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So is SPLATOON really going to lock 45 single-player missions behind amiibo?

mclem

Member
Nintendo sees the amiibo-exclusive content as a selling point for the amiibo, and I'm sure that's true with some people, but I think the reality is people would still buy the figures even without the exclusive content. When I was at the midnight launch for Splatoon, there were 10 people ahead of me, and from talking to them, it appears none of them had a WiiU -- they were just there for the Wave 4 Smash amiibo. So it seems clear to me the amiibo would sell just fine without any in-game functionality.

So why don't all the vast range of other figurines sell as well as Amiibo are?
 

Neiteio

Member
So why don't all the vast range of other figurines sell as well as Amiibo are?
Not sure I understand your question correctly, but if by "other figurines" you mean non-Nintendo IP, well, there's your answer. I think amiibo sell well on the strength of Nintendo IP. People adore these characters, and amiibo are the first time many of them have merchandise. For many people, the in-game content isn't the driving factor for purchases. It's the characters themselves.
 

Neiteio

Member
slightly dumb question

are they ever going to sell the squid separate, or only as part of the 3-pack?
They haven't made any indication the squid will be sold separately.

I recommend that everyone interested in Splatoon amiibo find a way to get the three-pack, for the sake of completion.
 

tebunker

Banned
I think, even as someone who got the Splatoon Amiibo easily at regular price, that this is the worst implementation of the platform so far.

Honestly I don't feel like this is a cool figure with some neat bonuses attached, but rather blatant content stored away in what becomes overly expensive dlc.

It feels half assed. The game doesn't even write to the figures. I don't even know what it would if it could.

I think this just shows that Nintendo truly doesn't know what it wants Amiibo to be. It's clearly not a toys to life platform outside of one game, but it straddles this weird world of toys as dlc or toys with quaint little bonuses attached.

As an owner of the Splatoon Amiibo I'd have zero issue if they had offered the extra stuff as either paid dlc or unlockables. I want them to come up with something more, something better for Amiibo.
 

Neiteio

Member
I think, even as someone who got the Splatoon Amiibo easily at regular price, that this is the worst implementation of the platform so far.

Honestly I don't feel like this is a cool figure with some neat bonuses attached, but rather blatant content stored away in what becomes overly expensive dlc.

It feels half assed. The game doesn't even write to the figures. I don't even know what it would if it could.

I think this just shows that Nintendo truly doesn't know what it wants Amiibo to be. It's clearly not a toys to life platform outside of one game, but it straddles this weird world of toys as dlc or toys with quaint little bonuses attached.

As an owner of the Splatoon Amiibo I'd have zero issue if they had offered the extra stuff as either paid dlc or unlockables. I want them to come up with something more, something better for Amiibo.
I'm with you on all your points, except I'd note that an amiibo's functionality in one game (or lack thereof) isn't necessarily the full measure of its worth.

What I mean is, you're right the Splatoon amiibo aren't doing anything special — their content could've been sold as DLC — but at some point the same amiibo might be compatible with other games that might do more interesting things and add more value to them.

That's one thing that's kind of neat about amiibo — you purchase the figure now, but its value increases as more games are released that support it. Like a Mario amiibo now works in Smash Bros. 3DS, Smash Bros. WiiU, Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10, Hyrule Warriors, Wooly World, etc.
 

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
All they had to do to not fuck this up was:

1.) Make it unlockable through gameplay.

or

2.) Include a way to purchase it as DLC, and make it a bonus to those who bought the Figures.

It's not that complicated.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
Why can't they just supply enough amiibo so that it sells out in a week rather than minutes? At this point they know they will sell, why not just make more cash off them? I really wanted to get these but I can't. Thats money they're not going to make.

Some of them--like the Fire Emblem ones--are a combination of being overly detailed for fast production given they're hand painted and being from a smaller franchise where they don't want to risk making too much.

As the Splatoon Amibo are much simpler design and paint wise (but still look great!) I'm guessing Splatoon has just generated more buzz than they expected so they had fewer three packs than ideal. The inkling boy and girl were well stocked and still in stock some places.


They would still sell but it's likely that demand would be reduced. Nintendo wants to increase the desirability of Amiibos as much as they can.

Yeah, the scarcity generates buzz and has lots of collector types buying them who probably otherwise wouldn't just because collectors are drawn to rare/semi-rare things that may increase in value.

And the added game content can broaden appeal beyond collectors. I bought the 3 pack for the game content. The Splatoon characters aren't one's I'd be interested in owning if there wasn't some meaningful content tied to them. With the Smash Amiibos I just buy the characters I like that have cool figures to display as the in-game usage is pretty useless.
 

Neiteio

Member
Some of them--like the Fire Emblem ones--are a combination of being overly detailed for fast production given they're hand painted and being from a smaller franchise where they don't want to risk making too much.

As the Splatoon Amibo are much simpler design and paint wise (but still look great!) I'm guessing Splatoon has just generated more buzz than they expected so they had fewer three packs than ideal. The inkling boy and girl were well stocked and still in stock some places.
Wow, they hand-paint these? I don't know anything about toy production, so that's kind of mind-blowing to me that a person hand-paints each one.
 

tebunker

Banned
I'm with you on all your points, except I'd note that an amiibo's functionality in one game (or lack thereof) isn't necessarily the full measure of its worth.

What I mean is, you're right the Splatoon amiibo aren't doing anything special — their content could've been sold as DLC — but at some point the same amiibo might be compatible with other games that might do more interesting things and add more value to them.

That's one thing that's kind of neat about amiibo — you purchase the figure now, but its value increases as more games are released that support it. Like a Mario amiibo now works in Smash Bros. 3DS, Smash Bros. WiiU, Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10, Hyrule Warriors, Wooly World, etc.

It's also part of the problem though. They seem to be doing this haphazardly which is a problem. I like getting more use out of prior purchases, but this doesn't seem to be done with intent but like, oh we have these already out there let's add something in. It's a double edged sword.
 

mclem

Member
Not sure I understand your question correctly, but if by "other figurines" you mean non-Nintendo IP, well, there's your answer. I think amiibo sell well on the strength of Nintendo IP. People adore these characters, and amiibo are the first time many of them have merchandise. For many people, the in-game content isn't the driving factor for purchases. It's the characters themselves.

No, I mean the shitloads of existing Nintendo figurines. I'll understand it for the more obscure characters, but not the major ones.

I assume the reason Mario is common isn't because he doesn't sell!
 
All they had to do to not fuck this up was:

1.) Make it unlockable through gameplay.

or

2.) Include a way to purchase it as DLC, and make it a bonus to those who bought the Figures.

It's not that complicated.

they don't have to make it unlock able through gameplay...
all they had to do was have them unlock one or two things and not costumes, extra single player content and all the extra squid games.
that leaves so much content that half of us can't play and we can't even download it as an option.
 

Neiteio

Member
No, I mean the shitloads of existing Nintendo figurines. I'll understand it for the more obscure characters, but not the major ones.

I assume the reason Mario is common isn't because he doesn't sell!
I'm not clear how this goes against what I'm saying. My belief is that the in-game use doesn't have much influence on sales. People buy amiibo because they like the characters. Nintendo makes more of the figures they perceive to be popular, and I'm sure those characters sell well. They make less of the "niche" characters, and those characters sell well with their groups of fans. In either case, the point is people buy them, by and large, out of love for the character — not out of interest in the game functionality. There are people who will buy them for the game functionality, of course, but I suspect most people buy them because they like the character.
 

zeelman

Member
They would still sell but it's likely that demand would be reduced. Nintendo wants to increase the desirability of Amiibos as much as they can.

That's great and all, but demand has far exceeded the artificial shortage Nintendo created for these figures. I have to race scalpers to these things in order to get them at MSRP.

You can't "re-enact them all you want" without the amiibo. You can't access the charger, roller, kraken, etc., without the amiibo.

The amiibo challenges are similar to the special worlds in 3D Land, many of which took the same levels but put a new spin on them (i.e. time limits, Shadow Mario), only in this case you actually have new tools in your tool kit, which changes the experience dramatically.

The big difference with that is the Special Worlds in 3D Land is included with the game.
 

Neiteio

Member
The big difference with that is the Special Worlds in 3D Land is included with the game.
Personally, I think they should be included with the game here, as well. Instead, you have to buy amiibo in order to experience Splatoon's equivalent of 3D Land's Special Worlds (and to get the gear, skins, arcade games, etc).
 
When I was young and played Pokemon, I would always see those Pokemon that you had to trade in order to make them evolve unobtainable, not because I didn't have someone else with the game around me, but because Link Cables were simply unobtainable.

No matter where I would look, I would never find one and, if I ever did, they were overpriced as hell, and my 10 y/o self didn't have the money to buy a Link Cable that was as expensive as a brand new game!

This is how I feel about amiibo's situation.
 

Darknight

Member
I posted this before but yea I dont like it when a figure of sorts blocks content. Its literally paying for DLC as a disguise so there isnt a ton of issues with the community.

Doesnt help that these amiibo figures are really hard to get due to low stock and shitty online practices. I'd love to own some at retail price just for collection but no way i'd spend way more they are worth.
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
I'm not too pissed about this cause I managed to get the bo, and in the end all that matters is that I get what I want.

BUT, I think that all Amiibo-locked content should also be available as paid DLC. In any game where it's feasible to do so. Splatoon is an obvious candidate. SSB4 probably not so much.

The paradigm of additional content you can buy BUT if you have the Amiibo then you can unlock it for "free" feels like a good one to me. I'd extend it to make the Splatoon Mii costumes in SSB4 unlock by using the Splatoon Amiibos, in addition to them being purchasable.

Nintendo's still gonna wanna push this revenue stream though, they don't wanna neuter Amiibo by removing their innate game value. But they coulda pushed them more as cheaper "unlock keys" that span across games. A multi-title "season pass" of sorts. Sure, you can buy individual DLC for all these games coming up, but why not buy this Amiibo instead, and tap all the games to unlock the DLC for maybe a cheaper total price? If you use it across five games maybe it ends up cheaper than if you bought all the DLC itself?

I dunno, there are definitely options here. I understand why they AREN'T doing this, they want to really push the Amiibo via exclusive content, but the combo DLC/Amiibo system would be much more consumer friendly. Amiibo as unlock keys has always been a scummy idea, if they wanna push exclusive functionality it should be more like SSB4's setup.
 

Sandfox

Member
Nintendo's still gonna wanna push this revenue stream though, they don't wanna neuter Amiibo by removing their innate game value. But they coulda pushed them more as cheaper "unlock keys" that span across games. A multi-title "season pass" of sorts. Sure, you can buy individual DLC for all these games coming up, but why not buy this Amiibo instead, and tap all the games to unlock the DLC for maybe a cheaper total price? If you use it across five games maybe it ends up cheaper than if you bought all the DLC itself?
The issue with that is people would just by the cheaper DLC game by game since they more than likely won't buy every compatible game. I think there are better solutions out there, but we need to see what Nintendo does.
 

Neiteio

Member
I'm not too pissed about this cause I managed to get the bo, and in the end all that matters is that I get what I want.

BUT, I think that all Amiibo-locked content should also be available as paid DLC. In any game where it's feasible to do so. Splatoon is an obvious candidate. SSB4 probably not so much.

The paradigm of additional content you can buy BUT if you have the Amiibo then you can unlock it for "free" feels like a good one to me. I'd extend it to make the Splatoon Mii costumes in SSB4 unlock by using the Splatoon Amiibos, in addition to them being purchasable.

Nintendo's still gonna wanna push this revenue stream though, they don't wanna neuter Amiibo by removing their innate game value. But they coulda pushed them more as cheaper "unlock keys" that span across games. A multi-title "season pass" of sorts. Sure, you can buy individual DLC for all these games coming up, but why not buy this Amiibo instead, and tap all the games to unlock the DLC for maybe a cheaper total price? If you use it across five games maybe it ends up cheaper than if you bought all the DLC itself?

I dunno, there are definitely options here. I understand why they AREN'T doing this, they want to really push the Amiibo via exclusive content, but the combo DLC/Amiibo system would be much more consumer friendly. Amiibo as unlock keys has always been a scummy idea, if they wanna push exclusive functionality it should be more like SSB4's setup.
I got the three-pack, as well, but it bothers me that other people don't get to enjoy what I have. It makes me feel kind of dirty. Like I just got lucky. I could've just as easily been one of the people still searching for one. So Nintendo really needs to make sure these figures are available. Barring that, they should do what you suggest, and what I suggested earlier — make the content available as DLC, and treat the amiibo as a multi-game "season pass" where you get the content for free.
 

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
Code Name: STEAM had a scenario that was just about as bad, but I guess it got overlooked because so few people played it.

Doesn't it have something to do with the fire emblem amiibos? Saw some people posting about it during the wave 4 amazon thread
 

Riposte

Member
Doesn't it have something to do with the fire emblem amiibos? Saw some people posting about it during the wave 4 amazon thread

The issue is that the four amiibos unlocked four very unique characters (until they died, then you need to unlock them again). That's almost a quarter of the game's total roster and this is a game with PvP.
 

TDLink

Member
Well, an update to this thread, in light of the Jimquisition on the same topic.

I got my amiibo three-pack on the night of release. Last in store.

And it's actually 60 remixed challenges — plus exclusive gear, weapon skins, and three extra arcade games.

And it's all still bullshit. I'm lucky I got it, but everyone should be able to obtain these. The challenges are fresh twists on the single-player content that expand the game in a meaningful way. Completing them also earns you lots of in-game cash. And of course the costumes and weapon skins are great. So is having three extra arcade games to play while waiting for a match to begin.

I hope they make these amiibo readily available so others can enjoy the same content.

Sorry, but no.

I went in on the 3 pack with two friends (each of us keep one amiibo and we all trade them around to do all the challenges). I haven't beaten all of them but for the most part the challenges are absolutely non-essential. I haven't unlocked the Volleyball minigame yet but Squid Jump is much better than both the Race and Rhythm game, the latter of which is more like a sound test than an actual game. Granted, we should just have a sound test somewhere in the game, but as is the amiibo unlock is more the illusion of a game rather than an actual game.

All of the boy and girl challenges are literally just replaying the single player stages but using a different weapon. This no real extra content, it is just a lazy way to add more unlocks in. It's rarely actually a challenge (final boss with different weapons is probably the only exception). For the Squid amiibo it is again the same levels and most of the challenges are just speed run with permanent kraken form...which is almost impossible to fail considering what kraken form is. This means only the 7 or so ink saver challenges are actually challenging. As it's still just using the same levels it is still pretty lazy.

No one wants to do the same levels 4-5 times, with it very rarely presenting an actual challenge. Maybe roller and charger just should have been options for the levels, I wouldn't really argue against that, but seriously no one is missing out if they don't have these amiibo. The weapons unlocked are literally just skins of existing weapons, nothing new. The exclusive gear does look a bit cool but I'm already using better stuff I found in the game proper.
 

Neiteio

Member
No one wants to do the same levels 4-5 times, with it very rarely presenting an actual challenge. Maybe roller and charger just should have been options for the levels, I wouldn't really argue against that, but seriously no one is missing out if they don't have these amiibo. The weapons unlocked are literally just skins of existing weapons, nothing new. The exclusive gear does look a bit cool but I'm already using better stuff I found in the game proper.
I like all of the content and find the challenges to be an interesting twist, so I'd feel I'm missing out if I didn't have it. And I already prefer Volleyball to Squid Jump. But the point is that if someone wants this stuff -- whether they want the costumes, or the arcade games, or the challenges, or whatever -- they should be able to obtain it. So Nintendo should either ensure these amiibo are readily available, or provide an alternative means of getting the content. Because there are people who want the content and find it worthwhile.
 
This and the Hyrule Warriors Amiibo exclusive weapon are 2 implementations of the system that annoy the crap out of me. I'm assuming a lot of the lack of launch content complaints from reviewers would have been alleviated with the levels in the base game as bonus unlockables.
 

NotLiquid

Member
I like all of the content and find the challenges to be an interesting twist, so I'd feel I'm missing out if I didn't have it. And I already prefer Volleyball to Squid Jump. But the point is that if someone wants this stuff -- whether they want the costumes, or the arcade games, or the challenges, or whatever -- they should be able to obtain it. So Nintendo should either ensure these amiibo are readily available, or provide an alternative means of getting the content. Because there are people who want the content and find it worthwhile.

I mean yeah the worst part about Amiibo is particularly how they're stocked. Depending on the feature in particular they give to each game it becomes more of an issue compounding the situation.

That's overall one of the things I think Jim hit the nail on the head with but it's something I've felt has been a lot more applicable to the situation before Splatoon happened which just kind of falls under the below average acceptable use of them, if only because of the "content" it has being the equivalent to a box with a lot of bubble wrap in it and only one or two marshmallows in it.
 

Illucio

Banned
What I got from this thread:


Some people don't know how to rationalize.



I just saw someone arguing that he can't just buy Super Mario Bros Edition Puzzle and Dragons for $15, instead of buying both games that were bundled for $30.
The same could be with this thread someone is arguing they can't buy the Amiibo content because they don't want to find/get the Amiibo.

Only difference to the this thread's later, is that Nintendo has acknowledged this and is thinking about a solution. One of many possible solutions, Amiibo cards.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Didn't care about the three-pack, but found the Boy and Girl Amiibo and gave in. Surprisingly easy to find, in fact. Also found Silver Mario...aren't those like really rare? They had plenty of them!

I want my Samurai Armor!
 
I like all of the content and find the challenges to be an interesting twist, so I'd feel I'm missing out if I didn't have it. And I already prefer Volleyball to Squid Jump. But the point is that if someone wants this stuff -- whether they want the costumes, or the arcade games, or the challenges, or whatever -- they should be able to obtain it. So Nintendo should either ensure these amiibo are readily available, or provide an alternative means of getting the content. Because there are people who want the content and find it worthwhile.
If you want these things buy the amiibo you'll get a fun toy and it will unlock little extras in this and other games. I'm sure anything substantial to splatoon will be available to players as Nintendo have said.

price isn't nintendos fault, and you can buy direct from them which is an option people miss.
 
The issue is that the four amiibos unlocked four very unique characters (until they died, then you need to unlock them again). That's almost a quarter of the game's total roster and this is a game with PvP.

I think it didn't really get overlooked. It got easy on that front because, one, FE amiibos were technically intended for Smash more than CnST while Splatoon amiibos are obviously intended only for Splatoon right now, two, the characters were so unique they didn't fit the entire thing, three, no matter the quality, Splatoon's mission lockout is approaching 70% and not 25%.

On the "essential" argument; that's an absolutely subjective thing.
 

Neiteio

Member
If you want these things buy the amiibo you'll get a fun toy and it will unlock little extras in this and other games. I'm sure anything substantial to splatoon will be available to players as Nintendo have said.

price isn't nintendos fault, and you can buy direct from them which is an option people miss.
I already have the Splatoon three-pack. But what do you mean people can order direct from Nintendo? I don't think Nintendo sells amiibo directly.
 

SalvaPot

Member
I think, even as someone who got the Splatoon Amiibo easily at regular price, that this is the worst implementation of the platform so far.

Honestly I don't feel like this is a cool figure with some neat bonuses attached, but rather blatant content stored away in what becomes overly expensive dlc.

It feels half assed. The game doesn't even write to the figures. I don't even know what it would if it could.

I think this just shows that Nintendo truly doesn't know what it wants Amiibo to be. It's clearly not a toys to life platform outside of one game, but it straddles this weird world of toys as dlc or toys with quaint little bonuses attached.

As an owner of the Splatoon Amiibo I'd have zero issue if they had offered the extra stuff as either paid dlc or unlockables. I want them to come up with something more, something better for Amiibo.

Except you bought them. You wanted them. It was the sum of all (toys, extra stuff, unlockables, and the allure that you might not get them later) that made you buy them.

You are asking what Nintendo wants amiibo to be? They want them to sell. And sell they did.
 
I eagerly await some enterprising Chinese soul making a re-writeable knockoff amiibo base so we can get at these extras without the faff.
If it weren't for stock issues and horrendous scalping I wouldn't have such a problem (I kinda like the little figures), but the logistics makes the whole endeavour untenable to most fans, let alone the actual target market.
 
All they had to do to not fuck this up was:

1.) Make it unlockable through gameplay.

or

2.) Include a way to purchase it as DLC, and make it a bonus to those who bought the Figures.

It's not that complicated.

2 would solve my complaints, for sure. I want the content. I want to pay for it. I just don't want a shelf full of figurines. I just want to get the stuff digital. Now, I'll probably end up getting the Amiibo eventually, just because I want these features. But if there's one change I would love to see, it's your suggestion 2.
 
Biggest miss for me are the retro minigames. Squid Jump gets old FAST and it's not fun.
The singleplayer challenges I don't care about that much, I don't value replaying levels much. Should they have been in the base game? I'm not sure. It would've helped to be able to play singleplayer with different weapons just because it helps you get used to them, that is kind of a miss now that I think about it. But it's not that 'huge' that it could be sold as DLC for money besides Amiibo imo. It would have to be... very cheap.
 

TDLink

Member
Biggest miss for me are the retro minigames. Squid Jump gets old FAST and it's not fun.
The singleplayer challenges I don't care about that much, I don't value replaying levels much. Should they have been in the base game? I'm not sure. It would've helped to be able to play singleplayer with different weapons just because it helps you get used to them, that is kind of a miss now that I think about it. But it's not that 'huge' that it could be sold as DLC for money besides Amiibo imo. It would have to be... very cheap.

I haven't played the Volleyball one but Squid Jump is better than the racing and rhythm ones. So if you think Squid Jump is not great...you're really not missing out by missing out on the others.

I agree that no one would really pay for the ability to replay levels with the other two weapon types if released as standalone DLC.
 

Vena

Member
You can't "re-enact them all you want" without the amiibo. You can't access the charger, roller, kraken, etc., without the amiibo.

The amiibo challenges are similar to the special worlds in 3D Land, many of which took the same levels but put a new spin on them (i.e. time limits, Shadow Mario), only in this case you actually have new tools in your tool kit, which changes the experience dramatically.

Look at the time stamp of my post.

And I don't even agree with your statement that they are similar to how 3DL/W work. As I said elsewhere, changing the rules of the level is a design that is tuned, changing the rules that are on the player are not tuned or balanced (in Splatoon).

I have done the amiibo content and it is not very good at all outside of a handful of squid challenges. The levels just aren't made for the weapons and its honestly not very interesting to just "do it again but different" this time without any actual tweak on the rules of the stage itself (hence why the squid has some actually good challenges). No one would pay for these things as actual DLC,and I doubt many would even be enthused to play this even if it had been free. Its just a grind.

If you want to complain about amiibo, complain about FE amiibo and STEAM.
 

Neiteio

Member
If you want to complain about amiibo, complain about FE amiibo and STEAM.
You're basically saying you don't like the Splatoon amiibo content, so no one else can like it or should like it, and that we should complain about FE/Steam amiibo content instead. Which is silly, to say the least.

I genuinely like the Splatoon amiibo content. I'm not the only one. I think playing with different weapons and the Kraken power (the only way to access it in single-player) fundamentally changes the flow of those levels, and playing under certain limitations pushes your skills. It -is- like the special worlds in 3D Land. And I find it worthwhile and interesting. I don't care if you don't agree. The fact of the matter is there are people out there like me who would also appreciate this content. And this thread is about how Nintendo should ensure that everyone who wants to try it, can try it.

Not really that hard to understand. The topic is about how Nintendo is handling this situation for those who want to try the content. If you have any thoughts on how Nintendo should approach the situation, feel free to share your ideas here.
 
I'm seriously thinking about returning the game at this point. I was only interested in the SP which is about 5+ hours (and fine with me), but what really irks me is having only one weapon due to the Amiibo DLC. It's one thing if this was regular paid-dlc and I could pay it online, but now it is locked behind some expensive figurine that's sold out.

I really don't want to give this a pass and if the figures were available for a decent pricepoint and readily available ($15 or so) I would probably buy it but I'm not going to be to go hunt down these things.

To anyone that is playing the SP, even using one weapon, does the SP get repetitive?
 
The splatoon amiibo are especially gorgeous and there's only 3 of them so it's easy to get a full set, can't imagine why anyone wouldn't just buy them anyway
 
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