Game:

Splatoon (2015)

Duration: 8:51

374 views

5

I'm sure you'll be shocked, but a mere acknowledgment in Stage 08 isn't the last we'll see of those Octolings. If you play all the stages in number order, they'll end up being the antepenultimate stage per group... or "world," as video game parlance generally falls back on. Then the penultimate stage would be one of these... a "UFO" stage. (And then obviously running out of Zapfish required to open the Boss Kettle means we're due for the ultimate showdown with a boss of some kind.)

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09. Unidentified Flying Object
~ Trouble over Inkopolis! ~

Wait, what? Here?! This seems... like pretty big deal, right? I mean, Octolings running amok the abandoned and under-construction (at the time, anyway... I don't know what the excuse would be any other time since it got added to the official Turf Wars rotation... off hours?) Kelp Dome, but this is literally taking place right within view of the main Inkopolis Plaza. I thought the imminent Octarian encroachment was a secret, only to be dismissed as crackpot nonsense coming from that sewer-dwelling Cuttlefish coot?

Uh... anyway, this is an interesting return to the old Tutorial ...uh... place? I'm really not sure WHAT it is, but part of it seems to be a skate park and part of it looks like it might've been an amphitheater... and... uh... the ever-convenient enclosed UFO crash site? Yep, they sure haven't cleaned that wreck up ever since it was reported before we started taking on Octojerks... maybe Inklings really ARE that laid back. I mean, they only care for battle, fashion, and making sure they don't wake up too early in the morning, right?

Anyway, the major difference this time around (besides being totally infested with enemies... and Squee-Gs? I guess that means the Octarians brought them to counteract their obsessive drive to ink everything anyway?) is that the giant UFO has a very special enemy aboard, the Octostriker. Really, it just looks like an even bigger version of the Octobomber, but instead of lobbing Splat Bombs at you, it can fire the much more annoying and potentially deadly Inkstrike special weapon! And it can do this no matter where in the stage you are! ...very... slowly... and infrequently.

Like all Octarians (including bosses and the Octolings! ...although they're at least proactive with their downtime), the Octostriker is easily confused by simply hiding in ink. And you actually have to remain unsubmerged for quite some time before another Inkstrike will be inbound. Maybe he just needed time to triangulate your position and factor in how far he should lead the shot by in order to catch you off-guard? Yeah, that's the ticket!

Anyway, once you reach the end, instead of Super Jumping to the plaza, you give the tub-soaking Octostriker a bit of a rude awakening and chase him around the perimeter of his UFO. It's actually pretty silly, and the Octocopters don't really do much to deter you from just running him down and finishing things without much incident.

...honestly, I'm a little underwhelmed. Although I think we can all probably agree that I overreacted to the Octolings, so maybe it's at least in part a confidence issue.

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If the Zapfish being taken and the UFO crash site merited being on Inkopolis News, I can't wait to see how this plays out... (hint, you'd be waiting forever... absolutely no media coverage whatsoever! ...I'm serious!)

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