Analyzing Splatoon's Singleplayer - The Evolution of the Splatformer
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- Опубликовано: 13 май 2024
- Thanks for watching!
0:00 Intro
2:24 Splatoon's Game Essence
4:56 Splatoon 1: Octo Valley
12:12 Splatoon 2: Octo Canyon
24:05 Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion
33:58 Splatoon 3: Return of the Mammalians
45:06 Final Thoughts
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- Videos Mentioned -
"Risk and Reward [Game Essence]" from @sora_sakurai_en:
• Risk and Reward [Game...
"Super Mario 3D World's 4 Step Level Design" from @GMTK:
• Super Mario 3D World's...
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- Music Credits -
Splatoon Lofi and chill beats via @aSquidMin:
• Splatoon Lofi and chil...
Dj CUTMAN - Jet Squid Radio! (Booyah Base Remix) Splatunes! via @gamechops:
• Splatoon Remix - Dj CU...
bLiNd - Watching Ink Dry (Splatoon Remix) via @gamechops:
• Splatunes - bLiNd - Wa...
'Base Inkvader' Ink Me Up by the Squid Sisters (Remix) by @hyquo:
• 'Base Inkvader' Ink Me...
James Landino - Show Me Dat Ink via @gamechops:
• Splatoon Remix 🎵 James...
Tidal Rush (LoFi Hip Hop) - Ralfington Remix via @gamechops:
• Splatoon 2 🐙 Tidal Rus...
Splatoon 2 - Octo Expansion Music [Nasty Majesty] (Remix) by @VideoGameRemixes:
• Splatoon 2 - Octo Expa...
"8-Ball" Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion Remix by @NoteBlock:
• "8-Ball" Splatoon 2: O...
RobKTA - Off The Hook's New Song! via @gamechops:
• Splatoon 2 Octo DLC Re...
Deep Cut: Anarchy Rainbow (SPLATOON 3 REMIX) by @VideoGameRemixes:
• Deep Cut: Anarchy Rain...
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- Developer Interviews Referenced -
"Nintendo's bright future with Splatoon" from Eurogamer:
www.eurogamer.net/nintendos-b...
Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion interview from Famitsu (translated by Nintendo Everything):
nintendoeverything.com/splato...
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The Cloud Discord: / discord
Twitter: / cosmiccloud__
Art: / cosmiccloud_art
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#Splatoon #Splatoon3 
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I made an addendum/ follow up to this video where I respond to some comments and give further thoughts. Check it out if you're interested!
ruclips.net/video/krnIYR3F914/видео.html
i liked the alterna hub, it felt relaxing to clear everything? i wonder if there are people who also feel this way. i think they were going for a therapeutic thing here
I think so too
Although alterna is really simple and might've been rushed, everything about it feels like it's meant to be an area to wind down after levels
Even the music for each site is nice and relaxing, and you have to find invisible secrets to 100% the mode (which I had a really hard time with until I just inked the ground everywhere)
I enjoyed the story mode and spent so much time in site 3 just listening to the music
Cleaning and inking to find stuff might not be the best game design, but it at least seemed to be the intent
This is exactly how I feel! Clearing through every single thing and getting all the secrets in Alterna felt SUPER awesome to me. I loved it so much. I was really shocked to hear so much criticism of it in the video!
Me who cleared Splatoon and Splatoon 2 story modes and %100 both: "I'm coming for you, 3." (yes, i did the Splatoon 1 amiibo challenges too.)
I feel like they where, from the music and the names of the sites.
@@marbeardontknow2870rushed? how?
I think the reason I didn't hate 3's hub world is actually a complete accident. I discovered that kettles can be activated from a distance and then warped to via the map, which ultimately made my goal in a new area to unlock as many maps as possible without removing ooze. This was really fun and ultimately made the hub much more fun for me because it became a puzzle
That's actually really cool! I know this has been a speedrunning strat in previous splatoon games. Honestly surprised the devs have never really designed a challenge around it, although I'm sure it is intentionally left in at this point. That does make the hubs a little better in my eyes
I pretty much did the same thing
i thought that was the point theres no way that wasnt the point
I never would have thought to do that.
I had a really fun time on my second playthrough trying to complete story mode just by doing the gold kettles, which meant I had to be strategic about which ooze I cleared and figure out new ways to navigate around the ooze I couldn't get rid of.
I love 3's story mode, tho it is my first splatoon game so everything in it was new to me. Also the fuzzy ooze scratched the completionist part of my brain so I really liked that aspect of the hero mode
3 has the best campaign out of the main games, but I still think I like the Octo Expansion a bit more cause the secret final boss was more challenging to me then After Alterna
Splatoon 3 is also my first Splatoon game and I loved the campaign it was new to me and I loved the Splatoon franchise and know about the lore of it for each game and overall but yea I love Splatoon 3 campaign even tho it might not be the best by most I love it btw the only reason I know Splatoon is because my gf who shows me me it now she's ghosts me 🙁
I think for new players the campaign is great. Just a bit tedious for people who played 1 and 2
The story was great tho. Loved the worldbuilding as unhinged as it sometimes is
The fuzzy ooze removal was like giving players a pressure washer and lettin us go ham
3 was also my first splatoon game, and while it definitely had some issues, it was a very decent introduction to the gameplay and mechanics. I loved the story part of it and the characters as well. However, I am also hoping we get more of an Octo-expansion from the Splatoon 3 DLC. The "Final level" of 3's campaign was a lot of fun and was a huge challenge, but I really wanted a superboss like Octo-expansion had.
tbh, i remember i loving the ooze mechanic, specifically after the crater. you mentioned the fact that theres no other way for the player to interact with the ooze other than deleting it, which, ok yea i agree w you there. that couldve been a bit more interesting. but it really made exploring the new areas interesting to me. especially since in older games the whole area was already available to the player, the ooze forced me to find ways other than deleting it to get to levels, find secrets, etc. and when the only option was to delete ooze, i didn't mind it either, because it resulted in either a) "wow look i found an item/scroll/power eggs" or b) "im making some sort of progression with the story mode yipee!" it was really satisfying to see an entire area once completely covered in ooze be completely cleaned up by the player.
tldr i liked the incentives of cleaning it up, and though it was a simple mechanic, i thought it was effective
i honestly havent heard any criticism of alterna before this vid tho so it was interesting to hear a more critical perspective of it
Yeah, it's not even that Fuzzy Ooze is a bad mechanic. I just don't think it's a fitting mechanic for Splatoon. If it was in a slower-paced game about cleaning up the environment and finding hidden items, it would make perfect sense. But when compared to the tense platforming and combat that we've come to expect from the series, it felt really out of place to me.
If it was incorporated in a way that required you to do some platforming or kill enemies and THEN destroy the Ooze, I think it would have made for a much more cohesive experience that still provides the satisfaction of cleaning the islands
@@thecosmiccloud It's mechanically just lava. You're overthinking it and saying it's a flaw in the design.
@@internetguy7319 Well, imagine a lava level in Mario. You have to use Mario's movement to carefully jump between platforms and avoid touching the floor.
Now imagine Mario can press a button and the lava disappears. You walk across the floor from one end of the level to the other and get the star for free.
That's how Fuzzy Ooze feels to me. I LIKE when it works like lava. The fact that you can remove it is the issue
@@thecosmiccloud those levels do exist though...and are even puzzles in zelda....
@@MikePhantom Yes, there are puzzles where you can remove water or lava from the floor in many games. But the solution will rarely be to literally press a button at the front of the room. The game should ask the player to figure something out or overcome a challenge in order to progress
Another thing about octo canyon: getting the hero weapon unlocks for multiplayer is very tedious and highlights how cumbersome the level design is if you aren’t using the weapon the stage was built for, as you stated
it honestly feels like going for it is made to burn you out of ever playing the campaign again
Yeah, it's definitely just lazy padding. Honestly can't defend it at all (despite getting all 9 myself lol)
I tried getting splatling and brella but couldn’t bear it
Glad they went with the octo expansion route tbis time
Yeah, playing through the whole game 9 times kinda burned me out and I stopped playing Splatoon 2 because of it.
Splatoon/ 2’s story mode can go to fucking hell@@Gerton999
based off what people are finding in the artbooks that were recently released, it's possible that alterna had something similar happen to it that happened with splatoon's 2 story mode, just not enough time so they had to simplify it, (and the map design, to horrible effect)
i personally didn't mind the ooze but i definitely see why you wouldn't like it, and i personally think that their was more that could have been done with it, it probably should have been more a challenge to remove the ooze, completing a puzzle of sorts to get to the fuzz ball of the bigger globs so you can progress.
the fate of the main splatoon story modes might be cyclical unfortunately, the dlc thinks outside the box and challenges us while the story mode of the next game uses the new mechanics while still trying to be beginner friendly.
I haven’t seen Splat 3’s art book myself, but I’ve heard a bit of this discussion going around, and I’m kind of doubtful to be honest. Past artbooks had plenty of concept art that looks nothing like the final game while also lacking concepts for things that ARE in the game.
I don’t think it necessarily means they changed something last minute. Concept art is generally meant to solidify a broad idea of what something might be before it is inevitably tweaked and trimmed down into a realistic project. It’s easy to see it as “what could’ve been,” but I don’t think that often even a consideration from the devs.
I frankly don’t understand what their goal is with the multiplayer maps in this game, as most people seem to agree they’re worse than Splat 1 and 2’s maps. But again, I think it’s an intentional choice rather than lack of time and resources.
Yes, I think all it takes to fix Fuzzy Ooze is to put something in the way of the Fuzz Ball. A small platforming challenge, a little puzzle, ANYTHING to make it require actual gameplay.
I’ve considered the idea of the cyclical campaign cycle, and while it does seem to be true so far, it doesn’t feel like it has to be the case. It feels like they should be able to make interesting levels without always making them harder (although I definitely do prefer more challenging levels myself). I think their best option to keep things feeling new is to mix up the level structure, which is what Octo Expansion did (with great success) and what Alterna did (with… less success). Not sure how they’ll change it next, but I’m personally hoping it’s something a bit more streamlined again
Octo expansions approach to difficulty options is my fav in any game. Having the level be static while you adjust difficulty by changing the tool you use to interact feels so clean and intuitive. And even if you don't know what the level has the first time, you know how the guns work.
This coming from someone who beat all 80 stages with all available options.
Splatoon veteran here (played every single game, beat all the hero mode campaigns, beat inner agent 3), I absolutely love Splat 3’s hero mode. It felt reminiscent of Octo expansion while also occasionally drawing back to some of the other hero modes whilst having it’s own ideas. I wound up waking up at 12:24 AM the day Splat 3 was released and beat the entire hero mode (excluding after alterna bc I didn’t know it existed) in 8 hours. I absolutely loved it and it brought back amazing memories of running through Splat 1’s hero mode back when it was super challenging because I was a young, stupid child. I’ve loved every single hero mode in this series in each their own way, and I think they all have their own ideas that are amazing. Splat 1’s hero mode was a great start, Splat 2’s hero mode brought back memories and introduced fun new concepts, Octo Expansion was a great challenge, and Splat 3’s hero mode was a great combination of all of them, plus adding it’s own little chaotic spin on it. (PS, don’t take this to seriously, this was the ramblings of an autistic man who has a splatoon special interest I’ll)
I'm glad other people were able to find Alterna fun! For me it's definitely missing *something* that the other campaigns managed to deliver (a solid combination of story, characters, and memorable levels), but Splat 3 is not a bad game by any means. It just didn't click with me quite the same way
@@thecosmiccloud completely fair, not everyone likes the same stuff!
42:00 Smallfry is the strongest sub in the game once you fully upgrade him. He's especially useful in the final section of After Alterna
15:15 you’ll be happy to know that in the splatoon 2 speedrun, there’s a really cool skip in world 5 that requires the player to switch to a splatling and shoot an invisible kettle on an invisible block
Yeah I was wondering why Splatoon 3's story mode struggled to engage me any. The whole stale hubworlds thing really explains a lot of that.
Also I hope we get a level based around the Kraken Royale special in one of the upcoming DLC like how you got to play those Kraken challenge levels in Splatoon 1 if you scanned an Inkling Squid Amiibo.
Nah there is no design reason, i5 was a banger lmao😮
I can understand your gripes with fuzzy ooze, and I’m sorry you felt that way about it. Personally, I loved clearing fuzzy ooze and cleaning up areas, getting rewards along the way
maybe it’s because splatoon 3 was my first game but i really enjoyed alterna as a hub world. i remember being absolutely thrilled once i unlocked a new island to get to, and even plotting out which fuzzy ooze bits to get rid of before i even had the power eggs to get rid of it. this also led to me specifically choosing which kettles to do in which order so i could plan the most efficient ways to clean up the ooze. i also think that because i’m a huge completionist, the fuzzy ooze was a very welcome game mechanic for me. it made it really exciting for me to see what secrets was hiding underneath or around it, and it was a very clear and obvious marker for progression which motivated me to keep going with my goal of 100% as opposed to getting burnt out and giving up. i can DEFINITELY see how some people who aren’t as obsessive about completion wouldn’t like it though, especially because of what you mentioned, and the fact that my closest friends who both have over 150+ hours in splatoon 3 have both not completed the story mode bc the progression slowed down to a crawl for them😭 so i think that they designed return of the mammalians nearly perfectly for players like me (new to splatoon games, and also will willingly spend MANY many painful hours learning how to play mahjong simply to get the platinum trophy for yakuza 0) but i understand that i’m definitely in the minority when it comes to your average splatoon playerbase. overall though i’m really excited for side order and i hope that it can work on what was lacking in return of the mammalians to potentially even surpass octo expansion!!!
I'm going to preface this by saying 1. I'm very easily pleased, and 2. I played 3, then 2 and octo expansion, then 1.
Splatoon 3's hero mode is easily my favorite. I greatly enjoyed the levels, and while I haven't played it again since finishing Splatoon 1's, I don't think my opinions will change too much. The one thing I wish was different was more levels like Splatoon 1's hero mode. Too many of the levels feel like they're supposed to be something special, and it doesn't feel like there's any normal levels.
After Splatoon 3, 1's hero mode has to be my next favorite. The levels are more simple than those of the newer games, but in a good, enjoyable way. Having also played the amiibo levels... I really only liked the Kraken ones. So many of the others made me unhappy to be playing through the levels again.
My next favorite would have to be Octo Expansion. Some of the levels felt too gimmicky, or just too short. Many of them were still fun, however. I really liked fighting the bosses again but using specials, and the levels based around using special weapons were also quite fun. The escape section didn't do much for me, and I'd even say the part with the inkjet where you have to go around and get the things was not fun, which stinks because I think inkjet itself is a blast to use.
Last but not least, my main gripe with Splatoon 2's hero mode is simply that the levels are too dang long. So often I would find myself wondering if the level was going to end soon. When I played Splatoon 1 afterwards, I was greatly pleased by the level lengths. Otherwise, I thought they were fine. Not offensive, but not noteworthy either.
This is an interesting perspective! I'll admit that if Splat 3 was my first Splatoon game, I would probably feel very differently about Alterna. Many of the levels that use existing mechanics would have been much more enjoyable had I not already seen them in previous games (propeller lifts, inkrails, etc.). Ultimately, though, I still think it has some issues.
What sets Octo Expansion apart for me is that almost every level feels like it has some unique idea. Some of them don't, like the levels that just have you kill enemies, and those are easily the worst missions in my opinion. But the majority of the stations in the game have some kind of unique idea OR twist on an old idea that gives the mission a unique identity. Even the 8-ball levels, of which there are TEN, all do something DIFFERENT with the mechanic.
By contrast, Alterna felt like it was stretching itself too thin. The soaker block levels I praised in the video feature some really cool design, but I would much rather them be a single, longer level, as they really just develop the same idea. To me, beating an Alterna mission felt like I played half a level, and then I had to go explore a boring hub area to find the rest of it. There is a lot of quality design, but the structure is so disruptive and annoying to me that it diminishes the experience greatly.
In the end, I honestly don't mind the occasional short gimmick level if it means the other levels are cohesive and satisfying. Splatoon 1 does this very well with its Octoling and UFO levels. Octo Expansion does this with short missions to break up the meatier ones.
That's where Splatoon 2 and 3 kinda miss the mark, imo. They stretch too few ideas across too many levels, which is why they're my least favorite personally
On the Ooze, I never had a problem with it. The levels themselves were SO FUN that I just found the Alterna Hubs just a chill place to explore in between that. It seemed to balance the high energy of the levels by giving us a low energy space in between.
I hope that makes sense.
Just realized that the octo maw is the octarians litterally building a salmon run maws.
43:07 I was definitely surprised to find out that they would be antagonists, but I'm overall grateful that they are not the actual villain of the game... And I'm not going to mince words here. I *_knew_* who the villain was going to be the second they introduced Small Fry in the trailer, because they've been hinting at *_that_* little tidbit since Splatoon 2!
I wish i could've played splatoon 1 it seems very fun
Edit wow 100 likes already geez
To be fair I think I'm a bigger fan of S1's story mode than most people but it was definitely really good
1's gotta be my second favorite hero mode. It's a shame I got it right around when Nintendo took the servers down for "emergency maintenance." That was almost two months ago I just want to check out splat 1's multiplayer please.
Same
If you have a good pc you can emulate it
@@Jack-ss9fo you probably knew this but that wasn’t maintenance
I've been playing Splatoon since 2015 and the first zipcaster stage in Return of the Mammalians is the thing that got me used to the motion controls. I had been trying on and off since the first game but I just couldn't use them well. Since getting the hang of motion controls I've gotten SO much better at multiplayer especially ranked, so I have Return of the Mammalians to thank for that
splatoon i dont like 3's singleplayer technically a lot, but i DO really love it thematically. The athmosphere and islands and music and the whole aesthetic is just so gooodddd
also the lore in the logs was so freaking cool
The final stage of OE brought me to tears and your description of it did it again. I just love the stage design, the music, the tense emotion of racing to reach the surface, the great satisfaction when you finally see the sky and the idols comes for you with music blasting, the epic boss fight and grand finale, everything!
the point of clearing out the fuzzy ooze is to get the 100% of exploring the 6 areas. which then if you go to marie you can get parts of a map so you can decorate your locker, it looks pretty cool when you get all 6 map parts and put them together in my opinion, its kinda like a puzzle
First of all great video. I'm a Splatoon 3 speedrunner and the fuzzy ooze in Alterna completely changes everything in the speedrun. A vast majority of the fuzzy ooze isn't really required to beat the game. Whether intentional or not, the ooze was placed in such a way where even the ones that might be required to remove at first sight is actually skippable. This changes the speedrun in a way, that changes the speedrun from a more movement-based speedrun to a more trick-based speedrun. I mostly agree with your original assessment that removing the fuzzy ooze and surveying isn't very fun casually, but being able to do tricks to skip many of these oozes is what makes this campaign stand out more than the others.
Edit: I just watched your follow up video and I'd like to comment on a few things. I found it hilarious when you said that surges and rolls could be used more, because the speedrun uses both of them everywhere. (I don't blame you since I don't think anyone casually trying to beat the game would be able to find some of the more complex skips) In speedruns power eggs are absolutely a currency (But I do agree that casually they are way too easy to get). Entering a kettle and even foraging for egg packs take time, so you have to preserve your eggs by skipping ooze with tough skips and it's very rewarding when you get "the run". Again, great videos and I agree with a vast majority of what you said and I understand and respect the things I disagree with. I'd recommend watching a speedrun since it's pretty ridiculous how broken the game is and how much can get skipped.
The speedrun is really cool! I've watched a couple of any% runs and I love seeing the way Ooze is played around! I totally get why it would be fun to find precise jumps and tricks to optimize it. There's definitely depth in routing the levels and managing eggs if you don't plan to do everything.
I think we're on the same page about this, but yeah, you kinda lose that depth if you *aren't* trying to speedrun. Casually, the hubs offer very little challenge; in speedruns, they require insane precision and skill. I guess my ideal campaign would be somewhere in between (while still allowing for depth and greater skill expression), and I personally felt like the other games accomplished this better than Splat 3, but I can see why you would feel differently if optimization is the part you enjoy.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I love watching speedruns and it will be really cool to see just how broken ROTM can get!
I disagree about 1/5 of the video, but it’s interesting to see how different experience can be from player to player.
A very nice and thoughtful review, probably the best review I’ve ever seen I will rate this review 10/10
Great video! I personally think return of the mamalias is the best campain cause i like the campaigns for the lore. Yes, it is less challengimg than octo expansion but that’s cause it’s the main campain and not an expansion. After alterna was a great showcase of what the devs have to offer tho.
I’m a BIG fan of splatoon lore, but while Alterna was cool, that wasn’t enough to save the whole campaign for me. And I was honestly expecting a lot MORE backstory regarding Mr. Grizz
After Alterna was definitely one of my favorite levels in the whole campaign. I was personally disappointed that they waited until THEN to use wall jumps and squid surge as platforming tools. I think they could have been used throughout the whole campaign to make traversal more interesting and unique.
At the very least, it definitely has me excited for Side Order
You can shoot off the the lids of kettles that are hard to reach - you may have to fall in the water a few times before you can manage it - and you can go to the map to jump to it. You don't have to beat the level, just open it.
Game design analysis might be one of my favorite types of content, and here’s one about my favorite game franchise!
Great video!
Great Video! Really well done design analysis!
Thank you!
This was an amazing Video! Hopefully you’re able to make the lore video you hinted at without too much stress or too much trouble!
I honestly loved the ooze, it's just super satisfying to clear out the map bit by bit. It's good to have something simple and slow in the hub to do after the rush of more intense levels, it brings some variation.
I'd rank the campaigns as Octo Expansion>Splatoon 3>Splatoon 1>Splatoon 2
if you played side order where would you place that
@@Roxlecmc It's hard to rank among the other story modes just because it's inherently so unique, but just based off of the story and how fun it is, I'd say it goes just below Splatoon 3.
This is amazingly made, you deserve way more views.
This was a really interesting video for me personally. I haven’t played splatoon 2 at all but have played splatoon 1 and 3. I agree with a lot of the views you shared around splatoon 3 like the fuzzy ooze. I feel like it could’ve had so much potential, whether it be enemies spawning out of it continuously until removed or something else. I learnt so much about splatoon 2 story mode and how it was paced and looking back at the story mode for 3 I see so many recycled ideas and lack of effort. Either way splatoon 1 DJ Octavio bossfight was my favourite of all, most likely because of the nostalgia aspect and memories made with it, but also the pace and idea / layout of the level. Great video overall! 👍
this is a really well made video! analytical views, solid editing with a nice feel for scriptwriting and talkin. i would honestly love to see more longer-form analytical content like this looking at the different splatoon games, as like you've said, there's so much depth to em :)
This was such a nice watch! I loved your analysis and your voice is very pleasant to listen to :) as many have already expressed, I actually loved Splatoon 3 story mode hahahah but it was the addition of the Calamari Inkantation 3MIX and fighting WITH DJ Octoavio that just made me so emotional as a long time Splatoon fan. I do understand your point tho, it wasn't super revolutionary but in comparison to the story modes of the other two games, it felt pretty awesome! Octo Expansion was like no other however and I remember how much joy and love it made me feel for Splatoon. Because Side Order is a DLC, I really hope they up the ante like they did for Octo Expansion! Like you said, with the DLC they have much more room to experiment and make it more challenging. So excited to see what's next!!
Can't believe RotM was my introduction to the Splatoon franchise... At least I now get to super jump to my fave levels (especially Ink Fast, Hotshot) willy-nilly...
But I really appreciate the four-step design you taught me! While I'm already familiar with antepieces and setpieces, that'll help me with some stuff I'm designing myself...
I was relieved at the “yeah… they didnt” LMAO. Splatoon 3s story was great, but man its hard to beat octo expansion
As a level designer this video was illuminating to me. I share a lot of your opinions about each hero mode but I couldn't quite pinpoint to why exactly. Your video gave me clarity and educated me really well. Thank you!
Really enjoyed this video! The video overall did a really good job at not only being critical of the overall game design but also keeping things fair (as a good review should be.) The review definitely helped me realize some things game design wise I hadn’t before such as the problems with how the Fuzzy Ooze is implemented. While I didn’t really have any issue with it in my personal playthrough, I can see how it was problematic at times for the reasons you stated in the video. Overall I’d rank the campaigns from best to worst as: OE > 2 3. Found your content a while back and I decided to subscribe and stick around as a result of the content!
i love how much of a step back you take in this video in order to get the clearest picture
LOVE this analysis!!!!! Lovedddd hearing about the level design so much! It’s so amazing learning about the development of the actual stage design.
Although, I will say your Splatoon 3 story mode opinions were definitely a hot take for me, I’m a vet and I thought the whole 3rd story mode campaign was super magical. I 100% completed it and really enjoyed the ooze and treasure system!! And I loved absorbing all the lore that you got as you completed it more. I think Octo expansion is top tier, but Splat 3’s story takes a solid second place for me not far behind!
But my own hot take is that I would never go back to Splat 1 and 2’s story mode ever. Although, it was nice to see how much love and credit you gave the first game, because I wouldn’t say it isn’t deserved! ^^
Since I started playing Splatoon like a month ago, I've constantly been reminded of Ratchet and Clank. Combining Ratchet and Clank's weapon swapping and platforming mechanics with Splatoon's ink, swimming, and gimmicky mechanics would make one of the coolest single-player game experiences I could imagine.
I loved the alterna hub. The stunted exploration by having to clear the ooze made clearing levels and get power eggs more rewarding
Can't wait for your vid on side order
The Ebb & Flow hymn at the beginning got me crying 😭
Just leaving a comment for the algorithm, your videos are fantastic and I hope this channel goes to the moon 🚀
This is a really well constructed video. I didn’t even think you were a splatoon content creator I thought you were some game designer youtuber LOL
This is more of a review than an analysis, but still rather good and polished review, even if a tad mislabled, though I guess every good review is also an analysis of whatever it's reviewing. good video
Finally someone giving single player Splatoon the respect it deserves, great video!
this video essay makes me think that return of the mammalians had a huge design space void in that none of the levels revolved around collecting eggs to destroy ooze within a level while amidst combat lmao
Interesting perspectives on ROTM that I hadn't considered, since I personally enjoyed it nearly as much as the Octo Expansion (if it had more brand new level ideas, I may have liked it even more). When you describe the exploration aspect in words, it admittedly doesn't sound very interesting or fun, but looking back at my experience, the hub world was honestly one of the highlights of the campaign for me? I just found the combination of its relaxing and melancholy atmosphere alongside clearing out each map of ooze and secrets to be pretty relaxing; maybe it helps that I interspersed my segments of single player gameplay with the multiplayer, so the relaxation served as a nice change of pace from how stressful multiplayer matches can be for me.
I'm not opposed to your ideas of improving the ooze however, since some challenge would be added while not removing the positives of the hub (as long as it's not _too_ annoying to navigate). I suppose it just goes to show that there's always room for improvement, even in games that we really like as is.
I never really noticed the menuing issue in three because I loved to run around the hub world clearing as much ooze as possible and unlocking as many kettles as i could before using super jumps to clear them all one after another
I love this video so much. Splatoon is my favorite game series of all time, and I am so happy I finally found a content creator that doesn’t just laud about what has already been said about the game. I love the examples you brought up with Sakurai’s channel and GMTK.
Like I said, a Splatoon is my favorite game series of all time. Period. I love no other franchise more. It has a very specific aesthetic and gameplay that just, clicks with me. Like, I WOULD NOT be the person I am today without this franchise. But I’ve also always refused to wear rose tinted glasses. I barely have any nostalgia for anything, for better and for worse, which also means that I see all of the glaring flaws and issues with Splatoon (both in the games and in the community). It feels really nice to find someone who doesn’t just do nothing but praise the game and make memes and actually shows the games for what they are. Yeah, you do have your own opinions that can differ from other people. I mean, who doesn’t? I have made my own fair share of controversial takes I don’t expect people to agree with. I am just a very honest person, and I enjoy seeing honesty in other people.
… Uh, TL;DR, you’ve earned yourself a new subscriber Cosmic!
(Edit) I have made a severe and continuous lapse in my critical thinking. Just found out that I am already subscribed and that I saw your previous videos before. I swear my brain is the size of a walnut.
Thank you so much! I'm glad the video resonated with you!
@@thecosmiccloud I’m excited to see your future content
When I first started playing Alterna I had so much fun clearing fuzzy ooze and playing levels, but when I got to 2 last sites I stopped enjoying it. When I finished it I started playing Octo expansion for the first time and I loved it so yeah.
I disagree about the fuzzy ooze, slowly clearing away the island and finding more rewards as I go was really enjoyable to me, it was fun to simply explore more and more of the islands after I cleared each level
The virgin meticulously cleaning the fuzzy ooze and boosting your hero gear vs the Chad skipping as many kettles as you can and beating Big Man with no upgrades
oh my god the 'avaliable TOMORROW' clip. man i REMEMBER that exact day,
frye is actually my favorite boss in the splatoon 3 campaign, with the caveat that i almost always fight her upgrade-less. the increase in difficulty just from not having hero shot upgrades alone makes the fight super compelling, since your lower fire rate means certain attack patterns in the last phase will outright require use of your smallfry (or bombs) and splashdown if you want to break through them.
I do like that the third phase encourages you to use splashdown! I'm honestly surprised the bosses didn't force you to use Smallfry and your Special more often.
I've definitely done no-upgrade runs of Splatoon 1 and 2 and enjoyed the extra challenge from bosses, so maybe I'll have to try this in Splat 3 at some point
37:20 I gave myself the challenge of beating the bosses clearing as few kettles along the way as possible (and by extension, not having enough power eggs to clear all the fuzzy ooze). If you choose carefully which patches of fuzz to clear, you can traverse quite a lot, and it makes for a really fun challenge! It also made searching for the buried troves of extra eggs that much more valuable. And I recall feeling as though the designers put a fair amount of thought into where certain patches of fuzz blocked so that you could clear certain critical path patches without spending the eggs to clear everything else.
As with the skip charge feature, we can debate whether it is good or bad game design to require the player to choose not to use a presented feature in order to achieve the desired level of challenge, but I had a lot of fun playing through Alterna that way at first!
now we need an add of Side Order campaign in this analysis
5:27 the first game is close to my heart. It’s my favorite in the series. It’s fun.
Something that I haven't seen brought up about the Splatoon 3 levels is that they're actually split up into two types of levels: The ones that you can play the levels over and over again at the cost of no power eggs and allows you to use the hero weapons, and there are the ones that have only challenges based solely off of octo expansion principal.
You can always tell which ones are which based off of the kettle's color and the level's background design, as the straightforward free levels have more Octo Valley/Canyon inspiration while the challenge levels have more of a Octo Expansion inspiration. I definitely noticed that the levels you loved tend to be the ones based off of Octo Expansion, and the levels you didn't quite enjoy were based off the levels that allows the hero weapon since they were more cut dry levels. I figured this was an intentional design elements. The players with no Splatoon experience get more value from the standard levels while veterans get more enjoyment out of the challenge levels. With that in mind, how would you rate the separate halves if they had their own segments, and would this change your thoughts about the main parts of RotM? (Obviously, doing this would not change your experience from the ending or bosses or the HUB world experience, but I would to hear if it did.)
Octo expansion holds a very special place in my heart, the ending was awesome and the scenes with off the hook and the music make me so happy I want to cry 😭I went into Splatoon 3 knowing it probably wouldn't be able to hold up compared to octo expansion, so I was able to be pleasantly surprised with the things it did do well :) Imo though, while I loved getting more content of the idols and lvls similar to octo expansion (plus I LOVED the completionist aspect of unlocking the maps), the gameplay is nowhere near strong enough to keep the cool lore of the story entertaining, I found myself just kinda playing through the story without being very interested in why characters were doing things :( The storytelling felt underwhelming and I constantly find myself wishing the characters (especially deep cut (also off the hook, like, where are they??) were more developed, a lot of it felt repetitive, which was really unfortunate
this deserves way more views
i can definitely see where youre coming from as far as return of the mammalians is, since you played all of the other campaigns, but return of the mammalians was my first splatoon campaign since i got bored and dropped splatoon 2's campaign really quickly. i went back and played it, then bought octo expansion and learned what peak gameplay is actually like, but it makes sense that when you play all 4 campaigns together (or even more generally are a longtime fan) the repetitiveness of the same concepts coming back in 2 and 3 can get frustrating. but as someone who never played the single player before and whose friends picked up splatoon for the first time for splat3, i do think those more boring levels to you are pretty important for newcomers to the campaigns (i know they helped one of my friends when they were struggling getting used to motion controls)
as far as the fuzzy ooze goes, i just really love repetitive "cleaning" tasks so i was honestly thrilled about that + the hidden things in alterna. totally understandable why others wouldnt like it, but my favorite thing ever was listening to a podcast and clearing out the remainder of the ooze when i finished the campaign LOL
good vid! this isnt a knock on your take or anything, but like you mentioned, octo expansion benefited a lot by being an expansion pack targeted at people who already know how to play and are up for a new challenge. if the splatoon franchise continues, i'd be more than happy with having return of the mammalians type single player campaigns with octo expansion DLCs (heres hoping for side order!) i cant wait for your vid on the lore cuz its definitely my favorite part of octo expansion and the part i was the most disappointed with for splat3 (deep cut being team rocket was nice, but i wish we had something as intimate and personal as the chat logs with off the hook!)
OH and edit: this might be because i was really dumb back then! but when i replayed splat2, i actually did feel like i /had/ to switch between weapons in the hubs. i struggled a lot with the hubs in general LOL. i agree they couldve done more to emphasize it, but i found myself really really stuck in one spot and then looking it up and discovering i had access to all the weapons LMAOOO
another edit cuz i had to go and look at all of the comments too: definitely agree with the idea that just because its introducing the same concepts doesnt mean it has to be copy and paste, though personally because most people won't go through all of the games (its not like nintendos gonna ever price splatoon 2 down :( ) i'd rather we have repeat levels and then really polished, unique and new levels, than for devs to be stretched thin trying to come up with new levels when the inevitable and horrible crunchtime starts. despite splat3 being so long awaited, hard agree with the one person who mentioned that the ooze and hub design might be that way because of scrapped concepts they werent able to release in time.
tldr cuz i realized i just rambled a lot: your criticisms are understandable but you might just be a lot smarter than me and a good chunk of the player base who cant figure anything out for the life of us lol
2's and 3's story modes are just big tutorials using what worked in the last game. Whatever's new (1's campaign and Octo Expansion) was great *because* they're entirely different. Great video!
I agree with your opinions on Splatoon 1 and 2's singleplayer modes, but not on 3 because I personally loved playing through Alterna. The hub worlds all had such a nice vibe.
The first question that popped into my mind while I was watching the Splatoon 3 segment of the video was "What is your opinion on that inking Moai course?", because there's no difficulty to it nor any sort of 'progression', it was just a really relaxing and oddly enjoyable level. Of course, if there were more than one of these kinds of courses, it would've gotten boring quickly, but it served as a nice distraction from all the chaos in the other levels and it was just nice hearing the Squid Sisters talk in the background, y'know?
Overall, this was a fantastic analysis and helped explain why I didn't mind Splatoon 2's story mode that engaging. Can't wait to see what Side Order is like!
The Moai level was pretty simple, but you still had to navigate up the propeller platforms to ink every part of it. It's true that you can't really "fail," but there's still some level of problem solving going on. It's involved enough that I thought it was fun.
I was shocked at first at the conclusion but the more I think about it the more I agree; Alterna was honestly the only splatoon single player story that I almost didn’t finish, I put it down for a month, came back, and the later islands were much better imo but it would be unfair to disregard that first part. The final boss’s ludicrous over the top spectacle also left me energized; in gameplay it’s not as good as splatoon 1’s final boss, in story it’s not as good as Octo Expansion, but I think it was solid in both areas enough to be a really good ending.
I have to admit 2 things though, 1: I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if I hadn’t taken that break, and 2: in my head that final boss does a lot of heavy lifting for my good memories of alterna. All in all, I have to agree, maybe a toss up between splatoon 2 and Alterna but 2 didn’t have me quit in the middle of it and I remember the area bosses very fondly.
Yeah, like I said, there IS lots of good design in Alterna, but the hub world feels like a constant interruption to the pacing of the kettles, and in my opinion its just not fun at all. The later Sites are a little better, but even Site 6 doesn't have that much going on compared to Splatoon 1 and 2's hubs.
I'm somewhat biased against the final boss because I kind of hate Mr. Grizz as a villain and I tend to care more about gameplay than spectacle, but I definitely see why people enjoyed it. I still think Alterna overall was a pretty big letdown after Octo Expansion, but it has plenty of its own cool moments that should be acknowledged
It's one of only two Splatoon campaigns I've bothered to 100% (Octo and 3), it is peak
There are somethings I wish you would have mentioned in regards to Return of the Mammalians. I'm a bit biased because it ties with Octo Expansion as my favorite Splat campaign (I may even like it more, not sure), but there are a couple points you made I'd like to address.
In regards to the Fuzzy Ooze, I can understand where you're coming from - I just don't think it's nearly as big a problem as it was for you. I feel like describing the issue as "taking up 40% of the gameplay" is a big exaggeration, but I could be misremembering my time with the game since I enjoyed the regular levels so much. You mentioned that it mostly just acts as a blockade, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. That was always its purpose, and while I agree the concept could be taken further, it's so easy to dispose of that it didn't irritate me at all. Merely the act of opening up more space and unlocking new paths was fun and exciting in and of itself, which I believe was most likely the intention. You compare this to Octo Expansion's hub, but I don't really think that's a fair comparison considering Octo Expansion's hub isn't really trying to be a hub at all. As much as I love OE, it's a glorified level select menu with the only elements of a hub world being a couple characters you can interact with (which you did acknowledge, to be fair). I understand it's trying to waste time as little time as possible, but I think Alterna is such a great and interesting setting partly because you spent quite a bit of time exploring it and restoring it.
The main thing I wanted to mention, though, was your comments on the opening of Return of the Mammalians. You mention that the having to go through 4 different levels that are split apart feels arbitrary, but I don't think you're looking at it closely enough. From a tutorial's perspective, they're meant to get you associated with different facets of your Inkling/Octoling's movements and mechanics before thrusting you into more complicated/gimmicky level design designed around different weapons and abilities. Also, from a storytelling perspective (and I think this is one of the campaign's greatest strengths), it's a brilliant bait and switch for veteran players who are familiar with the traditional Splatoon campaign structure. Even ending it with Octavio, but with a new, twisted/warped theme song perfectly tricks the player before introducing them to the Octo Expansion style of gameplay. From my perspective, this introduction has a very clear purpose, and I think it's one of the coolest moments in the entire campaign and one of the most subtle, but most fun and exciting storytelling moments in the entire series. It tells a story and takes the player through a series of moments and feelings without just resorting to scrolls/chat logs (even though I love those too), which I think is a very notable strength and improvement past campaigns. Octo Expansion is amazing, but I think it's missing a moment like that, at least to that extent.
I can agree that the rocket levels aren't as creative as the last level of OE, but at least from a storytelling perspective, the tension found in these levels is what makes them quite memorable. I think Return of the Mammalians does a great job with foreshadowing and building atmosphere in general leading up to this fight, which is part of why I think these segments succeed, but also the little dialogue moments with Mr. Grizz when you're finding the entrance to the next level in between segments is fantastic and makes him a much more memorable villain than Commander Tartar, whose presence is extremely minimal until the end of the game.
I could mention more, but those are things I wanted to say the most. There are things I can agree with, like the level design quality not being as consistent as OE's, even though I still think having multiple weapons to choose from on your first attempt, unlike Octo Canyon, injects a lot of fun into otherwise traditional levels; however, I think you're not giving the campaign nearly enough credit. Even just the personality in the introduction, boss fights, setting/world, and continuing the OE style of gameplay makes it a contender for one of the best Splat campaigns already. Great video, though, even though I disagree with some parts!
I do really like the way they bait players into thinking its the same old story; I just feel like it could have been executed better.
Splatoon 1 and 2 teach you pretty much everything you learn in the 4 Crater Kettles in their FIRST opening level. I can respect the choice to slow down the pacing to ease players into a different kind of story and game, but nothing really happens until around the last kettle anyway.
Maybe if the Squid Sisters or Octavio appeared in a radio call earlier on and left the player some time to ponder what could be happening, I would have been able to excuse the slow gameplay a bit more. (I think they call just before the last Kettle?)
On the other hand, if the gameplay got straight to the point and let us fight more enemies or do more interesting platforming right off the bat (which I believe Splatoon 1 and 2 did), then maybe I would have been able to enjoy the story more. It just didn't quite hit the right balance, at least for me.
I do absolutely love the Cuttlefish/ Octavio interactions and the whole scene of the first boss fight, and I can appreciate what the build up is trying to do. Ultimately, I just think it could've been a bit more fun.
As far as the Rocket sequence, I actually really did like the way they split up the levels with intermissions to build tension and flesh out Mr. Grizz's character. Unfortunately, this is completely ruined (in my opinion) by the Cuttlefish moment and eventual reveal of Mr. Grizz. The tonal clash of faking Cuttlefish's death and turning it into a comedy scene obliterates the tension the game had been building so well up to that point. And Grizz's character design is one I personally kinda hate and cannot take seriously.
It's true that we know less about Commander Tartar, but... at least for me, it's enough. It's an AI, so it wouldn't make sense for it to go on a massive monologue. The reveal of the true purpose of the sanitized ooze hits incredibly hard after having just found out how it's made, and they manage to keep the tension high while still allowing the characters to be themselves.
It's nice to hear a different perspective, though! If people want to give me reasons to appreciate ROTM more, I'm all ears!
@@thecosmiccloud I can totally see where you're coming from. I guess it just comes down to a matter of preference. For me, the unique world building and storytelling employed in ROTM is enough for me to excuse a couple issues considering the gameplay, for me, is solid at worst and still incredibly creative and fun at best. A big contributing factor, and this happens with me in many games, is that I'm more willing to excuse flaws when I can still feel the passion and love from the developers. Like you said, it's possible for the intro to have been short, but the levels are fun enough and the storytelling around them make it a really memorable experience for me. That entire introduction is a fantastic set piece and the most memorable intro in any Splatoon game, in my opinion. Part of why I'm more pessimistic towards Octo Canyon and vastly prefer ROTM is that ROTM, and this is partially due to Splatoon 3 having a longer development time, is that ROTM feels like it has a solid identity and that the developers were trying really hard to make the experience something special. Despite how fun the levels in Octo Canyon are, it can't help but be in the shadow of Octo Valley.
For me, I vastly prefer the Fuzzy Ooze to the sanitized ink because sanitation felt much more like a background element until the end and lacks the proper build up for me for that reveal later on to pack any punch. The Fuzzy Ooze is directly mentioned by the characters and plays a much more active role in the gameplay and story, which is part of the reason why I think it'sd a cool addition to the campaign. OE's amazing ending moreso comes from the incredible sense of scale, music, and action (I do agree that the NILS statue fight is a much more engaging fight than Grizz's, even though I love Mr. Grizz as a villain despite the predictability and somewhat tonal whiplash).
I totally respect your perspective, though! I see where you're coming from with your complaints, even though I disagree.
@@paulryan220 Yeah, it's definitely subjective. Splatoon 1 and 2's worldbuilding is like... one of my favorite things in all of fiction, and I definitely excuse some of the issues with Octo Expansion's gameplay because of how much I love the characters, setting, and aesthetic. Like... I personally LOVE the lore around sanitized ink so much, but I do sometimes forget that literally none of it is explained in the actual game lmao. It definitely would have been better for the characters to talk about it in the Chat Logs or dialogue a bit more (instead of just random lore dumps in developer interviews).
My main issue with Fuzzy Ooze is that it doesn't really... work? The Inklings and Octolings who touch it become weird paralyzed fuzzballs, not "mammals," and the game treats this basically the same as death (at least gameplay wise). Mr. Grizz has motivations that make (enough) sense, but his means to carry out his plan... aren't functional. We DO see Octarians, even Octolings that have been turned into mammals successfully, but... that's never explained (which is honestly crazy to me), and the "bad ending" shows us that's NOT what happens to everyone back on Earth. All of that plus the fact that it's not... really explained how Grizz gained human intelligence and learned to speak really bothers me (does being awake in a capsule for 10,000 years make you smarter?? How??). It just feels especially weird in this game that normally explains everything (shoes and music have more lore than a space bear?)
Admittedly these issues I had with the story definitely impacted my overall experience. In the video, I attempted to separate my feelings about the story from my feelings about the gameplay, but in reality they are intrinsically related, and it's difficult to stay completely objective when talking about one or the other. I'm sure if I liked ROTM's story, I would probably like the gameplay more too. I think it's fair to say there are strengths and weaknesses in both of the games/ stories, but I'm glad different people are able to enjoy both experiences
@@thecosmiccloud Those are respectable issues to have! I think a big reason why these issues exist is that Splatoon is already a series where most significant storytelling is dedicated to lore dumps through text. Besides the beginning and end of the campaign, the same is true with ROTM with the Alterna logs. I suppose there just wasn't room to do those things in a campaign that's already being treated as a secondary mode.
I think why it's not a deal breaker for me is that Alterna is already such a great setting, and there are other cool narrative things going on that I've already mentioned. Plus, in a series where the only existing mammal whose existence is explained away with an "immortality syrum", something like Mr. Grizz being able to talk or how Grizzco came to be don't immediately rub me the wrong way, but I can totally respect and understand why some may have an issue with that.
Either way, hopefully Side Order to given all the time and resources it needs to be another great story and campaign, given it doesn't have to worry about introducing existing concepts to the player or restrain itself when it comes to difficulty (hopefully).
You should've also talked a bit about the secret level in Splatoon 3
octo expansions ending is the only game i've ever played to give me an insane adrenaline boost everytime i get to the final boss no matter what. i have never failed in fighting tartar and yet it still happens. i literally beat it with 30 seconds left and if anything it made me get more adrenaline. it doesnt wear off for like 10 minutes. peak dlc
I remember properly finishing Splatoon 1's hero mode after leaving it for 6 years. I had gotten pretty good at speed-beating Octavio in splatoon 2 with no issue, and I beat all of Octo Expansion's bosses (minus inner agent 3) first try, so I thought I could breeze by DJ Octavio in the first game fairly easily. I was so glad to be wrong though. that boss was challenging in such a fun way, and definitely some of the most fun I've ever had with a Splatoon boss fight honestly. I hope we get another platforming-boss like Splatoon 1 Octavio in Side Order
I always found Splatoon 1 interesting in that regard; all the levels were super easy compared to the second game but the final boss fight was much harder
24:44
i really thought this bass drop was going to coincide with the footage strobing rainbow colors and text on screen saying "hell yeah it did"
only in my heart i suppose
personally with fuzzy ooze it didn't fustrate me, it just felt like a bit of a wasted mechanic. i loved the feeling of uncovering something old but the further i got in the more "eh" it felt as i had so many power eggs that it was ridiculously easy to unlock new areas. i also did not like most of the lore introduced in the s3 singleplayer, and most of the stages were "servicable but extremely forgettable" (the only one i can remember is one where there was some kind of building made of glass boxes that i found really hard to remember where i was going) however, i really liked the atmosphere of the fuzzy ooze.
fun fact: i couldn't beat S1 octavio as a 9-year-old and eventually gave up
also, i SWEAR i saw a spoiler in a youtube thumbnail for mr grizz being a tardigrade but i CANNOT find that video again so i'm starting to think it was something else entirely. but going into the boss fight i was so sad that he was just.... big boy bear. i mean come on, tardigrades are literally famous for being able to survive in space
I guess for me Fuzzy Ooze was mostly just disappointing on my first playthrough, but it definitely became annoying when I tried replaying the campaign. I agree there's an inherent satisfaction to clearing a path and cleaning up each site, but it felt like it could've been taken further.
I'm gonna be honest I had to go look up what a tardigrade is but yeah "water bear" would have been a much more clever reveal (I guess it wouldn't work with how they decided to write Grizz though)
Smallfry absolutely has his uses over splat bombs.
MUCH more effective distraction against enemies, especially shielded ones who will start spinning around if he's on them, leaving them open.
Generally has more usage for puzzles.
Given he sticks on contact, it makes him more reliable for the enemy Octolings as if you hit them, that's it. Whereas they can run away from bombs.
Also the simple fact that he takes almost no ink to use, meaning it's ease to throw, recall, throw, etc. Whereas you need to pause to refill for bombs, both for using another and to just keep shooting regularly.
And that's not even taking into account how powerful he is by the final upgrade.
I've only watched playthroughs of 1, 2, and Octo Expansion, and so only have direct experience with 3, and overall I enjoyed 3 plenty. I can understand where having played all three, 3 would feel feel less innovative, but as a fresh experience I had plenty of fun. I find the ooze just satisfying to clear. Sure it doesn't exactly have much 'depth' but I don't think it really needs it? It's just a simple barrier and clearing it is just satisfying. I'll give they could've used it more in level design at least, but there'd be an argument to be made how fun they are to consistently interact with as a 'insta-death hazard.'
I'd still say even just from watching that Octo Expansion is peak, and I was happy to see 3's story have levels more akin to that. Octo Expansion just had the benefit of more levels to do more gimmicky stuff with.
I love seeing why I like games too learning why I love ultrakill or drg is so fun :D
maybe im biased because its the first splatoon game i ever played, but i honestly really loved splat 2's singleplayer for its aesthetic in the lobbies and for how nerve wracking some of the platforming was
Man, Octo Valley still gives me the warm fuzzies even now.
Some other things that make Splatoon 3’s hub world suck are the fact that you have to walk over EVERY SINGLE INCH of land to survey it and get the sheldrone. Like I fell off the submarine multiple times in world 4 trying to walk on the edges to get rid of the black.
Also small fry is very inconsistent in helping find items like I’ll throw him once and he’ll find it then I’ll throw him again in the same spot and he just sits there.
i just wanna say that as someone who got into splatoon at splatoon 2 i really enjoyed its singleplayer ^^
"Agent 8 and Agent 3 look at each other, which is enough for the community to deem them madly in love."
Octo Expansion was the DLC of shipping. Pearlina, sure it was born with Splatoon 2, but dang did it blow UP with Octo Expansion. Agent 24 was born, some smaller ships with dedicated fans were born, and sure some ships sunk but many came up.
Oh this dude gonna HATE Side Order😶
Awesome video though, this was a really great watch!
I really liked the video but I wanna give my perspective on the Splatoon 3 hub worlds.
I really enjoyed them because the way I tackled them during my initial play through. At first I wanted to get the end of the game before I got spoiled online. Eventually I found out you can just skip levels if you manage to hit a kettle, since unlocking a kettle lets you super jump to it. Therefore I then wanted to see how far I could get playing the least amount of levels. This really made the fuzzy ooze fun because they were a hazard that I actively tried to keep around. This really made the hub world in Alterna stick out to me in the long run as I ended up having so much fun trying to navigate around the ooze.
Personally I disliked Splatoon 1 and 2s hub worlds but the ooze added something on top of a hub world that would’ve also been lame. Yeah I the Octo Expansion style of streamlining is better but have the ooze there as an optional hazard was a pretty good idea. It’s lets you choose if you want to keep the hazard there while navigating. Of course eventually you will have to clear it all for 100% but overall I think it’s better that was there in the first place than it not being there at all.
I actually decided to do a similar run of the game a while after Splat 3 came out, and I agree that the hubs became a lot more fun, but I'm not sure exactly how to feel about it.
On one hand, it allows players to customize their experience and appeals to causal and more hardcore fans.
But it also doesn't feel like there's quite enough of those moments to really take advantage of. And it's hard to not just take the path of least resistance, destroying any ooze that gives you trouble. Maybe if you could actually do a full "no-destorying-ooze" playthrough, I would enjoy it more. But this design doesn't feel completely realized or intentional.
Not to mention the fact that you're missing out on a huge portion (maybe over 50%?) of the levels in the game if you play this way. It's cool that you can do this, but I still think it could have been implemented better.
All I remember from Return of the Mammalians is thinking of the hype I had to religiously maintain for a year and half for it. I was so sure I wouldn't be disappointed that I really just spent the entire campaign forcing myself to enjoy it. The truth is though, they did so little with what they promised. Three things I specifically remember...
- Fuzzy Ooze and Lil' Buddy
They made them out to be this "really interesting new mechanic", and the fandom kept thinking of unique and interesting puzzles that could use them... only for them to not actually be in any of the levels. It's subtle, but this decision alone baffled me when I first started the story. And speaking of...
- Story points and world-building.
If you rewatch the first trailer, you'll notice a lot of almost "cutscene-like" instances. (Where Neo Agent 3 poses with Lil' Buddy) I have...very complex feelings about these. On one hand, I LOVE the interactions we get to have with the idols and they are all individually awesome as cutscenes and story progressors...but they weren't exactly charming or even heartfelt. In Octo Canyon (my first game) I remember taking time to just stand around in such a beautiful world, staring at floating teacup rides and succulent jars in the backgrounds or even just mesmerized by the glittery ink. My favorite Splatoon moment of all time is actually also the most mundane. I was blown away by the story mode, gawking at everything I had been missing, only to pause the game-
I know that it is literally so random, but I saw the glitter that was used to paint the otherwise dull pause screen, and I was just blown away. It's the smallest of details, but it felt so personal somehow.
Fast-forward to Splatoon 3, and there's still a lot I enjoyed, but the trailer made it out like there would be something interesting or new about the world. Instead, the floating objects are now even more ignorable, and the whole design is just so streamlined that it loses all of the charm that Octo Valley and Canyon and Expansion had. The plot tried to redeem itself with idol interactions, but it was so foresakenly rubbish that it actually made me like the idols LESS instead of liking the story MORE. Like, seriously Marie you just decide to keep following the signals even if after THREE of them turn out to be fake?!
- Lore dumping.
I'm going to be honest, as much as I appreciate finally having an answer for how humanity went extinct, there are still too many small questions that are just completely unanswered. What was the deal with Orca??? How exactly do Deep Cut operate?? What is a mammalized octarian and more importantly *howcome some octolings become mammalized ones while others turn into balls of fur????* What the WHAT happened to Lil' Buddy at the end and what exactly are the whole three lights about????? Like, they're just going to reuse the Inkantation a THIRD time and STILL tell us nothing about it!? In a situation that is completely unfitting to the already established lore!???
Oki. I done ranting now.
It's really cool to hear about special moments different people have had that gave them a deeper appreciation of the series! Splatoon is all about those little details in its world, design, and UI, and I think its super cool that people can latch on to any one part of it.
But yeah, I agree that ROTM felt lacking. It's strange, because even Splatsville has tons of charm and detail comparable to the other hubs, and the game overall feels very polished. Alterna just feels a little too safe. It's more Splatoon, and not much else.
Octo Expansion and even the earlier campaigns tried to do something with their gameplay to create a unique identity. Alterna tries to be a "best of," but ends up feeling like a knock off.
And... yeah. I agree with pretty much everything you said about the story. I never assumed the trailer moments with Agent 3 and Smallfry would actually be in the game, but the story definitely lacked the heart of Octo Expansion, and didn't really do anything new with its characters (besides Mr. Grizz, but that was done... poorly).
@@thecosmiccloud Couldn't have said it better myself.
Splatoon 1 campaign is good to set the world and characters, also it has one of the best Final Bosses in any game ever. Not because it's hard but because it's a player test of all what they learned around the campaign.
As someone who was completely new to Splatoon when playing Splatoon 3, I'm EXTREMELY happy I'm not the only one who kinda hated a lot of it. Breaking up the ooze also felt super tedious, I also kept feeling like smallfry was too underutilized and kept TRYING to use him more it kettles only to realize how useless he was, I felt like it was SUPER annoying having to ink the entire ground just to get a couple upgrades bc I was having way too much trouble with the first boss even. I love the story aspect of the game too, but so much of the hero mode is mainly tedious and annoying for me to play much of it
I wish I could’ve been there at the start of octo expansion. I did get to experience it eventually, but I just don’t have the mind blowing memories of it as others do
I got the full experience of splatoon 3’s story, thankfully. Minimal spoilers and 100% completion within a few days of launch. Memories made and screenshots taken
I personally don't have as much problem with Splatoon 3's ooze, but I get where the criticism came from. It's a money-gate in a game where a skill gate would have made more sense, but it's not *terrible* because at least it's done with quickly. My main problem is what happens when the ooze is gone - at that point, there's little to no "playground" sense to the hubs, which previous games did a good job at.
The actual level design, I actually felt was a good compromise between Octo Valley/Canyon's "explain the mechanics" functions for new players and the Octo Expansion DLC's more difficult and varied challenges. There are problems, and it's *always* going to feel like "more of the same" if you've already played through every prior single-player, but overall I enjoyed it more than Splatoon 2's Octo Canyon for sure.
1 will always be the best Splatoon fame
Off topic I like how the balloons are still grizzco labeled, adds a lot of consistency
on 3’s hub; i deleted some ooze and, on a dash track platform (on the ice level i think) it summoned a scroll that, no matter how hard i tried, i could not get to.
im not disagreeing with the issues you brought up when talking about RotM but i do want to point out that you push and pull does not define fun. sakurai himself said so in one of his videos iirc. for me and a lot of people i talked to getting rid of the ooze is fun despite not being interactive or challenging because it allows for more exploration, discovery, interaction with the environment. the hub worlds in this game feel so alive, and it feels like in all of them there's a couple of tricks to finding all the collectables easily (when i figured out you could combine the observation points with the radar ability in the skill tree my mind was BLOWN). Your video was overall very well constructed but i think your point of view was slightly reductive when it came to RotM.
Still, i'm glad someone finally took on an analysis of the hero modes in depht. good stuff!!
It's clear from reading the comments that a lot of people did have fun clearing the Ooze, and I agree I may have not been completely fair to the mechanic in that part of the video.
I think what happened is, while playing Splatoon 3, I just couldn't fathom the decision to abandon the old hub world structure, where each area was full of bounce pads, gushers, propeller lifts, moving UFOs, etc that made the hubs feel interactive and fun and instead replace it with mostly flat, stagnant levels where all you can do is shoot the ground to get items.
I now *kind of* understand what they were trying to do. This is a new type of gameplay for Splatoon: not combat or platforming, but secret hunting. While I personally found it tedious and boring, I can respect that it is just a different kind of gameplay loop and not inherently something of less value that the traditional gameplay formula.
Whether or not it meshes well with the existing gameplay is a whole other question. But I agree that I could have tried to understand it from a less biased perspective
As much as I loved the story side of the Splatoon 3 campaign and the music that accompanied it, the hub worlds did fall a bit flat by design. I still loved being able to find collectibles, the music upgrades in particular made the world much more dynamic.
I think the ooze had a lot of potential to be a cool mechanic, being a good idea with poor implementation. I remember having fun trying to work my way to the kettles without deleting the ooze at all, trying to scope out a lot of the area with an added challenge (and partly because I didn't have enough eggs to clear it up at first). Also, watching a speedrun shows just how much potential the levels had, since the speedrun barely enters any levels, instead hopping around the fuzzy ooze or getting eggs from the hub world.
So, I think if they made some of the larger patches of ooze as progression based instead of eggs based, then it would've been more of a skill barrier. Skilled players able to maneuverer around to ooze, possibly through precise platforming, could get ahead quickly and have the satisfaction of overcoming the challenge. Maybe some overworld grind rails, soaker blocks or indestructible sprinklers could serve as a challenge, simultaneously solving the issue of the hub world being very empty. On the other hand, new players struggling with the challenge could hop into a kettle and collect some eggs to remove the ooze that way. Then, for larger patches of ooze intended to actually block player progression, such as the entrance to a boss kettle or transport tube thing between the islands, could be cleared based on the number of levels cleared. Possibly clearing 3 to 5 kettles in each area to unlock this, so incentivising beating the levels without forcing players to beat them all. This could also create a clearer sense of progression, since it would provide a way for tougher levels to be locked on later islands, or have a few kettles blocked off by fuzzy ooze until a certain amount of other levels had been cleared, making it easier to teach players new mechanics before implementing them in more unique ways in challenging levels.
What you described is exactly what I wish they did. I love the idea of letting players choose which Kettles to enter, but there's kinda no point if all of them are easy to get to anyway. Making the hub worlds difficult but not IMPOSSIBLE to progress through would have been SO much more interesting and fun (especially for veterans).
@@thecosmiccloud Also it would be a nice bridge between the open hubworld of 3 and the linear hubworld of 1. 3’s huh had an amazing story impact through having the rocket at the centre as something for the player to aim for, while 1 just had a random floating kettle that left little world build up for Octavio. Then with 1 (and with 2 as well) the puzzles and dynamic environment of the world made it much more fun to explore, but having to do every single kettle was just unnecessary. So, this would be a better compromise/fusion of the two
somehow i liked clearing all of the fuzzy ooze. it getting cleared away just made me feel better if that makes sense
I would’ve loved to see your opinion on “side order” here too. Especially in comparison to Octo expansion!
I actually loved the opening sequence to S3's singleplayer. It's great at getting new players used to the game since the levels are themed around the most basic mechanics, being moving, shooting and swimming around, while not moving too fast to become overwhelming, all the while being a parody of the previous two hero modes.
It's not perfect though, like the way it teaches you to counter Octavio's Ink Vac by throwing your sub weapon in it? I don't think that would be very helpful in Multiplayer.
Gr8 video!
But...
I feel like you forgot about something
What could it be?..
Maybe amiibo challenges?
I mostly just wanted to cover the level design philosophy and the general player experience. Amiibo challenges are essentially DLC and don't actually change the level layouts themselves, so I didn't really think they were worth talking about here
I liked 3's alterna hub, since all the collectable were there it meant I could just enjoy the levels themselves for what they are. Sure wish there was more to it, but I personally didn't mind it either.
Anyways here is to hoping side order is atleast on par with octo expansion. And brings the challenge to the majority of it again, also hope it gives us something as memorable as inner 3. As good as after alterna is, for me it doesn't leave as big of an impression as inner 3 did.
I guess it's a case of all or nothing for me. Splatoon 1 and 2 had fun hubs with lots of platforming; Octo Expansion had no hub, but a really cool menu system to get to levels. Alterna has a big hub with nothing in it, so it kinda just gets in the way. I like the collectables being outside of the levels, but I still wish it took a bit more effort to get them
I actually liked After Alterna a lot, but Inner 3 is definitely way more iconic, and I agree that a superboss would be cooler for Side Order than just another challenging level
The biggest issue with Octo Canyon is that you're expected to clear the whole thing NINE TIMES. One time is boring enough, but nine times is outright tedious regardless of how much you love the levels.
I share a lot of the same feelings. I‘ve been playing since S1 and I did not enjoy S3 single player as much. And apart from some problems, I liked Splatoon 2’s single player. Interesting seeing some of this being put into words !
I noticed that Inner Agent 3 and After Alterna were excluded, are those for a separate video?
I mostly just wanted to cover the general design philosophy of each campaign and the choices that impact a general player's experience.
Since not everyone will even play those levels, and since their design differs from how the rest of the game plays, I didn't really feel like they were worth talking about here