|
Gargravarr
|
Would've done this yesterday but it kept getting later and later, then I went to see Man of Steel in the evening and by the time I got home I just really didn't feel like playing, so I did it today instead.
I've also gone back and added what each treasure actually is (not just the name the Ship gives it) to my previous entries.
Day 4
After my usual starting points of calling out all my Purple Pikmin and as many Red Pikmin as possible, scouting around for any enemies or Pellet Posies in the starting area I can use for fodder and gathering more red berries for extra Spicy Sprays (after fighting off some Ravenous Whiskerpillars that eat said berries), I immediately headed off for the Hole of Beasts. The journey was uneventful, apparently the Creeping Chrysanthemum and Cloaking Burrow-nit hadn't respawned yet, so I was able to reach the cave with my army intact. So all that was left was to take the plunge...
I personally regard the Hole of Beasts as the first proper "dungeon" of the game, given that the Emergence Cave is basically a free stroll underground that's impossible to fail at. Having said that, however, the Hole of Beasts was still pretty easy. Maybe it's just because of its early position in the game, maybe I just got lucky with the random floor layouts, I don't know. Anyway, my first move when entering a new floor of a cave is always to scout the area with Olimar, and the first floor seemed simple enough. The only enemies were male and female Sheargrubs (only the males are dangerous) and there was a single treasure lying in plain sight: the Stone of Glory. Or a D-pad, as we would call it. So I went back and got my Pikmin, massacred any Sheargrubs that ambushed us and claimed the treasure, netting 100 pokos. The second floor contained nothing but a pair of purple Candypop Buds, which I used to convert 10 Reds into Purples. I also found an egg near the Research Pod that could be smashed open for some nectar to mature my new Purples into flowers.
Things became a bit more interesting on the third floor, despite the lack of enemies, as it featured the first appearance of fire geysers in the game. Now, given my huge number of Red Pikmin, salvaging the treasures on this floor was never going to be an issue, but for the sake of my Purples I am so glad that the geysers can be shut off by Reds in this game, unlike in Pikmin 1. So I went around with my Reds, knocking out every geyser, and claimed the two treasures: the Strife Monolith and the Cosmic Archive. I'm sensing a game theme in this cave, video or otherwise.
The fourth floor brought a somewhat significant threat in the form of a Red Bulborb, along with some more fire geysers. I immediately threw my Pikmin on its back, Purples first, killing it in seconds and making it cough up a Game & Wat- sorry, "Dream Architect"! A Red Bulborb is a pretty big creature, but how on earth it was able to swallow and contain such a huge device is beyond me. Anyway, further exploration revealed another purple Candypop Bud (another 5 Reds went in) and the Luck Wafer, which only required a single Pikmin to carry it and pushed me up to 2,000 pokos in total. I have to say I smiled a bit at the sight of this tiny creature carrying this card vertically by a single corner. The only mild complication (aside from accidentally damaging Olimar a bit when he got too close to a couple of geysers) on this floor came from a swarm of Mitites that sprang out of one of the eggs I cracked open while looking for nectar for my new Purples. Mitites don't actually hurt Pikmin but they do send them into a panic so they could potentially run into a hazard by accident. Luckily there were no geysers nearby that any of my Purples could have blundered into.
When I reached the final floor I was greeted by a rather sinister musical sting and an ominous imprint left by a large creature directly under the Research Pod. I went to scout ahead with Olimar as usual, but I didn't get far before I was confronted by the sleeping form of easily the most enormous creature I've seen in the game so far: the Empress Bulblax, presumably the "beast of unknown power" that the Ship sensed yesterday. Basically imagine a normal Red Bulborb with a grotesquely massive backside. A single Pikmin thrown at her was enough to wake her up, and the battle began. And it was really quite easy, truth be told, as was expected from the game's first boss. All I had to do was keep throwing Pikmin at her face and make sure to call them all back before she started rolling from side to side. I came very close to accidentally losing a couple of Pikmin as I hadn't noticed that they'd gone past her head and were attacking her body, but I was able to save them before they were squished. Thankfully she started by rolling in the opposite direction to them that time. Upon her death the Empress seemed to explode with some fireworks and deflate, leaving only the front segment with her head and legs behind, but she'd also seemingly swallowed a treasure: the Prototype Detector. In addition to being worth 200 pokos, this treasure was a particularly good find as it unlocked the Treasure Gauge, which alerts the player to nearby treasures. There was nothing else to do on this floor after getting the treasure, so I jumped onto the exit geyser and blasted out of there.
Upon arriving back at the landing site I was informed that I had now cleared 20% of the debt, and since time stands still in caves, there was still plenty of "hours" left in the day so I decided to go ahead and squash that paper bag I found yesterday, especially seeing as I already had 25 Purples with me which would be more than enough to do the job. After doing so I killed the Cloaking Burrow-nit just beyond the bag and immediately came across another poison wall, a pool of water that seemed to be blocking off a path leading to that low ledge I noticed yesterday, and another hole in the ground which apparently made the Ship's sensors react violently enough that it felt the need to inform me of an emergency evacuation option, where all treasure would be dropped to allow the captains and Pikmin to escape to the surface. I decided to leave the hole for now, though, and went back to breed more Pikmin and harvest more berries. I also had the Pikmin dig up some more grass nectar and used it to mature some of my leaf Reds into flowers. The new Treasure Gauge reacted strongly to something on top of a high flowerpot, but since I couldn't see anything up there I decided to call it a day, especially as sunset was coming in a few "hours".
I'd say this day was a resounding success. Lots of Pikmin bred, my treasure haul doubled, a new route opened up and my first proper cave completed. Just 7,800 pokos left to go...
Next time: Strolling through a Garden of White Flowers.
Day Summary
Treasure
Stone of Glory (D-pad) - 100
Strife Monolith (Mahjong tile) - 150
Cosmic Archive (Famicom disk) - 230
Dream Architect ("Ball" Game & Watch) - 280
Luck Wafer (Ace of spades) - 140
Prototype Detector (Nintendo Love Tester toy) - 200
Day Total: 1,100 pokos
Overall Total: 2,200/10,000 pokos
Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 50
Converted: 15
Killed: 0
Day Total: 35
Overall Total: 155
Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 15
Killed: 0
Day Total: 15
Overall Total: 25
Total Pikmin: 180
Total Deaths: 0
|
