I have been playing this game nonstop for the past month and LET ME TELL YOU It is so colorful and wonderful and I love it but right now holy hell I'm just thinking about the plot in the first person mode, which I just finished yesterday. It's called "Hero Mode" in game, but whatever. So everyone knows that the main characters you play as are squid people right? or squid kids, as it were. In the beginning of Splatoon, when you first turn the game on, you find out that someone has stolen the Great Zapfish from the tower in the plaza of Inkopolis, as well as all the other lil zapfish that make up the primary power supply of the city. If you follow Cap'n Cuttlefish into the kettle, you end up in a place called Octo Valley, he enlists you as "agent 3" in the effort to rescue the zapfish back from the opposing Octarians and their army. Now normally this would be the end of everything plotwise, but not quite. Spoiler: Just In Case Anybody Else Wants to Play! There's a lot of backstory to the world of splatoon which you can glean from the Sunken Scrolls you attain throughout playing Hero Mode. Splatoon itself exists after a post-apocalyptic event, where the humans died out due to the rising sea levels, and the organisms that traditionally lived in the ocean and other bodies of water took over after them. As to the trouble between the Octarians and the Inklings, here's another wiki summary: So the Octarians are not necessary "evil" or even "bad guys" per se. Everything they did was an act of desperation for survival. But the Inklings are no more the "bad guys" than the Octarians themselves either because without the zapfish, their way of life would crumble too! The problem is not the two factions themselves, but the scarcity of both "turf" and energy via zapfish needed to live! But yes, you do in fact defeat the Octarians and take all the zapfish back, so it's a dark ending for the Octarians indeed. Strangely enough it reminds me of Mad Max, what with the fight over land and energy for survival in the aftermath of a large catastrophic event that wiped out the human race. Just, more colorful and kid friendly. And with slightly more sick puns. Anyhow outside of that I greatly enjoyed multiplayer, and the lack of voice chat isn't a problem for me at all. You do have little voice command options using the D-pad. One option allows you to say "Booyah!" and the other one allows you to say "c'mon!" which is useful enough for me as is, there's not much else I really feel the need to say. The characters in the rest of Inkopolis are pretty fun too, like the shop owners, or the shady Urchin guy named Spyke chilling in the back alley. Also any game with character customization is a plus for me. I dunno, it's just a treat for the eyes, and there's options for color blind players too. In the options there's a "Colour Lock" mode which restricts the ink colors used in the game to certain combinations permanently, which is useful given that the main mode in multiplayer is fighting to paint the most amount of turf on the map with your team's color. It's just been a hell of a lot of fun, and I feel the urge to talk with somebody about it.
you have no idea friend I'm actually the resident octopus, it's me. ("genderoctopus" just isn't as fun to say.)
"GenderCephalopod" might work! Actually I keep hearing talk that they might add playable Octolings as DLC which I am of course breathing heavily over. Octolings have fun designs, I would love to play as them! I hope it's free, but then again pretty much all the DLC so far has been free. Like the addition of the Rainmaker mode in ranked multiplayer, the new game modes in multiplayer like Flounder Heights, the new clothing options available in the shops, the weapon updates, etcetera. Now that I think about it the only extra content that counts as paid is the extra content unlocked if you buy a splatoon amibo, but that's it. So if they do release Octolings as playable it's highly likely it will be free. That's if it happens anyhow. I want it to happen, but wishing can only get you so far...
Splatoon is amazing. <3 The use of colour in the stage design is totally insane to me, the way they balanced neutral backdrops to look good against so many colour combinations! Whate're y'alls favourite weapons? I'm fond of the lower-damage, higher fire-rate ones like the splattershot jr. and aerosprays myself.
I'm actually fond of the heavy splatling! I use it often, it has just the right amount of range and fire-power for me. My other main favorite is the krak-on splat roller, though that's been more recently. Man, turning into a kraken is fun.
I've never managed to get the hang of the kraken! I always just kind of end up going in useless circles until it runs out. I do love splat rollers, though. The Carbon Roller is my go-to for that.
Ah! I always found the Kraken neat, since the special can be used either defensively (when you get surrounded for example) or offensively (such as taking down a pesky sniper). The way to get it to actually splat other players though with it is to press the "x" button. You see the spin the kraken does in this gameplay footage before the enemy inkling is splatted? that spin is what happens when you press the "x" button. If you already knew about that I apologize, but just in case that was your problem with it, I wanted to share the info! I've actually been messing around these days with the slosher in ranked. I find it very useful during tower control! That new mini splatling is so cute too, though I don't think its going to replace my use of the heavy splatling anytime soon. I DEMAND MORE GATLING GUNS
Oooh, gotcha. Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem, haha tbh if I had to pick a favorite special, it would probably be inkstrike anyway. I find it useful to have a clothing with the recon ability while using a weapon with inkstrike, mostly because I can just jump back to the respawn pad while my special is ready and choose my spot better on the map.
My fav is definitely inkstrike - though it does make tower control and splat zones a bit unfun sometimes. Killer Wail is also pretty great!
Oh gosh, yeah! Gotta take the positives with the negatives, I guess. I find Killer Wail really helpful during Rainmaker, actually, now that you mention it.
Just got this. Oh my god, so much fun. The bucket was less good than I hoped, but the Splat Roller in general seems good -- I'm decent at logistical stuff, so I'm happy to go around the side and do damage control for most of the game and make big pushes when I can. Trying to learn to use each kind of weapon, I'm just terrible with the Chargers so far. Gotta practice more, I guess. Am still suuuper early, and can't afford all the weapons I'm unlocking, but still. Doin' my best, having a blast. So the Kraken tips help me, at least!
Aaaah, I'm so glad to hear my Kraken tips helped you! If you have any questions about the game at all, feel free to ask and I'll try to help! Ooooh my gosh, chargers require so much more skill and practice and yet are so ridiculously fun. Let me tell you though, they are great for covering the long paths in Moray Towers. One, two shots, done, jump down to the next floor and do the same again. I think if GOOD Chargers are most effective at anything, It's holding off enemy players to allow your team to advance more. Weirdly enough watching people on youtube who have a fair amount of skill with a charger is actually unusually satisfying. Haha, yeah, it's amazing how weirdly fun it is to watch other people play video games just in general.
Doesn't seem that unusual -- the last game like this I played was TF2 and quite enjoyed watching good players do that on Youtube, too. Finding the Splatling a bit easier, so far as chargers go, but my preference is still for the Rollers. I'm not as good with them as I want to be, but the logistical support and ability to cover lots of lost territory quickly that can also transition into blazing an offensive line appeals to me. Also, good for getting points to get the gold to buy new things. Never enough gold. Actually, any advice for the Squid Beakon? I think I've got the basics of it down now, but... I feel like I could be making some mistake without realizing it. I try to put them in mid-ground areas that are tricky for the enemy to reach or well within our territory (if possible) to improve deployment and/or divert the enemy from the front, but they certainly don't seem to last long. I'd also love any basic tips, of the "I wish my team would do these things more often" variety. Without more than two chat commands it's hard to communicate, so if there's stuff you wish you could tell other people frequently, now's a good time, before I build too many bad habits and become yet another part of the "Letting down the team" meme. :P
Ah yes, the Squid Beakon. Honestly, I feel like there are a lot of people who don't know entirely how they work. Fun fact though first, only up to three Beakons can be placed down by you at any one time! You try and place a fourth and the earliest one will be destroyed. I think you're already on the right track in terms of placing. You definitely want to place them where enemies cannot easily reach, but if you can try and place them better out of plain sight. Yes, they will still show up on the gamepad map for both teams, but it helps to bank on the times that people forget there even is a map. Locations I like anyway are high ledges. If you can, spray some ink around and beneath the target so any arriving player can immediately hide or swim if they want to. Whether or not you cluster your beakons or spread them out definitely depends on the map layout though. I feel like if you are acting more as a guard for an area it is okay to place the beakons more out in the open as long as its a convenient location for anyone superjumping in. Stand to closely to them though, and your team is going to superjump to you, not your beakon. Oooh, actually as to basic tips of the "I wish my team would do these things more often" variety, there's this video which will explain better than I can right here. Honestly the best piece I've got besides that is "always be aware of your surroundings" and that's about it. They also talk about ways to communicate with the D-Pad, and I would also add: She mentions how people use the "booyah" command not just for congratulating with your team, but also to alert your team if you've been splatted. Generally if you want to alert your team that you've been splatted like this, you want to hit the "booyah" button as many times as possible so that people are perfectly aware that you are not congratulating someone, and can see where your signal is coming from on the map. This is because the little "booyah" rings on the map will still show up wherever you last were before you got splatted, until you respawn that is. And the repeated booyah will actually make them look down at their map, haha. Another note: if someone splats you, and while you're waiting to respawn they start turning from kid to squid incredibly rapidly? They're taunting you and it's called "squidbagging." Adorable. Also just because she says to take out sprinklers and beakons if you see them, doesn't necessarily mean "always go for it." Whenever practical, you know? Don't focus too much on that, but definitely go for it if you can. Something that people often miss though is covering the tops of raised tops like this one here. Painting the sides doesn't count in the final tally but the tops do which matters in those really close matches. If you're interested in other splatoon vids check out: Squidkids Nintendome Codename Squids Next Door I'll be honest with you though, don't worry too much about "letting down the team." Just have fun! In Turf War you get some points either way, though definitely more if you win. Ranked is the real moneymaker, but only if you win and it definitely gets more difficult once you hit the B ranks (I should know).
Ah, thank you! I watched through pretty much everything, and am just so excited to be getting deeper into this game. So good, and so much to do with it. Ever since learning how to Super Jump I've made a point to look at my map between lives at the very least to see where I should be going, adding the Booyahs and C'Mons to that seems like an easy enough next step. Finally made it into Ranked Battles, have had surprisingly good luck with them. Have won 5/6 and been in the top half of my team each time -- though given that I'm still in the C ranks I imagine that's not all that weird, and I've learned a lot from watching the people I play against, too. (Also, that no one on Moray Towers Tower Mode inks the walls by the tower to get above it and prevent the enemy from looking down, but that it's super useful to have someone do that because the enemy doesn't expect it.) I'm definitely a Roller Gal, though. After watching some vids I can see how to use the Slosher and Splatling a bit better, and the Aerospray, but none of them feel as right as my unwieldy push-painting. It's interesting to come into the game now, as opposed to when it first launched. I remember there being lots of complaints about there only being five maps to start with, but there's now 11 (with one old one being redesigned), with a 12th on the way, something like 40 or 50 weapons, something like four different modes of play... I'm sad there's no way to do proper local, but I get why not, and it's still an incredible game. So much variety to play with. I also really like the Tower battle mode, makes me think of a symmetrical version of TF2's Payload. More noob questions that're hard to find answers to: Are there any Ranked Turf War battles, or is ranked just Tower/Rainfish/Splat Zone? Are there still weekly updates? I remember hearing about those previously, and it'd make sense if that was how they expanded things so quickly. Just wondering if they've slowed down. How often do new Sub-Weapons and Special Weapons get added? It seems like there's a pretty fixed stable of those, for the most part, with the variety really coming from the main weapon and/or the different overall loadouts. Have there been new things added there? Asking in part because I'm curious if there's likely to be in the future.
Ooooh, you're doing ranked! That's great! Good luck man, rainmaker is a personal fave of mine! Funny thing that happened recently: so I was wearing a shirt with the recon ability, which means that you can see where everybody, including where your enemies are on the gamepad map as long as you are on the respawn pad. Well, I got splatted at some point in turf war and showed up on the respawn again. I look down on my map, and guess what I see? There was an enemy trying to be sneaky by hiding in the ink right in front of our team's respawn. And I had a sniper rifle. A Custom E-liter 3K, to be exact. Needless to say that was the funniest ever kill I made in game. Lemme answer your questions: There is no Turf War Battle mode in Ranked at the moment. I actually haven't been keeping track of whether or not the updates are weekly any more! I suspect not. If you want to keep track of updates, there is an update blog here and this place isn't too bad either. I like the blog more though. I feel like new sub-weapons and special weapons tend to get added way less often then main weapons, honestly. So, I don't expect those to pop up very often.
