With Its Final Splatfest, ‘Splatoon 2’ Made Us Question the Nature of Its Universe
Credit to Author: Ricardo Contreras| Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2019 16:16:44 +0000
Chaos. Order. Which do you side with? This is the choice Nintendo has put in front of us with the final Splatfest of Splatoon 2. What at first may seem like a simple question proves to have wide reaching ramifications for the world of Splatoon 2. Is it in Order’s nature to always fall into a fascistic mode, where the obliteration of free will is inevitable? Does true Chaos ever exist, or is it better described as a degree of Order? Why does Chaos seem to be represented by people that just wanna party? Does this dichotomy even matter if in the end all will return to the sea?
We tackle this and many more questions raised by our listeners on this episode of Waypoint Radio. What are the ethics of jumping off of a Yoshi to save yourself? What ever happened to Need for Speed? And finally, we enter into that eternal debate, one that’s been asked and answered for as long as podcasts existed: Knife or Bat? You can listen to the full episode and read an excerpt below:
Rob: “Octarians: The light that was denied us will be ours. Since the great Turf War drove them below, Octarians of use their technological skill to bring a sort of order to their Realm. But deep down they know true order cannot be fabricated. It must be seized.”
Cado: Holy SHIT! NINTENDO!?!
Patrick: Oh! So the Octarians, their definition of order is not necessarily the status quo, how things are going. It’s actually that no, your current status quo isn’t order and we will bring order. I guess they’re assuming it’s already chaos there. They’re rejecting the premise. That’s dark! Or not! I don’t know. I don’t know much about the mythology of [Splatoon 2], maybe the Octarians deserved to seize the the order of operations of Inkopolis.
Cado: Aren’t they essentially the low-level enemies in this game? Yeah? Right?
Rob: Makes you think.
Patrick: Damn.
Cado: This is wild. I thought this was a fan thing at first and then I was like “Oh wait. No, this is official, holy shit!”
Patrick: Ah! “Telephone and sea cucumber: #teamorder. These failed prototypes endlessly waring for turf. If chaos already reigns, and order needs to be restored, who decides what “order” looks like? These two have their own opinions, and they probably won’t include the words free or will.”
Cado: WWWWHHHHAAAAATTT???? EXCUSE ME??? NINTENDO?!?
Rob: So…
Cado: [incredulous laughter]
Rob:Yeah.
Patrick: You know?
Cado: You know what? Fuck it. I’m, yeah, Team Chaos. Team Chaos! Fuck this shit! If that’s what Order’s bringing to the fucking table!?
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This article originally appeared on VICE US.