Low Content Post Penalty Rant

Low content post. Yeah, there it is right there. It's somehow official, humiliating, and retarded. No, no, no, I'm not saying it's officially retarded and humiliating. I'm saying it's official, pause, comma, humiliating, pause, comma, and retarded. But how is this practice humiliating and retarded? Well, let's jump right in.

Somehow, where do I even begin with? So it has happened at the Skullheart Forums. If you're not familiar with the Skullheart Forums, I'm going to explain. It is a site that is dedicated to 2nd Encore. It came back revised in 2021 when ongoing Skullgirls development was established by Autumn Games being the holders of the IP, not Lab Zero, which is by no means a bad thing. The old one had a tracker that tracks channels streaming Skullgirls and Indivisible and the general off-topic thread where they talk about other games than Skullgirls. The new one has none of them and they are the ones I missed. Now that you're caught up on the Skullheart Forums, let's get to the knitty gritty on analyzing the situation in the Skullheart Forums.

It all started when the general balance patch has been finalized. They wanted the general balance patch to come out before Combo Breaker because Star Power is getting a major upgrade to match BlazBlue's Overdrive system so they would say that they were playing BlazBlue, but with Annie and the hotfix is gonna fix Annie's audio issue on PlayStation, which is why they wouldn't record her tutorial. I planned to do that, but with Justice Sword playing in the background. Then they made posts about how disappointed they were about the fact the the update is coming after Combo Breaker and praising that the hotfix would fix the respective issue.

Then when they posted a reply, the mods then warned that user for low content post. That's hilarious. The mods wouldn't dare humiliate users by penalizing users for low content posts, right? So I went into detail and look what is a low content post is on the Skullheart forums. I read the rules and I don't see a rule against making low content posts. That's where this was sourced from, so we can move on. But when a user made a post that associated with being excited for the hotfix because it can fix Annie's audio issue on PlayStation, they were greeted with this.

*hears a fart noise*

Yeah, this is a little piece of uh... something came out a Kids' WB promo. Apparently, it's called a message. So here is this warning message that points out to getting warned for making a low value post; a low content post. So let's take a read of this warning message.

"I get you are excited about the patch but please avoid making posting low-value posts like this. Especially since you have mentioned the same topics several times in other threads. This is your second warning so next time will be a time-out."

I am SO confused by this. I don't know what do they mean by "especially since you have mentioned the same topics several times in other threads." Also, that warning message has a little bit of an error in grammar. My jaw was about to hit the floor on what has shocked me. After that second warning, they get penalized for a low content post with a two-day time out. Excuse me? What? WHAT?! Not only that. Oh no, this didn't just happen at the Beta thread, but the thread that points out to the visual issue as well! As you can tell by my tone, I am NOT amused at this quality, S-tier perseverance whatsoever. I believe that penalizing users for low content posts would literally be a dumbest thing that mods can do just because they are excited about the patch. And sure, I can hear them ask, "But what about on social media?" I'll get to that later.

Other forums I signed up at, none of them involved a low content post penalty. This is a retarded practice, honestly. I am basically at a loss for words. This is blasphemy! I mean, this is literally not even a foul! There's no way this is a foul, right?

Right off the hop, since they are timed out, I'll share this here for them, so here is Minette in her Elora palette. This is also in response to Spyro 4 getting in development by Toys for Bob independently from Activision. This is what her idle pose looks like and since she is coming as a Guest Star in Mobile along with Brain Drain and the third and final TBA Guest Star this year likely to be announced at EVO, her own set of sprites might be added to the palette editor and there is a good chance for her to make it to 2nd Encore as well because Guest Stars will always have their chance to be in 2nd Encore as full-fledged fighters because we already have assists.

They were tempted to dive right into a Season 2 Pass, but they have to stop and recalibrate their efforts a bit. What that means is that they have to get the remaining content out of the way. They are additional VO consisting of Annie's alternative voice pack, the Season Pass characters' Japanese combat VO and the Season Pass characters' English (and hopefully Japanese) Story Mode VO. That's why active development on 2nd Encore is going on hiatus after the hotfix until 2025 when the voice content get released while active development on Mobile is ongoing to release Guest Stars this year.

We now have an interesting development to how virtually amazing they look in their Bianca and Elora palettes as they were able to add idle poses to the palette editor under the custom section for an HD view. Objectively, the best characters in the Spyro franchise are the two goddesses and they are two of the best girls like Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot from Sonic SatAM.

Now, before I get to the argument regarding posting posts about how angry we are about the patch that sparked backlash, let's take a clearer and full HD look at the Renoir sisters in their Linda and Louise Belcher palettes. I believe that we now have a clear view for these two palettes now that the palette editor is having idle poses in the custom section.

So, I have compiled these four interesting palettes with a clearer insight and had to share them here becuase of getting timed out for a low content post! I mean, what kind of moderator does this stupid and retarded practice anyway, penalizing users for low content posts, even though it's not even a foul? You need to understand that they do this to humiliate users and make a lampoon out of themselves, not to appease them or take their job very seriously.

I am excited for new things and I'm willing to gauge my interest, but I know for a fact that I shouldn't be penalized for low content posts by a mod or an adman for that matter. To penalize users for low content posts would highly likely be operating at a loss!

Now, they have argued that if we make a post about how angry we are about that controversial patch. Like, we know that the patch they pushed in back in June 2023 sparked backlash and alienated players because it censored content like racial violence, voice lines that pertain to racism, removing and altering art that show the characters' panties, editing palettes and... the comb on Filia's hair? Not much of a political plothole or whatever on Earth that is. So what if we make a post about how angry we are about that backlash-worthy patch that censored content?

This doesn't seem like a good idea to me. See, we are still risking getting penalized for a low content post, even though it's an angry post. Is it possible that you posted a reply about how angry you are about that patch that sparks backlash? Sure, that brings drama to the forums following that controversial patch. But to penalize users that posted a reply about how excited they are about the patch that brings Minette and Annie's Elora and Bianca palettes and the Renoir sisters' Linda and Louise Belcher palettes and a new mechanic from SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level or 2XKO to 2nd Encore and Mobile for a low content post is a stupid practice whatsoever. It's like having a Reignited version of Enter the Dragonfly and calling it Enter the Dragonfly Reignited or some crap since Spyro vs. Mega Man. Even though that message was angry, they can also be penalized for a low content post.

Another thing I like to point out is that penalizing those for low content posts banked on not just humiliation, but lampoonery as well. Sure, they can get stern at all times, but we would be practically fooling ourselves if we say that humiliation or lampoonery has nothing to do with getting penalized for low content posts. Of course, people who are excited for new stuff would post their feelings. If any of the forums involve a low content post penalty, then humilation will be there for most reasons as any of the users who get excited is practically thanking the developers. You get penalized for a low content post, though; you're getting raped in the butt. Want to know why? It's retarded and humiliation is by NO means a good thing.

Think of this as a business. If you become a mod, should you attempt to make a lampoon out of yourself just by simply penalizing a user after they posted a post that associates with being excited for an upcoming update for a low content post? No, you shouldn't because all that does is not just hurt the experience, but that also does is give a user an unhappy bad time, wreck the fun, rape users in the butt and humiliate them. Do you understand what I mean?

Now let's talk about the only thing that is dignified in this rant. That is social media. So why is it that social media is the only thing that is dignified and has no place for humiliation? Well, there are three reasons.

The first reason is straight up freedom of speech. Everybody has the right to post messages that associate with being excited for future patches or whatever on social media without worrying about getting a penalty for a low content post and it's considered dignified enough for users to not experience the bullcrap. Except that I am not allowed to swear on social media or in real life. None of the social media platforms I'm on even involved a pig slop low content post penalty smear.

Secondly, a good deal with the Terms of Service in social media is that they have serious stuff printed on there. Users need to abide by the Terms to have access to it once they sign up. Their account can be terminated for impersonating, bullying, harassment and other bad things under the zero tolerance policy that can cause the termination of their accounts, especially child pornography, which can make them a pedophile and this is something you don't want to be because it's the worst criminal offense to send you to hate city forever and you'll have to be a registered sex offender or go to jail. And if you follow a user who was exposed a pedophile, immediately unfollow them and never reply to them. Ever.

Now, if I recall correctly, in case if you're out of the loop former EVO president, Joey Cuellar, has been exposed as a pedophile by Mikey. His story shown that he paid people tokens to take their clothes off and jump into water hazard pools at the Southern Hills Gofland. The people he paid tokens to were allegedly young underage boys. After Mikey's story went public on Twitter, a lot of people withdrew from EVO 2020 in light of the situation. And this is something that we don't want to do so that we can have a safe, welcoming environment.

And thirdly, a Terms of Service on social media is not as common as the ones in gaming websites with forums today, and it's largely dominated by GameSpot with its entry of its own Terms of Use. To have social media having a strict Terms of Service is a very smart choice.

In fact, if this proves my theory correct, YouTube censors out bad words at moderate and severe levels to prevent them from showing on auto generated captions. That drew inspiration from one of Fox's American animated sitcom that's been a hit so far and has white characters that have jaundice, a yellow discoloration of the skin and no tongue moment when characters say words with an "L", even in later seasons that have episodes with revamped animation, and that is The Simpsons. The other animated shows that have the same style of animation and have tongue movement when characters say words with an "L" and have no jaundice on white characters are Futurama and Disenchantment.

That's why the censorship policy is on YouTube's Terms of Service. Which means the low content post penality will never be involved and they will likely have a jolly good time. But at the Skullheart Forums, they get penalized for a low content post?

Before I release my G-rated profanity-free rage that is boiling inside of me, let's elaborate this very retarded practice. If you were to then make a post that shows how disappointed you were after you were told that the general balance update is gonna come out after Combo Breaker, you were greeted with a warning message that says. "Low content post." Then you were humiliated when you were also greeted with a second warning for a low content post when the hotfix is confirmed to fix Annie's audio issue after making a post that associated with praising the devs work. I have already said that the Beta thread is not the only place where they got warned for a low content post, because they also got warned at the thread that reports the visual issue when they made a post that associated with hoping that the hotfix can fix that rare issue. 

Nobody thinks that this darn pointless low content post penalty smear is a very smart thing and a smart idea, so I agree on that. Want to know why? Alright, if they penalize a user for low content posts, they're not taking their job seriously. They're blatantly making a lampoon out of themselves, raping users in the butt and humiliating them with their low content post penalty smear. There's a warning message that points out to a low content post and it's a good thing I screencapped it and posted it here for evidence.

Now, let me release my G-rated anger inside me... I am NOT amused at this. In all ridiculousness, I don't even know what to begin with.

How dare you penalize users for low content posts! Do you really think it can do you any good?! Do you really think that people are going to be thrilled and appreciate being penalized for low content posts?! After a user has posted a reply about how excited they are about the upcoming patch, you dare penalize them for low content posts?! What kind of petulant and Malthusian bullcrap is that?! I mean, it's literally not even a foul. Are you kidding me? This was worse than those foreign chain letters we've seen on the Simpsons. I mean, look at them! None of them were even worse than what I saw on the Kids' WB promo! Ah yes, my cherished and favorite characters outside of the Simpson family, Principal Skinner, Edna Krabappel, Milhouse Van Houten, Ralph Wiggum, Sideshow Bob, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Ned Flanders, Nelson Muntz, Barney Gumbel, the Bouvier Sisters. Before YouTube's automatic captions doesn't show a single bad word, it was influenced by the show's lip sync lacking tongue animation.

If it wasn't for the fact that the Skullgirls community is so small, people would then say, "Oh, I'm not gonna post that and risk getting penalized for a low content post!" You CANNOT say that you are taking your job seriously because you like to penalize users for low content posts. If people wanted to make a post about how they excited they are about the patch because it contains innovations to Star Power, they can post it on social media, and even if that post on social media is low in value, they aren't being raped in the butt.

Hmm, I'm gonna make a reply that associates with hoping and praising that the hotfix is gonna fix the visual issue on the thread that points out to the visual issue that is a rare issue. Moments later, I get penalized for a low content post! I made a reply about praising that the hotfix could fix the rare issue being the visual issue and you dare penalize me for low content post then?! God! Are you kidding me? This is just blasphemy! Low content post my butt! For God's' sake! How dare you penalize me for low content post just because I praised that the hotfix is gonna fix the visual issue and stuff! You should know darn well that this practice is humiliatingly retarded and it does NOTHING but humiliate users! You should've known better! But no, you didn't know better. You chose not to.

Now, remember this little warning message that is about warning a user getting excited about the patch because of Star Power upgrades and gotten penalized for a low content post, with the second warning to take place before that two-day time out they were given? I couldn't help but think it sounds familiar... Oh yeah! It's sounds a lot like the situation at GameSpot! You know, the part where a user was issued short suspensions about wanting to post their desired vs. game thread on System Wars and was told to make vs. game blogs? I remember that situation. And now, they got a two-day suspension for low content posts. It sounds exactly like that! Get your low content behind out of here with that! You should also know that penalizing users for low content posts is NOT the way to do it!

If you turned around and just left the user alone after they made a post that associated with being excited about something and hadn't penalized them for a low content post or like that post, even if its low in value, they would have a jolly good time and they won't be humiliated. If one user goes on to post a reply that says, "Annie getting her Star Power upgrades feels like I'm playing BlazBlue, but with Annie, which is why I'm calling it Star Overdrive. But I'm starting to feel like that it needs some further tweaking so that it can enhance supers," etc., you would leave the user's post alone or like the user's post if they make a constructive post about Star Power getting an upgrade and suggesting some tweaks and Annie feeling like a BlazBlue character. If you do, users would gladly appreciate that. I understand constructive posts and opinionated posts, but low content posts? You got to be kidding me. That's humiliating people with your stupid little, "Please avoid making low value posts" warning message.

GameSpot had not involved the stupid low content post penalty bullcrap because its Terms of Use is very strict and they streamlined its forums, which I understand also. And Eventhubs also streamlined its forums so that mods there wouldn't penalize users for low content posts and they gauge their excitement of new things coming in an update without stressing them out.

In fact, if devs announced that they implementing a Duo Finder in 2XKO, users would then make a post about how excited they are about a Duo Finder coming to 2XKO because they want to use it for grinding duo missions and fun, or make a post that associates how excited they are about Mario Team Rumble or whatever it's gonna be called if it comes into fruition, but the mods did not penalize users for low content posts on GameSpot or any other site. They do the same thing on social media and were left alone even if that social media post is low value. You don't have to penalize users for low content posts because they're willing to be respectful and gauge their interest.

If there is one thing to praise from all this, it's gleefully positive that at least the developers got the bug report that points out to issue regarding the shades of blue PSN avatar on lobbies that is the same issue that happened twice, meaning they might be able to address that, maybe. In case you're out of the loop, this issue has occured when lobbies came to consoles and was eventually fixed. But this didn't happen once. It happens twice when Marie launches and they can fix it eventually.

And moderators, if there is a post that associates with being excited about a Duo Finder coming to 2XKO or praising the hotfix is gonna fix the issue, please, please DO NOT penalize that user for low content post. It does nothing but humiliate them. Just leave the user alone. That's all I ask.

PS2 Emulation is Finally Coming to PS Plus Premium

I am very hyped to play and revisit PS2 games. I'll tell you why right now. Sony has a brand new and better PS2 emulator to allow PS2 games to run smoothly. This means PS2 emulation is coming to PS Plus Premium and this can definetely light the way for more PS2 games to be added to the catalog. Let's jump right in.

We have some good news regarding playing PS2 games on the PS4 and PS5 through emulation. Sony is having a brand new PS2 emulator that allows PS2 games to run smoothly, courtesy of Implicit Conversions, the company behind emulation. This is where you'll facepalm and argue that it's bullcrap that there are already PS2 games on the catalog. Sure, it's true that there are already PS2 games on the catalog and I have some of them currently, but the ones we have now are in the PlayStation Now era where PS2 games have only up-rendering.

PS2 games have been a recurring demand since the revamp of PS Plus and now that Sony has a brand new PS2 emulator, PS2 emulation and new PS2 games are coming to PS Plus Premium on both PS5 and PS4, finally. Gematsu shared their post on X saying that the first new PS2 game Sony is adding is Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This is coming in June with rewinds, save states, video filters and up-rendering on both PS4 and PS5. Hearing PS2 emulation finally coming to PS Plus Premium made me hyped to revisit favorites from back in the day. All I'm hearing in my head is "I can't wait to revisit The Simpsons: Hit & Run. This has been my favorite nostalgic game since I was younger," "NFSU2 is gonna be awesome to play on my PS5.", "The Wrath of Cortex, here I come!", "Looking forward to revisit 3D era MK games," and so on.

In honor of that, I have made a separate wish list for PS2 games that will be updated as I think of one. I went to CoolROM to look at a list of PS1 and PS2 games to help me think of what to add to my classic game wish lists. Here's the link to my wish list of PS2 games.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XmFK2Y8tle13iNoRycy1cA2o2DLOk9JlpP-EDAohRdU/edit

And here's the link to my wish list of PS1 games.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jgCNlVyvoUP8NyDiB0j2jbZdScHmvWTGi6GTzBVg2oo/edit

Are you wondering why am I making separate wish lists? Well, my original wish list has all systems. It has more PS2 games than others and I listed it to have PS3 games. Where it stands now, I am making separate wish lists of classics I want by system and some of them have an asterisk by the original titles' name to represent that it includes sequels to original games. I might make a separate wish list for PSP games I want. If I do, I won't be putting the ones that are also available on the PS2 on there since we're playing PSP games on the big screen. A separate wish list of PS3 games however will probably not be made due to them being only available to stream. That's why they are no longer that important to me. As such, PS1, PS2 and PSP are the three consoles that are easy to emulate while the PS3 isn't.

Now, I have games on my wish list that got remastered like the games in the original Crash and Spyro trilogies on the PS1 section, but I didn't include the ones on the PS2 section like Ty the Tasmanian Tiger and its sequels. After the original MediEvil gotten released on the catalog, there is always a chance that the original games that got remade or remastered can be released on the catalog one day.

And when PS Now was launched, no more PS2 games were added. Even though PS Plus is revamped, Sony was still struggling to add more PS2 games and they paused adding more of them until they got a brand new PS2 emulator to run PS2 games smoothly to pave the way for releasing more PS2 games on PS Plus Premium, starting with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, set to be added June 11.

After Star Wars: The Clone Wars, more PS2 games will be added as they can run through their new brand new PS2 emulator and this is something we can expect. I'll finally be able to re-embrace Coral Canyon's charming environment and re-listen to the theme of Gold Rush in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, which had the most sales under the Crash department, re-experience the goodness of Springfield in The Simpsons: Hit & Run, re-experience tag team racing and combat action in Crash Tag Team Racing and more.

The flows video game logos are common of all generations, but the 6th generation era ones are more charming. In fact, there is one game that has a good flow of logos and is not an indie title, and that is Scarface: The World is Yours. This is when the combo of Radical Entertainment, Sierra, Dolby Pro Logic II and THX Certified Game come in. That is the prime example of charming that a game having a four logo flow is excellent.

Broken Saw has a lot of videos that showcase logos taken from works on YouTube. Go check them out. I watched them to revisit the moment. One of my personal favorites is the one that is capped from the Simpsons: Hit and Run. It became the only game in the 6th generation to have the Gracie Films logo, but tied for first place with the one from Scarface, until the best one that came in first place; the one capped from Soul Calibur III on the PS2. What makes it so is the one part when the fighter from Galaga uses its part as the conductor's stick to conduct the enemy fighters to play the iconic Deep Note SFX and summon the THX Certified Game logo.

This is the only logo that appears in games released in 6th generation consoles along with the Dolby logos. If I recall  correctly, there is one PS2 game available in the catalog that has the THX Certified Game and the Dolby logos, and that is Jak X: Combat Racing. Since PS2 emulation is coming, we might see more of them integrated with the mentioned sound formats released. I plan to make my dream logo combos on my PS5 below.

EA Games (2002) -> Sierra -> Krome Studios (2002)

Krome Studios (2002) -> Sierra -> Dolby Pro Logic II -> THX Certified Game

LucasArts -> Activision -> Pandemic Studios -> Rainbow Studios -> Dolby Pro Logic II

SEGA -> THQ -> JAKKS Pacific - SUMO Digital -> YUKE'S -> Dolby Pro Logic II -> Sofdec -> ADX

Of course, dream logo combos would also include logos of existing video game companies like Activision, the company that Toys for Bob has spun off from. When making those dream logo combos, they are made for fun and creative purposes only. Not to infringe on their copyright. A good combo would have at least three logos. An excellent combo would have five or more combos.

The process of adding more PS1 and PSP games turned out smoothly so far and starting in June, the process of adding more PS2 games will come out smoothly, unlike PS Now. Once June comes, I hope older PS2 games on the PS Now era shift to the PS Plus Premium era to have up-rendering, rewinds, quick saves and video filters both PS4 and PS5 and the list of downloadable PS2 games on Wikipedia should be restructured to match the algorithm of downloadable PS1 games.

On the previous post, I told you about Crash and Spyro games on the PS1. They became the source of fueling the charm on the PS1 era. I want them in the catalog to fuel the charm and PS Now never had a single one. And now that PS2 emulation is coming to PS Plus Premium to reopen the gates of PS2 software, our possibility of revisiting Crash and Spyro games in the PS2 era is happening. I can see how making a Bianca palette out of Annie from Skullgirls would really have its perks to support the never ending launch party. But it is irrelevant from the part when I experienced the THX Certified Game logo when I turned on Jak X: Combat Racing in like over 20 years.

If they plan to pick up the pace in releasing new retro titles on the catalog monthly, they need to release nine retro titles monthly -- three PS1 games, three PS2 games and three PSP games. This pace is excellent and it's something that they need to do, along with separating the Classics Catalog into three sections -- one for PS1 games, one for PS2 games and one for PSP games and removing remasters from it. It's to follow Nintendo's footsteps. So forget Super Mario: The Wrath of Bowser and Sonic: Enter the Omens. The real crap starts in June. Let's freaking go.

But that will not stop here. I potentially have one more future post regarding revisiting PlayStation classics. I just want to express my feelings on this post on how excited I am to revisit more PS2 games since PS2 emulation is coming in June 11 when Star Wars: The Clone Wars makes its debut and hopefully existing PS2 games get updated to PS Plus Premium standards.

That being said, the first PlayStation Rewind livestream series will be coming to you soon, so stay tuned to find out what will be the first throwback game I'll be livestreaming.

Joe's Monologues - 4/9/24

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Joe's Monologues. This one is gonna be emotional and interesting as it gonna have interesting topics. I know you're disappointed that you'll have to wait another 20 years for the next total solar eclipse here, but don't be as I go over the topics today, savvy?

Skullgirls:

I have no words to say this. I am so dang speechless as to how astonished I am in this point of time. Between you and me, I am astonished on how everything turned out well. This shows how everything went smoothly. Especially that part when the Nintendo Switch update and the Xbox port entered active development so that players of these systems can finally join the launch party.

It has been one heck of a long road. I am so sad... well not sad, but glad... that the Skullgirls 2nd Encore Season 1 Pass is officially complete. The Season 1 Pass is done and dusted. I am very astonished at how far Skullgirls has gone. Especially that part when back in Summer 2020, the former Lab Zero Games employees have left because of Mike Z's actions that created a unsafe environment. I really thought that we won't get to try Annie out, but thankfully, she became so inevitable.

The reason why I am so relieved of that bullcrap I experienced is because Autumn Games owns all of Skullgirls' IP so that we can get Annie and future content regardless of that fiasco. I am so dang proud that my baby girl didn't suffer from all of the heck we encountered a while back. As a treat, I made her a new palette that you'll find out later on.

Now, if I keep track of the history during the Season 1 Pass era, it unfolded like this.

2021:

February 23, 2021 - Annie was announced along with the first Season Pass to have Annie and the three DLC characters.

March 4th, 2021 - The Season 1 Pass arrived on Steam in light of Annie's Beta.

July 8, 2021 -  Annie and the Season 1 Pass have been released on PlayStation and on the retail version on Steam. 

August 31, 2021 - Umbrella entered Alpha on Steam literally in the last second.

December 16, 2021 - Umbrella entered Early Access on Steam.

2022:

April 14, 2022 - Umbrella is officially released on Steam and PlayStation along with Annie.

June 16, 2022 - Black Dahlia entered Alpha on Steam. Skullgirls 2nd Encore and the Season 1 Pass entered active development as an update for the Nintendo Switch and a new release for the Xbox.

2023:

January 6, 2023 - The update that matches with other platforms and the Season 1 Pass are released on the Nintendo Switch.

March 29, 2023 - Black Dahlia is officially released on Steam, PlayStation and Switch. 

July 2023 - The Xbox port and the Season 1 Pass are released to match with other platforms.

October 18, 2023 - Marie entered Alpha on Steam.

December 12, 2023 - Marie entered Early Access on Steam.

2024:

March 26, 2024 - Marie is officially released on all platforms to round out the Season 1 Pass.

It took four years, but the Season 1 Pass is finally rounded out and 2nd Encore is available on all platforms. It has been a long road, man. I shifted to BBTAG music as a cherry on top and making BBTAG palettes out of characters who are assigned to themes that fit well with their personality. Annie got released, no Izayoi palette. Umbrella got released, no Platinum the Trinity palette. Black Dahlia got released, no Nine the Phantom palette. Marie got released, no Orie palette after looking through all of her palettes. That's four out of four.

The only thing about this is that when Marie hits Alpha on Steam, her boss version is renamed to Bloody Marie in game to distinguish things and all platforms now have it in light of her official release and it will stay that way forever. So I did one of the challenges with Marie to see how it goes. Turns out that Marie can fight her Bloody self in a challenge and on Arcade Mode.

I can play some Skullgirls now that Marie is fully released and I can record my online matches and edit them to play BBTAG music using. But my PS Plus has expired sadly and I wish they can offer free online multiplayer every weekend at least. I wish I can play it on Steam, but I need to buy a gaming laptop for this. I postponed my special online casual for the same reason.

In the meantime, I'll record the character tutorials and edit them to play BBTAG music as a warm up and publish them to YouTube on my gaming channel. Preferrably the ones that are eligible for my currently postponed special online casual.

If you look at the placement of the character select screen that will last during the post Season 1 Pass period on Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Annie, Umbrella and Black Dahlia are located at the bottom of the default selection while Marie is located at the top of the default selection. And for a better view, I selected the size to make the HUD appear on both sides. I am intrigued by this placement I've been staring at. It happened first on Marie's Alpha on Steam. And now, it is happening on all platforms in light of her official release. The placement is so complete that Marie is literally the cherry on top since she is the current Skullgirl others have to battle and her Story Mode is a visual novel to entail how she gained control of the Skull Heart.

It is unclear that they are gonna put something on the empty slots Marie is between, but we do know one thing's for sure. Because this placement lasts during the course of the post Season 1 Pass period, the chraracter select screen will be updated to have a new grid with smaller squares to hold portraits of both current and future characters during the period of subsequent Season Passes to follow the footsteps of other fighting games that expanded theirs and that something we can look forward to.

Because Marie had to be on top, the timer that appears when you're selecting your characters online is now located below the portraits to prevent it from blocking her portrait and the text of it is now darkened so that it can be legible on the brightest part of the screen. This is virtually the same thing BlazBlue: Central Fiction has. This is gonna stay that way when the character select screen gets a new grid to hold current and future characters' portraits in eras of subsequent Season Passes.

Then there is something coming to Mobile called Guest Stars, which are assist characters that can perform an assist and they take way less development time than full fighters, so they are similar to Mortal Kombat 1's Kameo Fighters, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax's Assist Fighters and so on. One of the Guest Stars is revealed to be Minette. She is being worked on and because Guest Stars take way less time, she will be finished in no time. The full roster for Guest Stars remains a mystery, so we don't know who are they, besides Minette.

And now, the general balance changes section has just started in the Beta version on Steam. They have the first set of balance changes released on Steam in the Beta version. One of the things that interested me is that Annie getting her upgrades to her Star Power. It's something I can agree with because Star Power upgrades offered her enhanced special moves, Distortion Skills and gives Star Cancel. That's why I wouldn't dare record her character tutorial and edit it to play Justice Sword until the balance patch drops.

That's the Overdrive system exclusive to Annie because you know that BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma introduced the Overdrive system? It's a system that enhances all of the characters' attacks. I am starting to feel like that with Star Power getting an upgrade, I am calling it Star Overdrive to reflect the changes to Star Power. It's hard to believe that I was playing BlazBlue, but with Annie, which is a fact that she is assigned to a BlazBlue theme and making an Izayoi palette would be the cherry on top.

I forgot to mention that the devs are still on the source of updating and replacing all of Valentine's fuschia crosses with pastel pink shurikens. That was supposed to come out in 2022, but it has been pushed back and we haven't gotten a single word about it because they had on multiple projects on their sleeve, like the update and the Season 1 Pass for the Switch, the Xbox port with the Season 1 Pass, Black Dahlia and Marie and the general balance patch. But now that the Season 1 Pass and the process of bringing Switch and Xbox players to the launch party are complete, the process of updating all of Valentine's crosses continues and it shouldn't be that long.

The Skullgirls Championship Series is going strong so far with online and offline events. Combo Breaker is almost upon us and that's where the Skullgirls World Championship will take place at. Now that the Season 1 Pass is completed, Marie will be legal for the remainder of the season and hopefully, the general balance changes should be finalized and released on all platforms before the Skullgirls World Championship at Combo Breaker. The devs will set up their booth there and they are gonna give us a special announcement. I have a feeling that we're gonna get some Minette news. Neglected to mention that if Minette makes her way to 2nd Encore, she will be eligible for my currently postponed online casual as Crystal Forest is perfect for her. After all, Guest Stars may be exclusive to Mobile, there is always a chance that they may come to 2nd Encore as well.

Which is great and all, but, we won't be getting our hopes up just yet. They are tempted to dive right into a Season 2 Pass, but they had to pause and take a moment to recalibrate their efforts up a bit. Marie is now available on all platforms, but there is one more piece of content they were planning to include in the Season Pass, which is additional VO, consisting of Annie's alternative voice pack, Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters during combat and English VO for the Season Pass characters' Story Modes. But turns out that the logistics for all of these have become a bit more involved than they had originally expected.

Because the logistics have turned out to become a bit more involved, this content will not be released this year and will most likely be released in 2025. I was a bit disappointed seeing that, but it's the only way to ensure that everything is done to the quality level we expect. Right now, all eyes on waiting for the balance patch to drop. But what about Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters' Story Modes? Shouldn't that be important too?

Spyro 4 in Development:

It's official. Spyro 4 is now officially in development. If any of you haven't played Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, be sure to play it as we are finally getting a new Spyro game in development. This comes after Crash Team Rumble ceased active development after three Seasons following the part when Toys For Bob spun off to become an indie studio from Activision. This means Spyro 4, Crash Bandicoot 5 and future projects will not be published under the Activision umbrella moving forward.

Since the beginning of the Crash and Spyro games owned by Activision, Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy was developed by Vicarious Visions on the PS4 and Xbox One, now renamed to Blizzard Albany since they moved to Blizzard while Spyro: Reignited Trilogy was developed by Toys for Bob, which also developed the Nintendo Switch version of Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy in a process to develop a direct sequel to the original trilogy. I can see how Universal Interactive became awful to them.

Now, we don't know what Spyro 4 will offer. It is early in development, so we don't know if it's gonna be a direct sequel to the original Spyro trilogy by Insomniac Games like Crash Bandicoot 4 is or a reboot. We know one thing for sure. Since I heard Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time became on par with Naughty Dog's original trilogy and fixed plot holes created by previous games, Spyro 4 could also fix plot holes created by previous Spyro games, like Elora not being in Enter the Dragonfly or any other games and so on. The studio has forged a partnership with Microsoft to publish their first independent game. But that doesn't mean their future games will be Xbox exclusives and Spyro 4 could be the first independent game. We don't know for sure. Know the message that says "keep your horns on" on the indie announcement? This term shows that Spyro 4 is officially in development.

What I like to see in Spyro 4 is some canon undertones we experienced in Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM, different breaths from Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, different playable characters, a fresh cast of characters from subsequent games in the original Spyro trilogy, an open world perspective from Sonic Frontiers and Jak and Daxter with portals leading to Speedway levels and Orbs from Spyro 2 to progress through the story, but with different colors varying by element and the fact that the goddesses in subsequent games in the original Spyro trilogy are iconic like Sally and Bunnie from Sonic SatAM.

I want it to be a reboot rather than a direct sequel to the original Spyro trilogy. It's because unlike the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy, the original Spyro trilogy has multiple antagonists. Gnasty Gnorc is the main antagonist in Spyro the Dragon and is also featured in Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled. Ripto is the main antagonist in Spyro 2 and is also featured in Crash Team Rumble. And the Sorceress is the main antagonist in Year of the Dragon. I prefer Ripto to be the main antagonist in Spyro 4.

In response to Spyro 4 getting in development, I made Annie a Bianca palette as a cherry on top. Shared this at the Skullheart forums weirdly enough. I am intrigued by it that Sagan is in his Spyro palette. And since Skullgirls Mobile is getting new palettes every month, including the ones that are never before seen, I can see a chance that this palette could make it on both 2nd Encore and Mobile. This is something I will support in parallel with supporting Bianca to be on Crash Team Rumble as the 4th Spyro character.

An Update on My Career:

The progress on my Wrapper: Offline career is coming along nicely so far. I am working on a special video that celebrates my channel reaching 100 subscribers. I got to make sure that everything goes smoothly first before publishing it on YouTube. There has also been some interesting development so far. I have been coming up with a ton of video ideas inspired by someone over on YouTube. Stay tuned for them.

Dream Logo Combos:

Since my inception to my career on YouTube on separate channels, I wanted to do something creative, like this. I am working on some dream logo combos. That will include the logos of defunct video game companies that I miss experiencing. The first one I am working on is a combo of EA Games, Sierra and Krome Studios (2002). I am using Wondershare Filmora to make them. But I am using the free version that limits to one minute and has a noticeble watermark. I plan to purchase it to break the one minute limit and remove that watermark. Now, when I make dream logo combos, I put the logos of my choice and it is for creative purposes, not to infringe on their copyright. That being said, I will upload them on my main channel on YouTube.

Conclusion:

This has been the first Joe's Monologues of April. Stay hyped for Spyro 4, folks. And also, play some Skullgirls now that Marie is officially released on all platforms to round out the Season 1 Pass.

Joe's Monologues - 3/20/24

Now before we get into today's Joe's Monologues, there's one thing that I want to address first. You know on that previous post, I used the introduction that lists the topics? I have decided to do away from doing that, so now, we reverted to the previous state. Now, on to the post and this is the first Joe's Monologues of March. Let's get right in.

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger:

There was a point in time when the franchise was originally released on the 6th generation consoles back in 2002. On that time, EA and Activision published their games. And now, it got an HD remaster, along with Bush Rescue, a sequel to the first game that has an open world perspective, a kart racing game mode, new boomerangs and an epic story. I bought the sequel when it was on sale and took a glimpse of the story, but I won't play it until I beat the first game.

I did a live stream of one of the nostalgic games I played back in the day. It was the GameCube version I was playing. On stream, I rescued all of the Bilbies, got all of the Opals and got all of the Thunder Eggs. But I didn't get all of the Golden Cogs used to get more boomerangs on Bridge on the River Ty. I was struggling to get the last Golden Cog on that level, until I realized that to get the last Golden Cog, I use the Freezerang to make a stepping platform near the pillar where the cog was at, so I did. And that Neddy battle was ridiculous, but I managed to beat him to get that Thunder Egg. Same with the part where I had a race with Shazza on the Outback Safari.

I was amazed that I was playing Spyro the Dragon, but with Ty because collecting Thunder Eggs progresses the story, Rainbow Cliffs is a main home world and has portals that lead to multiple levels. I couldn't imagine that Shazza and Boss Cass would be the Elora and Ripto of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger. What makes it so is that Shazza really likes Ty and Boss Cass can make those that are the bosses I beat, his slaves, like Ripto does to enslave Avalar and its inhabitants, so it is basically Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. I realized it when I beaten Crikey on stream. I don't think it's Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, but the lore was no farce.

On stream, I showcased all of Ty moves on what will he bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble since the original release of Night of the Quinkan was published by Activision. In addition to that, since I heard Shazza is the Elora, and Boss Cass is the Ripto after progressing through the story on stream, I already told you that like Spyro, Ty could be a Scorer to excel at breaking creates and scoring Wumpa, so like Elora, Shazza could be a Blocker to excel at knocking Wumpa and killing the enemy Heroes, while like Ripto, Boss Cass could be a Booster to excel at capturing Gems and depositing Relics to stations.

But that is no longer the case because it has come to my attention that Crash Team Rumble has subsequently ceased active development following the final content update at 13 Heroes and 10 Powers. This means there will be no more Seasons. Honestly, they should've at least given us Season 4 to give us a new Scorer and a new Booster to even out the classes before that final content update. But hey, if they decided to make a Crash Team Rumble 2 to be free to play and get continuous updates for years to come, who knows?

In the previous livestream, I finished the second part, so I am going to the third and final part where I will get green Opals, green Thunder Eggs and a Windarang. I got to finish it so that I can start playing Bush Rescue.

Browing Through PlayStation Store:

I was browsing through remasters on the PlayStation Store and something has caught really my eye. I heard Grandia is getting a compilation of the first two games and they are getting remastered too. The first Grandia for the PS1 is added to the catalog, yet it is getting a remaster along with the second Grandia game originally released on the PS2 in a collection. I originally told you that the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro games that are remastered and compiled in a collection may not be added to the catalog, but this brings me to tell you this good news.

Since Grandia 1 is added to the catalog while I heard it is getting a remaster in a collection with Grandia 2, I see a good chance that the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro games may eventually be added to the PS Plus Premium Catalog. The N. Sane and Reignited Trilogies are great, but I also want to play the original releases too because I miss the Sony Computer Entertainment America/Europe intro, the Universal Interactive Studios logo and the polygon models, hearing Crash saying "woah" often when he dies of getting burned, electrocution and when he hits TNT and Nitro crates, which is something N. Sane Trilogy doesn't have and Elora's PS1 design. I mean, Elora does look more savage in her modern design than she is in her PS1 design, but I want to see her PS1 design again.

And there's Legend of Mana on the catalog too, though it got remastered. But it makes sense for it to be added to the catalog of PS1, PS2 and PSP games along with Tales of Symphonia because these games were originally released on the first two Sony consoles. But why the heck would they had to add Secret of Mana to the catalog? It's a remake of a game originally released on the SNES, not a remaster.

PlayStation Plus Premium Catalog:

Sony has revealed the lineup of modern and classic games for March. I was browsing through them and one of them really caught my eye. Have you heard of Cool Boarders? It is an authentic snowboarding game originally released on the PS1. And it's one of the games in my wish list getting added to the catalog. This definetely deserves to be a part of Days of PlayStation Past, now called PlayStation Rewind and the name makes more sense because it points out to revisiting classic games from back in the day that are released on past PlayStation consoles and it can have both first-party and third-party games. I remember playing this game from back in the day as a kid. We can reminisce about the good old days while I play it.

I am starting to feel like 1smash18 because I am going to livestream my oldies from back in the day. I know what I said is redundant, but it's true because he played a couple of Cartoon Network browser games from back in the day, like Trick-or-Treat Beat and Samurai Jack: The Path of Destiny.

The Return of MultiVersus:

That's right. MultiVersus is back after a long hiatus since the Open Beta was closed. They had to close the Open Beta because they need to have a clearer view of a content cadence of new characters, new stages, new game modes and better netcode and matchmaking for launch. The new characters remain a mystery, so we don't know who they are. During the course of the game's hiatus, Tony Huynh and his friends at Player First Games have been working their butts off on making MultiVersus the AAA game it deserved to be.

At launch, MultiVersus has moved to Unreal Engine 5 to improve visuals and character lighting and I know you loved those as I do. Just look at the lighting. It looks so real. The gameplay footages you see on the launch monologue are development footages that do not reflect the final product. Everything is subject to change before launch. The trailer has confirmed the launch date of MultiVersus. May 29th is when the game fully launches. I want it to be a bit sooner than this, but this gives them ample time to give the game a lot of work that needs to be done and reveal what new characters are they adding at launch.

Conclusion:

This wraps up today's update. With MultiVersus launching in two months, your favorite WB characters return for some butt kicking action. And since Cool Boarders is coming to the PS Plus Premium catalog, I am in for a chilly and nostalgic ride.

SG X BBTAG Update #8

Hello, everyone. I am back with another Skullgirls X BBTAG update. This one is gonna be exciting as you're about to get into a learning curve today with the 21st character in their BBTAG palette you're about to see. Let's get right into the update now.

You guessed it right. Mrs. Victoria is the 21st Skullgirls character in her BBTAG palette of Elizabeth. Battle Hymn of the Soul is deemed to actually be a perfect theme for her and making an Elizabeth palette would be the cherry on top. A gray space was added to reserve a spot for the 22nd BBTAG palette.

Mrs. Victoria is now on my separate Twitch channel's offline loading screen.

Since I am on the point where I can spoil everything, I decided to keep it on the current period. Now, if Mrs. Victoria doesn't get her Elizabeth period, it will stay on this palette pack.

All rows have been filled out as Mrs. Victoria is located after Filia to be faithful with the order of character introductions on the Persona 4 Arena palettes. This will last until a 22nd BBTAG palette that is either a BlazBlue palette or a P4A palette is on there. The UNI palettes have reached the end and there won't be any more of them.

Repositioned the portraits on my fanmade character select screen and removed the random character selection in the process of repositioning the portraits. The portrait of Mrs. Victoria in her Elizabeth palette is on the top left corner.

This wraps up the post of the Skullgirls X BBTAG update series. But that will not stop here. More BBTAG palettes are coming your way, so stay tuned for them.