Endless Ocean Luminous, the latest in Nintendo and developer Arika’s cult aquatic exploration games, is out now, and it might not be quite what some folks are expecting. The game features a number of mechanics that may be somewhat confusing at first, but don’t worry, we’re here to clarify things.
One thing you’ll realize upon starting to play Endless Ocean Luminous is that Story mode missions are locked behind scanning set numbers of creatures, and you may also notice your creature scan counter isn’t hitting those milestones as quickly as you might expect. It turns out Luminous is very particular about which creature scans it counts to your total. Here’s how that creature scan counter actually works, and how you can get your numbers up faster…
So, the first thing you have to know, is only creatures you haven’t scanned previously – those still glowing with a blue or yellow “light” – will count toward your total. It doesn’t matter if you end your dive session, if you return to the same map with your progressed saved, any fish you’ve already scanned won’t count.
Second, if you scan multiple of the same species of creature with a single scan, they’ll only count once toward your creature count. So, if you come a big school of bluefin tuna and scan them all at once, that will only add 1 point to your creature count, not 30-something. I know, it’s lame, but that’s how it is.
So, how do you maximize your creature count?