pikmin 4 log #2
completed this area and got lots of thoughts, so let's do it!!
- this area is so so sooo pretty, all the cherry blossoms are gorgeous......it would be really nice if the music matched that vibe but you know whatever
- i really love how much there is to do, makes the incremental progress feel super productive and progressive
- holy fuck, the big flower enemy that ambushes you out of the ground scared the living shit out of me, full panic mode
- once again, the caves/dandori challenges are suuuuper fun
- we are BACK with the enemies falling from the sky. evil pikmin 2 time!!!!
- kingdom of beasts Fucked Me Up. that final floor is bruuuutal and made me lose 50 pikmin lol
- mamuta...i love you im sorry i killed you
- i thought the hoop of fortune was a condom dont @ me
the night expeditions are interesting. i really didn't like it at first, it's super stressful (that's the point ofc but still) and the gameplay's tough to get a grasp on. but after a few tries, i realized you could strategize in the exact same way as all the other modes: pause right at the start, look at the map, and take a second to plan out the route. they're still not really my thing and it's definitely my least favorite mode in this game, but it's much more tolerable than my initial judgment.
OK so now the music, i've got some new insights...
so i have a theory on why the music is so hollow, and i think it's cause of the dynamic music system which, to give it credit, is absolutely insane. Every Single Enemy has a unique instrument attached to it; even different colors of leaf bugs have slight variations. i'm pretty sure that all the composers were so focused on implementing that system that they felt the musical core of each area had to be kept simple. i still don't enjoy how aggressively stripped down things are, and it's absolutely zero excuse for the main hub and piklopedia music to be depressingly mid, but at least i can understand why it is the way it is.
speaking of the composers, i've got some new info/theories on that front. as mentioned before, kenta nagata is the music director, but the 2 other composers are asuka hayazaki and soshi abe. hayazaki worked on pikmin 3, but soshi abe worked on the special DLC missions for pikmin 3 deluxe (along with metroid dread).
my tinfoil hat theory is that soshi abe took the reins as the primary composer working on the main area themes and cutscenes, while hayazaki worked on arrangements of previous themes (including the lovely music box arrangement of the pikmin 3 theme which made me miss it even more), some dandori battle themes, and the piano intros. the reason for this theory is that asuka hayazaki's style is pretty evident throughout her discography (nsmb, mario kart wii, wii fit plus, etc etc), and those little flashes of harmonic color scream her style.
ALRIGHT that's it for now, stay tuned for area 3 thooooughts~