so for those of u who've been searching for me last couple of weekends in monster hunter's tanzia, i've been playing another game.
and it's pikmin 3



some say, it's "the holy grail" of wiiu games, simply karena game ini RARE BANGET. seriusan guys... game ini... RARE... BANGET...
sejujurnya what draws me into acquiring this game is also its exclusivity. dari awalnya yg cuma tertarik biasa aja, sampe bisa jadi terobsesi siang malem refresh FJB, adalah murni karena dikomporin sama jiwa kolektor gw yg udah keseringan dipendam

but, as much as a collector i am, i'm also a gamer. so as soon as i got it, i pop the disc inside my wiiu.


AND IT WAS AMAZING.


i will spare the details about its gameplay. but it is amazing. i will not make this article to be a pikmin 3 review, so u have to try it by yourself to understand boleh dibilang gameplaynya adalah real time strategy, but to be honest, doing that is a huge leap of underemphasizing this great game.

sekarang gw mengerti kenapa mbah shigeru miyamoto sebegitu sayangnya sama pikmin. kalo petualangan se-out of this world sekelas starfox aja bisa diilhami dari kuil dibelakang rumahnya miyamoto-san, i'm willing to bet my hands that this game consists of even more sentimental memories from his childhood.
like seriously, the whole time i was playing this game, gw merasa bahwa sepanjang game time itu bagaikan... "petualangan di bukit belakang sekolah"! now how many of u still remember that kind of feeling? i'm sure some of younger gamers out there didn't even have that kind of memories... just go out there into the unknown! finding interesting (well... useless, usually) stuff! just having a grand adventure in your little world!

and that's exactly what happening with pikmin.

baik menggunakan gamepad's touch controls, maupun nunchuck, i have absolutely no idea how the game controls. jadi gw cuma pasrah aja ketika diterjunkan ke dunia asing itu. pasrah mengikuti instructions seadanya, serta prinsip "learning by doing" tutorials ala nintendo.
but everything felt like an adventure. "hey, what would happen if i use this pikmin on that enemy?". "what would happen if i do this? or that?", and so on.
environment dalam gamenya juga terasa SANGAT charming. sungai2 kecil yg mengalir, rumput & tumbuh2an hijau, bunga, tanah, batuan... elemen "alam" yg sudah jarang gw temui dalam kehidupan sehari2 gw sekarang, but i know those kind of things -i recognize it from my childhood!
begitu pula dengan in-game objectives nya. instead of looking for some gold coins, diamonds, orbs, or magic rings yg memang sengaja dibuat sebagai benda berharga karena game design (to emphasize the point that u have to collect those), u search for... fruits, disconnected cables, shattered flowerpot -your everyday useless stuff. but this time, it's interesting stuff. just like it was back in our childhood adventures

the last 3 games i completed was pretty... generic... they're awesome. but generic.
it was bayonetta, assasin's creed iv black flag, and watch dogs.
(okay, okay bayo fans! geez... bayonetta has refined the action adventure mechanics to its absolute peak, i dare to say that it's the best action adventure game so far. but we have to admit that it's still an old action adventure genre game -only with more awesome mechanics
for ass creed and watch dogs fans... well, there are no excuse that those games are generic as shit. black flag was pretty awesome because of the theme alone: pirates! but the rest are getting old really fast. u better find a new religion, mates...)
secara tidak sadar gw menjadi "terbiasa" dengan mechanics2 tertentu yg sudah gw asosiasikan dengan genre2 tertentu: open world? run around city, collect stuff, takedown bad guys on missions. action adventure? kill a lot of bad guys. A LOT of bad guys. bahkan controlnya pun instinctively sudah gw hapal diluar kepala: thumbstick kiri gerak, thumbstick kanan kamera, tahan Zl lari, tahan a parkour, x buat interact, dst...

and probably that's why pikmin 3 surprised me so much. salah satu alasannya adalah karena kontrolnya yg begitu asing: hah? point at what to do what?? B button does what, tiup peluit?? ada tiup2 peluit segala, what is this, harvest moon??



satu lagi hal yg gw ingat dari masa kecil gw yg bahagia adalah going to the arcades. yup, pergi ke tempat ding dong kapanpun mama belanja di supermarket ato kita nonton sekeluarga di bioskop.

back then, arcades was the bomb! it has awesome graphics -JAUH kalo sama grafik sega di rumah sih dan pastinya awesome gameplay
ada yg masih inget ini?

ketika mesin ini nongol di tempat ding dong gelael bandung, i was ecstatic! i was eager to change my coins, and when the time i got to play it... it was TOTALLY OUT OF THIS WORLD EXPERIENCE. i mean, i mean... U'RE GODDAM FLYING!!! in an open sky!!! jadi lw naik ke sepeda nya, terus boseh itu pedal, dan sepedanya terbang. in an open sky. 3D open sky and u're free to go anywhere u want.
back when every games was running from left to right in 2D, this was really awesome. kayaknya setelah pulang kerumah hari itu, gw masih mimpi naik sepeda terbang selama seminggu kedepannya...

probably 10 years later, arcades was still kicking it

gw inget setiap ada cewek yg gw suka, pasti gw ajak main ini
ketika itu kayaknya gw lagi mengalami fase "ogah disebut gamer" karena malu, imagenya cupu. ahaha...
hobi gw kala itu adalah droppin out of classes, kicking out with friends, and hitting on pretty girls that i randomly met.
but still, gw tau bahwa games brings the most truthful side in a human being, which is FUN (yg selalu diteriakkan oleh miyamoto dan alm. iwata), karena itu favorite dating spot gw adalah tempat ding dong. dan inilah mesin game favorit gw: panic park.
masih pada inget cara mainnya? player 1 biru, player 2 merah. kalian dorong2an ketika karakter di screen berlari menempuh obstacle2 di track. and guys... guys... guys... this shit right here brings the competitiveness of every girl that i've met. yg awalnya malu2 aja pulangnya udah berani mukul2. and as u know, sentuhan adalah fase awal yg sangat penting dalam tahapan pdkt

sebelum artikelnya berubah jadi artikel PUA, let's get back to games
arcade menampilkan gameplay yg berbeda2. mulai dari ngeboseh sepeda terbang, sampe dorong2an joystick. itu belum termasuk arcade2 lain kayak Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, Keyboard mania, DJ apalahitu, pukul2an buaya, basket, kuat2an tinju (awesome machine to show ur value to girls btw), sampe yg realistic style kayak virtua cop ato time crisis.
come to think of it, almost all of them are a great machines to show value. pernah gak sih liat crowd ngerumunin abang2 yg jago maen DDR ato time crisis, terus agan bergumam "damn, that guy is good..."
kalo gw berhasil score lebih banyak poin dari ce yg gw ajak main basket2an, i will show off. "jajajajaja gini2 gw pernah jadi mvp di sekolah". shit homie, sekarang gw udah pure platinum semua difficulty di bayonetta yg susahnya sehidup semati, tapi nggak bisa tuh dipake show off ke istri "ma, aku pure platinum nih semua hebat ga..........", "udah cuci piring belom??"



sebagai gamers, kita sudah melalui proses refining controls methods selama bertahun2 dalam berbagai game, sehingga mencapai kesimpulan instinctive dimana thumbstick kiri adalah untuk gerak, thumbstick kanan untuk kamera, dst.

bukti nyata dari "kebiasaan" ini adalah how the gaming society utterly despise motion controls. they fucking hate the wii, dan sebagai latahnya, they fucking hate everything the wiiu are trying to do. termasuk membenci motion controls di splatoon.
bahkan sekarangpun, banyak utubers2 yg sedang mencaci maki control starfox zero. padahal gamenya aja belom keluar

mungkin, di mata para "mature gamers" of ps4 and xb1 sekarang, tempat permainan arcade adalah tempat konyol tempat anak2 kecil bermain permainan2 bodoh. mending gw dirumah nungguin fallout 4.
tapi bagi saya, tempat dingdong adalah tempat saya pacaran, tempat anak2 gaul pada mabal, tempat banyak preman tukang palak uang logam... itu adalah tempat yang sangat keren


so why don't we all get back to that time...?
to the time when... si abang2 yg lagi high score time crisis & DDR itu keliatan keren banget.
to the time when ngos2an ngeboseh sepedah untuk merasakan sensasi terbang, dan main gitar plastik bohongan untuk merasakan sensasi jadi rockstar is REALLY FUN! no matter how fucking stupid it looks.

let's all get back, mates
lupakan kontrol konvensional, dan immerse to the games u're playing. tidak peduli control scheme atau gameplay macam apa yg mereka tawarkan. open up yourself to new adventures!
jangan celup2 doank kayak anak kota. let's all be anak kampung buka baju, buka celana, nyebur! exactly because it's fucking stupid, therefore it's fucking fun!

jangan tanggung2. be the best at the game u're playing! immerse yourself into its world.
kalo agan main monster hunter kayak saya, googling ttg elemental weakness! buka armor kalkulator! be the best hunter tanzia have ever witnessed! jangan jadi gamer manja.
kalo agan main splatoon, learn the controls! i promise u that it's the most responsive control method that everybody in A rank are using. browse about range, abilities, strategies! be the best inkling in the history of inkopolis!