Placid Plains

Placid Plains is the first area in Pikmin: Echoes of Eternity, being a mysterious land with tiny magenta grasses and cyan leaves. It is where Olimar and company find the Super Onion. The flora and fauna here are unlike anything Olimar and the Joker Squadron have ever seen. The entire area is surrounded by colorful red/magenta pebbles with Stone Turrtugos scattered about. Placid Plains is located in the Paea Plane.

Enter Placid Plains
Olimar and the two Joker Squadron members discover a whole cache of Red Pikmin engulfed in a sticky sac! The one Red that they have with them is unable to untangle the web. After some exploring, the team discovers an ion battery. They use it to charge the plasma cutter and return to the sac, freeing the nineteen Red Pikmin. From here, they return to the site Olimar emerged at, and the Pikmin dig up the object, revealing a large onion with pale green and grey patterns on it. Olimar dubs this the Super Onion, as it is much bigger than any Onion he has ever seen.

Olimar and co. now resume their trek through the plains. They come across several large twigs, and the Pikmin indicate they want to pick them up. They return the twigs to the Onion, and it sends out a beam of energy that cuts the twigs into logs of wood, which get stored in the Super Onion. Imani comments that she is no architect but they can use the wood to build a structure to protect from the nocturnal predators. The player can now freely collect more twigs for the wood resource.

The trek to the rest of the squad's signal is filled with fire and poison hazards, and several enemies, such as the Earthfin Dolfsheep and the Blue Beevorb. After reaching Location 2 a cutscene displays. The sun is setting, and the Hocotatians are worried. With only a limited stock of Red Pikmin and no ship, they are not sure if they can keep the nocturnal creatures at bay. Just then, a Red Pikmin is drawn into a clearing and finds what appears to be a treasure! The Reds all pick it up and bring it back to the Super Onion, which accepts it immediately. It turns out that the Super Onion is equipped to accept artifacts. It is dubbed the Burgundy Threadbare Tome by Olimar. Then the Onion sends a beam of light at the Hocotatians, growing a small green-grey attachment to their spacesuit's arm. Then Olimar activates it on accident, sending a spray of fire at the Onion. The Pikmin make a noise almost resembling a chuckle, and Olimar looks over at his cohorts. The captains can now shoot fire at enemies!

They all decide to set up camp here to stay the night. The player is prompted to use the collected wood to build walls and some traps for predators. Night falls and the sounds of hundreds of stirring creatures are deafening. The game is now in Survival Mode, where the captains and Pikmin must survive a whole night cycle (half that of the day cycle). Waves of enemies approach the base, and the Pikmin must defeat them, with the help of the captains' offensive abilities.

After the day begins anew, the captains set out to trek to the squad's signal again. This time they make it all the way to the signal, and find a data pad lying on the ground next to a cave entrance! They decide the other squad members must have been taken into the cave. The player is able to gather up their Pikmin squad and go into Beevorb Tunnel.


 * Continue story: Beevorb Tunnel

After Beevorb Tunnel
Olimar and the others return from the cave carrying the unconscious bodies of Batu and Akira. Olimar is frustrated, wishing that the team's doctor was here now. Olimar looks over at Imani with a quizzical look in his eyes.

"Imani, can you find an herbal remedy for them? You are the most qualified out of us all.", Olimar says.

"I know nothing about the flora in this area, but if you give me time I can identify something useful. I'll need a squad of Pikmin as protection."

"Done", Olimar says.

Olimar and Abbad decide to set out to find any more clues about the other squad member's whereabouts.

After exploring around, the two discover a Plasma Battery, which they bring back to the base. Olimar concludes that they can supercharge the plasma cutter, enough to cut down some Hardstem blocking a path to the next location. Once they move past the fallen foliage, they discover a field with toxic fumes emanating from small cracks in the ground. Olimar has Abbad stay back with the Pikmin while he investigates. Moving past several Noxious Stagren and a Red Bulborb, he discovers a small White Onion Golem. He is perplexed by it, when suddenly a White Pikmin sprout is produced. He plucks it, and is intrigued, never having seen an onion quite like it. Now the player is able to propagate 25 White Pikmin. There are fire geysers blocking the path to the next location, so the player needs to clear out the poison by having the White Pikmin carry clumps of dirt to clog the noxious fissures. Then the entire Pikmin squad led by the two captains can move on to the next location. The Onion Golem remains stationary, and the two trek on.

Past the fire geysers are some Stone Turrtugos, and a large bucket with a wooden ruler that serves as a platform to slide down into the next location. As the captains and Pikmin slide down the ruler, it breaks. They are now trapped in the lower levels! A moan can be heard in the distance, and then crashing footsteps send shivers down the captains' spines. Suddenly the White Onion Golem jumps down, and takes on a red and white striped appearance. Olimar is fascinated and Abbad is cautious. However they are forced to spend the night there, so the player is tasked with collecting resources to make a base. The day timer is extended to give the player half a day to collect materials. Once night falls, the game goes into survival mode again.

After dawn breaks, Olimar and Abbad are exhausted. They receive a transmission from Imani. "Hello, hello, can you all hear me?", Imani asked.

"Loud and clear!" Olimar said.

"I was going to contact you sooner but the ship and all of our systems entered an update mode that lasted all afternoon through this morning!"

"We got... stuck."

"Oh my, how did you and the Pikmin survive?", Imani asked.

"A strange Onion with arms and legs saved us. It allowed us to collect resources and build a base.", Olimar replied. "We need to sleep. Have you found a cure for the others?"

"Sure have!", Imani eagerly said. "They are waking up now! They're still groggy, but fully recovered!"

"Great. We need you guys to come rescue us. The twigs here aren't strong enough to make a ladder for us, only the Pikmin. We need something metal."

"Roger that. Imani out!"

Now that Batu is recovered, the player can take control of him. He is tasked with collecting bronze and tin from an area behind some Hardstems, and using the plasma cutter to break it into chunks that the Pikmin can carry back to the Super Onion. After enough are collected, he realizes that they don't have a refinery. There would be no way to forge a ladder. Batu and Imani get on the communicator to tell Olimar and Abbad the bad news. They are frustrated, but realize they haven't explored all of the sunken location yet. The player is tasked with using the two to find clues.

After defeating a Lurking Lamchorb and two Earthfin Dolfsheep, Olimar and company come across a soup can with a hole in the side, as well as a cave. They figure it can be used as a Forge if they find a proper heat source. After more exploring and clambering past several poison and fire hazards, they find a deposit of coal. They have the Pikmin carry the coal back to the makeshift base, as well as bringing the forge there too. The Onion Golem sucks in the forge and coal, and sends them to the Super Onion via a signal beam. Back at the main base, the forge and fuel are set up, and Batu can smith a metal ladder. Olimar and Abbad now are able to escape the sunken location!

Now that everyone is reunited, the player can enter the Tin Labyrinth in search of clues of how to escape.


 * Continue Story: Tin Labyrinth

After Tin Labyrinth
The party exits the cave, and morale is low due to them not finding any clues. Just then, Abbad excitedly proclaims that a new signal is coming from across the plains.

"What kind of signal is it? Another squad member?", Olimar said.

"Not sure, it is emanating from inside a... structure. Unknown origin, just producing a random string of characters in a language I don't recognize.", Abbad said.

"Well, let's investigate. I don't know what else we can do.", Olimar said with a sigh.

The game at this point opens up into an open exploration mode. Time passes and the day/night cycle is introduced. When night falls, the Captains and Pikmin return to the site of the Onion and the game enters Survival Mode.

Points of Interest

 * The entrance to Kansa Basilica. When Olimar and company reach the acid pools blocking the entrance, Green Pikmin must be used to uncork the drain, getting rid of the acid. Then the player can enter the dungeon.

Enemies

 * Lurking Lamchorb &times; 3
 * Earthfin Dolfsheep &times; 4
 * Red Bulborb &times; 3
 * Dwarf Red Bulborb &times; 7
 * Blue Beevorb &times; 7
 * Stone Turrtugo &times; 8
 * Noxious Stagren &times; 4
 * Burrowing Snarrow

Flora

 * Bluestem
 * Tall Fescue
 * Radiant Dandelion
 * Cattlegrass
 * Hardstem

Materials

 * Wood deposits from Twigs
 * Fiber from Tall Fescue and Bluestem patches
 * Cotton from Gossy Shrubs
 * Bronze and tin deposits from ore veins
 * Coal from Coal deposits

Collectibles

 * Ion battery &times; 3
 * Plasma Battery

Artifacts

 * Burgundy Threadbare Tome

Locations
Placid Plains consists of the landing site surrounded by a large set of locations around it, populated with flora and fauna.

Caves

 * Beevorb Tunnel
 * Tin Labyrinth

Dungeon

 * Kansa Basilica