A Clarification on Loadouts [Original question solved]

[Niliks]

Alright, so I understand that you buy weapons as full loadouts, and that you can't swap pieces between sets, but do all main weapons of the same type come with the same sub and special weapons? In an interview I watched, Corey said something to this effect, and I have not seen, or at least noticed, an instance of differing combinations within the same video. However, I have noticed on the official site, videos showing differing combinations for the same main weapon, and I believe that these videos have all come from the same build of the game. To be specific, I have seen a Splatter Shot paired both with the Water Balloon like bombs -- You can see one thrown by an orange boy during the second demonstration of the Splash Wall in the sub weapons video -- and something else entirely -- we see a Splatter Shot wielding pink girl Inkling with a much higher sub-weapon-threshhold marked on her ink tank pull an Inkzooka during the Special Weapons video. Is there something I have missed that makes this clear?

Edit: This has been essentially solved, as there was a source where I missed it was showing differing sets for the same weapon. Read below to learn more.

 

[Lyn]

I'm not sure about this. It's possible there are different preset loadouts with the same weapons, or that those could be skins. I have no idea, honestly.

 

[Pivi]

As I see it you have
Main Weapon: Splattershot, Roller, Charger ect ect
Sub Weapon: Bubble, Ink Wall, Ink Bomb(?) ect
Super Weapon: Killer Wail, Inkzooka ect ect
I'm pretty sure you can mix and match to your liking in the game, however in the videos with guests and nintendo people, they probably had loadouts preselected. We've....never actually seen a weapon equip screen, the closest is peeks into the shops but that's as far as we've gotten.
I'm sure a game that prides itself on customization wouldn't have restrictions when it comes to weapon combos though.

 

[Yaezakura]

As I see it you have
Main Weapon: Splattershot, Roller, Charger ect ect
Sub Weapon: Bubble, Ink Wall, Ink Bomb(?) ect
Super Weapon: Killer Wail, Inkzooka ect ect
I'm pretty sure you can mix and match to your liking in the game, however in the videos with guests and nintendo people, they probably had loadouts preselected. We've....never actually seen a weapon equip screen, the closest is peeks into the shops but that's as far as we've gotten.
I'm sure a game that prides itself on customization wouldn't have restrictions when it comes to weapon combos though.

No, the weapons are full loadouts. For instance, the Splattershot Jr. comes with the Splat Bomb and Bubbler. Guaranteed. Equipping the Splattershot Jr. means committing to those secondary and special weapons.

Now, it is possible there are alternate sets. Perhaps there's a branded Splattershot Jr we don't know about, and it comes with a different secondary or special. But you never get to just pick and choose your loadout. They wanted to avoid players simply trying to combine the best primary with the best secondary with the best special. So they restrict it to predetermined sets of weapons, causing you to have to make tradeoffs if you want a better secondary/special than your favorite primary offers.

 

[Actilide]

No, the weapons are full loadouts. For instance, the Splattershot Jr. comes with the Splat Bomb and Bubbler. Guaranteed. Equipping the Splattershot Jr. means committing to those secondary and special weapons.

Now, it is possible there are alternate sets. Perhaps there's a branded Splattershot Jr we don't know about, and it comes with a different secondary or special. But you never get to just pick and choose your loadout. They wanted to avoid players simply trying to combine the best primary with the best secondary with the best special. So they restrict it to predetermined sets of weapons, causing you to have to make tradeoffs if you want a better secondary/special than your favorite primary offers.

That's sort of disappointing :(

 

[Diableos]

No, the weapons are full loadouts. For instance, the Splattershot Jr. comes with the Splat Bomb and Bubbler. Guaranteed. Equipping the Splattershot Jr. means committing to those secondary and special weapons.

Now, it is possible there are alternate sets. Perhaps there's a branded Splattershot Jr we don't know about, and it comes with a different secondary or special. But you never get to just pick and choose your loadout. They wanted to avoid players simply trying to combine the best primary with the best secondary with the best special. So they restrict it to predetermined sets of weapons, causing you to have to make tradeoffs if you want a better secondary/special than your favorite primary offers.

That's sort of disappointing :(

I second that disappointment. I wonder why they opted to go for full loadouts like that? I hope they consider changing it in the future. Maybe they went for this option so that no one can mix and match to find the "best" loadout? I can understand if that's the case, but it still kind of sucks. I'm sure I'll get used to it, as I'm sure everyone here will. I haven't played the game myself yet, so the weapons in these preset loadouts might compliment each other nicely for a good balance.

 

[Yaezakura]

I second that disappointment. I wonder why they opted to go for full loadouts like that? I hope they consider changing it in the future. Maybe they went for this option so that no one can mix and match to find the "best" loadout? I can understand if that's the case, but it still kind of sucks. I'm sure I'll get used to it, as I'm sure everyone here will. I haven't played the game myself yet, so the weapons in these preset loadouts might compliment each other nicely for a good balance.

That's pretty much exactly why. They felt it would be easier to balance things as a cohesive set than as a bunch of individual items. It also means your decision about which primary weapon to use need to be based on more than just how effective the primary weapon itself is--you have to account for its secondary and special weapon, too, which may lead to you deciding on a "weaker" primary that includes a secondary and special you want more.

 

[Diableos]

That's pretty much exactly why. They felt it would be easier to balance things as a cohesive set than as a bunch of individual items. It also means your decision about which primary weapon to use need to be based on more than just how effective the primary weapon itself is--you have to account for its secondary and special weapon, too, which may lead to you deciding on a "weaker" primary that includes a secondary and special you want more.

Yeah, then that makes a lot of sense. I guess that will also make team balance all the more important, which is definitely for the best. If there's a loadout with a strong primary, but has minimal range and the secondary is weaker to make up for the strength of the primary, you obviously won't want an entire team using the same loadout and lacking any decent range. Not that there will be a loadout like that for sure, but you'll want all the bases covered to succeed.

While a few of the decisions are a little disappointing, I can understand the reasons behind them. Would be nice to have more control over my loadouts, but the devs put a lot of thought into this game so I can respect that and I'm not going to bash them for it.

 

[Niliks]

Yeah I will admit I wish it was full loadout making, but ah well. Personally, I feel like it will be that there are a few different possible combos for each weapon, because of the miss-match I mentioned in my first post. Now, I DO know that it is at least by individual type and not by category of weapon. The 0.52 Gallon for example is considered a rapid-fire type -- people have been calling them 'standard' I think -- and we have always seen it with the Splash Wall, which we have never seen from the Splattershot for example. And the Roller has been shown with the Suction Bomb, while the brush has only ever demonstrated the Sprinkler as its' sub-weapon.

Actually, it also occurred to me that if the weapons do have multiple possibilities for each loadout slot, then it gives more longevity to the weapon store, and a reason to want to earn more cash. It makes sense to own two Squiffers if one has, say, Ink Strike and the other has Bomb Rush for special weapons.

 

[Inari]

Actually, it also occurred to me that if the weapons do have multiple possibilities for each loadout slot, then it gives more longevity to the weapon store, and a reason to want to earn more cash. It makes sense to own two Squiffers if one has, say, Ink Strike and the other has Bomb Rush for special weapons.

yup, there's pictures of the weapon store showing variations of the same weapon that have a slightly different appearance and cost (ex. regular charger vs. one with a scope attached), there's a good chance they have different sub/specials

 

[Pivi]

Oh, I see, it all comes down to balancing out your weaknesses between the prime and sub weapon.

So loadout customization still exists, just not mix n match like other games. It's a fair compromise, as I'm sure there are some weapon combos that are simply better than every other loadout in the game, and this prevents everyone hopping online with the same 1/2 loadouts-- Anyone familiar with Mario Kart Wii's online must remember the never ending hoard of Funky Kongs on Bowser Bikes. If Splatoon turned into something like that, it'd be dry unbearably quickly, so I guess this is actually a good thing!

 

[Niliks]

I think I have solved it! There's another thread discussing the topic of Branded Weapons. We have seen in screenshots that different gear has a brand name attached to it, and there were even a couple Squid Research Lab posts about the different brand names. These mentioned the companies tying to out do each other making weapons. At first I thought it was just some random flavor, but in the Branded Weapons discussion the thread creator points out that in the Game Informer Test Chamber video you can see the reviewer get splattered by the specific weapon "Tentatek Splattershot", at about 8:20, by a player named Robert. This got me thinking, so I did some investigating.

On the announcement for the splat cam of the moment above is a small pink icon, which is also on the side of Robert's Splattershot. Sally, another player in this game, also has a Splattershot with that logo, and so does the person we are watching play, William, but only during the first match. You can see these clearly at the beginings and endings of the matches. We see William in that first game has an Inkzooka, and in other matches he gets splattered by an Inkzooka from Sally, and Robert. William also throws a Suction Bomb at the start of his match.

If you pay very close attention, you can even see on the official site that the pink Inkboy that uses the Inkzooka in the Special Weapons video has the same splatter shot. The kicker comes from, of all things, the squid form video on the official site. The last scene has a pink Inkgirl demonstrate the super jump, and we can see the full hud. Her special is a Bomb Rush with the water-balloon type grenades, so those are her secondaries. When she turns back into Inkling form mid-air, she clearly has a Splatter shot that doesn't have the Tentatek logo. This means that not every Splattershot has the same loadout, there are multiple different presets determined by the branding of that particular Splattershot!

Edit: I'm a derp and this was game INFORMER not Game Explain. I have tried to fix that in the post but if you see Game Explain, replace it with Informer >.<

..Oh fine, since that got long winded.

TL;DR: Weapons have brands like clothes. These have differing preset loadouts. Slpattershot =/= Tentatek Splattershot, at least for Sub-Weapon and Special Weapon. See above for logic.

 

[Pivi]

Oh man you guys, what's happened is Nintendo released a lot of information about the things we're discussing waayyy back and we've just totally forgot.
Looking back at an old direct, weapon sets were confirmed AGES ago
But what I find interesting is this screenshot from it:

This confirms weapon sets are NOT static, as seen in this video, the charger was used with the ink bombs, however, as seen here, the charger has the Sprinkler as it's sub weapon, so at the very least we can breathe easy knowing combos CAN be mixed and matched, it just seems like its a matter of what comes in the set you buy.
It also features two weapons and a sub we know nothing about; the 2nd one in the top row, a standard shooter, and the 3rd one in the middle row--actually i think the Inkling is holding it. It looks like a super rusty Roller? Rollers look nothing like that though, unless weapon cosmetics are a thing? How mysterious. And lastly, the sub shown with the Brush shown in the middle of the 3rd row, it looks like some kind of speaker box/cake kind of thing?
At the very least there's still a lot of weapons that haven't been shown, how cool is that?

 

[Niliks]

Oh wow you're right, I totally missed that the basic charger on the bottom row has a Sprinkler. Good catch. Oh! I see another! The other corner is a basic Splattershot with Barrier when we usually see it with Bomb Rush.

Yeah I had known they confirmed sets as a thing you buy, but I missed the fact that there was more than one possibility for the set...when it was right there...I feel kinda silly now XD

 

[Citanul]

I really like the weapon set system the way it is. You can think of the weapon sets (and the branded alternates) as characters this way.

For a game designed to be played quickly (between 3 - 5 minutes a round), this system makes it much easier for me to adjust my play based on what the enemy team has equipped. Example: I only need to fight (or die to) an enemy once before I recognize that "oh, blue inkling boy is using SplatCo Sniper, I know what that comes with so _____ is his general weakness." Having predefined weapon sets is a shortcut to recognizing what the enemy is using.

And assuming sets are unlocked for purchase through a mix of leveling and random daily restocks, I can gradually learn about the different weapon sets over time so it's not some huge requirement to memorize everything up front.

 

[Niliks]

Having predefined weapon sets is a shortcut to recognizing what the enemy is using.

Huh. You know, I hadn't considered that. That's an interesting thought...Like seeing a Sniper or a Scout in TF2. They can have lots of different stuff, but you know they're both squishy, one's fast and short ranged, and the other is good at a distance.

 

[Setu]

Okay, first of all, fix "clairification" to "clarification".

Second of all, it isn't confirmed that each main weapon will have one possible loadout, and that is very unlikely. It IS confirmed that you will not be able to edit/customize loadouts. If I remember correctly, Nintendo will be controlling the shop and everyone will have the same available items that will change every day, which will still prevent from having OP loadouts. Idk why people don't understand this.

 

[Pivi]

If I remember correctly, Nintendo will be controlling the shop and everyone will have the same available items that will change every day, which will still prevent from having OP loadouts. Idk why people don't understand this.

Where did you hear this? I know the weapon shop changes by day but not that Nintendo would pick and choose.

Also there's a lot of splatoon information floating around all over that has yet to be wrangled into a singular spot, only now thanks to squidboards are we finally compiling all of these facts together, but there are still people who either missed these things or are just new to splatoon in general, so asking why people have questions or get things wrong is kind of silly.

 

[Niliks]

Second of all, it isn't confirmed that each main weapon will have one possible loadout,

Yes we know that now, we have been talking about it for a few posts at this point. I will see if I can change the spelling of the title, and while I am at it, add a note that the original post has been answered to prevent confusion. Do you have a source for the fact that everyone's shop will be the same each day?

 

[Setu]

Where did you hear this? I know the weapon shop changes by day but not that Nintendo would pick and choose.

Also there's a lot of splatoon information floating around all over that has yet to be wrangled into a singular spot, only now thanks to squidboards are we finally compiling all of these facts together, but there are still people who either missed these things or are just new to splatoon in general, so asking why people have questions or get things wrong is kind of silly.

Most of it is just logic. Limiting a weapon to only having one possible loadout would ruin the game completely, and nintendo would NEVER do anything like that. Also for now, just take my word for it until I find the source because I do remember seeing/hearing it somewhere.

EDIT: Sources: http://wiiudaily.com/2015/04/new-information-about-splatoons-battle-dojo-and-shopkeepers/
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04...mpressions-of-1v1-battle-dojo-amiibo-and-more