How should reviewers handle Splatoon's online being gradually rolled out?

It really is amazing isn't it? I have to hand it to Nintendo, they have crafted far and away the most loyal fanbase ever.

Some of the decisions were questionable no doubt. But it also isn't the same thing as for example a season pass in Arkham Knight, or an nearly unplayable bug ridden mess (MCC, ACU). You can argue the merits of the approach, but it's not comparable to those situations.

It's questionable, but I do see the logic behind some of the decisions (though it assumes the game is well received by players, and has a thriving base come August, on the strength of it's initial more-meager feature set).

I'd rather see the ire directed at absurd decisions such as no party system of any kind (and the one that'll be added in August is only helpful for people who can reliably get exactly 4 or 8 people on at a time; not 2 or 3, etc), and less importantly, the 2 map rotation deal.
 
Some of the decisions were questionable no doubt. But it also isn't the same thing as for example a season pass in Arkham Knight, or an nearly unplayable bug ridden mess (MCC, ACU). You can argue the merits of the approach, but it's not comparable to those situations.

I don't understand this argument. People put Ubisoft and Microsoft through the wringer for what happened with ACU and MCC last year. Warner gets shit on constantly for their DLC practices. This isn't a case of everyone just picking on Nintendo, every game company on GAF gets criticized for their bad decisions.
 
So, I just learned that apparently only two maps are available to play per every 4 hour period? Is this true?

That's like...what? Why? So any time I have time to play (a few hours in the evenings after work) I'll be limited to two maps for that whole session?
 
I don't understand this argument. People put Ubisoft and Microsoft through the wringer for what happened with ACU and MCC last year. Warner gets shit on constantly for their DLC practices. This isn't a case of everyone just picking on Nintendo, every game company on GAF gets criticized for their bad decisions.

People put Ubisoft and Microsoft through the wringer for releasing flat out broken products that didn't even work properly even months after release. People grill Warner for their DLC practices because they basically ask for +$40 worth of additional content before we've even gotten a proper trailer of what to expect from the game. With Nintendo, Splatoon are just continuing a core foundation with free content and everything we'd been shown up to this Direct is stuff that we will have at launch.

Even if you like to argue that Nintendo "cut out" material even though most of this is clearly late developed material, most of which was developed when the game probably entered it's shipping cycle, it's not even remotely the same situation. I don't know where we've suddenly gotten this insistence that post-launch support exists in some kind of vacuum.
 
I don't understand this argument. People put Ubisoft and Microsoft through the wringer for what happened with ACU and MCC last year. Warner gets shit on constantly for their DLC practices. This isn't a case of everyone just picking on Nintendo, every game company on GAF gets criticized for their bad decisions.

Yep ACU and MCC are totally the same situation as Splatoon.

Are you making comments like this on purpose just to stir things up?
 
I don't understand this argument. People put Ubisoft and Microsoft through the wringer for what happened with ACU and MCC last year. Warner gets shit on constantly for their DLC practices. This isn't a case of everyone just picking on Nintendo, every game company on GAF gets criticized for their bad decisions.
In my opinion it is a pretty big difference between releasing something broken and releasing something that lacks content at launch and being transparent about the issue. Both deserve criticism but the former is much worse.
 
Yep ACU and MCC are totally the same situation as Splatoon.

Are you making comments like this on purpose just to stir things up?

In my opinion it is a pretty big difference between releasing something broken and releasing something that lacks content at launch and being transparent about the issue. Both deserve criticism but the former is much worse.

People put Ubisoft and Microsoft through the wringer for releasing flat out broken products that didn't even work properly even months after release. People grill Warner for their DLC practices because they basically ask for +$40 worth of additional content before we've even gotten a proper trailer of what to expect from the game. With Nintendo, Splatoon are just continuing a core foundation with free content and everything we'd been shown up to this Direct is stuff that we will have at launch.

Even if you like to argue that Nintendo "cut out" material even though most of this is clearly late developed material, most of which was developed when the game probably entered it's shipping cycle, it's not even remotely the same situation. I don't know where we've suddenly gotten this insistence that post-launch support exists in some kind of vacuum.

Okay let me try this again. I wasn't comparing Splatoon's situation to ACU or MCC. The point was that a company gets criticized for the bad decisions they make. Nobody gets a free pass. I only brought up those two as examples to reply to the poster who mentioned them in the first place.
 
Okay let me try this again. I wasn't comparing Splatoon's situation to ACU or MCC. The point was that a company gets criticized for the bad decisions they make. Nobody gets a free pass. I only brought up those two as examples to reply to the poster who mentioned them in the first place.

I can respect the sentiment of calling out a company on bad decisions. It's why I make it a point to make it clear that there are things I don't agree with Nintendo's handling on this. That doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of points raised here that lack a lot of general perspective.

Some of it is bad. But that doesn't mean it's all bad.
 
Don't rush your games if you don't want bad reviews. It's too easy to release an unfinished game and release the content later, even as free. Especially for the price asked !
Nintendo needs to be called out on that.
 
People grill Warner for their DLC practices because they basically ask for +$40 worth of additional content before we've even gotten a proper trailer of what to expect from the game.

Even if you like to argue that Nintendo "cut out" material even though most of this is clearly late developed material, most of which was developed when the game probably entered it's shipping cycle, it's not even remotely the same situation.

Please tell me you're kidding... We have seen more than enough gameplay from that game without spoiling anything.

Heck, even then they've shown what you will be getting with the season pass. Which appears to be more content for $40 than Splatoon will have day one at $60, hypothetically
speaking.

Also for things being "cut-out", well they do have on-disc dlc that you have to unlock via amibos.. How is that any better than what Capcom did with MvC3 and got slammed to hell and beyond.

Best wishes.
 
Please tell me you're kidding... We have seen more than enough gameplay from that game without spoiling anything.

Heck, even then they've shown what you will be getting with the season pass. Which appears to be more content for $40 than Splatoon will have day one at $60, hypothetically speaking.

Best wishes.

I'm not talking about Arkham Knight's Season Pass exclusively. I'm talking about things like Arkham Knight getting pre-order DLC campaigns confirmed right at the game's original reveal trailer, the countless extra DLCs they announce for each game like MKX, Shadows of Mordor, Arkham Origins and so on. Sorry if I wasn't "clear" on the way Arkham Knight's season pass is still a bunch of bullshit.

Hell, Jim had a perfectly good video recently on how Warner is easily among of the worst in terms of bonus content. None of this even remotely compares to Splatoon.

Also for things being "cut-out", well they do have on-disc dlc that you have to unlock via amibos.. How is that any better than what Capcom did with MvC3 and got slammed to hell and beyond.

Yes, an unlockable outfit/perk is definitely the same thing compared to outright locking out two fully playable characters.

Not that I don't believe in Amiibo bonuses being able to be handled much better than this, but this is another flawed comparison.
 
I'm so confused/annoyed by the developer's decision to allow only two possible maps to be playable every four hours. I never really play games more than an hour or two a day, so I usually like some variety. I can't understand why they would do that. I mean, I've been thinking about it a little more lately, and that decision is approaching deal breaker status.
 
It really is amazing isn't it? I have to hand it to Nintendo, they have crafted far and away the most loyal fanbase ever.
It really is but lets just be glad that level of zeal is contained within the scope of just gaming and not wreaking havoc on people not unlike the current climate in the middle east.

Funny how the amiibo content was completed in time for release, but basic functions like custom parties and extra game modes are promised for the future. Not a cynical cash grab at all, right?
The Big N is clearly looking out for their main source of income: Scalpers.

Didn't the game you have an avatar of only launch with 7 maps?
LOL

TLoU also has a ~12 hour single player....
 
It really is but lets just be glad that level of zeal is contained within the scope of just gaming and not wreaking havoc on people not unlike the current climate in the middle east.

The Big N is clearly looking out for their main source of income: Scalpers.


LOL

TLoU also has a ~12 hour single player....

Yea Nintendo fans are comparable to suicide bombers in the middle east. Lol.
 
I really hope Nintendo doesn't get rewarded for this kind of scummy business practice. It's fine to take a full game and add more, I'm all for that. This is not a full game, you're paying for half of it and the promise that you'll get more in the future.
 
I really hope Nintendo doesn't get rewarded for this kind of scummy business practice. It's fine to take a full game and add more, I'm all for that. This is not a full game, you're paying for half of it and the promise that you'll get more in the future.

Nintendo is not trying to scam you. They have almost zero third party support, they need to get games out. The game was just not done. Simple.

They thought it necessary to release it now to get a game on the calendar then free content later.
 
It really is but lets just be glad that level of zeal is contained within the scope of just gaming and not wreaking havoc on people not unlike the current climate in the middle east.

J7fzrdc.gif
 
It really is but lets just be glad that level of zeal is contained within the scope of just gaming and not wreaking havoc on people not unlike the current climate in the middle east..

LMAO WOW

Yes, an unlockable outfit/perk is definitely the same thing compared to outright locking out two fully playable characters.

Not that I don't believe in Amiibo bonuses being able to be handled much better than this, but this is another flawed comparison.

I was told that the amibos also unlock a substantial amount of extra stages for single player. I don't know how that falls under outfits/perks. If this isn't the case, I apologize for not investigating on the matter before posting.

Best wishes.
 
LMAO WOW



I was told that the amibos also unlock a substantial amount of extra stages for single player. I don't know how that falls under outfits/perks. If this isn't the case, I apologize for not investigating on the matter before posting.

Best wishes.

Stages from the regular single player played under different conditions. Like for example limited ink, different weapon etc.
 
I was told that the amibos also unlock a substantial amount of extra stages for single player. I don't know how that falls under outfits/perks. If this isn't the case, I apologize for not investigating on the matter before posting.

Best wishes.

It is true that you have to go through "single player" levels to get that gear, but the stages are just variations of the same levels that already exist in the normal campaign, except you're limited to only a different type of weapon. In the grand scheme of things, the "single player" bonus is incredibly inconsequential.
 
Review it the way it's released. If some modes are locked for a few months and there's only a little content in the beginning then the game's score should be knocked down.
 
We all know a lot of people on GAF loves unfinished games and are willing to pay 20 bucks for content that should be given for free. Just look at how many OTs Destiny has.
 
So they've been transparent about what FREE content they are going to add in the future and we should blame them for that ? We don't even have a precise view on the actual content available at launch (which is more than we expected, especially with single player).

They're not trying to push a season pass, this stuff is free. Judging by the comments in this thread they should just have shut up about it and everybody would be happy; and then anounce the free updates a few days early and everybody would be even happier. It's like having more transparency is a bad thing.
 
The content the amiibo lock is basically the equivalent of a challenge mode in some games, though probably not as challenging. Think NSMBU's Challenge Mode where some of it is just reusing some existing levels while others are specific tasks you have to do.

Though the amiibo also have gear and an arcade mini-game locked behind them.
 
I really hope Nintendo doesn't get rewarded for this kind of scummy business practice. It's fine to take a full game and add more, I'm all for that. This is not a full game, you're paying for half of it and the promise that you'll get more in the future.

What the hell "reward" are you talking about? What undeserved benefit does Nintendo get from this?

They're making the full content no matter what. The cost to Nintendo is the **exact same** as if they just delayed the game to August. The only difference is that the consumers get access to the content earlier than they would otherwise.

This is complete benefit to the players and not to Nintendo, and if anything, can only hurt Nintendo by releasing their game to be judged prematurely and opening up to lower sales, which is the most critical period for them.
 
The content the amiibo lock is basically the equivalent of a challenge mode in some games, though probably not as challenging. Think NSMBU's Challenge Mode where some of it is just reusing some existing levels while others are specific tasks you have to do.

Though the amiibo also have gear and an arcade mini-game locked behind them.

i thought the arcade mini-game doesn't require amiibo?
 
I was told that the amibos also unlock a substantial amount of extra stages for single player. I don't know how that falls under outfits/perks. If this isn't the case, I apologize for not investigating on the matter before posting.

Best wishes.

If you're still reading this, the Amiibo don't unlock extra stages afaik. It's basically a challenge mode where the player is forced to replay a stage under a set condition i.e. "Play stage 7 using only the roller" and whatnot. Completing the challenges apparently unlocks costumes which is something I'm a bit bitter about considering they make a big deal out of customizing your character
 
The game was just not done. Simple.

Do we really know that? Or is it a possibility that Nintendo, always a wild card in the 'weird decisions that nobody really would have predicted' kind of category, decided to plan the development and release to this particular schedule?

Maybe there was no point where they decided to release it "even though it's not finished". Maybe they had a kind of gradual roll-out in mind and this is the result of the development that occurred due to that strategy.

Perhaps it is as finished as it was intended to be at launch.
All I see is speculation that it is being rushed out in an unfinished state.

Anyone have some receipts to show to Whitney?
 
I really hope Nintendo doesn't get rewarded for this kind of scummy business practice. It's fine to take a full game and add more, I'm all for that. This is not a full game, you're paying for half of it and the promise that you'll get more in the future.

Full blown single player campaign, local multiplayer, online multiplayer, and several arcade style games all available at launch.

Call me crazy, but that doesn't sound like half a game to me.
 
Did people freak out about gta v doing this? I'm not trying to be snarky I just don't recall.

They were upset, but I think most people were expecting to be focused on GTA's story mode. I can't say I'm even mildly interested in splatoon's single player.
 
Hmmm seems a bit barebones with the MP content.
But SP should make up for that, seeing as it looks quality.

The lacking features for online play though is laughable.

I mean no voice chat, party up with friends etc is crazy for an online game at launch
 
I don't understand this argument. People put Ubisoft and Microsoft through the wringer for what happened with ACU and MCC last year. Warner gets shit on constantly for their DLC practices. This isn't a case of everyone just picking on Nintendo, every game company on GAF gets criticized for their bad decisions.
The other examples involve putting a ton of content behind a paywall then pushing it hard pre-launch, and releasing blatantly broken barely functional crap. You don't see the distinction?

As I said I'm just pissed about the lack of a proper party system. Even after the August update from the sounds of it.
 
As I said I'm just pissed about the lack of a proper party system. Even after the August update from the sounds of it.

Between this and supermanisdead's comment about the Amiibo stuff being ready at launch, we have a good idea of where their priorities lied.

Not incomprehensibly, though. They'll probably make more money off the Amiibos off the bat than the game itself.
 
Don't rush your games if you don't want bad reviews. It's too easy to release an unfinished game and release the content later, even as free. Especially for the price asked !
Nintendo needs to be called out on that.

How is the game rushed? Have you played Splatoon? In what ways is it unfinished?
 
For basically every multiplayer game, the community will be the strongest in the first few weeks of the game being released. People saying just wait until August seem completely oblivious to how multiplayer works - let alone for an unproven new IP from a game with, at best, a few frustrating omissions. If somebody buys Splatoon, and is angered by the severe lack of multiplayer maps and modes, the fact that in a couple months there will be new maps and modes for free isn't going to make that person less dissatisfied whenever they are wanting to play on different maps or different modes.

Imagine if all you could play in Halo 5 when it launches is Capture the Flag and a ranked Capture the Flag to be unlocked some indeterminate amount of time after launch (but probably not long after), and there were only 5 maps. People would riot! If 343i promise to release new maps and modes over the next 3 months for free, that wouldn't somehow make the lack of content more palateable when the person is most excited to play the game.

I wouldn't exactly call what Nintendo is doing as something that is anti-consumer; but I also feel that Nintendo is releasing a game in an unfinished state in order to hit a release date. That's not something ANYBODY should defend. Either Nintendo is releasing an unfinished game and updating content that was intended to be in the game over the next few months, or they are just releasing a game with a seemingly laughable amount of content (at least multiplayer wise) and giving consumers free DLC over the next few months. Neither of those scenarios change the fact that, again, from what it seems, Nintendo is launching a game for full price that is lacking in content.

Maybe Splatoon launches and has a meaty and very fun campaign. Maybe the multiplayer maps and modes are so good that how little is there isn't a big deal. Maybe Splatoon creates a substantial hardcore following and a consistent userbase over the next few years.

But the idea that a publisher can release a multiplayer centric game with that little content at launch because they will eventually release more for free is not a precedent that I want to be set. Being transparent about a crappy thing doesn't make that crappy thing no longer crappy.
 
Top Bottom