A few things in this video I wanted to add that I didn't get the chance/forgot to talk about: -Sorry about the awful audio quality, I didn't really have a good recording space at the time I was doing voiceover; I tried to fix this as best as I could in post but there's still echo in there, I will make sure this is fixed in any future scripted content I do -This video started production back in late October; college and a Christmas vacation kept me very occupied as I worked on this video off and on over the coming months (and probably also just laziness) -Musselforge is a bad map because it heavily favors short-range weapons while also suffering from many problems that plague Mincemeat, like only having one real Rainmaker route -Fun fact about Mahi, before the water level drops, it is the SMALLEST map in Splatoon history with roughly 1360p of turf; for reference, the previous smallest map was Splatoon 1 Blackbelly Skatepark at 1528p (just in case you thought the map couldn't get any worse!) -Nintendo has since released a patch where... they reduced the points for special required on short-range shooters like .52 Gal and Splattershot while also giving paint buffs AND a pfs buff to Nova, therefore INCREASING special spam. (It's both hilarious and sad that Carbon Roller, a weapon that cannot paint, has a 200p Trizooka while Splattershot is now 190p.) Also Crab Tank got a minor slap on the wrist and Splash is still untouched. We have remained in crab meta since LATE OCTOBER. Who knows what Nintendo wants for this game anymore? (I could probably do a whole video on why the Splatoon 3 team's balance approach sucks but that'll be for another time) -I am by no means a competitive player; did this video make it obvious? DATAMINE SPOILERS: -Mincemeat Tricolor was datamined to have an object that blocks charger sightlines from the perch and it's hilarious, it's a car on a stick; they should really add that to the normal map
@@RyanSumthn I agree that it was awful in S1 for competitive, and even Turf Wars had some problems mostly due to Kraken as a special. I think it would work wonderfully in S3's special weapon pool.
This is what I’m saying, the hate towards chargers SHOULD be redirected to the map design. E-Liters shouldn’t be controlling all routes into mid which is a problem in Mahi and Mincemeat, it has gotten to the point where I just log in for my daily level-up and do some Salmon Run before leaving, I get more enjoyment playing Splat 1 on my Wii U. (Along with the fact they have completely neutered the Brella class and have left it suffering for years now)
Very much agree, I don’t hate chargers because I suck at the game and they’re better or they suck at the game and are all just tryhards. I think most of them are super talented being able to use a weapon like that and get tons of kills. However I lose a lot of respect (due to the map design of Splatoon 3) whenever I run out of my base ready to get back into the action I get sniped by a charger , NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION I TAKE! Maybe that’s why Splatoon 3 is a lot harder 🤔
Not too long ago Reef Splat Zones was in rotation in Splatoon 2 and I was sitting wanting to start playing Splatoon, but was like "...yeah I still have the Catalog to level up, but you know what, I feel like I'd rather play Splatoon 2 right now" and hopped onto Splatoon 2 instead of Splatoon 3. And Reef Zones was honestly quite fun, I ended up playing through nearly the whole rotation, and actually climbed all the way through S rank that evening and got to S+ on Splat2 Zones for the first time, so I'm glad I did that. There was the longer queue times with nothing to do since there was no Training Room to wait and derp around in, but even for those I decided to challenge myself to do squats and other exercises IRL while waiting so I got a micro-workout in too! Do I think Splatoon 2 is the better game overall? No, but maps like The Reef _are_ much better and the whole thing was pretty refreshing that evening.
@@allisonconnor2241 there’s counterplay towards chargers though. 1. Use your supers preferably killer wail, acid storm, booyah bomb or missles it forces the charger to move. 2. If you don’t have a weapon that can’t deal with a charger stay out of their line of sight like I played against my friend and I sniped him 8 times in a row cause he just kept running in mid where I had a clear shot on him. Then 3rd rush them down I was playing comp against a really good sniper but I kept rushing him down and he killed me sometimes but sometimes I killed him I kept him focused on me so he couldn’t kill my teammates
What I don’t understand with the new spawn system is why they don’t give you exclusive flanks/highground… Eeltail literally shows what they could be doing with the elevated grate to the left of your spawn drone, but they never use it to it’s full potential :(
As a backline player, I can say wholeheartedly that I love flank routes. It feels super satisfying to catch a glimpse of enemy ink on the map or in the corner of my eye and predict them coming. Way more fun than torpedo number 75 and splat bomb number 120
I’m sick of constant uphill battles. in splatoon 1 and 2 it was so rewarding, planning out an attack and catching people off guard by getting behind the lines. I feel almost fatigued constantly dying over and over with confrontations where I don’t feel like I’m actually making headway. Im just running in to kill or be killed.
It’s Hilarious that while most weapons in this game paint more and can do more in big areas, mahi shrunk. I really hope they redesign mahi and a lot of other maps. Also, bring back Blackbelly.
That's why when i play Splatoon 3 i feel like i play same 3 maps!! It's because they are basically the same, they all push you in the middle and make you fight. Now i see it thanks to this video
I love that they decided to bring back Flounder and Museum, but I really wish that other fan favourite maps like Mahi and Hammerhead got into Splat 3, such a shame they were completely left behind, it would have been so much fun to play on them again after 6 years
I find it funny that Hammerhead Bridge looks the way it does because it finished construction (when it was still under construction in Splat 1) when it's a worse map than before.
If I could give the developers one piece of advice for future maps, just please make sure there's lots of paths and not just have everything lead directly into mid.
@@vibevizier6512 I concur the developers need to stop making crap maps. I tolerated the maps from 2 but got angered on how 3 just rehashed maps from 2 and butchered maps from 1.
You know the game is wonk when the second you have to defend, it feels like such an impossible feat to contest it cause the other team cycled their crabs, the e liter laser is tickling you and the only option you have available is to take the L
Really solid video on map design. It wasn’t perfect in 2 but it certainly was much better than currently. Maps didn’t favor chargers in 2 much but they went too far in the opposite direction by having straight line maps with no flanks. These maps aren’t unfixable I think. Mostly because they seemed to be better in pre-release footage and heavily altered for the game we have now. Why they did this I don’t know but clearly most of us don’t like it and I hope they take our criticism into account.
I have a hunch play testers were biased and only thinking of changes that would benefit their playstyle. Heck, players in general are like that, which makes it difficult to sift through the noise on social media. But, change is indeed possible with enough people and some well-articulated videos like this.
This is my first splat game and it's been very fun so far. Got into S rank and would carry games every couple games or so and sometimes go off and get 20+ kills. But these maps some times just feel so bad with it feels like 3 lanes that even worse 2 or 3 can be covered by a single person. Flounder heights is probs my fav map so far cause it's so big and different from the rest. This game would feel so great if the maps are more varied but we will have to see ig
You know what also adds to this. Brellas sucking. If Tenta Brella was good, Chargers on Mincemeat/Hammerhead would be less used. If Splat Brella was better, Shooters would be nerfed.
So that explains why it feels more immensely tilting when the other team is controlling mid with long range weapons and chargers. As a short range frontliner there are literally no flank routes to safely take them out you have to run straight at them and die. why did they think making the maps into hallways was a good idea.
A map that might make it back into the game is bluefin depot. I really hope they don't mess it up terribly if they decide to add it in. It was one of my personal favs in splat1 and i'd hate to see it get ruined by the new map developers. It was already a kinda charger friendly map, but there was cover. I hope they don't remove that is they add it in.
As a Charger main, I can confirm that it really isn’t that much fun to play on these maps. I literally stand completely still staring at my static screen for almost 5 minutes straight. I don’t know about you, but staring at almost nothing for 5 minutes straight is not what I would consider “fun”
I think the devs have been hesitant to alter the maps because they've been waiting for the meta to calm down, but it's been pretty much set in stone for a few months now. Adding flank routes would not make the game any less fun, and even if it did introduce a new flank based meta, atleast it would be more fun the the extreme range, sub spam, and special spam meta we have now.
No excuse they are just lazy making every map the same. Also most of the maps are rehashed from 2 and the maps from 1 are butchered to be like every other map.
If they added flank routes, the game would be much better because eliters and hydras would have to watch for enemies trying to flank them, allowing for close range weapons to shine. Also shooter bias needs to go.
this makes me so sad. i've been waiting for splatoon 3 to come out since the first trailer and now that i've played it just sucks. the number weapon kits feels too short, the maps are sh1t and so on... idk why the devs are so scared of making the maps bigger, implementing sneaky routes, flanks into mid and so on. in splatoon 3 there are so many things that i don't understand and with this update schedule it feels like first they are going to implement content and then fix those things. idk, i'll be only playing salmon run except when marooner's bay is in rotation
As a charger main I also agree about flank routes. It’s way more satisfying to splat someone because you were rewarded for checking the map. Now the game is just specials and subs being spammed at me so I can’t do anything because there is no other options for the enemy team. The fun parts of the games are the options you have and they kinda take some away in this game
Here are some of my ideas for improving the Splatoon 3 maps, I hope it's not too hard to understand with just descriptions. Scorch Gorge: Just use the beta version, I think maybe the devs were worried about the map being too big but I'd rather have a too big map than a too small map. Eeltail Alley: Just use the beta version, with some adjustments like more cover on the bridge and some bumpers in mid. Mincemeat Metalworks: Raise the slightly lower platform to the right of the trucks to be level (I don't know why it's slightly lower anyway) then add some full and partial cover to the ends of the trucks to allow players to stand there and not get instantly sniped, remove all the scrap metal piles on the left and right sides to make the rightmost path in front of the grated walkway connect to the truck section by a grate with a path underneath allowing players to walk completely around the truck area in a circle, also add that bumper into the centre of the map. Undertow Spillway: Remove the big glass wall near the sniper perch and lower the uninkable wall on the jutting out glass to make it easier to throw bombs up to it also make it transparent to see through it, with the big glass wall gone add an uninkable ramp to walk up to flank the sniper perch, on a side note that little ink able alcove just past the trench where this proposed ramp is going to be is practically useless so nothing of value is lost. Hammerhead Bridge: Extend the useless right path from spawn all the way to the right side of mid with a drop down to right mid and behind the pillar, this would also give a vantage to see if enemies pushed in and help fight them, also extend the left ramp just after dropping from spawn left and then forwards to allow dropping down to the area left of the uninkable box along with a high vantage point, also make the right ramp down from spawn uninkable to slow down enemies getting into spawn as with the middle path and the two other paths I've suggested you wont need the direct slope path to approach mid whereas the enemy team NEEDS to walk over a sizeable uninkable section to reach the enemy spawn. Mahi-Mahi Resort: Honestly this map has way too many issues to think of how to fix it, so instead the devs should scrap all of New Mahi and go back to Old Mahi and work from there instead of trying to make anything good with this mess.
being a Liter main myself I can 100% attest to the fact that these maps get broken wide open by the weapon. The other thing is though that the limited options on the Splat 3 maps (as well as some positions just being completely broken) makes positioning a lot less interesting. Especially on the maps in this video you end up using the exact same two or three perches every time and rarely if ever have to watch for flanks because the spots usually give you almost complete vision of enemies' routes towards you anyway. Having to care about flanks definitely made the game harder for backlines but it also kept you on your toes and combined with more varied map design in general made gameplay more dynamic.
I agree honestly. I went back to 2 more purely because I had to be on my feet more. It was more fun. You couldn’t just stay in one spot as a sniper. It would leave you as a sitting duck
It’s funny because I literally had this big field day with Flounder when they released for 3. It felt like an open world game with how many ways I could go with relative safety. You’re only ever exposed for so long but the ways to circumnavigate around the open section on the right side drop whether it be a brute force sub like splat or torpedo, or just going the normal way. You always gotta watch yourself as the defender as well because of those various angles you were going through. They could be above you, beneath you, behind you, or right in front of you AHH IT’S SO GOOD!
Imo 3’s maps lack variety and any fun-factor. Splatoon’s maps should be much wider than 3’s. As for encouraging player confrontation jus have multiple spawn points for each team like Tri-colour Also more “gimmicks” that involve sandbox gameplay like Splatoon 1. The ink mechanic has slowly been wasting and been used to its minimum potential for unique opportunities. 2 kinda started this but 3 is almost the nail in the coffin. Splatoon should be a casual shooter first and a comp shooter second. Sandbox gameplay is much more accessible to the casual crowd and stages with varying sandbox gameplay would help break the tedious map and mode rotations. Including fun objects and obstacles from the campaign like shifty stations would also help. Oh and more elevations in maps design. Splatoon 2 started this problem but 3 has the most flat and basic maps ever. Remember swimming up walls? Not as frequent as it used to be. Urchin underpass is a great example of having varying elevation.
One reason why I like Splatoon so much is because when you think about it, it's basically also a 3D platformer. It's not just a competitive multiplayer shooter like others, but it kinda combines that genre and the platformer genre, and as a big fan of platformers myself not only was it much easier to get into with my 3D Mario experience than other shooters are, but appealed to me much more too. But Splatoon 3's maps tone down the platforming, movement, and sandbox stuff (even though that makes no sense because the new movement options they added literally made the inkling moveset even MORE of a platformer moveset, you can literally wall-jump with the Squid Roll for example) and just make things flat and small (the only exceptions really being maps like Museum and Flounder), and it really diminishes a lot of that factor that not only makes Splatoon stand out amid other shooters but that also appealed to me a lot in the first place.
@@legoboy7107 Yh splatoon is def a shooter made for people who aren't familiar with shooters which is why I even started playing it and therefore other shooters (Halo, Titanfall etc) As for the squid roll I do think it's quite useful but the squid surge not so much because of the lack of platform-like level design in multiplayer maps They should really take advantage of these new abilities and go crazy with the design like they do in the single-player It should still be balanced but splatoon is a fun casual shooter first and a competitive shooter second.
Brightwater Spring: the flank is a lie. I play Hydra a lot. But even I’m completely useless on this map when the Eliter can HIT ME FROM THEIR PERCH. Also all it takes is a bomb in those side routes and you’re dead.
Hey, us chargers don't like the glass on undertow spillway either. It also limits our ability to snipe under us in that upper position and recover our ink. The jankiness goes both ways.
I always felt my score was also higher in splatoon 2. It gets frustrating when you’re trapped in your side and can’t move anywhere cause at that point the other team is literally hunting everyone down which gets annoying they don’t even let you ink your own side they move to your side so quickly in the game
This was a great video, you have done an excellent job laying out all the reasons why the majority of stages in this game just aren't that fun to play on. Really, it's enough of an issue to where a lot of the time when I feel like playing, I just choose not to after seeing that all current rotations look unappealing. Obviously the game is still a lot of fun usually, but it's disappointing that there's just so much room for improvement, so here's hoping that future patches help with that Another thing I really don't like about the new maps is it feels like there's just too many uninkable surfaces which just makes it more of a hassle to traverse through the stage. I feel like it goes against the whole idea of the game, especially with the new movement options like squid surging. Like you were saying, it just doesn't really have much of a use since if a wall is tall enough to make use of it, chances are you're only getting any use out of it if you use a zipcaster or something. I have a similar gripe with the grates such as scorch gorge's, nobody likes to slowly walk through them to get anywhere, although I understand the point of them is to keep you vulnerable so it's not as free to get through them I'm glad you were able to finally get this video out, I've been following along the entire process and enjoyed getting to participate in obtaining footage and all that. You did great with this video and the effort and research put into it really shows. Keep up the good work!
hot take from a back liner, maps are still bad. because the snipe positions are so good, i.e safe, it make you very predictable. and outside of the very few 'god spots' there's goddamn nothing. there are very few interesting angles and what not especially as you push into enemy territory. i also feel bad for every tetra i kill going a predictable flank route if there is one available. for me a flaw in a map is lack of flank routes, lack of perches at various safeties, and how well those perches flow together. a good map is one with variety and challenge for all classes. more flank routes and less open outlooks for all! i hate eeltail with a passion
I played on the original hammerhead- it was my favourite map back in the day. I was so excited to see it again in splat3 and then..... it was quite literally a completely different map with the same name
I knew something felt off with the new maps and the redesigned ones, but I didn't expected to be that bad. I'm a charger main and I don't even enjoy the majority of the maps. I'll rather go and play salmon run and try to finish my catalog. I really hope they fix these issues with each update.
splatoon 3 feels SO exhausting because you can generally only go forward and you dont have any other option to the side because its either a death pit or makes you an easy target :l in splatoon 2 it feels a lot more fun because you have many options to get to the enemys side and do some silly stuff!! not to mention you have cover in those maps . but in sp3........ it is so hard to comeback when the enemy team has already inked all of mid and is heading to your spawn. the only way you can push is if you go insane and get 3 people or a wipeout 💔 like i gotta fight tooth and nail just to touch a shred of mid
This game is a tragedy. Even if the devs realise their mistake and put out better maps in the future, the damage has already be done with all the garbage 1.1.0 maps. S1 Mahi and old Gorge are dead, and we aren't ever getting those back because its astronomically unlikely that the devs are going to make massive sweeping changes to all the current maps.
As a casual Splatoon player... I'll be honest, I don't notice any of these issues individually. However, even I could tell that the maps in 3 feel a lot more same-y than those of the previous games. They're all just so... flat and boring. I know that Splatoon 1's maps could be a little messy, but they were all memorable. Many of them demanded unique strategies and approaches; Moray Towers played differently from Mahi Mahi, Walleye played differently from Flounder Heights, Kelp Dome played differently from Piranha Pit, etc. Even for the more same-y maps like Urchin and Ancho-V Games, they at least looked really distinct and had some memorable routes and strategies. In Splatoon 3, I run forward. Map strategy basically over. The only two maps that stand out to me are Flounder Heights and Hagglefish, although that's probably just because one's a decent redesign of a Splatoon 1 map and the other looks cool and has some side routes. Needless to say, it was interesting to hear you break down the issues in more detail! Here's hoping we can get some current map redesigns like they did in 1 and 2.
I don't know what it is but playing backline is just so much more dull in this game. You're just battling with the enemy charger to see who gets to rule mid for a few seconds, -except for the splatlings they don't get to win-
As someone who had the (dis)pleasure of playing on Hammerhead Bridge back in S1 it was NOT fun to play on at all then and still isn't now if weren't a charger, slosher, or any other long range weapon especially since the bridge just went right up to your spawn point so you couldn't even leave the shield to get to the two routes out of spawn. Other then that, this video hit every single problem with these maps, especially with Scorch, Eeltail, and Mahi, what did the new designer DO to them between Feb 2021-Sep 2022
I remember when playing the splatfest world premiere, the final match I played just as the time was ending was on Mahi Mahi resort, we got team wiped 30 seconds into the match and I’m not kidding when I say we spent the entire 2 and a half remaining minutes just getting killed in spawn over and over and over again. Of course I was still going to get the game because I love Splatoon but I wouldn’t be surprised if first time players were completely turned away by this sort of stuff, because the maps are absolutely horrible to play on :(
@@LetsPlayWoomy8835think it was so bad they literally removed the map off rainmaker rotation. i remember playing it a few times and i never saw it again. the map itself is just….so small and narrow
Weirdly enough I do not enjoy playing chargers in splatoon 3s small and cramped maps, beside that I just miss the bigger maps. Brinewater springs is my least favorite to play on
I'm scared that nintendo is afraid to make much needed but very big changes to these maps. The design is atrocious and completely throws off the balance of the weapons
Thankku so much for this video I had a hard time with these new maps. You really helped me. Only nitpick I have is the weird echoey microphone in some places
I skipped splat 2 and whrn i saw starfish mainstage and say all those inkanle walls i was genuinely confused on if they were actually inkable. I played splatoon 1. I recently went back and oh my god. Those maps had inkable walls!!!
scorch gorge could be better with two zones, more cover in spawn. i would specifically change the middle rock to be much taller with no reachable top, like the masts of manta maria and have a ring of grates all around, this locks down long range sightlines. finally add an enemy spunge on the right side of snipe for a flank that can be closed through map control.
Nintendo really needs to listen to the community and rework mahi and hammerhead, poor map design and shooter privilege is bringing down the games, you made a good point at the end of the video, I’m hoping Nintendo did learn there mistake and is aiming towards better map design
Agreee, even with weapons. I feel like I keep playing against the same 7 weapons maximum. They need to start buffing other weapons class. The game, imo, is a little stale right now.
If they do listen to the community, is it one message they are listening or so many different messages that they will have a hard time knowing which one to follow? These are problem indeed with not enough flank, but if some part of the community says the opposite and says instead that theres another problem, which part do you listen to.
@@charlestrudel8308 @prochara just released a 30 minute video about the topic and one of the points he made is how a lot of the weapons can’t flourish themselves cause the maps don’t work
@@bombpwr when i speak about general feeling of the community, i also include in this the japanese of said community. if both sides are saying the same thing, compiling all this information and making the change will still take around 6 months... all these changes will take time if they do happen. Lets also keep in mind that this game as for only recurring revenu the 2$ we pay per month for nso while any other live service have way more recurring revenu with MTX everywhere or minimum a battle pass at 15 per month.
I thought I'm the only one who don't have fun in Splatoon anymore. In Splatoon 1 it was more about aim and accuracy than specials. They charged slower and it was more about luck to hit someone with them (yes even Kraken was easy to avoid). 10 to 20 kills every match was average score for me (until cheaters started to ruin game). Splatoon 2 was little more chaotic and hectic. Specials charged little faster but still manageable and aim and accuracy was still a thing but it was more and more about luck than anything else. Splatoon 3 is pure chaos. Ignoring connection issues every second match, maps are narrowed to the point that win or lose many times depend on who got sniper in their team. And it's not about aim an accuracy anymore, but your ability to avoid specials every 5 seconds. PvP mode without specials would be cool. Focusing only on aim, accuracy and skills could bring back that missing fun factor. But I'm sure that actual map designs isn't favorable for this idea. Only fun thing in Splatoon 3 for me is Salmon Run. PvP is not fun anymore and Splatfests loses their charm already. (Nintendo should bring back Shifty Stations to make Splatfests little more interesting.)
Without Strong Brellas you can't approach safely. Without side routes you can't approach safely. Without Specials you can't approach safely. Without a charger to bully other chargers you can't approach safely. See the issue here?
When there are no chargers I actually quite like metalworks zones, but Undertow is by far my least favorite new map in 3 easily, heck even just in general I think it might be my least favorite.
I've played this game a long time and only now am I learning that people actually liked Mahi in 1 (I absolutely HATED it) and hated Walleye (this map was great to me, idk why people hated it apart from it being hard to approach spawn.) I never really payed much attention to any maps but Moray, Mahi (in 1,) and Shellendorf. Those were the only maps I recall ever disliking on any of the games apart from maybe saltspray rig (which was bad but I didn't mind.) The maps in this game I pretty much agree with every take apart from Flounder which I think is a bit too op for rollers and is a bit too tiny. Inkraiks would be really nice on flounder
@@edwheezer6231 (I mained bamboo and L3 for context.) The size was too small in the center making zones in particular a complete pain. The water on the main section of the map made it really easy for blasters and chargers to pick you off due to heavily limited movement (and besides falling in the water was a common occurrence.) Even though the center felt so oppressive the backliners like hydra and e-liter didn't have the worst time but that made things really hard for midline weapons (what I mostly play.) There were probably some more minor things but that is what comes to mind after not playing since 2 came out
OH MY GOD I HATE SHELLENDORF INSTITUTE SO MUCH!!! Imagine making a game all about covering things with ink AND THEN creating a map where 50% of the middle is uninkable
The issue is the N maps aren’t designed for super fast paced game like this Splatoon is not designed to be a fps game but Nintendo keeps trying force to be one They are trying to to force the game to an fps E-sport rather then let Splatoon be silly game about squids and octopuses that can be a good competitive game on the side Add in all the flank routes and get rid of most of the unpaintable walls that protect chargers from being as overpowered as possible Stop making hallways as stages
Kinda agree honestly. I also don’t enjoy having the full barrage of people’s specials directed at me as a sniper. It sucks. A bit more balance would be best. I honestly think I liked playing chargers more in 2 cause I had to move around more and think about how to shut down routes. Camping a single spot isn’t my style of play and this game isn’t allowing as much variety of play sadly for anyone.
Great video! Subscribed. Definitely share the same opinions as you. Small tweaks could make these maps great. Flanks on undertow, adding more rafts on Mahi and that iconic flank with the grate on top, side routes on like every other map, etc. It’s incredible how Flounder is the best stage in the game, DESPITE BEING STREAMLINED, AND having that right flank tampered with to make it only semi accessible. That’s how bad of a state these maps are in :/
Museum is still good even if they made some changes to it for the worse (namely removing another route onto plat in ranked aside from clam blitz but even then it's not the same as it was in splatoon 1)
I love chargers, every charger that is, but do you know why I am using splat charger and e-liter way more than the rest? because the lack of cover and flanks makes the others, more mobile alternatives less viable. I am a fan of the bamboozler (without damage up) because in the second game it was so much fun to fight other more skirmish oriented weapons as a quick sniper that can tap and keep tabs on damaged enemies, on top of that my purpose was to approach slow chargers and splatlings and punish them with my faster charge, in a sense the down time for charging a shot was also balancing in terms of reactiveness to a quick threat, in the new game, despite the bamboozler having a way better kit, there's much less fun to be had as both sides, because you can't challenge each other anymore in these ways. I hope they will redesign some of the worse maps or at least add so many new and improved ones that this problem becomes less impactful on the experience.
Honestly I agree EVERY single thing you said. Splatoon 3 is fun BUT, It’s not the same. In Splatoon 2, (despite the broken stuff which I never minded because of Splatoon3 rn) to me it was so good. Even the Rank was so fun. But when I played Splatoon3, the rank is just HORRIBLE now. The maps (Mahi the worst imo) are so bad Nerfing E-liter is not an option. They must redesign maps
For most part Splatoon 3 maps are okay, the biggest problems are the newer maps, but since theres so much chaos most of the time bcs of how fast pace the game is right now, e-liters have an impact for sure, but its nowhere near what this video says, its a bit of a exaggeration. The only truly terrible maps that need a rework soon is scorch, mincemeat and undertow because the rest is at least fun to play in some way.
I think the biggest problem they did in Splatoon 3 was played it too safe, but perhaps this was a way for if they so change it in the future they will have a simple base to come back too. My reason they might have done this is if they had made the maps more chaotic(even though this is the theme) then it could have been harder to correct that makes everyone happy. These aren't a good excuse in my opinion, honestly Splatoon 3 feels very rushed in several areas besides the campaign and animations. A good example is having ALL hairstyles available instead of making new and equivalent hairstyles. It's completely lazy to just unlock hair and I don't care what anyone says. I have full confidence in the devs but the reasons for playing it safe is ridiculous when they have two games under their belt. The maps need to be larger and have more fun routes, especially have obstacles and fun tools like we see in the storymodes. Too add, funny enough the worst thing I have been coming across isn't snipers or Crab Tanks with Splash-O(which isn't that hard to beat, still annoying), it has been Booyah Bomb teams and Inkstrike teams that CONSTANTLY bombard the map in every mode so badly(in solo because atm i only have one person that likes to play consistently with me, and we don't vocal communicate yet) that you can't even breath before you basically lose unless you go in with an Inc Vac or better plan. I get better every month and week but it has been getting less fun due to more realization of how bad the maps are designed and how badly specials have become a roadblock. I am gonna throw matchmaking in with it too because I swear I get paired with just AWFUL players compared to my opposing team which nearly always seem to be people actually in a party. Nothing is more frustrating than putting faith in your random teammates that they know how to approach a situation then all choke at the worst times and you are left with them splatted or you abandoned as you are trying to capture the objective. I'm not saying Im the best, but I barely ever blame the enemy team for my loses and look towards my teammates more. I love Splat 3 and the series, I started playing 2022 with beating all of Splat 2 and then Splat 3, but I have followed the series since 2015. But more recently it has becoming very frustrating, especially with February(which i am glad it ending, an awful month like January). Like i said before, I have confidence in the devteam but these major issues with the game need to be fixed. I myself love the story and campaigns more but I absolutely love the multiplayer and I have similar issues with Salmon Run where matchmaking and levels need an overhaul.
To add onto the bigger maps for fun, I feel like they should make it more special friendly, most maps favor crab tank and trizooka and it makes specials like zipcast and cooler seem pointless at times
I think it is a lot of missed potential with most maps. splatoon 1 felt chaotic bc everything was different and was gimic based. in 3, everything is based on the rectangle or 3 squares glued together. i dont feel like they would change any of the maps with updates, it was a miracle they changed urchin underpass. in regards to mahi, i think they took parts of it and used them to make brinewater springs. if that spawn was on mahi with majority splatoon 1 elements then it would be nearly there or spot on.
Dont even get me started on TURF WARS in these maps, Enemies can literally just run into your base and block you from making ANY progress and its not even fun anymore, everytime I see mahi mahi as a map option I die a little bit inside cause I know how its gonna be, one charger just camping the center platforms and being an overall nuisance
Even though some of the maps weren’t the best in splatoon 2 I still enjoyed them. Moray towers included. They were all unique and always felt fresh and new. The splatoon 3 maps got old quick. I might have to pay a visit to splatoon 2 because I miss interesting maps.
I’m glad I was able to help my friend a tiny bit with this video! Your style of making videos has certainly improved over the years and I’m proud of you for making a video of this quality. You know I don’t play splatoon much anymore but I enjoyed this video very much Ryan good fuckin job mate!
not even about how it feels to actually play the maps, in my personal opinion, theyre just. boring to look at now. a lot of them use a lot of neutral colors and have really uninteresting themes. eeltail alley and mincemeat are so ???? in what they were trying to go for? i get theyre trying to lean into chaos or whatever but theres so much more interesting ways to do it then mostly brown map #5
What I find really funny is that the Tricolor versions of Hammerhead, Undertow and Mincemeat are all better than the regular ones. Hammerhead made mid bigger and moved the ramp into the enemy base to the left-hand side, they also added a sponge to retreat out of mid and you can't access most of the enemy spawn. Undertow got rid of the glass and made the sides slightly bigger, not much of an improvement but is still better. From the looks of Mincemeat datamines, you can go straight to the enemy spawn without having to pass over the grates, there's an escape sponge to retreat over the walls in mid, and there's a car in front of the sniper perch that completely obscures the entire left side of the map. It's unfortunate that they actually put so much effort into these versions of the stages, considering they're only playable for a limited time and have a completely different playstyle than any other mode.
@@optimism1434 Gear v Grub v Fun. Though the odds of actually getting to play a Tricolor during that fest were miniscule (About 2% for Gear, 3% for Grub, and 20% for Fun)
Splatoon 1 is my favorite because the stages were all weird and had a stupid amount of ways to get around everything. I don't care at all about eSports or really anything competitive about Splatoon. I cannot stand 3s stages. They're all bland, flat and boring. I don't get how people enjoy these Tetris pieces with like 2 paths that take you to the exact same spot
and now they also added aerospray gold with SPRINKLER AND BOOYAH BOMB. "we're trying to get rid of special spam" MY ASS, that weapon is basically just shoot for a few seconds and then you have your super wich you can immediately use upon getting to mid. and booyah bomb is so strong in splatoon 3, cause the maps funnel everyone into the middle, one well placed booyah bomb and it destroys the entire enemy team. i try to have fun, i try to use the new painbrush [very ironic name i know] but every single time i do, either its a team using aerospray or some other weapon with booyah bomb, tentamissiles, triple inkstrike or killer wail 5.0, or its a full team running long range weapons that i cant deal with even though the painbrush has a [slightly] longer range than the octobrush and regular inkbrush. this game is being ruined by the meta and by the terrible maps that make booyah bomb, triple instrike and other busted specials even harder to deal with. i want to like splatoon 3, but every step of the way the game makes it so hard to enjoy.
During Splatoon 1, Mahi-Mahi & Hammerhead were two of my favorite maps, the difference on Hammerhead now is vast, they're two completely different maps. I was crazy, I'd happily run down those grates, not recommended but it was FUN! There's this spot in the middle that has cover, there's one for either end so it was common place to exchange bombs there or if you're like me & had a sprinkler (played the N-Zap 89), you'd make them think you're hiding there when really, you sneaked away to build up your ink strike, fire it in the spot where the enemies are ducking for cover, then you make your way through & trip the enemy team on the other side. I was not kind on that map, typically I was a very passive player but something about old Hammerhead pushed a more aggressive side for me. As for mentioning the narrow halls in Walleye, I did not like that map in Splatoon 2 but I enjoyed it in 1, those narrow halls were life savers when I was spawn trapped & yeah, they usually had eyes on those halls but I always ran a weapon with seekers when Walleye was in rotation, I was that one crazy person you never see that loves the Carbon Roller Deco for its Seeker rush. If the other team gets too cocky, I'd toss a seeker at them down that little hall, it either got them out of the way or splatted them. It didn't always work but when it did, gave me a good laugh. Without Seekers, Walleye became more difficult & not as fun, I always had fun on that map in the first game. They murdered Mahi-Mahi Resort, trying to explain how amazing it was in the first game to my friends, I can't simply do it justice, I wish I could just screenshare gameplay on my Wii U or something for my friends so they can see it for themselves. If the Splatoon 1 servers are still live if any of them visit me in the future, I could show them in person, my Wii U is still in great shape. I wish we could of gotten the Mahi-Mahi from the first game in 3. Like I was totally on board with old maps being revived because when it happened in 2, they actually improved upon them. I like 2's Camp Triggerfish more than 1. I use to hate Moray Towers because it was a sniper's paradise but with some changes they did in 2, it was like a playground using an N-Zap. They ruined the returning stages, even Flounder Heights got hit, much smaller but they took away that path to the right of spawn & I use to really like that thing. Mahi-Mahi Resort was fun, just pure fun. I loved jumping onto the islands, I learned better movement in the game due to this. This map came out when I was still new to Splatoon, I bought the Black Friday Wii U that came with Splatoon & Smash already installed back in November 2015. Mahi-Mahi Resort released shortly after I started playing so it's got some sentimental value to me, people weren't use to playing on that map & with the weird gimmick of it being surrounded by water & then the water level dropping, it caused for many funny missteps & while I was still learning it too, it ended up putting people all on a similar level, giving me an easier time to learn the game better. I remember loving to get the islands covered in turf war like it was super exciting for me to hop around, getting the islands & I was always thrilled for the water level dropping, more turf to ink, AHH! I wanted to be the first to ink some fresh new turf in the late game. It was just such a fun map & with different routes to move, I'm weird, I like taking different routes, I have my preferred ways of travel but I like moving in different ways too, it keeps my mind entertained. It was so nice that map provided that. Overall, the maps are my favorite part, that & trying out different weapon kits. In 3, they are so boring!!! I love exploring new maps, sucks 3 ruined that. My favorite part about Splatoon 2 splatfest was shifty station since we got different ones to check out within the different turf wars. I personally love Bunker Games, how about instead of forcing us into mid, we just block it off near the end of the match? I thought the concept of it was hilarious & it freaked me out at first but when I got into it, I really got into it. I'd make sure to clear out mid when it got close to time & served as a jumping point for my teammates if they had sting ray or something else they could hit from the inside, I served mainly as a gateway. We'd never see that in 3 with how much they love forcing us into mid, imagine them denying us mid lol.
Mahi Mahi, my beloved... what have they done to you? In all seriousness though, it feels like they wanted to do a lot more with some of the maps, but majorly backtracked on the concepts late into development. Prime examples are (as mentioned in the video) Scorch and Eeltail. Of course then you have Mahi Mahi which looks like the map designers were given a week to make the map without testing it at all. At least Hammerhead's redo has a proper inspiration as to why it is the way it is, but Mahi doesn't.
Been finding it funny that even though the map design philosophy is significantly worse in this game, there are still more stages I actually want to play on within the 14 of 3 than the 23 of 2* (Mako, Sturgeon, Reef, Ancho-V v. Museum, Flounder, Mako, Sturgeon, Hagglefish) Only by a slim margin of course, but man does having at least some of the competently designed Splatoon 1 stages return mostly in tact help a lot. Hopefully we see Urchin and Bluefin make the jump intact as well... Would also like to see some of the more competently designed Splatoon 2 stages, namely Snapper, come in as well. Did not like that stage in 2 thanks to ray and armor's constant presence, but hoping the specials in 3 make things feel a bit better. (Even crab in its current state would be better than ray >_>) *In general, mostly regardless of map/mode. However, there are still a few stages I enjoy specifically on certain map modes, Brinewater Clam Blitz, for instance. **I dont think Sturgeon is actually all that well designed of a stage--it has a myriad of problems--starting from forced mid fights onto the fact that if you let the enemy liter onto your snipe in 3 they get full jurisdiction over the entire spawn ares. Just have a soft spot for it.
I find it funny that he main dish of multiplayer stages are awful but meanwhile Salmon Run has amazing maps like Sockeye and Hydroplant with the worst maps being Grounds (Really just hightide is awful, shout out to the flyfish that spawns over on the grates over there every time) and Marooners (I honestly don't find this stage to be that terrible, real hot take I know).
Minecmeat Rainmaker has two good push options since you can jump from the checkpoint to near the goal so you don't have to walk up the grate EDIT: On Hagglefish you can also just swim straight up to the charger perch on Rainmaker, not just Clam Blitz
good catch for hagglefish! i dont really consider the left side that useful on mincemeat anyway, it suffers the same issue as going left on musselforge where you have to cross a grate bridge to get to plat, though the jump onto the other grate from the checkpoint is faster than the inkrail at least
Apart from the new maps simply not offering variety in approaching the center of action, I think that unique layouts from the first games are just fun, even if they make for a somewhat janky fight. Splatoon 3 maps all feel the same. Splatoon 1 and even 2 to some regards had maps with an elongated layout, ones that are very wide but short, ones with lots of height difference, very flat ones, ones with big gaps or walls between paths, maps with several middle sections, maps where you start low and move upwards towards the middle, ones with round shapes and so fourth. Splatoon 3 maps are have the same format meaning that there aren't any long narrow, or short wide maps, they all have the same amount of height difference, they are all concave towards the middle, there is always one middle section that is usually very open, and all shapes are rectangular. No rounded slopes, no funky pathways like in the skatepark maps, barely any underpasses... When I look at a Splatoon 1 and 2 map layout, I don't need the background to recognize the map. The Splatoon 3 layouts all look the same from above.
As a Splat Charger main I dont Hate ppl Who use Eliters But the Way Nintendo hired these ppl are actually Idiots that do Stages With Choke points and Giving Chargers to go mid. Even in Rank, these maps in Splatoon 3 are the biggest problem. They seriously Killed The old Stages from Splatoon 1 like Mahi Mahi Resort and Hammerhead bridge with a New and Terrible Changes. All of these are made of tetris which is dumb (Nintendo and the S3 dev in a Nutshell)
I remember me and friend were playing anarchy (I’m a splatling main) and it got to splat zones on scorch gorge. I had never played scorch gorge anarchy before but was pretty proficient at splat zones. It was a VERY painful experience.
gosh this made me realize how much i miss the old maps :( you literally took all my frustrations and feelings i have towards the current maps and put them into words and made it make sense, great job edit: also describing flounder heights as a breath of fresh air is so spot on and accurate, i remember playing it for the first time again and going ohmy god!!! there's alternate routes!! and cover!! and inkable walls! insane!! i really hope they'll realize what makes the current maps so bad, because holy crap, i feel like it makes some maps near unplayable
really nice video. agreed with most points. I have some gripes however. Undertow is not that bad tbh. the spawn is by far the best in the game. I do wish mid was wider and the glass to the left of perch was gone with a grate drop down with extended cover to block a charger or perch's sight line but other than that the map is primed to be top tier with some changes. Splat 3 hammerhead is a sidegrade to splat 1's as both had a really bad lockout issue. Splat 1 hammerhead was also a pain to traverse. I also have a theory as to why the maps got slowly dumbed down over time. During development, the devs might have had a demo to show to the execs of the current progress of the game. The execs were probably not fans of the complex map designs that made them good. Since the execs think the only people who play the game are younger people, they wanted the dev team to make them really simple, which in turn ruined them. This is just a theory though so take it with a grain of salt.
A few things in this video I wanted to add that I didn't get the chance/forgot to talk about:
-Sorry about the awful audio quality, I didn't really have a good recording space at the time I was doing voiceover; I tried to fix this as best as I could in post but there's still echo in there, I will make sure this is fixed in any future scripted content I do
-This video started production back in late October; college and a Christmas vacation kept me very occupied as I worked on this video off and on over the coming months (and probably also just laziness)
-Musselforge is a bad map because it heavily favors short-range weapons while also suffering from many problems that plague Mincemeat, like only having one real Rainmaker route
-Fun fact about Mahi, before the water level drops, it is the SMALLEST map in Splatoon history with roughly 1360p of turf; for reference, the previous smallest map was Splatoon 1 Blackbelly Skatepark at 1528p (just in case you thought the map couldn't get any worse!)
-Nintendo has since released a patch where... they reduced the points for special required on short-range shooters like .52 Gal and Splattershot while also giving paint buffs AND a pfs buff to Nova, therefore INCREASING special spam. (It's both hilarious and sad that Carbon Roller, a weapon that cannot paint, has a 200p Trizooka while Splattershot is now 190p.) Also Crab Tank got a minor slap on the wrist and Splash is still untouched. We have remained in crab meta since LATE OCTOBER. Who knows what Nintendo wants for this game anymore? (I could probably do a whole video on why the Splatoon 3 team's balance approach sucks but that'll be for another time)
-I am by no means a competitive player; did this video make it obvious?
DATAMINE SPOILERS:
-Mincemeat Tricolor was datamined to have an object that blocks charger sightlines from the perch and it's hilarious, it's a car on a stick; they should really add that to the normal map
The recent datamine removed the car in tri soooooo
Blackbelly Skatepark was dope
@@arcitatious yeah hopefully that was just a bug and it'll get fixed before the fest starts
@@Cheezmonka i think splatoon 2 did a good job fixing the stage to some extent, but imo it was awful in splatoon 1 lol
@@RyanSumthn I agree that it was awful in S1 for competitive, and even Turf Wars had some problems mostly due to Kraken as a special. I think it would work wonderfully in S3's special weapon pool.
This is what I’m saying, the hate towards chargers SHOULD be redirected to the map design. E-Liters shouldn’t be controlling all routes into mid which is a problem in Mahi and Mincemeat, it has gotten to the point where I just log in for my daily level-up and do some Salmon Run before leaving, I get more enjoyment playing Splat 1 on my Wii U. (Along with the fact they have completely neutered the Brella class and have left it suffering for years now)
Agreed, I don't feel Snipers are the issue just many maps give them the advantage which is very annoying.
Most of these maps are literally a comfort zone for e liters. They either control all mid or control enemy base.
Very much agree, I don’t hate chargers because I suck at the game and they’re better or they suck at the game and are all just tryhards. I think most of them are super talented being able to use a weapon like that and get tons of kills. However I lose a lot of respect (due to the map design of Splatoon 3) whenever I run out of my base ready to get back into the action I get sniped by a charger , NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION I TAKE! Maybe that’s why Splatoon 3 is a lot harder 🤔
Not too long ago Reef Splat Zones was in rotation in Splatoon 2 and I was sitting wanting to start playing Splatoon, but was like "...yeah I still have the Catalog to level up, but you know what, I feel like I'd rather play Splatoon 2 right now" and hopped onto Splatoon 2 instead of Splatoon 3. And Reef Zones was honestly quite fun, I ended up playing through nearly the whole rotation, and actually climbed all the way through S rank that evening and got to S+ on Splat2 Zones for the first time, so I'm glad I did that. There was the longer queue times with nothing to do since there was no Training Room to wait and derp around in, but even for those I decided to challenge myself to do squats and other exercises IRL while waiting so I got a micro-workout in too! Do I think Splatoon 2 is the better game overall? No, but maps like The Reef _are_ much better and the whole thing was pretty refreshing that evening.
@@allisonconnor2241 there’s counterplay towards chargers though. 1. Use your supers preferably killer wail, acid storm, booyah bomb or missles it forces the charger to move. 2. If you don’t have a weapon that can’t deal with a charger stay out of their line of sight like I played against my friend and I sniped him 8 times in a row cause he just kept running in mid where I had a clear shot on him. Then 3rd rush them down I was playing comp against a really good sniper but I kept rushing him down and he killed me sometimes but sometimes I killed him I kept him focused on me so he couldn’t kill my teammates
What I don’t understand with the new spawn system is why they don’t give you exclusive flanks/highground… Eeltail literally shows what they could be doing with the elevated grate to the left of your spawn drone, but they never use it to it’s full potential :(
ngl i kinda forgot about that section of the map, it's so useless lol
As a backline player, I can say wholeheartedly that I love flank routes. It feels super satisfying to catch a glimpse of enemy ink on the map or in the corner of my eye and predict them coming. Way more fun than torpedo number 75 and splat bomb number 120
ikr, ive missed that too. as mad as i got when that happened to me on snapper canal. it was more interesting than the 12th bomb of the day on scorch.
I’m sick of constant uphill battles. in splatoon 1 and 2 it was so rewarding, planning out an attack and catching people off guard by getting behind the lines. I feel almost fatigued constantly dying over and over with confrontations where I don’t feel like I’m actually making headway. Im just running in to kill or be killed.
Tbh I play Nautilus and I try the meme flank thing just to get a bit of a dopamine shot
It’s Hilarious that while most weapons in this game paint more and can do more in big areas, mahi shrunk. I really hope they redesign mahi and a lot of other maps. Also, bring back Blackbelly.
That's why when i play Splatoon 3 i feel like i play same 3 maps!! It's because they are basically the same, they all push you in the middle and make you fight. Now i see it thanks to this video
I love that they decided to bring back Flounder and Museum, but I really wish that other fan favourite maps like Mahi and Hammerhead got into Splat 3, such a shame they were completely left behind, it would have been so much fun to play on them again after 6 years
I find it funny that Hammerhead Bridge looks the way it does because it finished construction (when it was still under construction in Splat 1) when it's a worse map than before.
Yeah you’d think they’d have brought those back. Oh well, we can hope for an update in a future season maybe?
Cant believe they got replaced with hammerhead line and mahi mahi motel smh my head 😔😔
got a little chuckle out of me
@@scottsbeans mahi went from a 5 star resort to a 2 star hotel
16:00 Original Hammerhead was actually one of my favorite maps when I was younger because of how cool it was. Now it's not even the same map...
If I could give the developers one piece of advice for future maps, just please make sure there's lots of paths and not just have everything lead directly into mid.
Maybe. Just maybe. Make the maps themselves fucking better.
@@vibevizier6512 I concur the developers need to stop making crap maps. I tolerated the maps from 2 but got angered on how 3 just rehashed maps from 2 and butchered maps from 1.
The problem is the map designers afe splatling mains.@@mitchjames9350
Everything just gets funnelled into a corridor. You have to sneak past the enemy’s front line to even have chance to kill the charger.
You know the game is wonk when the second you have to defend, it feels like such an impossible feat to contest it cause the other team cycled their crabs, the e liter laser is tickling you and the only option you have available is to take the L
Really solid video on map design. It wasn’t perfect in 2 but it certainly was much better than currently. Maps didn’t favor chargers in 2 much but they went too far in the opposite direction by having straight line maps with no flanks. These maps aren’t unfixable I think. Mostly because they seemed to be better in pre-release footage and heavily altered for the game we have now. Why they did this I don’t know but clearly most of us don’t like it and I hope they take our criticism into account.
I have a hunch play testers were biased and only thinking of changes that would benefit their playstyle. Heck, players in general are like that, which makes it difficult to sift through the noise on social media. But, change is indeed possible with enough people and some well-articulated videos like this.
This is my first splat game and it's been very fun so far. Got into S rank and would carry games every couple games or so and sometimes go off and get 20+ kills. But these maps some times just feel so bad with it feels like 3 lanes that even worse 2 or 3 can be covered by a single person. Flounder heights is probs my fav map so far cause it's so big and different from the rest. This game would feel so great if the maps are more varied but we will have to see ig
You know what also adds to this. Brellas sucking. If Tenta Brella was good, Chargers on Mincemeat/Hammerhead would be less used. If Splat Brella was better, Shooters would be nerfed.
Splatoon then: unique maps with fun design.
Splatoon now: TETRIS BLOCK IS FUN
So that explains why it feels more immensely tilting when the other team is controlling mid with long range weapons and chargers. As a short range frontliner there are literally no flank routes to safely take them out you have to run straight at them and die. why did they think making the maps into hallways was a good idea.
A map that might make it back into the game is bluefin depot. I really hope they don't mess it up terribly if they decide to add it in. It was one of my personal favs in splat1 and i'd hate to see it get ruined by the new map developers. It was already a kinda charger friendly map, but there was cover. I hope they don't remove that is they add it in.
As a Charger main, I can confirm that it really isn’t that much fun to play on these maps. I literally stand completely still staring at my static screen for almost 5 minutes straight. I don’t know about you, but staring at almost nothing for 5 minutes straight is not what I would consider “fun”
Every time I've been spawncamped real bad it was on scorch gorge, Mahi Mahi, eeltail ally, or mincemeat metalworks
I wonder why
I think the devs have been hesitant to alter the maps because they've been waiting for the meta to calm down, but it's been pretty much set in stone for a few months now. Adding flank routes would not make the game any less fun, and even if it did introduce a new flank based meta, atleast it would be more fun the the extreme range, sub spam, and special spam meta we have now.
No excuse they are just lazy making every map the same. Also most of the maps are rehashed from 2 and the maps from 1 are butchered to be like every other map.
If they added flank routes, the game would be much better because eliters and hydras would have to watch for enemies trying to flank them, allowing for close range weapons to shine. Also shooter bias needs to go.
this makes me so sad. i've been waiting for splatoon 3 to come out since the first trailer and now that i've played it just sucks. the number weapon kits feels too short, the maps are sh1t and so on... idk why the devs are so scared of making the maps bigger, implementing sneaky routes, flanks into mid and so on. in splatoon 3 there are so many things that i don't understand and with this update schedule it feels like first they are going to implement content and then fix those things. idk, i'll be only playing salmon run except when marooner's bay is in rotation
I relate to this so hard, it's come to a point where I also end up playing more Salmon Run than the main game
The number of weapon kits is small because it released just a few months ago, it was the same with every splatoon launch
As a charger main I also agree about flank routes. It’s way more satisfying to splat someone because you were rewarded for checking the map. Now the game is just specials and subs being spammed at me so I can’t do anything because there is no other options for the enemy team. The fun parts of the games are the options you have and they kinda take some away in this game
Here are some of my ideas for improving the Splatoon 3 maps, I hope it's not too hard to understand with just descriptions.
Scorch Gorge: Just use the beta version, I think maybe the devs were worried about the map being too big but I'd rather have a too big map than a too small map.
Eeltail Alley: Just use the beta version, with some adjustments like more cover on the bridge and some bumpers in mid.
Mincemeat Metalworks: Raise the slightly lower platform to the right of the trucks to be level (I don't know why it's slightly lower anyway) then add some full and partial cover to the ends of the trucks to allow players to stand there and not get instantly sniped, remove all the scrap metal piles on the left and right sides to make the rightmost path in front of the grated walkway connect to the truck section by a grate with a path underneath allowing players to walk completely around the truck area in a circle, also add that bumper into the centre of the map.
Undertow Spillway: Remove the big glass wall near the sniper perch and lower the uninkable wall on the jutting out glass to make it easier to throw bombs up to it also make it transparent to see through it, with the big glass wall gone add an uninkable ramp to walk up to flank the sniper perch, on a side note that little ink able alcove just past the trench where this proposed ramp is going to be is practically useless so nothing of value is lost.
Hammerhead Bridge: Extend the useless right path from spawn all the way to the right side of mid with a drop down to right mid and behind the pillar, this would also give a vantage to see if enemies pushed in and help fight them, also extend the left ramp just after dropping from spawn left and then forwards to allow dropping down to the area left of the uninkable box along with a high vantage point, also make the right ramp down from spawn uninkable to slow down enemies getting into spawn as with the middle path and the two other paths I've suggested you wont need the direct slope path to approach mid whereas the enemy team NEEDS to walk over a sizeable uninkable section to reach the enemy spawn.
Mahi-Mahi Resort: Honestly this map has way too many issues to think of how to fix it, so instead the devs should scrap all of New Mahi and go back to Old Mahi and work from there instead of trying to make anything good with this mess.
being a Liter main myself I can 100% attest to the fact that these maps get broken wide open by the weapon. The other thing is though that the limited options on the Splat 3 maps (as well as some positions just being completely broken) makes positioning a lot less interesting. Especially on the maps in this video you end up using the exact same two or three perches every time and rarely if ever have to watch for flanks because the spots usually give you almost complete vision of enemies' routes towards you anyway. Having to care about flanks definitely made the game harder for backlines but it also kept you on your toes and combined with more varied map design in general made gameplay more dynamic.
I agree honestly. I went back to 2 more purely because I had to be on my feet more. It was more fun.
You couldn’t just stay in one spot as a sniper. It would leave you as a sitting duck
It’s funny because I literally had this big field day with Flounder when they released for 3. It felt like an open world game with how many ways I could go with relative safety. You’re only ever exposed for so long but the ways to circumnavigate around the open section on the right side drop whether it be a brute force sub like splat or torpedo, or just going the normal way. You always gotta watch yourself as the defender as well because of those various angles you were going through. They could be above you, beneath you, behind you, or right in front of you AHH IT’S SO GOOD!
It baffles me how they butchered scorch gorge
Imo 3’s maps lack variety and any fun-factor.
Splatoon’s maps should be much wider than 3’s. As for encouraging player confrontation jus have multiple spawn points for each team like Tri-colour
Also more “gimmicks” that involve sandbox gameplay like Splatoon 1. The ink mechanic has slowly been wasting and been used to its minimum potential for unique opportunities. 2 kinda started this but 3 is almost the nail in the coffin.
Splatoon should be a casual shooter first and a comp shooter second. Sandbox gameplay is much more accessible to the casual crowd and stages with varying sandbox gameplay would help break the tedious map and mode rotations.
Including fun objects and obstacles from the campaign like shifty stations would also help.
Oh and more elevations in maps design. Splatoon 2 started this problem but 3 has the most flat and basic maps ever. Remember swimming up walls? Not as frequent as it used to be. Urchin underpass is a great example of having varying elevation.
One reason why I like Splatoon so much is because when you think about it, it's basically also a 3D platformer. It's not just a competitive multiplayer shooter like others, but it kinda combines that genre and the platformer genre, and as a big fan of platformers myself not only was it much easier to get into with my 3D Mario experience than other shooters are, but appealed to me much more too. But Splatoon 3's maps tone down the platforming, movement, and sandbox stuff (even though that makes no sense because the new movement options they added literally made the inkling moveset even MORE of a platformer moveset, you can literally wall-jump with the Squid Roll for example) and just make things flat and small (the only exceptions really being maps like Museum and Flounder), and it really diminishes a lot of that factor that not only makes Splatoon stand out amid other shooters but that also appealed to me a lot in the first place.
@@legoboy7107 Yh splatoon is def a shooter made for people who aren't familiar with shooters which is why I even started playing it and therefore other shooters (Halo, Titanfall etc)
As for the squid roll I do think it's quite useful but the squid surge not so much because of the lack of platform-like level design in multiplayer maps
They should really take advantage of these new abilities and go crazy with the design like they do in the single-player
It should still be balanced but splatoon is a fun casual shooter first and a competitive shooter second.
Brightwater Spring: the flank is a lie.
I play Hydra a lot. But even I’m completely useless on this map when the Eliter can HIT ME FROM THEIR PERCH. Also all it takes is a bomb in those side routes and you’re dead.
Hey, us chargers don't like the glass on undertow spillway either. It also limits our ability to snipe under us in that upper position and recover our ink. The jankiness goes both ways.
I always felt my score was also higher in splatoon 2. It gets frustrating when you’re trapped in your side and can’t move anywhere cause at that point the other team is literally hunting everyone down which gets annoying they don’t even let you ink your own side they move to your side so quickly in the game
This was a great video, you have done an excellent job laying out all the reasons why the majority of stages in this game just aren't that fun to play on. Really, it's enough of an issue to where a lot of the time when I feel like playing, I just choose not to after seeing that all current rotations look unappealing. Obviously the game is still a lot of fun usually, but it's disappointing that there's just so much room for improvement, so here's hoping that future patches help with that
Another thing I really don't like about the new maps is it feels like there's just too many uninkable surfaces which just makes it more of a hassle to traverse through the stage. I feel like it goes against the whole idea of the game, especially with the new movement options like squid surging. Like you were saying, it just doesn't really have much of a use since if a wall is tall enough to make use of it, chances are you're only getting any use out of it if you use a zipcaster or something. I have a similar gripe with the grates such as scorch gorge's, nobody likes to slowly walk through them to get anywhere, although I understand the point of them is to keep you vulnerable so it's not as free to get through them
I'm glad you were able to finally get this video out, I've been following along the entire process and enjoyed getting to participate in obtaining footage and all that. You did great with this video and the effort and research put into it really shows. Keep up the good work!
hot take from a back liner, maps are still bad. because the snipe positions are so good, i.e safe, it make you very predictable. and outside of the very few 'god spots' there's goddamn nothing. there are very few interesting angles and what not especially as you push into enemy territory. i also feel bad for every tetra i kill going a predictable flank route if there is one available. for me a flaw in a map is lack of flank routes, lack of perches at various safeties, and how well those perches flow together. a good map is one with variety and challenge for all classes. more flank routes and less open outlooks for all!
i hate eeltail with a passion
I played on the original hammerhead- it was my favourite map back in the day. I was so excited to see it again in splat3 and then..... it was quite literally a completely different map with the same name
I knew something felt off with the new maps and the redesigned ones, but I didn't expected to be that bad. I'm a charger main and I don't even enjoy the majority of the maps. I'll rather go and play salmon run and try to finish my catalog.
I really hope they fix these issues with each update.
You know it’s bad when it makes Nuketown look competitive
As a hydra main, when I think of special spam it makes me think of tenta missles shooting every 6to 8 seconds and that was the case in 2 also.
splatoon 3 feels SO exhausting because you can generally only go forward and you dont have any other option to the side because its either a death pit or makes you an easy target :l
in splatoon 2 it feels a lot more fun because you have many options to get to the enemys side and do some silly stuff!! not to mention you have cover in those maps .
but in sp3........ it is so hard to comeback when the enemy team has already inked all of mid and is heading to your spawn. the only way you can push is if you go insane and get 3 people or a wipeout 💔 like i gotta fight tooth and nail just to touch a shred of mid
Excellent video, Hammerhead Bridge could've kept the grates even though it was completed.
This game is a tragedy. Even if the devs realise their mistake and put out better maps in the future, the damage has already be done with all the garbage 1.1.0 maps. S1 Mahi and old Gorge are dead, and we aren't ever getting those back because its astronomically unlikely that the devs are going to make massive sweeping changes to all the current maps.
As a casual Splatoon player... I'll be honest, I don't notice any of these issues individually. However, even I could tell that the maps in 3 feel a lot more same-y than those of the previous games. They're all just so... flat and boring.
I know that Splatoon 1's maps could be a little messy, but they were all memorable. Many of them demanded unique strategies and approaches; Moray Towers played differently from Mahi Mahi, Walleye played differently from Flounder Heights, Kelp Dome played differently from Piranha Pit, etc. Even for the more same-y maps like Urchin and Ancho-V Games, they at least looked really distinct and had some memorable routes and strategies.
In Splatoon 3, I run forward. Map strategy basically over. The only two maps that stand out to me are Flounder Heights and Hagglefish, although that's probably just because one's a decent redesign of a Splatoon 1 map and the other looks cool and has some side routes.
Needless to say, it was interesting to hear you break down the issues in more detail! Here's hoping we can get some current map redesigns like they did in 1 and 2.
Now I understand why the maps feel the same while also getting sniped every 2 seconds after getting out of spawn. :)
The biggest issue with this game is the lack of flanks like wtf were they thinking
Good breakdown, you did a good job covering a lot of the maps
That means a lot man, thanks so much!
I don't know what it is but playing backline is just so much more dull in this game. You're just battling with the enemy charger to see who gets to rule mid for a few seconds, -except for the splatlings they don't get to win-
As someone who had the (dis)pleasure of playing on Hammerhead Bridge back in S1 it was NOT fun to play on at all then and still isn't now if weren't a charger, slosher, or any other long range weapon especially since the bridge just went right up to your spawn point so you couldn't even leave the shield to get to the two routes out of spawn.
Other then that, this video hit every single problem with these maps, especially with Scorch, Eeltail, and Mahi, what did the new designer DO to them between Feb 2021-Sep 2022
You may have apologized for the audio quality, but I appreciate it. It sounds like you’re my conscious, telling me about map design for some reason.
I remember when playing the splatfest world premiere, the final match I played just as the time was ending was on Mahi Mahi resort, we got team wiped 30 seconds into the match and I’m not kidding when I say we spent the entire 2 and a half remaining minutes just getting killed in spawn over and over and over again. Of course I was still going to get the game because I love Splatoon but I wouldn’t be surprised if first time players were completely turned away by this sort of stuff, because the maps are absolutely horrible to play on :(
They should've added Snapper Canal, The Reef, and all the old versions of the Splatoon 1 maps that weren't added to 2 besides Saltspray.
Snapper Canal would fit the whole chaos vibe, but they would probably condense it into a narrow rectangle 😑
wait, why was saltspray rig so bad? i dont remember it being that bad
@@LetsPlayWoomy8835think it was so bad they literally removed the map off rainmaker rotation. i remember playing it a few times and i never saw it again. the map itself is just….so small and narrow
@starglaze- oh
sounds like a perfect fit for splatoon 3 with its small maps
Weirdly enough I do not enjoy playing chargers in splatoon 3s small and cramped maps, beside that I just miss the bigger maps. Brinewater springs is my least favorite to play on
I'm scared that nintendo is afraid to make much needed but very big changes to these maps. The design is atrocious and completely throws off the balance of the weapons
I used to be a splat roller main, but not being able to flank and shooters being better in terms of balance make the weapon a lot less fun :/
Thankku so much for this video I had a hard time with these new maps. You really helped me. Only nitpick I have is the weird echoey microphone in some places
I’ve been an Octobrush main for all 3 games, but 3 seriously is making me re consider, it’s so bad
I can't get into mid or behind the enemy because of chargers dominating the map :(. ~A brush main.
I skipped splat 2 and whrn i saw starfish mainstage and say all those inkanle walls i was genuinely confused on if they were actually inkable. I played splatoon 1. I recently went back and oh my god. Those maps had inkable walls!!!
It's gone from interesting strategy to "haha, I'm gonna stop the whole game with my bomb/special", which of course happens every two seconds.
scorch gorge could be better with two zones, more cover in spawn. i would specifically change the middle rock to be much taller with no reachable top, like the masts of manta maria and have a ring of grates all around, this locks down long range sightlines. finally add an enemy spunge on the right side of snipe for a flank that can be closed through map control.
Nintendo really needs to listen to the community and rework mahi and hammerhead, poor map design and shooter privilege is bringing down the games, you made a good point at the end of the video, I’m hoping Nintendo did learn there mistake and is aiming towards better map design
Agreee, even with weapons. I feel like I keep playing against the same 7 weapons maximum. They need to start buffing other weapons class. The game, imo, is a little stale right now.
If they do listen to the community, is it one message they are listening or so many different messages that they will have a hard time knowing which one to follow? These are problem indeed with not enough flank, but if some part of the community says the opposite and says instead that theres another problem, which part do you listen to.
@@charlestrudel8308 @prochara just released a 30 minute video about the topic and one of the points he made is how a lot of the weapons can’t flourish themselves cause the maps don’t work
@@bombpwr when i speak about general feeling of the community, i also include in this the japanese of said community. if both sides are saying the same thing, compiling all this information and making the change will still take around 6 months... all these changes will take time if they do happen. Lets also keep in mind that this game as for only recurring revenu the 2$ we pay per month for nso while any other live service have way more recurring revenu with MTX everywhere or minimum a battle pass at 15 per month.
I thought I'm the only one who don't have fun in Splatoon anymore. In Splatoon 1 it was more about aim and accuracy than specials. They charged slower and it was more about luck to hit someone with them (yes even Kraken was easy to avoid). 10 to 20 kills every match was average score for me (until cheaters started to ruin game).
Splatoon 2 was little more chaotic and hectic. Specials charged little faster but still manageable and aim and accuracy was still a thing but it was more and more about luck than anything else.
Splatoon 3 is pure chaos. Ignoring connection issues every second match, maps are narrowed to the point that win or lose many times depend on who got sniper in their team. And it's not about aim an accuracy anymore, but your ability to avoid specials every 5 seconds.
PvP mode without specials would be cool. Focusing only on aim, accuracy and skills could bring back that missing fun factor. But I'm sure that actual map designs isn't favorable for this idea.
Only fun thing in Splatoon 3 for me is Salmon Run. PvP is not fun anymore and Splatfests loses their charm already. (Nintendo should bring back Shifty Stations to make Splatfests little more interesting.)
Mahi Mahi in Splatoon 3 is barely reminiscent of the og Mahi Mahi since the map was changed so much (and for the worst).
Without Strong Brellas you can't approach safely. Without side routes you can't approach safely. Without Specials you can't approach safely. Without a charger to bully other chargers you can't approach safely.
See the issue here?
Yeah, I see it.
We need to encourage more people to play chargers (also buff the brellas please).
When there are no chargers I actually quite like metalworks zones, but Undertow is by far my least favorite new map in 3 easily, heck even just in general I think it might be my least favorite.
One of the best videos I've seen talking about the maps, you hit the nail on the Hammerhead.
pun intended?
@@LetsPlayWoomy8835 Absolutely intended
@@AncroAnnaki nice
I've played this game a long time and only now am I learning that people actually liked Mahi in 1 (I absolutely HATED it) and hated Walleye (this map was great to me, idk why people hated it apart from it being hard to approach spawn.) I never really payed much attention to any maps but Moray, Mahi (in 1,) and Shellendorf. Those were the only maps I recall ever disliking on any of the games apart from maybe saltspray rig (which was bad but I didn't mind.) The maps in this game I pretty much agree with every take apart from Flounder which I think is a bit too op for rollers and is a bit too tiny. Inkraiks would be really nice on flounder
Out of curiosity, what did you hate about Mahi? Mahi in Splatoon 1 is one of favorite maps in the series (if not my favorite outright).
Same I hated Mahi in 1. I was a dumb kid and fell into the water a bunch
@@edwheezer6231 (I mained bamboo and L3 for context.) The size was too small in the center making zones in particular a complete pain. The water on the main section of the map made it really easy for blasters and chargers to pick you off due to heavily limited movement (and besides falling in the water was a common occurrence.) Even though the center felt so oppressive the backliners like hydra and e-liter didn't have the worst time but that made things really hard for midline weapons (what I mostly play.) There were probably some more minor things but that is what comes to mind after not playing since 2 came out
OH MY GOD I HATE SHELLENDORF INSTITUTE SO MUCH!!!
Imagine making a game all about covering things with ink AND THEN creating a map where 50% of the middle is uninkable
The issue is the N maps aren’t designed for super fast paced game like this
Splatoon is not designed to be a fps game but Nintendo keeps trying force to be one
They are trying to to force the game to an fps E-sport rather then let Splatoon be silly game about squids and octopuses that can be a good competitive game on the side
Add in all the flank routes and get rid of most of the unpaintable walls that protect chargers from being as overpowered as possible
Stop making hallways as stages
as a splat charger and e-liter main, I gotta agree that the current maps are making chargers way too op
Kinda agree honestly. I also don’t enjoy having the full barrage of people’s specials directed at me as a sniper. It sucks.
A bit more balance would be best.
I honestly think I liked playing chargers more in 2 cause I had to move around more and think about how to shut down routes.
Camping a single spot isn’t my style of play and this game isn’t allowing as much variety of play sadly for anyone.
Great video! Subscribed. Definitely share the same opinions as you.
Small tweaks could make these maps great. Flanks on undertow, adding more rafts on Mahi and that iconic flank with the grate on top, side routes on like every other map, etc.
It’s incredible how Flounder is the best stage in the game, DESPITE BEING STREAMLINED, AND having that right flank tampered with to make it only semi accessible. That’s how bad of a state these maps are in :/
My beloved map of Museum D'Alphonsino was saved from the map slander.
Museum is still good even if they made some changes to it for the worse (namely removing another route onto plat in ranked aside from clam blitz but even then it's not the same as it was in splatoon 1)
I love chargers, every charger that is, but do you know why I am using splat charger and e-liter way more than the rest? because the lack of cover and flanks makes the others, more mobile alternatives less viable. I am a fan of the bamboozler (without damage up) because in the second game it was so much fun to fight other more skirmish oriented weapons as a quick sniper that can tap and keep tabs on damaged enemies, on top of that my purpose was to approach slow chargers and splatlings and punish them with my faster charge, in a sense the down time for charging a shot was also balancing in terms of reactiveness to a quick threat, in the new game, despite the bamboozler having a way better kit, there's much less fun to be had as both sides, because you can't challenge each other anymore in these ways. I hope they will redesign some of the worse maps or at least add so many new and improved ones that this problem becomes less impactful on the experience.
Honestly I agree EVERY single thing you said.
Splatoon 3 is fun BUT, It’s not the same. In Splatoon 2, (despite the broken stuff which I never minded because of Splatoon3 rn) to me it was so good. Even the Rank was so fun. But when I played Splatoon3, the rank is just HORRIBLE now. The maps (Mahi the worst imo) are so bad
Nerfing E-liter is not an option. They must redesign maps
Small albacore hotel is very bad in s3, I hope they add mahi into the game
(The joke is Small albacore is mahi for those who don’t get it 🙃)
For most part Splatoon 3 maps are okay, the biggest problems are the newer maps, but since theres so much chaos most of the time bcs of how fast pace the game is right now, e-liters have an impact for sure, but its nowhere near what this video says, its a bit of a exaggeration. The only truly terrible maps that need a rework soon is scorch, mincemeat and undertow because the rest is at least fun to play in some way.
I think the biggest problem they did in Splatoon 3 was played it too safe, but perhaps this was a way for if they so change it in the future they will have a simple base to come back too. My reason they might have done this is if they had made the maps more chaotic(even though this is the theme) then it could have been harder to correct that makes everyone happy. These aren't a good excuse in my opinion, honestly Splatoon 3 feels very rushed in several areas besides the campaign and animations. A good example is having ALL hairstyles available instead of making new and equivalent hairstyles. It's completely lazy to just unlock hair and I don't care what anyone says. I have full confidence in the devs but the reasons for playing it safe is ridiculous when they have two games under their belt. The maps need to be larger and have more fun routes, especially have obstacles and fun tools like we see in the storymodes.
Too add, funny enough the worst thing I have been coming across isn't snipers or Crab Tanks with Splash-O(which isn't that hard to beat, still annoying), it has been Booyah Bomb teams and Inkstrike teams that CONSTANTLY bombard the map in every mode so badly(in solo because atm i only have one person that likes to play consistently with me, and we don't vocal communicate yet) that you can't even breath before you basically lose unless you go in with an Inc Vac or better plan. I get better every month and week but it has been getting less fun due to more realization of how bad the maps are designed and how badly specials have become a roadblock. I am gonna throw matchmaking in with it too because I swear I get paired with just AWFUL players compared to my opposing team which nearly always seem to be people actually in a party. Nothing is more frustrating than putting faith in your random teammates that they know how to approach a situation then all choke at the worst times and you are left with them splatted or you abandoned as you are trying to capture the objective. I'm not saying Im the best, but I barely ever blame the enemy team for my loses and look towards my teammates more. I love Splat 3 and the series, I started playing 2022 with beating all of Splat 2 and then Splat 3, but I have followed the series since 2015. But more recently it has becoming very frustrating, especially with February(which i am glad it ending, an awful month like January). Like i said before, I have confidence in the devteam but these major issues with the game need to be fixed. I myself love the story and campaigns more but I absolutely love the multiplayer and I have similar issues with Salmon Run where matchmaking and levels need an overhaul.
To add onto the bigger maps for fun, I feel like they should make it more special friendly, most maps favor crab tank and trizooka and it makes specials like zipcast and cooler seem pointless at times
I think it is a lot of missed potential with most maps. splatoon 1 felt chaotic bc everything was different and was gimic based. in 3, everything is based on the rectangle or 3 squares glued together. i dont feel like they would change any of the maps with updates, it was a miracle they changed urchin underpass. in regards to mahi, i think they took parts of it and used them to make brinewater springs. if that spawn was on mahi with majority splatoon 1 elements then it would be nearly there or spot on.
How was it rushed? And how are hairstyles proof of that?
Dont even get me started on TURF WARS in these maps, Enemies can literally just run into your base and block you from making ANY progress and its not even fun anymore, everytime I see mahi mahi as a map option I die a little bit inside cause I know how its gonna be, one charger just camping the center platforms and being an overall nuisance
Even though some of the maps weren’t the best in splatoon 2 I still enjoyed them. Moray towers included. They were all unique and always felt fresh and new. The splatoon 3 maps got old quick. I might have to pay a visit to splatoon 2 because I miss interesting maps.
moray was a bad but funny one, always liked rainmaker on it
Still upset at how they changed Mahi-Mahi. It was my favorite map, but then they made it smaller :/
Comment.
Nah, but for real, said this already but this really opened my eyes to design gripes I didn’t even know I had. Well done man.
I’m glad I was able to help my friend a tiny bit with this video! Your style of making videos has certainly improved over the years and I’m proud of you for making a video of this quality. You know I don’t play splatoon much anymore but I enjoyed this video very much Ryan good fuckin job mate!
not even about how it feels to actually play the maps, in my personal opinion, theyre just. boring to look at now. a lot of them use a lot of neutral colors and have really uninteresting themes. eeltail alley and mincemeat are so ???? in what they were trying to go for? i get theyre trying to lean into chaos or whatever but theres so much more interesting ways to do it then mostly brown map #5
actually, what IS crableg capital?? or lemuria hub???? im so unsure of what those are supposed to be
love roboramen though…
What I find really funny is that the Tricolor versions of Hammerhead, Undertow and Mincemeat are all better than the regular ones.
Hammerhead made mid bigger and moved the ramp into the enemy base to the left-hand side, they also added a sponge to retreat out of mid and you can't access most of the enemy spawn.
Undertow got rid of the glass and made the sides slightly bigger, not much of an improvement but is still better.
From the looks of Mincemeat datamines, you can go straight to the enemy spawn without having to pass over the grates, there's an escape sponge to retreat over the walls in mid, and there's a car in front of the sniper perch that completely obscures the entire left side of the map.
It's unfortunate that they actually put so much effort into these versions of the stages, considering they're only playable for a limited time and have a completely different playstyle than any other mode.
What splatfest did Hammerhead has a tricolour stage?
@@optimism1434 Gear v Grub v Fun. Though the odds of actually getting to play a Tricolor during that fest were miniscule (About 2% for Gear, 3% for Grub, and 20% for Fun)
Splatoon 1 is my favorite because the stages were all weird and had a stupid amount of ways to get around everything. I don't care at all about eSports or really anything competitive about Splatoon. I cannot stand 3s stages. They're all bland, flat and boring. I don't get how people enjoy these Tetris pieces with like 2 paths that take you to the exact same spot
Islike they forgot how to design maps after Splatoon for the WiiU.
and now they also added aerospray gold with SPRINKLER AND BOOYAH BOMB. "we're trying to get rid of special spam" MY ASS, that weapon is basically just shoot for a few seconds and then you have your super wich you can immediately use upon getting to mid. and booyah bomb is so strong in splatoon 3, cause the maps funnel everyone into the middle, one well placed booyah bomb and it destroys the entire enemy team.
i try to have fun, i try to use the new painbrush [very ironic name i know] but every single time i do, either its a team using aerospray or some other weapon with booyah bomb, tentamissiles, triple inkstrike or killer wail 5.0, or its a full team running long range weapons that i cant deal with even though the painbrush has a [slightly] longer range than the octobrush and regular inkbrush.
this game is being ruined by the meta and by the terrible maps that make booyah bomb, triple instrike and other busted specials even harder to deal with.
i want to like splatoon 3, but every step of the way the game makes it so hard to enjoy.
By Splatoon 4 we’ll have maps that are under 1000p total 💀
During Splatoon 1, Mahi-Mahi & Hammerhead were two of my favorite maps, the difference on Hammerhead now is vast, they're two completely different maps. I was crazy, I'd happily run down those grates, not recommended but it was FUN! There's this spot in the middle that has cover, there's one for either end so it was common place to exchange bombs there or if you're like me & had a sprinkler (played the N-Zap 89), you'd make them think you're hiding there when really, you sneaked away to build up your ink strike, fire it in the spot where the enemies are ducking for cover, then you make your way through & trip the enemy team on the other side. I was not kind on that map, typically I was a very passive player but something about old Hammerhead pushed a more aggressive side for me.
As for mentioning the narrow halls in Walleye, I did not like that map in Splatoon 2 but I enjoyed it in 1, those narrow halls were life savers when I was spawn trapped & yeah, they usually had eyes on those halls but I always ran a weapon with seekers when Walleye was in rotation, I was that one crazy person you never see that loves the Carbon Roller Deco for its Seeker rush. If the other team gets too cocky, I'd toss a seeker at them down that little hall, it either got them out of the way or splatted them. It didn't always work but when it did, gave me a good laugh. Without Seekers, Walleye became more difficult & not as fun, I always had fun on that map in the first game.
They murdered Mahi-Mahi Resort, trying to explain how amazing it was in the first game to my friends, I can't simply do it justice, I wish I could just screenshare gameplay on my Wii U or something for my friends so they can see it for themselves. If the Splatoon 1 servers are still live if any of them visit me in the future, I could show them in person, my Wii U is still in great shape. I wish we could of gotten the Mahi-Mahi from the first game in 3. Like I was totally on board with old maps being revived because when it happened in 2, they actually improved upon them. I like 2's Camp Triggerfish more than 1. I use to hate Moray Towers because it was a sniper's paradise but with some changes they did in 2, it was like a playground using an N-Zap. They ruined the returning stages, even Flounder Heights got hit, much smaller but they took away that path to the right of spawn & I use to really like that thing.
Mahi-Mahi Resort was fun, just pure fun. I loved jumping onto the islands, I learned better movement in the game due to this. This map came out when I was still new to Splatoon, I bought the Black Friday Wii U that came with Splatoon & Smash already installed back in November 2015. Mahi-Mahi Resort released shortly after I started playing so it's got some sentimental value to me, people weren't use to playing on that map & with the weird gimmick of it being surrounded by water & then the water level dropping, it caused for many funny missteps & while I was still learning it too, it ended up putting people all on a similar level, giving me an easier time to learn the game better. I remember loving to get the islands covered in turf war like it was super exciting for me to hop around, getting the islands & I was always thrilled for the water level dropping, more turf to ink, AHH! I wanted to be the first to ink some fresh new turf in the late game. It was just such a fun map & with different routes to move, I'm weird, I like taking different routes, I have my preferred ways of travel but I like moving in different ways too, it keeps my mind entertained. It was so nice that map provided that.
Overall, the maps are my favorite part, that & trying out different weapon kits. In 3, they are so boring!!! I love exploring new maps, sucks 3 ruined that. My favorite part about Splatoon 2 splatfest was shifty station since we got different ones to check out within the different turf wars. I personally love Bunker Games, how about instead of forcing us into mid, we just block it off near the end of the match? I thought the concept of it was hilarious & it freaked me out at first but when I got into it, I really got into it. I'd make sure to clear out mid when it got close to time & served as a jumping point for my teammates if they had sting ray or something else they could hit from the inside, I served mainly as a gateway. We'd never see that in 3 with how much they love forcing us into mid, imagine them denying us mid lol.
Mahi Mahi, my beloved... what have they done to you?
In all seriousness though, it feels like they wanted to do a lot more with some of the maps, but majorly backtracked on the concepts late into development. Prime examples are (as mentioned in the video) Scorch and Eeltail. Of course then you have Mahi Mahi which looks like the map designers were given a week to make the map without testing it at all. At least Hammerhead's redo has a proper inspiration as to why it is the way it is, but Mahi doesn't.
The mic echo makes everything sound way more powerful
Been finding it funny that even though the map design philosophy is significantly worse in this game, there are still more stages I actually want to play on within the 14 of 3 than the 23 of 2* (Mako, Sturgeon, Reef, Ancho-V v. Museum, Flounder, Mako, Sturgeon, Hagglefish)
Only by a slim margin of course, but man does having at least some of the competently designed Splatoon 1 stages return mostly in tact help a lot. Hopefully we see Urchin and Bluefin make the jump intact as well...
Would also like to see some of the more competently designed Splatoon 2 stages, namely Snapper, come in as well. Did not like that stage in 2 thanks to ray and armor's constant presence, but hoping the specials in 3 make things feel a bit better. (Even crab in its current state would be better than ray >_>)
*In general, mostly regardless of map/mode. However, there are still a few stages I enjoy specifically on certain map modes, Brinewater Clam Blitz, for instance.
**I dont think Sturgeon is actually all that well designed of a stage--it has a myriad of problems--starting from forced mid fights onto the fact that if you let the enemy liter onto your snipe in 3 they get full jurisdiction over the entire spawn ares. Just have a soft spot for it.
what ive learned:
splatoon 3 maps have no flank routes and are dominated by e litres
Why did they not just look at the most popular Shifty Stations from 2 and make them actual stages
The maps are quite bad rn, barely playable but god I see mahi and metalworks in rotation and I just play a different game
I find it funny that he main dish of multiplayer stages are awful but meanwhile Salmon Run has amazing maps like Sockeye and Hydroplant with the worst maps being Grounds (Really just hightide is awful, shout out to the flyfish that spawns over on the grates over there every time) and Marooners (I honestly don't find this stage to be that terrible, real hot take I know).
Minecmeat Rainmaker has two good push options since you can jump from the checkpoint to near the goal so you don't have to walk up the grate
EDIT: On Hagglefish you can also just swim straight up to the charger perch on Rainmaker, not just Clam Blitz
good catch for hagglefish! i dont really consider the left side that useful on mincemeat anyway, it suffers the same issue as going left on musselforge where you have to cross a grate bridge to get to plat, though the jump onto the other grate from the checkpoint is faster than the inkrail at least
I just wanna say VIOLATED. Mahi Mahi resort.. by a whole.. it's not even the same. Only thing that is.. is the water level,
Apart from the new maps simply not offering variety in approaching the center of action, I think that unique layouts from the first games are just fun, even if they make for a somewhat janky fight.
Splatoon 3 maps all feel the same. Splatoon 1 and even 2 to some regards had maps with an elongated layout, ones that are very wide but short, ones with lots of height difference, very flat ones, ones with big gaps or walls between paths, maps with several middle sections, maps where you start low and move upwards towards the middle, ones with round shapes and so fourth.
Splatoon 3 maps are have the same format meaning that there aren't any long narrow, or short wide maps, they all have the same amount of height difference, they are all concave towards the middle, there is always one middle section that is usually very open, and all shapes are rectangular. No rounded slopes, no funky pathways like in the skatepark maps, barely any underpasses...
When I look at a Splatoon 1 and 2 map layout, I don't need the background to recognize the map. The Splatoon 3 layouts all look the same from above.
As a Splat Charger main I dont Hate ppl Who use Eliters But the Way Nintendo hired these ppl are actually Idiots that do Stages With Choke points and Giving Chargers to go mid. Even in Rank, these maps in Splatoon 3 are the biggest problem. They seriously Killed The old Stages from Splatoon 1 like Mahi Mahi Resort and Hammerhead bridge with a New and Terrible Changes. All of these are made of tetris which is dumb (Nintendo and the S3 dev in a Nutshell)
I remember me and friend were playing anarchy (I’m a splatling main) and it got to splat zones on scorch gorge. I had never played scorch gorge anarchy before but was pretty proficient at splat zones. It was a VERY painful experience.
trying to play dynamo on turf war mahi in s3 is like going through the femur breaker as revenge for dynamo being so good in s1
gosh this made me realize how much i miss the old maps :( you literally took all my frustrations and feelings i have towards the current maps and put them into words and made it make sense, great job
edit: also describing flounder heights as a breath of fresh air is so spot on and accurate, i remember playing it for the first time again and going ohmy god!!! there's alternate routes!! and cover!! and inkable walls! insane!! i really hope they'll realize what makes the current maps so bad, because holy crap, i feel like it makes some maps near unplayable
really nice video. agreed with most points. I have some gripes however. Undertow is not that bad tbh. the spawn is by far the best in the game. I do wish mid was wider and the glass to the left of perch was gone with a grate drop down with extended cover to block a charger or perch's sight line but other than that the map is primed to be top tier with some changes. Splat 3 hammerhead is a sidegrade to splat 1's as both had a really bad lockout issue. Splat 1 hammerhead was also a pain to traverse. I also have a theory as to why the maps got slowly dumbed down over time. During development, the devs might have had a demo to show to the execs of the current progress of the game. The execs were probably not fans of the complex map designs that made them good. Since the execs think the only people who play the game are younger people, they wanted the dev team to make them really simple, which in turn ruined them. This is just a theory though so take it with a grain of salt.
The spawn is definitely the best part of undertow, I agree