Splatoon

[HandsomeDead]

The coolest game of 2015 is out now so let me tell you how fresh it is.

We know the score, right? We've played the demo? Its still pretty much that. Here's what I said about the multiplayer after the test fire:

Hi, It's me again, posting in the Splatoon thread. I'm not just gonna post news and an Asian emoticon this time. I've just played the Testfire for an hour so now I actually have things to say.

I knew I'd like it from what I've seen and I feel no different from actually playing it. I am very good at seeing what I like at this point in life. But things do make more sense now.

So you have three classes. You have a wee squid kid with a mid-ranged paint pistol, one with a roller that is practically an intserkill melee weapon and a sniper... which isn't as long ranged as you'd expect. There is a rock, paper, scissors thing going on here. I'd say, generally, it's rollers > snipers > pistol > rollers. But of course situational situations apply that may knock the formula... damn those things.

I'd say the pistol squid is the one to get to grip with things but I never did that well with that class in my experience. I found I did better with the two more oddball classes so it's worth trying them all out. But games where we had too many weird classes never went well so getting good at being a pistol squid is a help; but that won't be me... seriously, I do suck at it.

The gameplay and matches themselves are, to my relief, really good. There was always a cynic in my mind while following this game that said it may be too simplistic and it won't be something I'd stick to. But after playing it that voice can STFU. It's a weirdly compelling game, though I haven't quite figured out why yet. Maybe it's the short matches that make it easier to say 'one more go'? I dunno, it's hard to say after one hour of play of a brand spanking new game but I was sad when my hour passed.

But anyway, the gameplay is great. The maps are well thought out, placing the right kind of environmental obstacles in the right places. They make use of really simple stuff like verticality and the right kind of corridors that can be the death of you or used to your advantage. I guess it might be a bit 'level design student-y' at times, but they do it really well, and it's clear... It's Nintendo design to an online FPS/TPS, as expected, I guess. But that's not a thing we've seen yet (maybe the closest equivalent I can think of is Metroid prime 2's multi or maybe even Hunters but who played those a lot?(though both were good in ways)).

But the moment to moment stuff is cool. Shooting feels dumb and splodgy with the pistol, the sniper is not amazing but suitably cunning in context, and the roller is all "did I just kill you? whoops!". But it's the disappearing into the paint as a squid that is the game changer. Pressing the left rigger makes you invisible as long as you're in your own paint, and you also fill up your paint tank in this form so you can shoot more... what this actually is is a reload button, but one that makes you invisible to the enemy and also move at double the speed (potentially) so firefights (or paintfights) are really something else. Imagine a cover shooter where cover is where you've shot... It's such a wonderfully removed away from reality mechanic that.

I sometimes wonder is I only like Nintendo games because maybe I'm just lost in 90s naivety but I swear I'm not, I do think the way they approach things at Nintendo is cool, to this day. I'm 90% sure.

Do we have to have negs? I guess i have negs. This 'Testfire' had quite a lot of connection issues; like, more than I expected, and, since the game is only a few weeks away I'm not hugely confident about how it will launch. Mario Kart 8 is the only other Nintendo game that had a big online component that I've played and that was decent at launch but this game seems more complex than that... I'm predicting some teething issues.

You also have the motion controls. Now, you can turn them off, but the game is obviously designed to have them on. How it works is you have horizontal control with the right stick (though you also have some control with the motions) but vertical control is only motions.

I turned the motion controls off after the tutorial but I found the vertical controls were far too sensitive, and you can't just alter them by axis; you can only alter sensitivity entirely and I don't want to change a thing when it comes to the horizontal axis.

Yeah, that's one boring critique but it means I'm gonna have to learn the motion controls, but they are weird to me. I'd say it's a bit like tapping your head and rubbing your tummy, but I can do that pretty well, but I'll try that analogy to communicate an issue I have.

It's not a deal breaker, I do decent, it's just I feel I flounder at times because of the controls. Maybe when the game gets a full release I can find a sweet spot with the non-motion controls but for now I had a wee struggle.

But overall, bring it on. This game is cool (▰˘◡˘▰)

I still stand by that. But I'd say now I'm more in-tune with the controls, though there is still a lot of room for me to improve, and the stability of the online post-release has been mostly good.

So there is a single player aspect to the game which is pretty okay. You have a hub where you find the entrances to the levels, and the levels themselves are very obstetrical course-y that focus on specific mechanics (very modern 3D Mario in design). As fun as they are, they never really wow. The bosses sometimes do, but its mostly a gentle and subtly enjoyable ride. They're certainly leaps and bounds beyond tacked on, but a little something is missing I can't quite pin down.

I think I may have just been expecting more.

There is also a light RPG element to the multiplayer; it's a bit mini-Destiny with Ts and backwards caps that have perks tied to them that have all kinds of different buffs so you've got that to think about if you want but I've yet to see that much difference. But you gotta make your Inkling look fresh.

Overall though I like the game quite a bit. I think it is fair to say that content, as of now, is quite light, but I'm fine with that, personally. With Destiny and Witcher 3 being very time demanding I'm really happy to have a game where matches are short and progress is satisfying. It's not a game to get obsessed with, you'll see everything too quick, but as something to have to the side and play occasionally it fits perfectly.

I've heard people say Splatoon is to shooters what Mario Kart is to racers, but I don't think it's quite that. It could be, eventually, but it doesn't quite have as high skill level as MK that allows that to capture as many people as it does. It'll only ever be some silly, cool, messy, unique fun... only I say, like that isn't all good stuff... I'm just saying this isn't the tier of game it could be. It's great, but fantastic was just in reach, and it's just a little short.

But I'd say it's better than Smash Bros.

And! on top of that, its allowing #teens to explore squid based fetishes:

How sweet.

[spatular]

Nice. I've got it but not playing till I've finished witcher..could be some time.

[DisturbedSwan]

Yeah, I picked it up on release as well, but won't be getting round to it for quite some time still I'd imagine, hoping to wedge it in after TW3 and before Batman:AK.

[DisturbedSwan]

Just need to finish Life is Strange Ep. 3 and Telltale's GoT Ep. 4 and I can move onto this, my NNID is in my sig if anyone fancies adding me, should be on at some point this weekend

[HandsomeDead]

I got to rank 10 yesterday so I can play the ranked matches, so I gave them a go. Seems like a good sniper is really beneficial in this mode since you need to watch a specific area and keep it splatted in your colour. I don't think I've got a top strat down yet but the mode is really good. Looking forward to playing it more.

[DisturbedSwan]

Attempted to play Splatoon this evening, turned my Wii U on and was hit with a mammoth 2 hour update it needed to do before I could do anything suppose that's what you get if you don't use a console for an entire year

Everything's updated now, downloaded the patch so I'll finally be ready to play tomorrow!

Added quite a few of you from here on there today, and also accepted a couple of Friend requests

[HandsomeDead]

Over the last week or so I have been reading, watching and listening a bit about Splatoon and there is something frustrating me about its current reputation.

As I've been playing it during this time and getting better and better at it; learning how to best use the weird squid-cased mechanics, the surprisingly great map lay-outs, the tri-analogue controls (I heard a dev call the wrist movement in the motion controls a 'third analogue stick' and they all made perfect sense, in a weird way) and also finding a load-out that suits me (.Gal 22 with homing bombs and Inkstrike), I'm finding I'm getting pretty good at this game... and that means I get lots of kills (or 'splats').

But, according to what I've been hearing/reading/watching, I'm playing it wrong.

There seems to be this rhetoric that bros that go killing don't 'get' Splatoon. That's nonsense. Splatting someone takes someone out for maybe over eight seconds, and in games that only last three minutes an uncontested eight seconds is quite a bit of time to do some splatting.

Now, I get why this line of thinking exists. It is an approachable game and should be commended as so. You can totally play it with a roller, getting killed a bit, but making up for it by keeping out of trouble and covering ground... I actually want to be on a team with at least one person like that; it's a great compliment to my more aggressive play-style.

Now I'm not saying I hunt people down. I cover ground as I go like everyone else should, but I'm getting pretty good at coming out on top (Pro tip: use walls when you can as people don't seem to expect it as much).

I think what I'm trying to say is the way this game is talked about you almost feel shamed for being good at it, which is strange. I totally don't want to take away its approachable nature, but the idea that it's 'just' about taking ground is a simplistic way of looking at it, and it takes away its potential as a game... like... not potential, maybe broadness.

I know when people think broad, they think simple, or lowest common denominator, but that's not what I mean, and its not what it should mean. I like to think I have a broad sense of humour in that I'll laugh along to Stewart Lee with his brainy jokes and also find humour in a dumb Family Guy cutaway. That's what broad should be, right? taking in all the stuff? I feel Splatoon is a broad shooter in that you can just play it in a way that these critics say. But too say 'it's not Call of Duty' and discourage a more aggressive strategy by saying it's not important and doesn't work is very disingenuous. Everyone doing that probably won't work, but having someone doing that as part of a team strategy works a lot. And the mechanics works pretty well for high level play, with it's invisible re-load system that drives this fun whack-a-mole style combat so it just seems strange to me that reveling in the combat is discouraged by people telling you its all about splatting turf.

I know this means I probably kick down a few sand castles if I'm playing at a certain time with this game's audience, but... y'know

[Sly Reflex]

I learnt quite a lot about this game on Sunday, due to everyone that had played it was frothing over it. The general consensus was killing > painting over enemy paint > painting plain ground > painting walls (because they don't add to the total % earned) > painting spawn.

I'm kind of tempted to pick it up, but I really don't know, man. The no voice chat thing really puts me off more than it should. It's a petty thing to be annoyed about, but I believe all online games that require teamwork should have that feature.

[HandsomeDead]

The games are so brief so voice chat is a non issue. All the information you need is on the gamepad and its a case of working with that information. And who doesn't just mute everyone at the start of games with voice chat, anyway? I know I do. If it did have it it would just all god damn awful sound quality so there would be no point using in game chat anyway, going by Smash Bros. Just use other sources if you have to (which you don't).

I wouldn't say killing is more important that covering ground at all, but making sure you don't die when a confrontation happens is something that can really tilt the game in your favour.

[DisturbedSwan]

Get it, Sly! We can use Skype to voice chat if you want

[Sly Reflex]

Duration of the game means that communication doesn't matter? Are you on the reefer? It doesn't matter if games last 1 minute or 1 hour, being able to coordinate and warn teammates is beneficial. What you've just said is utter nonsense. Sure, have options in there to mute people that aren't on your friends list to filter out undesirables, but at least have the features there for the people that will use them, no matter what quality they are.

[spatular]

lack of voice chat puts me off a bit too, i'd play mario kart more if i could chat to people as well, talking tactics is good but its not just that, the social aspect is part of what keeps me coming back to stuff like destiny/halo - because friends are playing them. i got this on launch but as that was when the destiny dlc and witcher were out i've not touched it, shame as i think it looks ace but it's going to be really hard for me to get into the online aspect of it now (well, whenever i get round to it) coming in late to the party, oh well, i'll still definitely try it at some point.

[HandsomeDead]

Duration of the game means that communication doesn't matter? Are you on the reefer? It doesn't matter if games last 1 minute or 1 hour, being able to coordinate and warn teammates is beneficial. What you've just said is utter nonsense. Sure, have options in there to mute people that aren't on your friends list to filter out undesirables, but at least have the features there for the people that will use them, no matter what quality they are.

Dude... Voice chat on the Wii U is total garbage. It's no loss. It's best to use another avenue. We could hook up on PSN, it's no loss to you.

And on top of that the lack being able to directly communicate with team members forces you to play to the game's rules and puts everyone on the same level. It's bullshit a game 'needs' voice chat.

This is funny coming from a guy who refuses to play Trials of Osaris on Destiny due to unfair advantages.

[AndyKurosaki]

Nah I'm with Sly. If you can't voice chat then what's the point? Playing online is all about chatting with your mates and having a laugh.

[HandsomeDead]

Well as someone who has playied loads of online multiplayer talking to no-one already I say 'is it fuck'. It's a competition, not a fucking date.

[DisturbedSwan]

I'll just use Skype if anyone fancies Voice chatting on there to be honest, it's annoying but not a huge deal to me.

[AndyKurosaki]

Personally id find it utterly tedious,but to each their own i guess.

[DANGERMAN]

From what I played I don't think you need voice chat for Splatoon. You dont even know your teammates names half the time. Like Lakitu and DC said, it's so brief and kinetic that you'd rarely be able to organise anything anyway

[Sly Reflex]

Just because the rounds are short doesn't mean you don't need to chat. The rounds are short in Trials of Osiris, would you like no voice chat in that?

Honestly in this day and age it's absolute bollocks that a game doesn't have VoiP. If this was on the XO or PS4 it'd get ripped to shreds if it had no in game chat. Nintendo shouldn't get a free pass and should be taken to task for their failings to implement something that has been a fucking standard in online console for over a decade now! And before someone brings up the whole "Nintendo are protecting kids" line, that's fucking nonsense as well, it smacks of spin allowing Nintendo to get away with features that shouldn't be omitted. If they were really bothered they'd have the features and have them controllable by the parents of guardians if they wanted to protect kids. Y'Know, ike the other consoles do. Or you could be a responsible parent and actually monitor what your groin tumours are actually getting up to.

Saying the chat on WiiU is shite isn't a good argument either. Why is it so shit? The other consoles don't suffer with the same issues. Saying it's shit so it shouldn't be used full stop is silly. It should be better and being passive about it is never going to push Nintendo into sorting it out. Nintendo fucked it up. I shouldn't have to use alternatives, it should be present in game and functioning well. Why would I play Smash or MK8 socially when for the majority of the time I'm sat in silence with only the cries of the characters in the game being vocal? When I sit and play MK8 locally with friends it's kinetic, I hear people warning of red shells and laughing because they got a lightning strike. That sentiment of hearing other people react to is totally lost when you're playing online and it's something that should be replicated as closely 1:1 to playing with your friends locally. MK8 (and other Nintendo games) online is like playing in a vacuum, you might as well set the AI to random because there's no personality behind who's controlling your opponents.

So when you say that killing someone in Splatoon puts you at a greater advantage and losing a player puts you at a disadvantage, don't come to me saying that ingame chat isn't important, because it is. It should be available to everyone so they can call out where they going, what's happening and what they're going to do about it. It might be your personal preference that you don't want to wear a headset and that's fine, I get that some people aren't as vocal as others and that's perfectly fine, but to say that you don't want or need it that others should go without is short sighted. Voice chat has always been an opt in feature, don't rob the people who expect the feature to be there of the thing that makes or breaks the experience.

[HandsomeDead]

People are complaining it doesn't have voice chat. You are! Loads of others are. Some reviews did. So Nintendo aren't getting a free pass at all.

But after spending a bit of time with it you can understand the omission. The flow of the matches speak for themselves so you don't need anyone on your team pointing stuff out.

I wouldn't be against a PS4 game not taking advantage of voice chat if the game's mechanics spoke for themselves like they do in Splatoon, but they don't, they are designed with knowledge that people will communicate like ToO is. Both are valid ways of doing it.

And you just need to look around and hear the people talk about playing Splatoon but they don't play other online games due to the need for chat or having anyone in the match have a line of communication to you that you don't want.

Not everyone has to tow the same line and do voice chat because that's what everyone else does.