I haven't did a Joe's Monologues for a while. And now, the series is back. Today, we're gonna go over a couple of topics, so without further ado, let's begin.
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling
We're gonna start with the elephant in the room, Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling. I am in the middle of the game and I have gone this far. I have recorded my gameplay videos in the source of starting my own Let's Play series. The game just blew me away. It given me some serious Paper Mario vibes that the gameplay is similar to that of the first two games of the series that were critically acclaimed. As soon as I finish Bug Fables, it's off to Escape from Ever After and I'll record its gameplay too.
And dang, the Watcher fight almost given me a headache. I lost on my first and second attempt. My first attempt became a failure because I was running low on TP that I should've get to Venus to replinish it. The second attempt also became a failure that I forgot to restock on recovery items. The third attempt became a success because I addressed the flaws by replinishing TP and stocking up on items. I guess third time's the charm is what they say.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
Now let's go on to the next topic about a game that I haven't talked about, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. I have bought the game at a discounted price on the PS5 first. The game blew me away with the gameplay that involves switching courses through the CrossWorlds feature that was met with praise. There are non-Sonic characters that join the race. They got Joker from Persona 5, Hatsune Miku and a bunch of collaborations. They also have non-SEGA collaborations that are paid DLC. They are all great, but do you know what would I like to see in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds? A Simpsons pack.
We have the SpongeBob SquarePants pack and the TMNT and Avatar packs are coming soon and Fortnite had a Simpsons mini season, so what we like to see is a Simpsons pack that contains Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa as playable characters with voice acting and a lot of stuff like decals, effects and Springfield as a playable track.
Why am I suggesting the Simpsons pack to come to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds comes with two reasons. The first reason is to forward Fortnite's Simpsons mini season. The mini season was met with buzz and excitement that they would petition to make it permanent and it's a sign of nostalgia that the series' games are stuck in retro consoles and never been remade for modern consoles.
The second reason is to convince developers to bring the Simpsons back into the gaming realm with the rumored remaster of the Simpsons Hit and Run and make new games. They can take from what they learned from the original developers and apply it to future Simpsons games. A Simpsons pack with Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa as playable characters and Springfield as a playable track in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds sounds like a good feat to me, especially because of Road Rage. It can pave the way for a new kart racer based on the Simpsons. But SEGA requires permission from Fox for that.
2XKO
And last but not least, 2XKO. This one is gonna be a doozy to talk about because we finally know when Akali is coming out; April 7, and it's not that long. Her moves are pretty insane. Development notes show that Akali is the fastest character in 2XKO, but her health pool is the lowest, deemed as risky and comes with Twilight Shroud, a unique mechanic Akali has to give her moves some buff.
Let me tell you; Akali is the character I wanted and theorized since they knew that Akali is the important character the roster needs and her theme is on point, deemed the best character theme that makes me wonder if she's like a pseudo Naruto character since she is actually getting her Naruto palette. See, Akali is Japanese like Yasuo, especially since they are on the Capcom side for Onimusha. However, nothing in that department has ever got as close as it did with Illaoi being on the SEGA side for Ooga Booga.
We had to wait until April for Akali's release because they had to nerf Ekko and Yasuo enough to create a balanced and healthy competitive meta and fix screen tearing on console in 1.1.3. Now that they got all of that done, with black smoke galore, kunai and Kama, her portable scythe, Akali is ready for battle in 1.1.5.
But Akali is not the only thing that is coming in 1.1.5 because local duos is also coming. It allows a player to grab a partner and play on the same console against players online and it's something people wanted. Which is nice, but it's only just a taste of how would they usurp investing in Duo Play even more. I can't wait to find out what will 1.1.5 have in store for us besides Akali and local duos against online players.
After Akali, it's off to Senna, who is coming out with a new stage in Season 2. Thankfully, we don't have to be in the Senna waiting room or have an odd number of characters any longer because it's April and she's coming out on May 12 and that's when Season 2 will launch looking at the Season 1 countdown. We know that Senna will swing her projectile weapon like Caitlyn does since she's a Marksman, come with a unique resource that fills up when collecting Mist and transform into a Wraith when she collects enough Mist, like Warwick's Bloodlust gauge, but that's only just the beginning. Her full trailer will drop one week before her release. Since Evo is almost here, maybe they can announce the remaining two characters of the year after the Senna trailer at Evo Japan. They have to because Evo is the most prestigious event that has reveals, right? I want to see who they are.
Surely, Akali's debut in 2XKO could mean that Katarina could be the fourth character of the year to fall within Season 2 with Senna and that's what we came for since she was Thanos-snapped from the game's earlier stage of development. Now, I know that people are gonna complain when Katarina is scrapped. "Hello?! The red-haired assassin of Noxus?!" "For the love of God, Katarina was itching to be in the roster!"
I'm telling you, Arucelli's work on her concept art and submission to designers for her redesign stage confirms that Katarina is still planned. That aside, this brings me to my point. I don't think that Miss Fortune or Kennen is gonna be the final character of the year since the final character of the year is launching in Season 3 with a new stage. I think it's gonna be either Garen or Ashe. We will see when we get closer to the point. I'm just speculating that the final character of the year is either one of them to come with a new stage.
Conclusion:
It has been a while since my previous Joe's Monologues. I hope to see you in the next one.
