IGN: Splatoon's lack of voice chat is "cheap and lazy"

I'm fine with no chat, especially with how the map gives pretty much all the info you need - where you are, where your opponents are if someone sees them, where the paint is located, etc.

Good players and good teammates will rely on their own intuition and nobody will be at a disadvantage from opting out of chat. Once we have 4 v. 4 team matches with friends, however, I would like to see a chat feature enabled. That would make more sense...

Honestly, it seems like Nintendo's team spent a lot of time crafting this game experience and are making the conscious decision not to have it mucked up by a feature that likely wouldn't add much at all. :\
 
I am? Since when?

Have I been sleep keyboarding again?!

That's what I've been gathering from your posts but I might be misreading and if that's the case I'm sorry. I still don't understand the point of bringing up the child demographic though.


Oh true enough. BUT you don't see anyone else approving of a lack of options like you do with Nintendo fans in general.

Yeah I dunno man, my opinion is that Nintendo has some of the most toxic fans online. There's always a major flaw with each Nintendo system and this becomes each fanboys Achilles heel. Like I remember posting on gamefaqs back When the Wii was first shown off, ninty fanboys were going nuts over the graphics saying how it's gonna rock the 360 etc. Then the truth came out. Then they became all about gameplay and who cares about graphics. Then the Wii U was announced, repeat the same process.

It's just weird I agree.
 
It's barbaric to not have voice chat in a team based game. In every sport you cooperate with team members, usually by voice but sometimes there are signals. To not have it all destroys and changes a key aspect of gameplay traditionally followed by millions for years.


They had to expect negative feedback from this. There's too much negative here that outweighs the positive. It's clear because there's a thread about it and people are clearly voicing opinions.
 
It's barbaric to not have voice chat in a team based game. In every sport you cooperate with team members, usually by voice but sometimes there are signals. To not have it all destroys and changes a key aspect of gameplay traditionally followed by millions for years.

There are signals.
 
I don't think the competitive angle works in an argument for this game. The competitive scene at Squidboards hasn't even made a topic about voice chat and the owner doesn't seem to really concerned about voice chat either.
 
It's absolutely is a criticism to say a game lacks voice chat, and that it limits strategic options in a multiplayer setting due to that and that therefore it would be better with voice chat. Sorry you don't appreciate the criticism, but it indisputably is one. Next.

No it is complaining because you cannot back any of this up. Unless Splatoon was released at one point with all of those things, those are just things you are whining about. Criticism is the game not achieving what it is trying to achieve. This is the equivalent of complaining that a TPS does not have FP camera. Pointless and illogical.
 
Wow, this is still going?

Seriously, Nintendo could release Splatoon in a Battlefiled 4-like unplayable state and we'd have a 20 pages long thread of people arguing it's actually awesome because it gives you a chance to enjoy the single player content
 
I reject the notion that the lack of voice chat will significantly hinder retention. GoldenEye Wii had a very active online community without any voice chat.
 
Actually, Nintendo is suffering a pretty damn big backlash from all of those in the form of abysmal sales.

This thread and the previous one is a backlash, so I don't get what people mean about there being no backlash. A majority of the posts in here are either angry about it or replying to something dumb someone said, most of this topic isn't defending the lack of VC. There's many of us who think it's dumb that Nintendo didn't include it or are just indifferent to it, and instead we already made group chats in skype to prepare. Not everyone who doesn't agree with something is gonna spend their whole time posting about it on here, usually 1 or 2 posts to get it out there should be it. But this topic has pretty much devolved into someone saying stupid thing, then tons of posts going after it and mocking it and attributing it as the fanbase.
 
I don't think the competitive angle works in an argument for this game. The competitive scene at Squidboards hasn't even made a topic about voice chat and the owner doesn't seem to really concerned about voice chat either.

Squidboards has a total of like 1500 members and their owner is not even remotely the voice of the Splatoon community, really no one is. So not sure how this is a relevant point. The entire forum has 13,000 posts. THIS topic already has nearly 2000.

Also you're still wrong
 
You're comparing a 1v1 card game to a team based shooter? You don't need to strategize with your opponent.

Yup it's as dumb as the guy comparing Splatoon to 1v1 Online chess earlier. Ridiculous.

Wow, this is still going?

Seriously, Nintendo could release Splatoon in a Battlefiled 4-like unplayable state and we'd have a 20 pages long thread of people arguing it's actually awesome because it gives you a chance to enjoy the single player content

Is it sad that I'd almost expect this? Smh.
 
I don't think the competitive angle works in an argument for this game. The competitive scene at Squidboards hasn't even made a topic about voice chat and the owner doesn't seem to really concerned about voice chat either.

There have been one or so early on I think but really I imagine any of the competitive clans in Splatoon who would join up to play in the Friend Matchmaking would resort to other higher quality clients regardless. If you're in for the competitive aspect, you'd be willing to compromise and go with better alternatives. Insofar most of them have managed just fine in creating internal conversation.
 
Back when Nintendo (and diehard Nintendo fans) defended their lack of online play it was all about how joking around with your friends in local multiplayer was better.

Now, in defense of no voice chat, it doesn't matter if you can talk to your friends or not. The irony being that online multiplayer WITh voice chat is the closest you can get to recreating local multiplayer while playing online.

So anyone still defending no voice chat...go get 3 friends to play Mario Party on your couch, but make it a rule beforehand that nobody can talk or make any noise. See how much fun you have playing in dead silence. Then you might start to understand.


Thank you for this post.
 
I actually agree with Nintendo on this one because it makes perfect sense. Splatoon is supposed to be a family friendly game, so why the hell would I want to implement a system which will allow players to call one another incredibly shitty things? Any team based multiplayer game out there has majority of its voice chat users use it to say terrible things about anyone doing badly, especially in public servers/random matchmaking. If you want to play competitively in Splatoon with friends, then I can see why this pisses you off. But for a game that is aimed at young children, why would you want to put in a system that allows hyper-competitive players to swear at kids if they're not doing well? Just look at games like CS:GO, LoL, DOTA 2.

What about games like Destiny where communication is amongst your friends?

It wasn't until December that Bungie added the feature to optionally communicate with strangers. An option that can still be turned on and off with a d-pad.
 
and you can have an option for people to turn off voice chat if they don't like it

why is this so complicated for some

I mean I may be someone who doesn't care much about not chatting with random people, but in all honesty, you have to be blind on this if you can't see how this is another decision that handicaps Splatoon's lasting power.
 
it's creepy on all levels. A grown man yucking it up with kids on a game...yikes.

I play video games with my nephews all the time. How the fuck is that creepy?

As I type this I am playing with my 11 y.o. son and his 14 y.o. cousin on PS4. Not online but we are ...'yucking it up'

I know what the person meant....but cmon. Some of us grown ppl are not all pedophiles because we yuck it up with kids playing a game. There are some forums on the net that unless you didnt know or ask or investigate you would assume all were adults. Shocked me that some folks were still in jr high school.

And this was a site devoted to many things Microsoft. But...we were all yucking it up on a forum.

Some of the excuses, defense of Nintendo is mind boggling.

One counter argument I've seen presented in this thread is that the game is designed to represent strategy visually.

Almost ALL online games do this already, especially shooters. Splatoon doesn't have a monopoly on this. Some days I play COD online with zero audio, not even background, and I can easily be the top scorer because of visual cues.

I'm finding this to be a weak argument on the part of the developers and people supporting their decision.

Yup. Even when I mentioned TLoU....there is a map, and other visual clues is seeing bullets, arrows fly by, arrows sticking in something somewhere near you. Ppl that run show up on the map and you have limited use of Listening Mode (lets you see thru walls and finds enemies nearby.) And the enemy names are in a different color than yours. (your team blue, enemy red. Blue and red arrows for you and the enemy show on the map)

Voice chat is still nice and can add to that.

Some people on this site have defended:

- The lack of online in Mario Party 10 because "Mario Party is meant to be played locally"
- The artificial supply constraints of sought after Amiibo because "they underestimated demand"
- The fact that Amiibo functionality has basically turned into on-disc DLC because "it's minor content"
- Nintendo's Youtube creator's program because they're "protecting their IP"
- Nintendo butchering the picture of quality their legacy titles to "prevent epilepsy"
- Nintendo refusing to add GBA games to the 3DS eShop because they only offer "perfect emulation"
- Nintendo's decision not to bring the New 3DS to North America because "too many options"
- Nintendo's decision not to include a charger with the New 3DS XL because "it helps reduce environmental waste"

And many more. You're surprised by the fact that they're doing the same for Splatoon, an unfinished game that doesn't have voice chat in 2015? I consider myself to be a big Nintendo fan, but the constant excuses are embarrassing.



And now we have pedophilia accusations. Wonderful.

Amazing. And I guess I better stop talking to my son's 14 y.o. cousin because its creepy.

All this is Nintendo trying to continue to control what they think is the best for the gamer. For all the things they do thats good for gaming, they still have head scratching moments. Sony and MS too.
 
Now, that I think about it, this whole arguements was already made months ago when the dev made the declaration about no voice chat.
I guess people like to repeat themself and repeat cycles.

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Easy, because it makes you miss out on simple fun. Life isn't about getting everything you want, otherwise you will always be disappointed. Us discussing on a thread is not going to change anything, but just have you all waste breath. Iam no defending I think it's stupid splatoon does not have voice chat, but I will still love the game because I have accepted it's shorcomings and postive sides. That's the difference from immaturity and maturity.

If you put 'grasshopper' at the very end there it would have been perfect..such a deep and motivational message. My life has turned upside down.


I swear negative nintendo related threads bring out the CRAZIEST defensive posts..it's hilarious.

Now, that I think about it, this whole arguements was already made months ago when the dev made the declaration about no voice chat.
I guess people like to repeat themself and repeat cycles.

oh then Nintendo should have gotten shit on by fans and not really fans alike at the time for this. Got a quote for us to confirm this?
 
Oh true enough. BUT you don't see anyone else approving of a lack of options like you do with Nintendo fans in general.

No, the stupid is pretty uniform across everyone. Not just specific fans of specific platforms. You're describing your own projected notions, and how you feel about it
 
This doesn't make any sense. You don't have to interact with other people during a silent movie. The chatting function in a video game is not the same as a silent movie. They are not even close to serving the same purpose. This isn't even close to being a good analogy.

If they held an Olympics for mental gymnastics, you would probably win the Gold with that post.

I am comparing on the basis of what you posted. It is a great analogy.

And you are running in circles. It is irrelevant whether you think you ought to be interacting through voice.
 
Squidboards has a total of like 1500 members and their owner is not even remotely the voice of the Splatoon community. Don't know why you think that was a relevant point.

Well, not hearing anything about about from them seems like a big deal. They're the ones who see it competitively viable and want to make it competitively viable. They're only concern on the board is LAN options. The fact that little to know one there has made much of a fuss about it is strange compared to what I see here.
 
Back when Nintendo (and diehard Nintendo fans) defended their lack of online play it was all about how joking around with your friends in local multiplayer was better.

Now, in defense of no voice chat, it doesn't matter if you can talk to your friends or not. The irony being that online multiplayer WITh voice chat is the closest you can get to recreating local multiplayer while playing online.

So anyone still defending no voice chat...go get 3 friends to play Mario Party on your couch, but make it a rule beforehand that nobody can talk or make any noise. See how much fun you have playing in dead silence. Then you might start to understand.

I might try this now with my son and his cousin. I can guarantee that it would not be as fun.

Random ppl, I somewhat understand. But friends? No voice chat at all? I didnt have it when I played Madden and NBA 2K a few years ago. But we called each other on the phone and had the phone on speaker the whole time. I think we all decided we had to get some headphones with mics after a few games of that.

Why ppl are defending something that can be totally optional is beyond me. Are Nintendo's parental controls that weak?
 
Back when Nintendo (and diehard Nintendo fans) defended their lack of online play it was all about how joking around with your friends in local multiplayer was better.

Now, in defense of no voice chat, it doesn't matter if you can talk to your friends or not. The irony being that online multiplayer WITh voice chat is the closest you can get to recreating local multiplayer while playing online.

So anyone still defending no voice chat...go get 3 friends to play Mario Party on your couch, but make it a rule beforehand that nobody can talk or make any noise. See how much fun you have playing in dead silence. Then you might start to understand.
I've been browsing this thread since yesterday and I have yet to see a convincing argument for no voice chat. Perhaps if this was a different type of game, sure, but this demands teamwork. But you've basically summed up my thoughts.
Seems like it's only a "circlejerk" when the opinions don't align with your own. There's a reason why a lot of people are slamming Nintendo over this and it isn't because of some anti-Nintendo agenda.
Exactly. This is really disappointing and I hope Nintendo decides to implement voice chat.
 
Well, not hearing anything about about from them seems like a big deal. They're the ones who see it competitively viable and want to make it competitively viable. They're only concern on the board is LAN options. The fact that little to know one there has made much of a fuss about it is strange compared to what I see here.

First, there is an entire thread in the multiplayer forums right now with multiple pages discussing voice chat and the issues with it.

Second, it's not a big deal at all. They can *wish* anything, but it's such a comically tiny community that it doesn't represent anything. The community and the forum head can have a wrong opinion.

And additionally, this is about an option. You can include an option and still allow everyone who doesn't like it to shut it off. It's so simple and everyone wins. In this case, you pander to a small segment of the community who either can't parent or who are paranoid about any social interaction in a competitive setting and leave everyone else out.

In short:

In one way, everyone wins - both those who want and don't want voice.
In this way, only one segment wins - those who petulantly refuse to acknowledge the importance of voice chat in a competitive shooter of any kind.
 
There have been one or so early on I think but really I imagine any of the competitive clans in Splatoon who would join up to play in the Friend Matchmaking would resort to other higher quality clients regardless. If you're in for the competitive aspect, you'd be willing to compromise and go with better alternatives. Insofar most of them have managed just fine in creating internal conversation.

I remember Rapture had concerns during its first announcement but it feels like much of the conversation around voice chat has changed with them that it's not really an issue. But yeah, I guess you're right.
 
QUERY: is there something inherent in Nintendo that fosters the lack of options opinions amongst their fan base?

I'm seeing some bizarre things in this thread.
PS4 fans saying they are glad Sony denied them EA access says differently.

Xbox live being worth the monthly payment is the same for Xbox fanboys.
 
I actually agree with Nintendo on this one because it makes perfect sense. Splatoon is supposed to be a family friendly game, so why the hell would I want to implement a system which will allow players to call one another incredibly shitty things? Any team based multiplayer game out there has majority of its voice chat users use it to say terrible things about anyone doing badly, especially in public servers/random matchmaking. If you want to play competitively in Splatoon with friends, then I can see why this pisses you off. But for a game that is aimed at young children, why would you want to put in a system that allows hyper-competitive players to swear at kids if they're not doing well? Just look at games like CS:GO, LoL, DOTA 2.

You appear to believe voice chat only exists for people to say bad words to each other. It's the only explanation for why communication would mean "less friendly" to you.

Beside that, there a measures in voice chat designed to mute undesirable speech. It's very simple, it's effective, and it still allows the many benefits of voice chat to remain at the player's disposal.
 
PS4 fans saying they are glad Sony denied them EA access says differently.

Xbox live being worth the monthly payment is the same for Xbox fanboys.

I don't think most people are actually glad of being denied the EA access thing. I wouldn't buy it but it's still disappointing for those that do.
 
I don't think most people are actually glad of being denied the EA access thing. I wouldn't buy it but it's still disappointing for those that do.

That's his point. That the "Nintendo fans X" narrative is inane drivel. This is true of everything with fans.

TPS, FPS, shooter. They really are the same when it comes to discussing this aspect that they chose to leave out.

Sure, I was simply making note that the game is not an FPS. (Though there are differing rules of strategy to consider in a TPS vs. an FPS if only because of the different sight-options.)
 
Squidboards has a total of like 1500 members and their owner is not even remotely the voice of the Splatoon community, really no one is. So not sure how this is a relevant point. The entire forum has 13,000 posts. THIS topic already has nearly 2000.

Also you're still wrong

The forum has only been open for roughly two weeks so any comparisons in regards to users and even forum posts are nonsensical at this point.
 
I've been browsing this thread since yesterday and I have yet to see a convincing argument for no voice chat. Perhaps if this was a different type of game, sure, but this demands teamwork. But you've basically summed up my thoughts.

Exactly. This is really disappointing and I hope Nintendo decides to implement voice chat.

Have fun communicating in 3 minute matches with people mixed from different regions. everyone that played the demo from the US or EU often had JPN players in their lobby. Not to mention the teams get shuffled every round. With that kind of concept you don't have time to communicate teamwork, Splatoon is too fast and frantic to do that with strangers, and it takes but a glance to see where you need to be with your paint.

Voice chat would be welcome in friend lobbies for sure, however since they only get added in August we don't even know the details of a possible voice chat option.
 
QUERY: is there something inherent in Nintendo that fosters the lack of options opinions amongst their fan base?

I'm seeing some bizarre things in this thread.

Not a fan of Nintendo at all (or of the game being discussed in this thread) but: Options can be detrimental to the vision of the creator. If the creator wants only the voices of the characters (or nothing at all...I dunno if they have voices) to be heard, the option for voice-chat is a negative.
 
No it is complaining because you cannot back any of this up. Unless Splatoon was released at one point with all of those things, those are just things you are whining about. Criticism is the game not achieving what it is trying to achieve. This is the equivalent of complaining that a TPS does not have FP camera. Pointless and illogical.

Dude...just stop.

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Many of us have played the demo so you can't use the tired "you can't back up your claims" statement anymore. Looking at the gamepad in the middle of a match to see teammates is slow and makes you peel your eyes away from the action. There is literally no reason why voice chat is not in this game at the very least between people on your friends list. Using "yeah" and "come on" presets are not helpful at all, I need to be able to verbally tell my friends what to do considering the game is so tactical. You're basically trying to shut down any criticism towards Splatoon because you're mad that people want options which is the only thing that's pointless and illogical here.
 
The forum has only been open for roughly two weeks so any comparisons in regards to users and even forum posts are nonsensical at this point.

It makes perfect sense when you're trying to make an argument that it's a big deal the forum cares about something or not.

It's a tiny, irrelevant community right now that is so small it represents nothing. Voice chat matters, whether Squidboards like it or not. And including the option allows everyone to win, which not a single individual in this topic or elsewhere has been able to make even the slightest compelling argument against. I am STILL waiting to see such an argument.
 
Wow, this is still going?

Seriously, Nintendo could release Splatoon in a Battlefiled 4-like unplayable state and we'd have a 20 pages long thread of people arguing it's actually awesome because it gives you a chance to enjoy the single player content

Its not just Nintendo, its pretty much any beloved developer. Some people actually spun BB's pre-patch load times as a good thing because "they allow you to reflect on what went wrong".
 
That's his point. That the "Nintendo fans X" narrative is inane drivel. This is true of everything with fans.



Sure, I was simply making note that the game is not an FPS. (Though there are differing rules of strategy to consider in a TPS vs. an FPS if only because of the different sight-options.)

Oh, then yes fanboys say stupid shit on every console. It just seems like there are more on the Nintendo crazy side of the fence.
 
First, there is an entire thread in the multiplayer forums right now with multiple pages discussing voice chat and the issues with it.

Second, it's not a big deal at all. They can *wish* anything, but it's such a comically tiny community that it doesn't represent anything. The community and the forum head can have a wrong opinion.

And additionally, this is about an option. You can include an option and still allow everyone who doesn't like it to shut it off. It's so simple and everyone wins. In this case, you pander to a small segment of the community who either can't parent or who are paranoid about any social interaction in a competitive setting and leave everyone else out.

In short:

In one way, everyone wins - both those who want and don't want voice.
In this way, only one segment wins - those who petulantly refuse to acknowledge the importance of voice chat in a competitive shooter

That thread is back from April when it was first announced and it seems they came to a conclusion fast. While a minor annoyance there is Skype but it is agreed that friend list should at least have voice chat, same as my own thoughts and conclusions.
 
We've had this discussion time and time and time and time and time again. The problem was solved back on the first page. It sucks, but if you don't agree with it vote with your wallet. But here we are 33 pages later with the same cylindrical arguments.

"No voice chat sucks!"
"They didn't add it!"
"Because they didn't want to!"
"Why not add mute for those who don't want it?"
"Because <insert whatever weird or ok justification>"
<return to the top>

Then we get a list of all the things "defenders" have pushed in other threads, as if there's something wrong with having a differing opinion but only listing the most outlandish reasons. That's not conducive to a discussion, that's just straight up character assassination in order to make your points sound stronger. It's wrong and only brings out more hostility. Yet here we are.

As for the option, my guess (here comes my branding) is that they don't want to create an unfair advantage to those who choose to participate in voice chat over those who don't. The director said he didn't like shit flinging at him when he played and maybe he's right in some instance. Then again he could know the power of an organized team over those who have everyone muted. It is 4v4 after all, mute one person and that's a quarter of your team.

Removing VC altogether might not be the best option for everyone, but honestly it's a non-factor since the games are so fast. Some may disagree, but that's their opinion.

There's nothing illogical about it. It's basically telling you that they don't want to give you the power to potentially shit up any games for everyone else. Some people are just sick of voice chat and text due to the insane toxicity in online gaming now.

Not saying that they're necessarily right in their assertion, but it's not illogical at all.

Voicing your opinion by not buying it is not always the best approach. For one thing how do they know why you didn't buy it? Wii U sales are lacklustre as it is and if this game flops because people wanted voice chat it might be misinterpreted of nobody cares about the Wii U. What we are doing now is the right thing to do, we are voicing our concerns prior to the game being released and it still seems to fall of deaf ears. The lack of Wii U sales may get Nintendo to rethink their strategy going forward or maybe it won't. There are many reasons why the Wii U isn't selling and if Splatoon fails to sell well I don't see them admitting it was because of the lack of voice chat. I also don't think people care enough to just ignore the game because it does look very good. What we are saying is it could be even better if it had voice chat.

It's just a shame it's come to this. That there are still quite a few out there who have this ability to speak out on forums about why they don't like voice. Yet feel as though they have to use the voice chat function if it's there even though there is all of this toxicity they act like they can't get away from. What appears to be the most logical is that you can remove yourself entirely from that toxic environment while others can also enjoy communicating with each other if they choose. That's why they call it an option.
 
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