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Reviews Splatoon 3 | Review Thread

Plum said:
Damn... can we please stop it with the misinformation about NintendoLife's coverage of this game? Please point towards their "weird passive-aggressive vibes," because, as someone who's watched all their coverage from the game, I literally never got those vibes at all. That is unless you think anything less than extreme excitement and complete adoration is "passive-aggressive," or something lol
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I’ll try and dig it up later but there was definitely some stuff in the last month or so that felt more like feeding/baiting the apparent (I’m going off what other people have said since I don’t have a Twitter account) Twitter-verse hand-wringing over the game.

Usually I don’t have a problem with their coverage which is why I’ve been harping on it because it just feels odd to me.

Edit: Could also have been their headlines being bait-y too I don’t remember exactly if it was the articles that were giving me weird vibes
 
Seems like a good game, excited to start grinding this weekend
 
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shoptroll said:
Edit: Could also have been their headlines being bait-y too I don’t remember exactly if it was the articles that were giving me weird vibes
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This might've been it, wasn't it Nintendolife with the "Is Splatoon 3 too early?" headline that was answered with "no, it's definitely time for a new game" in the article?
 
Plum said:
Get hyped, everyone. New "critical review that we'll be able to shit on until the end of time, and use as an example of a mass anti-Nintendo bias from the games media," just dropped:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/09/splatoon-3-review-nintendos-well-of-squid-ink-has-run-dry/
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I have... thoughts about most of the framing of this review but this part is actually pretty meh

If you'd like to get angrier at this package, here goes: Nintendo has newly instituted online-only checks for some of Splatoon 3's new content. All of your character's online-specific data is now tied to Nintendo's servers, so players can't access any of the game's cosmetic shops while they take their Switch anywhere offline. The same goes for a new card-battle game that has been added to Splatoon 3, dubbed Tableturf Battle; I was never even able to access a tutorial for the game, let alone any form of solo practice, since the mode didn't unlock for me until the game's pre-release servers had been shut off. (The solo campaign mode works when Switch is wholly offline, at the very least.)
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Lucyfer said:
This might've been it, wasn't it Nintendolife with the "Is Splatoon 3 too early?" headline that was answered with "no, it's definitely time for a new game" in the article?
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Tbh I don't have much of an issue with that? The title is directly referencing the prominent discourse about the game, and then answering why it's incorrect based on their hands on experience.
 
Plum said:
Get hyped, everyone. New "critical review that we'll be able to shit on until the end of time, and use as an example of a mass anti-Nintendo bias from the games media," just dropped:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/09/splatoon-3-review-nintendos-well-of-squid-ink-has-run-dry/
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Saw the headline when I was checking Ars for news, rolled my eyes, and closed the tab. Ars’s games coverage is way too divergent from my tastes that I haven’t used them for reviews or news in ages unless they get an exclusive interview or something equivalent 😄
 
totofogo said:
I have... thoughts about most of the framing of this review but this part is actually pretty meh
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To be fair, Splatoon 2 had the same requirement of needing to be online for basically everything but the story. Still think it's a bit odd, but that might explain it better
 
besides some lobby and online aspect, the game seems to be iterative but really good. I may pick it up even if XBC 3 is draining every single ounce of my free time.
 
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Raccoon said:
even more so since a new splatoon coming out now is objectively a bad idea lmao
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I don't know about "objectively". The timing with the switch pro being rumored and everything is awkward, but they couldn't let a rapidly growing series just sit like that either.
 
Lucyfer said:
This might've been it, wasn't it Nintendolife with the "Is Splatoon 3 too early?" headline that was answered with "no, it's definitely time for a new game" in the article?
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That might be it. It came about week after another article by the same writer covering the online hand-wringing.

Anyways I’m gonna drop it for now as I wasn’t trying to argue in bad faith, and I realize I’m coming from a place of ignorance. Thank you for the call out @Plum I’m gonna go dunk my head in ice water or something and cool off a bit 😂
 
Lucyfer said:
I don't know about "objectively". The timing with the switch pro being rumored and everything is awkward, but they couldn't let a rapidly growing series just sit like that either.
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well let's just call it not a desirable corporate checkbox lol
 
Wasn't client side data storage giving problems with hacking in Splatoon 2, for example with the Octolings?

Seeing as how a few of the leads behind Splatoon 1 and 2 aren't credited here (maybe trying something new once again!) Splatoon 3 being a tad safe, but more fleshed out makes sense. Don't have much trouble with that personally, but that might be because I haven't played that much of Splatoon 2 as some of y'all.
 
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Raccoon said:
this actually makes sense. all of your data is server side now, including your cosmetics
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This. Especially since your Splatoon 2 character data was in jeopardy if anything happened to your switch. This is a welcome change imo
 
Plum said:
Get hyped, everyone. New "critical review that we'll be able to shit on until the end of time, and use as an example of a mass anti-Nintendo bias from the games media," just dropped:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/09/splatoon-3-review-nintendos-well-of-squid-ink-has-run-dry/
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I read it and it feels like they put some random dude on it who doesn't have a whole lot of experience with Splatoon. There's some things I can understand and some I dont, but some things are even borderline wrong, like:
-Tri-colour turf war being unbalanced because the 4 player team had too much advantage (it is the other way around)
-Splatoon 2 having better maps than 1 and 3, this statement was mostly based on aesthetic, but playability seems much better in 3 compared to 2.

They also don't seem to understand why Salmon Run weapons are randomly distributed. And it's funny how he describes the Octo Expansion essence as what made the single player campaign suck
 
Raccoon said:
Splatoon is the best series Nintendo makes and somehow it reviews worse
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The serie has missed its launch window review wise. It would have needed the first game to be content packed from the start to concentrate on its great new gameplay. Now even with such a packed game it's not even in the high 80.
Really great graphics or upended tea table at this point...
 
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shoptroll said:
I’ll try and dig it up later but there was definitely some stuff in the last month or so that felt more like feeding/baiting the apparent (I’m going off what other people have said since I don’t have a Twitter account) Twitter-verse hand-wringing over the game.

Usually I don’t have a problem with their coverage which is why I’ve been harping on it because it just feels odd to me
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Their coverage has really been very typical, but because of the somewhat heightened tensions surrounding this game a lot of people have been intentionally misconstruing completely innocent content. For instance, these headlines:

Talking Point: Has Nintendo Done Enough to Justify Splatoon 3's Existence?
Is 5 years between Splatoon games worth the wait?

Which are some basic-ass questions designed to generate engagement (i.e. the stuff that they literally rely on to pay the bills), were misconstrued by Twitter users as somehow indicative of this bias against the game; all under the assumption that the answer to both of those questions was "no lol." I assume one of the tweets you saw was one in which someone compared the latter to a similar article about BotW2 being the longest gap between 3D Zeldas. That Tweet literally generated a "well they're fine with Zelda but they hate Splatoon!" 'vibe' out of absolutely nowhere; I managed to prove it wrong in, like, 2 minutes.

In reality, the first of those links points towards a basic run-down of the Direct - with a conclusion of "looks great but lacks a big 'wow' moment," and the second video comes to the conclusion of "yes, definitely. Splatoon has a lot of room for improvement and we're excited for the sequel." Neither show any real negativity towards the game, unless you think "excitement with a hint of trepidation," is in any way 'negative.'

The one big moment where, yeah, they were being a bit weird was this article:

People Are Getting Pretty Worried About Splatoon 3

Which was basically just them pointing towards people thirsting for more information on the game, as Nintendo had - at that point - only been showing returning weapons, new haircuts, and other superfluous stuff. Yeah, it was a random clickbaity article - it's hard to defend it as anything but that - but it's really not indicative of any negative trend they have towards the game. Hell, it isn't even included in their "Splatoon," category; it was just one of the writer's random thoughts on what was likely a slow news day.

Either way, they've done nothing to justify any real criticisms of them as a site.

EDIT: Just saw your other post and no worries! This isn't personal or anything! Have a great day and enjoy the game when it releases :)
 
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DenkeyKong said:
I read it and it feels like they put some random dude on it who doesn't have a whole lot of experience with Splatoon. There's some things I can understand and some I dont, but some things are even borderline wrong, like:
-Tri-colour turf war being unbalanced because the 4 player team had too much advantage (it is the other way around)
-Splatoon 2 having better maps than 1 and 3, this statement was mostly based on aesthetic, but playability seems much better in 3 compared to 2.

They also don't seem to understand why Salmon Run weapons are randomly distributed. And it's funny how he describes the Octo Expansion essence as what made the single player campaign suck
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they seem like the sort who blames the game when they stink, not a good trait for a game reviewer

vague allusions to bad balancing that are veritably incorrect are the sign of someone who doesn't understand video games well enough to review them professionally

edit: wonderful timing on my part
 
PillFencer said:
Arstechnica recommends picking Splatoon 2 over Splatoon 3 lmaoooo
Literally a meme review
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And same reviewer told people to turn off the badly slapped on motion controls in the first Splatoon in favor of using sticks. Yeah, I think this is less a meme and more an obvious case of player and game being so out of step with each other, worsened by the player overestimating their ability to predict the competitive meta-game, it results in a failure to produce a critical evaluation that's useful to anyone.

Ketwick9844 said:
Has any reviewer mention the card minigame?
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From VGC:

While we’d never recommend Splatoon 3 to the online-averse, solo squids can also enjoy Tableturf Battles. This card game sees rivals drawing a deck of block shapes and simultaneously placing them on a grid, in attempt to claim as many squares as possible.

Knitting shapes together so not to waste squares taps into your Tetris knowhow, but there’s more at play here, with special attacks, cards battling to occupy the same space and a race to wall in high-scoring squares.

There are so many avenues to victory that your mind is quickly buzzing with strategies, especially once you start building out your deck with new card drops. It could easily blossom into a Gwent-sized side hustle.
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From Gaming Bible:

Tableturf Battle is a completely new mode, and is essentially a board game spinoff of Turf War. I’ll be honest, this wasn’t a feature I was particularly excited about prior to trying it, but I ended up getting hooked. The turn-based battle system sees each player place down cards, which all cover a different amount of tiles, in different shapes. Once a tile has been covered, it can’t be covered again (either by your own ink, or the enemy’s) unless you use a special attack - so you have to think carefully about your placements. On top of the basic starter deck which everyone receives, you can also earn new packs of cards from the story mode and through the new Shell-Out Machine in the lobby in order to build your own decks - allowing for an (almost) unlimited amount of possibilities. It’s probably not going to be the go-to mode for the vast majority of players, but it’s far more engaging than I expected it to be.
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From Nintendo Life:

But if the illusion of reality isn’t your thing, you can burrow yourself into the new in-game card game on offer: Table Turf Battle. In this deceptively simple yet dense side game you’ll be laying various shapes down to ink as much of the table’s turf as possible, with each card offering a unique and wacky shape to work with. It’s a surprisingly well-thought-out inclusion and one that we feel many other publishers would release as a standalone product. As it stands here though it’s a hugely enjoyable little freebie added into a game already bursting with content.
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Shiba said:
I’d say this is spot on.

Game doesn’t change much from the previous game which is 5 years old while you have COD pretty much changing with every entry and that’s annually.
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And from that stance, you might as well not buy it at all. He must have REALLY not liked the Octo Expansion campaign since Splatoon 3's campaign takes from that and Splatoon 2.
 
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Raccoon said:
this actually makes sense. all of your data is server side now, including your cosmetics
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Legit this one change is going to make me much, much more likely to put some serious hours into the game. Knowing that I won't suddenly lose tens of hours of progress if my Switch dies one day makes justifying said hours so much easier.
 
Sheldon said:
And same reviewer told people to turn off the badly slapped on motion controls in the first Splatoon in favor of using sticks. Yeah, I think this is less a meme and more an obvious case of player and game being so out of step with each other it results in a failure to produce a useful critical evaluation.
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hahaha okay cool

the nice part of having played the splatfest and the entire game leaking beforehand is that I know they're wrong. usually we just have to take reviewers at their word because they're the only ones who get to actually play the games
 
Sheldon said:
And same reviewer told people to turn off the badly slapped on motion controls in the first Splatoon in favor of using sticks. Yeah, I think this is less a meme and more an obvious case of player and game being so out of step with each other it results in a failure to produce a useful critical evaluation.



From VGC:
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It's a shame Tableturf Battle isn't available online directly at launch, while I'd be surprised if it's a super deep card battler on the level of actual dedicated card games, it seems like it could be a really fun "side mode" to jump back into and break up some hours of game time. Hoping it's just a grace period and we won't have to wait for too long.
 
Decoyman said:
It's a shame Tableturf Battle isn't available online directly at launch, while I'd be surprised if it's a super deep card battler on the level of actual dedicated card games, it seems like it could be a really fun "side mode" to jump back into and break up some hours of game time. Hoping it's just a grace period and we won't have to wait for too long.
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I added a couple more quotes to my post above. Consensus seems to be that it's more intricate than the simple concept suggests. Which I'm happy to hear since I didn't think there was much room to really strategize from what we've seen of the gameplay. If it's something relaxing to play when I'm stuck in handheld mode and thus can't perform up to ranked standards but even Salmon Run isn't casual enough for my current mood, that's all I want out of Tableturf Battle.

Plus some fun art to collect and look at.
 
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Nintendo secretly released a tile placement CCG and Uwe Rosenberg is wondering why he didn’t come up with it first 😂

Plum said:
Either way, they've done nothing to justify any real criticisms of them as a site.

EDIT: Just saw your other post and no worries! This isn't personal or anything! Have a great day and enjoy the game when it releases :)
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No worries, didn’t take it personally. Thank you for the well-researched response. NL is my primary Nintendo news site so I don’t have any significant problem with them as a site but it looks like this was a “user error” on my behalf.
 
Aostia82 said:
80 MC coming, imho. more of the same, small graphical leap over 2, still no meaty single player mode (to come, with the DLC), online infrastructure still behind our time
I also bet about some "pending score" due to first day online matchmaking check/DLC details
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No true local co-op multiplayer ability.
 
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Storing data on the server and not the client is suddenly a bad thing? Wasn’t that a fundamental complaint about 2?

Seems fun!
 
Shiba said:
I’d say this is spot on.

Game doesn’t change much from the previous game which is 5 years old while you have COD pretty much changing with every entry and that’s annually.
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Spot on despite you having never played the game and it being a review that doesn’t fit in with the vast majority of the other ones?
 
So, Splatoon 3 is more Splatoon?

Great! I'm going to get it once I'm in the mood again for Splatoon and also when I'm done with the absolute onslaught of JRPGs I'm still going through and will be going through these coming months.

Glad Splatoon 3 seems to be a quality title, though!
 
The reviews sound about what I expected - Iterative but polished to a fine sheen. From the demo, the devil was absolutely in the details, the small nips and tucks to make a much more fluid experience.

I know a repetitive iterative sequel when I see one, just look at the New Super Mario Bros. games. From the demo alone I feel like this one doesn't go in that direction. Excited for the 9th!
 
BradenAndEggs said:
Woah, woah, woah the review is a meme, but don't throw us stick-using boomers under the bus too!

lol I just can't make my brain understand gyro controls.
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Stick-using boomers like Captain Cuttlefish will always have a place in Splatoon!

I just wouldn't tell people not to try motion controls, just like I'd never tell them not to try sticks if that's more their thing. Only people who would do either belong under the bus.
 
I am pumped, and loving all the praise the single player is getting. I loved Octo Expansion, so this being a step up from that is music to my ears.

Honestly, everything about this game from what I have read and seen looks great, so not sure what some people want. A revolution? It's Splatoon. The core loop is what so many love about it. Just keep refining, adding to it, make more features... which this entry seems to have done. Sometimes I feel some people want something that is not Splatoon, which is why I am not against the idea of some spin off games. The world is ripe for them.
 
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