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Jimbo Jambo
Joined September 29, 2010
Inactivity.
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Welcome to my userpage, where I explain nothing about myself, save for this introductory paragraph. At the moment I'm using this as a brain dumping site for ideas which don't fit anywhere else. | Welcome to my userpage, where I explain nothing about myself, save for this introductory paragraph. At the moment I'm using this as a brain dumping site for ideas which don't fit anywhere else. I'd like to note also that I have not studied biology formally outside of high school, taking most of what I know from books, television, and Wikipedia, so keep in mind that whatever I write is not unlikely to be riddled with inconsistencies and falsehood, and criticism is welcome. | ||
'''Under construction''' | '''Under construction''' | ||
==On Pikmin | ==On Pikmin== | ||
Pikmin being the product of someone's imagination, nothing can be said about them with any real degree of certainty, but much can be inferred from their behavior and what little information is slipped to us from in-game dialogue. Actually, in a way, the lack of real canonical information on creatures into which an enormous amount of thought and detail were obviously put makes studying Pikmin a bit like studying real animals in that nature has no guides or definitions, so it is entirely up to us to make sense of it. | Pikmin being the product of someone's imagination, nothing can be said about them with any real degree of certainty, but much can be inferred from their behavior and what little information is slipped to us from in-game dialogue. Actually, in a way, the lack of real canonical information on creatures into which an enormous amount of thought and detail were obviously put makes studying Pikmin a bit like studying real animals in that nature has no guides or definitions, so it is entirely up to us to make sense of it. | ||
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In the absence of fossil or genetic data (I could not expect Nintendo to put ''that'' much thought into it), I've constructed a family tree of Pikmin and relatives based on observable differences and information given to us from the game. | In the absence of fossil or genetic data (I could not expect Nintendo to put ''that'' much thought into it), I've constructed a family tree of Pikmin and relatives based on observable differences and information given to us from the game. | ||
[[ | [[File:Pikmin tree.PNG]] | ||
Immediately worthy of note is the fact that I placed everything in the plant kingdom, not animal or some new kingdom, with Pikmin and relatives making up their own phylum. Though Pikmin have some animal-like features and abilities, such as free locomotion, what differentiates animals from plants is often not so much what they have, but what they ''don't'' have that plants do, such as chlorophyll photosynthesis (save like one or two species of animal plankton). Whereas evolving such things would require a great leap from animals, things like self-driven movement and sight, if even only in some bare, basic form, are already possessed by more than a handful of plants. Not only that, but certain features such as Pikmin flowers which seem to serve no purpose could be considered throwbacks from a plant origin. | Immediately worthy of note is the fact that I placed everything in the plant kingdom, not animal or some new kingdom, with Pikmin and relatives making up their own phylum. Though Pikmin have some animal-like features and abilities, such as free locomotion, what differentiates animals from plants is often not so much what they have, but what they ''don't'' have that plants do, such as chlorophyll photosynthesis (save like one or two species of animal plankton). Whereas evolving such things would require a great leap from animals, things like self-driven movement and sight, if even only in some bare, basic form, are already possessed by more than a handful of plants. Not only that, but certain features such as Pikmin flowers which seem to serve no purpose could be considered throwbacks from a plant origin. | ||
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The auditory part is pretty easy to see. Pikmin sing all the time, but more than just being cute, I think their songs are vital to keeping themselves together and organized. It also explains why they react so strongly to Olimar's whistle and whatever that little horn thing he does is when the C-stick is used. | The auditory part is pretty easy to see. Pikmin sing all the time, but more than just being cute, I think their songs are vital to keeping themselves together and organized. It also explains why they react so strongly to Olimar's whistle and whatever that little horn thing he does is when the C-stick is used. | ||
The visual part requires a bit more imagination. It's pretty clear that Pikmin can see - they have eyes after all - but it plays a more important and complicated role just "see food, attack food." Since they don't likely smell very much, I think Pikmin use their sight to identify other members of their species, but their visual acuity and processing power are likely limited by their size, so they need a fast and simple way of doing so, something that is unique to them; I believe the leaves serve this purpose. Evidence for this idea is the fact that Pikmin leaves glow when they are idle, a clear visual signal of ''something'' (possibly to call the attention of the pack should a Pikmin become lost or stranded). The color of a Pikmin's body also always contrasts that of its leaf, so it is easily recognizable (White Pikmin have pink flowers, not white, so there is still contrast. It is also because of this that I firmly believe there should never and will never be Green Pikmin, since its body would blend with its leaf, which ''must'' be green). If one accepts this idea, it's easy to imagine why a Pikmin might follow Olimar, whose shining antenna probably sparks the same visual cues they get from other Pikmin, but to a much larger degree. It also explains why Pikmin accept juvenile Bulbmin, which probably smell and look just like Bulborbs save for their recognizable leaves, as their own (the adults are just so absurdly huge that they probably don't register as anything but an enemy to Pikmin). | The visual part requires a bit more imagination. It's pretty clear that Pikmin can see - they have eyes after all - but it plays a more important and complicated role than just "see food, attack food." Since they don't likely smell very much, I think Pikmin use their sight to identify other members of their species, but their visual acuity and processing power are likely limited by their size, so they need a fast and simple way of doing so, something that is unique to them; I believe the leaves serve this purpose. Evidence for this idea is the fact that Pikmin leaves glow when they are idle, a clear visual signal of ''something'' (possibly to call the attention of the pack should a Pikmin become lost or stranded). The color of a Pikmin's body also always contrasts that of its leaf, so it is easily recognizable (White Pikmin have pink flowers, not white, so there is still contrast. It is also because of this that I firmly believe there should never and will never be Green Pikmin, since its body would blend with its leaf, which ''must'' be green). If one accepts this idea, it's easy to imagine why a Pikmin might follow Olimar, whose shining antenna probably sparks the same visual cues they get from other Pikmin, but to a much larger degree. It also explains why Pikmin accept juvenile Bulbmin, which probably smell and look just like Bulborbs save for their recognizable leaves, as their own (the adults are just so absurdly huge that they probably don't register as anything but an enemy to Pikmin). | ||
==What I want from Pikmin 3== | |||
Pikmin 2 was a vast improvement on the first game, fixing little glitches, annoyances, and being overall more streamlined, but while neither game was ''bad'', there are still certain areas of the gameplay that I think could be improved upon. | |||
===Dynamics between Pikmin colors=== | |||
New Pikmin colors are pretty much a given, and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I'm concerned that having too many colors available at once brings issues with balance and makes creating a well-rounded group very difficult. For instance, Purple Pikmin in Pikmin 2 greatly overshadowed Red Pikmin in their combat ability, making Reds all but useless* while Purples were pretty much essential, but their speed meant the entire group was forced to move at their pace, causing frustration. Yellow Pikmin, too, have struggled to be useful in both games, and were usually only taken along in very specific situations where there is an electrical hazard or a wall that needs to be bombed. | |||
My proposed solution would be to separate the different colors and only allow those that work well together to be played together. The way I'd probably do this is to divide the main game into several sub-games, similar to Kirby Superstar (which I admittedly have never played), and have certain colors exclusive to one or two sub-games. | |||
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Fire resistance does not do them a whole lot of good. Fire traps are arguably the least deadly, since they can be destroyed by any color, unlike poison traps, and don't kill Pikmin instantly, unlike electric traps. | |||
===Caves, ugh=== | |||
I did not really like caves in Pikmin 2. While I can understand why the 30-day limit was taken away in Pikmin 2, the time limit on daylight still forced players to plan, multitask, and take risks, all of which I think are good things. Caves, on the other hand, gave players as much time as they wanted, allowing them to play it safe by not even using Pikmin and just punching enemies to death with their captains. It ended up being a very boring and tedious experience, which I felt obliged to do because I didn't want to lose any Pikmin in a place where I couldn't grow more. | |||
I will acknowledge that caves offered something unique, but the change of pace from above-ground play was too much. If caves are to be used, I'd like to see their use limited, perhaps to a sub-game as mentioned above. | |||
===Multiplayer=== | |||
The addition of multiplayer to Pikmin 2 was pretty awesome, but limited. I'd have liked for the main game to be playable with a friend, although I realize it wasn't really designed for that, so perhaps Pikmin 3 can be designed with that in mind. I'd also like online capability, and disagree with that idea that online is only for competitive play, as I have a few close friends with whom I'd love to be able to play Pikmin cooperatively. That is of course not to say that online multiplayer would be limited to co-op -- vs. is fun too. | |||
==Subpages== | ==Subpages== | ||
See [[User:Jimbo Jambo/notes]] for ship part notes. | See [[User:Jimbo Jambo/notes]] for ship part notes. | ||