Splatoon - Get Inked!

[SL the Pyro]

Pre-orders have just opened up, so I figured now was a good time to start a thread.

$59.99 USD
$69.99 CAD

good god that's expensive I'm used to Canadian price tags for Wii U games being $60, not $70. Doesn't mean I'm not getting it though.

Who else is picking this up?

[Joseph Staleknight]

Yeah, I'm definitely getting this game too, though probably not as a pre-order or immediately on release. I still have a few other things I want to save money for, but otherwise this one's at the top of my list.

By the way, anyone keeping up with the Squid Research Lab? They've got some really neat dirt on the game among other things. Just about the most interesting non-gameplay tidbit I found was the Inkling/Octarian writing system. I can only guess whether it's for an actual conlang or just to give it that Shibuya-esque flavor.

[Picochilla]

Wait... it costs 59USD for yours? I'm sorry for you. It costs only 39.99€ (= 45.07USD) there in Europe

[SL the Pyro]

Alright, so Nintendo did a Direct devoted to Splatoon:
 


 
The Direct starts are 31:50. (jesus christ Nintendo why do you pick the weirdest live times)
 
A summary list:
 
Gameplay-related:
-Main weapons are divided into three classes: Shooter (rapid-fire/scattershot), Charger (power/sniping) and Roller (melee-ish)
-Sub weapons consume a lot of Ink out of your gauge when used, but have various effects like grenades, enemy radars, proximity mines, etc.
-Special weapons only work when you fill up your Special Gauge (done by covering turf and fragging enemies), consisting of a bazooka, an airstrike, an invincible ramming squid, etc.
-Gear items have one base Ability, and gain extra abilities at random when they're worn into battle
-the spiky-haired NPC (creatively named "Spyke") can upgrade your gear to have one more ability (maximum of three extras for a total of four) in exchange for a rare "Super Sea Snail"; if the gear is already maxed out, he can reroll the extra abilities
-if you see Gear you like on another Inkling in the hub, you can Special Order it, abilities and all; Spyke also handles this
-not all Gear or Weapons are available from the start, you have to be a high enough Level to unlock more
-there are various silly retro-ish minigames you can play while waiting for online matchmaking to happen
-the three Inkling amiibos have 20 special missions each you can play from if you tap them into the game; clearing some challenges unlocks unique gear, clearing them all unlocks a new minigame
-Inkling Girl amiibo has charger weapon challenges, Inkling Boy has roller challenges, and Inkling Squid has Kraken (the aforementioned invincible ramming squid Special) and limited ink challenges
 
Update-related:
-Ranked Battles aren't open immediately, they will only become available once enough players worldwide reach Level 10 (Nintendo will announce when this goal is met)
-free updates for the game will be released periodically after launch to add new content, such as weapons, maps and game modes
-August will have a big multiplayer update that allows friends to choose maps and game modes at will
-"Splatfests" are essentially mass tournament events where you pick one of two teams and battle it out; how well you do determines how many Super Sea Snails you get for Spyke to enhance your gear with
-The first Splatfest will happen on June 20th 6:00 am Pacific Time and go on for 24 hours, the theme is "Cats or Dogs"
-for a limited time (5/8/2015 to 6/13/2015), if you pre-order or purchase Splatoon from GameStop, you'll get codes for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U DLC Inkling outfits for your Mii Fighters
 
IMPORTANT DEMO-RELATED STUFF:
-A free demo "Global Testfire" is available for download on the eShop right now! Once downloaded, you'll be able to go online and sample the game for yourself at specific dates and times (so it's basically a glorified server stress test)
-the times in question are: May 8th from 8-9 PM Pacific Time, and May 9th from 4-5 AM and 12-1 PM Pacific Time
-if you pre-order Splatoon from the eShop (also available right now), you get a unique outfit for use exclusively in the Global Testfire... though it doesn't carry over to the main game
-various Nintendo Treehouse players and Squid Research Lab staff (read: developers) will be playing during Global Testfire as well; SRL players will be wearing labcoats! Nintendo Treehouse will also be streaming during the event

[Joseph Staleknight]

A summary list:

Gameplay-related:
-Main weapons are divided into three classes: Shooter (rapid-fire/scattershot), Charger (power/sniping) and Roller (melee-ish)
-Sub weapons consume a lot of Ink out of your gauge when used, but have various effects like grenades, enemy radars, proximity mines, etc.
-Special weapons only work when you fill up your Special Gauge (done by covering turf and fragging enemies), consisting of a bazooka, an airstrike, an invincible ramming squid, etc.
-Gear items have one base Ability, and gain extra abilities at random when they're worn into battle
-the spiky-haired NPC (creatively named "Spyke") can upgrade your gear to have one more ability (maximum of three extras for a total of four) in exchange for a rare "Super Sea Snail"; if the gear is already maxed out, he can reroll the extra abilities
-if you see Gear you like on another Inkling in the hub, you can Special Order it, abilities and all; Spyke also handles this
-not all Gear or Weapons are available from the start, you have to be a high enough Level to unlock more
-there are various silly retro-ish minigames you can play while waiting for online matchmaking to happen
-the three Inkling amiibos have 20 special missions each you can play from if you tap them into the game; clearing some challenges unlocks unique gear, clearing them all unlocks a new minigame
-Inkling Girl amiibo has charger weapon challenges, Inkling Boy has roller challenges, and Inkling Squid has Kraken (the aforementioned invincible ramming squid Special) and limited ink challenges

Update-related:
-Ranked Battles aren't open immediately, they will only become available once enough players worldwide reach Level 10 (Nintendo will announce when this goal is met)
-free updates for the game will be released periodically after launch to add new content, such as weapons, maps and game modes
-August will have a big multiplayer update that allows friends to choose maps and game modes at will
-"Splatfests" are essentially mass tournament events where you pick one of two teams and battle it out; how well you do determines how many Super Sea Snails you get for Spyke to enhance your gear with
-The first Splatfest will happen on June 20th 6:00 am Pacific Time and go on for 24 hours, the theme is "Cats or Dogs"
-for a limited time (5/8/2015 to 6/13/2015), if you pre-order or purchase Splatoon from GameStop, you'll get codes for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U DLC Inkling outfits for your Mii Fighters

IMPORTANT DEMO-RELATED STUFF:
-A free demo "Global Testfire" is available for download on the eShop right now! Once downloaded, you'll be able to go online and sample the game for yourself at specific dates and times (so it's basically a glorified server stress test)
-the times in question are: May 8th from 8-9 PM Pacific Time, and May 9th from 4-5 AM and 12-1 PM Pacific Time
-if you pre-order Splatoon from the eShop (also available right now), you get a unique outfit for use exclusively in the Global Testfire... though it doesn't carry over to the main game
-various Nintendo Treehouse players and Squid Research Lab staff (read: developers) will be playing during Global Testfire as well; SRL players will be wearing labcoats! Nintendo Treehouse will also be streaming during the event

I've sure got plenty to say about this Direct:

For the content:

• Man, tomorrow's testfire is really inconvenient in my timezone (like seriously, 11 PM to midnight? I'll more likely be on the computer wasting sleeping hours at that time!) The testfires on the ninth are doable though, provided I wake up early enough for the first.
• Speaking of the testfire, since the special costume for pre-ordering from the eShop doesn't carry over I'll forgo that offer.
• While the amiibo and their challenges look interesting, I'd rather save up my money to get them later (if they don't become really rare and expensive, that is.)
• As much as I want to get the Splatoon Mii Fighter costumes for SSB4U, I'd rather just get it from Amazon over Gamestop just so that I can get it for (relatively) cheap!
• Definitely looking forward to the Splatfest and the big August update, though!

For the gameplay:

• I'm going to love the Special Orders that Spyke can do, provided that it doesn't get so abused he gets booked for "illegal marketing of gear".
• Also, man that sure is a high bar to set for everyone to enjoy ranked battles. Still, I definitely look forward to the day this becomes available!

For miscellany:

• I'm especially drawn to the prospect of research notes that'll detail the backstory of the schism between Inkopolis and Octo Valley, as well as the writing system(s) employed throughout the game. While the writing system for the Inklings/Octarians looks like just a way to say "Hey, welcome to Cephalopodic Shibuya! Come and stay awhile!" I'm kind of hoping there's more to it even if it's like the Hylian language. It'd be a pleasant surprise if an actual conlanger were consulted for the language!

Overall, I am so definitely looking forward to playing the demo, provided of course my Nintendo Network connection works well enough to make things awesome. Last thing I want to find out is that my Wii U can't handle the online experience.

So, who else is looking forward to this? I'm hoping to meet you guys on the battlefield!

[Picochilla]

Seems like the European getting a WiiU Splatoon Bundle that includes a 32GB Hard Disk WiiU Black with the Game for 299€ http://www.amazon.de/Nintendo-Premium-s ... s=splatoon (Sry now for the German page)

[Tenlade]

the first server test demo just ended. Game is pretty fun and plays pretty much like team fortress 2 meets mario sunshine.

[SL the Pyro]

I found I was doing better with the Splattershot Jr. than anything else. I wasn't impressed by the loadout for the big Splattershot, the Splat Roller was good but the mutual destruction was annoying, and the Splat Charger sucked because I was treating it like a sniping weapon when it actually wasn't and is also rather hard to aim without the motion controls (which I turned off because I'm bad at keeping my controller/Gamepad still). I would not mind a KI:U-style control scheme (i.e. aim with the stylus) as an alternate option to make using Chargers easier.

You can observe my experiences with the first testfire here: http://www.twitch.tv/slthepyro/v/4839980 (I apologize for the choppiness at certain points, I'm not sure why that happened since the rest of the stream was fine.)

[TheFinalSentinel]

Yo, Rollers OP AS HELL.
Nerf dat shit ASAP.

P.S.
This is accurate.

[Joseph Staleknight]

Man, judging by the comments here the game sounds promising so far. I'll have to see how it works out when I play, perhaps even see just how broken Roller weapons are!

[Whimsical Calamari]

This game might be the thing that makes me get a Wii U.

[Joseph Staleknight]

Okay, having seen SL the Pyro's stream vid I have these things to say:

• Man, those connection problems. That's kind of the big issue I'm dreading to have; since the game is effectively best experienced online, I really don't want to feel left out because of a spotty internet. (And I'm one step away from pre-purchasing, too...)
• Wow, yeah, the Splat Charger's pretty impractical with such a slow charge time. Especially with how anyone could sneak up on you while you're searching for someone to snipe.
• Splattershot Jr., meanwhile, is proving to be alright though it's not a guaranteed winner (especially against a team of four rollers! Though I think you did manage a win so it evens out).
• Now the Roller is just plain broken--and for a melee weapon, no less! The only thing that can hope to match it in terms of sheer turf coverage and damage is another Roller. I'd say that it is OP and Nintendo should balance it more for gameplay.
• Finally, the regular Splattershot. It looks like a good, basic weapon perfect for covering some significant terrain and targeting foes.
• Oh, but I almost forgot the supporting weapons! The timed bombs are nice, though the delay seems a bit much and the contact-splosion bombs have a quicker, more convenient effect. Meanwhile, the Suction bomb seems to do something neat, though I still don't quite get the mechanics of it. And the Bubbler is a godsend in a pinch. Finally, the Killer Wail is pretty devastating but it's handicapped with the lack of its own ink.
• As for the stages, they're nice and open, perfect arenas for splattering and inking. Can't wait to see more of them in the full game, though.

Looking forward to playing through the second and third testfires soon!

EDIT: Just finished playing through the second testfire. First of all, the internet at this time of the day was incredibly smooth, with only one error popping up for me throughout the hour I played. That's an incredible relief, since I was afraid that the game wouldn't work and I'd have to spend my gaming money elsewhere. Now then, the actual experience:

• Yeah, the Splat Roller is incredibly broken, and the side with the most rollers is usually the winner. Kinda hoping they tone it down, honestly! Meanwhile, on the other end lies the Splat Charger. While it's kind of nice for its long range the charge time is pretty slow for a fast-paced game like this. As for the Splattershots, I feel the senior one is better than the junior despite the latter's rapid output.
• On the subweapons: I feel the contact bombs are the best because of their immediate effect. Granted, you can easily dodge one, but it's nice to have a quick-acting trump for close battles. Timed bombs are also nice but I think the delay is somewhat generous, making them easier to avoid. As for the Suction Bomb, it's pretty demanding for ink. I felt I couldn't fire one out without a full tank.
• Special Weapons: The Bubbler is neat and useful, though it's mainly a defense thing. The bomb rushes (both contact and timed) are more rewarding since you get infinite ink to pelt the enemy team with for as long as the weapon is active. The Killer Wail, though? It's quite devastating, but only if you aim it right. It doesn't even generate ink on its own, so you pretty much have to use it to blast away any chumps in its direct line of fire.
• The manual camera controls are pretty much better than the motion-control ones if only because you get to have concrete control without wavering.
• The waiting room minigame is quite simple but pretty fun! At the very least, it beats the boredom of having to wait for another battle to start.
• Finally, I think it is a good idea to cover for your teammates in battle so that you don't get splattered too easily. That said, if you can cover territory everyone else missed or lost, that's just as clever.

Now, I just need to see about the (after)noon testfire. Hopefully the internet holds up during that time as well.

[raekuul]

They're probably going to nerf paint rollers by making its paint consumption higher (or by comparatively lowering everyone else's without touching PR's paint). I was watching Pink stream the first stress test, Paint Rollers do not do well with strongly vertical levels or levels with a wide field of vision.

[Lunikyuu]

Are there going to be any more testfire demos after this? It looks like the download won't finish in time for this one...

[Joseph Staleknight]

I wish so, but I'm pretty sure they're only doing this to assess the strength of the servers throughout the day and to see which weapons need balancing. I don't think they're going to announce any more testfires before the release date. Sorry, man.

Anyway, having gone through the last testfire I've got these last few comments:

• The internet wasn't as smooth to go through this time, probably because it's the afternoon where I live (thus there's more congestion in internet service). Thankfully, I didn't have to wait for more than a minute to get going, though I still had to play the tutorial.
• While I did bash the Splat Charger once before, it turns out I just wasn't giving it enough attention and merit. With a little practice, I can actually use it to snipe enemy Inklings in addition to covering things with ink. The charge is still pretty long, though. Meanwhile, the Splattershot Jr. is actually better than I thought before, and all because of its incredible firing rate! Oh, and I just realized that Splat Rollers are indeed set back by being melee weapons with limited range, though they still own (in fact, I checked the chances of my team winning by the ratio of rollers between the two teams even when the results were incredibly different from what I expected).
• That said, I still stand by my sub- and special weapons opinions. Especially the Contact Bomb Rushes. "Eat plankton, fools!"
• Two rollers running into and splattering each other is incredibly funny, and whoever dares says otherwise is a complete fool.
• I actually got a friend request from someone who played the testfire with me as well. Apparently I was a really good sport/teammate for them, so that's certainly something!

All in all, Nintendo's hit a goldmine with this game! Not only are the controls pretty simple and slick, but the atmosphere is breathtaking. It really does feel like I'm getting into the action of a turf war between squids even when I get in over my head. It also helps that these squids got major attitude and spunk and the world is ludicrously detailed and extremely appropriate (even if the "alphabet" found throughout the game is just for flavor).

I just cannot wait for the 29th.

[noterday]

I only played for half the hour since i was sharing the controller with my little brother but i really loved the demo. I'm very excited for the game now.

I didn't feel like the roller is that bad honestly? I had a lot of trouble facing them with the shooter weapons but I feel like the charger is equal or maybe even better than the roller. The roller has a pretty short range of attack and you move pretty slowly while using it so the problem is probably that people dont know how to deal with it right now since the game isn't even out.

My favorite weapon set is probably the charger one. I wasn't able to snipe people at all with it but it's probably not how it should be used. It lets you move around really quickly since it does really long lines of ink when charged so you can reach new spaces faster than the other weapon as long as you have a straight line in front of you. I used it mostly to reach spots in the map where i could spam my sub weapon safely and refill ink and it worked pretty well.


edit:

• Oh, and I just realized that Splat Rollers are indeed set back by being melee weapons with limited range, though they still own (in fact, I checked the chances of my team winning by the ratio of rollers between the two teams even when the results were incredibly different from what I expected).

Did they change between the two days??? I only played the last one so maybe that's why they weren't winning everything.

[Joseph Staleknight]

Did they change between the two days??? I only played the last one so maybe that's why they weren't winning everything.

I think so. The testfire is supposed to be a beta, after all. Granted, I never noticed much of a difference until now so I assumed otherwise.

[Tenlade]

edit:

• Oh, and I just realized that Splat Rollers are indeed set back by being melee weapons with limited range, though they still own (in fact, I checked the chances of my team winning by the ratio of rollers between the two teams even when the results were incredibly different from what I expected).

Did they change between the two days??? I only played the last one so maybe that's why they weren't winning everything.

they didnt, the game didnt update or anything, its simply that people figured out just that you can kill a paint roller before they even get close to you. They're good for literally covering ground, but they slow down if you shoot the ground at thier feet and are sitting ducks.

The final version will have tons of weapons with variations of stats and specials, so we wont know whats actually insane and powerful until release.

[Picochilla]

Hail Vinesauce! :O

[Joseph Staleknight]

Damn, that is an epic close call!

I should probably go watch Vinesauce's take on the Testfire, actually. I've been watching several other people's reactions to see how different experiences are about the beta (and also to see what strategies I should best use/avoid).

EDIT: And it looks like there will be a fourth Testfire session! This is really good news for people who missed the previous testfires. Can't wait to try it out!

[Picochilla]

EDIT: And it looks like there will be a fourth Testfire session! This is really good news for people who missed the previous testfires. Can't wait to try it out!

I think PT will be Pacific Time. And as far i am curious to take a peek into it. I can also wait of the Full release of it.

[Taigiry]

I hope there will be different maps whis time around. I don't feel like staying up until midnight to replay the same two maps from before when the release is only one week from then, as much as I liked that game in the previous tests.

[Joseph Staleknight]

Unfortunately, it looks like that'll be the case. I don't mind personally, though. All the more reason to practice my skills and learn those maps further!

[Picochilla]

Watched the 4th Testfire via a german Livestream on Twitch and you can actually explore anything that the actually game has almost in praticulary. (And KobaBeach has messed up with Towers hurr)

There's also a Bazooka as chooseable Weapon!

[Joseph Staleknight]

Really? I thought the fourth testfire wasn't until Saturday.

Did you watch a special version of the game (like a review copy) or something?