Splatoon

Ranked progression is far faster and more forgiving than in the first game. You, like the rest of us, went from C- to B- because you had common sense.

It'll get more difficult as you get higher, make no mistake. But since the game doesn't punish you for every loss, don't give up!

You know, after playing Overwatch and seeing its community of horrible people as I slowly rise in the ranks, Raining Metal's hate speech of players would easily earn him a ban if there were actual voice chat in this game.

Man why did they have to release the new mode on a Tuesday? I'm barely going to get to play it until Friday.

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That's why I don't use a mic unless it's within a circle of folks I can trust. Stranger danger, after all. Though I'm smart enough to keep the trash talk out of the game itself.

I haven't played Overwatch, but I have played Team Fortress 2. Not so different, regardless, and I doubt Splatoon is an exception.

That's what happens when you're a Social Darwinist in an ocean of hopeless people.

edited 12th Dec '17 3:05:27 PM by RainingMetal

Another reason why I'm glad Splatoon 2 doesn't let you use voice chat unless you jump through hoops: Imagine starting up a Turf War battle and you can't even hear the background music because both teams are completely full of micspammers blasting ear-rape Green Hill Zone.

(I mean, it would still be an improvement on Ink Theory.)

edited 12th Dec '17 3:44:13 PM by Midna

them's fightin words

Visit my Tumblr! I may say things. The Bureau Project

Nah, half of the ear rape music would be some Linkin Park nonsense and the other half would be squeaky 12 year olds ranting racial insults.

We are all made of star stuff. Very, very weird star stuff.

Honestly, Linkin Park wouldn't be all that bad; at least it would have nostalgia going for it. It would probably be some soundcloud rapper that I've never heard of.

EDIT: Clam Blitz is pretty fun, at least in all 4 of the matches I had time to play. It's fun to be in on it before the meta has really formed and everyone is just trying to figure out what's going on.

edited 12th Dec '17 8:58:35 PM by JapaneseTeeth

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My first clam blitz fight. Damn is this a clusterfuck of a game mode. Imagine the nonsense that rain maker gives you and multiply that.

We are all made of star stuff. Very, very weird star stuff.

Honestly, that's kind of what it is; each team gets a rainmaker that doesn't have a special attack and you have to move as many of them as possible. Not to mention that you have to split your team between defending your own barrier and attacking the other one. It's crazy.

That said, one useful thing I've noticed is that after you've collected the clams at the beginning they tend to respawn in the same few spots.

edited 12th Dec '17 9:21:09 PM by JapaneseTeeth

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Some rules/thoughts I've noticed from recon (no wifi right now):

• Clams on top of your own ink color give out a ping that is visible on the map.
• Power Clams are super visible on the map, like the Rainkmaker.
• When the barrier is broken, there's a limited amount of time the goal is vulnerable. Tossing clams at the goal extends this vulnerable time.
• Penalty time is when the enemy goal moves out of reach, protecting it from further shots for a while after it's broken.
• A team receives a free Power Clam after the opponents score.
• It is theoretically possible to score an instant knockout. (20 for the power clam, 3 points each per clam x 3 other players x 9 clams each = 101 points)
• An ideal team composition could be: a goal keeper, two clam gatherers and one assassin.

edited 12th Dec '17 9:47:51 PM by Malco

My DA account... I draw stuff sometimes!

...Are we SURE Nintendo doesn't want voice communication in this game?

I haven't been paying attention to the new stuff in this game for some time. How does the new game mode work again?

This is the Ranked Mode that feels the most terrible to play solo. It requires a lot of communication to consistently do well in. The way I play it is to ignore the clams during the beginning and just go for kills on the enemy so my teammates can collect 10 clams.

I'm sure my impressions will change when I get more familiar with it.

In general it's just really chaotic now because it's new to everybody. Once people get used to it and have a better idea of what they need to do it won't be quite as crazy.

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Anyone remember the first few days of Tower Control? I recall matches ending with everyone having at least 10 deaths.

We are all made of star stuff. Very, very weird star stuff.

Stayed up (way too) late last night to try it out. Managed to rank up (though only to C+) riiiiight before the mode change. Things were pretty crazy, though I think it's mostly because everyone is new to this mode, as was mentioned above.

New Ranked mode called Clam Blitz. There are clams scattered around the map, and each team's goal is to throw clams into the enemy's basket. Baskets have a barrier that normally prevents anyone from throwing clams in, but the barrier can be destroyed by a "power clam" (which you get by collecting 10 clams at once). Once a barrier is destroyed, it's down for a limited amount of time (but that time is extended by throwing more clams in, so you can keep a streak going with a steady stream of clams). Once the barrier comes back up, the basket is invincible for a while (not just "the barrier is back up, you need another power clam" invincible, but "can't hit it at all, even with a power clam" invincible) and it spawns a power clam for that team to use, so they can make a quick counterattack. Whoever has the most clams in the enemy basket at the end of the round wins, or either team getting 100 points is a KO victory.

Each power clam — including that one that breaks the barrier — is worth 20 points, while each regular clam is worth 3 points. Since a power clam is 10 regular clams, this is an interesting balance — 10 regular clams are worth more points than one power clam, but 1) you need at least one power clam to break the barrier to begin with, and 2) it takes a lot of time to throw 10 clams, so you'll likely be attacked halfway through unless the enemy team is completely incompetent. So it's easier to score 20 points with a power clam than regular clams — but on the flip side, dragging a power clam around paints a giant target on your forehead. (Power clams — both enemy's and ally's — show up on both the map and the HUD, and make you visible even when you're hiding in your own ink.) It's a trade off, but I suspect that going for power clams will be preferable in most situations.

Both clams and power clams drop when you're splatted and can also be thrown manually with A. In either case, they stick around for a bit before despawning — regular clams can be picked up by either team, but power clams are color-coded and can only be picked up by teammates. Regular clams can also be thrown much farther than power clams, which I learned the hard way when trying to break barriers. It's rather embarrassing to wind up your game-winning goal only to have it quite literally fall short.

Last night was complete madness because half the people had no idea what to do. I saw people trying to open the enemy's basket by shooting it (which does nothing). I saw people trying to bring clams back to their own basket (which also does nothing). I saw people trying to throw power clams at enemies like weapons a la rainmaker (which — wait for it — does nothing).

I also ended up playing Musselforge Fitness no less than seven times in a row, which was unfortunate as I much preferred Blackbelly Skate Park. Go home, RNG, you're drunk.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

@Orion: That mode was the first time I ever saw anyone get more than 25 kills in a single match. It was hilarious because everybody's strategy was just "get on the tower".

Yeah, that stage was a pain. Out of all the stages I've gotten to play it on so far, I think Mako Mart is my favorite. It's big enough that you can't just bum-rush the basket, but it's not annoying to get to either.

edited 13th Dec '17 2:21:33 PM by JapaneseTeeth

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https://twitter.com/SplatoonJP/status/940892671802875904

It says something like "yo Off the Hook's doing a concert at that tournament on February 10th. "That Pair" will also perform *poster rendering what little ambiguity as to who "that pair" are completely moot*"

Prepare your E-liters, Walleye Warehouse will be in the rotation tomorrow.

Times:
– 6 PM PT
– 9 PM ET
– 2 AM in the UK
– 3 AM in Europe
– 11 AM JST
– 10 AM my time

edited 13th Dec '17 8:36:58 PM by Malco

My DA account... I draw stuff sometimes!

Gee, Callie and Marie. Whoulda thunk.

edited 14th Dec '17 7:16:38 AM by Midna

Kind of bringing up an old topic here...

I don't have much issue with 2 being more of the same. I have more of an issue with how many of the game's updates are just regaining lost ground from the original game. Like, oh, they're adding literally the first Splatoon stage ever played by a lot of people back in. That's... exciting. It doesn't help that the update schedule is pretty slow (albeit more consistent) compared to the original game.

The concert's notable because it's the first time ninty's been willing to show the Squid Sisters back together without requiring the viewer to beat the story first. It sugjests they figure everyone who cares has already seen the ending and they don't have to worry about "spoilers", such as they are.

Things that will probably happen:

Off the Hook and the Squid Sisters interacting, at least a little before the hand off.

Marina fangirling due to the above

Squid Sisters bringing up how they drifted into solo carrers and now came back together. Possibly treating this concert as a new begining for the duo *cue fresh start* or otherwise implying they're back together for good.

Less likely:

Callie talking about the time she was missing, making an excuse to avoid bringing up octavio.

New songs, possibly a quartet? Or Solos from Ot H

Wishfull thinking:

The Squid Sisters officially announcing an in-game return at the concert. I think such a return is more likely now based on what I said way at the top of this post, but having them actually announce it themselves is probably a long shot, since it's a JP only event (in theory. I'm watching for sure.)

I own a Switch now. Is Splatoon 2 (Spla2n?) worth buying if I won't really get deep into multiplayer? How's the single player campaign?

edited 14th Dec '17 2:34:23 PM by Mr.Badguy

Campaign's a nice sideshow and tutorial for the basics. If you aren't that keen on getting your hands dirty with competitive stuff (like me), Salmon Run's a blast.