Splatoon 3 Grand Festival - The End is Near
Posted on 2024.07.27
Well, this is it. This is the end.
Last week, on Friday at one minute past midnight, Nintendo announced the Grand Festival, a huge Splatfest to celebrate the 2-year anniversary of Splatoon 3. It will feature a brand new hub where all the idols will be celebrating together. The theme of this Splatfest is: Which is the most important to you? Past, Present, or Future?
This looks to be like the Final Fests from both Splatoon 1 and 2. The Splatfest of all Splatfests! A giant finale event that might seal the fate of the series’s future!
> Immediate Reaction
This sudden announcement shocked the whole Splatoon community. I didn’t see it immediately; I decided to open Twitter a few minutes past midnight, and that’s when I caught myself in the middle of my timeline bursting in flames, with everyone freaking out about a ‘final fest’. Let me tell you, my heart basically sank. I frantically searched for the original official posts, and yup, it was real.
I was completely overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions. I didn’t know what to feel. On one hand, incredible excitement! It’s the final* Splatfest! I was not around for the final fests of Splatoon 1 and 2, so this will be my first time participating in the finale event. I’ve been looking forward to this day for years! On the other hand, this clearly marks the end of development for the game. Obviously the game will continue to live, but a large part of it will be “over”. No more new content: no new maps, weapons, gear, modes or features to look forward to. This whole thing is just… kinda bittersweet, y’know?
(*note: I know Nintendo did not use the term “final” fest for this one like they did for S1 and S2, instead opting to use terms like “grand” and “decisive”. I use it here in the context that this event will basically be the equivalent to those fests from the previous games. On this topic, the wording implies Splatfests are not going away, maybe we’ll be seeing some reruns or something, which is cool!)
After settling down from that initial rush, I watched the official trailer for this event. The trailer showed the new hub, featuring many stages in which the three idol groups will sing and dance. They sported new outfits and were performing new choreographies (some of which come from the real life concerts, I think!). For a brief moment, we also see the idols in their regular outfits, which maybe corresponds to the first half of the Splatfest, with the new outfits appearing in the second half. And speaking of halftime, the video shows what I can only assume is what happens after halftime: a huge stage, spectated by thousands of audience members, in which all three idol groups perform together.
> The Theme Itself
I gotta say, this is a really good theme. There’s a lot of things to take into consideration. I’ll be looking at the theme in a vacuum, which is how I like to vote on splatfest themes.
As the official Splatoon twitter account put it, “Shall we look back on the good ol' days, stay in the moment, or think of all the possibilities?” My choice is between Present and Future. I don’t think I would vote for Past. Allow me to explain myself in the form of defending each team (including Past, screw it. It’s not all that bad even if I wouldn’t vote on it. I'm leaving it for last, though)
In defense of Present:
The present is important because, well, it’s what today is. We’re in control of it! There’s so much we can do today! I prefer to live life day by day, being in the moment. Every day you can wake up and pick what clothes to wear, which meals to eat, which games to play, and so on. There’s tons of decisions you can make at the moment, small or big. Want to take that big step out of your comfort zone? Do it today! Take that leap! Look at the bigger picture: want to fight for everyone’s rights? Want to take actions against the groups and individuals that affect our lives? Then it starts by taking action today! Don’t leave it for tomorrow! Returning to the smaller picture, remember that every day is meaningful. You never know what you’re going to get; there are good days and there are bad days. But you have to live every day, there’s always something to learn. Things will get better, progress is not linear. Everyone has had terrible, awful days, and that’s okay. Everything’s gonna be okay, whether it takes one day, one week, one month, one year or one decade. Every day presents a new, beautiful opportunity. One of the most important things you can do in life is just... live it. And you can only do that today.
In defense of Future:
The future is important too because it’s what tomorrow will bring. Look, I know things are looking dire, but we can’t lose hope! For every horrible thing going on in the world, there’s even more positive things happening at the same time. Good things are coming our way! Progress is being made! Looking at the smaller picture again, the future brings a lot to look forward to! Think of that game that’s yet-to-be-released. Knowing that release date, being months away, getting closer day by day, second by second... It's exciting! Or when a game does not have a release date, you desperately wait day by day to see if there's any shed of news regarding the project. So tense! Regardless, playing a game you've waited so long for is so, so rewarding. I love looking forward to things! Want to do something special with friends? Do you want to visit a new place? Do something new? For all of that, you have to plan it out and leave it up to the future. It can be stressful but it's also cool! Even beyond friends and games and cool things, there's so so so many things to look forward to. As I said in my defense for 'present', things will get better. I know that the future being uncertain is a scary thing, but there’s a lot of good stuff that awaits us in the future. Even if today sucks, tomorrow might not. And the other thing you can do apart from living your day as best as you can, is to look forward to a brighter tomorrow!
In defense of Past:
The past is important because it's what everything is built upon. Today came from yesterday, y’know? And while it's built on top of a lot of bad things, it's built on top of even more good things! In the big picture, think of all of human history! We've made so many advancements in all imaginable areas, which allow us to live our lives as comfortably as we do. Compare our way of living today vs 10 years ago vs 100 years ago vs 1000 years ago. We have it SO much better! All of that is possible thanks to everything we've done to make it better. Going back to the smaller picture, think about your past! All of your past lives through memories, and who doesn’t love reminiscing about good memories, or bathing in nostalgia? Also, think of everything you like. All of that was born yesterday and further beyond! Sometimes before you were even born! All your favorite games and stuff, your personality, your friends, your way of being... all of that came from the past. Everything you've done in your life since you were born has led to how you stand right now. That's pretty cool! and... kinda horrifying. I often think about the butterfly effect and how small changes or decisions can heavily impact one's life. What if I did x instead of y? What if I never met these specific people? Where would I be now? Well, whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. Because you are today. The past, while good, can also be bad. The past is about opposites. There is joy and there is misery. There is satisfaction and there is regret. But while there's definitely a lot of stuff from the past you have to let go of, there's a lot to embrace, and I think that's neat.
So, what's gonna be my choice? I'm tempted to vote for Present, though I'm willing to vote for Future if I’m swayed. I believe living in the moment and taking action today are more important. The past is in the past and the future is unpredictable. And I don’t like Past that much because, personally, there’s too much I need to let go of, we can’t dwell on things we can’t change. If I had to assign numbers to my willingness to join each team, I’d say it’s about 15/50/35, or 15/45/40 (for past/present/future respectively).
Before moving on, I want to mention the other reason to pick a team, which is in the context of the game itself. Firstly, idol groups. For this Splatfest, the teams will be represented not by an individual idol, but by idol groups! If I were to pick based on that, my vote would 100% go to Past. I am a massive Marie fan, and thus I’m also a huge fan of the Squid Sisters! But as I said before, I don’t like to pick teams based on idols. So for as much as I love Marie, I just don’t like the choice of Past so I’m not gonna pick it (it hurts me to say; I’m sorry Marie ;-;).
Secondly, there’s the possibility that the result of this Splatfest will affect the direction of the next game in the series. While it isn’t explicitly confirmed, we have seen this with the other games’ final fests, where Marie’s S1 win meant she was given a prominent role in S2’s story, and Chaos’s S2 win gave S3 a chaotic vibe. Looking at the Splatfest theme this way is certainly interesting. Maybe if Past wins, we’ll get to play in a time era that takes before the game’s modern setting. Or maybe if Future wins, we get to see an alternate reality where history and technology has rapidly advanced? I don’t know, there’s a lot of room for speculation with this interpretation. Personally, I’m not gonna worry about that, the Splatfest theme clearly states the question and that’s all that matters to me. Regardless, picking a team based on this is still better than picking based on idol or ink color (to me at least, you do you).
Speaking of the future of the game…
> The Future of Splatoon
If this is anything like the Final Fests from S1 and S2, then this will be the last big event and will mark the end of the game’s active development cycle. I already mentioned earlier how this feels a bit bittersweet to me.
Splatoon 3 is a good game, but it never quite reached its full potential. People all over the internet have already expressed their sentiments over this topic and some have even made videos about it, and it’s a sentiment I agree with. It’s a shame we never got 3rd kits, and that most of the maps remain poorly designed. We never got to see new game modes beyond those included at launch (namely Tri-color Turf War and Tableturf Battle), or the return of fan-favorite side modes like Squid Beatz. But whatever, I’m not gonna repeat the same things everyone has already said.
This Splatfest raises questions for the future of the series. Personally, I think it’s too early to think about what Splatoon 4 will look like, or if it will even exist. We know for sure this is the end of the Squidbeak Splatoon saga, so the next game might be completely unrelated to the locations and characters we know and love. I hope we still get to see at least some cameo appearances, because I’ll be sad if this is the last time we see the cast that we’ve grown attached to, especially Marie for me. I’d love to see new characters and a new part of the world, as long as there’s a photo of the Squid Sisters hidden in the background of the shop or something ;).
Y’know what would be more cool than a new main game? A spin-off! The Splatoon world is so vast that it would be a no brainer! Imagine a Splatoon tactics RPG, or an exploration-focused game. The series’ worldbuilding also has enough material to do anything. Imagine a game set in the Great Turf War era, or something that dives deeper into the lore of the Deepsea Metro, or something that expands upon the lore of stuff that exists mostly outside of the game, like the splat bands. I’m mentioning some pretty obvious stuff but I promise there’s more deeper cuts and references to be made.
> A Moment of Admiration
To close off my thoughts on this Splatfest, here’s me gushing about all the cool stuff regarding this event, pics included.
Another small thing that I didn’t know where else to mention is that I really wish I wasn’t so burnt out on the game at this moment. I haven’t played Splatoon 3 properly in months, only ever returning briefly for Splatfests and Big Runs. Kinda sucks that I’m sick of the game itself when this was announced. Thankfully at least, my love for Splatoon as a whole has never gone away (I think the length of this post is proof of that). I’m really excited for this event! I have a month and a half to prepare, let’s hope I can get into the groove of gameplay again and reignite my passion for this game to its max capacity before then!
Alright that’s it, bye!