I was wondering if anyone had any general tips for it? It's SUCH a long game and it seems really difficult to me; I've been playing it for a few weeks now.
zomg! I like, remember seeing a trailer for this game when i wuz like 8 and thinking (zomg-wanna play) and then seeing it in my cousin's husband's library and then playing it and i wuz all like Zomg epic game!
besides that...
Check some FAQ's for item locations/pikmin loadouts.
btw...
SAVE YOUR WHITES. Scout with your most numerous pikmin, and then return the next day/later on with the required pikmin to compete the puzzles. SAVE YOUR WHITES. Purples are a dime a dozen compared to how hard those white flowers pop up.
Pretty much from my experience with the game (I have 100% all the treasures and what not) here's how it goes Pikmin wise.
Reds: These are the most general and easy to get, average power, throwing, and speed, they are immune to fire/fire attacks.
Yellows: About as common as reds, these are of average power, thrown the highest, and average speed. They are immune to electricity, the ONLY thing that will insta kill your pikmin element wise.
Blues: About as common as reds and yellows, these are the exact same as Reds, except they are not affected by water attacks.
Purples: One of two special types of pikmin, you get these by throwing any other type of pikmin into a purple flower. They do the most damage, throw more to the horizontal than up, and are the slowest pikmin. They have two special abilities, they count for 10 pikmin when carrying any object, and when thrown, their landing stuns an enemy if landing near (Non boss/big enemy) and hurts and stuns it if they land on the creature directly (Boss included) These are by far the best pikmin for fighting bosses, there is NO boss in the game that can survive 100 purples with red spray being thrown at it. *Note: the stunning/damage only works if they fall, if you throw them directly onto the enemy, it will not hurt them, this proves troublesome for bosses like the yellow longlegged spider, which high above the ground most of the time.
Whites: The rarest of all pikmin, they can only be found in a select few places, and only in caves. They can be obtained by throwing any other pikmin into a white flower. They have average attack power and throwing, but are the fastest pikmin. They have 2 special abilities as well. They are immune to poison (the only element you are naturally immune to aside from water) and when eaten by a monster, inflict a large amount of damage. *Note: It's not advisable to feed them to monsters due to their rarity, it's more of a bonus for when they get attacked and you're not there/paying attention, as it will kill most monsters instantly by only digesting one.
As for general gameplay...Louis (I think that's his name) and Olimar are the exact same, the only difference is look. Electricity is the most dangerous element, you can combat every other element with the wrong type of pikmin, so long as you are ready to call them, which somehow puts out fire/stops drowning/stops choking on gas. 10 purples is a good scouting force, you're not risking many pikmin and they are the most adept at fighting, 10 purples can effectively take on any enemy, handled correctly. The strategy used with purples should be throwing them onto the enemy and dealing massive damage while simultaneously stunning them. I am unsure of this, but it seems to me that yellows might have a resistance to bombs, there are many times where I have seen an explosion take out all but my yellows, but other times all died. Stock up on potions, they are very helpful for bosses/tight situations.
