#scrawlers has an inkling about turf wars

[sage-nebula]

I've made it to Profreshional 200!

[sage-nebula]

Final Splatfest

So the Final Splatfest of Splatoon 2 has come and gone, and though I didn’t post about it while it was occurring, I will say that I did participate.

It’s kind of funny, actually; before the Final Splatfest it had been ages since I’d played Splatoon, so I was so unbelievably rusty. I did practice before the actual Splatfest, mostly to unlock abilities for my Splatfest Tee, and it’s a damn good thing I did because I was so rusty I’d forgotten basic things like how to use the sub weapon. But though I was still a bit rusty when the actual event rolled around I still at least knew what all the buttons did, and by the end of Splatfest I was back on top of my game. (Case in point, even now I’m ending matches with usually over 1000p of turf inked before the bonuses.) 

That said, the reason why I participated in this particular Splatfest is because I feel it was more significant than any Splatfest that came before it. For those who don’t know, the theme was Chaos vs. Order: Which world would you rather live in? A world of pure chaos, or one of unyielding order? The characters in the game were divided up as well, even though they weren’t actually participating (outside of Pearl and Marina on the final day, and even then only on the M.C. Princess Diaries Shifty Station stage), and it was stated over and over again that this Splatfest would determine the fate of that world.

The thing is . . . that’s not wrong. Although Splatoon 2 isn’t going to change from here on out, the Final Splatfest of the original Splatoon determined the single player campaign of Splatoon 2. This wasn’t in any major way; it just meant that you got to partner up with Marie to rescue Callie, who remained absent from Inkopolis altogether until a patch much later added her back in if you’d rescued her during the single-player campaign. But while that was a minor change that probably would have just been reversed had Team Callie won instead, I have a feeling they’re looking at much, much bigger changes for Splatoon 3. The world of Splatoon 3 is likely to be radically different from the world we’ve known for the past two games, and that likely would have happened no matter which team had won. Whether it was Chaos or Order, we could be looking at monumental changes with half the cast out of commission or otherwise missing for a decent length of time.

And that’s what helped me make my decision. To be honest, I was really torn about it. On the one hand, I’d rather not live in a chaotic wasteland with absolutely no structure or stability whatsoever. I’m a daring and adventurous person, but I also like to have a sense of stability and a feeling of safety in my life, particularly since I didn’t have that for a vast majority of my childhood and adolescence (and needless to say, I could really empathize with Marina’s reasons for choosing Order in that sense). But on the other, there were numerous hints that Team Order meant a loss of free will, from one of the pieces of gear being a “Hive-Mind Headset” to the fact that Tartar and C.Q. Cumber were on the side of Order. A loss of free will and an authoritarian government is not something I can stand for, in any way, shape, or form. I’m not here for that in the least bit.

But that said, the vast majority of my favorite characters were on Team Order. Marie, Marina, Agent 8, Agent 3, and as far as the villains go, C.Q. Cumber and Tartar were all Team Order. Meanwhile, the only character I am really attached to on Team Chaos is Pearl. I like Callie and Agent 4 all right, but I’m not opposed to seeing them benched for a game. I could live with that. And even if his final boss battle was lit af in the original Splatoon, DJ Octavio was really underwhelming and is far less threatening of an antagonist than either Tartar or C.Q. Cumber. I can’t really take him seriously. On top of all this, Octo Expansion has BY FAR been my favorite single-player campaign in Splatoon. If the single-player campaign could be more like that in Splatoon 3, I would definitely want it. It was amazing.

So with all that in mind, I chose Team Order, and I fought as hard as I could. Unfortunately, we still lost. It was a 3-0 sweep, which means that the world we see unfold in Splatoon 3 will be one of Chaos. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The Salmonids were on Team Chaos, which means perhaps what we’ll see in Splatoon 3 is a world where they’ve finally managed to take over Inkopolis, because Mr Grizz’s low safety standards for his workers means that they all got killed off and weren’t able to stop the incoming flood. (Plus, that would be something that both Inklings and Octolings would need to work together on, since if they don’t they could be all wiped out.) As I said before, I think that we’re going to see major changes no matter which team won. Or at least, I hope we do. And that means that even if we won’t have a world akin to Octo Expansion, we still might have one akin to Salmon Run, and considering Salmon Run is my favorite multiplayer mode in Splatoon, that’s pretty exciting, too. I only hope that all my favorite characters (or at least the NPCs like Marina and Marie) aren’t benched in Splatoon 3, like Callie was for a long time in Splatoon 2. I also hope the same for the Team Chaos NPCs, even if I wasn’t as fond of them. In particular, I want to see Off the Hook continue to be together and play an active role in the story, because I love those girlfriends so much. They are probably my favorite Splatoon characters overall. 

Either way, we all fought hard, the ink colors were gorgeous, and it’s gotten me back in a Splatoon mood again, so I’ve enjoyed it. Great game to everyone, and thanks to you all for making the Final Splatfest a fun one. I can’t wait to see what world we’ve brought upon ourselves come Splatoon 3. :)

[sage-nebula]

My basic thought here was: if my octoling can’t go swimming, then these jellyfish shouldn’t be able to go swimming either.

[sage-nebula]

For the record, I preordered Splatoon 2′s Octo Expansion forever ago, and I finally downloaded it and started playing it last night. (And I’m playing it right now, as a matter of fact, but I’m stuck on what to do during a particular mission so I have it on pause at the moment.) It’s really good so far! I feel it’s setting up for some really interesting lore considering the fact that Marina keeps mentioning that the octarians don’t seem normal to her, that she can’t pick up any life signals from them. As an octoling, she would know. (I also found the introductory bit where Pearl mentions the “weird hairstyles” and Marina’s quick diversion to be interesting . . . Pearl does know that Marina is an octoling, right? She has to. Even if Marina is pretending that she’s wearing headgear to everyone else, Pearl has to know.) I’m also really suspicious of the Kamabo Corporation; this whole thing has Aperture Science written all over it (especially with the way C.Q. fucking murders you if you mess up during a test), and they seem just as shady as Grizzco Industries. I really hope we find out the truth about Kamabo Corporation during this, especially since I’m ont sure we’ll ever find out the truth about Grizzco. (But because of how similar they are to Aperture, I’ve decided that my octoling is named Chell.) The Mem Cakes (which I keep wanting to type as “meme cakes” lmao) are really interesting, too, and kind of . . . bizarre? I’m wondering if they’re going to reveal deeper lore that I’m just not getting yet. Hm.

But yeah, I’m really enjoying it so far, and I haven’t found the difficulty to be too bad yet. It helps that you get to choose a weapon on the majority of stages, so I can usually grab something I’m not too terrible with (thanks to Salmon Run forcing me to use a variety, lmao). It probably also helps that I’ve cleared the single player campaign in both the original game and this one, so I’m used to these types of challenges. (I also play ranked, so I was able to handle the Rainmaker and Tower Control missions . . . but god help me if there’s a Clam Blitz one. I cannot do Clam Blitz to save my fucking life.)

As a side note, I just checked my profile on my Switch, and here’s what my gameplay history looks like so far:

Splatoon 2: 145 hours or more

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition: 25 hours or more

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 15 hours or more

Night in the Woods: 20 hours or more

Sonic Mania: 5 hours or more

Celeste: 15 hours or more

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 240 hours or more

Super Mario Odyssey: 30 hours or more

Lost Sphear Demo: 1 hour or more

Sonic Forces: 5 hours or more

Grand Total: 501 hours or more

(Yeah, that one hour with the Lost Sphear demo was enough to convince me not to get the game lmao.)

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve gotten quite a lot of use out of my Switch so far, haha. I’ve not regretted this purchase for a single day and I don’t see this changing any time soon.

[sage-nebula]

If Cap’n Cuttlefish was halfway competent, I wouldn’t have to fight my inkling from the first game right now, breaking my own heart in the process.

UNFORTUNATELY . . . >:(

[sage-nebula]

Okay, listen. The fact that it’s your inkling from the first game that saves you after you get put in the giant blender warms my soul in ways you cannot understand.

[sage-nebula]

stress.mov

[sage-nebula]

YOU’RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID. It only took eight hours on top of all the time and effort I put into beating the main campaign of the expansion, but you’re goddamn right I finally beat all eighty levels and got each and every Mem Cake.

And now . . . now I just have to fight Agent 3. Again. When she’s even more difficult than she was the last time.

. . .

See you all on the other side.

[sage-nebula]

Playing as much Salmon Run as I have means that when you see a Flooder in Octo Expansion, you think, “That’s a Griller, actually.” You also have a strong instinct to start shooting at it, even though that won’t do any good.

[sage-nebula]

I reached a boss in Hollow Knight that I was having a hard time with yesterday. I just could not beat her no matter what I tried and I kept getting more and more frustrated. Today I went back and faced her again with a clear mind and the resignation that I was probably going to die a lot once more.

I beat her on my first try.

Now, if only I could experience this same kind of success when trying to beat Agent 3 in Splatoon 2. :/

[sage-nebula]

Look: When you’re playing Salmon Run, and you have the Sting Ray special, you have one job, and that one job is to fend off the Mothership from the Egg Basket using the Sting Ray. It’s the most efficient tool to accomplish this, and the Sting Ray is honestly a bit too unwieldy to use during normal rounds anyway. At the very least, if a given session doesn’t have a Mothership round, you wait until the third wave to determine that before you waste the Sting Ray on nonsense.

[sage-nebula]

I heard so many horror stories about Girl Power Station, but honestly, Girl Power Station was nothing compared to Righteous Rails Station, good god.

[sage-nebula]

Why is it that when the weapon spread is terrible, my teams can do really well in Salmon Run, and yet when the weapon spread is great, everyone is terrible?

[sage-nebula]

So it turns out that you can shoot Callie, but you can’t splat her.

[sage-nebula]

ME: “I’ve got homework to do, buuuut I don’t feel like doing it, soooo I’m just going to procrastinate it by playing more Splatoon 2 instead.”

SPLATOON 2:

[sage-nebula]

Ranked mode (or at least Splat Zones) in Splatoon 2 is so much more fun when you have a weapon that can actually kill things.