Splatoon

[Kat]

Been playing Moray Towers. It's ok, but seems to favor certain weapons too much IMO. Chargers are pretty much 100% safe because of the very linear path. Similarly, rollers can roll over anyone in their way because there isn't much room to maneuver. Overall not that fun of a map. Great for Splatzone. Turf war not so much.

[MindWanderer]

Just finished the campaign mode last night (special midnight bulletin from Callie and Marie!), diving into multiplayer tonight or tomorrow.  First time doing online multiplayer anything, so we'll see how that goes....

 

Edit: Apparently 11 PM PDT on a weeknight is not a good time for matchmaking, at least not for a game marketed toward a younger crowd.  I may not be able to play this game as much as I thought.

[Lemonectric]

Edit: Apparently 11 PM PDT on a weeknight is not a good time for matchmaking, at least not for a game marketed toward a younger crowd.  I may not be able to play this game as much as I thought.

 

When I play, it's about midnight in Japan, and the vast majority of the other players are Japanese (sometimes all but me). There should definitely be plenty of older people playing late at night. Was it taking forever to find people?

[MindWanderer]

When I play, it's about midnight in Japan, and the vast majority of the other players are Japanese (sometimes all but me). There should definitely be plenty of older people playing late at night. Was it taking forever to find people?

It was on Wednesday night.  Yesterday night was fine, though--though then, too, most were Japanese.  From the YouTube videos I've seen, they mostly seem to be Japanese all the time.

 

Very interesting experience, I had a lot of fun.  For the first hour and a half, everyone kind of sucked--there were level 17+ players with scores below 500, and I was consistently the top scorer.  One particular match had me at level 3 and three other players level 7 and below, the opponents were all level 15-20, and we won by a wide margin.  I hope the level 20 players getting creamed by a bunch of noobs found it as amusing as I did.

 

Then at about 11:30, the pros apparently showed up.  There was a constant stream of me and my allies respawning over and over again, and my scores dropped by 75%.  It was horrible.

 

Very much looking forward to playing again tonight.  Just a couple more fights and I can get the much-touted Aerospray!

[MindWanderer]

I am now totally addicted.  I love how the lack of voice chat and the fact that kills are only indirectly useful makes this a very casually competitive game.  I also love how well-balanced it is already--I've seen players who specialize in, and are incredibly skilled with, just about every weapon in the game.  I've never yet been killed by a squiffer, and only rarely rapid blasters and jet squelchers, but I've been utterly destroyed by at least one person who used just about everything else.  I have my favorites, of course, and certain weapons are clearly more popular than others, but it looks like the vast majority are at least viable.

 

My initial experience remains the same: once the English names disappear and are replaced with Japanese late at night, I pretty much stop winning.  That crowd is just consistently amazing.  Lots of Americans are really good, but most of them not so much.

 

August updates were just announced: new weapons and maps, obviously, new gear for the first time, and a much-needed increase to the level cap, but also new game modes.  Most notably, team play and custom matches will be supported, enabling Splatoon to become a legitimate e-sport.  I don't have the time for that sort of thing, but I'm excited to see how it goes.

[Lemonectric]

My current style is to use the carbon roller in turf wars and .52 gal in tower control. Carbon is definitely the most satisfying roller for me; the swing speed lets you destroy people immediately at point blank, and the burst bombs help give you more range (as well as being useful for climbing walls more quickly than other rollers). Plus you get to run reasonably quickly, which helps when you want to make a push through enemy territory. The .52 gal is powerful and comes with the splash wall and killer wail, both of which are great for tower control. Extra fun when you splat people with the wall because they don't get off the tower as it passes through, or the tower pushes them into it.

 

I'm not a huge fan of splat zones, possibly because I haven't quite settled on a favorite weapon. I seem to come back to the splattershot pro a lot (with splat bombs and inkstrikes), but I cycle through other stuff too.

 

Looking forward to the update! Apparently Urchin Underpass is being changed a bit as well.

[Kat]

I've been getting a ton of mileage out of the Ink Brush. It's still my favorite weapon by far. My poor fingers though, but it's worth it when you get off 5+ hits a second. Even better against unaware rollers. Or unaware anything, really.

 

I'm also looking forward to the Slosher type weapons.. It sounds like an awesome enough idea.

[Miyakan]

Oh gosh, level 50. I don't have constant internet so I haven't even got to level 20 yet. I'm still sitting at 11.

 

On the other hand, the new weapons and features look like they will be fun.

[Ethan Rex]

Just got splatoon today, already level 7. This game is too good

[MindWanderer]

What are people favoring for gear?  It's easy to tell how different weapons feel (favoring the N-ZAP '89 right now, but still playing around, especially with rollers), but gear is more subtle.  Right now I have Comeback, Recon, and Stealth Jump, which, since I die a lot, seems to work pretty well--come back into play unanticipated, knowing exactly where the enemies are in advance, and opening fire on them with some nice buffs.  Not useful while just running around, though.  Tenacity, Ninja Squid, and Ink Resist Up seems better when I'm up against worse teams, or am playing more conservatively, but then, that's not when I need the most help.

[Kat]

My gear has Tenacity, Ninja Squid and Ink Saver(Sub), along with a few quick respawns. Works great for the Inkbrush. I can drop sprinklers pretty fast while staying undetected. I want to eventually reroll and get rid of the respawns, but it's not a huge deal. Helps me recover from bad plays. I just bought the N-Zap '89 though, and have been using that with my gear to a similar effect(thanks to having the same sub and special).

 

I do favor Last Ditch Effort a lot of the time though. If you've got something that can spread ink fast you can really turn the match around in those last 30 seconds. I don't find Opening Gambit to be near as useful.

[MindWanderer]

New weapons out!  I imagine Kat is making good use of the Inkbrush Nouveau (Bubbler on a brush sounds amazing), but with the Range Blaster I think I finally have a main.  Not the best ink spread, but not bad.  Longest-range one-shot kills without charging.  I find that having a one-shot weapon is really valuable for me because I get ambushed a lot, and if I'm not during the RoF delay when it happens, I can survive more often than with other weapons.  The AoE is nice when your aim sucks, like mine does.  It's a nice counter to snipers, since I can air-burst them from where they have no line of sight to me.  Ink Strike is nice for both Ranked formats, and the Splash Curtain... well, I'm still working out how to use that best, but I did have a glorious moment when an enemy Carbon Roller found out that it takes a whole precious second to mow the thing down.  I finally got brave enough to try ranked, and made it to rank C with 5 wins, 0 losses with this bad boy (Splat Zones).

 

AeroSpray RG has ridiculous painting potential. I have posted losses with over 1500 points using the RG before. If you get gear that speeds up your Special charge, the Inkstrike isa  great way to move the enemy around while you mark up turf.

You must be absolutely amazing, then, because I'm now level 20 and I've never seen a performance like that.  A 1500 point loss would be an 1800 point win, and I've never seen anyone break 1600.  (I've also never seen a team short a player win a match, though sometimes they've come close.)

 

On another note, man, network issues were bad this weekend.  Dropped players all over the place.  I even had one hilarious match where six of the players got dropped and it became a one-on-one.  My poor opponent, a level 8 with an Inkbrush Nouveau, just kept respawning and promptly dying again, ending with under 5%.

[Lemonectric]

(I've also never seen a team short a player win a match, though sometimes they've come close.)

I was on a winning team of 3 against 4 during the last splatfest. So satisfying. Usually you really start hurting when you're short a player, but we pulled through.

I've also been on a team of 2 against 0. Many booyahs were had.

Edit: I just had a tower control match that started as 2 against 3. My teammate and I managed to keep the other team from getting a knockout, at least. It was a pretty fun challenge. Thankfully we only lost one point at the end because of the disadvantage.

[MindWanderer]

My current style is to use the carbon roller in turf wars and .52 gal in tower control.... The .52 gal is powerful and comes with the splash wall and killer wail, both of which are great for tower control. Extra fun when you splat people with the wall because they don't get off the tower as it passes through, or the tower pushes them into it.

I'm still not a huge fan of rollers--probably just not used to the style, and I hate not having range--but you totally called it on the .52.  Not many players use splash walls, so I run into lots of people who don't know how to work with it.  Some try to get into shooting matches with me through the wall.  Lots get splatted when it hits their feet while riding on the tower--and at worst, it forces them to jump off.  I can throw it out in front of me when I'm riding the tower, since most people approach it from the front, and if I time it right, they don't have time to turn around or back up before I shoot them through it (and I often get the instant kill when they can't abort their charge fast enough).  It even holds back the Kraken, and I get to sit back and watch it flail against the wall in futility.  Also, I just got my first quad-kill with the Killer Wail; now that it charges faster, it's even better.  The .52 is now my default weapon for all modes, though the Slosher Deco may beat it out when it's released.

 

The only thing that really bugs me is lag.  I often get three hits with it before it registers as a kill, even against opponents that have no defense boosts, and that's a lot of time in a game like this.

[Lemonectric]

I'm loving rainmaker. Finally a ranked mode where I can use the carbon roller well. Echolocator would be a great special, but the inkzooka is really useful too. It's also a lot more fun to carry the rainmaker than it is to ride the tower in tower control; you have choices about how to approach the goal, and teammate support goes a lot further. It makes a huge difference when you have a teammate inking a path so you don't have to stop and charge.

[Jamphibious]

I just picked this up yesterday and I'm having a pretty fun time. Got to about level 7 today, and I think I've been doing pretty well. Most games I end up with one of the higher scores. Though I get pretty stomped sometimes I'm definitely itching to try the ranked stuff.

If anyone wants to add me on Wii U that hasn't my Nintendo ID thing is AmphibiousFrog. Just let me know so I can add you back!

[DrumUltimA]

I am having a lot of fun with Splatoon!  I'm DrumUltimA, of course.  Play with me!

[Miyakan]

Mwahahaha!! I made it to level 20!!! And I am sitting at a B- rank.

 

Now for leveling up even if I lose in ranked! (Not that I lose in ranked, oh wait, yes I do.)

 

Does anyone else buy every single piece of equipment then try to upgrade them all? Or do you just buy one you like and stick with that?

[MindWanderer]

Does anyone else buy every single piece of equipment then try to upgrade them all? Or do you just buy one you like and stick with that?

I'm an obsessive min-maxer, so I look at the abilities I want, choose what I think is the most optimal brand, and focus on those items.  Different gear goes well with different weapons and in different modes.  For instance, Damage Up is near-useless on most weapons, but is handy on chargers, blasters, and brushes.  I've recently been doing quite well with a Rapid Blaster and a full set of Damage Up gear (3 main, 5 sub).  Stealth Jump is very handy in ranked with most weapons, but not always in Normal; Ninja Squid is really nice with close-range weapons but can be a handicap in Ranked.  I've also been doing quite well with the .96 Gal Deco, but man do you need Ink Saver for it.

 

After being busy for a while, I finally got to play this last weekend.  Some bullet points:

• I am now a fan of the inkbrush.  Couldn't get it to work well when I first unlocked it, so I gave up on it, but now I'm having a blast with it.  Zip!  I'm flanking you.  Zip!  I'm out of the crossfire.  Toss a sprinkler to make you think I'm around one corner, but nope, slapslapslap you're dead.  Not great on every map, but when it works it's amazingly fun.
• My aim is not so great, so Chargers aren't my best weapons, but the Bamboozler with some Damage Ups is quite nice.  If you get it up to 99.9% damage, you can often get a one-hit kill in actual combat.  And the Splash Wall with a sniper rifle is crazy useful.  Looking forward to trying the Disruptor version.
• Finally got to play Rainmaker, and it's probably my favorite mode to foster cooperation.  My second match, I was playing with teammates who knew perfectly well that picking up the thing was painting a target on them, and wanted nothing to do with it.  They'd pop the bubble and then all sit around defending it.  We did badly for a while because of this, but eventually I managed to pick it up and carry it from right next to our goal to the 20 mark on the other, because our opponents were focusing entirely on the rainmaker and not at all on territory.  Shortly after, we had a beautiful finish, with my allies fanned out in front of me, creating a huge, clear area for me to dunk it.
• A couple of matches later, I got a glorious finish on Port Mackerel, where two of my allies distracted the enemy near the midline, I happened to be just up ahead, and the third ally got the Rainmaker.  I laid down a Seeker, zipped to the end of the trail, repeated, fired three quick shots at the ramp to the goal, and that was it.  Quickest, cleanest win imaginable.

[Miyakan]

It looks like Benjamin Briggs got some Super Monkey Ball in his Splatoon.

 

http://music.gamechops.com/track/stay-fresh

 

I'm loving this album. I'm not loving the B- purgatory I am stuck in though. (Updated. Just made it to B rank. Mwahahah!)

Edited September 23, 2015 by Miyakan