Another Splatfest here and gone! Yeah #TeamCoaster!! It's pretty impressive that even though Water Slides had more participants, Rollar Coasters were the more skilled bunch. It just goes to show that popularity doesn't always guarantee a win!
Aside from the results, the Splatfest 2.0 didn't deviate in any way from the first one--for better and for worse. While it was still a solid, enjoyable experience, none of my criticisms from the previous Splatfest were addressed. The losers still didn't receive an award for reaching maximum rank, a dance button was nowhere to be found, and the three stages didn't rotate for the entire event. In fact, team stability actually seemed worse this time around; I only managed to keep one of the same teammates for five matches at the most. I still had fun though, and I'm willing to overlook the lack of improvement since the two events were only two weeks apart. Next month, though, I'm hoping Nintendo takes steps to improve upon their already solid event. Here's to not staying stagnant! There are still many improvements Splatoon could stand in general. Have a good night guys! See you all tomorrow! Just made it (phew).
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Well guys, this is it! The second-ever Splatfest is going to start in just a hours or so, and I'm pretty excited about it! The first went really well (after the adjustments following the Japanese launch), and there were only a few things I wished could've been different. I know I've been doing a lot of "list posts" lately, so I'll keep this one short and sweet for everyone prepping for the Fest! So, what do we need?
Rotating stages--three is cool, but I'd rather have an interchanging two than a static three. A dance button--Just watching everyone else dance in the Plaza feels so unfair! Reward for top rank--Even if your Splatfest team loses, the ones that put in the hours to achieve the top rank (in the last Fest, that was King/Queen) should still be rewarded with some Super Sea Snails. A lesser amount, sure, but they should still get something for going so hard. Extra communication options--Splatfest is the most competitive event in Splatoon yet (it's arguably more competitive than Ranked modes since you can have consistent teams during Splatfest). With this added competitive element should come better communications options than "Booyah" and "Come On!" Adding two extra options for the remaining directions on the d-pad would be a great touch that would make Splatfest feel even more special. Hopefully these'll be in tonight's version! Either way, enjoy the festivities guys! Let me know how you do throughout the next 24 hours--you can reach me directly @CreamBasics on Twitter. Here's to a night/day of marathoning Splatoon!! New map? New Impressions post! And it's actually really exciting this time--I absolutely love this map!
This is the first map in Splatoon that really takes things to new heights...yeah, I couldn't help it. The verticality of Moray Towers is really innovative for online play and introduces a few new possibilities to the standard Splatoon formula, just like Kelp Dome did before it: 1) Finally, chargers have a bonafide paradise map. There's literally nothing more annoying than an experienced charger peering down onto the center and sniping everyone as they try to cross sides. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that a charger is downright essential for this map in Ranked battles. I played Splat Zones on Moray for a few hours on Saturday, and the saltiness was real! If my team didn't have a charger and the other team did, it was almost impossible to get a Knockout (except for when the charger was just terrible). Chargers felt so important that I actually bought one and began learning how to snipe! Rollers are also great on this map, but are more useful in Turf War than Ranked. Heck, the ramps are sized almost perfectly for rollers! 2) It's hard to corner another team on Moray Towers. Maps like Walleye Warehouse and Urchin Underpass make it easy for one stronger team to keep the lesser contained in their base, thus resulting in savage overkills. Moray Towers, however, lends itself to jumping headfirst into the action and avoiding anyone trying to corner you at the top. There's less of a real base with this map, so if you want to just go for it and plow forward into neutral territory, you can get there fairly quickly (whether or not you'll stay un-splatted, though, is an entirely different matter). 3) Moray Towers shows off the graphical capability of Splatoon well. The backdrop for the Towers is right up there with SaltSpray Rig as one of the most beautiful maps in the game. The dreamy vista in the distance shines as you look over to the sprawling highways against the sea. The lighting effects against the adjacent buildings and the cars whizzing by below really bring life to the city. Not only is it beautiful in its own right, but Towers--just like Kelp Dome--also provides some much-appreciated contrast to the many water-or-concrete-centric maps Splatoon has to offer. At the end of the day, playing Moray Towers just makes me happy. Aside from Bluefin Depot (still a little iffy on that one) Splatoon has been delivering some consistently knockout maps since launch. I'm especially excited to play this one during this Friday's Splatfest! Here's to more innovative, beautifully-designed maps from the beautifully-creative people behind Splatoon! If you enjoyed this post, check back again tomorrow for another! If you enjoy me and want to keep up to date with smaller things I find interesting in gaming, follow me on Twitter @CreamBasics! Happy Monday guys. Hey guys! So since YouTube is such a massive part of my gaming life (and the gaming community in general nowadays), I figured I'd start a weekly series highlighting some of my favorite recent gaming videos. I'll work out a special day for these in the future, but for now it's happening today! Here are this week's top picks: IGN: 18 Minute No Man's Sky Gameplay Demo I've been fiending for more info on how NMS actually plays for awhile now, and that's exactly what Hello Games founder Sean Murray provided via this exclusive IGN coverage. The 18:33 seems to fly by, but it's definitely a treat that'll have me checking back for more all updates month. GameXplain: Star Fox Zero Analysis Star Fox Zero was, for me, one of the most uninteresting games of Nintendo's E3 Digital Event. I never finished any of the other games in the series, and the on-rails gameplay just never appealed to me. This GameXplain break down of all the potential clues and secrets within the game actually made me more hyped than the trailer and Treehouse gameplay did combined. Check it out! PKSparxx: Splatfest Gameplay I loved the first Splatfest (see my last post for more on that) and few other YouTubers captured my experience better than PK. I might be a little biased because I was also Team Cat, but if you're searching for a fun, hyped look at what Splatfest was all about, look no further than this video. And those are the Top 3 videos in gaming this week! Check back next week for absolute must-see gaming videos you might've missed, check every weekday for new gaming posts, and follow me @CreamBasics on Twitter to connect with more directly. See you all tomorrow!
Ahhh, Splatfest. How real the hype was! We all finally got to enjoy Splatfest last weekend after it was pushed back from its original date in June due to matchmaking issues with the Japanese version. Now that it's all over, was it actually worth the wait? In this humble blogger's opinion, it sure was! SplatFest is really more of an aesthetic change to the game than anything else. All Splatfest matches and celebrations take place at night, and I was pleasantly surprised at how different this small change makes the entire game feel (was it me, or did the ink look extra shiny in the moonlight?). Callie and Marie's chart-topping hits substituting for the usual battle soundtrack was also a nice touch--they're so catchy! Another smart idea was only allowing Splatfest shirts to be worn during the event; this encouraged players to spend time leveling the gear up before the event so they'd have all their abilities available when it was time to throw down. And, of course, outside in the Plaza you were able to attend a totally awesome Callie and Marie concert (complete with choreography and Miiverse fireworks!!). However, hands-down the best feature of Splatfest by far was the team matchmaking feature. You were automatically grouped with your faction (Team Cat for this guy) and faced off against various opposing teams. The cool thing, though, was that you were able to keep your team throughout a series of matches! Normally the teams switch members every match or so, but during Splatfest I literally played with the same powerhouse team for at least 10 matches in a row. It was amazing to actually develop a strong group dynamic over the course of our matches, and to learn how each other played and how we'd all tackle a map. Since teams are usually jumbled up every match in normal play, it's impossible to develop consistently as a team. After the fourth or fifth match with Laura, joeyat, and sajan, however, we were strategizing and outplaying the enemy almost every match, and it felt great! When you usually play Splatoon it oftentimes feels like you're doing your own thing, getting your own points, etc. Being a part of a real team completely changes that--and, for what its worth, our little cheers of "Come on!" and "Booyah!" were used more often than ever during my Splatfest matches. (above: the ultimate team players!)
There were a couple areas where Splatfest could use some improvement though, despite all its overwhelming awesomeness. There were three stages available to play on instead of the normal two, which was great and a huge surprise, but those three never changed. As someone who detests Urchin Underpass with a passion, this was not good news for me. Sure, I learned how to better play those stages and work through them more effectively with my team, and I definitely got better at the game because of that, but I still wish we could've had more stage variety. Aside from that, the only other request I'd have for Splatfest is a dance button we could all push to see our characters dance with everyone else in the Plaza. Remember how you could make your villager in Animal Crossing: New Leaf do four different little dances at the nightclub depending on which d-pad direction you pressed? Yeah, we need that feature active during Splatfest. I felt so left out watching everyone else! How did you guys enjoy Splatfest? Did you reach King rank? What would you like to see changed in the next one? Tweet me @CreamBasics and let me know. See you all tomorrow guys! When it was first announced that the new Ranked mode would premier this week, I was taken completely off guard--I'd assumed that all the new modes would come in the August update. So it ended up being a really pleasant surprise, and I couldn't wait to dive right in. Here's what I thought about it.
I never experience more joy and rage at the same time than when I play Splatoon. Tower Control takes this to a whole other level, but leans more on the side of rage. Both teams have five minutes to rush to the moving tower, stay on it, and progress deeper and deeper into the enemy base to reach their respective goals. If no one reaches a goal when the time is up, the team that's made it the furthest to their goal wins. It's a simple concept, but one that gets chaotic and intense extremely fast. Because a member of your team always has to be on the tower to move forward, this mode is much more heavily focused on getting splats (kills) than in Splat Zones. The struggle is real, and when you win a match it truly feels like an accomplishment. If you're on the tower, expect to be splatted in a matter of seconds (I personally chose the support role for this very reason). No matter how good of a shot you are, it's pretty difficult to defend yourself against a surrounding enemy team without strong support from your teammates. And here's where the issues start to rear their ugly heads. Tower Control is a refreshing take on the Splatoon formula, and it's a lot of fun when you see your skills and strategic maneuvers paying of, but it's infuriating when you don't because of clueless randomized teammates. I know, the first thing everyone does when they lose is blame their team, right? The thing is, TC is a much more teamwork-oriented mode. You need a competent team to secure the W. Randomized teams complicates this, as does the fact that your rank from Splat Zones carries over to this Ranked mode, too. This means that because someone earned an A rank in Zones, they're placed with players who've achieved an A rank just from playing TC. If this wasn't the case, randomized teammates wouldn't be too much of a problem (at least, to a lesser extent in the higher ranks). Another issue that's more of a basic fix is that Ranked modes follow the same formula as stage selection: Nintendo controls when/what you play. You aren't allowed to play Splat Zones when Tower Control is available, and vice-versa. It's a much greater annoyance than the stage selection issue--there's actually something smart about having people play the same stages for a few hours before changing them and giving players what feels like a fresh experience. But for actual game modes?? I wanted to play some more this morning before writing this post to refresh myself on the mode, but it was locked to Splat Zones, so I couldn't. Not being able to play a mode of the game at certain times of the day just feels like a broken experience in a way that the map selection doesn't. This has to be updated ASAP. And with that, another post has come to a close. Thanks for reading guys! What do you think about the new Ranked mode? Fun times--but poorly implemented--is my opinion. Let me know on Twitter @CreamBasics. See you all Monday! Hey guys, sorry for the super late post. Things have been a little hectic around here lately. As always though, I'm sticking to my promise (to myself and you guys) of posting every weekday. So as something of a mini-post, here's the second installment of "Games I'm Playing" just to keep you guys up to date on my gaming habits.
Main game: Mario Kart 7 (Not Splatoon!? Really?? Well, I really got into Mario Kart 7 during this last semester of college. I was always stressing about the possibility of not passing my last semester, and to relax I'd always listen to music and play Mario Kart. So with the recent stress of getting a job, it's been extremely helpful in soothing my nerves.) Also playing: Splatoon (Of course. I haven't gotten to play as much since I started working, but I still love getting a match in when I can. And now that Tower Control is out?? Forget about it!) Pokemon: Rumble World (This is still a daily play for me. It's easy to play for 5-10min., collect as many diamonds as I can--the "free to play" currency you can either buy or earn--and put away.) In the wake of the new Tower Control mode that's being added to Ranked battles today, I decided it'd be fitting to make a list of the top 5 Splatoon updates that I really, really want. I put a lot of thought into this list, but there's only so much I could fit. Let me know if I missed anything! NUMBER 5: Raising the Level Cap When I first started playing Splatoon I was initially driven to reach level 10 to unlock Ranked mode, and then level 20 because, well, it was there. Having a level to reach gives you a goal to work towards and provides more of a reason to keep playing Turf Wars. Instead of 20, the level cap should be 40 (with the amount of points you have to attain continuing to double with each additional level). It's fairly easy to reach the current level 20 cap, but twice that would take many, many more hours. NUMBER 4: New Rare Gear Similar to the low level cap issue, it's fairly easy to get all the available gear in a week or two or intense play sessions. What we need is rare gear that's much more difficult to attain and more costly than standard equipment--the high cost being especially important so players can spend the ridiculous amounts of extra cash many have accumulated over matches. These rare pieces could be especially valuable by having four unlockable abilities instead of three. NUMBER 3: Bottoms The outcry for pants and other bottom wear has been real. It's just strange that we can buy hats, shirts and shoes, but not bottoms (the only exception being the schoolgirl uniform, which comes with a skirt). I could see Nintendo releasing pants in the winter as part of a special update, announcing something like, "It's getting cold out, and the Inklings are freezing in their shorts! They're so cold, in fact, that there's a new trend spreading throughout Inkopolis of wearing pants!!!" These could be made extremely expensive to--once again--give players something to spend their money on and to encourage players to play more and earn even more money. NUMBER 2: All Game Modes Available for Ranked and Unranked Making all game modes available for both ranked and unranked play allows more casual players to experience Splat Zones and Tower Control (and other future Ranked-only modes) while allowing ranked players to practice casually without fear of being tossed around and losing rank just for wanting to enjoy the mode. But ranked play doesn't really matter until... NUMBER 1: Team Requests & Team Names We know that we're going to be able to form friend lobbies and teams in the big August update, right? Well, if the update is only going to allow us to be able to add people on our Friends List, a nice option for those without friends who play Splatoon would be the ability to send Team Requests to players worldwide at the end of random matches. That way teams could form naturally based on appreciating others' skills and extending friendly invitations. To ease Nintendo's worries about inappropriate messages or bullying, the invites could be simple "Yes or No" notifications without space to include a personal message. Also, imagine being able to register team names! Certain teams would become infamous among the Splatoon community. And to combat the potential issue of inactive accounts, It could be that if a team is inactive for 30 days they lose their name. With the addition of Team Requests it would crucial to have team leaderboards so players could see the top teams in the world. And with the advent of team leaderboards, the only logical step forward would be tournaments! But that, my friends, is for another post. Thanks for reading friends! There's so much potential for Splatoon to be even more amazing--we just have to hope Nintendo is listening. If you liked any of these, tweet the link to @NintendoAmerica and let's see what we can do!
Splatoon is one of my favorite games right now, period. It was the final push needed in my Wii U purchase, and I honestly think it was one of the best gaming decisions I've ever made. With that said, I'm also aware of its flaws. There have been several criticisms leveled against Splatoon, but the most infamous one--especially with the recent data mining leak--is the slow trickle of new weapons and maps under the guise of "free" updates. This likely wouldn't be a lingering issue for too many people if the game had launched with abundant content to begin with, but seeing as it didn't, some gamers feel cheated out of a full day-one experience. So, where do I stand on this sore subject? I actually don't mind the steady flow of updates--they give me something to look forward to. Though I understand where people are coming from when they point out that all the content is already "on the disc," just imagine if you would have had 40+ weapons to choose from in the shop at launch! Most would probably try a few, settle on a favorite, and leave the rest in their inventories to collect virtual dust. By spacing out the release of new weapons the game gives players a pleasant surprise every week and encourages trying the new instead of sticking with the old. Whenever I get on and play the day a new weapon is released I always see others using it. Whether they stick with it or not isn't the point--the updates are consistent enough to where the steady stream of new weapons to try gives many players an added incentive to turn the game on one more time (aside from it being pure fun anyway). I feel slightly differently about the map releases. While new weapons are more an added bonus than a necessity, a plentiful selection of maps are pretty essential to keeping the experience fresh. The fact that Splatoon only launched with five maps and that its design only allows for two to be playable per mode (with the two changing every four hours on a 2-6-10 cycle) made for very little variety in the first week or so of the game's release. Since then, though, we've gotten three new maps, and the release of each one has definitely caused players to jump back in for hours to master the new layout and play styles required. It just makes sense strategically for the developers to continue to release a new map every couple of weeks to keep players busy (and interested) until the big August update. What's my final verdict then? Well, with the combination of both weapons and maps being consistently unlocked throughout the summer, I think Nintendo made a wise decision that'll definitely extend the game's life cycle. Would I have liked the August update to come in June instead? You bet. But as things are right now, I keep having a new reason to come back and get hooked on Splatoon all over again. Thanks for reading friends! I write new posts every weekday, so come back often! If you wanna say hi, you can easily reach me @CreamBasics on Twitter. See you all tomorrow!
*Oh, and side note: I think Splatoon's amiibo use is actually one of the best yet. You get exclusive gear, which is cool, but you also unlock extra challenges that test your inking skills. Have mine coming in the mail on Saturday! Hey guys! Just thought it'd be cool to post a regular update on what games I'm playing every other week or so. Feel free to share what you're playing too in the comments below--or hit me up on Twitter by clicking the button in the top right hand corner of the screen.
Main game: Splatoon (No surprises here. This'll probably be my most-played game all summer, especially come August with friend lobbies.) Also playing: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (I bought this a loooong time ago, but never got around to playing it--it's actually really fun once you get used to the touch screen-only controls.) Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword (This is a really charming 3DS game that, again, I downloaded awhile ago but just started getting into last month. The sword fighting is pretty addicting, and the art style is just gorgeous.) Pokemon: Rumble World (For one of Nintendo's first free-to-play games, there's a lot of fun content here if you're willing to wait 30min-1hr between playthroughs. I always wanted to try a Pokemon Rumble game, and the fact that I don't have to spend anything to play one is great. This is a 15min. every day kind of game for me.) |
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