Splatoon was, in many ways, a new step for Nintendo. The company has historically been a bit behind the times when it comes to online services, so it appeared to be quite a risk to not only release a game that was almost entirely focused on online multiplayer, but to do so with a brand new IP. Fortunately, the game was a fantastic success, cementing itself as one of the most popular games on the Wii U and proving that Nintendo can produce a mostly solid online shooter.
Naturally, the team had its doubts prior to the game's launch and Hisoshi Nogami – the game's producer – recently talked with GamesMaster about the nail biting wait for release:
We've dealt with online multiplayer in a number of titles up until now, but this was the first time we'd taken up the challenge of releasing a package game where multiplayer was the main mode. We were not 100 percent sure about how a few sections would be received, and so we're really happy to see them being well received not only by experienced online gamers, but by a really broad range of players including children and female players too; it's a real confidence boost. If we have the chance in the future, I'd like to build on online gameplay even more.
Additionally, Nogami was asked about a potential sequel to the game. He was understandably noncommittal with his response, but sounds hopeful about the future:
We want to raise this new IP with care, so maybe we'll get a chance to make it happen if players support us.
What do you think? Did Nintendo get it right with Splatoon? What would you like to see in a possible sequel? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 88
The last part is a bunch of fluff if you ask me. I'll bet money on it that they're already knee deep in doing a sequel. They'd be foolish not to be.
I remember the pre-release hate. No voice chat, no lobbies, "this game would fail", etc. LOL.
And I remember saying this game will be the 2nd best selling Wii U game of all time behind only to MK8.
There's two things that I think a Splatoon sequel needs:
1. Better local multiplayer. As much as online should be the focus, you really should be able to have a comparable experience in local. That stupid balloon shooting game isn't going to cut it.
2. Playable Octolings.
Splatoon is a franchise, it will be getting a sequel sometime in the future - 100%.
Nintendo got it so right with Splatoon, and a sequel is got to be enevitable. Personally it's my favourite game this generation and that includes PS4 titles.
It would be good to have a solid improved single player mode, and a workable local/coop mode, but it's not essential.
I love Splatoon, absolutely love it. My son is mad for it, he's four years old & he loves it & he's absolutely brilliant at it, online turf wars, ranked battles & the solo campaign, he's brilliant. My partner & daughter both play it too, amazing! In any inevitable sequel, I'd like a more substantial solo campaign, & a better local experience because I'd love to play with my son but I do not enjoy playing that balloon popping thing without the GamePad
I hate competitive online multiplayer yet I love Splatoon. Says it all really.
Of course they're working on a sequel.
I just want portable Splatoon. Three minute matches would be perfect for those short play sessions just like Mario Kart DS/7 were when wifi or my phone was connected
Yeah, sequel is already happening, unless they're doing an enhanced NX version.
I hope to see an option to take a local co-op team online.
Splatoon caught on like wildfire in Japan, even being a console game. More than likely, an NX successor is already in development.
I would love to see a little bit of time before a sequel on the NX. Splatoon is still a new game in my eyes, and I'm perfectly content with enjoying what I have for a few years, rather than being forced to switch over soon due to server changes for just a few new features at full price.
As for features, I'd love to see local multiplayer. The Gamepad was a great control scheme, but if I have to be honest, the added touch-screen features aren't exactly mandatory. I don't think we'd be missing out on that much if everyone was on rubber-banded Pro controllers. It would be awesome, too, if the NX was powerful enough to handle 8 people at a time in a game like this.
Hopefully we'll see other original IPs from Nintendo thanks to Splatoon, not just sequels.
@Splatburst Future prediction powerz haz u
Splatoon was brilliant and I'd love a sequel.
The game isn't perfect though. The game could be improved by having more content available at launch, improved local multiplayer, voice chat, and more single player missions freely available.
I love Splatoon, it's great, so fun and addictive, I just would like to see more stages rotating at the same time in online mode. Sometimes it gets a little repetitive with just two stages in the rotation.
I have not purchased Splatoon as I dont play online gaming. But I guess Nintendo got it right up to a point. If they are happy with the sales then for them its right.
If it had a decent single player mode I may well have purchased it, but that was given way to coding for Amiibos.
So I guess for everyone who likes online gaming and bought Splatoon there will four other gamers who don't, and feel that this just adds to the lack of new games for Nintendo single player gamers.
@Bolt_Strike
I totally second this!
I hope that local multiplayer will be better-refined in the upcoming titles.
4-player split-screen local multiplayer is the only thing I truly miss in Splatoon. I hope they implement it in the sequel.
@zool The single player campaign is quite fun, in fact. The final boss is absolutely insane and has become one of my all-time favorites.
Splatoon was spot on. Multiplayer is where it's at, but it needs more modes for sequel, and no forced rotation. I understand why they did it- it wasn't guaranteed to be a success at the time.
Also, more amiibo integration next time. Slapping a paint roller in your hand and telling you to replay the same stages already present in the game isn't my idea of amiibo content. Although the retro squid games were spot on. That was really great.
Sequel with Vehicles, turrets and other Wacky stationary Massive splatters. Then add some wacky escort, traitor etc. gaming modes and you've got a winner.
An NX sequel is most definitely in the works I'm sure of it.
I imagine Nintendo quickly saw how fast their new IP was selling out in Japan alone and put a sequel into production immediately.
Assuming the NX is a hybrid, they could sell a lot of consoles at launch if they promoted the idea of playing Splatoon at home on your big screen or on the bus/train. Best of both worlds that caters perfectly to both Japan whom love handheld gaming and the West whom love home console gaming.
@zool The single-player mode definitely qualifies as 'decent'. It's really fun and imaginative, and manages to differentiate itself from the online mode surprisingly well. It's probably not worth getting the game just to play it, though that's more down to the lack of scale than quality.
It's definitely an area that could be fleshed out into something more meaty and comprehensive in a sequel though, along with the local multiplayer, which is something a lot of people have mentioned.
I think that - as small as the Wii U install base might be - Nintendo nailed it with Splatoon, and the sales figures within said install base prove it. In fact, the first Splatoon proved that Nintendo now has an online shooter IP that works, and that can be used to their advantage when needing to sell their next console much like Call Of Duty and Halo sell the other consoles.
I'm hoping for an NX splatoon on or near the handheld launch, running on the same servers as the wii u version. Then more DLC, with splatoon 2 coming out a couple of years later. 16-player, 4-colour turf wars for splatoon 2 pls, along with turrets, mechs, other surprises, more playable species, more customisation, and pants!
I love this game. If Nintendo gets online co-op right, they'll be ahead of nearly everyone in the console space.
Awesome game, sequel definitely going to happen. If a version were to release on 3DS, I wouldn't be leaving the house much.
@ricklongo the final boss was awesome! Really enjoyed that
I would like to see regional matchmaking.
I'm not too sure about a sequel happening, with those Smash rumours it feels like NX is going to be very Wii U port heavy.
@Grumblevolcano You base that on a single rumour that doesn't even state whether it is a port or a sequel to Smash?
@FragRed Well if the rumour's completely true then it can only be a port. If it's not a port then the NX launch part of the rumour is false.
@Grumblevolcano Yes, so port heavy that one rumor states that one port may or may not be on it. Is one port really that heavy?
@FragRed: I can assure you that it is not a sequel
SplaTWOon for NX launch title please!
"well received not only by experienced online gamers, but by a really broad range of players including children and female players too"
I would think that statement's kinda patronising to female players.
@MitchVogel MOSTLY solid? MOSTLY solid? Splatoon is more than 110% fresh if you ask me!
Pretty sure there'll be a sequel at some point in the future. Nintendo did good with this one.
I've enjoyed this game loads proabaly my game if the year 2015! It sold very well despite the fact the Wii U didn't! Japan is crazy for the squids so not making any more would be a fools job! Still hopefully the NX sells well allowing splatoons playerbase to grow even bigger!
Splatoon is my favorite game right now. I'm also not ready for a sequel though, I still have to much more to buy. I'm only level 26 and rank B. I'm finally good at ranked battles so I'm happy!
If the sequel is for the NX it would be awesome to have an optional mobile version for offline story mode and training.
One other thing I hope they change around is the music. I like some of the music, but maybe they could give us more options.
YOU GUYS STOP ASKING FOR VOICE CHAT. People are mean online. And the people playing this are extremely diverse. There are many little kids, girls, guys, and probably adults. So no voice chat is best in my opinion.
Great game I'd buy the sequel
I agree on no voice chat for the sequel. Voice chat can get mean, gross and even disturbing. At least from my experience with my x360.
And don't tell me to turn it off. It puts you and your team at a disadvantage. If you absolutely need it then only for playing friends or something.
Also I really want local multiplayer but I'm not sure it would work. It would be too easy to look at your friend's screen and splat them. I know other shooter games have split screen, but the maps for those games are probably much larger.
@crimsontadpoles A Splatoon sequel would most likely have VC with friends only. With randoms, VC will not exist.
@mjc0961 Apparently more than 4 million players disagree with you, but I guess each to their own.
@mjc0961 and yet. it did pretty good, beat Halo and Call of Duty at The Game Awards (Best Multiplayer Game/Best Shooter), getting 4.06 million sales, not to mention it has free DLC. (something other games does not have).
also Voice Chat? im glad that this game didnt had that, i don't want hear people making weird noises, eating while Voice Chat, or Kids screaming. i still would have turn them off. if it did had Voice Chat, Update: i was talking about people that you play online public, and not friends although i would not have an issue with Private Voice Chat with just friends.
and as for Bad Controls. pretty sure it has good controls, otherwise this game would have not gone anywhere with me and the 4 million people that bought the game.
I'm pretty sure it will get a sequel for NX
My biggest regret about Xenoblade Chronicles X is that it's kept me from playing Splatoon for the past two months. Hopefully I'll be back to splatting people online before too long.
@Aozz @Exeggutor Myopic opinions...
Nothing either of you said addressed VOICE CHAT limited to people on one's friends list, or filter options.
@Captain_Gonru I agree; it just must get annoying for female players to be lumped in with the casual crowd all the time. You can get many casual male players as well. I think perhaps he should of worded it like 'children and non-gamers' or something, instead of the broad use of 'female players'
Should have been more fleshed out, it's the worst online shooter I've played in 2015. For the price, it should have had more content, it just got really repetitive and boring really fast with the update release schedule. I've gotten more play time in Black Ops 3 without the DLC than I have with Splatoon.
@Exeggutor People have been conditioned to expect voice chat, so now for a lot of people it's just a reflex response to demand it in games that don't have it. I will agree that the option should be there for communication with friends, but Splatoon loses nothing for the lack of strangers screaming obscenities at you.
@mjc0961 I like it when people evaluate a game on its merits, not some near-arbitrary criteria likely conjured up in a fever dream. You should try that.
@AlexSora89 but could a sequel really sell NX? Outside Nintendo fans there wasnt really that big a hype for the game, it didnt sell any significant number of Wii U nor did it generate any long lasting buzz in the competitive communities or in the general gaming media in general.
The problem i think in comparing splatoon with halo and cod is that the only thing they have in common is their online multiplyer component. While splatoon may be a very fun game, you cant really sell or advertise fun. What splatoon doesnt have is the wow factor in which big set pieces, "cool" protagonists, pretty graphics tend to bring. In short, splatoon will be very hard to market to mainstream multiplayer shooter fans, it will be a tall order for splatoon to carry NX like halo carried the xbox.
I love Splatoon but I'd still like them to fix the server issue. I seem to only get in matches with people mainly from Japan and the delay glitch is very frustrating. I wish they had a regional option like mariokart.
@yuwarite I Never said anything about Friends not having option of voice chat. in fact, i would have NO problem of friends having that option. im talking about the general issues of voice chat in multiplayer. while yes, i well turn off the Option of Voice Chat. (besides GTAV because i can't seem to do that, so i have go to local Online, Multiplayer)
@Aozz Fair enough; all most people want is the bare minimum of being able to chat to their friends while they play. We're all aware that public voice chat is largely a cesspool. Furthermore, there can be filter options to further control the experience.
I really like Splatoon, though I admit it's far from perfect.
All the more reason to let it have a sequel so it can improve itself.
I hope that they build a franchise out of this game...perhaps make it like 3d marios or smash...one per generation? I think going the COD route is a bad idea (for one they have multiple devs working on that franchise which makes the games inconsistent) and I think that the sequel game would work best from starting decently sized and growing much larger just like the original game.
@mjc0961 Unfortunately for you, your book does not matter at all to the other 4 million players, including me. And if you're so whiny about voice chat, get off the couch and get a cell phone instead. Because I for one, am glad that videos of people "trolling" little kids on Splatoon don't exist, and make it all the better. For another thing, Splatoon's controls are probably the best shooter controls I've ever played with, and that's comparing it to the PC's AND Wii's, because it feels so incredibly natural. If you hate it so much, then play something else that appeases to your needs instead. Otherwise, no one cares.
Splatoon for president!
@diwdiws
Short answer... can Splatoon sell the NX? Yes.
Long answer... it's still yes. How can you advertise fun? The same way you can advertise smell - you can't, but this has never kept perfume commercials from trying. Nintendo can pull it off without resorting to the aforementioned "wow" factor, which doesn't necessarily rhyme with fun, no matter how the most graphics-obsessed devs would want you to believe otherwise.
All for a sequel! That being said, I'm not entirely sure one is in development currently. The Animal Crossing dev team worked on Splatoon, so it's possible that they chose AC over Splatoon 2, and then they work on Splatoon 2 afterwards.
Fantastic game, will be interesting to see what they do with a sequel, whether they stick to the same formula or try something different. Hopefully there will be no Voice Chat, that would ruin this game IMO.
A sequel is inevitable since the original is already a huuge success.
It really shows just how talented they are at making games, first try with a online shooter and it's this good,,, just wow.
Needs voice chat, and a boss mode then it would be perfect!
@mjc0961
And yet we both know that's never going to be an option. DLC, amiibo, all that stuff is here to stay.
Just needs to be more worth it. More content.
@Yorumi Or maybe you're just bad with chargers.
I am always that guy who prefers single player first and foremost. However, this game took me by surprise with how much I didn't care about the single player mode. I seriously only played the single player mode once, then I got bored and just wanted to go online again. Very unlike me, but the game is just simply too much fun.
I can't really comment on voice chat, other than my opinion of 'it should be included, but defaulted to off during randoms if parental controls are used' (seriously, parental controls having an effect beyond a password to play certain games would go a LONG way towards rectifying some problems with regards to online) but I would have an alternate solution to compliment/replace voice chat.
That 'over there' command from Portal 2's multiplayer would be excellent with this game. Point to a spot and give a small pre-made message of 'enemy!' or 'paint here!' or even just 'over there!'
There could even be clothing perks which could disguise your points (so enemies see them and think its an ally hint) and detect ones so you can see enemy ones (telling them apart from your allies and seeing them even if enemies don't want you to, but only if the point is near you)
Odd, I felt certain I had more ideas using it with perks, but I can't think of them right now...
@Yorumi In all seruousness, weapons are nicely balanced. Of course at the beginning there were going to be some problemos because weapon balance is not that easy, but right now it's quite good. I used to hate (Gold) Dynamo Rollers because of its fire power, but since I learned how to deal with them they're really easy to me. I haven't encountered many Aerosprayers lately but I think they've been nerfed in one of the past updates.
Now, chargers are really good weapons, they're just hard to use. You can defend against enemies, but of course it's going to be hard since chargers have the advantage at medium-long range. Still, you need to know how to move properly and use your sub weapons wisely in order to defend yourself against other weapons. As a Bamboozler user, I don't have as much problem on dealing with a Aerosprayer as with a E Liter 3k. Because of course, each weaponf has its pros and cons.
In other words, not because you had those problems it means chargers are bad, you just had to play differently.
I think it's a great game and original idea. Loved it mostly. I just hope for more local multiplayer in the future more than anything. Single player was great but could also be a bit longer.
Sorry for the complaining though really because it is otherwise a great game.
To the person who said it was aerospray's all over the place: in ranked you will find more e-litre s+ players then aerospray's in that rank.
Nintendo got Splatoon right. Even the timed unlocks functioned well. Hopefully they stay away from voice chat as long as possible. I would really hate that.
The ability to vote for maps each game would be great.
Leave the voice chat out of it in normal and ranked modes. Most people I play against/with speak a different language, and I'd rather that the small groups and clans don't have such an easy time accessing an unfair advantage. Do improve the dpad signalling though - there's room for 8 commands on there...
First of all @MitchVogel: I know it was true, but I'm getting tired of constantly reading that "Nintendo was a bit behind the times when it comes to online services". That's an old hat and apply anymore for a long time now. It has changed, Nintendo has adapted with the Wii U, so let's forget the past and look into the future instead.
And maybe it's my love for Splatoon talking here, but by calling it a 'mostly solid online shooter' you're really underselling the gfame. It's not solid, but an outstanding and unique online shooter.
I'd even go so far to advise Nintendo to release Splatoon on other platforms (PS4, PC). It's something that you can't find anywhere else and I'm sure it would sell really well now that it's established.
@Nicolai: I would totally miss the touchscreen interface! I even think they should use it more. Like having different subs and specials (Ultra Street Fighter IV did the same thing) available, but to switch you have to use the touchscreen. And I doubt the usefulness of 4vs4 locally with only one screen.
@Bolt_Strike @ricklongo @Blynyork: I really don't know how you could improve the local multiplayer. It's just boring by nature, because of the lack of the online component. I assume you mean extending the local multiplayer to 2vs2, but that would still be boring, the game has to be at least 4vs4 and that's impossible on local coop (because one screen isn't enough, because most people don't have that many controllers and even if they do, it's rare to find 7 friends who'l want to play with you locally).
I'd wish for the exact opposite: Get rid of the local multiplayer altogether. It's just no use, no matter how you try to improve it.
@zool: You're so wrong about this! I hated online multiplayer too, just before Splatoon came out, I was totally frustrated by GTA Online. Or take a look at what @8itmap_k1d or @wiggleronacid wrote, they're also not your usual online multiplayer players. Don't judge a book by its cover, the online multiplayer is super fun because it does so many things differently than other online games. And the singleplayer campaign is more than decent, it's challenging and a lot better than I thought. Did you like Mario Galaxy? If so, you will love the singleplayer. Trust me, you're missing out on the greatest game in recent years.
@CTMike: Taking a local coop team online would throw the whole game off balance, they can't and shouldn't do that. Instead, your friends should just buy the game themselves and then you can coop online.
@JaxonH: You don't seem to understand why they put in the rotation. It had nothing to do with not being guaranteed to be a success at the time. The reason behind this is that the rotation gives you the possibility of changing your weapons and gear according to the maps and modes. If they would get rid of the rotation, everyone would be using allrounder weapons like the Splattershot. The developers said it themselves and it's true. However, I would prefer to have more maps in the rotation, at least three.
@Timppis: You basically just described Team Fortress. No thank you, no vehicles please.
@toxibunny: No, please no! What you described (16 players, 4 colours, turrets, mechs) would destroy Splatoon and take away its strengths. It would basically become a standard online shooter like all the other games out there.
@Patapon11x: Why do you need regional matchmaking? It would take diversity away from the game and it would also lead to longer waiting times and more instances of 'couldn't find 8 players, back to lobby'. I really read a lot of hate against Japanese players and I cant help but think that this is some kind of xenophobia.
@yuwarite: I don't understand what's patronizing about that. While it's true that more and more females are playing video games, they're still very underrepresented. Nogami was just voicing his joy about the fact that females aren't that underrepresented in Splatoon as they are in other games. If anything, he was the opposite of patronizing, he was encouraging women to play it.
@mjc0961: What are you talking about? You clearly have no clue. It was no early access, the content was already on the disc when the game was released. And the controls are totally fine, I bet you don't even have the game and therefore don't know what you're talking about. If you don't like motion controls, you can turn them off. If you want voice chat, use discord or teamspeak or just use your phone. But Splatoon doesn't need voice chat by design (yes, that's how great it is designed), you would know that if you had played it.
And what you wrote about the amiibo content/overpriced DLC is outright ridiculous. Another sign of you not knowing what you are talking about. The amiibo content is nothing new, nothing that you need. The amiibo stages are the exact same stages that you play in the singleplayer campaign. The only difference is the weapon you use. But who wants to replay the singleplayer campaign after they have already cleared it? Exactly, no one. So by all means, the amiibo content was really meaningless. I have all three Amiibos and I just bought them because I like Splatoon. I opened them but I don't care about their content, because their content is irrelevant.
@Porpoise Well put, couldn't have said it better myself.
@Mr_Diabolical: Then this games is clearly not for you. But I don't get how you can say it's light on content? It has 16 maps, 74 weapons, 69 pieces of headgear, 121 articles of clothing and 67 pairs of shoes.
37€ was really a bargain price for all that, I would've happily paid 3x as much.
@diwdiws: I disagree. Splatoon generated a lot of buzz outside of the Nintendo community, just look at how many awards it won. Or take a look at its subreddit. I showed the game to a lot of friends who don't own a Wii U (or even never had a Nintendo console and aren't Nintendo players in particular) and it had a 'wow' effect on every single one of them. As soon as you put the controller into their hands and let them spray the ink around, they're hooked.
One of my friends who spends thousands of hours in Dota 2 is actually so interested in the game that he likes to watch me play. Dota and Splatoon have a lot of similarities anyway, so I agree, Splatoon has less in common with online shooters and more with MOBAs (and MOBAs are totally not for me!).
@Joshflowers: Then try to play at different times. Or maybe it's your playstyle that gets you paired up with asian players. I don't have that matchmaking problem that you mentioned. Sure, I had that lag a few times, but it's really rare. Maybe check your internet connection,
@Yorumi I'm sorry, but what you wrote sounds like you played the game only when it was released and then never again. Aerosprays are the opposite of dominating, they're one of the weakeast weapons and you literally never see them in ranked. And you also rarely see them in Turf War either. There were so many patches that balanced out the weapons and maps nicely. Chargers can very well defend themselves, in fact, chargers are on of the biggest threats in higher ranks. I don't mean to be rude, but what you wrote about chargers ('sniping positions are well known and easy to sneak up on') is total nonsense. Knowing the positions doesn't help you at all, because those positions are often only reachable by first going to the enemy base and then taking the enemy route from there. And doing that is almost impossible, because someone will splat you on the way. That's how well designed the maps are. The only way to attack snipers is from below (or with a squelcher or charger). If you would've played against S rank snipers, you would know what I mean. They make life hell for you. And I'm saying this although I also had success in defeating snipers, I'm not a sniper myself.
And what you wrote about the map design is also not true. All of those things were adjusted, so what you're demanding is already there. But I guess you weren't around to notice it. There are so many ways to sneak around and hide! This game has truly the best map design I have ever seen in an online game.
And have you even played Rainmaker at all? There is nothing like a 'kill zone', you have to use the whole map to our advantage.
The only thing I agree on is that there should be two more signals on the d-pad, like 'defend' for example. But this game doesn't need voice chat, it's designed in a way that renders voice chat irrelevant.
@Captain_Gonru: I totally disagree with your statement: 'the fact that gamers on other consoles don't need outside communication methods has to be factored in' So untrue. Just because others jump off a cliff, doesn't mean you have to do it too.Nintendo should be very careful not to mimick what other consoles do, because that would lead to the extinction of Nintendo eventually. Besides, there is already a communication method on Wii U, have you never heard of Wii U Chat before? It's not only voice chat, but also with video. I tried it once, it works, but it's totally useless, just like Skype etc. No one needs that and it doesn't strengthen friendships more than calling your friends does. That's why everyone has a phone!
I don't understand why some people still request voice chat, it's totally unnecessary and doesn't help in Splatoon, because they game is designed in a way that makes renders the benefit of voice chat almost(!) irrelevant.
It's as if someone developed a flying car and people would demand that it should have wheels, just because the old cars had wheels. Why does a flying car need wheels when it can fly?
@Exeggutor: Exactly, local multiplayer just wouldn't work and the absense of voice chat is part of what makes Splatoon great. I also second @Mineral @Aozz @Dr_Corndog on that, with the exception that it also shouldn't have voice chat with friends. That's what discord, teamspeak or your phone are for. Besides, if you only had voice chat with your friends, it would give you an unfair adavantage or it could result in a disadvantage because voice chat is soo distracting in my personal experience. Everytime I speak on the phone while playing with a friend I consistently lose more.
Also, @Aozz, you can turn off voice chat in GTA Online. Just go to the action menu (press 'm'), scroll down and turn it off.
@crystalorbie: While I disagree regarding voice chat, I'm all for more text signals. Something like 'defend', for example, but 'over there' would be also useful. I loved the text signals in Portal 2 coop!
@shani
That may have been their "official" reasoning, but we all know the real reason. They weren't sure of success, and forced rotation means the entire pool of online players is funneled into 2-3 maps, which is needed with a small base of actively online players.
They could have allowed you to customize your loadout after choosing a map, so that defense holds no water. The fact they increased the number of maps in rotation after seeing the game find success proves the point.
Watch and see- the sequel will ditch the rotation and allow you to, at the very least, vote on maps, then customize your loadout.
@JaxonH: Don't get me wrong, I thought the exact same thing in the first months. But the more I played the game, the more I realized that it wasn't true at all. It wasn't just the official reasoning (I read it almost half a year after the release), but truly the only reasoning. I'm very happy and appreciative of that decision. Otherwise I would still be playing with the Aerospray (which isn't that useful anyway) or the Splattershot exclusively and miss out on soo many opportunities! I wouldn't have developed my playstyle further. Most likely, I would've given up on playing. But broadening my horizon deepended my Splatoon experience so much! I wouldn't have put 360 hours (and counting) into the game otherwise. I wouldn't have 6-10 main weapons, I would only have 1 or 2.
Also, your point makes no sense:
'forced rotation means the entire pool of online players is funneled into 2-3 maps, which is needed with a small base of actively online players.'
What difference does it make if there are only 4 maps (2 in TW, 2 in ranked) or all the maps at once with voting? The amount of players and matches still stays the same, so it really makes zero difference.
So many times I wished there was voting instead of rotation (I sometimes still do). But by now I have realized that it would actually make Splatoon a less good game.
@Yorumi Well, if you only go for the "sniping points" it's logical you can be countered pretty easily, it happens in every game.
Chargers are pretty good weapons (like every other), if you have no problem in getting rid of them then they're probably not very good using that kind of weapon.
Btw, Splatoon maps are amazingly designed, I'd agree with @shani , they're the best maps I've played in an online shooter, ever. That's why I never get bored with the 2 map rotation, there's always a new path you can take.
@shani
Hmm, that's a fair point actually,
LOL, I laugh at the fanboys who still defend Nintendo for not including voice chat. At least have it for a private match.
Include that, and a local split screen option, and I'll gladly buy the sequel.
@Captain_Gonru: That's easy to explain and the same applies for MK8 (where you can actually use voice chat if you do a tournament with friends, but only in the lobby, not during races):
Just think about what you usually 'say' (or rather shout) when you play Smash or MK8 locally with friends? Exactly, everyone is swearing like hell. I know I do. And I also do it when I play Splatoon online, all the time. It's just human to swear and curse in those situations and Nintendo is aware of this.
So if you would allow voice chat during games, a lot of kids would be hearing cursewords all the time. That can't be good. I can totally understand why Nintendo is doing this.
Just as a comparison: I like to play GTA Online, but I immediately mute the ingame voice chat because otherwise you hear all kinds of different people from all over the world swearing. Nonstop. That's really annoying.
You can set voice chat to 'friends' in GTAO and I did that when I was playing with friends. But even then, I find voice chat annoying. When I'm gaming, even in online coop, I like to be left alone so that I can fully dive into the game and enjoy it without any disturbances (also from friends). Portal 2 coop solved this problem quite nicely and Splatoon should just copy and expand that feature.
That and the fact that 80-90% of the people in GTAO are just plain destructive made me quit that game for good. It's just no fun when you take your favourite car out of the garage, drive a few meters and then some !%$§ (especially if they use the exploding car hack) comes around and destroys your car (yeah I know I can turn on invisible mode, but that also limits what I can do) and if you have voice chat on, he'll curse at you and if you don't attack him immediately, he will call you a coward. Sometimes it even made me so angy that I text chatted back and cursed at him. But that's not what I want to be or do when I play a game online.
Sadly, that's pretty much the norm in online gaming, just ask anyone who plays Dota2 or LoL (many of my friends do and they can confirm that).
That's really dumb. And I don't know why I should just let dumb people ruin my gamig experience.
So in other words: If Splatoon had voice chat, I would probably have quitted it a long time ago. Voice chat really excludes a lot of people. Before the recent NL Splatournament, many of the players actually wrote in their posts that they would prefer not to use voice chat for in their teams. Because it's more distracting than helping anyway (not helping because of the game design).
And to go back to the flying car comparison: I think the analogy doesn't apply. Because your assuming that voice chat is some kind of innovation or progress. It's not. It's actually the opposite of innovation. Splatoon is partly innovative because the level design makes voice chat superflous. And that's a good thing.
So if anything, voice chat is a car with tires, while making voice chat unnecessary and replacing it fully with clever game design is the flying car.
I'm not saying this to defend Nintendo (I'm a fan but not a blind fanboy @EVIL-C), they do all kinds of things wrong. And I hated voice chat long before that discussion came up. So regarding this, I think Nintendo is doing the right thing.
But I agree with you on one thing: The Wii U is lacking multitasking aside from the browser, miiverse and eshop.
The PS4 for example allows you to listen to Spotify while you're in a game. Now I don't like spotify, but if I could play my own MP3's (or soundcloud, mixcloud, youtube etc) like I can do on my PC, I would like that.
And if the Wii U had multitasking for apps, you could just use Wii U Chat with a friend while you're playing a game. Then you would finally have the desired voice chat during gaming.
But I would still not want it to become a standard. I'd prefer it to go extinct on the other platforms.
@shani See post #52 and #69.
@shani the balance issue is easily resolved by making it part of a non-ranked specific mode or by separating rankings in its own mode. The install base is big enough to accommodate.
The competative scene would be unaffected, but that's not the game's target market anyway. Don't trample on fun!
@shani Thank you. Deserves every bit of it and more. Hmph.
@Yorumi
What are you saying? At higher ranks, aerosprays are crap because of their range and chargers on the other hand are huge pain in the butt. Sure, aerosprays are great for turfwars, but a good charger user can easily pick on the other team one by one in a distance. At higher ranks, few are using Aerosprays. It was only popular in the first 6 months upon release.
Harass another user and I will be banning you, you've had plenty of warnings.
~Waluigi
@Spoony_Tech They could also port the game to the NX if they really wanna milk its success. (They'd find workarounds if you don't have a Game Pad).
@Bolt_Strike I definitely want playable octolings (It would get me back into the game). However, the weird thing is that they're still updating the octoling models to be compatible with the multiplayer animations. If they're still doing content with the "rumored" Callie & Marie amiibo, there's still a chance for playable octolings, even if it doesn't seem likely.
@Captain_Gonru I only play with adults myself (end twenties and thirties), but I don't know a single person who doesn't shout and curse during playing Mario Kart. It is for a reason that they say "Mario Kart destroys friendships". I don't play a lot of Smash but I assume it is the same when someone kills you. And it surely happens during playing Splatoon when your teammates do something stupid, when I do something stupid myself or just when someone splats me. It's just part of human nature.
I can't imagine how you can not scream when you're in first place in MK8 and someone shoots you with a shell just before the finish line. I really can't. But maybe you're an exception. Everyone else shouts and curses when this happens.
@shani It's full price in America, $60. I am a fan of shooters and have a long history with them. I just don't think Splatoon is a good shooter.
16 maps that aside from the ones with gimmicks feel all the same mostly because the asthetic is lost when it's all covered in ink. It feels like you're walking through an ink world with a different layout.
74 weapons, 80% of which all feel the same because of the bare bones stat system that attempts to make them function differently. Half of the weapons are exactly the same just with different sub and special weapons.
The clothing is irrelevant unless you actually play the game for the customization aspect, yeah it gives you perks but swim speed up was the only one I felt left an impact.
If Splatoon wasn't made by Nintendo, and was the exact same thing you see now, it would be shat on to no end. It's that Nintendo bias that plagues the company and it's fans.
Not to mention I experienced huge network problems every other game while I experienced near flawless matches in Black Ops 3. Possibly because Nintendo made the dimwitted decision to use worldwide servers in a connection-sensitive genre like online shooters, playing around 9 AM EST I would be in games composed almost entirely of japanese players and it was frustrating.
Very strange lag too, the net code is some of the weirdest I've seen, I kill a player on my screen but still see ink being fired from their position and I die after what I believed to have the upper hand.
The only consoles I had at the time were Nintendo consoles and I don't get games often so Splatoon was the newest game I had that I wasn't yet bored of but that sure changed quickly, it was quite a frustrating summer as far as Wii U went, I spent most of my summer playing MH4U. My Wii U had basically become an alternative to an internet browser, in fact I'm typing this with my gamepad right now.
I got a PS4 for Christmas and all of a sudden my boredom is gone because the service throws games at me like candy and I always have something to play.
@Nicolai Nah, Inkstrike, Jumping to teamates/spawnpoint, seeing the status of the map, and seeing new colored ink forming on the map to see where your enemies are, are all pretty essential to the game and require the wii pad.
@Exeggutor When I play with my friends, we just use conference calling on our cell phones. Something everyone has these days. Playing with strangers, I'd just as soon not bother. The Greater Internet F&*kwad Theory applies to online multiplayer too.
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