Splatoon 3 Direct : 10.08.22 (2pm UK time)

[Ronnie]

 

 

[darksnowman]

Super stuff. Looking forward to this in a big way so I'll be glad to learn what I can about it between now and launch. 

[Dcubed]

Right.  Last chance for Nintendo to prove that this game is anything more than just a glorified map pack for Splatoon 2.

I'm not holding my breath for this one.  Have been thoroughly unimpressed with everything shown so far.

[Hero-of-Time]

3 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Right.  Last chance for Nintendo to prove that this game is anything more than just a glorified map pack for Splatoon 2.

I'm not holding my breath for this one.  Have been thoroughly unimpressed with everything shown so far.

To be honest, that's how I felt about the second game coming from the first. Sure, there were some good additions but it wasn't enough to make me put in the hours that I did on the original game.

I've not played the likes of CoD for years now but when I did you could feel the differences between the games, probably due to them being made by different teams, but with Splatoon 2 it did feel very much like an expansion to the first. 

I'm happy to be sold on the third game, and if enough people on here purchase it then I may pick it up, but at the moment I'm a bit meh on it. Also, PLEASE allow us to skip the opening scene everytime the game is loaded up. It's a stupid issue that could easily be bypassed with the press of a button or even knocked off via the settings option.

[MindFreak]

The second game made sense as it came to a new console. This one? Nope. Not from the outside at least. 

Won't bother with this game. I just don't have the time to play online multiplayer games anymore. 

Edited August 8, 2022 by MindFreak

[darksnowman]

26 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Right.  Last chance for Nintendo to prove that this game is anything more than just a glorified map pack for Splatoon 2.

I'm not holding my breath for this one.  Have been thoroughly unimpressed with everything shown so far.

Haven't played Splatoon 1 and only did the Game Trial of 2 so this new one looks amazing to me.  I expected 3 to come along much sooner or I'd have got 2 long ago (similar to Mario Kart 8 to 9...) so I'm more than ready to get into this de Blob shooter.

Only thing that will deter me is if I get a whiff of the recent Nintendo sports titles off it.

And if they announce DLC in this Direct. No need. Just get a full game out and take it from there.

21 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Also, PLEASE allow us to skip the opening scene everytime the game is loaded up. It's a stupid issue that could easily be bypassed with the press of a button or even knocked off via the settings option.

Speaking of stupid issues upon starting up games, can we move past this "Press L + R to Start" malarky? I'm not even joking. In Pikmin 3 nothing else seems to work. Let me press start to play. Let me press A to play. Please Nintendo.

[Dcubed]

4 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

The second game made sense as it came to a new console. This one? Nope. Not from the outside at least. 

Won't bother with this game. I just don't have the time to play online multiplayer games anymore. 

Fully agreed.  Splatoon 2 being a glorified port of Splatoon 1 was acceptable as a launch window title; but now? On the same console? I literally don't even know why this game exists.  I don't see the point in making another nearly identical game for the current Switch; should've just been held back for Switch 2 if you're not gonna do anything radically new.

[Ronnie]

Splatoon 2 came out five years ago, another entry after all this time seems fine to me, especially if the new single player is meaty enough. Not to mention their next console likely being at least a couple years out.

23 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

I don't see the point in making another nearly identical game for the current Switch; should've just been held back for Switch 2 if you're not gonna do anything radically new.

We'll find out if it's nearly identical with nothing radically new in a couple of days.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

On the same console? I literally don't even know why this game exists.  

Regardless what we think of it, Splatoon 3 will sell stupid numbers. 

[darksnowman]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

Splatoon 2 came out five years ago, another entry after all this time seems fine to me, especially if the new single player is meaty enough. Not to mention their next console likely being at least a couple years out.

Didn't realise until these responses that this was the general opinion.  Five years is ample time. Where were the cries for the Mario + Rabbids sequel to be pushed back a generation? Madness.

People wanted another Mario Kart on the same console, got more Xenoblade, and more Pokémon is coming to the Switch but another entry in possibly (probably?) the only good thing to come out of the Wii U is where the line is drawn? Maybe it's the Monday blues...

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

We'll find out if it's nearly identical with nothing radically new in a couple of days.

Yup. Can't see "roughly 30 mins of updates" being a half-hour retread of Splatoon 1 and 2, personally. Stranger things have happened I suppose. We'll see soon enough.  

[MindFreak]

7 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

Didn't realise until these responses that this was the general opinion.  Five years is ample time. Where were the cries for the Mario + Rabbids sequel to be pushed back a generation? Madness.

People wanted another Mario Kart on the same console, got more Xenoblade, and more Pokémon is coming to the Switch but another entry in possibly (probably?) the only good thing to come out of the Wii U is where the line is drawn? Maybe it's the Monday blues...

Well. That is a good point. Except that those games come with a story (well, bar Mario Kart but I personally don't need a new entry of that as well) and new gameplay elements, while Splatoon 3 is just an online shooting game and what we've seen of the third game so far doesn't really warrant a new entry, rather it could be sold as DLC. I guess they just don't want to divide players intro people with and people without DLC which is probably why we get a new game in the series instead. 

(It's also baffling why they cut the support for Splatoon 2 so soon instead of using that to lead people into buying the third game.)

[Ronnie]

26 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Except that those games come with a story

So does Splatoon 3.

 

[bob]

The ability to add DLC to a game is kind of a blessing and a curse for game developers.

On the one hand, they can release a half finished game and add the rest of the content later as DLC.

On the flip side, when they want to release a whole new game, they can get the criticism that all that content could have just been added to the old game as DLC.

[Julius]

46 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

Didn't realise until these responses that this was the general opinion.  Five years is ample time. Where were the cries for the Mario + Rabbids sequel to be pushed back a generation? Madness.

People wanted another Mario Kart on the same console, got more Xenoblade, and more Pokémon is coming to the Switch but another entry in possibly (probably?) the only good thing to come out of the Wii U is where the line is drawn? Maybe it's the Monday blues...

I think it's simply that we haven't been shown anything so far which makes the game unique and feel totally necessary – and I do mean unique here, not different. How many trailers have we had at this point, three or four? It still just looks like Splatoon to me, be it the first or second game (and, note: I'm someone that hasn't played either), for better or worse. 

Compare that to Mario+Rabbids - where again, I'm someone that hasn't played the first game - and I see footage from either and can quickly tell which game I'm looking at because of some mechanic or feature of the game which gives me an inkling of the game I'm looking at. Same goes for Xenoblade, same goes for Pokémon, hell the same goes for BOTW2's two trailers so far, and we've seen like three minutes and change of that game. 

I mean, let's be totally fair: just how different do you have to make a third person shooter which is primarily centred around online multiplayer so that I can tell from a glance which game I'm looking at? Other than the UI and new maps, I'm having a hard time imagining being able to tell that from a glance at gameplay. 

Now, this all isn't to say that there isn't a smorgasbord of mechanical tweaks and adjustments under the hood, or that hard work hasn't been put into the game, or that it won't sell amazingly well (of course @Hero-of-Time is right that this game is going to sell millions of copies, heck, I think it could be a critical failure and it still would!), but I think it's undeniable that Splatoon is unique in the pantheon of Nintendo IP in that they aren't looking to reinvent the game with each entry; they are innovating. Nothing about Splatoon 3 looks so off the walls to me that it wouldn't have been possible in the second - or even the first! - game, whereas I look at the other games you're talking about and again, can clearly tell which is which. 

It's refinement over reinvention. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's undeniable that the approach being taken is completely different with Splatoon, and I think it's given rise to the feeling some have about this game in this thread. 

And yes, there's an aspect of refinement to these other games too - of course there is, that's a key part of the industry moving forwards and a huge part of why I'd say Nintendo's first party is so strong! - but, much as I loathe it in some cases (ahem, Pokémon), they consistently bring new things to the table which either weren't possible or weren't thought of previously, and this helps newer entries to feel fresh and significantly distinct in a way which I can empathise with others for thinking Splatoon does not. 

[RedShell]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Also, PLEASE allow us to skip the opening scene everytime the game is loaded up. It's a stupid issue that could easily be bypassed with the press of a button or even knocked off via the settings option.

Actually a deal-breaker for me.

Watch as Nintendo make it an even longer unskippable sequence in Splatoon 3 now.

[darksnowman]

12 hours ago, MindFreak said:

Well. That is a good point. Except that those games come with a story (well, bar Mario Kart but I personally don't need a new entry of that as well) and new gameplay elements, while Splatoon 3 is just an online shooting game and what we've seen of the third game so far doesn't really warrant a new entry, rather it could be sold as DLC. I guess they just don't want to divide players intro people with and people without DLC which is probably why we get a new game in the series instead. 

(It's also baffling why they cut the support for Splatoon 2 so soon instead of using that to lead people into buying the third game.)

Thanks for trying to explain, though I'm still struggling to wrap my head around why this is the first party game people are snooty about. To me, Splatoon represents a side of Nintendo that will still put out something other than the usual mascot sequels and spin-offs.Thought it was embraced by everyone.

I'm hoping this Direct will show 3 is a feature-complete game in and of itself that doesn't necessarily require support beyond matchmaking and score tracking. Chance'd be a fine thing, I know.

12 hours ago, bob said:

The ability to add DLC to a game is kind of a blessing and a curse for game developers.

On the one hand, they can release a half finished game and add the rest of the content later as DLC.

On the flip side, when they want to release a whole new game, they can get the criticism that all that content could have just been added to the old game as DLC.

Pretty much sums it up. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Nintendo releases Splatoon 3 as DLC for 2. People: what you trying to fleece us for Nintendo? An update like this warrants a new entry in the series! I preferred you before you became this corporate DLC-selling nightmare.
Nintendo releases Splatoon 3 as a brand new entry in the series. People: what you trying to fleece us for Nintendo? This should have been DLC! Get with the times!

12 hours ago, Julius said:

this game is going to sell millions of copies

That's worth keeping in mind, no doubt about it. Just last week I got a text in from someone making sure I'm still up for Splatoon 3 as they were ready to lay down their pre-order there and then. I was caught me a bit on the spot by this so I told them to stand down until we I shop around to see if we can save a tenner somewhere. Good to remember that this kind of average Joe Bloggs gamer* who, without any decent info on the game, is already happy with the product they will be getting and the online vocal minority who, without any decent info on the game, has already decided they're unhappy with the game and declare its sheer existence an affront are not representative of one another.

I've not reserved the game, but I have reserved my judgement on it. 

*if you allow that an average gamer would have hundreds of hours on Splatoon 2 and has never watched a Nintendo Direct.

[Dcubed]

14 hours ago, darksnowman said:

Didn't realise until these responses that this was the general opinion.  Five years is ample time. Where were the cries for the Mario + Rabbids sequel to be pushed back a generation? Madness.

People wanted another Mario Kart on the same console, got more Xenoblade, and more Pokémon is coming to the Switch but another entry in possibly (probably?) the only good thing to come out of the Wii U is where the line is drawn? Maybe it's the Monday blues...

Yup. Can't see "roughly 30 mins of updates" being a half-hour retread of Splatoon 1 and 2, personally. Stranger things have happened I suppose. We'll see soon enough.  

It’s because all of those other games offer some genuinely new and exciting gameplay concepts that justify their existence.

Splatoon 3 (from everything we’ve seen so far) however, is just a glorified map pack DLC being sold as a full priced game.

Edited August 9, 2022 by Dcubed

[Dufniall]

I'm curious what they're gonna show, as 30 minutes sounds pretty substantial. are they going to introduce this for potential new players and go over the basics? Or hardcore show a lot of new stuff that justifies a Splatoon 3? Either way excited, after the Splatfests stopped I traded in Splatoon 2 so I'm happy to get back into the Splatgame with #3!

[Ronnie]

4 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Splatoon 3 (from everything we’ve seen so far) however, is just a glorified map pack DLC being sold as a full priced game.

"A map pack sold as a full priced game"?

Brand new single player campaign? New features, weapons? Quality of life improvements? Whatever else that'll be revealed?

[Ealdst]

Just to throw out another take on this - Splatoon 2 multiplayer is also probably pretty hard to get into for any brand new players at this point - even in turf war a large percentage of the people playing have hundreds if not thousands of hours logged and optimised gear sets (at least that's the case whenever I boot it up these days). A new title where everyone is starting from scratch could help this quite a bit!

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

"A map pack sold as a full priced game"?

Brand new single player campaign? New features, weapons? Quality of life improvements? Whatever else that'll be revealed?

Probably will be there in the end, but there's been no evidence of such in that reveal trailer. All I noticed so far was a few new enemies in Salmon Run.

4 hours ago, darksnowman said:

Thanks for trying to explain, though I'm still struggling to wrap my head around why this is the first party game people are snooty about.

Yo, you should try being a Pokémon fan for the past few generations. Barely anyone is willing to look below surface level stuff before declaring that it's just the same game again. It's very annoying.

[Ronnie]

3 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Probably will be there in the end, but there's been no evidence of such in that reveal trailer. All I noticed so far was a few new enemies in Salmon Run.

I just prefer waiting to see what a thirty minute deep dive brings than prematurely labelling the game “nothing more than a map pack”. That’s peak gamer internet speak. 

[Dcubed]

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I just prefer waiting to see what a thirty minute deep dive brings than prematurely labelling the game “nothing more than a map pack”. That’s peak gamer internet speak. 

They have had ample opportunity to showcase the game's big new features before.  The game was announced 6 months ago, and yet we have seen literally no new gameplay features that weren't already in Splatoon 2.

The onus is on them to prove me wrong here, because they've done an awful job selling this game so far.

[Ronnie]

48 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

They have had ample opportunity to showcase the game's big new features before.

What you mean during their marketing push for Xenoblade? or Kirby? or Switch Sports? or Triangle Strategy? or Legends Arceus? or Fire Emblem Warriors? or Mario Strikers? or the MK8 DLC packs?

Surely it's become clear by now that Nintendo focus on one game at a time (they're not the only ones to do so, that's pretty much universal at this point).

They'll announce features when they're ready to announce features. Now is as good a time as any. It's obviously worked for them in the past or they wouldn't keep doing this.

You're entitled to say they've done an awful job selling this game to you personally, but don't call Splatoon 3 'nothing more than a map pack' without knowing the facts. We're literally about to find them out.

[Helmsly]

Did anyone watch it? It just finished: