@Saber
I can't also help but wonder how much of this is the result of the lack of Satoru Iwata. He was the guiding hand and creative muse behind the formation of this team and the benefactor of the Splatoon project as a whole. And he created the team and division explicitly to have a team NOT under Miyamoto's purview to give it a different creative direction. Without Iwata the idea man behind the team, guiding it's output is gone, and it's put squarely back under Miyamoto's purview, precisely where they were intended not to be. I'm a huge Miyamoto fan and don't understand the haters.....but it's fair to say Splatoon 1 was different by Iwata's design, by keeping it insulated from his creative process. Splatoon 2, was subject to his process. And he's said openly he dislikes and doesn't understand the appeal of games as services (which I generally agree with) like Splatoon, as well as RPGs.....
Don't forget me! :p
I really wonder if this were best for Nintendo in the long run; will Splatoon 3 share all the same physics, gameplay mechanics, single player, and other cosmetics? (Shoes/Clothing/Headwear each with its own shop, largely similar menus, etc...) If so, how will they justify Splatoon 2 not making any of these changes, and as a result, just:
It's my understanding that Splatoon 2 was originally going to be "Splatoon Deluxe" but that during development, they felt they should differentiate it enough to be a sequel, which shows with all the changes they made that don't fix the problems with the original and only serve to differentiate the game. I would have much rather had a Splatoon Deluxe in vain of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, where all the original content would be there, even down to the menu graphics, and new content would just be added on top of this, like if Splatoon were supported for an extra two years. The problem I brought up that will arise for Nintendo later would not exist if they went this route.
It's my understanding that the more time you spent with Splatoon 1, the more cynical you are of this game. This fits for me, at least.
That's exactly it, and I think the point of the "Splatoon 1.5" crowd that I ignored for too long. The "2" means it's Marketing Enhanced! It does feel like Splatoon Deluxe, and it seems very clear that's what they really wanted it to be. For obvious marketing and differentiation reasons to move the player base over, rather than keeping players on Splatoon 1 "because it's the exact same game" they gave it a a "2". And to justify the 2 they added just enough content, much of it superficial, to make it "different." But it's not different enough to be an actual sequel since the core game has been identical, but not the same enough to be the "exact same game." The 1.5 moniker is much more accurate than I'd given it credit for. It's Splatoon 1 with some cosmetics changes and some patches that could just as easily have been added to Splatoon 1, but a different plaza and handfuls of new things. 1.5.
I do suspect after 2 years or so it will possibly be a complete sequel, but by then it'll be a Nintendo Selects release. That early push to get it out on Switch may have sabotaged the long term Splatoon brand to buy the generational momentum to recover from WiiU's failure. Splatoon Deluxe as-is would have been much better received than the way they're handling Splatoon 2. But then too many people would refuse to leave WiiU. The game would have been a better game all around if they waited until 2018 and maybe would have been a genuine sequel, but then Switch may not have gained as much traction, particularly in Japan. Though I fear if they burn out the good will of the large number of Japanese Splatoon vets the series itself will take a considerable hit.
Maybe Splatoon 3 will have to take the form of an upgrade expansion to Splatoon 2. I suspect Switch will have a long life, and Splatoon 2 is scheduled for a 2 year life for now. I can't imagine a 5-6 year wait for Splatoon 3, unlike Kart.
I don't feel like responding to entire chapters worth of text right now, so let me just say this.
This game features a great gameplay idea and has pretty much all the basics right. That there are things wrong with it and that people want to point that out, fine, and Dessgeega, it'll certainly not take away from my enjoyment (and no - I'll not visit gameFAQs thank you very much).
And sure, playtime isn't everything, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a game that has probably gobbled up countless hours of your lives. That's still saying something. I think it's a little silly if you can't enjoy the solid foundation of Splatoon 2 as it is. And even if you absolutely can't, I don't see why it's necessary to repeat the same complaints over and over in a thread that is basically supposed to be the main discussion. Yeah, we get it, some people think the maps suck. That's your opinion. IMO, it's a more solid set of maps than Splatoon 1.
Nobody disagrees that the basics and gameplay idea are right. That's why we're here after all. Where we're taking issue is that those things were right in Summer 2015. And we've been waiting since then for them to address the issues with the inner workings and details that were clearly lacking at the time that were easily forgiven because it was an all new franchise. The networking, the matchmaking, etc. And now a full sequel later, we have less maps of more similar design, and those existing problems have been made worse.
And how can it be a more solid set of maps than Splatoon 1 when Splatoon 1 had 16 maps, and after all the maps from this update are out (in 2018) there will be 16 in Splatoon 2, and 6 of those ARE the maps from Splatoon 1, and the other 10 include several that are clear retoolings of the maps from Splatoon 1 to make them all more similar to each other?
