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Report 3/20 Salty - Beowulf Speaks, Stage Updates, and... Mortal Kombat?

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Flotilla

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Over a month after his voice actor was revealed, Beowulf trots into this week's Salty! tournament with a voice for the first time ever!

After recording Beowulf's voice in early February, several issues prevented Lab Zero from implementing Kai Kennedy's voicework until recently. With said issues out of the way, players can expect the formerly-silent wrestler to become talkative very quickly over the next couple of updates.

Lab Zero Games' resident stage designer Willy Hwang has been busy at work, and not just playing with his trains; thanks to him, Final Atrium, Medici Tower, and Grand Cathedral (Night) have all been updated with new special effects, dynamic lighting, and (in Atrium's case) revised colors! You can give these updated stages a whirl in the next Endless Beta update.

After announcing that Skullgirls Encore for PS4 would support PS3 fightsticks late last year, Lab Zero Games allowed the driver that makes this possible to be freely licensed to any interested developing party. One such party was NetherRealm Studios, who will be using Lab Zero Games' PS3 controller driver for Mortal Kombat X! Let's hope that this is just the beginning of a long-lasting collaborative friendship between fighting game developers.

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Look forward to experiencing this week's updates in the next Endless Beta update, slated to hit either late tonight or tomorrow. Check out the full Twitch archive of this week's Salty! here!


With work on Beowulf and Robo-Fortune speeding along, make sure you don't miss a beat: Catch Salty! live so that you can watch the updates unfold alongside the community! Watch Salty! here every Friday @ 8PM PST.

Thanks @worldjem for the Youtube video!
 
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The title should be Beowulf Speaks (For Real This Time) because a previous article has "Beowulf Speaks" but we only get to know his voice actor.
 
I'm gonna be honest, I don't like the color scheme change to final atrium. The gold and blue contrasted really well and had a good feel to it, it feels a lot less alive and doesn't pop nearly as much.

My opinion might change when I try it, but I wish we had an option to pick between them, though since the frame rate is improved on the changed one I doubt we will get such an option.
 
MajoraZ said:
I don't like the color scheme change to final atrium
MajoraZ said:
My opinion might change when I try it

Never change, Skullheart.

But for real, I don't think the colors of original Atrium "contrasted" so much as clashed. Bright yellow and bright blue and an olive/dark blue background made it a pretty visually cluttered stage. With the statues' colors muted and the background darkened, you can actually focus on some of the color now, rather than being blindsided by a wall of eyesore. It makes the stage more playable, so biases aside I really hope Lab Zero doesn't implement a "take us to the inferior version of this stage" switch.

final1.jpg

final2.jpg
 
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Flotilla said:
Never change, Skullheart.

But for real, I don't think the colors of original Atrium "contrasted" so much as clashed. Bright yellow and bright blue and an olive/dark blue background made it a pretty visually cluttered stage. With the statues' colors muted and the background darkened, you can actually focus on some of the color now, rather than being blindsided by a wall of eyesore. It makes the stage more playable, so biases aside I really hope Lab Zero doesn't implement a "take us to the inferior version of this stage" switch.

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Well, hey, I wanna have an open mind, it's better that I am open to having my mind changed then be unwilling to end up liking it and saying that it sucks or something :p

I never had any issues with it being too visually busy, myself, but I can see how it could be that way to others. In any case, I do understand why they are making the switch, I just personally am still not a fan of the end result as much as it how it was before, and as I said, I understand why we almost certainly won't get the option to pick; it improving the frame rate/stability is a huge deal.

I'd be interested to see how an in between version looks, with a slight gold tint. Once the change is made, assuming the stage art in the gallery is changed as well, I might overlay them in GIMP and see how that looks out of curiosity.
 
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Final Atrium looks way better. I'll actually play on this stage now!
 
So much complaining, just trust L0's creative decisions for pete's sake. If you don't like it, make your own fighter!!!!

Anyway, i like Beowulf's voice. I can't believe all his responses were added in one update.
 
Mike_Z said:
That's correct, you won't, and you wouldn't even if the framerate hadn't changed.
was this comment really necessary Mike zigmont?
 
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Ebony said:
was this comment really necessary Mike zigmont?
It may seem harsh, but if I don't say it now I WILL get requests for us to include both versions later, and I'm really tired of that. So....yes, it was.
 
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I'm sorry, but i don't think that last post quite sums up the MASSIVE amount of frustration I've felt looking at some of the stuff people put on this forum, and why i think it might need to die to ensure this game's continued survival/purity.

Ok, first of all, whenever people aren't bitching, moaning and nitpicking about every single little change, they're making silly fan games. Fan art is great, but shouldn't the focus of the game be the game? What's the point of making a Skullgirls dating sim? I'd rather practice or play ranked!

Second of all, when people aren't moaning or making fan games, they're trying to come up with ways to make this game more popular, or get enough funding for a sequel. Really? Why don't you understand that in order for cult games to stay true to their essence, they have to STAY cult games! Who needs more people to misinterperate this game or bitch and moan about updates? Publicity is the last thing this game needs! And a sequel??? Don't you remember all the other one hit wonder cult games that, when push came to shove, the devs only had one masterpiece in them???? The most recent example i can think of is Hotline Miami 2. Imagine everything that could go wrong with a sequel! What if they don't get enough funding to fully realize their creative vision? What if their publisher, or a new, worse publisher forces them to stray from their creative vision??? How can you possibly, possibly be so naive to want Skullgirls 2???

And worst of all, when people aren't doing those things, they're trying to get their fan-created content or ideas into the flipping game.....*shudder*. I thank God the Juju fiasco happened because it stopped people from trying to muddy up L0's creative purity. I exact reason I really started to disown Valve Software as one of my favorite developers is around the time when they let the fans do all the work of adding items to TF2 for them. Now TF2's a mess. I like Valve for Valve-created things, so is it wrong to like Lab Zero for their 100% Lab Zero-created game, with no-one outside of the team trying to contribute? Am i really the only person who's THAT much of a crazy purist???

This forum should really shift its focus to be about THE GAME and it's GAMEPLAY. Can we just trust L0 creative direction and accept the changes and adapt to them instead of complaining??? Can we cut down on the amount of non-gameplay related subforums to try to keep the discussion on the game instead of fan games, sequels, publicity? Can we at least TRY to accept Skullgirls for what it is, a really awesome fighting game, instead of what it's not, or what you WANT it to be?????? Please, for the love of The Trinity?????

Man I'm glad i got that out....
 
This is off topic as all hell.

I don't have any problem with fan games in completely different genres, everybody likes things they like in their own way. As long as they aren't making money off the IP, of course.
Cheesedragon said:
Why don't you understand that in order for cult games to stay true to their essence, they have to STAY cult games!
If the game stayed the same and suddenly millions of people liked it and played it, does that somehow make it a worse game?
Cheesedragon said:
Publicity is the last thing this game needs!
Um? ::raises hand:: As someone who would be substantially less broke if SG had LoL levels of popularity, I very much disagree.
Cheesedragon said:
Don't you remember all the other one hit wonder cult games that, when push came to shove, the devs only had one masterpiece in them????
Ow. Right, when SG is over we'll be moving on to making bargain-bin schlock then.
Cheesedragon said:
And worst of all, when people aren't doing those things, they're trying to get their fan-created content or ideas into the flipping game.....*shudder*. I thank God the Juju fiasco happened because it stopped people from trying to muddy up L0's creative purity.
I dunno about the whole "creative purity" thing, but the Juju fiasco gave us the ability to say very firmly "no, because legality" and save ourselves lots of hassle, which is indeed very helpful. Sad for her, though.
 
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Wow... that's certainly an interesting post, Cheesedragon. Can I comment a bit on it even though it's kind of off topic? Note: I'm not trying to play moderator... these are my personal opinions on these kinds of things.

Okay: I agree with the point of people being overly belligerent about wanting certain changes or having things their way or being nitpicky. However I'd like to advocate that people do have a right to voice their opinions about things so long as they understand that LabZero's decisions are final and non-negotiable. The people in this forum are not the game's designers if they do not have the Lab Zero flair on their name. Even if they donated to the Indiegogo campaign, nobody donated quite enough money to be called an "investor" and have significant influence on the game's design. Lab Zero made it very clear what our influence actually was, and that was the character vote. With regards to beta testing, we can point out bugs, we can suggest balance changes, but it's ultimately Mike and Lab Zero's call as to what to deal with and what not to deal with. Even still, if someone has an opinion they should be free to express it and be treated with respect. They should also be able to eat it if they're told their opinions don't fall in line with Lab Zero's plan. If they don't like it, they're free to play a different game.

Cheesedragon said:
shouldn't the focus of the game be the game? What's the point of making a Skullgirls dating sim? I'd rather practice or play ranked!

Not everybody has to enjoy the game the same way you do. As long as you're enjoying the game the way you enjoy the game, isn't that enough? Plus I like seeing others in the community make something creative for the rest of the community to enjoy from time to time.

Cheesedragon said:
Publicity is the last thing this game needs!

As someone who donated SIGNIFICANTLY more money than what it costs to purchase a copy of this game (so that more of those ungrateful assholes* in the larger FGC can enjoy this wonderful game and what it brings to fighting games) I cannot disagree with this statement more. I see this as a game that does everything right what 90% of what's currently popular in the FGC gets wrong. The fact that it doesn't get the same amount of respect and reverence that UMVC3 and USF4 gets is a tragic injustice to me. One that I hope to help make right someday in some small way.

Cheesedragon said:
I thank God the Juju fiasco happened because it stopped people from trying to muddy up L0's creative purity

While I agree with this, I also look forward to the day when someone makes EXTREMELY creative use of Skullmod to hack new characters into the game... wink wink nudge nudge, SGC?

* I used to call them "FGC members", but after lurking Twitter for a significant amount of time to figure out what people don't like about this game... no. They're assholes.
 
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Geez, i can understand that sometime topic derails and fans can get too persistent about some point, but that's the point of having a forum with multiple topic and that's also why the game is in Beta. And it's not like the game got into controversial change like changing all the egrets into ewoks with talkywalky instead of guns...

By the way, the character DO looks clearer in the new version of Final atrium! I know that dynamic lightning was implemented, but from the comparison screenshot it's almost like an artificial shadow was added before. I didn't noticed that when i played before.

erkicman said:
The fact that it doesn't get the same amount of respect and reverence that UMVC3 and USF4 gets is a tragic injustice to me.

10 time that! In fact there's too much game in general that suffer similar injustice...I saw everyone and the Press rave about SF4 for a long time, but only played it about 1 year ago...It feeled like a great step back from SF3 all the way to street fighter 2. Not that i hate SF2 and SF4(i clearly don't), but there really no need to rave so much about it. Mass media brainwash i guess.

But with everything that's happening with the beta and everything, i hope Skullgirls got more visible to the general public than in it's initial release.
 
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Mike_Z said:
Ow. Right, when SG is over we'll be moving on to making bargain-bin schlock then.

Not what I was implying, man. You're amazing developers. Just the initial 9 was an insane amount of work, man hours, stress. Could you really do it all over again with the same amount of passion, just because the entitled fanbase threw money at you and screamed "MORE!"???
 
Cheesedragon said:
Not what I was implying, man. You're amazing developers. Just the initial 9 was an insane amount of work, man hours, stress. Could you really do it all over again with the same amount of passion, just because the entitled fanbase threw money at you and screamed "MORE!"???

I actually think it's doable, so long as... it's more money, and the developers are paid more of that money than what they're paid now. And the developers get some time to work on something else before returning to the SG IP.
 
Cheesedragon said:
Not what I was implying, man. You're amazing developers. Just the initial 9 was an insane amount of work, man hours, stress. Could you really do it all over again with the same amount of passion, just because the entitled fanbase threw money at you and screamed "MORE!"???
yes
 
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Cheesedragon said:
Easy for you to say, amatuer voice actor :PUN:
your tone.. needs some work. Serious. Fix it.
 
Jimbob said:
pun heads don't make things okay

I put it there just to make sure you guys wouldn't take it seriously, and yet you still did? I even said I loved his voice in the post before my massive rant! You guys have said much worse ironically before, this is laughable.
 
Soooooo...yeah. Did Cheesedragon decide to pick up the skullgirlsfanboy mantle?

I like the new lighting changes to Atrium, and I never really had a problem with it to begin with.
 
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Cheesedragon said:
this is laughable.

Just realize what you said was rude and apologize. Everyone will appreciate it.
 
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OK we shall all forget this sorta off-topic conversation and talk about what's on the OP.
 
I personally prefer the old color scheme. It may be due to me being partially color blind, but the colors work for me. Still, I completely understand the change. However, I will say that now the colors look muted and boring to me. The blue hue just kinda washes over everything and gives it a cold feeling, like stone. I think the old colors made the foreground of the scenery pop and stick out more and the details in the background contrast more in a nice way. Now, it all just flows togethor and doesn't quite stand out as much.

Again, I completely understand why it was done, I just wish the palette tey'd replaced it with didn't look quite so dull to me.
 
*waits for Capcom and ArcSys to license the driver*
Although at this point, it's pretty pointless to license it and will kind of betray those with the Madcatz TE2s--and HORI RAP4s. And the new SFV sticks will becoming soon...
 
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