How could we collaborate w/ the Japanese community in the future?

[Citrus]

So this weekend was EndGame's first big tournament, Inkstorm I (Although GF still needs to finish due to server troubles), and I thought it was a very good experience and def the best tournament in the community yet, but I have elaborated on that plenty on twitter, heh. Anyways, one thing that was really great in my opinion was that we were able to watch and compete with 5 Japanese teams, one of which, Memories, is arguably the best team in the world, winning a huge 200+ team tournament, and getting to GF of Inkstorm (GF have not been played yet, post will be updated once results are in). I have also interacted a fair bit w/ some Japanese players including the members of Memories (They are all seemingly great people!) , and will continue to. I think that it is very good for our communities to interact in this way. While there are some complications due to language in the case of tournament/league, I think there could be some way around issues. What do you think is the next opportunity for us to meet? I think the easiest answer would be in future Inkstorm/EndGame tournaments (This past one was Inkstorm "I", so an Inkstorm II would make sense). Perhaps there could be some kind of tournament series set up for this? Give your ideas! Or if you don't think we should try to collaborate w/ a different community, tell why! This thread is completely open for discussion/speculation.

 

[BestTeaMaker]

Can we get Zubola as a full time contact and translator? :3

 

[Symph]

Been talking about this type of stuff with others, but I'll say it here too. Really opened up my team's (Bittersweet.Splatoon) eyes about the Eastern scene. We're considering competing in JP tournaments to get even better as the skill level compared to the Western scene is really prevalent.
The only problems are the language barriers and scheduling. It'll be insanely early for Japan and late for NA or insanely late for Japan and early for NA. Having dedicated translators would help, but even so some tournament styles would have to be limited besides Halo-style to keep games moving along fluidly. Getting picks and bans moving along takes forever. Halo-style keeps things simple and not much has to be translated. Ya only need to know what maps you'll play, teams you're fighting, and the NNIDs.

As for the types of leagues we could set up... I think Endgame is already having this in the bag (they're setting up their own circuit). I believe I heard reports of JP being interested in the Western scene after what happened in the games that transpired in Inkstorm. So I think more JP teams will sign up for more of their tournaments. I'm excited for what's going to happen for Splatoon after how many views Inkstorm got.

 

[Eith]

I am Japanese, and probably the only Japanese here.
Sadly, it seems Japanese Splatoon community is not interested in foreign ones, or, to be exact, doesn't even recognize them at the moment.

 

[TheMH]

Sadly, it seems Japanese Splatoon community is not interested in foreign ones, or, to be exact, doesn't even recognize them at the moment.

That's interesting to know. I didn't expect that, but I guess the Japanese community is so big that they just don't care too much about the rest of the world. They also have unquestionably the highest level of competition in worldwide comparison already, so probably no need to look outside the country.

In my opinion the Inkstorm tourney was a huge success and I'm looking forward to more tournaments like that. It's great to see Japanese teams playing and western teams playing against Japanese people. Also the western teams now have some reason to drastically overthink some of their strats and try to improve by a fair amount. We are further from understanding the meta of Splatoon than some may have thought.

 

[Power]

On the contrary, I have heard that the Japanese became interested in the Western scene as a result of the match ups in inkstorm. I may be mistaken, but I believe the translater for the tournament presented that information in the discord chat yesterday after the grand finals fiasco.

Edit: But definitely, the Japanese scene is at a higher level than the Western scene. Would love to compete with those guys, but language barriers.

 

[Hope]

I am Japanese, and probably the only Japanese here.
Sadly, it seems Japanese Splatoon community is not interested in foreign ones, or, to be exact, doesn't even recognize them at the moment.

Actually one of Japan's top players Yugo_1 said he would love to play against some western teams again on twitter, and as Power mentioned above one of our translators said InkStorm went over pretty well over there. Yugo_1 was streaming his matches and getting ~700 views, and our stream was up that peaked around ~1.9k views with Japanese peeps occasionally popping in the chat. (and even some memers)

 

[PKfuzzy]

While inkstorm was an amazing experience overall, it did take an extremely long time for the tournament to get into each round with the Japanese teams. At this point, it's obvious that the western scene can hold up with the Japanese scene, but our skill accross multiple teams isn't as deep.

If a handful of Japanese teams want to join American tournaments every week that is great, they'll force the top American teams to become better. Our scene is still kind of small so importing top talent might shake things up a bit, but if we have the ability to do it, we might as well get all the top teams we can

 

[swifT]

As the captain of a team that's barely above average. I was really hoping to get a chance to play some of the Japanese teams in Inkstorm I

Its a shame none of them were in our pool(not that we could make a dent in them tbh), but just for the chance to play them and see how they dismantle us.

I'd love to see a hub where the western scene and the Japanese scene can come together. Being able to compete in each others events would be good on both ends, but again time differences and language barriers are a huge factor. Even just having the chance to set up scrims with other teams would be amazing. I feel like the western scene has a lot to learn from the Japanese scene and the sooner we start collaborating the better.

 

[Dandy]

There were lot of Japanese comments saying how Inkstorm was "so hawt" to watch across niconico, twitter, and probably Twitch. Saw a few complimenting the western teams, too. I think at the very least scrimming should be possible.

Also, bless Zubola. ヽ(｀▽´)/

At this point, it's obvious that the western scene can hold up with the Japanese scene, but our skill accross multiple teams isn't as deep.

The only real high level Japanese team that came was Memories/おもひで. Samurai Kiz was formed like 2 days before Inkstorm started because some individually skilled players wanted to play in the overseas tournament I guess. I don't think all 4 played together until the night before Inkstorm either. Was very interested in seeing how they'd do in the tournament because I kept thinking they're like Squid Box/Meme Box with voice chat, lol.

Tiramisu was on Shingeki no Grega, the #1 team on Mix Cup tournament. They knocked Memories/おもひで out of that tournament with back-to-back KOs. I'm unsure if Shingeki no Grega even lost a game that tournament 'cause I don't think game 3 of their match vs HOPE counts, lol.
Hanjou was on Ashita e no Kibou/HOPE, placing #2 in Mix Cup.
Taiji is on U_Kids, who have placed 2nd at iOS2. Their team lost to the eventual 2nd place finishers at iOS3. I am very surprised I did not see him switch off his Octoshot in Inkstorm because I've seen him go 96gd in tournaments...
Not 100% sure on YuryouBoy, I think he was either on 3rd or 4th placing team at Mix Cup.

As for the others, MM Cross used to play on IBb, who placed 1st in iOS1. At least 2 members of Divine Wind played in the very recent 2nd RapiRabi Cup, and their team placed 1st.

Anyhoo, the Japanese teams I'm interested in seeing play the top Western teams are:
Shingeki no Grega - 1st in Mix Cup
UmePro - 3rd in iOS3, but took Omohide to Game 3 in Semifinals
Ashita e no Kibou/HOPE - 2nd in Mix Cup
GS - 1st in iOS2
Karimaaru - 2nd in iOS3, but are considered a worse team than UmePro
VMC - 1st in SyCup
Ryukishi - 3rd in Mix Cup

.ink, ANA, U_Kids, and .Regen甲 would be cool too. I think the best Western teams should be at least this level.

 

[PKfuzzy]

@Dandy My apologies, i just assumed memories was the top team and the other 4 were top/high tier teams as well. i don't know much of anything besides ANA, regen and .ink who i see in squads sometimes. Regardless, my team beat 2 of the japanese teams to knock them out (H&L, iS) and bsGG knocked out SK and is 1-1 with omohide, which is obviously a top team. We're not so far behind

 

[Citrus]

Yeah, I too saw a lot of Japanese complementing Inkstorm, and lots such as Yugo and Cross have said they really enjoyed it, so I don't think the whole "Japanese scene doesn't care" is necessary true, at least not completely anymore. We would just want to grab the higher teams attention, like the ones before mentioned by Dandy

 

[Eith]

I am Japanese, and probably the only Japanese here.
Sadly, it seems Japanese Splatoon community is not interested in foreign ones, or, to be exact, doesn't even recognize them at the moment.

When I posted this, I didn't know 5 Japanese squads have attended InkStorm. I was completely wrong, fortunately.
I hope it's the giant leap for squidkind.

 

[GameGalaxy64]

I am Japanese, and probably the only Japanese here.
Sadly, it seems Japanese Splatoon community is not interested in foreign ones, or, to be exact, doesn't even recognize them at the moment.

Is there any big weapon viability difference between the Japanese community and the Western community?

 

[Eith]

Is there any big weapon viability difference between the Japanese community and the Western community?

I am not a competitive player, and don't know much about the metas overseas, but weapon tier list in Japan might be like that:

S+ (nearly necessary for a team)
Tentatek Splattershot
.96 Gal Deco
E-liter 3K and variants

S
.52 Gal
Krak-On Splat Roller
Blaster Custom

A (occasionally viable)
Luna Blaster
Splattershot Jr.
Dynamo Roller

and clearly, Inkzooka, Kraken, and Splash Wall are the essential factors of competitive matches.

 

[GameGalaxy64]

I am not a competitive player, and don't know much about the metas overseas, but weapon tier list in Japan might be like that:

S+ (nearly necessary for a team)
Tentatek Splattershot
.96 Gal Deco
E-liter 3K and variants

S
.52 Gal
Krak-On Splat Roller
Blaster Custom

A (occasionally viable)
Luna Blaster
Splattershot Jr.
Dynamo Roller

and clearly, Inkzooka, Kraken, and Splash Wall are the essential factors of competitive matches.

Hmm, I'm interested by your placement of the Jr. What role does it play in the Japanese Community? Flanker? Perhaps it will be adopted in the West and shake up the meta game.

 

[WydrA]

Not to start a huge debate or anything, just curious if anyone knows the Japanese's position on RM, since there's obviously some controversy around here.

 

[Box]

I am not a competitive player, and don't know much about the metas overseas, but weapon tier list in Japan might be like that:

S+ (nearly necessary for a team)
Tentatek Splattershot
.96 Gal Deco
E-liter 3K and variants

S
.52 Gal
Krak-On Splat Roller
Blaster Custom

A (occasionally viable)
Luna Blaster
Splattershot Jr.
Dynamo Roller

and clearly, Inkzooka, Kraken, and Splash Wall are the essential factors of competitive matches.

Custom Jet Squelcher has a pretty prominent place in the western scene. Do you know if Japanese teams also use it?

 

[swifT]

Not that I'm an expert but recently I have been taking more interest in studying japanese splatoon

A lot of what Eith spoke of seems similar in the 5-6 hours of footage I've watched in the past few days that Inkstorm has happened. To me it honestly just seems like the Japanese players are playing what they like and building strats based off that. They make very good usage of blasters across all modes, and it seems as if they don't really "change" their comps at all. Something we can see from the likes of Omohide which I believe have played the same composition through the entire tournament on every map and every mode.

To me it just feels like the Japanese are valuing playing their best weapons not necessarily the strongest weapons. As well as just having incredible comms, movement, and strategizing.

 

[Citrus]

Not that I'm an expert but recently I have been taking more interest in studying japanese splatoon

A lot of what Eith spoke of seems similar in the 5-6 hours of footage I've watched in the past few days that Inkstorm has happened. To me it honestly just seems like the Japanese players are playing what they like and building strats based off that. They make very good usage of blasters across all modes, and it seems as if they don't really "change" their comps at all. Something we can see from the likes of Omohide which I believe have played the same composition through the entire tournament on every map and every mode.

To me it just feels like the Japanese are valuing playing their best weapons not necessarily the strongest weapons. As well as just having incredible comms, movement, and strategizing.

Yes, very true. Here you'll see "Oh, Moray, better pull out some snippers and squelchers," while they seem to just stick with one or maaybe two setups. Every player on, Omohide for example, seems very content with their weapons, Yugo's Gal and Cross's Luna for example.

I have also had learning Japanese on my mind for a very long time now (Just cause im kinda a weeb lmao) but this is good reason to do so.