Is Splatoon 3 Actually Better than Octo Expansion?

Hey everyone! Today I'll be discussing if the campaign of Splatoon 3 actually beats Octo Expansion. Hope you guys enjoy :D Remember, this is my opinion, and you don't have to agree with it (don't cook me in the comments lol)
#splatoon3

[@Joyconic]

I hope the new Side Order DLC finally dethrones Octo Expansion. What do you guys think? :D

[@Ace_164]

I really enjoyed octo expansion, so I hope that nintendo realises what they did right and implements it into the side order dlc

[@IntersetllarElyese]

Yes

[@meguchy_]

Octo expansion was something I really enjoyed bcz of that atmosphere. This vintage synthwave style is beautiful. But not only, the story was really nice, and as a Hollow Knight and Elden Ring enjoyer, the hard difficulty in some levels felt just incredible. I have a big preference for octo expansion, but S3 story mode was also really great.

[@Joyconic]

Yeah, the theming was just insane

[@SilverSkish]

The atmosphere felt like a key factor

[@meguchy_]

@@SilverSkish honestly true

[@SilverSkish]

@@meguchy_ if it weren’t, I would’ve been capable of listening to the credits…

[@meguchy_]

@@SilverSkish BAHHAHAHAH TRUE

[@take_your_heart]

I can't comment on whether or not Octo Expansion is better because I haven't personally played it, but I enjoy Splatoon 3's Hero Mode so much partially because of the environment and how much you can explore. I think the devs took notes about what people liked about Octo Expansion and applied them to the story mode, as well as changing up the story to not just be "oh no the zapfish is gone again" because honestly, I think everyone who has played through the story mode forgot that the main reason you started was because the Zapfish was missing again.

[@Joyconic]

Yeah, fair points here 👍🏻

[@realnotfaketrust]

This is great content, you defenitely showed both sides strenghts pretty equally despite this topic mostly being based on opinion. Nice job, def earned a long time viewer here.

[@Joyconic]

Thank you! I tried to provide equal evidence for both, just for the sake of fairness. Glad you’re here for the journey! :D

[@octokraken6359]

Great video! RoTM is nothing compared to Octo Expansion, the atmosphere of the deep sea metro was incredible, the story of Octo Expansion was so much better as well. Trying to get Agent 8 to the surface was a great goal and when it finally happens at the climax of the 😢story it’s an incredible scene. RoTM gameplay levels are good but the story itself was kinda bad, they really wasted Mr Grizz and ended up creating more plotholes than connecting them. Fly Octo Fly was a much better final boss theme in my opinion, Calamari Inkantion 3MIX was cool because it was the climax of all three base game story modes but Fly Octo Fly is just awesome! The sanitized characters had more depth and were just a little more creepy than the Fuzzy Ooze, RoTM seems to have taken a lot of cues from Octo Expansion and that’s why RoTM feels cheaper. OE soundtrack is so much better. Octo Expansion was just so good and RoTM isn’t even close. I’m so excited for Side Order.

[@UnknownUser-ow5zb]

What exactly do you mean by "depth". Don't you need to actually have characters talk about a topic more than twice to explore its depth?

[@TheCosmicCloud]

@@UnknownUser-ow5zbWe have a lot more details about Sanitized Octarians than fuzzy ones. I don’t know if depth is the right word, but I personally really like that Octo expansion actually acknowledges that it’s strange for Octolings to be fighting one another. It also makes sense that Tartar would be able to control them. We aren’t ever given a proper explanation or real introduction to the Fuzzy Octarians as characters and no one ever questions why an Octoling player character would want to fight them or how Grizz leads them. It felt really odd to leave those details out after Octolings got such a huge focus in the previous story

[@JEE73YT]

2:13 Inner Agent 3 if I'm gonna be honest has given me permanent PTSD more than girl power station But if I'm gonna be honest Splatoon 3 and Octo Expansion are good as each other but octo expansion being slightly better but I SERIOUSLY CANT wait for Side Order

[@Joyconic]

Loll same tho- I had to re-beat it for this vid 😂 I’m super hyped for side order too

[@Tetsunorii]

Dude, how do u not have more subs. Your vids are really informative and have very good editing. I wish you tthe very best on ur journey in content creation

[@Joyconic]

Thank you! I really appreciate your kind words :3

[@AstroOcto]

Get ready for a Is Side Order better than Octo expansion?

[@Joyconic]

…oh you already know 😂

[@DekuGamer]

Your editing is incredible!! Great work presenting all of the information. You're REALLY good! I personally don't think Splatoon 3 and Octo Expansion are comparable, because of how unique of an angle they both attack. BUT if I had to choose one, it would ultimately be Alterna because of how flexible it was with the gameplay, while also exploring parts of the world building more thoroughly. Octo Expansion takes the cake on pretty much everything else though imo

[@Joyconic]

Dude- THANK YOU SO MUCH- it’s crazy that you just commented because I actually watch YOUR videos 😭 Yeah, I think your points are completely fair, the exploration aspect of Alterna was definitely a lot better.

[@oWest_]

you kinda left out the fact that splatoon 3's story mode is FREE, unlike octo expansion. the fact that splatoon 3's story mode can even come close to octo expansion is impressive since it costs absolutely nothing on top of the game you already bought

[@Joyconic]

YES I KNOW- That wasn’t intentional 😭 Yeah, that’s completely fair. I personally like OE better, but Nintendo still really did a great job on this, because, like you said, it comes with the base game.

[@glitter587]

The target town lvl literally made me cry and master motion controls to beat it

[@dagobahstudios3662]

I like octo expansion more because it was more difficult and had a cooler style, but I did really like splatoon 3’s campaign with its hub world and lore, and I’m glad they’re modeling single player off of octo expansion rather than the splatoon 1 and 2 campaigns

[@SmileyPants3]

Dude, your 4TH VIDEO did not have to go this hard! Keep up the great work! 👍👍👍

[@Adrianucho_]

Theres another factor for comparison and its the Agents. The Splatoon community has get attached to all the agents trough the years. And Agent 8 honestly it's much more fleshed out as a character than Neo. She has a backstory with all the Deep Sea Metro stuff, Tartar, the Mem Cakes telling us what she thinks about the world shes discovering. Meanwhile Neo is just Like Agent 3 was in Splatoon 1... She doesn't much for her. So for me, thats another point for Octo Expansion.

[@Joyconic]

Yeah, Agent 8 is my favorite out of the whole franchise, so I agree with this

[@Kerastalise]

4 and neo 3 didn’t have much justice

[@CrushedLollipops]

your conclusion was spot on! lets hope that side order is as deep as octo expansion, and sums up the series on a high note :)

[@Emperorliker]

Wow, still underrated! I have to say, in my opinion, Octo Expansion is better... there was a whole new species, and if I were an early player, I would go INSANE it also changed the whole plot and the stealing the zapfish stuff.. you explained this great, thanks for the amazing content!!!

[@Joyconic]

Thank YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS 🥺🥺🥺 I’m so glad you enjoy the vids :3 I’ll keep em coming:D

[@kizanko]

I love all hero modes I just recently got into Splatoon. But I always have a soft spot for the Wii U version, it feels the most like Splatoon, the weird, funky, alien like music, the environment, I love that every time you got a note the music got intense. I loved when grabbing the zapfish it did a funny wiggle. It loved being weird but also urban and hip. My booty was shaking at the songs. 2 was a bit less for me I didn't like the idle music in the hub world of hero mode. I didn't like that you couldn't insta fly to any part, but got a loading screen. And the music was less fun. Octo expansion really filled that gap. And gave me Splatoon Wii U vibes. 3 llis also a lovely game but hero mode for me feels even more distant than the orevious two. The music is less "Splatoon" like it's starting to turn more generic, it sounds cool tho but it lost it's weirdness which I loved. The environment also looks less Splatoon like, I don't like how it looks so distant from the Splatoon universe. I want to see the more of the cities, the forest, roads etc. Not a desert and a rocket station. Or at least they could have made each island a bit more unique for some variety. But the levels are decent. Some are really fun others are okay-ish. I really hope for Splatoon 4 that they put the same creativity and fun as they did in the first game and Octo Expansion. ❤

[@i_have_no_idea_]

hey! i know it's not related to video but congrats on hitting 500 subs!! :) i love ur videos, keep it up!

[@Joyconic]

Hey thanks so much! I’m so glad you like the vids :DDD

[@djboy0956]

Great editing love your video btw !

[@Joyconic]

Thank you! :D

[@grungehamster23]

We’ll have to see how Side Order compares to OctoExpansion. I feel comparing Splatoon 3 to Octo is a little unfair as was said: “It’s paid DLC that does not need to introduce players to the game.” Big agree with Splatoon 2 campaign feeling lackluster as it needs to be doable with all weapon classes, thus limiting creativity. The Splatoon dev team was likely under time crunch as they had to push Splatoon 2 out for Switch. Hopefully the devs get a proper amount of time for Splatoon 4 and “Switch 2”.

[@veryepic2]

bro took my wall painting idea (in the exact same spot lol) good vid!

[@Joyconic]

AGGIEODHWJSOEBW IT WAS JUST TOO GOOD 😭😭😭😭 Thanks tho 😭👍🏻

[@veryepic2]

⁠scheming time to steal part of ur editing style (also did you see my reply for the freecam thing?)

[@Joyconic]

@@veryepic2 Yeah just saw it! Thank you so much! Gotta stay tuned to see the next video you put out 👀👀

[@theduckgamerr]

I just found your channel, and I just wanna say, you're going far dude! what do you use to edit?

[@Joyconic]

Cheers! I do everything on Premiere Pro and Photoshop

[@theduckgamerr]

thanks!@@Joyconic

[@ZeusMakesDoodles]

I honestly hope side order is as unnerving and ominous as it was in the first trailer I don’t care if it’s a kids game I wanna see scary shit

[@ZintendoYT]

I don't know how to put this, but YOUR CONTENT IS FREAKING EPIC. I love it sm, and your going to become the next big Splatoon creator, I promise :)

[@Joyconic]

YOU ARE FREAKING EPIC BRO 😭😭 Thank you so much for all the kind and encouraging comments, I really appreciate it 😭🙌🏻

[@Tomagreen13]

I'm upset at myself cause I had the option to buy octo expansion some time ago but never did and now years later I see how cool it is,so the only story mode I've played is splatoon 3 and 2s story modes,but I wish I got to play the octo expansion,I'll be sure not to make that mistake with side order tho,great vid by the way keep it up 👍

[@cyndawu1940]

Octo Expansion is such a hidden gem. Top tier memorable music. Mysterious, unsafe and unsettling vibes, like metroid. Really cool 80s sound effect. Challenging but extremly fun levels. And of course, the story and bosses. Literally a 10/10 DLC. I'm sad to see most people don't get to experience such a cool DLC. I would like to see the Octo Expansion get the Xenoblade 2 DLC seperate treatment where you can buy physically and play the DLC story without buying the Xenoblade 2.

[@IntersetllarElyese]

Bro, you need to keep this up, you gonna blow up one day.

[@Joyconic]

Thanks bro. Appreciate it 🔥🔥

[@GAMRCAT-1]

nice job dude, keep making good content :)

[@Joyconic]

Thank you :D Will do!

[@Chookiny]

honestly i like octo expansion more, it was the first time nintendo got very creative with splatoon levels and actually put alot of effort into a storyline, and the music and whole atmosphere made it very fun to play. (also have to shoutout the final boss fight for splatoon 3 that was a banger)

[@Mignelia]

3:08 is making me laugh so hard that woke up my grandma

[@13_cmi]

No. Octo expansion was the peak of splatoon for me. I did enjoy the hero mode more than I should. The credits songs for both hero mode and octo expansion are also really beautiful. Makes me cry every time.

[@WailLord430]

Imo S3 is better but OE has a special spot in my heart. SO gonna go cray tho

[@Fun_Balls]

As a person who has complete biased towards octo expansion because I’ve speedran it I like octo expansion more. Another biased opinion of mine is that I like the harder difficulty and the level design, whereas in the splatoon 3 story mode I found myself having to do the hardest option to have fun. Also splatoon 3 story mode is kinda a copy of octo expansion fight me.

[@Joyconic]

Nah I ain't gonna fight you. I agree with pretty much everything you said lol

[@PenguinXD4]

In Octo Expansion there was a lot more levels I struggled with than Hero Mode 3, And With Hero Mode 3 I only really struggled with a few of the "hard" weapons in a stage and After Alterna. Hero Mode 3 is a toned back Octo Expansion and playing through every level just to unlock a challenge that up until now you didn't have to do anything about is meh, except sometimes for me Hero Mode 3 has a while not bad hub, fuzzy ooze can get annoying but it does come out with one of the best being that it's hubs can have some really cool gimmicks for it like the ice and how you can finally have a skill try to customize yourself would be nice, personally a hard mode being a thing would be really great for Side Order so I could get a challenge without everyone else suffering

[@mirtomano]

Octo expansion was challenging and had enemies and amazing lore the ambience is just amazing the ost were 11/10 and into the light made us cry fr. Splat 3 story mode is empty there are no enemies and wtf you end in a rocket. This is my opinion so don't take that seriously 😅

[@keyough]

Top tier video!

[@Joyconic]

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@SquidgeAnimations]

OooOoo kenis

[@SilverSkish]

I 1000%’d hero mode and octo expansion, as well as alterna, so this [ 2:04 ] I can painfully confirm

[@Joyconic]

Same here- we suffered together 😭

[@fey6823]

I enjoyed Octo expansion for the atmosphere, but you only had the train to explore around which is why I like Splatoon's 3 hero mode for having a bigger map to explore outside of the levels.

[@Joyconic]

That’s fair. While I preferred the train vibe, the ability to explore new islands was pretty cool

[@Fuzzy8804]

Bruh im bit pissed bc THE HECKIN STORY WAS THE HECKIN PAST BEFOR ANYTHING and the secret Log shows u more how cruel mr.grizz was...

[@seanpvs101moviesproduction3]

Let’s see How Side Order can Go in 2024.

[@samuelswan3992]

Finished splatoon 3 story last night kl boss fight at end was brilliant but o to expansion is just better tbh plus agent 8 on top

[@Joyconic]

YESS AGENT 8 ON TOP

[@oddgorl23]

mr grizz is a bear

[@johnalexanderaylward]

I think Octo was better. When I played the Splatoon 3 campaign it felt like a cheap copy of the Octo Expansion with brighter colors. I wish they had left the whole "Pay for each level with your eggs" thing to the expansion and made Alterna more like Splatoon 1&2 story mode.

[@venomicky]

My tier List of Story modes 4. Octo Canyon (Splatoon 2) 3. Octo Valley (Splatoon) 2. Return of the Mammalians 1. Octo Expansion ? Side Order ? (Pls be good!)

[@venomicky]

I will come back after the release of the DLC maybe

[@Joyconic]

@@venomicky Nice!

[@landensplatoon]

I already know Side Order is going to blow it out of the water and be the best story mode

[@Joyconic]

Yup!

[@imjustspirit]

I think I prefer 3s campaign but just a tiny bit. I would say 3>OE>>>1>2

[@Nshimo64]

Yes

[@mispinchergamings3470]

I love splatoon 3 campgain better. And ,y 1st fav campgain. Do your fav campgain in order dlc include. But need to wait like 3 weeks for next dlc to come. And octo mt least fav, srry but not like it.

[@takoyakiq]

WHERE IS HIS 12 AT!?!???!!!!? 😭

[@Joyconic]

12 WHAT??!??!! 😭😭😭😭😭

[@takoyakiq]

@@Joyconic 12 THOUSAND😭😭

[@silasadams3329]

www.youtube.com/@andrew_games413 This you? Edit style and voice are veeeery similar

[@Joyconic]

Maybeeee 👀🤫

[@wuffles9584]

I haven't beaten girl power station either. I quit after i got 0.2 seconds remaining

[@Joyconic]

HAH 😂 been there lol

[@HeDronHeDronHedron]

i didnt pla yocto expansion (had to watch videos to see what it was) but it seems like it stomps sploon 3

[@Curlyfries237]

Also the story in octo expansion felt more like it was part of the lore of Splatoon while Splatoon 3 was a fever dream of a story. Like really a bear gains super intelligence crystals hold human dreams

[@pls_stap_]

Tbh, although I love my commander, Tartar is a 10,000 year old robot that has somehow gotten sentience and went insane, and decided to attempt to destroy marine life and turn them into zombies [although I do love being one] due to them fighting over stuff [acc to the english version, forgot what the Japanese one was], even though humanity did that a lot more, and probably more than the real world due to well...5 world wars. Sooooo I think they're both on the same level of wackiness, and I love it!

[@Joyconic]

Gave a lot of insight into the lore, and that’s one of the main reasons I liked it

[@pls_stap_]

@Joyconic Yeah, I agree! It showed potential for darker Splatoon lore hehe! Hope the commander comes back...I miss them!

[@Kookie_TV]

not trying to take away from your opinions, but I feel like people are usually biased towards the original, since the oldest ones are usually more nostialgic. Also, many players played Octo Expansion as teenagers, and now that splatoon 3 has come out they are now adults, so they associate octo with childhood and a happy period in their life.

[@Joyconic]

That’s fair, and that might be the case for me.

[@Kookie_TV]

@@Joyconic i still valued your opinions on both modes tho, it was a great vid!

[@giganticmoon]

Honestly, Octo Expansion just had that impact that 3 couldn’t have.

[@CRKLoremaster]

YASS OCTO EXPANSION SLAYSS PERIOD

[@Joyconic]

💯💯🔥🔥

[@MrChubbyTallNeck]

Agent 4

[@Joyconic]

Yes 🦑

[@UnknownUser-ow5zb]

I feel like you failed to mention something kind of important: RotM's premise doesn't make any sense. OE might have had an artificial scenario, but at least it explain why the levels exist and why you get rewarded for going through them. Where to even start with RotM? You get eggs by beating level to power up your fish. Who made these levels? Why do they contain modern weapons if this is a 12 millennia old human settlement. Why do they contain the eggs of creatures who wouldn't exist for another 5000 years. Why do the levels reward eggs upon completion anyway. Why does a creatyre gain power by consuming irs own offspring. The entire purpose if a game's story is to contextualise what you are doing. If you give an explanation that makes negative sense, you have made things worse than if you hadn't bothered at all. But let's not pretend that OE's story was anything but passible. Too simple of a premise stretched over too much content, and they use a meandering, filler packed 10 part blog post as a substitute. Everything learned in the chat logs was pretty much what you'd already expect, and even the actual new information is meaningless. Marina might have worked on the Great Octoweapons, but as soon as we fight an exact replica of Octostomp it's like that info doesn't exist, because it might as well not. You also could have mentioned the complete lack of a difficulty curve, area desgns that actually make sense in the context of the world, or villains that are a part of the story for more than 5 minutes. You may be entitled to your own opinion, but that's not an excuse to stop thinking.

[@Jm-ki4su]

i truly hope Side Order takes a rogue-like approach with dungeon-crawler gameplay

[@lualas]

for me splatoon 3’s story was really boring compared to octo expansion. and also the hub world aesthetic sucked, it’s all just white and dull compared to octo expansions cool train. and octo expansion was also way harder difficulty wise

[@Joyconic]

Exactly 👍🏻

[@coldmill8615]

Octo Expansion has Iso Padre, Splatoon 3 doesn't, simple as

[@citizenofhyrule]

but, did you play them back to back? i genuinely did, i wanted to make sure, and i think octo expansion's level design is nowhere near as good as splatoon 3's. however, octo expansion has a better story. splatoon 3 genuinely reinvented far more new ways to play than octo expansion did, the only thing octo expansion did was reinvent splatoon 2's campaign so drastically that people were very happy with it compared to splatoon 2 campaign. splatoon 3's campaign just overthrew octo expansion really in terms of gameplay variety for me, i find it hard to believe it didnt for you.

[@CaveBoss]

Octo expansion was awful and splat 3’s story mode was very lame and awful as well. Sider order looks just as bad if not worse than octo expansion. I want to be excited for it i really do. But The devs forgot what Splatoon really is since octo expansion. and the chances of them getting the next story wrong is pretty much guaranteed. So while ill try to be excited for side order, ulitimately i feel i will dread it😞

[@Thatdude37294]

You’ve made it so far! 🎉 🥹

[@Joyconic]

You’re back! Thank you for the support. It really means a lot ❤️❤️ :)