Splatoon's Story and What It Means To Be Human
CosmicCloud・64 minutes read
The speaker explores the immersive power of video game stories through Splatoon's unique world-building, reflecting on the bias and conflict portrayed in the game's narrative. Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion deepens character development and showcases personal introspection, highlighting forgiveness and understanding as essential to resolving differences.
Insights
- Splatoon's world-building intricately weaves a post-apocalyptic narrative where the perspectives of Inklings and Octarians are explored, showcasing a nuanced conflict rooted in fear and dehumanization.
- The game's narrative challenges traditional good versus evil tropes, presenting a complex world where indoctrination, biases, and conflicting values perpetuate societal divides, mirroring real-world complexities.
- Splatoon's overarching message emphasizes the power of creation, individualism, and shared perspectives in overcoming hatred and division, highlighting the importance of support, love, and understanding in driving positive change.
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Recent questions
What is the central message of Splatoon's narrative?
Splatoon's narrative revolves around finding light in darkness, the power of creation, and the significance of sharing perspectives to foster understanding and progress. It emphasizes that despite flaws and mistakes, support, love, and creation can bring about positive change, inspiring individuals to challenge norms and explore their true selves.
How does Splatoon explore the concept of conflict?
Splatoon delves into conflict by portraying the interactions between the game's major factions, the Inklings, Octarians, and Salmonids, realistically. It initially presents a biased view through the perspective of the Inklings, focusing on their experiences and achievements. However, as players delve deeper into the game's lore, they uncover a more nuanced history that showcases the complexities of the conflict and the differing perspectives of the Inklings and Octarians.
What distinguishes Splatoon's world-building from other games?
Splatoon's world-building stands out due to its creation of a futuristic setting rooted in reality, with detailed elements like music and fashion. Nintendo's approach to game development prioritizes gameplay concepts, character creation, and world-building, resulting in a thoughtful and immersive setting that reflects real-life complexities. The game's inclusion of dark details within a lighthearted experience aims to create a stronger connection between the game and the player, mirroring the complexities of real life.
How does Splatoon convey deeper messages about our world?
Splatoon conveys deeper messages about our world through its lore and gameplay by presenting a world where the lines between good and bad are blurred, reflecting real-world issues like war and discrimination. The game's writing doesn't explicitly comment on politics, leaving interpretation to the audience, and focuses on creating a believable and immersive world drawn from real-life experiences to make it feel alive. This open-ended approach allows players to engage with heavy ideas without being spoon-fed a particular viewpoint.
What themes are explored in Splatoon's narrative?
Splatoon's narrative explores themes of forgiveness, personal understanding, and the power of personal interactions in resolving conflicts. Through the interactions of characters like Pearl, Marina, and Cuttlefish, the game showcases how shared culture and individual understanding can lead to forgiveness and resolution. The game contrasts broader, distant storytelling with personal, intimate explorations of individual change, emphasizing the importance of personal growth and introspection in overcoming differences.
Related videos
Summary
00:00
"Discovering Splatoon: A Game-Changing Journey"
- 2015 marked a significant year for the speaker, leading to the discovery of the game Splatoon, which became a pivotal part of their life.
- Splatoon's unique world and gameplay captivated the speaker, influencing their growth and interests over nearly 9 years.
- The speaker delves into the distinction between games as art, emphasizing the immersive power of video game stories.
- Splatoon's world-building stands out, creating a futuristic setting rooted in reality, with detailed elements like music and fashion.
- Nintendo's approach to game development for Splatoon prioritizes gameplay concepts, character creation, and world-building, resulting in a thoughtful setting.
- Splatoon's world reflects a post-apocalyptic Earth, where humanity has perished, offering a unique backdrop for the game's narrative.
- The speaker draws parallels between Splatoon and other games like Undertale and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, highlighting their narrative innovations.
- Conflict in Splatoon is portrayed realistically through the interactions of the game's major factions: Inklings, Octarians, and Salmonids.
- The game initially presents a biased view of the world through the perspective of the Inklings, focusing on their experiences and achievements.
- Exploring Octo Valley and the Sunken Scrolls reveals a deeper history and perspective, showcasing the differences in culture and mindset between Inklings and Octarians.
14:53
"Octarians and Inklings: Fear and Conflict"
- The Scrolls written by the inklings and octarians depict each group as dangerous and aggressive, leading to fear and dehumanization.
- The Sunan Scrolls reveal a recontextualization of the conflict in Octo Valley, showing the octarians' suffering and unsustainable way of life.
- The octarians stole the great zapfish out of necessity due to dwindling resources and an impending energy crisis.
- The inklings, despite their prosperity, have shown little interest in diplomacy and have benefited from stolen resources like power eggs.
- The squidbeak Splatoon's goal is not just defense but to maintain power and oppress the octarians, perpetuating the status quo.
- The inklings have been socialized to fear and hate the octarians, with history written to favor their perspective.
- Both inklings and octarians have been indoctrinated to love their country and hate the enemy, perpetuating conflict.
- The game's narrative is from the inkling perspective, maintaining a good versus evil storyline despite the complex reality.
- Splatoon's detailed world-building and conflicting values aim to create depth and realism, reflecting real-life complexities.
- The game's inclusion of dark details within a lighthearted experience aims to build a stronger connection between the game and the player, reflecting the complexities of real life.
29:13
Splatoon 2: Deep, immersive storytelling through gameplay
- The developers of the game are conveying deeper messages about our world through its lore and gameplay.
- The game presents a world where the lines between good and bad are blurred, reflecting the complexities of real-world issues like war and discrimination.
- The game's writing doesn't explicitly comment on politics, leaving interpretation to the audience.
- Nintendo focused on creating a believable and immersive world, drawing from real-life experiences to make it feel alive.
- The open-ended approach of the game allows players to interpret and engage with heavy ideas without being spoon-fed a particular viewpoint.
- The game's story doesn't end with a typical resolution of conflicts but rather with a celebratory concert, symbolizing unity and cultural exchange.
- The sequel, Splatoon 2, continues the story with a greater focus on specific characters but doesn't significantly advance the world-building.
- Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion introduces a new perspective by allowing players to experience the game world through the eyes of an octoling named Agent 8.
- Agent 8's character development is richly portrayed through their active imagination, deep thoughts, and personal reflections, particularly through the poems found in the game.
- The game's melancholic atmosphere and focus on personal introspection provide a unique and relatable storytelling experience centered around Agent 8's journey of self-discovery.
44:18
"Octo Expansion: Forgiveness and Conflict Resolution"
- Octo Expansion features a dynamic between Pearl, Marina, and Cuttlefish, representing Splatoon's world: an Inkling, an Octoling, and a man from a past generation.
- Pearl grew up in comfort but is easily bored and enjoys causing chaos.
- Marina broke free from Octarian society but retains values of diligence and order.
- Cuttlefish, a War veteran, is old-fashioned but kind-hearted, not bound by his past.
- The characters' interactions showcase forgiveness through shared culture and personal understanding.
- The chat logs reveal Marina's past as a military engineer, leading to Pearl's easy forgiveness.
- The group represents an idealized version of Splatoon's world conflict, showing how personal interactions can resolve differences.
- Octo Expansion contrasts with Splatoon's broader, distant story, focusing on personal, intimate explorations of individual change.
- The Deep Metro introduces a cruel and cunning telephone, luring subjects with false promises of freedom.
- The telephone's true nature is revealed as it manipulates subjects, leading to their demise, with over 10,000 applicants failing to reach the surface.
01:03:17
"Altera's Scientists Create Liquid Crystal Fantasy"
- Altera's human scientists work tirelessly to rebuild their civilization, with some focusing on preserving the past while others pave the way for the future.
- A scientist in Altera creates liquid crystals from squid bodily fluids that change color in response to faint electrical signals from the human mind, visualizing human thoughts.
- The Blue Sky in Altera is a fantasy constructed from these liquid crystals, reflecting human desires and the last hope of humanity before the collapse of society.
- The evolution of the Inkling and Octoling species is guided by human will, with the crystals shattering upon the Dome's destruction, absorbed by deep-sea creatures.
- Tardar, an antagonist representing humanity's legacy, is defeated, leading to the celebration of freedom, individualism, and love prevailing over hate.
- The destruction of Tardar symbolizes the end of humanity's collective knowledge, with the Inkling and Octoling societies flawed but continuing to fight and live for themselves.
- Splatoon's message is about finding light in darkness, the power of creation, and the importance of sharing perspectives to understand one another and drive the world forward.
- The game emphasizes that despite flaws and mistakes, support, love, and creation can lead to positive change, inspiring individuals to defy norms and discover themselves.
