Splatoon 2: Find Out What's Fresh! (General Discussion)

[Award]

Damn autocorrect always changes "Borderlands 2" to "Destiny." Clearly Bungie has planted some virus on my phone. But yes, this is what I meant. The better parts of Borderlands 2.

Kidding aside, Nintendo has the online PVP shooter on lockdown with Splatoon. Time for optional co-op campaign mode.

Is it a Windows 10 Phone? Because Cortana is certainly behind it if so...

Yeah, there's a lack of PvE on Switch so far, short of DBZ:Xenoverse 2 for now.

@zzmorg82 yeah. Children are the audience. Hehe. Heh. he........wheeewww..... We get so rapt up in our S/S+ matches (or, *cough* B+ for those of us who refuse to put up with solo q and just do leagues when we play.....) we forget what the lower pool looks like. In the upper tiers, I imagine it will filter out laggier players (why pay $20 when your net isn't going to cooperate?), and free up some alt accounts that mess up ranking (not sure if "ll pay $40 just to keep my 2 accounts...) But the lower pool....yeah, it might thin the ranks a little more than expected.

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

Iirc Nintendo said the vast majority of current Switch owners are young adult males, though that was months ago. Of course as the library grows and price drops n bundles happen the userbase will diversify, but even so, children/less dedicated gamers have no problem paying to play Call of Duty/Fifa/GTA/etc. Shouldn't be any different for Nintendo, I mean it surely wont as Switch and it's online games have sold uber well despite paid online being known well before it's launch.

 

[Windstar]

free up some alt accounts that mess up ranking

Is this how it’s going to work? I don’t want to pay money just to sabotage Team Callie players.

 

[Green Waffles]

Is this how it’s going to work? I don’t want to pay money just to sabotage Team Callie players.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Arrowanna in Splatoon 2 has me very conflicted. On one hand, it's great to be back there, still mostly feels the same, which is nice and all. But this also means feels the same, which can make for some annoying matches. The main issue of the singular choke point has me concerned, as plenty of matches will still be all a matter of holding the choke point, and losing it early makes for a frustrating match since it's fairly easy to stand back and repel the other team in that position. At least the specials in this game allow for better counters to long rangers camping in the mid. And now we don't have dynamos who can just flick on the ramp and win.

 

[Cyan]

Well well well, this will be interesting. Either a god weapon or a mediocre one. 96 Deco with Splash Walls and Splashdown. I’ve been waiting ages for this one. Time to finish my evil build, only my shoes are ready *cackling intensifies*

 

[MINKUKEL]

Ah, I've been really getting into the regular .96 Gal the last few days, so I'll give this a good try. Splashdown would be really useful since you can get into some pretty sticky situations with how unreliable the .96 lands it hits, so it's got a better special than the base .96. But I prefer the Sprinkler personally...

EDIT: Finally played some Arowana matches. Pretty different from S1. Like every stage, it's now less likely that one team has a chokehold on the other since the middle is more open and accessible. As much as I loved Arowana in S1, I think it's probably for the best. And the straight/linear design of the stage is still present enough to make it stand out.

 

[Cyan]

I suggest you all run for the hills when the next Splatfest drops, carnage and mass destruction awaits. Why? Well take a look at this:


That’s right, the cannons from Salmon Run and Single Player are surfacing. Couple that with latency, bad netcode, ink coverage and their damage, and we have a lagfest of a map with death, carnage, disconnects and plenty of salt. So who’s ready for this? :p

 

[Goolloom]

I feel like this will be in a rather similar spot that it was in Splatoon 1, though Splash Walls aren't as good this time around, I still think they're usable, and you can easily checkmate someone that's stuck between your effective range and the Wall. Splashdown works as a good ''get off me'' option for the things that get too close for comfort, and it will combo extremely well with the main weapon. That 55 damage Splashdown hitbox + one hit from the .96 will kill, unless you're wearing an absurd amount of Bomb Defense-- to the point where splashdown would deal less than 38 damage. (I think that's 3 Mains + 4 Subs)

Pretty good and versatile set, and I think it can be meta material. Though it would be kinda difficult for that to happen since double N-Zap is still the go-to because Ink Armor is still stupid, and Ink Armor absolutely bodies the .96 Gal's (or pretty much every single weapon's) time to kill.
Did I mention Ink Armor is kinda dumb?

 

[Award]

Iirc Nintendo said the vast majority of current Switch owners are young adult males, though that was months ago. Of course as the library grows and price drops n bundles happen the userbase will diversify, but even so, children/less dedicated gamers have no problem paying to play Call of Duty/Fifa/GTA/etc. Shouldn't be any different for Nintendo, I mean it surely wont as Switch and it's online games have sold uber well despite paid online being known well before it's launch.

I imagine a lot of people buying Switches do NOT know about the paid online. It hasn't been a part of the ecosystem so far and everything they know is pick up and play multiplayer. Sure it mentions it in the very fine print, but nobody reads that. And most of the purchases aren't the peole that stayed up until Midnight last January giddy as a 5 year old on Christmas morning when a guy in a lab coat made a really awkward "2" symbol. Nor do they watch E3, Treehouse, or follow news sites. So I think there will be a a big marketing campaign to push the idea closer to the time, and some backlash dropoff of casual online players, that will surprise a lot of the player base. I'm with Cyan, launching it back in August with Splatoon would have only caught mostly early adopters that were mostly in the know already but would have been a few months into the console. Changing the online a year and a half after console launch and over half a dozen online games to a paywall is a PR disaster in motion.

Imagine if Sony announced today that starting in 2019 you can't download your digital titles to any other PS4 (the way Switch doesn't let you do it already).....the backlash would boost XBox to the top in a week. Changing your platform policy mid-gen is just asking for trouble. It could flip some positive momentum for a while.

But that's ok. We're getting Labo....................

Is this how it’s going to work? I don’t want to pay money just to sabotage Team Callie players.

Most likely, though IIRC, on Playstation, if ONE user on the system has Plus, then anyone on that system can play online, meaning alts would work. Not sure how XBox does it. But it's unlikely Nintendo would do that since they're 1/3 the price. And Sony also lets you download your digital games to any PS4 you log into (to play while you're logged in, but other users can only play them on your "primary" PS4.) Nintendo doesn't allow you to play your own games on 2 systems (yet.)

Well well well, this will be interesting. Either a god weapon or a mediocre one. 96 Deco with Splash Walls and Splashdown. I’ve been waiting ages for this one. Time to finish my evil build, only my shoes are ready *cackling intensifies*

You know, with Arowanna it's feeling more 1.5 than ever. I love the map, one of my favorites, and I missed it. But as I look at Splatoon 2, half of it is Splatoon 1, and the Splatoon 1 maps still play better than half the Splatoon 2 only maps. The more "good old" maps we get....warehouse + skatepark, arrowanna + moray......the more it feels like I'm playing WiiU. I feel like I've played the same game for too long and it's lost my interest considerably. Fest will still bring me in. But I've been less inclined for the grind.

I suggest you all run for the hills when the next Splatfest drops, carnage and mass destruction awaits. Why? Well take a look at this:


That’s right, the cannons from Salmon Run and Single Player are surfacing. Couple that with latency, bad netcode, ink coverage and their damage, and we have a lagfest of a map with death, carnage, disconnects and plenty of salt. So who’s ready for this? :p

Oh dear.....

 

[MINKUKEL]

It doesn't matter if people aren't aware of paid online coming. By the time it hits and they boot up an online game, they'll know.

I suggest you all run for the hills when the next Splatfest drops, carnage and mass destruction awaits. Why? Well take a look at this:

That’s right, the cannons from Salmon Run and Single Player are surfacing. Couple that with latency, bad netcode, ink coverage and their damage, and we have a lagfest of a map with death, carnage, disconnects and plenty of salt. So who’s ready for this? :p

'We have a lagfest of a map'? Speak for yourself, yankee. I for one can't wait for something silly like this. Only problem is that there will be people who will only and immediately go for the cannon. I imagine the full-amiibo suit Aerosprayers are the type of people who just camp at the cannons.

But you can probably kill people in the cannons and kill people in the cannons with your cannon, so I doubt it'll be quite as chaotic as it seems.

 

[Award]

It doesn't matter if people aren't aware of paid online coming. By the time it hits and they boot up an online game, they'll know.

'We have a lagfest of a map'? Speak for yourself, yankee. I for one can't wait for something silly like this. Only problem is that there will be people who will only and immediately go for the cannon. I imagine the full-amiibo suit Aerosprayers are the type of people who just camp at the cannons.

But you can probably kill people in the cannons and kill people in the cannons with your cannon, so I doubt it'll be quite as chaotic as it seems.

Oh, sure, they'll know about the paid online when they're locked out of the game until they pay up. That's where the PR disaster BEGINS, not ends. And the many more casual players will choose not to pay up. Especially not for games like Splatoon 2 they've already been playing for a while and won't mind moving on to other games. The player base will concentrate a bit more toward "serious" players.

Lag...hah, I envy you guys if you don't have our lag issues, I really do. It must be such a different game. Teleportation, jitter, enemies standing on your bomb, not dying, you die, then their ink appears are just "normal gameplay mechanics" to us yanks.... Our squids are all extras for a Dishonored game.

 

[Saber]

It doesn't matter if people aren't aware of paid online coming. By the time it hits and they boot up an online game, they'll know.

'We have a lagfest of a map'? Speak for yourself, yankee. I for one can't wait for something silly like this. Only problem is that there will be people who will only and immediately go for the cannon. I imagine the full-amiibo suit Aerosprayers are the type of people who just camp at the cannons.

But you can probably kill people in the cannons and kill people in the cannons with your cannon, so I doubt it'll be quite as chaotic as it seems.

Honestly I will side towards @Award 's point the gameplay mechanics were so much more unique, each stage had a unique gimmick and design, nowadays it feels like a copy paste for S2 stages.

And then we have the splatfest stages, I loved all of them they had amazing and unique gimmicks and designs... my only complaint so far has been their size.
If even half of these stages from the splatfesrs made their way to becoming a perma stage in splatoon 2 I feel that it would add some much more to the uniqueness of this game and make it feel less like a Splatoon 1.5 in the process

 

[Ansible]

I'm also feeling conflicted about Arowana Mall with its squished proportions, enlarged middle, and child safety-locked water hazards. Guess time will tell.

But 96 Deco looks like it could be fun in spite of the pre-nerf splash wall gal flashbacks it's giving me. I'd like to give the splash-wall-push-into-splashdown or splash-wall-trap-into-splashdown techniques a try.

 

[Cyan]

Oh, sure, they'll know about the paid online when they're locked out of the game until they pay up. That's where the PR disaster BEGINS, not ends. And the many more casual players will choose not to pay up. Especially not for games like Splatoon 2 they've already been playing for a while and won't mind moving on to other games. The player base will concentrate a bit more toward "serious" players.

Lag...hah, I envy you guys if you don't have our lag issues, I really do. It must be such a different game. Teleportation, jitter, enemies standing on your bomb, not dying, you die, then their ink appears are just "normal gameplay mechanics" to us yanks.... Our squids are all extras for a Dishonored game.

I never thought our Splatfests were better than the US, some of the first Splatfests in the original were awful, with lag way worse than what I ever saw against the Japanese (where issues usually came down to ping). Things eventually fixed themselves after a while, but I've never had much faith in European connections. I still see moments of lag in Ranked and Turf in this game, it's disguised by the lower tickrate and ping based matchmaking, but it's there nonetheless. I'll be surprised if I don't see multiple disconnects on Shifty Station this time around. The fact is that not only are you sending large data packets with those cannons, you're now sending them to 7 players and receiving one in return, the amount of updates for damage, turf on the map and the like is enough to disconnect many players in Europe and America. When bomb rushes are enough to disconnect people this will amplify that problem. It's an interesting gimmick but it's going to be random "how did I die?" moments all the time and with disconnects being a high possibility things will turn from fun to frustrating very quickly in my opinion.

But yeah I can see this online service change being a massively bad PR mess for Switch and Nintendo. Every other console with paid online started with the service already in place, so people just accepted it and moved on. Switching midway through is a great way to go "Why should we pay you for a service you were giving for free?" and cause outbursts. Nintendo has already received fire from the Switch Online App and the lacklustre features on this subscription, so they have a lot of proving to do to convince many casual players to get on board. Chances are I'll get one year of the subscription and not bother again, so I can see off the final Splatfests of Splatoon 2, play the other games with online I have and then never bother with the online here again.

 

[Dessgeega]

Arowana Mall was a favorite on the first game, and that hasn't changed, but then I'm an obnoxious sniper so it's to be expected ;) I'm interested to see how the community handles the .96 Deco, I know I'm giving it a whirl with tactics like the ones Ansible mentioned.

 

[Award]

Honestly I will side towards @Award 's point the gameplay mechanics were so much more unique, each stage had a unique gimmick and design, nowadays it feels like a copy paste for S2 stages.

And then we have the splatfest stages, I loved all of them they had amazing and unique gimmicks and designs... my only complaint so far has been their size.
If even half of these stages from the splatfesrs made their way to becoming a perma stage in splatoon 2 I feel that it would add some much more to the uniqueness of this game and make it feel less like a Splatoon 1.5 in the process

The unique gimmicks were also a key point of the very deliberate design to have the map rotations forcing you to have to pick a weapon kit that suits both gimmicks in rotation. It kept it "fresh" and exciting like each play session was kind of a different game, for a longer period of time. They said that was one of the core design mechanics. The S2 maps are interchangeable for the most part: "Pick what kills well in general", and they all kind of look and feel the same. The fact that Arowanna is so exciting kind of says it all. Half the players LOATHED that map in S1. It was pulled from rotation all of Feb 2016 due to problems. And now everyone is desperate for something unique. At this point I think Saltspray would be universally praised. It's something other than a gray in-the-round with a raised center and side flank paths map.

The glut of weapons, I still believe are hurting more than helping. With too many to pick from and many interchangeable in their roles, but with one "best" of the group, each weapon doesn't really feel special anymore short of the eccentric ones. In the first game you kind of had to "get used to" the limitations and the eccentricities of each. (Except .96......96 had no flaws...... :P ) The mix of weapons and maps being less special I think hurt the hook of addiction.

I'm also feeling conflicted about Arowana Mall with its squished proportions, enlarged middle, and child safety-locked water hazards. Guess time will tell.

But 96 Deco looks like it could be fun in spite of the pre-nerf splash wall gal flashbacks it's giving me. I'd like to give the splash-wall-push-into-splashdown or splash-wall-trap-into-splashdown techniques a try.

That's the other thing and we identified it before. EVERYTHING in this game feels smaller. S1 had the "Toys R' Us effect" You were tiny and the world was HUGE. S2 shrunk everything down in proportions so that it feels like you're looking at a diorama. The squids seem smaller, the map elements seem smaller, everything seems close together. Even the city feels smaller and more "normal sized".......I noticed that right away at the first test fire in March...everything felt SMALL. I do miss the sense of scale.

I never thought our Splatfests were better than the US, some of the first Splatfests in the original were awful, with lag way worse than what I ever saw against the Japanese (where issues usually came down to ping). Things eventually fixed themselves after a while, but I've never had much faith in European connections. I still see moments of lag in Ranked and Turf in this game, it's disguised by the lower tickrate and ping based matchmaking, but it's there nonetheless. I'll be surprised if I don't see multiple disconnects on Shifty Station this time around. The fact is that not only are you sending large data packets with those cannons, you're now sending them to 7 players and receiving one in return, the amount of updates for damage, turf on the map and the like is enough to disconnect many players in Europe and America. When bomb rushes are enough to disconnect people this will amplify that problem. It's an interesting gimmick but it's going to be random "how did I die?" moments all the time and with disconnects being a high possibility things will turn from fun to frustrating very quickly in my opinion.

But yeah I can see this online service change being a massively bad PR mess for Switch and Nintendo. Every other console with paid online started with the service already in place, so people just accepted it and moved on. Switching midway through is a great way to go "Why should we pay you for a service you were giving for free?" and cause outbursts. Nintendo has already received fire from the Switch Online App and the lacklustre features on this subscription, so they have a lot of proving to do to convince many casual players to get on board. Chances are I'll get one year of the subscription and not bother again, so I can see off the final Splatfests of Splatoon 2, play the other games with online I have and then never bother with the online here again.

I'm not looking forward to that.....

One thing they could maybe do is grandfather the older games in. I know the Splatoon devs were talking about keeping Splatoon free a little longer. Maybe keep Splatoon, Arms, MK8, Pokken free, but any NEW game at that point has to pay. That would mitigate backlash, but also mitigate incentive to buy in unless they have something new and great like Smash 5 arriving.

 

[Mar$el]

Thinking about sub saver and main saver with some swim speed and special charge or something on the 96 deco. Super excited for tonight. I never played S1 but I loved seeing gameplay of the 96 on youtube with splash walls so I'm super hyped to try it for myself. Also I love the vanilla already

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Thinking about sub saver and main saver with some swim speed and special charge or something on the 96 deco. Super excited for tonight. I never played S1 but I loved seeing gameplay of the 96 on youtube with splash walls so I'm super hyped to try it for myself. Also I love the vanilla already

You won't be disappointed, they nerfed the original .96 deco into the ground, and it still stayed meta relevant. That kit was such a good fit for the weapon. Now, they replaced the kraken with splashdown, but splashdown can allow for some aggressive plays and it can combo with a main shot (if you don't miss). I enjoyed playing this weapon sometimes in splat 1, I probably won't play it in this game though.

I'm a bit disappointed for no zink mini this week, or splash neo, or Custom Range Blaster.
But this weapon looks good, and I'm glad we can have a reliable splat 1 weapon back.

 

[Mar$el]

You won't be disappointed, they nerfed the original .96 deco into the ground, and it still stayed meta relevant. That kit was such a good fit for the weapon. Now, they replaced the kraken with splashdown, but splashdown can allow for some aggressive plays and it can combo with a main shot (if you don't miss). I enjoyed playing this weapon sometimes in splat 1, I probably won't play it in this game though.

I'm a bit disappointed for no zink mini this week, or splash neo, or Custom Range Blaster.
But this weapon looks good, and I'm glad we can have a reliable splat 1 weapon back.

Yeah I'll be excited for the CRB (or should I say Grim Range Blaster) with burst bombs and stingray. But I haven't played range in a while... Looking forward to many more new weapons