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Splatoon 2 Squid Research Lab (news updates on the game)

random25

Member
Speaking of controls, I wonder what will they do with gyro aiming when you use split joycon controls. Pretty sure it only follows one of the two when on the grip since apparently both have gyro each, and the grip does not do anything other than being a grip.
 
Have we seen box art yet? Cause Best Buy has it up.

5721523_sd.jpg
 

Trevelyan

Banned
Speaking of controls, I wonder what will they do with gyro aiming when you use split joycon controls. Pretty sure it only follows one of the two when on the grip since apparently both have gyro each, and the grip does not do anything other than being a grip.
This is what I was wondering as well. Heck, not just for Splatoon, but any game really. The gamepad felt natural since it feels like you're holding a camera and you just point it to wherever you want to film.
 

DrArchon

Member
Tiny Judd is freaking me out in a weird way.

In Splatoon 1 it's confirmed that Judd is only around because he was put into cryogenic sleep by his owner, meaning that in all likely hood he's the last cat or indeed the last mammal on a planet now ruled by anthropomorphic sea-life. So why is there now a second cat? Were'd it come from? Was it also frozen?

Splatoon lore is too deep.
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Main things I'm worried about is that the jumping to a teammate is clunkier, especially compared to the original, and now there will be no inkstrikes. I won so many matches with a last minute inkstrike in Splatoon.. I did like the dodge rolling and the jetpack abilities with the duelies though. I played it at the London event last week.

Wait, when they say it was no more ink strikes?
 
I don't know if it's been answered yet, but have they said anything about being able to switch weapons between matches without having to leave the lobby you're in?
 

Doorman

Member
I don't know if it's been answered yet, but have they said anything about being able to switch weapons between matches without having to leave the lobby you're in?
Nothing's been discussed about any game features or changes, aside from the weapon moveset additions (roller slash, swimming with a charger charged).

My personal guess is that regular turf war battles and their lobbies will play out basically the same way they do in the current game, so I think it's unlikely. Just my feeling about them making a decision to maintain quick game flow between matches.
 

noshten

Member
Squids have discovered Curling:


I nearly overlooked it, but I've noticed the existence or a new type of subweapon. This new subweapon is called the Curling Bomb. I was shocked to learn that the Inklings are familiar with the sport of curling, which may be the greatest discovery of all. Once deployed, the Curling Bomb slides across the ground, bouncing off walls.
We haven't discovered any other new subweapons, but we'll keep our eyes open.

My impression is that specials are not as game changing in 2. I would be surprised if we don't see something similar to the Inkstrike, though, since it's already pretty weak outside of Turf War and certain Zones maps.

We saw a Paint Cloud which rains down in your team's color - that's the special closest to InkStrike at the moment.
 

Geg

Member
Lots of people have already noticed this by now but the twitter put up this image on the new squid display during matches

C2hoWfBVQAEXUjv.jpg:large


The top of the screen now displays every weapon and when they have their special ready. In Splatoon 1 you could technically tell which weapon is alive and dead a time if you're really observant, because each squid at the top of the screen corresponds to what order the Inklings appear in on the spawn point at the beginning of the game, but now being able to just see what weapons are active or dead and which have their specials ready to use is really nice.
 

D.Lo

Member
Nothing's been discussed about any game features or changes, aside from the weapon moveset additions (roller slash, swimming with a charger charged).

My personal guess is that regular turf war battles and their lobbies will play out basically the same way they do in the current game, so I think it's unlikely. Just my feeling about them making a decision to maintain quick game flow between matches.
Yeah I do love that, you get into a new match so quickly. No fucking around choosing weapons or maps. I never get to play the gamepad mini-game because I'm into another match in 15 seconds.
 

Doorman

Member
Hopefully they bring back some variant of the Echolocator. It brings more variety to the game to have some support specials

I wound up talking about this a bit at length in our Discord chat the other night, but I really agree with this. Stealth is already such a big factor in this game because of the nature of being quite hidden while in your own ink, and there's been an entire metagame all its own built around abilities and specials that make use of granting or limiting stealth as a result. All of it plays necessarily in order to check and balance each other, too. Echolocator, point sensors, haunt, cold-blooded, ninja squid...unless this entire grouping is completely removed, it becomes really hard to justify any one of them being axed without severely impacting the rest.

If not Point Sensor/Echo/Haunt in particular return, I do think there will be some way to mark opponents' locations. Perhaps an item that acts as some sort of proximity alarm, triggering a warning when an enemy passes by? There's got to be something.
 

random25

Member
I'll miss the Spongebob memes, even if it wore out its welcome by excessive use lol. Hopefully there's a form of replacement, even if it's Splatoon exclusive.
 
Lots of people have already noticed this by now but the twitter put up this image on the new squid display during matches

C2hoWfBVQAEXUjv.jpg:large


The top of the screen now displays every weapon and when they have their special ready. In Splatoon 1 you could technically tell which weapon is alive and dead a time if you're really observant, because each squid at the top of the screen corresponds to what order the Inklings appear in on the spawn point at the beginning of the game, but now being able to just see what weapons are active or dead and which have their specials ready to use is really nice.

It seems they removed the "Danger!" icon though, as well as the size increase/decrease of the 4 squid icons to show which team is leading.
Really smart thing to do when you don't have a permanent mini-map anymore! …
 

NimbusD

Member
Yeah, the analog stick is right under the b button, Its pretty obviously in a bad spot. I wish they just mimicked the wii u cointroller, it made much more sense.
 

Ataru

Unconfirmed Member
No old specials are returning.

At first.

Nothing to stop them from releasing weapon combinations from the first game in a future update.

And Inkstrikes could still be done, you just use an analog stick to pick target. Same with beakons (buttons won't work for those).
 
At first.

Nothing to stop them from releasing weapon combinations from the first game in a future update.

And Inkstrikes could still be done, you just use an analog stick to pick target. Same with beakons (buttons won't work for those).

The thought of beacons without a touch screen legit sounds awful. Like absolutely terrible
 

J@hranimo

Banned
Yeah, the analog stick is right under the b button, Its pretty obviously in a bad spot. I wish they just mimicked the wii u cointroller, it made much more sense.

Because of this they made B button jump now. I think we'll all get used to that very quickly.
 

totowhoa

Banned
The original game had some lazy specials in some cases. These seem much more exciting and goofy by comparison

Bomb rushes were boring for sure. I'd like to see some new types of support specials too. Shield and the echo move were nice, but I'd still like a new take on support abilities.
 

MrGameBoy

Member
I don't get why they want you to open the map THEN select spawn point THEN confirm with A if you want to do an emergency escape. They should've just mapped it to the D-pad down button without any sort of confirmation.

Anyway as expected all points to Splatoon 2 having inferior controls to the original.

With the map open, you can also use motion controls to move the reticle to your desired location and then press A. As for "inferior controls", several gameplay videos show that, even with the map displayed, you can still move normally (e.g., Left Stick for movement, gyro for camera, ZR for main weapon, etc.), so it's almost identical to playing the original Splatoon except (possibly more convenient) without having to look at a separate screen.

His issue with controls (Right JoyCon, accessing B for jump between camera stick usage) would be easily rectified by having a controls customization feature, whether at the system level or simply for the game. Don't want B for Jump? Fine. Make it whatever you want it to be. X, SR, camera stick button... whatever. Let's hope the game has it.

For a game that encourages individuality and style, the sequel should definitely consider having more customization options control-wise. That said, I personally wouldn't want jump on L, as jumping while in squid form would be rather uncomfortable. (Personally, I'd rather have L be the special weapon button.)

Also, maybe I'm crazy and this wouldn't work as well as I've been imagining since the Wii days (because I almost never see anyone else talking about wanting this for an option), but I figured I'd prefer the aiming & firing aspect of a game like Splatoon more if I could move a cross-hair around the screen without that impacting my view while still being able to control the camera with the secondary analog stick. Think of a version of S&P2 where camera manipulation is necessary as it was to a degree in Panzer Dragoon. It could be even nicer IF I found that preferable in most situations but could instantly toggle back to a secondary control setup at the press of a button if I found that preferable for very special situations.

Yes, absolutely agreed! Hopefully sometime soon-ish (like say, when Pikmin 4 releases on Switch) we might get something like a Joy-Con Pointer (where the IR camera is actually at the end facing the TV, with both shoulder and trigger buttons underneath like the back of an N64 controller's middle prong) and a game update/patch to include support for this peripheral. Having IR pointer controls in shooters is so oh-so-good, especially when combined with the gyro as a failsafe for when the sensor bar cannot be detected.

Main things I'm worried about is that the jumping to a teammate is clunkier, especially compared to the original, and now there will be no inkstrikes. I won so many matches with a last minute inkstrike in Splatoon.. I did like the dodge rolling and the jetpack abilities with the duelies though. I played it at the London event last week.
The thought of beacons without a touch screen legit sounds awful. Like absolutely terrible

Refer to my reply to PotionBleue's post. It's still possible to use Beakons and/or Inkstrike-like weapons with a motion-controlled reticle on the map display.

Speaking of controls, I wonder what will they do with gyro aiming when you use split joycon controls. Pretty sure it only follows one of the two when on the grip since apparently both have gyro each, and the grip does not do anything other than being a grip.
This is what I was wondering as well. Heck, not just for Splatoon, but any game really. The gamepad felt natural since it feels like you're holding a camera and you just point it to wherever you want to film.

Me three as well. (I have yet to receive any replies to my posts with that question.) I wouldn't be surprised if games defaulted to motion controls being restricted to the Joy-Con R, though (as a left-hander) I would appreciate options for toggling which Joy-Con to use gyro when playing Wii Remote-and-Nunchuk style.

Did I remember it wrongly or was there a video showing that you could also control how far the curling bomb goes?

I believe the longer you hold the shoulder button, the shorter the bomb will travel. There's a circular meter (kinda like the special weapon meter) on the curling bomb to provide a visual indicator.

Actually, both of these are still in. The size reduction/increase for whichever team is in danger/doing well just isn't as dramatic as before.

Also replying to confirm Azure J's posts. I think the lack of the squids' cartoony eyes makes the visual cue harder to read. I feel the expansion/shrinkage could be better conveyed by having the squid icons changing but with the main weapons staying the same size.
 

Geg

Member
Yeah Echolocator and Beakons are two of my favorite support abilities from Splatoon, it would suck if both are gone.
 

phanphare

Banned
I'm going to miss Inkzooka the most for sure. :(

good riddance ;p

The original game had some lazy specials in some cases. These seem much more exciting and goofy by comparison

Bomb rushes were boring for sure. I'd like to see some new types of support specials too. Shield and the echo move were nice, but I'd still like a new take on support abilities.

burst bomb rush was life
 

random25

Member
An echolocator of some form will surely come back. Maybe they'll change it in a way like how bomb rush was modified to have a launcher instead of just walking around and throw them like crazy. What I think the new version will be is to plant an echolocator device on the map that does the same thing as the original one with a longer lasting effect except that an enemy can destroy it and cut off its effect sooner. That I think is a pretty good balanced version of it.
 
An echolocator of some form will surely come back. Maybe they'll change it in a way like how bomb rush was modified to have a launcher instead of just walking around and throw them like crazy. What I think the new version will be is to plant an echolocator device on the map that does the same thing as the original one with a longer lasting effect except that an enemy can destroy it and cut off its effect sooner. That I think is a pretty good balanced version of it.

What if they plant it at their spawn?
 

random25

Member
What if they plant it at their spawn?

It will take time for the user to go from the spawn point to the scene of the action. So while your teammates can take full advantage of the echolocator effect, the user then wastes a good amount of seconds going back just to make sure the planted device gets protected. So while that's a feasible strategy, it's not always the good one.
 
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