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Gargravarr
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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
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