Haven't noticed your narration style, that made me KEK,
Ah, well, that's because this was the first post I did a Kirk style narration, I was hoping there was the quote from Twilight Zone in the GIFs tab, but then I saw the Rocketman one, and that one was way funnier (considering how much fun I was having, as well as "lifting off" every night, it felt fitting).
And after having made such a fuss over Pikmin the past...uh...5-6 polls now? I am now obligate to participate instead of just observing.
But alas...our journey is almost at it's end...
Day 18:
Captain's log, Star date 2026/05/10, I have officially cleared out both the Forest of Hope and the Distant Spring at a personal record pace. However, if I was any faster, I wouldn't have to backtrack to get this last part form the Navel.
But, it was from a massive boss fight, so I guess I was right to hold it off until now.
Now, the common strategy when dealing with the Beady Long Legs is to use Yellow Pikmin to reach the Arachnorb's central body due to it's height. But as everyone knows, the Red Pikmin do 1.5x damage and make the fight go by faster, so the real trick is to time your attacks to when the Long Legs bends down every so often (which will give you the opportunity to reach it with other Pikmin breeds). You could bring a full squad of 100 to try and make the fight go by even faster, but I've learned over the course of this playthrough that a larger fighting force is less coordinated, and therefore strays tend to get crushed when you least expect it.
I managed to get a no-death run onf the long legs with a 30-man squad and some careful tossing. Then I just cruised through the rest of the day getting nectar and pellets to bosleter my forces for the coming days.
WHAT THE? When did I lose a Pikmin?
Oh, someone must've got snagged on the way home carrying spoils, I knew I should've killed that fucking frog...
Day 19:
Yay! This is always my favourite part of the game, what I like to call "the vacation". After acquiring the Engine on the 1st day, there's still 1 last part you won't be able to reach without first getting your hands on the other 2 Pikmin colours. That is, of course, due to the part being surrounded by water and behind a rock wall.
I ended up happening upon the Landing Site on a day where the Goolix Spawned instead of the Mamuta, which alternate between odd and even days in appearances. The Mamuta is neutral and non-offensive, and will leave you alone as long as you don't attack it. And, he's such a lovely fellah, I don't know why you'd attack him in the first place.
Ironically, the Goolix is actually the easier of the two, since it's only effective against Red/Yellow Pikmin. It acts like water hazards and prevents them from attacking, but the Blue Pikmin can just whack that thing until it's dead. Both monsters seem to be more lethal to Olimar himself rather than the Pikmin, but it's still fairly difficult to lose to either of them. The Goolix is better since it's actively antagonistic, so you can kill it and not feel bad about snagging it's spoils.
The real fun of backtracking to the Landing Site, is the Pearly Clamp Clamps hiding behind the rock wall. 1 of them has the Positron Generator inside of it, which is one of the 25 essential parts needed to escape the planet. And yet, the REAL prize are the 2 pearls the other 2 happen to carry. They are the common variants of the Gold Pearl the Smoky Progg drops in the Distant Spring, yielding only 50 Pikmin in place of the whopping 100 the Gold one nets you. So I figured the yellows and blues earned these one. The great thing about cleaning up the Landing Site (especially as preparation for Emperor Bulblax) is that it's just a massive recharge. There's massive 10/20 Pellets all over the place for every colour, so it's just smorgasbord of Pikmin to spawn. So if you're careful with the Clams, you can get 100s of Pikmin for your final count.
Can I get a Hell yeah?
Anyhow, I'm all caught up with my screenshots (which were acquired over 2 sessions the previous weekend) and I have yet to face the Emperor as of the time of this post. I doubt I'll be able to get to him, kill him and get the secret stash all in one day. But for all intensive purposes, I've beaten Pikmin 1 for the time being, as Olimar will be able to escape the planet and live with 29 parts and all.
. By now I got my route completely memorized and after calculations it's good for only 435
. Tonight I have to find a way to squeeze 15 more somewhere 
