Talk:Obstacle
This video shows some comparisons between the time it takes for different numbers and status Pikmin to clear various obstacles in Pikmin 2. It might be helpful when we get around to trying to understand how Pikmin numbers and statuses affect obstacle speed. — {EspyoT} 17:29, 4 January 2016 (EST)
Add Hey! Pikmin obstacles ?
I'm wondering if I could add obstacles from Hey! Pikmin, and update the informations for some of them (for instance, there is electric gates in Hey! Pikmin, at least 1). Hugik (talk) 13:02, 3 September 2018 (EDT)
- Sure thing! You can probably write the links to icon images, even if they don't exist, so that they get uploaded one day. — {EspyoT} 14:00, 10 September 2018 (EDT)
Articles for Heavy Obstacle and High Ledge?
This article's big list has links to specific pages about all of the obstacles, with the exception of 3 items in the list: 'Buried treasure, fruit, or Sparklium Seeds', 'High ledges', and 'Purple Pikmin needed'. While the first one's link to the Dig article works, the other 2 deserve articles in my opinion. An article for Heavy obstacle could talk about the required use of Purple Pikmin to push down the paper bag in the Awakening Wood, as well as collecting the Spherical Atlas, Geographic Projection, and Doomsday Apparatus (as they are obstacles to completing the game). While the Purple Pikmin article already has a list of mandatory uses, these uses are tied to the obstacle of heavy weights, just as the mandatory uses of Yellow Pikmin are tied to electricity or high ledges, and the mandatory uses of Blue Pikmin are tied to water. An article for High ledge would be even more useful, as several ship parts, treasures, and fruits are made harder to access by being too high for most types to reach, and this is an obstacle with enough information to describe it, especially considering the various exploits to bypass the height barrier. Do these topics deserve their own articles, or is their current coverage good enough? - Botanist (talk) 18:49, July 12, 2020 (EDT)
- I'm starting to debate if they should even count in the first place. An obstacle should be something that is in the way of your goal, so I guess something being too heavy to carry normally, or too high to reach can count as an obstacle. But if we define obstacles as actual objects, then the notions of weight and height don't really count. I think it's fine to keep them, but there is merit in getting rid of them too. Anyway, I think simply linking to the Purple Pikmin and Yellow Pikmin articles for those two "obstacles" is enough... There is nothing that can be said about heavy obstacles that isn't explained in the Purple Pikmin article, and if the reader wants a list of such obstacles, they have the recommended and mandatory uses listed in that same article. Same goes for high ledges and Yellow Pikmin. — {EspyoT} 07:18, July 16, 2020 (EDT)
Obstacles and Objects
I think that the term "obstacle" is now being used too broadly. An obstacle (according to this article's introduction) is something that stands in the way of Pikmin and leaders and (generally) must be overcome to access another part of the area. But many things in the list of obstacles do not fit this definition. Bouncy Mushrooms, conveyor belts, electrodes, and lily pads are not literally obstacles. While some tasks require them to be switched on in order to access another part of the area, this is not always the case. I think that the term "obstacle" is being used too broadly on this wiki, and we should be using "object" instead to describe these kinds of things. "Object" is a handy term that can be used to describe all kinds of interactable objects, which seems to be the main thing that distinguishes the items on the list already – they are objects in areas that can be interacted with that are not enemies or collectibles. The term could also be used more broadly to describe things like bomb rocks and nectar weed. In fact, nearly everything in all areas is either an enemy, collectible, object, or part of the background scenery. I don't think the term "obstacle" shouldn't be used at all, as many objects are definitely obstacles, and I think there should be an article for Obstacle on this wiki. But I think that this article should be renamed to Object, and we should change the terminology around these things across Pikipedia. — Soprano(talk) 19:25, June 30, 2021 (EDT)
- I definitely think we should improve the definitions a lot. Though I don't agree with the term "object". In game development, an object can be anything from something the player can pick up, to literally everything that populates the game world and isn't terrain; Pikmin games use the latter IIRC. So not only is "object" too vague, but since everything is an object, obstacles are just a subset of objects. There must be a better term here... — {EspyoT} 14:11, July 12, 2021 (EDT)
- "Interactive object" could work, but sounds a bit silly, and not all obstacles are interactive. Perhaps a solution could be to distinguish between obstacles and non-obstacle interactive objects (like Flukeweeds or seesaw blocks). — Soprano(talk) 03:44, July 18, 2021 (EDT)
- I'll try to come up with a subjective classification system, categorizing the things currently listed on this article as either "obstacles" or "interactive objects".
- Obstacles: Bamboo gate, boulder, bramble gate, brick wall, bridge, buried items, cardboard box, clog, cobblestone block, crystal wall, dam, dirt block, dirt wall, electric gate, electrical wire, fire geyser, flames, gas pipe, high ledge, hydroe bramble, icicle crystal, iron block, paper bag, heavy weights, reinforced wall, tin box, trowel, tunnel, water, wooden stake
- Interactive objects: Arachnode web, Bouncy Mushroom, Burgeoning Spiderwort mold, clipboard, conveyor belt, crystal nodule, dirt mound, elevator platform, Flukeweed, geyser, lily pad, seesaw block
- Ambiguous: Bloominous Stemple, climbing stick, electrode, fragments, hay, iron ball, Kingcap, large crystal, liftable rock, pulley rock, small crystal, Spotcap
- As you can see, there's a fair bit of ambiguity and subjectivity. I'd even argue that boulders and icicle crystals aren't even obstacles, they're just hazards. Most of the ambiguous items are ambiguous because they are connected to an obstacle without being an obstacle on their own, or have the potential to be either obstacles or not obstacles. While it makes sense to separate non-obstacle interactive objects from the other obstacles, is it worth doing if the result would lead to so many ambiguities? Or is there another way to define these kinds of objects with less ambiguity? — Soprano(talk) 20:54, September 24, 2021 (EDT)