Splatoon 2: First Splatfest Experience
Last week, I picked up Splatoon 2 with some hesitation. I’m not a shooter player, and I started out being really, really bad at playing this game. I’ve kept at it, though, and have gotten better (still need a lot of practice though). I find it a fun game to pick up when I’m looking for something quick and energetic to play.
Last weekend was the first time I experienced a Splatfest. For those not familiar with Splatoon, this is a week where players choose one of two sides, usually something silly, then battle it out on a weekend day. For example, the theme of this Splatfest was Ketchup vs. Mayo.
Players had the week to choose a side and hype the event. Then, on Saturday, from midnight to midnight, teams battled for their chosen side. The winner was (supposedly) a combination of the most popular side and how many wins each side had.
I logged in on Saturday, ready to go but not sure what to expect. The whole Square was transformed into a big block party! There was a laser light show, fireworks, and live music provided by Off the Hook.
There were inklings of both teams happily partying down to the lights and the music, and billboards of user-drawn content on the walls, on flags and on signs inklings were holding.
Gotta say, it was riveting to experience that alone, and I spent a good bit of time just sitting in that environment, exploring. I was stoked to find a few different pieces of art from one of my favorite gaming webcomics, SaveState.
Too bad I couldn’t send a friend invite — he would have probably just been like “who’s this?” if I did. Just voted him up Fresh cuz that’s all I could do. 😀
Also saw a lot of other funny art, of course.
When it came to the actual battles, you went to the Lobby as usual, and Turf Wars had turned into the new Splatfest option. These were two rotating maps, but done up at night (you usually only see these during daytime). Plus one extra map made just for the Splatfest.
The majority of the time, my fights looked like this:
This was because Ketchup was so overwhelmingly popular that most of the fights I had were Ketchup vs Ketchup. The sad thing was, none of these fights actually mattered in terms of the overall score, because a win and a loss against the same team canceled itself out.
But the battles still went towards upping your rank and title. As you fought, your rank increased (faster if you win the battles and have a higher power rank). The title you earned at the end of the day dictated your reward after Splatfest was done.
Somehow, I pushed through long enough to get the max rank, Ketchup Queen.
The next day, I logged in to see the outcome of the Splatfest.
Wow. Amazing that Ketchup was so popular – I knew it would be, but maybe not 73%. I chose Ketchup mostly because I can’t stand Mayo, so I voted with what I’d eat, and for no other reason.
Weirdly, though, Mayo still won the day, even though the winning stats were really, really close. Some people are starting to question these outcomes, but you know, there wasn’t that big of a difference between winning and losing. Winning got you something like 3 more snails.
I was happy to get the Snails I did. I used one to open up a third slot on my shoes, since I like them so much. I’ll save the rest for whatever.
Aww… don’t worry, Dave. Marina is still pretty fresh.
