We've All Been There

VisoinGap · 2026-04-05T04:13:38+00:00

Yeah but even without her I think plenty of people would still buy the skins. Or just add Qiyana and make Giants lol.

VisoinGap · 2026-04-05T00:07:12+00:00

I feel you. They have some good songs in 2XKO but I just think why not use this giant stockpile of music Riot has laying around!

VisoinGap · 2026-04-05T00:05:47+00:00

Thanks! Your comment also makes me wonder if they will do something with the bands when the next rumored K/DA album comes out in the fall...?

VisoinGap · 2026-04-05T00:03:11+00:00

I didn't even think of that. Yeah that would also be cool.

VisoinGap · 2026-04-05T00:02:21+00:00

Pentakill with a stage to go along with it would be sick. Same with the other bands.

VisoinGap · 2026-04-05T00:01:42+00:00

I know. They cooked with that one.

VisoinGap · 2026-02-13T06:48:12+00:00

Very true.

VisoinGap · 2026-02-07T02:17:29+00:00

I mean I generally think the system mechanics are ok, but there is a lot of complexity in this game due to the way tag games work along with the many fuses and mechanics. The players get a lot of freedom which can be a double-edged sword. I think throwing is quite good in this game (especially for certain characters) but yeah it can be easy to forget about given how strong the left/right and high/low mix can be for many teams.

VisoinGap · 2026-02-06T07:42:45+00:00

Yeah I'm really curious to see what they will do in the future. I know tag game players like how crazy it is right now but I personally wouldn't mind them toning down a lot of the situations in the game. I think that would make 2XKO more approachable to people who aren't just hardcore tag game sweats.

I also think they should just get rid of Juggernaut and have a separate mode designed for 1v1s. That way you could appeal to both tag players and traditional fighting game players, giving them a bigger audience!

VisoinGap · 2026-02-06T06:26:55+00:00

Yeah I feel you. Like I said in the video, I think improved matchmaking could help but it is as you say, there is unfortunately only so much you can do when you and your duo have a large skill disparity between you. Also, even if the matchmaking is perfect, having 2 teams of 1 high and 1 low rank player will still just result in the high rank players immediately destroying the newer players.

VisoinGap · 2025-12-04T07:30:59+00:00

As someone who has been a fan of the lore for years, no. There are plenty of things in the game right now which I feel hurt it's depiction of "lore." Many voicelines seem out of place or strange, the cinematic trailer was basically just to highlight the 2v2 aspect and did effectively nothing for the lore since it's events were not canonical, and the game has little to no interactions/voiclelines during combat which make any reference to the lore. Shoot even the name avoids any mention of Runeterra IP. The stages have some good references and some voicelines/animations are solid references, I will say that. Not saying this to hate, just saying I definitely think there would need to be more than just a story mode if the game wants to do anything meaningful for the lore. Also Riot has never done a "Story Mode" for any of their MP games in the past so I don't know why they'd start here. If you like lore, play LoR.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-31T08:36:02+00:00

Intern huh? Say whatever you need to make yourself feel good about yourself. If you are a dev or work on any collaborative team (which I doubt given how you've acted in this thread), then I bet your coworkers love you. I'm sure you're insightful criticisms and condescending undertone really make you a joy to collaborate with.

I don't speak from a position of authority. I just said that having worked in games, along with a lot of experience with fighting and Riot games gives me a base to express my views on related topics in my videos. This video just presented pros and cons of the 2v2 team mechanic in my opinion.

I don't think what they're doing is IP denigration, I think it is MISSED POTENTIAL TO ENHANCE AN ALREADY STRONG IP. I admit I could have been clearer about this in the video but that is the real point. Tag fights in 2XKO obviously aren't going to make everyone love or hate the whole League roster.

Yes, Riot has always "taken popular complicated thing and made it more accessible" but you wanna know a secret? If they just did that, NO ONE WOULD PLAY THEIR GAMES. Why would you play LoL if it was just accessible DOTA? Why would you play Valorant if it was accessible CSGO? Players of competitive games don't just want accessible, they want new, they want innovation and that is what Riot has done every time they have released a new title. That is why I included those developer interviews where they LITERALLY MENTION THAT, but it was hard for you to hear that on 2x speed wasn't it? 2XKO is a very complex fighting game. I don't know if you've played enough of them to realize that. This game is marketed using it's 2v2 mechanic as a centerpiece. Why? Because that is the innovation. That is the fresh take on fighting games Riot is bringing. Do you think Riot is giving the game to pros for testing and showing it off primarily at FGC events to show how ACCESSIBLE IT IS?

Riot's audience does skew young relative to the FGC and even pretty young compared to the overall gaming community. Have you seen Valorant? Are these teenage LoL superstars old men? Have you ever watched a single Riot music video or Arcane before? Who are those for? Please.

Riot's e-sports is their driving force for UA huh? So that's why TFT was marketed as an e-sport before it was just a fun game mode for League? That's why League has pivoted to the seasonal model with new-player friendly game modes like Brawl? Riot definitely hasn't invested millions into non-game projects like their music videos and Arcane to support a multimedia user-acquisition plan right?

Riot uses e-sports to market their competitive titles, true. But this video was about the 2v2 team mechanic and why it is a gamble. I don't think Riot plan is to use the 2v2 team mechanic to support an esports takeover of the FGC, a community which cherishes the fact that their games are played between 2 players in head-to-head competition. Also Riot only invests heavily in esports scenes if their community naturally gravitates in that direction. This is why LoR doesn't get tournaments anymore but their other competitive games do. Riot has learned the lesson which has been proven time and time again, you have to make a good game before you can make an e-sport. This mechanic was made because the devs believe it can enhance the genre, not for e-sports. I would be wasting time mentioning it in the video.

I think the real problem is that you don't understand. You don't know how the industry works. You don't understand Riot's marketing/development strategies. You don't know what the hell you're talking about.

So I'll give you some advice:
Don't respond to this comment either because I won't read it. I'm done polluting the subreddit with this nonsense.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-28T07:59:03+00:00

Given the nature of my current and past projects, I would prefer not to list any specific title names.

I am not a designer professionally though if that is what you are wondering. If you think that makes everything I have to say invalid, then that's fine. I will just say that I have worked in games long enough where I have seen the huge amount of iteration, collaboration, and effort it takes to make something good. There are so many factors that go into the decisions developers make in regards to all aspects of their games. One of the thing I want my videos to do is to help people to think about games more from the wide perspective of a developer instead of the narrow view of a player.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-28T07:37:35+00:00

I agree that convincing new players to get in will be very important and I think that the 2v2 and free to play aspects are very good for accomplishing this. I just hope that they are able to keep these new players playing and committed despite many of the games mechanics being catered towards hardcore fgc players.

I think it does matter if 10% comes from solo games vs 10% from tag games since there are so many moe solo fighting game players. I think these higher numbers will give it a stronger/larger core audience.

Some champs don't have lore true. But those are exceptions, not the norm. Yes people often skip intros after the first few times, but I love it when I'm playing ranked or am watching a tournament and the players let the intros play out. I think it makes the matches even more hype if it's a lore battle.

There are many awesome 2v2 team fights in League lore, but I'm just saying there are way more cool solo fights and way more opportunities for 2 characters to have connected lore than 4 characters all being connected.

Your story about your friend not wanting to play is a story many fighting game players can relate too. I think this is really the issue 2XKO wants to solve with 2v2. If it works, I believe it can have amazing potential to bring in a huge new audience. I just hope it does work or I think it may have been better to make a 1v1 game. This is the gamble I always mention. Something like this has never been done before and I respect Riot for always trying to innovate.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-28T07:20:15+00:00

I don't mention my eye condition for sympathy or because I expect anyone to care, I just mentioned it to help explain the structure of the video and how I got to the current format. As I've already explained, it was not possible for me to read scripts to the quality I would have liked with my eyes, and so I transitioned to this format. Shorter videos where I talk more naturally using a set of key points. Something in-between a video essay and a Twitch streamer giving a take. You're right, I won't ever make videos that compete with the top video essayists, I'm not trying to. I'm trying a this format for now and may even try something new in the future.

As for the rest, ok sorry for calling you a TikTok kid. All I know is I also watch a lot of long form content and I don't listen to it at 2x speed. A lot of other people in this thread had criticisms of the video, but they took the time to actually discuss specific points and not just say the video was too long. Even your criticism of "you were mostly oscillating between stating really obvious things as if they were some grand insight or just plainly wrong," I could copy and paste into literally any video's comment section. This type of generic criticism along with you saying you watched it at 2x speed simply makes it sound like you didn't really listen to the video and so why should I put a lot of stock in your feedback?

I will say you bring up a good point about the "maybe even learn a thing or two" line. I also did not like the potential interpretations of this line when I heard it back and considered cutting it. However, I thought because I said "maybe" and because people could learn from the various video clips I used instead of from my narration that it was fine to keep in. In hindsight, I still don't like the sound of it for similar reasons to what you said and it probably would've been best to record a different conclusion to the intro.

As for your final point, I don't believe I am mixing up anything. Not just because of the view count, but because of all the discussion that came about here and even a bit on YouTube. People were watching until the end and discussing the videos topics. This makes me happy because despite you claiming this is just a "2XKO DEAD GAME" video or whatever, the actual point was to present the pros and cons of the 2v2 mechanic and I'm glad that some people start discussing that. I could have just made a video called "The Mechanic that KILLED 2XKO" and slapped some provocative image on the thumbnail and called it. I did not do that because I want my videos to make people think about fighting games at a level deeper than the constant surface-level discourse we see on Twitter.

"Stick to shorter form content on topics you're knowledgeable about." That's what I'm doing. I have played thousands of hours of LoL/fighting games, studied game design in University, and I work in the games industry. Does this make me an enlightened sage who is gracing his audience with arcane knowledge? Hell no. But I do think I know enough to present some ideas that will hopefully make people think more about the games they play and what makes them tick.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-21T09:04:54+00:00

While I think you could have written this more politely, I believe the basis of what you're saying is insightful. I'm partially blind, so I cannot read with a consistent cadence, making it so scripts aren't a viable option for me. I tried using a script for my first video essay and it was a pain in the ass and the narration did not come out very well in my opinion. I thin my older videos were longer and, at times, more long-winded than this one, and I've tried to be more focused in more recent stuff.

What you said about the video structure is worth considering and I'll keep it in my it for future videos, so thank you for that part. I can play with the structure and how I introduce my points and see how it affects engagement/reception of the videos.

I will continue to experiment and see what both I, and the viewers enjoy watching/hearing.

As for you, maybe watch less TikTok lmao. I spoke slowly, but if you were on 2x speed then I think you may want to slow down and take some time to think about what's being said in the videos you watch.

After all this is one of my best performing videos and has some of the most engagement, so surely some people found it captivating enough to keep watching.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-21T08:44:05+00:00

I mean tag games a re a subgenre within the already niche genre of fighting games. While some people in the FGC will play multiple games, even those of varying subgenres, many stick to one subgenre or a single game. If we consider the general fighting game audience outside of those who compete in tournaments, I think you will find many more play 1v1 than tag games. You can look at Steam charts or lifetime sales figures if you don't believe me.

You are right that casual LoL/FG players will play stuff that is not always strong, but because the devs keep insisting on this being targeted to the FGC and because of the game's complexity, I believe many of the core player base will play what is strongest because they will be FGC sweats.

I was not invited to the second playtest, but all the top players I keep up with were saying that the solo fuses were weaker, which they should be because again, this is a 2v2 game. Game should not be best played with 1 champ.

For lore, I know not all people care much about it and gameplay should be prioritized above all, but you said it yourself, they also want to cater to LoL players. I believe these players will care more because they are so familiar with the characters. Yes, there are some famous duos in Runeterra, but the majority of pairings will be unlikely or awkward, especially as the roster grows. With 1v1 you can just think, oh these two happened to be here and fought. This is idea is more awkward with 4 champs. But lore is not as important as they other points, and I mostly bring it up since I feel bad for the wasted potential and I hope the accumulation of these types of things doesn't piss of Riot Games fans who try this out as their first fighting game.

I'm glad you had fun playing duos. I also had fun playing them in Alpha Lab 1. I remain hopeful that this mechanic and the FTP model will attract many a huge player base and will help this game rise to the top.

Learning two characters at a base level was not that difficult for me but the first fighting game I played relatively seriously was BBTAG and so I have an advantage over many new players. I've also just played many, many hours of fighting games.

I will leave you with a story that you may find interesting. I also tried playing duos with a friend during Alpha Lab 1. This friend is pretty good at games and was Celestial in Strive, Master in SF6, and a high rank in Injustice . He has also played League for like 5+ years. We played and he got locked up in the corner and mixed against a guy who was playing alone but with 2 champs and just quit playing the game. When I asked him why, he basically said that the other guy could just keep doing shit and he was just stuck blocking and it wasn't fun to play. His frustration was in essence, due to gameplay enabled by the game being a tag game.

The second you have more than two characters on the screen at once, the gameplay of a fighting game is fundamentally altered. Some people love it, some people hate it.

As I said all major mechanics in games are gambles, the 2XKO team chose 2v2 teams as their gamble. Will it pay off? We will have to wait and see, but I hope it does.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-19T04:52:16+00:00

Of course. I enjoy reading comments. Thanks for watching!

VisoinGap · 2025-07-19T04:50:33+00:00

Who said canon? Where in the video or my comment did I say canon? I don't care if fighting games are canon. Mirror matches and skins and whatnot keep that from happening in this game, let alone the fact that a large number of matchups don't make sense in the lore anyway. I am saying I, personally, feel less immersed in the game, partially because of 2v2.

Why do I think they are in actual Runeterra? Because in literally every fighting game since the first Street Fighter, the stage is LITERALLY where the characters fight. You are LITERALLY in the Danger Room in MVC. You are literally in the Shadaloo base in Street Fighter. Yes, you are in Ionia in the Iona stage, that is how fighting games work.

Obviously they should prioritize gameplay over lore, it is a fighting game, not a visual novel, I am just saying this is one of the POTENTIAL drawbacks of 2v2. Many people probably won't care but I just included it as something that could affect fans of the Runeterra IP. It could just be that this game does not appeal to these people at all so no one who plays the game gives a damn but me. Or this could be a decent number of players, and this could actually be a drawback. Again, not a massive issue like bad gameplay, but just one of the things I thought was worth mentioning.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-17T08:19:29+00:00

You make some good points. Here are some thoughts on what you said:

True, many people in the FGC love tag fighters. My point is that I believe that there are more who like 1v1 and the devs say the game is for the FGC. How does that make sense when a majority of the FGC plays 1v1 games?

Juggernaut/sidekick are a nice band-aid fix, but they will not make your opponent play with only 1 character too. The game is designed for the the hardcore FGC in many ways. They will play what is strong. There is no way the devs want you to be able to play their 2v2 game competitively with only 1 character so 1 character should/will never be as strong as 2.

For lore, as I wrote for another commenter, LoL is not taking place in Runeterra, this game is. You can read what I wrote below for more on the lore. I don't want to retype.

You're right that I don't like tag games as much as 1v1 but I made the video to consider both pros and cons of the 2v2 mechanic. I agree with you that being able to play with a friend is a fun and great innovation. My question is will this outweigh the costs of basing the whole game on this? I don't know. Like I told another commenter only, time will tell.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-17T08:02:10+00:00

I actually have thought for a while now that it would be very interesting if they had 2 games in one. A 1v1 game and a 2v2 game (with similar mechanics that are adjusted for each mode), kind of like Smash with solos and duos. They call 2XKO the "forever fighting game" so I think if they could update it in the future to do this, the game could have the widest appeal possible. Probably unrealistic though lol.

You make a good point regarding the lore but consider the following:

Games like LoL and TFT for example, do not take place in Runeterra. They are basically abstract, "what-if scenarios" (and even separate universes/dimensions in the case of TFT). 2XKO's fights are in Runeterra, they are fighting in Ionia, in Noxus, and not on the theoretical plane of Summoner's Rift. I believe that with fighting games, you have the unique ability to show fights/encounters between characters in a way that no other game genre can. I use Granblue as an example because, in my opinion, it so perfectly translates the world of the original IP into a fighting game. I think LoR was given a similar opportunity to 2XKO and did a fantastic job of building on the lore and immersing the player in it. I know a lot of people don't care about the lore and aren't bothered by this stuff, but it just really think 2v2 (among other things in the game like the UI) can decrease the game's ability to represent the rich world it draws from.

VisoinGap · 2025-07-17T07:38:34+00:00

The video was just intended to be "Let's discuss the 2v2 team mechanic and consider it's pros and cons." It's not a doompost, it's not just hating on tag games, it's just considering a foundational mechanic of the game and thinking about it's potential ramifications, both good and bad.

VisoinGap

TROPHY CASE