Does Splatoon 3's Story Mode Hold Up? 

I will briefly touch on a wording I used with Deep Cut "turning good." You can argue that they were never bad but acording to their own dialuage, "I feel... kind of... not good about each of us fighting you to the death" (Frye's line) specificically to the death and against a random Inkling/Octoling they met, yeah... I'm not claiming they didn't have good intentions the story makes that clear, but also not sure the good guys go around killing a random person just to do something good with it. This line was also said after they got the treasure and clearly not an intimidaition thing but actual regret and apology, no reason to suspect they were lying here. I also do think its fair in hindsight that their comparison to Off The Hook might be a bit harder since they had more spotlight and were with you for longer. But that being said even with these I still don't find the characterization we got for them to be that great, its just ok and I still wanted to learn more about the new idol group personally and especially more about them individually. Line at 19:04 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oArxlSMl4ic.html

This hero mode felt like a more toned down version of Octoexpansion, but still really fun and tied up the some loose ends. It's cool we learned about grizzcos motives and I'm guessing deep cut will get more characterization in the DLC like off the hook did

Totally agree with your takes here, Octo Expansion is possibly better overall because of the level design, characters, and sense of atmosphere, but the fact that Splatoon 3 even came close is impressive. I honestly thought it was impossible to top the finale of Octo Expansion but they did with the epic space bear fight which was amazing. And the better hub world is fantastic. I still can't decide which I like better personally, which is a great problem to have

I really love how Pearl and Marina really feel like they contribute to the final boss in octo expansion. In the other story modes the idols just sing to hype you up but octo expansion really makes it feel like a team each using their own skills

I feel like Deep Cut has so much more potential, and we only saw just a tiny bit of it in the hero mode. I hope in the planned DLC they expand more on Deep Cut, and can go into how now Marie is the “Boss of Deep Cut”. I’d love to see more interactions between Deep Cut and the Squid Sisters.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think one of the splatoon jp tweets mention new agent 3 as being a salvager. The only things that hint to this ingame however are the tutorial and Sheldon when you first meet him(he mentions that 3 might be a collector of vintage weapons, which you found near the crater during the tutorial). I would have loved this characterization of new 3 being a salvager be more incorporated into the story mode giving them the same level of character as 8. It would also give them a good dynamic with deep cut considering they are both essentially treasure hunters, which could also give deep cut more depth since they were kinda lacking in that like you said.

i feel like deep cut was meant to give off like a team rocket vibe, they're a threat but they have more of a combined personality than individual personality, they also blast off after each fight.

i think one of the main reasons i prefer octo expansion is the theme. i think there's a huge difference in having a character that can just leave the alterna world anytime and someone actually physically stuck in the metro fighting to see the light above (going back to the overworld by tapping on "imagine inkopolis" instead of "oh yeah just go back to splatsville fuck it why not) just hits so hard imo). and i also feel like by giving you actual gear for the hub world it feels less like being tested and fighting against someone who has full control over the situation like in the octo expansion and more like just exploring/adventuring a different world which for me is a huge downgrade. also the characters in the octo expansion are way cooler, like the people that are in the metro and have what feels like already given up on ever seeing the outside world, it just adds so much character to the world they're building. splat 3 hero mode was still a lot of fun tho

The absolutely BIGGEST problem I have with the story mode is that Octavio seemed like he was supposed to be a bigger ally in the trailers, which would have been SO COOL to see. Unfortunately, he just kind of. Disappears for 90% of the game. It would have been such a neat idea to get bad advice for him at the start, with him slowly warming up to the other Squidbeak Splatoon members. He's honestly the biggest missed opportunity imo.

i think splat 3’s story mode doesnt really take itself too seriously compared to octo expansion or even octo canyon in a way, stuff like the turquoise october parody song to the two cuttlefish fakeouts kinda shows that they know when to go “okay this is stupid.” and tone it back a little bit

Honestly, the escape phase from octo might be one of my favorite moments from any game ever.

I thought the same thing with Deep Cut, they're cool and fun but Off the Hook really shined in Octo Expansion. Hopefully in 3's DLC we get to see more of them.

7:59 This is why I feel like we are going to get 2 DLC’s. One revolving around Pearl and Marina and perhaps Agent 8 and 4 and show how much they have changed since Splatoon 2, and a 2nd DLC revolving around perhaps a new character and Deep Cut, so that we can learn more abiut their characters, and I know damn well the devs aren’t going ti throw away Deep Cut like that.

The hero mode seems like it was designed (at least partially) to introduce all the weapons in the game to the player, as a sort of tutorial/safe place to mess around with them. Keeping that aspect while reaching all the highs of OE seems like it would be really hard. I'm impressed that it's as good as it is.

The concept of Inner Agent 3 hit me on a level that no other boss did: i'm probably my *biggest* obstacle to my own progression IRL, despite my efforts to improve or work around it, and it helped me empathize with my character while motivating me to finish said fight(even though it took me 4 days of 2 to 4+ hours each day to finish it). Like, i *cannot* put into words how much this fight meant to me(even if i didn't get anything out of it).

I loved the story mode. Like even if you don’t get that much attachment to the player character. And even if you never played the first two games. It feels like a journeys end for the 5 that’s been there since the start. And honestly I think that’s why I love it. In a way yes it’s still around your character but it still feels impactful for the others. Agent 3/captain 3 Callie, Marie, cuttlefish. Even Octavio. They’ve been through a lot in 7 years (I think that’s canon…) and the Splatoon 3 story mode feels a perfect way to end off their stories as the agents of Splatoon.

I think Octo-Expansion was honestly an experiment. They had planned to go this way with Splatoon 3's hero mode at the start but weren't sure how much such a giant shift in tone and design philosophy would be received by the community, so they implemented a skeleton of the map navigation and level design they wanted to use in Splatoon 3 into Octo-Expansion. It would certainly explain why the Deep Sea Metro hub world wasn't very fleshed out.

One little detail I like was that thanks to my save data from Splatoon 2, the Captain was actually an Inkling Boy for me, while it tends to be the Inkling Girl for everyone else.

I loved the story mode and was super glad that it was as good as it was

I really enjoyed the story mode, though the only boss fight that I found difficult was frye's, I can't wait to watch and find out what you thought c: I also loved Deep Cut personally, I like them being goofy goobers with good intentions and not insanely competent like the other idols

I feel they made Deep Cut "turn good" all of a sudden to avoid people hating on the new idols even after beating Story Mode.

While I loved Octo Expansion, Return of the Mammalians is even better imo. Not because of what it pulls from OE, but rather what it pulls from Octo Valley and Canyon: the exploration and upgrades. OE still has slightly better level design and characters, but exploring Alterna and getting stronger gear just makes RotM feel like a more complete experience as the devs found a way to combine both styles of single player so far and they mesh together perfectly. Plus, the lore we got in this story mode is absolutely insane.

Agree with all points, but for me the final boss fight in Octo Expansion was a lot more satisfying because of the focus on characters and especially the music.

I agree with the octo expansion being a 9.5, octo expansion was amazing, the aesthetic was beautiful and it was a very well designed change of pace for the game ^^ But Story mode in this game was amazing and truly super fun to do and my favorite story mode ^^

hero mode will never have the emotional resonance for me as octo expansion did. Theres just something so special about it to me, with the story and journey you make through it

I completely think this story mode beats everything besides octo expansion. Octo expansions levels were just way too much fun, and the vibe was unbelievably awesome. Splatoon 3 story mode finally feels original, but octo expansion just can't be beat for me. Thanks for making content lol, it's awesome to watch your videos!

Another thing I like about both hero mode and octo expansion is that they do a lot better at making us feel invested in the final fight, the "bad ending" for splatoon 1&2 is that Octavio keeps the great zapfish and cuttlefish, meanwhile octo expansion and splatoon 3 hero mode have the entire planet on the line, which made me way more invested in the final fight

Idk if I missed it cause I was listening to this while driving to work (I was making sure I payed attention while driving don’t worry I was safe I just listened) but the logs in 3’s hero mode were so fun to read and really helped with the lore of the game and I really like how when you beat After Alterna you get the secret seventh log that tells you how grizz came to be and why he is the way he is. But I agree with you in saying octo expansion had a better story, like I’ll straight up die for agent 8 and they really expanded on Agent/Captain 3 in that story. I will say though this is the first hero mode I’ve wanted to replay from the beginning, and yes that includes redoing after Alterna, and it’s made me want to go back and 100% Octo Expansion. Super excited to see what they have in store for us for the DLC. (Please splat team bring back Spyke I miss him so much even as a cameo I just gotta make sure he’s doing okay 😭😭😭)

Tbh , Objectively octo expansion and mammalians are fun as hell I loved them, but the nostalgia splat 2 gave me back in 2020 when i was just rediscovering the series is crazy. I'll always crave that amount of wonder from the series, and I felt the splatoon 3 hero mode's levels just went by all too fast. But i suppose its just rose tinted glasses for splatoon 2

I do agree with your general thoughts, but comparing off the hook's characterisation to deep cut's doesn't seem to work for me? Mostly due to deep cut having a more minor position in the overall story - the boss fights, introduction and end. Off the Hook was there the entire time, backing you up. It makes sense they'd have better characterisation with more time, after all.

I wish it had more of a focus on Grizzco than just the fact that Mr. Grizz is there

loved the part in story mode where mr grizz says “it’s grizzin’ time” and tried to grizz all over those guys (he then fucking dies)

I just love how a villain who's obsessed with mass genocide is becoming a trend in splatoon

Something that I've noticed when it comes to comparing Splatoon 2 and 3 in terms of story mode is that, they're comparing the Splatoon 2 Octo expansion, something that was specifically designed and indeed marketed, as a challenging gauntlet that tests the player's skills to no end; to the Splatoon 3 story mode, which has similar set up to the other two games, in terms of their main story mode. And I don't think that's very fair to 3, now if 3 gets that DLC, then yeah, that can be compared to Octo, but the main story mode, it just didn't feel right to me to compare the main story of 3, to the expansion pack that 2 got.

Gameplay-wise, hero mode was definitely good but it borrows so much of its structure from Octo Expansion that I can't help but wish they'd been a little more ambitious. I have issues with the writing though. I felt like Octo Expansion was legitimately very compelling, having great character writing, an interesting villain whose motives were highly distorted but had substance, and you really felt the drive to help Agent 8 reach the surface. So I was really disappointed by a lot of aspects of Hero Mode's story, but my biggest issue is with Grizz. His motivations are extremely shallow and incoherent. The After Alterna log makes it sound like he's lonely and out-of-place, but when he actually talks about his goals it's about how the natural order is disturbed and the current state of the world is bad for business even though his plan is just to bathe the world in hair. Plus, you have that whole weird bit that doesn't fit in with anything else, about how he needed the essence from a representative of Earth and drained Cuttlefish. He also has this huge personality shift compared to how he acts in Salmon Run. In Salmon Run he comes off as greedy, shady, and uncouth, but in Hero Mode he acts like a sterile vehicle for corporation jokes. It's a shame because I really liked Grizz from Salmon Run and I felt like they could have done a lot with him, but now he's an uneven mess. Overall it seemed like they were going in a much sillier direction with S3, where it's mostly an excuse to fight a giant bear on a rocket ship while he wrestles a magically empowered salmon. This isn't objectively bad, but I preferred the style of OE

I absolutely loved the story mode in Splat 3, it was a great breath of fresh air when compared to the last 2 games. Can't wait to see what they have in store for us with the DLC this time round

I'm just glad Nintendo gave a reason for people to like Frye right off the bat. I Don't think I'd be able to stand a full year or so of forehead jokes... again.

I really wish we got more info on how Deep Cut met. It's shown their families have history togeather, but it could be assumed the families were seperated from the Great Turf War until more recent times. Like did the families secretly stay in contact? Was Shiver's family even with the rest of the Octarians? What is with their masks? The one bit of IMPLIED Lore for them that I like wasn't even about them. The modified Octostamp has Alterna Logos all over it, meaning Frye likely found it AFTER coming to Alterna. That implies that Mr.Grizz was modifying the Great Octo Weapons before Frye found the Octostamp. Despite that, he never uses them himself. Maybe they weren't ready (as the Octostamp was hollowed-out, but still somewhat functional with a new fan), but the fact the others are also missing, I wonder if they were meant to deal with King Salmonids, rather than Neo 3...

I agree with your points for the most part, especially with regards to Deep Cut and new Agent 3 not being nearly as interesting as Off The Hook and Agent 8. I actually liked the finale of Octo Expansion significantly more than this game's finale though as I felt just very disappointed with pretty much everything about the Grizz fight. The first section as kind of boring and the fact that they had an attack that involved falling off a rocket just makes no sense at all because they are in space and the direction of the kill box wasn't even towards earth. The second part would have been a lot better if they had explained the controls for the ship more as every single person I've seen play that fight didn't realize they moved slower while using the vacuum. The fight is laughably easy once you know the controls and annoying hard when you don't, which just is not good design. Also Little Buddy's fight was just a thing happening in the background and not a mechanical part of the battle which I think was a huge wasted opportunity. One thing I felt was missing from this campaign mode was a few longer more traditional fight and combat levels. I like that they mixed things up like Octo Expansion did but I think a few levels similar to what we saw in the later parts of Splatoon 1 would have been a great change of pace and it's a shame that we only got that in the post game content.

one of my favorite parts about this story mode is the secrets, because I'm a compulsory completionist, and having to trudge through every splatoon 2 level slowly looking around every possible corner and breaking every single box really slowed down the game to a pretty severe amount. But here, with everything being hidden in the overworld, it really allows you to take your time and just look around without it feeling like it's slowing down the game, because finding the secrets also means you're making progress to getting to the next area or accessing the next level by clearing out the fuzz!

I could totally be wrong, but i think the cuttlefish death scene is a reference to an extremely popular chinese science fiction book called the three body problem. Again i could be wrong but i read the book and immediately thought the dehydration was a reference.

Good video. As a longtime fan of the series starting with the first game and 100%ing all three including octo I will say that being on the ride this long helped get an emotional response from me at the end of 3. In the finale when Octavio shows up as support kicking out some Calamari Inkantation I teared up holding back to get into the fight. After all the excitement and some nostalgia vibes from the finale reminding me of Final Hazard in SA2 getting to decompress and watch the cutscene play I legit starting crying the moment Wave Goodbye started playing after the Anarchy Splatcast.

I will say that Agent 4’s Hero mode was for the most part just slapped together because Nintendo needed some games to go alongside the Switch’s Launch. I can only hope they give some redemption to Agent 4 eventually.

Fun fact there is one power egg balloon in alterna that you can reach before the first level so you can technically go through the entire game without playing a normal level.

Am I seriously the only one who LIKED Splatoon 2's Hero Mode with the longer levels that were less dependent on their gimmicks?

I’m expecting big things from Splatoon 3’s paid DLC when it comes out. Obviously there’s gonna be Pearl and Marina, but I also wanna see agent 8 and agent 4 again. I also really want the agents to have more spoken dialogue, but that’s probably not gonna happen and I’m cool with that, it would just be nice to see. Honestly Splatoon 3’s DLC has the potential to be the very best story mode in the series, but only time will tell

I genuinely really love the thumbnail for this video. I love the contrast between octo expansion and Splatoon 3 and the official art for both of them thank you so much for this

another great vid!!

I wasn’t really expecting the new story mode to be as good or difficult as Octo Expansion, because it’s the base game campaign, so of course it makes sense to tone things down to be more accessible to the average player, and it’s already the best out of all the non-DLC campaigns The upcoming “Large-Scale DLC”, on the other hand, yeah, definitely much higher expectations there

As someone who played through the entirety of Hero Mode in Splatoon 3 from start to finish in one sitting (including After Alterna), I have to say that it did enough to keep me invested and I really enjoyed what I played! I do think that Octo Expansion is slightly better, but I think that boils down to the characters and the slightly more cohesive level design. I love both and I am happy that I played them!

i agree with like every point you made, the overall design is better but octo expansion just feels better to play in my opinion

I think splat 3's singleplayer was good and definitely alot better than base singleplayer in splat 2 but overall i just preferred the level variety in octo expansion i felt like there were more creative ideas in it compared to 3 Music was really good but i do slightly prefer octo expansions music One thing i wish they expanded upon in the singleplayer of 3 is ORCA i wanna know more about them. As it is rn they just kinda. Exist

Alterna was amazing yeah and I don't know what it was about it but the levels just weren't very captivating. Every once in awhile you would run into a level and go "omg yeah I'm having fun" but in octo expansion the world and characters were so interesting I never had that moment where I needed to pause and wonder. Alterna took me about 2 sessions to beat and a 3rd session to 100% where as octo expansion took me 1 to do everything.

0:09 Morag ayyyy? I see your a man of culture as well

Octo Expansion Return of the Mammalians is great but Octo Expansion just takes the cake

Great video ProChara. I consider Octo Expansion to be one of the very best DLC expansions made in gaming history (on par with say the zombie maps for older CoD games). I’d like to say that I think that the price for it is justified as every time I find myself wanting to play Splatoon (after a long break) I go to OE first before renewing my Nintendo online subscription.

I think it makes sense for octo expansion to be better gameplay wise and story wise while splat3 is better spectacle wise. Because one is the base game and the other is a dlc. In the base game, I would expect good level design but still levels that a newbie could realistically complete without too many tries, and a story that only needs to serviceably connect to the main series elements, mainly the idols. Also, Splatoon is one of those games that keeps deep lore out of your face if you don’t care, Wich I greatly appreciate For this reason, I feel they could only do so much with the story. I feel like the cuttlefish moment at the end wasn’t trying to be like the surface reveal at all. I think it was juct a funny cliché moment, that had the most tension in the storyline so far. Sure, I knew immediately that he wasn’t dead, but seeing him all dried up is still shocking. I definitely feel like deep cut being good all along was a strange thing to happen in the dialogue of all places, that really cheapens the impact. But them just accepting the treasure once we were done with it was really supposed to the release of the tension with that plotline and that at least happened on screen. Personally Im thankful that they were in the story at all, as pearl and matina weren’t in splat 2s story mode. Octo expansion really set the writers free because with all the other story modes, this isn’t the story of the player, its the story of octavio and cuttlefish and callie and marie. Octo expansion, however, is the story of agent 8 and the octolings. So the writers could make the player character and their reactions important. So basically I felt like if you cared about story and characters, splat 3 story really couldn’t have possibly been as good as octo expansion wile also completing its duty of being a Splatoon 3 single player mode. Also, some gameplay ideas have a skill wall, so a part of me thinks its just smart design to put the extra high skill wall levels behind a paywall as well. So for that reason, I feel the amount of gameplay ideas they could have implemented is limited in that way too. For example, remember the carwash level in octo expansion, or imagine a level with infinite trizooka, including the movement limitations Or the original girl power station. That would be really frustrating for a newbie I think. So here’s to hoping that splat 3’s dlc tops them both, and to hoping that somehow, octo expansion will be made available to buy for owners of Splat3. Without having to buy splat 2. Because it’s criminal that octo expansion is locked behind splat 2, wich is now a 60$ paywall to the 20$ DLC

Yeah, I mostly agree with all your takes since Octo Expansion was a masterpiece, but I personally think that the lower difficulty for the main campaign and the harder gauntlet of After Alterna make it a lot more welcoming to newer players where OE could turn people away as Splat 2's hero mode was too easy to be "practice" for OE That said, they're still really close in comparison and it's super nice to see that Nintendo is doing better with single player modes in Splatoon :))) Anyway, have a nice day/night, drink water, and don't overwork yourself!!

Deep Cut were definitely the major letdown of the Splat 3 singleplayer mode for me too. Naturally they should have gotten more backstory (not on the randomly established tribes, but on THEM) & character development through scrolls and plot -- but I really feel like the devs chickened out of/missed opportunities on at least committing to making them bandits and antiheroes. Their motivations should have been to try steal your Smallfry (leaning even further into that team rocket vibe) because Smallfry being able to actually sniff out loot for the player is an established game mechanic bandits like them would be eager to have. The boss chambers would lock you out of other subweapons, and require Smallfry to be thrown to activate some mechanism - and Deep Cut could momentarily capture Smallfry to extort you for the treasure.. locking your lil buddy away until you weaken them to then be able to use it against them again. (I'm envisioning this particularly against Shiver, whose fight is made much easier if you throw Smallfry into the shark's mouth) It would just make them more threatening and raise the stakes fighting to save your buddy you've bonded with over pummeling them for abstract treasure, giving the player a reason to want to fight rather than just self-defense. Their "redemption" should also be more sensible and bombastic - perhaps all 3 would fight you at once, and once defeated again they'd submit, then coerced by the sisters into joining forces to get the bounty for returning the Great Zapfish from the rocket or something. I would at least prefer this iteration of them as likable villains than the flimsy weak-willed chumps that just got rushed into becoming good for the story beats they wanted. Last note; I also agree on some levels (the more conventional easy Octarian gauntlet get to goal levels) feeling very outdated and draggy compared to the cooler and more innovative ones IMO something they could've done would be - continuing to make Deep Cut more engaging - adding little gimmicks to these levels under the explanation that Deep Cut is trying to harass you - e.g Frye's eels firing a constant volley of tenta missiles like a tenta missile level in Octo Expansion.

God, my first time playing octo expansion was a feeling like no other. If i like a games story mode a lot i get super emotionally involved, so agent 8 finally reaching the surface after hopelessly being stuck underground left me amazed.

I feel like we are more likely to get Splatoon stage creator than Mario 3D creator. The options and style are far more limited which wouldn't make player levels a mess compared to the story modes, unlike with 3d mario. Hopes for it would be at least being able to recreate most of the stages in the story modes of different games with the fearures available.

good video!

Your Points are pretty good agreed with em pretty well. I think the best part of the upgrade tree is the option to not use it. Upgrade-less has lots of fun parts through out the game. Especially the bosses & last alterna. My dying hope for the dlc is it difficulty being much higher than previously beating out all previous for Splatoons. Though that's a personal cry from wanting modded campaigns & kaizo...

I agree so much with chara I’ve been watching his vids for over 5 months and I really enjoy his vids

Recently i had to buy a new switch and lost all my data. I remember 1000% splat 2 hero mode. I replayed it recently and it was pain. And im also replaying 1's. And im having a blast with it

Really looking forward to the splat 3 DLC, we might just get the best singleplayer to date.

Tbh I feel like Deep Cut just doesn't have much characterization at all, at least compared to previous idol groups In Anarchy Splatcast their comments on stuff is a bit more general (while the previous 2 had comments specific to each map that added little gags, even in base 1 and 2) and in RotM you don't really interact with them for extended amounts of time until the very end Hopefully updates give them more stuff, but right now imo I think their the weakest idols

One thing to keep in mind is that the non story mode dlc is often also a tutorial, this is probably why they put all the specials into the finale in that one level incase someone skipped all the special stages. This is probably also why its easier than octo, and why the level design is a bit simpler, so overall its crazy how good it is while still being accessible to newcomers.

All I wanted from s3’s story is unique levels that I want to remember after playing and they delivered so I am happy

dang, didn’t even talk abt the mammal lore. that was probably the most interesting part of hero mode for me

Speaking as a newcomer to the series and only having played Splatoon 3, I really loved the singleplayer mode. Perhaps one day I'll be able to experience Octo Expansion, but Hero Mode hit many high points for me, especially the ending. I'm very much looking forward to whatever DLC we might get in the future.

wishlist for dlc in 3 -most previous characters returning (agents, idols, cuttlefish, maybe octavio) -difficulty -captain 3 fight agent 4 twist villain maybe aswell

Splatoon 3 hero mode is amazing specially the fake out at the beginning however octo expansion still is the best story mode the story is intense and disturbing but also fun, it also has some difficult challenges and great music I'd rate s S3 hero mode about 8.5/10 instead of hard levels it's just fun levels

I think splatoon 1 and 2 story mode are underrated . octo expansion was awesome but very hard for beginners . Splatoon 2 story mode was mid but the final boss was incredible ! Splatoon 1 story mode wwas just perfect , not to easy , not to hard and the bosses are clearly underrated . I loved the thing that you were able with the squid amiibo to play story mode with the kraken ! And then splatoon 3 story mode ... i did not liked it cuz it was sooo boring and easy . Even the secret mission wasn't very hard . Now , let's just wait the pearlina dlc ! :p 1 : splatoon 1 story mode 10/10 2 : octo expansion 9/10 3 : splatoon 2 story mode 6.5/10 4 : splatoon 3 story mode 5.5/10 Sorry if i have a trash english :p Have a great day !!

To be fair, it being more toned down than octo expansion makes sense, considering this game's hero mode has to cater for totally new players while octo expansion has the benefit of players already owning (and presumably knowing how to play) the base game.

Even if this is my first game, I've seen the other story modes and Octo Expansion, I will say I preferred Octo Expansion's ending, it almost made me cry. But while I understand your feelings about Deep Cut, I really found that the finale really boosted their characters. The boss fights gave a small taste of their characters, but they really shined in the dialogue during the rocket phases. I also did sorta turn off my brain near the end and just enjoyed the chaos. I feel bad for admitting that I actually laughed during the serious part of the Cuttlefish scene, but it was because New Agent 3's expression just killed me. I sorta expected him to be rehydrated from the Sunken Scrolls and from the Cuttlefish Badge some people had on their banners, but I will admit that scene really didn't seem to fit? Idk it just rollercoastered through emotions too fast to feel bad for him before he came back. But overall I really enjoyed story mode! ....when I wasn't screaming at a giant space bear and yelling at fuzzy Octarians to get off my ship😅

As a veteran player, a part of me just can't help but like the Splatoon 3 story mode more than Octo Expansion, and I really liked Octo Expansion, (Although I personally didn't care about agent 8 more than new 3 as a character but liked the goal of getting to the surface) I think my favorite thing about it is the difficulty of it, don't mean in it being hard but by the fact that it strikes a good balance this time, if the story modes of the previous games were too easy and Octo Expansion was too hard, then this would strike a good balance in between which I feel would be a healthier difficulty for new players. In Octo Expansion I liked the dynamic between Cuttlefish and Off the hook but I just couldn't help but like Callie and Marie more in this game, I was a good fan of how they were in the first game so that might be why I like them so much now. I think the one area where I think Octo Expansion takes the cake is Tartar though, I still really like Mr Grizz (Partly because of the salmon run memes that can be made now but also because of his disposition) But I think Tartar hit a lot harder, before this, the death of humans and their remains were sort of something that hovered in the background, never really interfering with the society these sea creatures made, but Tartar rising to the surface on the nils statue is something I'll never forget. The impact in the Splat 3 story mode for me didn't just come from Mr Grizz but the alterna logs themselves, so for me it didn't hit all at once but instead gradually as I completed the story mode of Splatoon 3, which is a feeling I appreciate.

Clearly splatoon 3 future single player dlcs will be amazing

Bloody good analysis, in my eyes. I'm really hoping Splet 3's DLC does for Deep Cut what the Octo Expansion did for Off The Hook in some capacity, because I'm inclined to agree that Deep Cut felt a bit... disposable, in this campaign.

storytime: i mained roller for months in splat 2. i got a red stamp that i was really proud of. i finally play splat 3 story and get really excited that theres a roller level. marie’s ahh goes “wow ur rlly good at roller do you wanna main it?” THE ACTUAL *woomy* DO YOU THINK MARIE

"3 and 8 make a great duo" ahhh so Chara's on the Agent 24 train eh? /hj

I don’t care about how much of a spectacle an ending is. I want it to be MEANINGFUL and splatoon 3s ending was anything but that.

I'm still craving some overworld scavenging adventure after what the first trailer showed (we literally can't even use the Tri-Stringer where it was first revealed), but Alterna was so good I can't complain too hard. I do feel like it was maybe a bit too similar to Octo Expansion at times, but it does enough to stand on its own unlike Splatoon 2 Hero Mode compared to Splatoon 1 Hero Mode.

I agree with mostly everything aside from the finales. The main reason why the finales of each story were so strong (barring Calamari Inkantation) is that they make use of concepts the player has been familiarized with one way or another. The Splatoon 1 story ended by throwing various story mode mechanics at you, such as propellers and invisible floors, as well as the Killer Wail special, which the player should be familiar with. Splatoon 2's story ended by using the new grind rail mechanic as well as the modified Rainmaker, which the player would know how to use from the actual Rainmaker ranked mode. And of course, Octo expansion ended with a Turf War, something every Splatoon player knows the functions of, as well as more story mechanics like grapplinks and bounce pads. The Hyperbombs seem new, but actually function exactly like a pufferfish balloon, so the player can still call upon previous experience to use them well. Splatoon 3's story mode, by comparison, ends with the player controlling a ship with completely unfamiliar controls and told to do something they've never done anything similar to. Things like the fake fuzzballs being mines and the ship moving faster when it isn't vacuuming are something the player can't inherently know until either learning from failure or being told by a character rather than utilizing their experience with the game up to that point. Since these were mechanics that had never been introduced until the timer was already ticking, I had no way of knowing how to efficiently use them and lost as a result. The second go I beat it because I knew how everything functioned, but that just made it feel like trial and error in a level that clearly wasn't asking for trial and error. With the previous finales, this wasn't an issue since they primarily used mechanics the player should already know inside and out. Maybe that's just me looking too deep into things, but it really did dampen the finale for me, even in the moment.

Only thing I'd add to your points is that the enemy variety in Alterna SUCKED. Octolings were used twice, Snipers and Commanders were used way too much and a bunch of enemies from past games were MIA

The only thing that I like in S2 story mode over then Octo and S3 (I didn't play S1 so I can't tell), is that each area and mission have a different theme. On one mission we went to a tropical beach with many jump pads, on the next mission we went to a car park, on the other mission we went to the river at night. That really gives me the feeling that we traveled all around the world just to save the day While Octo and S3, we stay at a boring underground facility most of the time

I agree with your opinion, but I enjoy playing Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion more than the Splatoon 3's Single player. Now I believe that we'll get more of agent 8 in the 3rd installment dlc because I love Octo expansion. (I would say agent 4 as well, but I really don't have high hopes for agent 4 returning anytime soon)

Wake up honey, new Chara video just dropped

8:00 deep cut wasnt rlly the bad guys, because in they just wanted the treasure (the massive scissors thing u have to collect when fighting them). it was more like the player and deep cut wanted the same thing and therefore had to fight for it. they didnt know what the player needed it for

I mean I think on a meta level Octo Expansion is "better" because it's DLC so the devs worked extra hard to make it worth the money whereas Splatoon 3 Hero Mode is just the standard single player with online matches and Salmon Run being a part of the overall package so it doesn't matter if Splatoon 3's Hero Mode is less impressive than Octo Expansion because your not just paying just for the Hero Mode like you are with Octo Expansion and later Splatoon 3's DLC, I think later it'd be better to compare Splatoon 3's DLC with Octo Expansion

I love Octo expansion, but both but shivers across my entire body. Octo expansion was one of the first purchases without any consent and I don’t have any regrets about it

I think one of the cooler things for the Octo expansion is how connected it feels to the overall game. From the lore and characterization of Off the Hook, to being able to bring your Octo into the main game. And even the final splatfest including the hyperbombs in the matches and the Fly Octo Fly/Ebb & Flow final boss song on the final day. Just overall felt way less siloed off from the rest of the game than Hero Mode, despite being DLC.

OE has a deeper and darker story, but it's a paid DLC. The best base campaign is S3. Because it's basically OE Lite.

I agree with you, Octo Expansion is still the best in my opinion. S3 hero mode was also pretty fun tho. The idea of the final boss being a Turf War is just impressive. Splatoon story mode don’t have much dialogue and cutscenes like other story-based game. But Octo still managed to have a great character development. When I first hear Into The Light after the ending I can’t feel more happy for the Octoling for finally being outside. Actually can’t wait for the S3 DLC. Hope I can see Agent 8 again and a redemption for Agent 4.

I've said in my personal group that Splatoon 3 hero mode is a watered down octo expansion

The main thing that makes me think Octo expansion is better than S3 hero mode is Mr. Grizz and the lore surrounding him. Compared to Tartar as a villain I feel like he totally falls flat and I'm disappointed they used him so early. In my opinion it was a bit too early to be establishing Grizzco as an actual villainous force rather than something more morally grey like in S2. Also I hate that Octavio only shows up at the beginning and end, they had a huge chance to finally dev his character and just... didn't take it. I still like S3 hero mode A LOT especially for the music and level design, but I do still favour Octo expansion pretty heavily. I'm quite certain that the DLC for this game will be super enjoyable, though I am a bit worried about what they'll do for its story.

I'm just waiting for the superboss content, salmon run next wave is making me hungry for challenging solo PVE content

Thank you for telling me which one ☝ is better I am so gratefull

I think Splatoon 3’s story mode meshes both the lighthearted fun of previous story modes with the heavy lore and atmosphere of Octo Expansion, and I absolutely love it.

I think the thing that bugs me about s3 hero mode is how much is borrowed from octo expansion. Like, the whole premise of the malevolent AI running an underground testing facility, and even the repurposed subway booth models really bothers me for some reason. I realize everything from s2 was recycled from s1 so maybe I should have expected it, but I feel like they could have done *something* to make it narratively different from OE even while following the same structure. We don't even really know why ORCA makes you do the tests other than as a progression device.