i have literally no idea how this is even supposed to work, even after watching the tutorials.
Smash is easier to navigate than this lol
Smash is easier to navigate than this lol
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Ninjala |OT| No squids, only kids
- Thread starter Jawmuncher
- Start date
I'm level 10 and i don't know if i like it or not. I understand all the battle mechanic and use them properly but the combat feels off, parry is not fun at all with the rock paper, the lack of defensive option when you run out of energy is pretty bad, you killed one guys and another dude beat you in the back and you have 0 energy ? Enjoy being stunlock to death, Dash using energy is a bad idea too and the combat with more than 1 players are so messy. This game could have been a lot better if it had a shield like Smash.
Remember that holding the bubble gum ball in your mouth (hold ZL) let's you block attacks. Also, L button to dodge.
Bruh the game is fairly basic, I don't know how you can struggle with the mechanics so much. Just won three consecutive games at 1st place.
I know but it only work for 1 attack and it's also very easy to counter (if the enemies jump and attack it will connect) until you get a big one at least.
I don't get why they have a radar for enemies facing forward but not behind you. You already know what's in front of you because it's right there on the screen and the totally wide open arenas make it very hard to get a feel if someone is behind you. Climbing up walls seems useless? They have these giant walls everywhere but there's no reason to climb up them. How does the scoring work? What's the difference between an ippon and a ko other than making the announcer shout some random Japanese word? Are kos worthless?
Battles don't seem to have any flow or rhythm to them, you just run up to enemies and attack them if you see them until time runs out. It seems like this battle royale (weirdly spoken by the announcer with the English pronunciation rather than the French) is the only mode, which isn't great given that I've played 4 or 5 battles and already feel done with it. The whole prop hunt thing seems weirdly pointless, there aren't enough props around to actually hide, so you may as well not use it at all.
Battles don't seem to have any flow or rhythm to them, you just run up to enemies and attack them if you see them until time runs out. It seems like this battle royale (weirdly spoken by the announcer with the English pronunciation rather than the French) is the only mode, which isn't great given that I've played 4 or 5 battles and already feel done with it. The whole prop hunt thing seems weirdly pointless, there aren't enough props around to actually hide, so you may as well not use it at all.
To everyone who's saying it's trash or that the combat is brainless button mashing mixed with luck based clashes: I can easily see why you think this considering the game does little to explain itself. I'll try to break down the less obvious mechanics in one simple post for you.
First off, you have three different types of attacks. By mashing ZR, you're actually only using your normal attack. If you hold the analog stick to the left/right or down while you attack, you can perform back and wide attacks. Doorman gave a very good explanation of how these are visually represented and why/when you should use them, so I'll borrow from their post and tweak the terminology a bit to match the game's:
Most people online right now are just going to be brainlessly mashing ZR, meaning you can beat them by doing lots of back attacks (again, performed by holding left/right while you press ZR). You can also block attacks by holding ZL, which blows a bubble in front of you that acts as a shield, as well as press L to dash out of the way at the cost of one S-Energy.
Now, when you attack someone and you both hit each other simultaneously with the same attack, OR one of you presses ZL to spend five S-Energy and perform a parry during a combo, you will get into a clash where you both have to press a direction on the stick. This works just like your normal attacks: left/right beats up, down beats left/right, up beats down. If you both press the same direction, you'll try again until someone wins*. If you lose, black scribbles will appear and you'll be open to a big combo from the enemy. If you win, stars will appear instead and you'll be the one able to do a big combo. Two important things to note:
1. You'll notice I put an asterisk next to what happens if you press the same direction. That's because if you've crafted a big weapon (which you can do by acquiring eight S-Energy and pressing ZL+A), you will beat an opponent's smaller weapon even if you both press the same direction. If you have a big weapon, you're at a huge advantage during a clash.
2. If you don't fancy your chances of winning the parry clash (for example, if the other player has a bigger weapon), you can also dodge out of it by pressing L to dash away. Again, this costs one S-Energy, so if you don't have enough it won't work.
In addition to all this, you can do a break attack by pressing R. If someone is parrying, press R instead to do a break attack and you will completely bust through their parry and get a free combo off them in addition to breaking their weapon and preventing them from being able to attack until they craft a new one. Right now, pretty much everyone is going to hit ZL the second you start to combo them, so you can get some easy kills by predicting the parry and doing a weapon break. If they're blocking with a gum bubble, you can also do a break attack to bust their bubble and trap them in it for a brief amount of time. The downside to the break attack is that unlike the rock-paper-scissors system of normal attacks, it takes no precedence over anything besides parries and guards so it's easily beaten by any other attack.
There are probably a couple other bits of minutiae I could mention, but hopefully this gives anyone who's a little confused a good understanding of the basics.
First off, you have three different types of attacks. By mashing ZR, you're actually only using your normal attack. If you hold the analog stick to the left/right or down while you attack, you can perform back and wide attacks. Doorman gave a very good explanation of how these are visually represented and why/when you should use them, so I'll borrow from their post and tweak the terminology a bit to match the game's:
Most people online right now are just going to be brainlessly mashing ZR, meaning you can beat them by doing lots of back attacks (again, performed by holding left/right while you press ZR). You can also block attacks by holding ZL, which blows a bubble in front of you that acts as a shield, as well as press L to dash out of the way at the cost of one S-Energy.
Now, when you attack someone and you both hit each other simultaneously with the same attack, OR one of you presses ZL to spend five S-Energy and perform a parry during a combo, you will get into a clash where you both have to press a direction on the stick. This works just like your normal attacks: left/right beats up, down beats left/right, up beats down. If you both press the same direction, you'll try again until someone wins*. If you lose, black scribbles will appear and you'll be open to a big combo from the enemy. If you win, stars will appear instead and you'll be the one able to do a big combo. Two important things to note:
1. You'll notice I put an asterisk next to what happens if you press the same direction. That's because if you've crafted a big weapon (which you can do by acquiring eight S-Energy and pressing ZL+A), you will beat an opponent's smaller weapon even if you both press the same direction. If you have a big weapon, you're at a huge advantage during a clash.
2. If you don't fancy your chances of winning the parry clash (for example, if the other player has a bigger weapon), you can also dodge out of it by pressing L to dash away. Again, this costs one S-Energy, so if you don't have enough it won't work.
In addition to all this, you can do a break attack by pressing R. If someone is parrying, press R instead to do a break attack and you will completely bust through their parry and get a free combo off them in addition to breaking their weapon and preventing them from being able to attack until they craft a new one. Right now, pretty much everyone is going to hit ZL the second you start to combo them, so you can get some easy kills by predicting the parry and doing a weapon break. If they're blocking with a gum bubble, you can also do a break attack to bust their bubble and trap them in it for a brief amount of time. The downside to the break attack is that unlike the rock-paper-scissors system of normal attacks, it takes no precedence over anything besides parries and guards so it's easily beaten by any other attack.
There are probably a couple other bits of minutiae I could mention, but hopefully this gives anyone who's a little confused a good understanding of the basics.
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Beta at least had a city map, too. That felt better in terms of density, but it felt a bit too large.
So do you even get "free" outfits or cosmetics in the actual game? I remember the beta being packed, but so far I got absolutely nilch except some music I don't want. Is this one of those "if you want to look different, you better pay up" "f2p" models?
Managed to play my first game on my lunch break, and got my first win! :D
I liked the Beta a lot so I was looking forward to this.
Another tip: Whenever you're fighting one on one, and you're low on energy, just dodge (L button) and dash away from your opponent.
After successfully running away, find a safe spot and morph into an object (A button) to regain life.
I liked the Beta a lot so I was looking forward to this.
Another tip: Whenever you're fighting one on one, and you're low on energy, just dodge (L button) and dash away from your opponent.
After successfully running away, find a safe spot and morph into an object (A button) to regain life.
Thanks for beating me to the longer explanation, I hope this helps people realize more options. I think the fact that this game's "turorial" was pushed through from the beta entirely unchanged might be its single biggest failing and a major reason it might not catch on. The reason so many people say it's nothing but an RPS-fest is because they aren't aware of anything else being possible, as the game literally never points out the break attack to you unless you manually dig into turorial menus. Once people get more into the habit of reading an instant burst and breaking them, players will be encouraged to vary up their burst timings more. Awareness will also be more important in team matches.
There are probably more mechanics at play in this game than there need to be, but it also does one of the worst jobs of teaching those mechanics that I've seen in a long time, especially for a game that, on the surface, looks like it's designed to be accessible and simple to understand. I only played one round of team battle but I could already tell that had a very didferent feel to it, so those who think the free-for-all feels too chaotic might want to at least give that a shot at level 5+.
I read that post and I still don't understand what's happening. I go for an attack, but instead of any things you described, I jsut get stunnedand they get free combo. is there some kinda parry, except for the one you do as a combo breaker? Like just regular parry, that stuns the opponent, if you and it? Cuz I would go for everything you guys described and just get stunned and comboed back before any of my animations even finish.
If the game does a terrible job of explaining itself, which it absolutely does, then that's a huge problem. Doesn't matter that the mechanics are relatively simple.
It's free to play so I might jump in but I want some reviews. The game never connected with me through the trailers and such. Looks like it could be fun but idk
ok, I think i am figuring out why i am having such problems understanding things. I just had a match that was extra bad and made me realize things. I would hit the guy and attacks would go through him and he would just stand there and then suddenly start zipping around. ANd no i am not talking about invul after respawn.
All my confusion, why this didn't work, what is happening, who parried who, who even attacked first.... it's connection. After having a worse than usual match and straight up see my attacks hit a stationary guy and nothing happen for 3 swings after which he teleports and hits me... my problems with the game is shite connection...
All my confusion, why this didn't work, what is happening, who parried who, who even attacked first.... it's connection. After having a worse than usual match and straight up see my attacks hit a stationary guy and nothing happen for 3 swings after which he teleports and hits me... my problems with the game is shite connection...
Ok so I could play on Eagle City but only on Team Battles, not Battle Royale. Maybe the map's only made for that mode. It's a shame because it really makes the wall running shine.
2, I don't think you can play the second one until level 5.
Why doesn't the menu tell you what each option is? What are medals for? Why is nothing explained?
It doesn't teach you how to play, the missions are all just beat up the same handful of enemies (theres a stealth mission which is just a slower version of beating up the same handful of enemies) and the story is laughably non-existant. This should have been built into the base game and not charged for.
Having just finished whats available: No.
It doesn't teach you how to play, the missions are all just beat up the same handful of enemies (theres a stealth mission which is just a slower version of beating up the same handful of enemies) and the story is laughably non-existant. This should have been built into the base game and not charged for.
ok at this point I don't think there is literally any cosmetics for your character apart from weapon skins (which are pointless since non-permanent) outside of the f2p store.
I get more stuff in random mobile games than in this one.
I get more stuff in random mobile games than in this one.
Out of curiosity, what kind of connection strength are you getting at the start of the match? There's a little indicator that appears in the top-left when it's introducing the rules, map, and players.
It always appears to be max, but that doesn't seem reliabe. I just had a few normal matches, where there was no confusing shit I always understood who hit who. but many a times I'd get a match where I would hit someone, and then suddenly it's almost like game state would shift to a different state. ike server didn't believe my side and overwrote it.
Also, I am noticing that rock paper scissors is really really finnicky. I've had a match where I tried doing nothing back tilt analog down ENTIRE match. I didn't even try to guess, just always just tilt anaog down. and I think it actually registered as down like twice. Every other time it would read it as left or up. Now I am not going to say that my joy cons are broken or nothing like that. It's not a hardware issue. I think game just starts registering your input really early, so just cuz I was already holding other direction when arrows appeared on the screen, game read that input, instead of waiting for a fresh new one.
Also, lock on is getting on my nerves. It's not just me, right? It does not prioritize by proxmity whatsoever, right? Cuz amount of times somebody is chasing me and I try to lock onto them but it would lock on a guy running behind them is staggering.
Drone Master = person who destroys most drones
Ippon Master = person who gets most Ippons
those two get bonus points
This is the only stuff that I didn't fully master in the Beta.
So you just press R to parry?
You press ZL to parry when you're trapped in a combo, you press R when you see/predict someone else parrying to break their parry. (EDIT: Better yet, read Doorman's superior explanation below!)
In terms of the ingame terminology, parrying is the official name for the RPS clashing state. It happens when two identical attacks meet. In addition, if someone who gets hit presses ZL they can expend 5 units of energy to perform an "S-burst"; this is the state where someone quickly recovers from reeling and holds their weapon in front of them in a guarding stance. Getting hit by any normal attack while in the burst stance will auto-parry and put you in the clashing state. If you instead hit someone in burst with a break attack (R button attack), it'll trap them in gum and destroy their weapon. I'll break it down situationally this way,
-If an opponent is neutral or unawares > Use normal attacks, so you can combo for damage
-If the opponent is guarding (either by keeping their gum bubble blown up or if they're in the burst pose) > Use a break attack to break their guard and follow up with normal combos.
If you get hit > Assuming you have the energy to do it, try and use s-burst at a time when the opponent can't easily break you (i.e. not necessarily the moment the prompt comes up)
What complicates this further, especially early on, is that the default shinobi card everyone starts with basically gives you an extra s-burst for "free" if you don't have the energy normally needed, which is why everyone's able to do it so often.
The game's lack of explaining breaks and giving everyone free bursts from the start is why the early game has become so RPS-heavy. Hopefully as players learn, the parries will become less prevalent and more strategic.
Thanks a lot for the explanations!
So the ZL works like a "combo breaker" of sorts. When I'm getting hit it puts me in the RPS.
If the opponent is blocking/bursting, I do a break attack, right?
EDIT: Yep.
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haha, i love how this topic is basically "how the hell do you play this game"
i think i'm catching on a bit. it's a bit more fun that i originally thought.
i think i'm catching on a bit. it's a bit more fun that i originally thought.
Not to pick on Ninjala, as I haven't played the game yet.
However, this shows how important strong a cohesive visual design, sound cues, the unique interactive language layout, and more, play into videogame development. Usually, we say graphics aren't that important just in the sense that realistic graphics aren't everything, and too prevalent; beyond that strong visual identity is even more desirable than simply better graphics (See yesterday's Avengers).
And in Splatoon behind every quirky aesthetic choice, there was a purpose to show quickly the player how the game is played, a necessity amidst the chaotic multiplayer encounters, and every decision was made based on the core game mechanics (Kids to Squids, Ink tanks, the way every weapon is paint-based, etc.) It's a well-designed game all-around.
Just a random observation, Ninjala looks completely something I'd be all over at rn, plus the OST sounds fun too v:
However, this shows how important strong a cohesive visual design, sound cues, the unique interactive language layout, and more, play into videogame development. Usually, we say graphics aren't that important just in the sense that realistic graphics aren't everything, and too prevalent; beyond that strong visual identity is even more desirable than simply better graphics (See yesterday's Avengers).
And in Splatoon behind every quirky aesthetic choice, there was a purpose to show quickly the player how the game is played, a necessity amidst the chaotic multiplayer encounters, and every decision was made based on the core game mechanics (Kids to Squids, Ink tanks, the way every weapon is paint-based, etc.) It's a well-designed game all-around.
Just a random observation, Ninjala looks completely something I'd be all over at rn, plus the OST sounds fun too v:
If nothing else, focus on destroying drones. I knkw it's obvious, but they make a difference in weapon size and final score bonuses.
Ninjala tried to imitate Splatoon which is admirable but this ain't no Splatoon
Splatoon 2 Turf War is still the best online multiplayer on Switch and I'm actually gonna do a thread appreciation for it
Splatoon 2 Turf War is still the best online multiplayer on Switch and I'm actually gonna do a thread appreciation for it
After reading some more tips and tricks I will give it another try. There is way more at play in combat than I thought. The fact the game doesn't tell you most of this and then have you apply it in practice scenarios is insane and probably why a lot of people will drop it.
My primary issue is that there is just not a lot to do. There's only two maps! I think this might be in a good place once there is quite a bit more content. The core gameplay is fun though.
Oh but the stunlocks JFC. Once you're stuck it's basically impossible to get out.
Oh but the stunlocks JFC. Once you're stuck it's basically impossible to get out.
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Releasing with just 2 maps is also insane. That small BR one is lame as hell. I heard the city one is much bigger and varied but the game needs way more variety.
I feel like I enjoy the game enough, but not the Splatoon experience I was hoping for. Primarily for the reason you mentioned with lack of defensive options. I'll admit I've done this myself plenty of times, but it's so easy to see two people fighting, wait, then after they finish you kill off the survivor because they're either close to death or close enough that you can easily finish off the job. This game desperately needs a more reliable block. And parrying should be more than just a guess or you lose type situation.