Splatoon! Bow to your immortal queen, and indisputed best girl- Marie

[Solkia]

Can we stop acting like this is 2004?

 

Voice chat in multiplayer games, especially multiplayer team co-op games is essential. It's been essential for about 8 years.

 

It doesn't matter if you think voice chat sucks, a majority of people still use it and want it.

[Willsy]

It should really have the option to be able to do voice chat. The Wii U has parental controls, why don't they just use them in games to stop voice chat if parents don't want their kids to use it? Or better yet, make a pop up asking if you want to turn voice chat on or off when first booting up multiplayer.

It's really simple and it's omission in not only Splatoon, but MK8 and Smash is complete bullshit.

[Captain Fun]

While friend chat would've been nice, pub voice chat is fucking worthless. Generally, the vitriol is too much to be worth the hassle, and the game seems to be designed so you don't need coordination via chat anyway.

...Turn it off? I get not wanting to talk with or listen to randoms in a public game, but seriously, there are alternative solutions.

 

That's literally what I did when I was younger and played on Xbax. Granted, that wasn't because I was afraid of harassment or bullying, it was because Halo 2's lobbies were filled with hicks and idiots. 

[Dejimon11]

I understand why Splatoon doesn't have voice chat with strangers. However the game does need voice chat with friends, granted theres other alternatives like Skype and such but theres still excuse, theres a freaken mic on the gamepad for goodness sakes

[Blue Blood]

Nintendo doesn't want voice chat, even as an option or locked behind parental controls because "FUCK YOU WANKER I FUCKED YOUR MUM" will ruin their family and child-friendly image. And lots of people do not know about or how to use parental controls even. They ought to find a way to incorporate it though, even of the method of activating it is awkward and they would make it very clear that "people will use offensive language of in online matches and this could be detrimental to the experience".

It's 2015 and this is an online co-op game. With friends or strangers, voice chat is a huge part of the fun.

[Solkia]

One thing Nintendo needs to stop trying to be is the over-protective soccer mom of the industry.

 

That's is what game admins are for. That is what you hire moderators for. That is what bans are for.

 

You know what my nephew in kindergarten does when he comes over? He plays Arkham City on my computer but asks to play with no audio so he can avoid the curse words.

 

Kids aren't fucking stupid.

[Wraith]

Public chat is something I myself personally don't care for, but that's why this thing most games have called a "Mute button" exists. I'd also like a private chat feature since I'd actually talk to my friends if they had the game, but they've dropped that feature for no reason as well. There's no real reason for not having voice chat in a game like this. 

[CelerinaTheJackrabbit]

 

But yeah. I assume if you REALLY want the voice chat, you're stuck with Skype. I mean, personally it doesn't bother me. But I totally understand why people are upset.

[Carbo]

Options are nice. I'd be fooling myself if I'd call the removal of voice chat a good thing, especially between friends.

But as a personal preference, I can't say I really care. If it's a matter of having fun, I'd much rather have that fun with people I know over a Skype group where I can still assure better quality conversations. From my experience, getting into a good public voice chat has been the equivalent of finding a diamond in a river of poop.

Regardless there's something to be said about having to design experiences where the general feedback of game play ought to take the forefront of communication and Splatoon seems interesting enough on it's own due to how the game is shaped. Co-operation is more of a passive element of the game rather than an active one because the general act of movement and pro-activity is always taking you one step closer to victory. Team mates might require your assistance in fielding off an enemy, but at the same time, is it more effective to just focus on those extra patches you haven't claimed for yourself yet? If the answer to that is no it's easy to tell just through the visual cues just where you're needed, and the super jump feature seems like it was added just to remedy that. I find that choice pretty fascinating really.

Of course I imagine it's just going to generally be more fun to be able to shoot the shit with your buddies, which is what I'm planning to do with several friends on Skype. But I don't really have any vested interest in communicating with people I don't know when the game seems to be designed well enough to forego that. And if it's a matter of potentially not being able to meet new people, I can't say I'm torn up about not knowing who's behind the player when I'll probably never meet them again.

[Gabz Girl]

I got dozens upon dozens of hours out of Dragon Ball Raging Blast online back in the day purely because of voice chat. I remember staying up late at night playing tournaments and shooting the shit with other DBZ fans, it was a lot of fun.

But oh, some people are precious sensitive little snowflakes and their darling widdle feelings might get hurt by meanie strangers so now we all miss out on a feature that's been standard in games like these for over a decade now. C'mon.

 

Yeah, and I played shit like Modern Warfare and Halo 3 where idiots were playing loud music on their mics or being total asshats. Don't even get me started on the PMs sent to me by butthurt players, but that's for another topic.

 

Not every online experience is perfect y'know? I mean I'm not pleased with Splatoon NOT having online chat speak since it doesn't please the public who prefers that crap, but rather I'm really disappointed that there's no private chat. Now that's something I loved, but not having it here just baffles me!

 

I mean there's always a chance an update could finally give us mic options, but we can only hope that the Splatoon devs hear our complaints and do so. =/

[Autosaver]

9 times out of 10 voice chat is awful. I'm not missing a single thing having it disabled. I actually have a bunch of friends that disable it completely on online games due to how bad it is.

 

I think people should be focusing less on the game excluding it and more on the fact that Nintendo excluded it completely from the system. There SHOULD be a party chat option built into the system. That way you can still talk to your friends, set up "private" games and let people talk, or just invite team mates to a party chat.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Ok, now this is just getting ridiculous, you guys are acting like self entitled brats over a single gameplay feature that isn't even a core part of the experience! I mean yes team chat can be useful, however there were shooters, and games long before it with multiplayer features that work just fine without it, still do. Also keep in mind that rounds are 3 minutes long, which is an extremely short amount of time, you actually have a complete map of the course at all times in good detail with canned messages and more likely than not pings. Give the game a benefit of a doubt before you go trashing it, heck we don't even know every single online or local mode, or the length of story mode for that matter.

 

You're all jumping to conclusions that are silly and ridiculous without even giving the game the benefit of the doubt, or even trying. Heck you know what every single journalist and gamer has said after actually playing the game? That its awesome, and it doesn't really need the voice chat. Their only concern is over how diverse the gameplay will be, which isn't bad with turf wars and splat zones alone, but more online modes have been confirmed, though we don't know for sure about local.

 

So quit bickering, and try the actual product, I'm not saying the lack of voice chat is a good or bad thing, but you guys are blowing it waaaayyyyy out of proportion, and its all this thread has devolved into which is silly

[Solkia]

So quit bickering, and try the actual product

 

I'll pass.

 

I've played enough online co-op to know how much being unable to talk to your team will fuck you up. You bet your ass I have the right to complain about Nintendo not learning from their mistakes.

[Wraith]

Ok, now this is just getting ridiculous, you guys are acting like self entitled brats over a single gameplay feature that isn't even a core part of the experience! I mean yes team chat can be useful, however there were shooters, and games long before it with multiplayer features that work just fine without it, still do. Also keep in mind that rounds are 3 minutes long, which is an extremely short amount of time, you actually have a complete map of the course at all times in good detail with canned messages and more likely than not pings. Give the game a benefit of a doubt before you go trashing it, heck we don't even know every single online or local mode, or the length of story mode for that matter.

 

You're all jumping to conclusions that are silly and ridiculous without even giving the game the benefit of the doubt, or even trying. Heck you know what every single journalist and gamer has said after actually playing the game? That its awesome, and it doesn't really need the voice chat. Their only concern is over how diverse the gameplay will be, which isn't bad with turf wars and splat zones alone, but more online modes have been confirmed, though we don't know for sure about local.

 

So quit bickering, and try the actual product, I'm not saying the lack of voice chat is a good or bad thing, but you guys are blowing it waaaayyyyy out of proportion, and its all this thread has devolved into which is silly

 

Calling everyone brats over a feature that's even in other Nintendo games but absent from this one for some unexplained reason is pretty immature, and mostly just makes you look overly defensive yourself. What's "bratty" about having a problem with the inexplicable  absence a feature that's been present in multiplayer games like this for years now? 

 

You're also acting like people here have been shutting down the entire game completely because of this one thing when they're not. It's possible to be excited about a game while also being concerned about any flaws it might have. You don't have to be mindlessly positive about every single thing Nintendo creates. It makes you come off as a fanboy.

[Autosaver]

I've played enough online co-op to know how much being unable to talk to your team will fuck you up. You bet your ass I have the right to complain about Nintendo not learning from their mistakes.

Honestly, with how simple and short the multiplayer matches in Splatoon are I wouldn't really worry about the lack of voice chat killing the experience. Splatoon is not Counter Strike, nor is it Payday. It's a game about splattering as much ink as you can in a very short amount of time. The maps are small, the matches are short, and it's simple to play.

 

 

If it was a strategic, coordinated, complex shooter then maybe I could see how a lack of voice chat could potentially kill the game. I'd also like to point out even if there was voice chat, there's no guarantee your team mates would be logical or cooperative at all. The Wii U fanbase is also a lot younger compared to the install base of the PS4 and Xbox One. Strategic gameplay would be best served by premade teams/friends with a party chat option.

 

Another option would be to have a "quick chat" option where you can ping teammates. On Battlefield 4 for example, a lot of people don't actually use the voice chat but the ping system. That's a game that has what, over 64 players on a map at a time and not a single one is using voice chat?

[Willsy]

Ok, now this is just getting ridiculous, you guys are acting like self entitled brats over a single gameplay feature that isn't even a core part of the experience!

Considering that basically every multiplayer shooter in the past 8 years has had some form of voice chat, including Call Of Duty on the Wii of all systems, I don't think it's at all unreasonable for people to be disappointed with the deliberate lack of voice chat. Whether or not it's a fire part of the experience can also be debated, as a lot of people like being able to talk to other players, and even moreso with friends. It's pretty stupid that games like LittleBigPlanet and the Sonic Racing games (games aimed at kids) have voice chat, yet Splatoon, a team based shooter taht requires cooperation between players, doesn't have it. The fact that the Wi U doesn't even have a party chat feature makes this worse. Calling people entitled because Nintendo failed to include a standard feature that was set years ago is a bit unreasonable.

Edit: What I just said is basically what Wraith said.

[Autosaver]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with being disappointed. For me, I just argue that the game's core gameplay isn't really similar to something complex such as Battlefield, Call of Duty, or Counter Strike so it's not going to make the game impossible to play competitively. I don't think anyone is entitled or bratty because they want it. People are allowed to have their own opinions, I don't think less of them for that.

 

I just really want Nintendo to add in party chat already. It could solve most of the complaints people have about Nintendo's online, and it's a lot better than game specific voice chat.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

I wasn't saying the issue was valid, I was saying that the constant bickering and talking about nothing OTHER than the issue is the problem. This is a place to discuss a cool upcoming game, not to keep ripping it a new one after a secondary game feature. We should be talking about what's interesting and the fun looking parts, alongside some careful rational discussion about voice chat, what it could bring, and how it could possibly detriment from the experience. A big reason why voicechat not being in this game isn't a big problem for me is because the game is using a single Global server, which means communication problems with several dozen languages. Now I agree, voice chat with friends likely should have been a thing, but if they left that out due to latency issues I can understand, though I wish they would come out and say it. However, the does have a lot of factors and parts that look interesting, and I can't wait to try multiplayer and single.

 

Also in regards to party chat... I could imagine massive latency issues keeping that from happening, since it could interfere and create lag in online games

[Solkia]

I don't know where you're getting idea that it would cause the game to lag. Bad ping will screw you up regardless of voicechat or not.

 

Ping is affected by your connection. Voice chat wouldn't do anything.

[Kaze no Klonoa]

If you know me, I barely speak up at all in most multiplayer games, including Counter-Strike. I use regular keyboard chat instead. So this doesn't make much of a difference, let alone the fact that compared to something like Counter Strike, Splatoon is fairly simple. It isn't Payday where coordination is literally the only key to success, you can still win without remotely talking to your team. Just play along and do your part, and everybody else will do the same. I'm not saying that Splatoon isn't as strategic as something like TF2, but if you really want to play with friends, it wouldn't be that much of a pain to set up a skype call.

 

Party chat is something I really want though, but the way the Wii U's structure is set up I doubt that adding it now would be a easy task that would be worth doing (At least on Nintendo's side).

[Willsy]

At the very least, I would like to see a party chat feature. That would definitely help and the gamepad even has a mic already. Don't get me wrong, I am still very excited for the game, and I have the Squid Amiibo bundle pre ordered. However, what bothers me is that Nintendo is acting oblivious to the rest of the industry and ignoring features that have been standard for years now.

[Sean]

I'll just Skype with friends and use the pro controller (assuming it's supported)

[Kaze no Klonoa]

I'll just Skype with friends and use the pro controller (assuming it's supported)

Yes, it indeed is.

[Solly]

I don't know where you're getting idea that it would cause the game to lag. Bad ping will screw you up regardless of voicechat or not.

 

Ping is affected by your connection. Voice chat wouldn't do anything.

Voice chat can actually cause minor lag and latency problems, and it's one of the reasons you can't talk mid-match in Smash Bros. It's also the reason games that have it built-in compress the audio. Not that this is a particularly relevant point anyway, since their given reason for not having it in Splatoon has nothing to do with latency.

 

It's a shame the game won't have voice chat. I understand Nintendo's sentiment, and I understand not wanting to expose younger players to the toxic, often racist shit that goes on in online games, but I really don't see why it's not an option. Have it be friends-only, or have it off by default but let them turn it on if they want to. Or use Wii U's parental controls. I almost think part of this might have something to do with Nintendo not wanting to deal with moderating/punishing player behavior. Smash Bros' moderation is automated, too, and bans aren't usually handed out by people, iirc. 

 

But yeah, this sucks, and I'm not even someone who likes using voice chat. 

[Nepenthe]

I'm not even going to bother replying seriously to your whole post because your tantrum really doesn't deserve that kind of response but I just want to point out that I got an actual strike for saying that people aren't self entitled on account of our "strict no fanboy policy".

 

No, we striked you for what was a pattern of annoying behavior observed and documented by multiple staffers over time, not simply for one isolated incident. Trying to get someone fucked over for something they technically didn't even do is literally just as petty and bitter-sounding as what Mando initially said.

 

Speaking of which, Mando, you escalated the situation for no reason. People were discussing the voice chat- regardless of their opinions- pretty damned well before you decided to construe the criticism as people raking the game and everything it stood for over the coals. Critique is not an attack on something. Calm down.

So both of you stop acting like butts. Games aren't that serious. Y'all gon learn that one day.