What do you all think of Splatoon 3?

[*Buster*]

First few hours have been great for me personally. The game feels faster and more responsive, except for a few lag spikes. Also the new dodging mechanics are kinda pointless to me right now, but maybe I'm just bad. Also anarchy battle having an option to play with friends is better than 2 having league in my opinion. And having past data from 2 giving you 3 golden tickets, and giving you more matches with people your skill level is nice. My only major problem is that it feels like there aren't that many weapons, and after you reach level 30, updates will be one of the only incentives for newer players who aren't as used to grinding levels and money. I haven't played alot of the story mode, only the tutorial, but it seems to be an upgrade from 2's. Hopefully its as good as octo expansion as well, with similar difficulty. I haven't done salmon run yet, but having it open all the time is much better than being closed when I'm interested in playing it. I think this might already be my favorite Splatoon game, considering how good the base mechanics and game play is. What do you all think though?

 

[M120]

I've never sat down and put time into any of the Splatoon games except for Splatoon 2 and only for a couple of games. My brother wanted to go and grab 3 at GameStop on release and after watching him play for a couple hours I tried it out for a couple of hours. Personally, it looks awesome and feels smooth. I really enjoy the amount of weapons they give you to use and try. The customization was a little lackluster for your inkling in my opinion but not a big deal; the wardrobe in the game is pretty funny looking which is a 10/10. Needless to say, I've been playing as much as I can when my brother isn't and I enjoy every second of it. I still haven't quite tried the Salmon Run game mode or the campaign yet but Turf Wars and the ranked modes are interesting and different. The one thing that is a problem to me as a player is that the ranked modes all share the same rank (I believe there were separate ranks for separate ranked modes in Splatoon 2.) I've made it to level 12 and I've been doing pretty well each game in ranked/general games compared to what I thought it would be like. All-in-all, I really like Splatoon 3 and it's honestly making me want to buy a Switch for myself and play more. :) P.S. I play Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone and this is a great change comparatively. Glad you're enjoying it!

 

[*Buster*]

I've never sat down and put time into any of the Splatoon games except for Splatoon 2 and only for a couple of games. My brother wanted to go and grab 3 at GameStop on release and after watching him play for a couple hours I tried it out for a couple of hours. Personally, it looks awesome and feels smooth. I really enjoy the amount of weapons they give you to use and try. The customization was a little lackluster for your inkling in my opinion but not a big deal; the wardrobe in the game is pretty funny looking which is a 10/10. Needless to say, I've been playing as much as I can when my brother isn't and I enjoy every second of it. I still haven't quite tried the Salmon Run game mode or the campaign yet but Turf Wars and the ranked modes are interesting and different. The one thing that is a problem to me as a player is that the ranked modes all share the same rank (I believe there were separate ranks for separate ranked modes in Splatoon 2.) I've made it to level 12 and I've been doing pretty well each game in ranked/general games compared to what I thought it would be like. All-in-all, I really like Splatoon 3 and it's honestly making me want to buy a Switch for myself and play more. :) P.S. I play Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone and this is a great change comparatively. Glad you're enjoying it!

I’m glad you’re enjoying it as well. Most people who played 1 first said 2 was more of a sidegrade in some cases, which i personally disagree with (although I started with 2, so I’m biased towards it). But after playing 2 for so long, its refreshing. I do agree that having the rank combined for everything is kinda dumb compared to 2 though. Also, salmon run and the campaign are great, but salmon run is more like 2’s version, while the campaign is a great change of pace. I hope you enjoy the other modes as well when you get to them.

 

[M120]

I’m glad you’re enjoying it as well. Most people who played 1 first said 2 was more of a sidegrade in some cases, which i personally disagree with (although I started with 2, so I’m biased towards it). But after playing 2 for so long, its refreshing. I do agree that having the rank combined for everything is kinda dumb compared to 2 though. Also, salmon run and the campaign are great, but salmon run is more like 2’s version, while the campaign is a great change of pace. I hope you enjoy the other modes as well when you get to them.

I'm gonna try the campaign tonight and see how I like it. I've realized I'm no good at the Clam Blitz and playing it would probably stunt my climbing but with the combined rank, I don't technically need to play it at all if I didn't want to. :/ I could just play the other ranked modes and avoid it. Kind of gives away the fun of the climb to me but the one thing I just found was the new card game that plays like Tetris.

 

[Clavius]

Just picked up the game earlier today and sunk in my first few hours. After playing a ton of Splatoon 2 when it launched, but not finding much reason to come back to it, I think I'm going to end up putting a lot more hours into 3. Salmon Run remains as fun as ever, and while the new card game isn't exactly my cup of tea, I'm sure there will be players logging in just for that. I didn't play too much of any one game mode since I wanted to give everything a fair shake, but I'm really digging the new Turf War maps, and I think the Lobby is a great addition. I absolutely love all the cool new things for us to customize and spend our money on even when we don't feel the need for new clothing or weapons (I know I'm going to be sinking a ton of gold into buying stickers and knick-knacks for my locker). After missing out on the beta, I can say I'm far from disappointed and it's been well worth the wait since the Final Splatfest. Can't wait to see where this game goes, and I'm looking forward to the next few years!

 

[SquiddyKat]

Without access to the Turf Wars, etc, it's virtually useless.
I can ink the stages in recon, play with the in-game camera, and play the offline story mode, that is it.

 

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

Enjoying it so far. The multiplayer being similar to 2 reminds me somewhat of the jump from Smash Wii U to Ultimate. There isn't a massive difference in the core gameplay between 2 and 3 but that isn't a bad thing. 3 doesn't reinvent the wheel and it doesn't need to. The metaphorical cake is baked, they've added some extra cream, icing and the end product is tasty.

The pre game lobby set up, post game statistics, modes being more evenly rostered and additional features are a massive improvement adding to the QoL. It feels like a more well rounded title with beefier content compared to 2, despite the gameplay itself being quite similar.

 

[Forma]

Really happy with it so far - easily the best state any Splatoon game has launched in. I have some gripes with how little actually transfers from 2, but there's so many QOL improvements from 2 - which already had a crazy amount over 1. It's crazy how one simple addition to Salmon Run improves it so much, and the new story mode is easily the best base campaign so far.

 

[Coolkid]

I really like it! sadly matchmaking is still a thing..you either get good teammates or bad ones and since the game just launched i feel like the difference in teams are huge and then i really do mean HUGE. so team balance will hopefully get better once most are into the ranks that fit their skill level.

but what i also like is that all ranked modes are counted together! for me i got a huge hatred for TC i never liked this mode but on splatoon 2 i wanted a higher rank with everything so i kind of had to play it but i despised this mode so much..now i no longer have to play this mode and i can just play the other 3 that i do like!

 

[Cephalobro]

I think it's actually so much better than 2, being able to directly skip the news segment allows players to just get into the game right away. While I'm not going to say anything about the story here, it actually accomplishes what it's meant to be. Also, Salmon Run being available 24/7 is a huge advantage. However, the game sometimes staggers, even when I'm not in matches, that could be the Switch hardware itself sometimes not being able to handle the game, but I think this could use a bit of fixing.

 

[Ac℮]

So does anybody know how gaining sheldon licenses works? Because it cannot just be gaining one per level, there's a level 30 cap right now, right? I counted the weapons up, and it adds up to way more then just 30 licenses. So how does this work? So when I reach level cap, I will have 30 licenses, no way of gaining more due to level cap until its changed via patch, and still tons and tons of weapons that I now cannot buy due to not enough licenses. I just feel that limiting licenses to per level really slows down the entire game for no real gain. Do they think or feel, if a player could grind up licenses, they would run out of things to do? Are you kidding me? Turf, Ranked, Salmon Run, the Splatfests, even single player, there is way too much here to ever run out of things to do, ever. This is how I would have done it: You gain a license whenever you level up, but for all level ups. So you gain a license when you level up, when your catalog levels up, when you level up in Salmon Run, when you gain a new whole letter rank in Ranked mode.

 

[Cephalobro]

You can get more Sheldon Licenses by increasing the weapon's freshness.

 

[Ac℮]

You can get more Sheldon Licenses by increasing the weapon's freshness.

Uh, how is that done? I've used the same weapon from level 1, to level 4, and it never changed or anything. How do I check the level of freshness on a weapon?!

 

[Cephalobro]

Uh, how is that done? I've used the same weapon from level 1, to level 4, and it never changed or anything. How do I check the level of freshness on a weapon?!

You have to win enough times with that specific weapon in a row. A loss will only decrease the freshness by a certain amount, so you don't have to start over. At the moment, I don't know how to check a weapon's freshness outside of matches, but I assume that you can check it in your inventory by pressing either ZL or ZR.

 

[Ac℮]

Oh wow, honestly, I HATE that. This is false advertising to me, when we first heard of this concept it was told as "the more you use the weapon, the higher the freshness will get", but its actually "the more you win, the higher your freshness will get". Inconsistent players such as myself, depend on amount of time spent playing over win loss ratio. Licenses are locked behind a ranked mode concept? Is it this bad, or am I exaggerating? Please tell me I am exaggerating.

 

[Cephalobro]

Oh never mind, I thought it had Splatoon 2's weapon freshness system. So yeah, it's done by playing with the weapon enough. You get a Sheldon License when you reach the first star.

 

[Forma]

About 10 TW wins will essentially refund you a license. Weapons get freshness points based on the static win/loss point value you get after completing a match (e.g. winning a TW match gives 1400 points, losing one gives 800 points)
I have no idea what Splatoon 2's freshness system is doing here, since it doesn't seem to give you any sort of bonus this time around.

 

[Ac℮]

Oh never mind, I thought it had Splatoon 2's weapon freshness system. So yeah, it's done by playing with the weapon enough. You get a Sheldon License when you reach the first star.

Oh thank goodness, thanks.