Hello, everyone. Today's Joe's Monologues is potentially the last of the month and it's gonna have exciting things that I'm going to talk about, so without further ado, let's dive right in.
Update Regarding Our Trip:
First off, me and my family were supposed to visit Indiana, but apparently, we won't be able to visit there because of crisis reasons that associate with airports and airlines facing a crisis. To be honest, I am a little disappointed that I will not be going on a forest show where we drive through the road while watching trees through Portage. But I am fine with that because I know for a fact that we might go for the less innovative and cheap airline. Regardless, I did visit my old stomping grounds on November. I got to see bare trees and trees that have orange and yellow leaves and experience kids going to school for the first time since I moved to Arizona. However, the first time was better because it was on June and that's when the weather was nice and the forests made me think of Elora, especially when they have green leaves.
But it did fill out the Indiana-shaped sadness in my heart, though, especially when I loved being around those people there to bolster seeking my old friends and I'm going places I have been to. Big places I visited that have a lot of people were Franciscan Health, City Lanes and Blue Chip. Ones that were well-liked were City Lanes and Blue Chip with Franciscan Health trailing behind due to my mother getting sick. Let's not forget that Franciscan Health was formerly St. Anthony Memorial Hospital. Even though it was trailing behind, I got to visit there and it retains its charm. I just like being around those people, especially when I'm seeking my old friends back in the day. But the only conception is that the bowling alley is number one due to me and my family having nostalgic fun.
But that is not the only one that came to me. Remember what I said that my old stomping grounds in Indiana has the street that has its charm? Well, Franklin St. is not the only one because another street being Tilden Ave. has its charm because that's where you'll find the cemetery at and where my bus driver has taken me through when I was in high school.
I was able to conquer my fear of flying in a plane that I felt no tingle on my stomach when taking off and sat near the window to have a better view at the sights. I call it the Buena Vista Effect. It's when you sit near the window in a plane, you'll have a better view as Buena Vista is a Spanish term for good view. I don't know when I'm visiting my old stomping grounds, but it's only a matter of time.
32GB RAM Can't Be Beat:
It has been a week since I have upgraded my gaming computer to having 32GB RAM. So far, the performance has been greatly improved and I was able to play most of my games well. It is way better than having 8 GB RAM, which is the bare minimum for gaming. I am making 32GB RAM my new standard going forward. For those of you asking if I could upgrade my gaming computer to have 64GB RAM or higher, it's not happening anytime soon. 32GB RAM is more than enough for future-proofing and higher resolution gaming and I currently have no plans to expand to 64GB RAM or higher due to being so expensive.
2XKO:
The devs have dropped an update regarding 2XKO. It comes in not one, but multiple announcements. First off, the game is entering Closed Beta on September 9. Closed Beta is the first phase of game development that marks the start of bringing it to everyone globally and it has a goal, which is keeping the servers online, outside of any maintenance. But in order to participate in Closed Beta, new players that never participated in Alpha Lab 1 or 2 must register for a Riot account, and since Closed Beta marks the start of shipping 2XKO to everyone, new players that registered will get a guaranteed invite and wouldn't be left behind, so when Closed Beta starts, invites will start rolling out and gradually to new players that registered during the course of Closed Beta.
But there is one catch. Because they intend to keep the game running and online without going into maintenance, the Closed Beta will be only for PC, so console players will have to wait a while longer, probably until either Open Beta or official launch. But cross-progression is coming that if you start on PC, you can switch to console with progress you made on PC. Since the Closed Beta is only for PC, existing players that participated in any of the Alpha Lab playtests on PC are already in. Luckily for existing players that participated in any of the Alpha Lab playtests on console, they will automatically gain access through the Riot Client on PC, which is only downloadable by installing one of the games on the website, so technically, console players that participated in either playtest are already in and they can download it from the Riot Client.
There's even gameplay changes that they made based on player feedback from Alpha Lab 2. Those changes established faster gameplay to make timeouts any less frequent and involved UI changes, like the text of player names are now black, the text of the Champ names are in italic and the name of the fuse is now located above the health bar. We don't know how will the gameplay unfold during Closed Beta, but we can see it in action at EVO as they are setting up their booth there. Once Closed Beta starts, the servers will stay online and will have updates outside of maintenance.
And to make things even spicier, 2XKO is teaming up with Chipotle to bring spicy goodies and giveaways. It all starts off at EVO 2025 where they will be setting up the demo on custom-designed 2XKO x Chipotle arcade cabinets. Chipotle is running daily and hourly brackets starting at 11:00 AM. There is spicy rewards up for grabs. With Chipotle being a launch partner, the Closed Beta launch is set to become even spicier.
Now let's talk about the next Champ coming to 2XKO. That is Vi, the Piltover Enforcer. Now, Vi is known for wielding Hextech gauntlets with the blue Cherry Bomb effect in them. She is a powerhouse in 2XKO and she's gonna be playable starting in Closed Beta and at the devs' booth at EVO 2025, which is around the corner. So why is it that Vi is coming to 2XKO and why I wanted her to be in the game? Well, there are three reasons on why Vi deserves to be in 2XKO.
The first reason is straight up Jinx's debut and Arcane's lore. In Arcane, Vi and Jinx are childhood sisters of Zaun and their parents were killed by Vander. At the beginning of the series, Powder came to be until in Episode 3 where she becomes Jinx, and Vi is still related to her. It's considered canon in Arcane.
Second reason, a perfect opportunity for those who didn't get invited to Alpha Lab 2 due to being a smaller playtest than Alpha Lab 1 is that they are likely to try both Jinx and Vi out on the same team when Closed Beta starts. I figured that having them on the same team would make it canon to Arcane since 2XKO will have Champions that were featured in Arcane also. Now, if I am correct, there were skins of them in Fortnite, but will not make a return sadly.
Third reason, after having four male Champs in the roster and Vi makes her debut as the fourth female Champ in 2XKO, it created an even gender composition on the roster created from having four male Champs and four female Champs to work with at the start of Closed Beta.
If I recall the last time when they revealed the sixth character, I expected the sixth Champion to be female Champion to even the gender composition, but it was revealed to be a male champion, which was Braum. When Jinx was revealed as the seventh Champ, I had a desire for the eighth Champ to be a female and it has been fulfilled as Vi made her way. To have a fourth female Champion in 2XKO when there are currently four male Champs is a wise decision. Which means it's likely that we can be able to experience an initial 2XKO Female Tag Team Match to feature Ahri, Illaoi, Jinx and Vi in Closed Beta and potentially at EVO. That will bank on the fact of girls and women needing the same level of attention as boys and men, especially inside the line of women's sports leagues.
As we're getting closer to 2XKO's launch in its Closed Beta phase, the game's ESRB rating has been updated to still be rated T, but for violence, mild blood, mild language and alcohol reference and it's gonna stay that way going forward as Closed Beta marks the start of releasing the game globally to everyone and it's considered the real deal. Previously, it was rated T for use of alcohol, blood, suggestive themes and violence, but it was actually incorrect. There aren't any suggestive themes, there is small blood stains and the tavern stage conveys an alcohol reference. And you'll hear bad words at a mild level due to making the voice acting any less repetitive, unlike in Arcane where there are swearing at an explicit level and puddles of blood. I may not make it to EVO to go to their booth and try the demo, but I can wait until September because there is one game to hold me off until then.
Speaking of EVO, there was supposed to be a Keef skit about how people reacted to the EVO 2025 lineup, but apparently, it was postponed due to his adventure in Japan he had and ensuring that it's done at the quality level. So according to this, I don't think that this year's EVO skit is likely gonna see the light of day. I think next year's EVO skit is likely to happen. But the extended lineup will still be on next year's EVO.
What I found intriguing is that Deen TV has covered SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level. Deen and Noid played that game. Deen was talking crap and making tropes about the characters in the game, even the chili dogs part. Sonic likes chili dogs, so... Anyway, like if Deen TV covered SEGA vs. Capcom and Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact, they should also do 2XKO because I want to hear Deen make crazy quotes on characters, like "Sister vs. sister," "You're gonna give them the literal axe, Darius?," "Bang, bang, bang!" "The nine-tailed fox strikes back," "Show them what you got, Jinx, or should I also say Powder." "Dang Powder. Hmm? You think Powder fell down a well, Jinx?" and so on. I want them to do 2XKO for their Father and Son Beatdown, but they gotta sign up to have access to the Closed Beta on PC.
SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level:
And speaking of SEGA vs. Capcom, the game is indeed memory-intensive and loading a match while I had 8GB RAM at the time caused a bottleneck. It takes a higher capacity of memory to play this game and with that much memory I'm having, I can be able to play this game well. But the catch is that the RAM usage is not going down, so I turn it off and relaunch it. What has happened is that SEGA vs. Capcom was showcased at Combo Breaker as a Mystery Tournament to shock everyone. That driven commentators and attendees to try this game out, especially when it has been on the radar for quite some time and well made.
What is next? Well, they have a "red patch" for BETA 2.75 coming, hopefully fixing the analog issues and the controls. After that, it's off to Beta 3 where it is an overhaul and Linn Kurosawa from Alien vs. Predator will make her debut along with possibly Sakura from Sakura Wars. She was supposed to release next, but her development time takes a long time because she is three characters in one, so they had to do Batsu from Rival Schools next instead due to him being much faster to work with. Since Beta 3 is an overhaul, what I want for it is a core mechanic that 2XKO has; Duo Play. What I mean is that the game must have up to four players generally in all modes since Tag Mode is only available to keep it traditional and two players on the same team get to control their own character.
For context, this game was made before 2XKO. Both games have tag battles, but with the exception of Jinx, none of the current characters in 2XKO are faithful to the current characters in SEGA vs. Capcom. Jinx had to be an exception because like Mega Man X, she has an arsenal of weapons as she is the Marksman type Champion in League of Legends.
SEGA vs. Capcom just finally posted on X after nearly two months of silence with an art that shows that they are bringing Special Partners into the game. According to the art, there will be 20 Special Partners, ten on each side and they will be similar to Marvel vs. Capcom 1's Special Partners system, hoping we can choose one ourselves and even Skullgirls Mobile's Guest Stars system. Who are the Special Partners? We can find out. Looking at the at HUD on the art, it's likely that we can choose a Special Partner after choosing our characters.
Conclusion:
And that's for this Joe's Monlogues post. August is almost upon us and summer is coming close to an end as you must get ready to go back to school and that is my favorite part. Once school starts, grab your supplies and get ready to learn and always make good choices. This means you must stay out of trouble and follow directions, or you'll face consequences ranging from timeouts and expulsions.
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