Cuttleshock
Inkling Commander
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2016
- Messages
- 459
The following is true, as far as I can recall the events; I started writing this post 30 minutes after what happened and didn't finish until two hours after the occurrence. It's likely to be a slog to read through and I don't expect many people to bother with the entire text, so I've added a summary afterwards.
The main reason I write this down is that it honestly crept me out completely as it was happening and left me feeling melancholy after it was over. Not all details are guaranteed to be accurate but it stays true to what I felt and thought while this transpired. I wanted a suitable place to post this story (of course, saved it to my hard-drive as well, as it's not often I write 2000 words of anything) and hope that this is the right spot in Squidboards.
I'm not sure what this thread should be for other than a host to my tale; feel free to reply with thoughts on what may have happened, particularly on what may or may not have been client-side, or similarly-unsettling games that you have experienced. I'd be very interested if anyone else here has had a game like mine and can, perhaps, recall some details better than I can.
The main reason I write this down is that it honestly crept me out completely as it was happening and left me feeling melancholy after it was over. Not all details are guaranteed to be accurate but it stays true to what I felt and thought while this transpired. I wanted a suitable place to post this story (of course, saved it to my hard-drive as well, as it's not often I write 2000 words of anything) and hope that this is the right spot in Squidboards.
I'm not sure what this thread should be for other than a host to my tale; feel free to reply with thoughts on what may have happened, particularly on what may or may not have been client-side, or similarly-unsettling games that you have experienced. I'd be very interested if anyone else here has had a game like mine and can, perhaps, recall some details better than I can.
The first half of today was harrowing for me in Splatoon. Playing TC with a couple of different weapons and starting at a low S Rank, I proceeded to fail horribly to contribute anything to my teams, spiralling into a losing streak regardless of where the good players in the lobby were; I finally gave up upon hitting A+ 30, deciding to wait to build up my Rank the next time I could play SZ, my most reliable Mode.
I wound up missing the next SZ rotation and didn't end up trying my luck at the subsequent RM until less than an hour before the end of that, around 22:30 (GMT+01:00). However, at this point, things really began to look up: in these games and the ones to follow in SZ (the present maps, as I type), I managed to pull off a non-stop win streak to equal my losses from the start of the day and come back to S Rank, even winning the SZ in Port Mackerel that I played after that.
I could attribute these victories to switching to my generally most successful weapon, the vanilla Slosher, but I know that it was also in no small part due to having fantastic fortune with the matchmaker, in stark contrast to the past couple of days. Thrice, there was a disconnect in my room; on two occasions, an opponent left before the game began and I effectively had a free victory, and on the third, a member of my team vanished after we had a strong lead in Port Mackerel SZ, which we were able to defend to a victory as well. If I had to suggest a reason for the events that were to follow, it would be that my good luck had finally well and truly been used up by my second SZ game after returning to S Rank.
This game took place in Walleye Warehouse. It was a good match, not dominated by either side and with room for either team to win as of the 0:30 mark. Around this time, the counter was around 15-65 in the opposition's favour, but we had taken over the zone and had only a short penalty timer, with a strong defensive line formed, my team consisting of my Slosher, a Custom Range Blaster, a Sploosh-o-matic and a .52 Gal Deco. It was also, as I realised after the event was over, near the stroke of midnight in my time zone.
Either shortly before or shortly after Extra Time (Overtime) began, the uncanny events began to take place. With our counter at 51, the Zone was neutral but enemies were scarce and it was easy to retake. But when it was all in our colour, nothing transpired. The counter seemed to be frozen, although Extra Time carried on unabated. My team carried on colouring the surrounding area to charge up Specials and better to prepare for the next wave of enemy attack; at this time, I believe that all of us thought that it was 'just me', that the counter was working normally for everyone but themselves and that they should simply carry on as normal.
But the next wave of enemy attack did not come... or it did not come in a way we expected. An unsettlingly long delay passed during which I carried on strafing to check all possible routes of attack and did not see a single opponent appear. Perhaps they were going for a co-ordinated rush with Specials charged, seeking to take us out in one fell swoop? I, too, filled up the rest of my Inkstrike in case the situation came to it.
Enemies did not come... but the teal ink did. And one, two of my team-mates were taken out by opponents whom I could not see. After a period of panic and retreating to send off the Inkstrike, I returned to the centre to carry on trying to keep the Zone neutral. At this point, I drew the conclusion that I was surely experiencing a client error and, probably, completely lagging around the stage from the perspective of the other seven players: not one splash of enemy ink hit me and I assumed that I was unfairly nigh-invulnerable.
I also realised that the enemy squid icons were permanently crossed out (as if they were splatted), though they had a presence in the constantly-reappearing enemy ink. But from this point on, I never saw a single teal blue Inkling: they were completely invisible to me. I couldn't aim for any so I simply carried on trying to keep the Zone neutral and occasionally attacking suspicious patches of air, although I received no feedback.
Occasionally, Suction Bombs would materialise in thin air (three of our four opponents had them, two with Bomb Rush), and I took damage if one exploded in my radius, so I learned that I was at least not perfectly invincible. I played quite skittishly when the area became particularly blue and so was still able to be the only one of my team standing on a couple of occasions, for my team-mates were engaged in a tight contest of territory and were often splatted, though I never saw how it happened - they would be firing just in front of me only to explode into teal ink, and I would promptly make my escape from the perceived threat. Still, I believed that a normal battle was going on from everyone else's point of view and it was just a matter of seconds before the Zone was either taken by opponents or we reached 14 and Extra Time elapsed.
It came a point (I don't know how long this took, as in this Extra Time with no counters for reference, time began to lose meaning) when my team regrouped and retook the Zone. Again, I figured that my team had managed to take out the opponents in spite of my unhelpfulness in the situation and that the enemy was just delayed in respawning and swimming back. But this time, only a little blue ink appeared before being staved off by our Range Blaster, though I saw no evidence of a hit. This occurred a couple more times (a Bomb Rush starting up once) and we held our ground easily enough.
Then no more teal ink came. As far as I could tell, the enemy team had entirely disconnected - or were they now playing a different game of their own, one in which we were the absent, invisible team? For another period during this quiet, my team patrolled and inked any remaining blue ground in the centre. Perhaps they were still battling foes fiercely and I was the only one not privy to the events... but no, as it soon became clear. The Sploosh-o-matic did a little dance on the crates in the centre and sent out a couple of taunts, and these were responded to by all of the team, including myself. This show of solidarity now helped to abate the unease that I had been feeling even since the non-effective Extra Time started: it appeared that we had all been having the same experiences, after all!
Now it came to be that the seemingly unending game became a source of some irritation. I very much considered resetting the Wii U, as Extra Time had been running for a good few minutes by now and the game still didn't show any signs of progression. And one more event came to pass that reinforced that notion: having appeared to vanish entirely, the enemy team in all of its intangibility came back for one more push which wiped out my team, even taking me out with a Suction Bomb, and painted the Zone blue!
When it seemed safe to come in (after all, they hadn't directly hit me yet so why should I fear them now, given that their Bomb Rushes were used up?), I started to colour but then hesitated... should I let it remain enemy-coloured so as to convince Extra Time to finish once and for all? But it hadn't done so yet, though the Zone was totally teal, so I dismissed that thought and re-coloured. And now, for the last time, blue ink stopped appearing and the presence of the enemies vanished as the rest of my team returned and attacked suspect corners of the central area.
I realised shortly afterwards that our .52 had disconnected at some juncture: I think that they were tired of Extra Time and had shut down their console or something similar. The remaining three of us, now that the centre was purple and no enemies were in sight... had nothing to do! And we had the cutest little squid party of three, covering the entire opponents' side of the map and returning to the centre to dance and Super Jump for a few more minutes.
It ended after I curiously swam up to the enemy spawn point. Either just before or just after this, our Range Blaster also vanished; I'm unsure as to whether they disconnected intentionally or not. For the classic angry orange "Connection Unstable" message appeared to me now, and my Inkling was paralysed in place as I vainly tried to run back to the centre. In fact, I regained control after a few seconds and was able to return to the Sploosh-o-matic: I had some vague notion that, perhaps, being closer together would reduce stress on our lobby of two and help to keep the room online, still in its eternal Extra Time.
At this point, it was a lonely room... I was still rattled by the earlier spectral onslaught and the ongoing Zone glitch, and wanted to stay close to the company I had. But, not too long after I came back to the Zone and rejoined my final team-mate, the connection well and truly gave in and the game ended with me disconnecting and effectively losing the match. I didn't mind the loss. I also didn't want to play any more Splatoon today. This game of Splat Zones had lasted some length of time between 12 and 18 minutes, I estimate, and had been nothing but draining.
I wound up missing the next SZ rotation and didn't end up trying my luck at the subsequent RM until less than an hour before the end of that, around 22:30 (GMT+01:00). However, at this point, things really began to look up: in these games and the ones to follow in SZ (the present maps, as I type), I managed to pull off a non-stop win streak to equal my losses from the start of the day and come back to S Rank, even winning the SZ in Port Mackerel that I played after that.
I could attribute these victories to switching to my generally most successful weapon, the vanilla Slosher, but I know that it was also in no small part due to having fantastic fortune with the matchmaker, in stark contrast to the past couple of days. Thrice, there was a disconnect in my room; on two occasions, an opponent left before the game began and I effectively had a free victory, and on the third, a member of my team vanished after we had a strong lead in Port Mackerel SZ, which we were able to defend to a victory as well. If I had to suggest a reason for the events that were to follow, it would be that my good luck had finally well and truly been used up by my second SZ game after returning to S Rank.
This game took place in Walleye Warehouse. It was a good match, not dominated by either side and with room for either team to win as of the 0:30 mark. Around this time, the counter was around 15-65 in the opposition's favour, but we had taken over the zone and had only a short penalty timer, with a strong defensive line formed, my team consisting of my Slosher, a Custom Range Blaster, a Sploosh-o-matic and a .52 Gal Deco. It was also, as I realised after the event was over, near the stroke of midnight in my time zone.
Either shortly before or shortly after Extra Time (Overtime) began, the uncanny events began to take place. With our counter at 51, the Zone was neutral but enemies were scarce and it was easy to retake. But when it was all in our colour, nothing transpired. The counter seemed to be frozen, although Extra Time carried on unabated. My team carried on colouring the surrounding area to charge up Specials and better to prepare for the next wave of enemy attack; at this time, I believe that all of us thought that it was 'just me', that the counter was working normally for everyone but themselves and that they should simply carry on as normal.
But the next wave of enemy attack did not come... or it did not come in a way we expected. An unsettlingly long delay passed during which I carried on strafing to check all possible routes of attack and did not see a single opponent appear. Perhaps they were going for a co-ordinated rush with Specials charged, seeking to take us out in one fell swoop? I, too, filled up the rest of my Inkstrike in case the situation came to it.
Enemies did not come... but the teal ink did. And one, two of my team-mates were taken out by opponents whom I could not see. After a period of panic and retreating to send off the Inkstrike, I returned to the centre to carry on trying to keep the Zone neutral. At this point, I drew the conclusion that I was surely experiencing a client error and, probably, completely lagging around the stage from the perspective of the other seven players: not one splash of enemy ink hit me and I assumed that I was unfairly nigh-invulnerable.
I also realised that the enemy squid icons were permanently crossed out (as if they were splatted), though they had a presence in the constantly-reappearing enemy ink. But from this point on, I never saw a single teal blue Inkling: they were completely invisible to me. I couldn't aim for any so I simply carried on trying to keep the Zone neutral and occasionally attacking suspicious patches of air, although I received no feedback.
Occasionally, Suction Bombs would materialise in thin air (three of our four opponents had them, two with Bomb Rush), and I took damage if one exploded in my radius, so I learned that I was at least not perfectly invincible. I played quite skittishly when the area became particularly blue and so was still able to be the only one of my team standing on a couple of occasions, for my team-mates were engaged in a tight contest of territory and were often splatted, though I never saw how it happened - they would be firing just in front of me only to explode into teal ink, and I would promptly make my escape from the perceived threat. Still, I believed that a normal battle was going on from everyone else's point of view and it was just a matter of seconds before the Zone was either taken by opponents or we reached 14 and Extra Time elapsed.
It came a point (I don't know how long this took, as in this Extra Time with no counters for reference, time began to lose meaning) when my team regrouped and retook the Zone. Again, I figured that my team had managed to take out the opponents in spite of my unhelpfulness in the situation and that the enemy was just delayed in respawning and swimming back. But this time, only a little blue ink appeared before being staved off by our Range Blaster, though I saw no evidence of a hit. This occurred a couple more times (a Bomb Rush starting up once) and we held our ground easily enough.
Then no more teal ink came. As far as I could tell, the enemy team had entirely disconnected - or were they now playing a different game of their own, one in which we were the absent, invisible team? For another period during this quiet, my team patrolled and inked any remaining blue ground in the centre. Perhaps they were still battling foes fiercely and I was the only one not privy to the events... but no, as it soon became clear. The Sploosh-o-matic did a little dance on the crates in the centre and sent out a couple of taunts, and these were responded to by all of the team, including myself. This show of solidarity now helped to abate the unease that I had been feeling even since the non-effective Extra Time started: it appeared that we had all been having the same experiences, after all!
Now it came to be that the seemingly unending game became a source of some irritation. I very much considered resetting the Wii U, as Extra Time had been running for a good few minutes by now and the game still didn't show any signs of progression. And one more event came to pass that reinforced that notion: having appeared to vanish entirely, the enemy team in all of its intangibility came back for one more push which wiped out my team, even taking me out with a Suction Bomb, and painted the Zone blue!
When it seemed safe to come in (after all, they hadn't directly hit me yet so why should I fear them now, given that their Bomb Rushes were used up?), I started to colour but then hesitated... should I let it remain enemy-coloured so as to convince Extra Time to finish once and for all? But it hadn't done so yet, though the Zone was totally teal, so I dismissed that thought and re-coloured. And now, for the last time, blue ink stopped appearing and the presence of the enemies vanished as the rest of my team returned and attacked suspect corners of the central area.
I realised shortly afterwards that our .52 had disconnected at some juncture: I think that they were tired of Extra Time and had shut down their console or something similar. The remaining three of us, now that the centre was purple and no enemies were in sight... had nothing to do! And we had the cutest little squid party of three, covering the entire opponents' side of the map and returning to the centre to dance and Super Jump for a few more minutes.
It ended after I curiously swam up to the enemy spawn point. Either just before or just after this, our Range Blaster also vanished; I'm unsure as to whether they disconnected intentionally or not. For the classic angry orange "Connection Unstable" message appeared to me now, and my Inkling was paralysed in place as I vainly tried to run back to the centre. In fact, I regained control after a few seconds and was able to return to the Sploosh-o-matic: I had some vague notion that, perhaps, being closer together would reduce stress on our lobby of two and help to keep the room online, still in its eternal Extra Time.
At this point, it was a lonely room... I was still rattled by the earlier spectral onslaught and the ongoing Zone glitch, and wanted to stay close to the company I had. But, not too long after I came back to the Zone and rejoined my final team-mate, the connection well and truly gave in and the game ended with me disconnecting and effectively losing the match. I didn't mind the loss. I also didn't want to play any more Splatoon today. This game of Splat Zones had lasted some length of time between 12 and 18 minutes, I estimate, and had been nothing but draining.
Played SZ in Walleye around midnight just after re-gaining my S Rank. We were holding the Zone into Extra Time when I realised that enemies were invisible and they were displayed as splatted in the icons at the top of the screen; also, the counter was not moving. However, my team was being taken out by invisible opponents and enemy ink continued to spread (I just re-coloured the Zone as there was no-one for me to attack, and I wasn't being splatted, myself). Eventually, the entire enemy team disconnected and we had a cute yet somehow lonely squid party, before the server gave up on us and the lobby disbanded after a 15-minute battle.
