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monarch-boo · 9 months ago

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UHHH FUCK okay Splatoon NA just suddenly dropped a new trailer for both Side Order AND the new fucking season.

Okay so I already watched the Side Order trailer on impulse and thankfully there is nothing in there that really confirms or debunks the predictions list I'm working on.

BUT I haven't finished writing all my predictions for Fresh Season yet! I purposefully haven't watched the trailer for it yet (and I also scrolled away before I could mentally process anything in the thumbnail, I already forgot what I saw at a glance, so I haven't been spoiled on whatever's depicted in that either, phew) so I'll put down what I've been thinking now without seeing it and THEN look to see how right I am-

Uhhh okay so-

• Two SR stages instead of just one. I didn't know this until a few days ago but apparently dataminers found another SR stage within Splashtag titles, that is not Lost Outpost or Ark Polaris (it has been established for quite a while that all S2 SR stages are coming back). Since there's only supposed to be two seasons left until EoL, that would imply that one season is going to get two Salmon stages instead of just one, if not this one then Sizzle '24. Either that or we could have a content extension coming up...? 🥺

• Most if not all of the datamined S2 gear is coming back this season, since it (sorta) coincides with Side Order. I'd wager at least 90% of it. This gear has been in the files for quite some time from what I understand, but has been getting pushed back a season multiple times (it was theorized that it was because Side Order was planned earlier but was delayed).

• SR Underground mode save me. Save me SR Underground mode.

• Datamined Grizzco Roller?

• Datamined new Salmonids added, either exclusive to Underground, Night Waves, both, or just normal bosses for normal SR. Or a mixed bag. Did you know in Chill Season there have been EVEN MORE Salmonids added in the data, to my understanding? Before we had a King "BigBalloon", and bosses "Balloon" "Ghost" and "Wheel". Now, we still have those, but now we additionally have bosses "Silo" "Fish" and "Stick". Weird because it just sounds like Fish Stick, the existing boss, but dataminers have not said it's the same enemy, so it could be something else and just weird internal names.

• Datamined Splatana "Saber_Heavy" and Dualie "Maneuver_Long" main weapons since a Splatana and Dualies are prominent in Side Order promos. Not to say the new main weps *are* the ones in Side Order, just that it seems like they're pushing Splatana and Dualies in promo stuff, so... My next guess would be the new Brella "Shelter_Focus" (I feel like they would wanna end off with the new Stringer "Stringer_Explosion" on the final season, since Tri-Stringer is kinda the iconic weapon).

• All four new main weapons at once?

• New kits for any of the following: Explosher, Nautilus, Squiffer, 52, Flingza, Dread, Edit, Gloogas.

• More character customization options for the love of fuck please. 🥺🥺🥺 • Further clothes adjustments? 🥺

• Kelp Dome and/or The Reef (datamined stages).

Uhh I think that's it. Now I've been holding off on watching this thing longer than I can bear so lemme post this and go watch it finally!

#post #splatoon 3 #fresh season 2024

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inktheory3 · 2 years ago

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My thoughts on the Fresh Season 2023 update!

Hey all, this is a different kind of post, where I'll be going over every new addition to the game, serving as an update post and my thoughts on the new content!

So lets just jump right into it!

Splatoon Fresh Season 2023: 3.0.0

Inkopolis DLC:

This update introduced the first wave of paid DLC! DLC owners can now travel to Inkopolis, essentially serving as a new hub world skin. (note the wording used, "Travel to this city?" perhaps more hub worlds are coming?)

Inkopolis is functionally identical to Splatsville, which is disappointing but understandable. There's no Squid Jump, the former arcade machine is now a terminal to order items from Hotlantis, and all shop owners share the same stock as the Splatsville shops. Some people hate these choices, but they make sense as parity decisions between the 2 hub worlds. What I am disappointed about is the Grizzco and pvp lobbies being identical to Splatsville's. Even the graffiti is identical!

The new and returning characters and settings have phenomenal designs, as expected for the series, and I appreciate the compact and sleek hub design as opposed to how spread out and chaotic Splatsville is. I will forever cherish Shelly & Donny's designs and mannerisms (Donny calls the lobby the WOBBY!) and Fred Crumbs is a new favourite character of mine.

Overall, Wave 1 of the DLC is great, it's essentially an entrée. You don't pay for reservations at a restaurant to eat breadsticks, but its important to serve them to keep us busy while the real meat and potatoes of the DLC, Side Order, is in production.

The Catalog:

As per usual, a new Catalog is coming. There really aren't critiques to be said. Flipping through it, all the new clothing, decorations, stickers, splashtag title parts, banners and emotes look wonderful.

Thanks to datamining, I've already seen all the new emotes. Every season the emotes get more and more expressive! Rootin' Tootin' is going to be permanently equipped as soon as I hit level 73. Again, there is 1 disappointment for me. The Reppin' Inkopolis emote (which is completely free, you don't need the DLC for, which I appreciate incredibly) doesn't have new Splatoon 1 style animations for the 6 weapon classes introduced since then. (Dualies, Brellas, Stringers and Splatanas; including Brushes and Blasters which were distinguished from Rollers and Shooters respectively in Splatoon 3) The emote is a nostalgia trip for me but having it play the default win animation for new weapon classes is really disappointing.

Related to the catalog, we have a new gear brand, Z+F. It's a collaboration between Zekko and Firefin and the name is a real mouthful. I don't like it at all. There were so many good ideas for mashups of Zekko and Firefin; Zekkofin, Finko, Z-Fire and so on! Z+F isn't a bad name per say, but it is disappointing to be included among all the other amazing brand names.

There are 2 more incredibly welcome changes to the catalog system though! From now on, in mystery boxes and shell-out capsules, you have a small chance of receiving catalog exclusive items. Previously, if you didn't get a catalog exclusive item during the season it introduced, it would never appear in your shops, and the exclusive emotes, banners and title parts were gone forever. Now you still have a chance, which is really great!

Finally, in the last week of every season, you'll get a 1.2x closeout bonus for catalog points, helping you finish out your catalog before the new season starts. These are 2 amazing changes to help players with less time on their hands to get their hands on content without making players who earned it the old way feel cheapened.

New Stages:

Um'ami Ruins and Manta Maria have been added to the game! As of now I can't speak on them, as they aren't playable, but from datamined screenshots they seem to follow the unfortunate Splatoon 3 trend of reworking older maps to be cramped and creating 1 dimensional new maps.

New Special Weapons:

2 new special weapons have been released!

The Kraken Royale is a transformation, turning you into a Kraken for 8 seconds. (up to 10 with special power up) You can squid roll and surge during it, and colliding with an enemy deals 60 damage, while a charged attack deals 100 piercing damage.

This weapon is a complete counter to Crab Tank, it oneshots the Crab Tank user with a single charge attack. Other than that, I'm a bit concerned about the invincibility of the special weapon, despite the start and end vulnerability, invincibility was a problematic part of Splatoon 1 and 2's special design.

It also steps on Ultra Stamp and Reefsliders toes a little too much for my liking. These other 2 specials are simply outclassed by Kraken! In addition to being buggy and under-tuned, Krakens invincibility and mobility outclasses them both on a mechanical level, which is a shame.

A new special weapon, the Super Chump, was introduced. Horrible name aside, this weapon allows you to pick a spot on the map to deploy a barrage of bombs! Once you pick a location, a dozen Super Chumps create fake super jump landings and stick to the ground, exploding 4 seconds later. Enemies won't die to a single Super Chump, as they only deal 30-60 damage on their lonesome, but they are excellent displacement tools.

Similar to Kraken Royale, this weapon steps on a lot of toes. It is essentially another variation of "random bullshit go!" where you pick a spot to throw a bomb(s) to force enemies to move. It didn't need to be this similar to Booyah Bomb, Triple Inkstrike AND Tenta Missiles! In fact it is essentially a replacement for Tenta Missiles, seeing that the 2 weapons that have it also have identical sub weapons to their Splatoon 2 kits, without the Missiles!

There really was an obvious way to make Super Chump unique. The super jump landings are an interesting idea, but they're very useless. They don't function any differently to other special indicators, as no one will believe 12 super jumps at once all in their own ink. Rather, Super Chump could have been a unique engagement special, where you are also shot forwards alongside the Super Chumps, forcing the enemy to either run and and concede the space to you, or try to guess which super jump landing is the real one and try to splat you.

Overall, these specials are cool and well designed, but their similarities to existing specials puts a sour taste in my mouth.

New Main Weapons:

Of course we can't have new specials without new main weapons.

Here they are:

Neo Sploosh-o-matic: Squid Beakon/ Killer Wail 5.1

Neo Splash-o-matic: Suction Bomb/ Triple Inkstrike

N-ZAP '89: Autobomb/ Super Chump

.96 Gal Deco: Splash Wall/ Kraken Royale

Custom Jet Squelcher: Toxic Mist/ Ink Storm

L-3 Nozzlenose D: Burst Bomb/ Ultra Stamp

Rapid Blaster Deco: Torpedo/ Inkjet

Clash Blaster Neo: Curling Bomb/ Super Chump

Krak-On Splat Roller: Squid Beakon/Kraken Royale

Z+F Splat Charger/ Splatterscope: Splash Wall/ Triple Inkstrike

Tri-Slosher Nouveau: Fizzy Bomb/ Tacticooler

Now all of these kits are phenomenal. Ignoring the viability of certain subs and specials, all of these kits work and look fun. In the last season we got a couple of stinkers like Snipewriter 5H with Sprinkler/ Tacticooler. This time every kit makes sense. There's a valid playstyle and a weapon for everyone here which I really respect. In a perfect world where all of these main, sub and special weapons are balanced well, all of these kits would have their time in the spotlight.

My only issue is the obvious preferences the Splatoon Devs have for kits. Only FOUR shooters are yet to get a second kit, while Brellas, Stringers and Splatanas remain completely unrepresented. Every other class has only 1 or 2 secondary kits! This is a shame because Splatoon promotes inclusivity and that needs to be apparent in the game and its updates. The new kits need to give something new to play with for every type of player, and they simply aren't.

Online Functions:

Pools have been added! They're essentially the same as Mario Kart 8 lobbies, or arenas in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. You can create a pool, choose whether its open or password protected, and people can join and play! This is amazing. It allows for so much versatility in playing with friends, playing with chatters on stream, new people on discord or with people in tournaments and LAN meetups! Really, a phenomenal addition.

Tableturf Battle can now be played online! You can even spectate regular battles, not just in private lobbies. This also comes with 23 new cards! This is a welcome addition, and I understand why it wasn't packaged in the base game, but I'm happy it's here either way.

Salmon Run:

A new King Salmonid has been added! Horrorboros, the flying serpent, charges and shoots Booyah Bombs at workers. A new Big Run event is also happening right away which is really promising for the future of events in Splatoon.

New Scale rewards have been added! Splatoon 2 Grizzco gear has been added in a new tab of the Scale Shop, and Splatoon 2's "Gloopsuits" have been added, as a counterpart to the Slopsuits, if you'd like a different work look. All good additions!

In addition, Eggstra Work has been added, making use of the Salmon Run scenario feature. In this 2 day event, you must assemble a team with your friends and run through 5 preset waves to get as many eggs as possible, getting rewards for what percentile of eggs you collected in 1 shift. This is also a welcome addition, more modes are always great, but it's a bit troublesome.

First of all, it steps on Big Runs toes. The addition of Big Run already lowered how many Splatfests we get, and now theres a 3rd weekend event! They could of course have every event happen 2-3 times a season, but I'm concerned about the Devs tuning down the amount of events every month.

Secondly, it doesn't feel like a weekend event in the same way Big Run and Splatfests are. There are elements of surprise in the former 2 events, but in Eggstra Work, once you've played it once, you've played it a million times. Unlike Big Run there is a maximum amount of eggs you can get. It will get boring over the course of 2 days, and you need friends to play it, it can't be played in freelance.

I really wish they didn't make Eggstra Work a limited event. It would've been great as a permanent game mode that rotates monthly! A sort of counterpart to freelance the same way that League Battles were a counterpart to X Battles. at the turn of every month a new map, weapons and scenarios are selected for the Eggstra Work shift, and teams of 4 compete for top leaderboard spots throughout the month.

People tend to grind out weekend events, and I feel that Eggstra Works repetitiveness will lead to burnout if it gets condensed to a 2 day period.

Balance Changes:

I am disappointed with the Devs fear of making big changes to Splatoon 3's meta. They only changed 1 main weapon, the Big Swig, this patch. They didn't directly nerf Crab Tank, only giving Inkjet, Trizooka and Ultra Stamp damage multipliers against the Crab Tank's armor. They buffed underused weapons by decreasing their special gauge by 10p, which really doesn't fix their problems, as for weapons like Ballpoint Splatling, Aerospray MG and N-ZAP '85, their problems aren't that their specials are too hard to get, its that their specials aren't particularly good when you get them.

Finally, they changed maps, which is promising. I don't mind small changes to maps, despite my feelings about the above small balance changes. I appreciate them understanding that they went wrong with their maps and small changes are a gateway to big changes, but as of now, the small changes they've added feel like bandaid solutions to an underlying problem with the map design.

The Jukebox:

Every song in Splatoon 3 has been given a name! The Jukebox is a great addition to Splatoon, allowing you to pick what songs play in the lobby. Again, I have a small gripe. It is annoying that you have to pay every time you want to use the Jukebox, when in Splatoon 2 you could listen to every song for free.

Badges:

There are a whole slew of new Badges and I really appreciate the direction they're going in.

Of course there are new badges for the special weapons, Horrorboros, Eggstra Work and Z+F. They also added badges for the Inkopolis shop keepers, adding another incentive to swap between hub worlds, which I really like!

Finally, they added Level and X rank badges. There are 12 Level badges, for reaching level 30/50/100/200/300/400/500/600/700/800/900/999, and X rank badges for reaching top 3000/500/10 on the leaderboards. This expands on the direction I like, but also highlights a glaring flaw.

It's impossible to 100% Splatoon 3's badge system, it's meant to a system to let you show off the way you play Splatoon! But I don't really like the design of the badges themselves.

In the case of most badges, the colors have inherent symbolism. Bronze means 3rd place, Silver means 2nd place and Gold means 1st. Once you get a gold badge variant, the rest are inferior. If you use the bronze or silver badges, its implying to other players that you aren't the best at this milestone you're showing off. Even if you dedicate all your time to Salmon Run, if you don't put thousands of hours in, your badges will always look worse than what you could have. This is especially in the Level badges, the level 999 badge is stunning, and other impressive milestone badges, like the level 100 badge, looks horrible. You have players putting in so much time and effort for badges that are a downgrade to others.

Even if you do put in a lot of time into the game, unless you specialise in a specific game mode, your badges won't look good. I have over 1k hours in Splatoon 3, but my playstyle's given me 90+ mediocre badges and 1 or 2 impressive badges. I have the 5 star Hydra Splatling badges, acquired 300 hours in, and fifteen 4 star weapon badges, a couple silver Salmon Run and Special weapon badges and so on. I put a lot of time into this game but I have nothing cool to show off, my current badge layout on my Splashtag doesn't have an identity to it, it looks just like a Splashtag someone with a couple hundred hours in Splatoon 3. It doesn't speak to my achievements, my playstyle, it conveys that my milestones aren't the peak, that my Silver Booyah Bomb badge isn't impressive because there are people with Gold Booyah Bomb badges.

1 thing I'd do to remedy this is make badges for getting badges. This would help players who don't specialise in anything and instead are good at everything. I don't know what this badge would look like, but badges for getting 10, 30 or 100 badges would be cool.

I'd also like Sheldon badges! You get badges for getting stars on your gear, why not badges of Sheldon for getting stars on weapons. I've counted, I have over 200 combined stars on my weapons, and nothing to show for it.

Finally, I'd like every badge to be more unique, and not just be recolored variations of eachother. What if the Gold Maws badge wasn't gold, and instead it was stylised art of Maws lunging at the screen. What if the N-ZAP '85's 5 star badge was pixelated. What if the Hydra Splatling's 5 star badge was on fire. What I'm saying is, instead of making the tiers of badges just recolors of the lower tiers, they should look visually different, to make them stand out more and give lower tiered badges purpose for existing and remove the negative connotations with their coloring.

Minor Changes:

There are quite a few small additions in this update! of course there's new gear. But there's a lot more coming!

Lockers can now be wiped clean with the - (minus) button if you want to start over. The amount of items on display in shops has been increased to 9 from 6. You can preview Scale reward items at Grizzco, similar to Hotlantis! Color Lock was adjusted during Tricolor Battles to accommodate for colorblind players. Winners of 10, 100 and 333x battles will be broadcast to your friends and on the Anarchy Splatcast!

Connection Errors are now dealt with player-side. Instead of the match grinding to a halt, laggy players will be notified and have their controls removed if the lag persists. Terrific!

Closing Thoughts:

Overall, despite my complaints, I really like this update. The team over at Splatoon is doing a good job and I'm excited. With these changes they're heading in the right direction and we can only hope they keep on this trend with bigger and better changes. I'll see you all on the battlefield! Stay fresh!

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #game design #fresh season 2023

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