
Day Total: 76
Overall Total: 221

Blue Pikmin
Obtained/sprouted: 48
Killed: 0
Day Total: 48
Overall Total: 48

Total Pikmin: 601
Total Deaths: 26
« Last Edit: 10 July, 2013, 06:08:25 pm by Gargravarr » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #1031 on: 03 July, 2013, 04:32:36 pm »

And day 11 shall forever be known as the Pikmin holocaust.
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« Reply #1032 on: 03 July, 2013, 04:47:13 pm »

Oh, I'm sure there'll be worse days...
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« Reply #1033 on: 10 July, 2013, 07:12:02 pm »

Okay, I've figured out how to tackle the next few days, so now I'm back on the road.

Day 13
I had a fair amount to do today, so I tried to waste as little time as possible. I started by taking out 30 Blues and setting them to work on breaking a stone in the bottom of the small pool near the landing site that had a white wall in it, thus draining the pool and allowing other Pikmin types to break the wall down, so I put away most of my Blues, took out 50 Reds and 20 Purples and their high attack strength meant the wall was demolished in a few minutes. So now I have a shortcut between the landing site and the only Spiderwort in the area that produces purple berries. Result! Next I took my attack force, leaving Louie with a small force of Reds for berry harvesting (I want to build up my Bitter Sprays), and used them to kill the sleeping Red Bulborb a short distance from the landing site and two Creeping Chrysanthemums further down the usual path. I unfortunately lost a Blue to one of the Chrysanthemums, but I was able to harvest all three corpses. My next objective required Blues and Whites, so I put away all of my Reds and Purples, except those helping Louie or transporting carcasses, took out 15 Whites and a small party of Blues and headed out to the pool where I had found the Blue Onion yesterday. I threw the Whites up onto the ledge, went around to the side ramp with the Blues and took them into the pool so they could obtain the treasure that had been behind the Onion: the Decorative Goo. I probably ought to have got this yesterday, but I was too focused on sprouting as many Pikmin as I could. There's now only one treasure left above ground in the Awakening Wood, but no way am I going to try and work my way through that final area today. Anyway, I had the Blues carry the treasure through the pond and onto the ledge, where I then called them back and threw my Whites onto it so it would be transported extra quickly. Moving onto the next goal, I put away all available Pikmin and called out a force of 70 Yellows. I took them through the new path I had opened earlier and up a narrow bridge made out of a hollow log, gave them a spicy spray and made them demolish an electric fence that blocked the way to the next cave, from which the Ship could apparently sense tremors. And that was it. No other info at all. Very helpful.
Anyway, by the time they'd finished the sun was beginning to set. I was planning on harvesting those giant pellets again, but they didn't seem to have grown today, which was a disappointment. Instead I collected a batch of red berries and called it a day. A modest increase in treasure and Pikmin today, but I anticipate a big haul tomorrow, and probably a few more casualties...

Next time: Invading the Bulblax Kingdom.

Day Summary
Treasure
Decorative Goo (tube of blue "Mario Paint" paint) - 80
Day Total: 80 pokos
Overall Total: 5,550/10,000 pokos

Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 262

Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 36

White Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 34

Yellow Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 145

Blue Pikmin
Sprouted: 36
Killed: 1
Day Total: 35
Overall Total: 83

Total Pikmin: 636
Total Deaths: 27
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« Reply #1034 on: 12 July, 2013, 03:05:24 pm »

The Bulblax kingdom, you say? I smell regicide.
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