Community Showcase - December 2021

Baaah! Patreon ate my post :(

Sebastian Hall

Oh nuts I missed the showcase. Well have a nice day! Stay hydrated.

Parasitepaladin

Dammit I missed the showcase again... Ugghhh.... Im sorry... its okay.... Love you guys, next month for sure...

Tegan Combatti

Submitted just in time. See you tomorrow/today chat

Trung Nguyen

Hello Brad and Brandon. Started late on monthly Chun-Li but here she is. Finally got my PC parts so started building it late last month and tested out Intuos 4, a pen tablet that has been in storage for a decade so naturally they don't support it anymore but at least I found a driver for it and with some tips on newer software I drew a bonus Chun-Li. I did it pretty slowly without diving into any features except layers that I learned a decade ago but eventually will step by step go through learning it. The goal is to go mainly digital in the future. Finished Tales of Arise and it was a very good game even if I do miss some stuff from the past. 1st time I think all characters are fun to play with but I mostly played with the mage because they are awesome. Also not with appearance but one reminded me of Tabletop Escapades in many ways. Got Eula in Genshin Impact after spending 60ish wishes(don't worry, I didn't pay any of it except my time) and she is great. Ghostbusters Afterlife was pretty good and so was Hawkeye Episode 3. I haven't watched much live lately because I now mainly do night shifts so all stream happens when I work. Anyway next time is next year so Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. Love and Respect Tearju Engi https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1462122626999111681?s=20 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1465123116519145480?s=20 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1465428057028763649?s=20 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1465585484835528707?s=20 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1465586174072918018?s=20

Trung Nguyen

Video; full quality download --> https://gofile.io/d/lMNUvW (second export) Here are my top 50 favorite video games of all time, release dates spanning 25 years from 1994 to 2018. Any game clips that have licensed music are under 4 seconds each, and YouTube's cleared them --> https://abload.de/img/clearedjfkjo.png This took 6 weeks to make, so I sure hope you don't mind the extra minute-sixteen... P.S. Please show the video in fullscreen, with your camera positioned top left.

TurboChickenMan

File under 'VIDEOS', please!

Nik Gothic

Hello, Brandon! Hello, Brad! It's good to be home! I can draw once again and I made another one of my usual vloggies. I'm sad Brad gets to see me in this state, and when I recover I swear this manual is going to be my white whale. Also I'd like to use this opportunity to dispel the rumour that I am NOT the Shoutout-tier Nik, and that I am in fact, a different Nik. It just so happens that Nik is a common name. It is a cool name. In the generation I was born in, "Nikola" was in fact the most common first name given to newborns in my country(in tribute to one famous scientist Elon Musk eviscerated the family name of), and there are at least 3 other significant Nikolas in my life I hang out with. It is as annoying as you might guess. https://youtu.be/lEnMbDITLzE

Nik Gothic

(Safety post.)

lc

Hello Brandon, Hello Brad, and Happy Holidays! I hope they treat you and the crew well and close out the year on a festive and jolly note. With 2022 fast approaching, it’s time to reflect on 2021, the sequel to 2020 that no one asked for. It’s been a tumultuous ride, but this year also brought a bit more hope than the last, not to mention some of the most impactful games I’ve ever played. (Shout out to Ben Moore, whose hearty No More Heroes III recommendation led me to discover one of my new favorite trilogies in gaming, as well as the true meaning of “moe.”) But you know what one of my favorite gaming moments this year was? It was when Brad streamed The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD over the summer. For context, the Zelda series stole my heart over two decades ago, when Ocarina of Time first introduced me to video games. Flash forward to 2020, when the pandemic first broke out. When the anxiety and grief felt overwhelming, I took a breath and made a list: a list of the games I’d grown up with that meant the most to me. My plan was to spend the pandemic getting reacquainted with old favorites and embracing how much they meant to me. Zelda games, Ocarina of Time among them, dominated the list. Each time I finished one, it felt reaffirming: if I’d made it far enough to replay an entire Zelda game, maybe things would turn out okay in the end. The Skyward Sword stream helped with that process. It’s always a blast to see your favorite content creators streaming your favorite games, and Skyward Sword has been a special game in my book for a decade and running. Your playthrough and commentary were the highlight of a number of weeks this year, and these days especially, it means a lot to be able to look forward to something like that each week. So Brad, from one Zelda fan to another, thank you for streaming Skyward Sword this year. I guess you really can't spell Zelda without an E, a Z, and an A. And to all of the Allies, thanks for everything this year, and best of luck in the next! L&R, levelcapybara (P.S. Brad, your Peppy Hare from a couple of podcasts ago is impeccable! And Jones, you sound just like the guy who narrates the EZA reviews. Keep up the great voice work!) :D

lc

For safety

Jason A. Sackel

For November, once again, didn't play anything new. Nothing came out that piqued my interest. I almost decided to revisit the PS2 Grand Theft Auto games via that collection, but two factors were at play. It appears to have not turned out well. Also, only really interested in revisiting Vice City. Down the line, if they sell them separately, I may bite. That's it for gaming though. Maybe there will be something in December that reels back in to gaming. Just looked at the list and there is "Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo." Whaaaat? I may have to take a gander at a trailer for that. Yea... it's as bad as I thought it'd be. Oof. I did finally watch Only Murders in the Building. Fantastic show. It was done so well and delivered everything I wanted from it. On the other side of the spectrum, Cowboy Bebop came out. That just seemed like a disaster. I can't blame the actors. The biggest issue of the show comes down to the direction and writing. The performances are so over the top and cartoony, but I feel that was the direction they were given. It doesn't make the characters feel real. What works in one medium doesn't necessarily work in another. I am not against live-action adaptations at all. People will argue just watch the anime. Which is dumb and half the time a bit hypocritical. Some times they tell people to just watch the cartoon... which is based off the comic. By that logic, why create the cartoon, just read the comic. It's about appealing to people who prefer a different medium. Everyone has different tastes and ways they consume media, and that's cool. I'm for it. Let the creator's stories reach more people. I just think they need to be approached differently. The main cast for the One Piece live-action series got announced and I dig it. They seem like a great fit and seem genuinely excited for the series. Again, I hope they really put thought into what works in an adaptation for live-action. No reason to be negative. Just gotta wait and see. Hawkeye has been a blast so far. Hailee Steinfeld and Jeremy Renner are great and bounce off each other so well. Also, simply a sucker for the whole vibe Renner's character gives off where he just wants to be done with it all already. I just hope it sticks the landing. I still need to find time to watch "The Beatles: Get Back." Saw Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I didn't mind the abundance of nods to the first movie. The tone and pace were different than the originals, which I thought worked. I'd rather Jason Reitman do his own thing rather than try to imitate his father's style. It felt like a safe approach, but I didn't mind. I feel like Dolby Cinema is the only reason worth going to the theater these days. Anyhoo, hope you all have a good holiday season and a safe new year.

Jason A. Sackel

safety reply.

Small Leviathan

Howdy, friends and allies. Here's some assorted 6 AM thoughts, written hours before the submissions deadline, whiling away time as I wait for my sleep meds to kick in proper. I replayed Steamworld Dig 2 for the first time in four years, and in retrospect I feel like I never gave this game a fair shake. Sure, I liked it a lot even back then, but it had the misfortune of releasing in the same year as Hollow Knight, the absolute pinnacle of the Metroidvania genre (in my humble, but correct, opinion, of course). While it's no Hollow Knight, Dig 2 is still top of the class and absolutely a game any fan of the genre should play. Also, it has some great music by El Huervo, who is a fantastic artist, check out his 2016 album "Vandereer" if you haven't. I'm also a decent way into Inscryption, which is just a very cool and weird game in general. It's one of those experiences that seem to always find new ways to surprise you, even when you're dead certain you've seen everything it could throw at you. It has a great, spooky atmosphere and the actual card game you're playing in the game itself allows for a lot of cool strategies. It's an absolute must-play if you're into deckbuilding or roguelites, just make sure to expect the unexpected. Also: Shin Megami Tensei V! I'm only like halfway through it, but it's absolutely a contender for Game of the Year for me already. One of the things that impress me the most with that game is how good the level design is. Persona 5 had good level design too, sure, but it was never as open-ended and exploration-friendly as the areas in SMT. There's been a lot of aesthetic sameyness so far, I'll admit, but I'm sure the game still has some more tricks up its sleeve still. The game looks really good as a whole, though I have to wonder why they didn't stylize it more to fit the hardware better, because while it runs fairly consistently it's hard not to feel like the game is straining against the limitations of the Switch. Nonetheless it's a great game and definitively one I want and need to finish before the end of the year. Hopefully I'll have enough time to do that. Oh hello, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, what are you doing here? So at the time of writing, I'm approximately 50-60% through Endwalker. I think so at least, going off my level. Hour-long queue time asides, Endwalker has been really good so far. It's really fascinating (and a bit frightening) how almost every step of the story so far feels like it could be the climax, and somehow it just keeps ramping up. When I got to the part I am right now I actually stopped and LAUGHED because I couldn't believe the story was going where it was. It's been a truly wild ride so far, and I can't wait to see where it ends. Oop, out of words, it seems. Good thing that I was getting too sleepy to keep going. See you in 2022 for the yearly Small Leviathan awards!

Small Leviathan

I mean, placeholders are good. But don't you have something else to post there?

R.F. Switch

Showcase is tomorrow, saying it in case you forgot to fill this placeholder

R.F. Switch

uwu

Kit Snow

Hello Jones and Brad I hope you’re both doing well today. I had a last minute idea to showcase all the games I completed, which came out this year. It was a huge challenge squeezing all of these into a 3 minute video. I was thinking about writing about them but my writing skills are just as bad as my editing skill, but at least I can add a sweet tune to the video, it’s like adding magical salt to make almost anything edible. All games shown have been fully completed, including beating all optional bosses and obtained all achievements where applicable. VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/BNSJjn8m7TA Hope you both enjoy your time away in the Holidays Robert Lee

robert7lee

Hello Brad and Brandon! My favourite purchase of the month was the beautiful release of the Skyward Sword soundtrack! That period during which Nintendo stopped releasing OSTs was a great shame and deprived us of a Skyward Sword OST the first time round, but I’m glad they’re back at it these days, and that they conveniently re-released Skyward Sword now that it’s usual for them to grace us with a gorgeous multi CD set every time a Zelda game comes out. And that little music box playing the Ballad of the Goddess included in the collector’s edition? Lovely! Apart from anything else, my favourite thing is always how they include individual composing credits for each track, and not just a vague list of composers for the whole thing. I hope they keep that trend as long as possible! (Also, possibly release them beyond Japan, because importing makes these things pretty pricey.) Anyway, no great inspiration musically for this month, so I’m back with some Zelda music remade using the Ocarina of Time sounds. Speaking of Skyward Sword, I had submitted the Sky theme some months ago already, so we’re going further back this time for the Spirit Tracks Overworld theme. I LOVE Spirit Tracks music. You should too. This one, with Ocarina of Time sounds, takes on a slightly Lon Lon Ranch / Horse Race feel, and was quite fun to decipher. Have a great end of year, everyone, I’ll surely be back next time with my traditional “Christmas Carol turned into an epic fantasy battle” submission! L&R, Kévin Gillet (Yes, the video is 4:09 long, but for decent looping purposes, technically you’ll have heard the whole thing at 3:07) Link to the music: https://youtu.be/ckAsH4asGBQ

Kévin Gillet

Category: Music

Festive Greetings Jones and Brad. For this month's music bit, I went with something more intense. Instead of making something from a classic EZA jingle or tune, I tried to make something out of the phrase HoTaKe. The phrase does not really hold a melody, so I thought lets go to my drumming roots and make something more percussive. So I kinda just made a three-hit tag line (reminiscent of the Ho-Ta-Ke) for the song then built something from there, the key is still the same as the Frame Trap tune. Strap in and get ready to battle H0-T4K3, the cyborg-tank unit with an explosive opinion. Love and Respect! Link: https://soundcloud.com/kimnikhan/h0-t4k3?si=dee3e8ae8e4746bfbf15efbf83f68557

Hold

Sage_Mode_Q

Greetings Jones and Brad and Happy December! For me and I’m guessing many in the community EZA’s goty discussions is my favorite stream of the year and something I always look forward too. I always try to play the top games of the year myself so I can be as informed and involved in the conversations as possible but this Year I feel that’s going to be tough. Just from the sheer amount of very solid games that came out this year and not 1 true juggernaut. Thats why this year on Black Friday I took full advantage of all the great game deals. Just in the past two weeks alone I’ve bought DeathLoop, Lost Judgment, Deaths Door, Metroid Dread, Guardians of the galaxy, and Life is strange true colors, and my goal is to at least dabbled in all of them by January! I’ve played about 5 hours each of Deathloop, Deaths Door, and Metroid Dread, and I’m actually really digging all of them. But the one game that had its claws in me from the jump is Guardians. Man was I not expecting that game to be this good but it’s awesome! It’s so funny thinking back to all the trailers and announcements for the game and the lukewarm reactions I had towards it and how now after completing it last night it is truly one of my favorite games I’ve played this year. If I can say one thing about that game it’s that the developers really captured the heart of who the guardians are. You can see Influences from the movies but this game does such a great job of taking these already well-known characters from the MCU and making them entirely their own. Here’s hoping a couple more of the allies can play it before Gotys as I think it has a really cool narrative and art direction, and the voice acting is top tier. Like I said at the top of my post I am really excited and interested to hear your guys Goty deliberations this year because I think it’s one of the most wide-open years in the history of gaming and I know you guys are going to have some really great discussions and a lot of people going into that night might not even actually have their Goty in there minds and they’re probably going to be persuaded by the deliberations which is an awesome thought. I hope all the allies have a great month of December and can play as many games as possible, and finally Hitman 3 is still one of the game best games of the year, and my Goty. New Maps coming 2022 baby! L&R!!!

Sage_Mode_Q

Hello Allies, It's rare that I work with a deadline, but I was going down to CA for Thanksgiving and had to finish a gift for my best friend, a bead-ification of his dog. It was a bit of a rush, but I got it done in time! It was my most ambitious project, trying to get as close to photorealistic as possible. 55 colors! 14,400 beads, this is Phobos. He's a good boy. But of course I must have something gaming related for you each month! And you know what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving? Cacodemons. 49 colors, approximately 4,000 beads (it's not a square, and I ain't counting them...) Enjoy, and happy holidays. https://photos.app.goo.gl/zkc3aqG2bTsB4Xr38

Nathan Codiroli

Art section

Travis Miosi

Hey Allies, I'm trying to make some digital paintings for my friends for Christmas and wanted to share my WIP. I don't have a style and still learning things, so I'm using this to try things out and maybe I'll end up gravitating to one of them. The first picture is going to be a kitten sitting in a basket of yarn batting at the ball of yarn it is made out of. I want this to be simple shapes with thick smooth lines. Kinda like what you'd see with stickers. This friend loves cats, knitting, everything pink and cutesy stuff. The second picture is going to be grayscale and is supposed to be an armored guy or creature holding the head of someone it just killed. I was thinking some traveler was sitting at a campfire too close to the road when this armored guy found him. Either standing over or sitting at the campfire with the corpse next to it. Definitely going for some Dark Souls inspiration since this friend loves the series and type of art. The last painting I wanted to share the progress I've made. The style I was trying for is supposed to be more like a story book illustration. My friend loves reading, plants, and coffee. I wanted something she could hang in her new reading room. Out of all her favorite genres, I went with fantasy and decided on The Hobbit as inspiration since its one of her favorite books. It feels like I'm getting close to being finished, but maaaan I still have so much to do... lol I don't really have a good workflow, not that efficient, and don’t know how to do stuff most the time. Hopefully I can still get them done in time. Thanks for checking out my work. It helps a lot. Hopefully I'll get them done by Christmas and can share them next month. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. -Travis https://twitter.com/Obvious_Decoy/status/1466898279875158018 https://twitter.com/Obvious_Decoy/status/1466898434422710274 https://twitter.com/Obvious_Decoy/status/1466898857074339840 (left - right, top - bottom 1-4) https://twitter.com/Obvious_Decoy/status/1466899048644984840 (left - right, top - bottom 5-7)

Travis Miosi

Hey Allies! Well here we are. It’s December. I’ve made it 11 months doing a drawing for my daughter every day this year. I’ve definitely had a blast getting back into drawing but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t ready to take a break in January…. Anyway, here’s a few more that I thought turned out well recently. Thanks for all the supportive words about my past entries, and thanks for all the work you guys do. L&R - Jethrin https://imgur.com/gallery/CILR9Vu

Jethrin

Hello to you two great humans! Sorry, but somehow I messed up my entry for November. I posted a few minutes before deadline but the post vanished. I just found out during that showcase. I apologize. So I give it a try again this month. Last time I participated in the showcase I brought my Tesla Sentry Mode Music Video. And since it got a tweet and an insta story by the official Teslamotors account and was also mentioned by several other youtubers, we are pretty happy with the response. ( If Brad is interested- the musicvideo is here: www.autojohn.de ) What is there to show today? (Feel free to show the pictures while reading the rest of my post) I organized a public art gallery featuring five digital artist (including myself): bit.ly/nocryptospace The idea was to use Crypto Art and go into the complete opposite direction. No minting, no "market value", no trading, no eternal presevation... just two dozend billboards in the public space, and just for 10 days. To enjoy for everyone. and hopefully more environmentally friendly. I made a tour with two of the four other guys and we found out, that the surrounding environment gives the artworks a special touch, like putting it into new context. And Yes,... I named one of my artworks "Shadowdrop". Totally intentional. The last picture shows (from left to right) myself (Christian, the Wohnzimmer Championships Guy) ; Cornelius (a very successfull NFT Artist) and Jimmy (a Concept Artist doing stuff for Marvel movies & Netflix Series). And if it seems like Cornelius Dämmrich' last name sounds like "Damn Rich", it is not so far from the truth, because his NFTs are actually sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Crazy! Have a great day and take care, Christian

For Safety.

Beau

Hey guys, I’ve come to the conclusion, that I need feed back for my game before I go further. So I decided to release a playable demo, but I have to make one first. L&R Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QYkqbLTWQs&list=PLTGR_gTQ0GUg8F02_Jd1ky0TIYzsPBz56&index=6

Beau

A few years ago I never would've imagined that I would pay thousands of dollars and wait for 9 hours in the freezing cold to get pit tickets for a Harry Styles of One Direction fame concert. About a year ago I was playing the DJ rhythm game Fuser and looking at the DLC songs and my girlfriend noticed Adore You by Harry Styles, so I got it because she said she loves it, and now I understand she loves it for good reason. The song is such a banger that it's my #1 played on Spotify this year. In fact, any time a friend visits and plays Fuser they admit its the best track. I have uploaded an edit of my footage of his live performance of Adore You from the pit of the concert. Yes, I'm a 36 year old straight male in a huge stadium filled with women roughly half my age losing their minds, and I can confidently admit Harry Styles is the definition of cool and sexy. He dances awkwardly and wears the most ridiculous outfits, but it works because he's just pure confidence. Please enjoy. I promise that the awkward singing you'll occasionally hear isn't coming from me or my girlfriend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aE7f6keCik * (note that the live version is actually quite different from the studio version so I do not think Twitch will notice it)

Joseph Caruso

Safety post safety post, oh, safety safety post...

Ciaran Lyttle

Hi Jones, and Brad! I know it's a little early, but seasonal greetings to all! I don't think I've ever swore in a Community Showcase post, but since the calendar is about to reset, I'll use my yearly swear with this public service announcement to FromSoftware. BRING. BACK. TENCHU. YOU. FUCKING. COWARDS. (sorry Jones!) Anyway, with that out of the way, I recently enlisted the help of the amazing Aria Cariño, a singer from the Philippines to record a cover of the intro theme "Sadame" (pronounced Sa-Da-May) from Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven. Please enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8zLvo9-xh4 L&R Ciaran

Ciaran Lyttle

https://imgur.com/a/fKuDjZm Is this my first showcase? I think it is. And it's something I would have waited a month for, but with Brad being here, I had to jump in now. He was the inspiration for this new project. I had heard him talk about how he tracks the games that he plays and/or beats, and at the beginning of the year I decided it was time to get in on this. It mostly speaks for itself, but here are a few details: * Two games got 10s from me. The first, Half Life Alyx, took me over nine months to complete, after dropping it multiple times. Not for any fault of the game, I guess I just find it hard to stick with a VR game for a longer period of time. The second was the original Legend of Zelda, played on the new Game & Watch. It still holds up. * Lowest rated game was my most anticipated game of the year. I played it on a very powerful PC, so performance was never much of an issue with Cyberpunk 2077, and I can forgive some bugs. What really stung was just how underwhelming the actual game itself was. I never got invested in the story like I did Witcher 3. The gameplay never felt inspired. The world and the graphics felt undercooked. This hurt me. * Average score was near 8.5. * Total game time is hard to pin down. Some games were left empty, because these were games I played while working from home, inbetween calls, so the game is left on pause a lot. This would cause play time to inflate, so I didn't want to count them. Of the games I did count, we hit 797 hours. *My game of the year is a game that didn't come out this year. I will wait until Damiani joins us to talk about Final Fantasy XIV. I have... things to say about it. * Will I beat any more games before the year ends? I'm on the fourth dungeon of Link's Awakening on the Game & Watch, that should make it. I have doubts about Endwalker; sure, there aren't post-expansion patches, but doing it while everyone else is, and with potential server and queue issues, who knows. I got pretty far in Far Cry 6, but I paid for a month of Ubisoft+ and it just ended. I think I got my fill. Only game left this year is Halo Infinite campaign. I've also included the other part of this Google Sheets doc, my backlog. I didn't do too well with it, and I haven't touched it in a while. Expect it to grow more than shrink in the near future.

Pixillated

Photo with comment incoming

Pixillated

No Patreon Curse please!!!

Joey Bruno

safety post

Radioactive Magic

Firstly, hi Brad! Nice to see you on the Showcase couch. I’m showing off the latest video from my series, a game design study asking “What if Pokemon was rebooted?” Really hope you enjoy what you see! And, hello Brandon! My good buddy Brandon… I know you greatly dread watching my videos because they make you sad… however! If I could only convince you to take just a little time out of a single day to watch only one episode from start to finish *out of my entire series*… this is the one! Back when Ben was on the couch and I was showing the intro video, you said in response to one part “please talk about the Pokedex, please.” Well this is that episode! I know you are a busy person so if I can’t convince you, here is the most relevant part of the video to you. Unfortunately, not everything I have to say about it fits within these three minutes… and I have to skip A LOT of other stuff… like the “Pokemon University” narrative I put forward to help tie generations together. I’m seriously begging you, please please watch it! Otherwise! Thank you for your time and for the opportunity to showcase to the community! Start at 10:28 https://youtu.be/Qse27pRh1vo L&R Damon - Radioactive Magic

Radioactive Magic

Maybe

Eric Jackson

**Comment** Hey Jones and Brad, This month I was a bit too stacked with holiday stuff to produce a voiceover clip or make a video, so instead I wanted to share my experience with Stephen Sondheim as read by the voice himself. I first experienced the legend that is Stephen Sondheim in high school, where I got to play the character Hero, from "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" in a class read-through. Even for its dated aspects, the timeless humor of Sondheim was made clear to me. I would go on to enjoy Tim Burton's depiction of Sweeney Todd, before falling in love with the George Hearn recorded special Jones mentioned in his Cup of Jones editorial. Eventually I got to see a live show of it, (wasn't that good, sadly), but a whole world of musical theatre blossomed before me. I went on to binge the soundtracks from "Into the Woods", "Assassins", "The Evening Primrose", "Frogs", but the granddaddy of them all in my heart (so far), is "Company". A sincerely timeless classic, yet harboring all the sensibilities of the era, "Company" is in my top 3 musicals of all time, alongside newcomer "Hadestown", and "Les Mis". Honorable mentions go to "Dear Evan Hansen", "Phantom of the Opera", and the 2015 musical adaptation of "Hunchback of Notre Dame". Bringing this back to "Company" if you like musicals and haven't watched/listened to Dean Jones as the original Bobby in "Being Alive", it really is a spectacular climax number, and when "Company" came to my university while I was a student, I went to see it four times, noting and loving the little differences between the shows. There are videos on youtube of Sondheim directing actors through his songs, and on top of being a spectacular lyricist, he's also an affecting director. All this to say, my journey with Sondheim is 15 years strong. As it stands, I'm in no rush to consume all this content, which means for now there will always be something new to witness for the first time. He knew how to make people laugh, how to make them cry, and how to make them empathize with characters of all kinds, from the lowly street punks of West Side Story, to the once respected barbers of Fleet Street. I often say that what bothers me about modern movies is that they lack that core sincerity that makes older movies of the 20+ years ago era so lasting, but many movies nowadays make me cringe. To me, Sondheim embodies that sincerity that has left a lot of entertainment. Say what you will about adaptations of his work, the man knew how to craft stories out of songs. Of the many celebrities I've always longed to meet, he was near the top of my list, and he shall be missed. Thank you, Stephen Sondheim for a lifetime of memories. Cheers. L&R Eric Jackson

Eric Jackson

Safety post whaddup

Will Schmuck

Howdy Brandon and Brad, I have some metal for you to (hopefully) enjoy. I've submitted some music in the past but all of that was recorded a decade ago, and recently I put together a recording setup for my drums to start playing and recording again. Everything other than the drums is courtesy of @SantinoHS on Twitter who I met through a D&D community online. He wrote the entire track minus drums and sent it to me to arrange and record drums on, and we may or may not have other tracks in the works as well. Thanks and stay easy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Ygxmi5_Pk

Will Schmuck

stick

FromTheVoid

Hello Jones and Brad, It's been a while since I've submitted a video for community showcase. I've been dealing with a lot of changes in my life, all of them for the better, I am not complaining, but I couldn't make the second part of the Obscure Mario characters list I've promissed. But things settled down, I finally got to it, and now I have a full list of unusual Mario characters to throw your way, so you can expect several months of that! For the first entry on this second batch, I will start with one of the most obscure characters I have ever encountered. I dug a pretty deep hole with this one. Get ready for Oyazi. You can check the full video and a lot more on FromTheVoid Games channel on Youtube. Thanks, L&R FromTheVoid a.k.a. Arthur Henrique Chinaglia https://youtu.be/1s0boteAW4w

FromTheVoid

No quarrel Patreon

Shoulderguy

Hello Jones and Brad, Reporting from the EZA Forums. We recently completed another EZA Community GOTY election. This time for the year 2007. As a reminder, the rules are for every participant to send their top 4 games for the year, which receive points according to their ranking. With 4 optional honorable mentions worth 1 point each. And here is the top 20 results: #20: Eternal Sonata - 5 points #19: Assassin's Creed - 6 points #18: Skate - 6 points #17: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Justice for All - 7 points #16: The Witcher - 7 points #15: Pokémon Diamond & Pearl - 7 points #13: Tomb Raider: Anniversary - 7 points #13: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - 7 points #12: Persona 3 - 9 points #11: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations - 11 points #10: Team Fortress 2 - 13 points #9: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction - 17 points #8: God of War II - 20 points #7: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - 21 points #6: Halo 3 - 21 points #5: BioShock - 23 points #4: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - 26 points #3: Super Mario Galaxy - 27 points #2: Mass Effect - 34 points #1: Portal - 37 points Games that almost made the list: Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Project Gotham Racing 4, Rogue Galaxy, and Silent Hill: Origins What are your personal GOTYs from 2007? Love and Respect, Shoulderguy

Shoulderguy

Heyo Allies! The Falcon and The Winter Soldier came out this year and reignighted my love for Bucky Barnes. Anyways, here's Bucky and Steve. https://twitter.com/flexhealer/status/1428289734606872579?t=3QkUMSJJh-OlR6UPlmKOhA&s=19 L&R Kit 'Loves tragic men' Snow

Kit Snow

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Alex_AI

Saving....

Steven Beaumont

Hey Brandon and Brad, I just wanted to say a big thanks to Brad for jumping on the Great Game Debate podcast with my mates Jonah, Kaedhen and Wes. The lads had a great time and the Classicvania Vs Igavania debate was a blast. I personally voted classic because Bloodstained Curse of the Moon was my most recent "Castlevania" experience but unfortunately the community voted in favour of Igavania, sorry Brad. Thanks Again, Love and Respect. Steven Beaumont P.s. Link to episode is in the showcase thread if you wanna check it out. Also a new episode featuring Tokyo Slim should be dropping soon. https://youtu.be/8XQySMTRgag

Steven Beaumont

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kbhomes

Hello Jones, Brad and Allies, Apologies once again because I just haven’t had the time to commit to capturing and writing a review. I splurged a bit on PlayStation’s Black Friday and End of The Year Sale, so I’m hopefully set for a few reviews in the coming months. However, most of my time this month has been split between a few other games. First off, I’m finally going through Last of Us Part 2. I have been enjoying it, if a bit less than the first game due to personal reasons. I feel like the first game did a much better job making me feel emotionally invested in the characters and the world by providing the dual perspectives of pre and post outbreak. For example, Joel explaining an ice cream truck to Elle and other things like that. I am still playing, so no spoilers please! I know that there is a ‘controversial’ event coming up, but I’ve managed to avoid all the details so far. It makes it difficult to enjoy the game, though, when I feel like I am walking on eggshells - especially on top of my brother’s additional prodding texts that he REALLY needs to discuss “a part” when the game turned from a 9 to a 6 for him. Beyond that though, my girlfriend and I have started the first Kingdom Hearts over. Previously she got to the save point right before the final boss, but then life stuff happened and we put it down for a long time. Now, we’re almost back to the final world again. The plot is still confusing for her, but the appeal is definitely more being able to run around the Disney worlds. Either way, we’re having a great time, and I’m excited to get to the next games in the series! Apart from that, the Polymega, the modular retro gaming console I’ve talked about previously at length, is beginning to arrive for more people who pre-ordered it back in 2018 and beyond. Over Thanksgiving, my brother finally got his in the mail too. It was an absolute blast to get together with him and our like-minded retro game enthusiast friends over the holiday, swap games together, and relish over our personal collections and how well they run on the system. Because we’re able to share and save our physical games, together we’ve amassed 587 games from all the available systems; NES, SNES, Turbografx-16, PS1, Sega Genesis, CD, Saturn among some others. And with the announcement that they will shortly release a module to support Nintendo 64, we are extremely excited for a console to play our hard-copy collections of N64 games on HDTV’s (better than Nintendo has offered thus far). Hoping to also review the system soon! That’s all for this month! Love and Respect all! Here’s hoping you have a happy Holidays and New Year full of positive gaming and adventures. I hope to have a review or two to share in the coming months.

Happy Gaming

With 2021 practically over, here are my Most Anticipated Games for 2022 and beyond. Note: I'm leaving out games currently in Early Access and getting console ports: 16. Somerville - Interesting premise, but I'm waiting for more info because Inside ended sourly for me. 15. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II - Played the first Hellblade for the first time this year, and while solid, it didn't grip me like I hoped, but I'll give the sequel a shot. 14. The next Mass Effect - With practically no faith in BioWare's recent history, ESPECIALLY none in EA, AND Dragon Age still so far out, I'm good waiting years for this. 13. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins - This jumped up a couple of spots thanks to the PS5 demo. Now that I have some idea how it plays, I'm more curious, but still tepid on the whole. 12. Gotham Knights - Originally not on my list last year, this year's FanDome Court of Owls trailer did it's job for me. Plus, I'm getting the urge to replay the Arkham series. 11. Replaced - The trailer during Xbox's E3 presentation was captivating and I LOVE the art style and concept. Also, the song from the trailer, "Void," is rad. 10. Ghostrunner 2 - Announced via press release and years away, I enjoyed the first enough to be excited for a follow-up. 9. Redfall - I'm a big fan of Arkane, and while Deathloop may not be for me, Dishonored and Prey are more my thing. Intrigued how this will look and play. 8. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep is the single best piece of Borderlands content and making an entire game reminiscent of the Borderlands 2 DLC has me excited. 7. A Plague Tale: Requiem - It took awhile for me to try the first Plague Tale, but I was so impressed with it that Requiem's announcement was my top E3 announcement overall. 6. Final Fantasy XVI - We haven't seen it for 15 months, but it's a mainline, single-player Final Fantasy. SOLD. 5. KOTOR Remake - A remake of what I think is the best Star Wars game to date? Day one buy. 4. Horizon: Forbidden West - The sequel to my 2017 GOTY, the State of Play we received has me in awe of how gorgeous this is. Plus, it's the first game coming on this list and I can't wait. 3. God of War: Ragnarok - The 2018 reboot is one of the greatest games in recent memory and the trailer from the major Showcase displays a LOT of things I can't wait to witness for myself. 2. Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis - This is so high for only one reason: Curiosity to just what this even IS, regardless of quality 1. All parts of the Final Fantasy VII: Remake - I said it last year, will say it now, and will continue to until the whole project is completed: The original is my favorite game of all time and Part 1 is phenomenal. More please.

Brandon K Gann

Hold!

JessieBlu

Link for the post is in the Patreon DMs - Link to Chapters 1 and 2 are here: Chapter 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YP9GMxKT8E&t=5s Chapter 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ8DOKvwb4c&t=1s

JessieBlu

Greetings from the Midwest! I have been working on (and off) chapter 3 of my Audiobook Youtube series but this chapter has proven complicated because there are so many animal character voices, and coming lower priority than a lot of other things I have had going on, so I haven't had a lot of time to work on it. I still was able to pull out a 3 min chunk for you. It is after editing and some minor pitch shifting but before assembly and background music. I also have to record the bumper at the beginning that says "Previously on". Still I hope you enjoy! - L&R Jessie Blu Jones: When we last left Alice, she had been shrunk down and had been swept away with her new mouse companion in a flood of her own tears. They and about a dozen other small creatures washed up on shore. Keep listening to find out more in Chapter 3 - A caucus Race and a LOOOOONG Tale

JessieBlu

Hello Jones and Brad! So last summer I was working on training my new coding skills with a Hall of Greats website that I showed on last September’s Community Showcase! Well! That website has changed quite a bit over the past year! Here are all the main changes! Some small design changes besides these, but these are the main ones! - New website name! - Inductee Page now shows images instead of a table - Implemented a search bar into the Nominees table page, which brings the searched game to the top of the table - Added a voting Rundown Table for each Ceremony! When votes are told! - The About Page is not the Home Page anymore! - More Information Button on the Game Page that leads to Wikipedia to that game - Added a Not Found Page! Submission! http://www.thehallofgreats.com

Joey Bruno

Hopefully, my curse doesn't effect Pateron posts.

R.F. Switch

Greetings Jones and Brad, So, question for everyone: Have you ever been………Cursed? And I don’t mean a Castlevania “what a horrible night to have a curse” curse. I don’t even mean a “my life is so hard, why has God/Fate/Etc forsaken me?” kind of curse. I mean like “I have had my existence rocked by a supernatural phenomenon that cannot be explained, likely due to performing a ritual wrong and/or obtaining a cursed artifact?” …Ok, I’m likely scaring Jones, so I’ll explain, especially since he wasn’t on Fast and Loose. About two years ago, I bought a Tarot deck (you saw some of it before, my Sun and Moon cards were from that deck). For those who don’t know, a Tarot deck has 78 cards, 56 card divided into four suits of 14 that make up the Minor Arcana, and 22 Major Arcana cards (like the ones in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure). The four suits are Swords, Cups, Coins, and Wands. According to my now partner, buying a deck for myself is really, really bad. According to legend, you are either supposed to be gifted a tarot deck or find one in the wild (I.E. just seeing it on, like, a sidewalk or something), you are NOT supposed to buy one. The deck I had was… a little too accurate. Not surprising, it’s me, the girl who is one with Fate and Probability, someone who could walk into a Round One and win a 16,000-ticket jackpot in three tries. Speaking of tune into the February Showcase, me demolishing an arcade sounds more like a Ben story. Back to the deck, it was scary accurate… and also kind of an asshole. For example, when the entire Swords suit, which are almost ALL bad cards that will hurt you, came up all at once and wrecked my entire month, to a point where I thought I was going to lose my best friend. Another time, I thought I did lose my partner after drawing a card that represents a strong relationship, but upside-down, meaning the card has the opposite effect. And then I pulled the Star Card, also upside-down, when the worst thing possible happened (see September’s Showcase.) That all having been said, my partner bought a deck for me, and I have given her my old one. Hopefully, that will uncurse me and I can finally have a reasonable break from Fate being a knob to me. So, there it is, a cautionary tale about how to NOT CURSE YOURSELF! Take it from me and keep yourself from falling into bad tarot. Love and Respect, R.F. Switch P.S. The actual card that best represents Brad is the Two of Wands, for he has great confidence in himself, and is fearless, filling himself with determination. This will come up later. P.P.S. The Tarot Card the best represents me is……….. Well, you’ll find out later.

R.F. Switch

Hello allies. I’m continuing highlighting my favorite Apex Legends characters. Previously we saw Loba and Rampart, and today we’ll talk about Wraith, who, by the way, is a free Legend and is one of the most popular picks. Years ago, subject 61137, codenamed "Wraith", woke up in detention facility with no memory of who she was. A distant voice whispered in her mind, keeping her awake for days and nearly driving her insane. One day a portal opened in her room and a person came out, berating her for not fighting back. This person was herself from another dimension, on a quest for revenge on the people who experimented on her. The visitor taught her to trust the voices, which were voices of Wraiths from other dimensions, and gave her the device needed to safely manipulate the Void – the place between different universes. This allowed Wraith to escape from her dimension into the current one. Determined to uncover her true identity, she began a quest to find out more about the experiments and herself. And as she learns more and more of who Renee Blasey was before she had lost her memories, Wraith is actively trying to avoid becoming the person she once was. In terms of gameplay, Wraith is offensive Legend. Her passive ability, Voices from the Void, warns her about traps, enemies taking aim at her, or when she’s surrounded by numerous hostiles. This makes harder for opponents to ambush you and your teammates if you relate this information to them. Wraith’s active ability allows her to escape into the Void, making her completely invulnerable, faster and barely visible (other players see only faint blue trail of her movements). This can be used to safely traverse through hot zones, to sneak up on less-observant enemies, and to survive outside of end-game ring. Her ultimate ability places two portals, allowing anyone to travel between places where she activated and deactivated this ability. Portals can help with quick and safe team relocation, and they can also be used to bait enemies into your trap. Additionally, Wraith has short height and leans forward while running, so it’s harder to hit her from a distance. However, Wraith needs to slow down and focus to manipulate the Void, and she can’t use any weapons while placing portals, so she is very vulnerable while activating her abilities. I enjoy playing as Wraith simply because I love her as a character. In this video, I’ve tried to highlight her abilities as well as her interactions with Mirage, who is one of her closest friends, and other Legends. Also, you’ll see from 3rd-person perspective how she lowers her profile while running. This is just a small taste – the game has much more than I can possibly show in just 3 minutes. https://1drv.ms/v/s!AsxRquOgIVix-3IUaQ4gYPF7vYul?e=TdKeYW Jones, please download video (for better quality) instead of screen-capturing it.

Alexander Zyryanov

Hi Brandon and Brad, One of the most beautiful things about videogames is appreciating ones that you aren’t able to. For instance, I think gamers who love Dark Souls and Souls-like are perseverant and I wish I could possess the patience and diligence necessary to enjoy them myself. The same goes for roguelikes such as Hades and Returnal- I really dig the artistry of both and what they both do to stand-out even if I can’t get stuck in like many other gamers can. This is why I think someone like Brad has admirable qualities of a gamer. Brad is probably the most focused, unbothered and headstrong gamers I’ve seen anywhere. I’ve always appreciated his forthrightness, and when he speaks he sounds like he has complete conviction in what he is saying. A certain game has been consuming my mind since it came out in October. It’s a game I’ve brought up in EZA Q&As and I still can’t stop shaking my fist at it-and that game is Far Cry 6. I do like what Far Cry 6 offers on a base level, but I can’t get over how dumb and unambitious it is overall. I find that I like Far Cry 5 more in hindsight after completing Far Cry 6 because I don’t really care for Anton Castillo as the antagonist and the game generally reminds me of Just Cause 3 as you’re liberating a Hispanic state from a fascist dictator. Ultimately Far Cry 6 is proof positive why you don’t mess with Mr Booze. Fortunately, this strange sense of disdain for Far Cry 6 has opened up a realization of what I’ve loved about Ubisoft games in the past. From the hidden gem of Beyond Good & Evil, to the brilliance of Rainbow Six: Vegas, the amazingly strange premise and gameplay mechanics of Driver: San Francisco or the lunacy of Rayman Legends-Ubisoft are tops when they aren’t plopping out cluttered open-world games brewing in excess and trying too hard to be cool. Speaking of trying too hard to be cool-I’ve started playing Riders Republic. It’s a good game with some SSX swagger, but its attitude and attempts at coolness are akin to a granddad trying to shuck and jive with the teenagers of today. The ear-splicing rap on the soundtrack is quite the turnoff too. If you ask me Riders Republic is composed from the remnants of Steep and The Crew whilst trying to offer up a dietary and lobotomized alternative to Downhill Domination. I think I might like Riders Republic even more if it were on mute. Do you think Easy Allies could do virtual meet and greets with the community? I feel like this would be a fantastic way to get to know your Patreon backers. I can only imagine how busy and hectic your schedules are, yet I’m sure many of us would jump at the chance even if we had to pay more for the esteemed honour. Thanks for all that you do. Love and Respect.

James Davie

Please don’t evaporate!

Michelle Jackson

Hello Brad and Jones, Happy Holidays! Since it’s the end of the year I thought I’d share some of my favorite art pieces from 2021. Also! Wrapped up the DnD campaign I was DMing last month, showdow to my players Jess, Brandon, and Schmuck. (Who are all EZA fans.) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-3DXaTNIRppFVq-QI9AJ3fv-YIMD8QGy 1. A character I made based off of an art prompt that was going around Twitter. 2. Concept art for a character who’s design I had trouble nailing down. 3. A doodle from class the other day. 4. I got really in to making fake magazine covers to use as set dressing in Unusuals for a while. 5. Another fake magazine cover. 6. And another fake magazine cover. 7. The start up screen for the game. 8. Parallax map used for the weapon shop. At this point I think wonky perspective is my trademark. 9. Parallax map for the Confectionery.

Michelle Jackson

Save from the dark abyss that's the Patreon comment eater.

Sara Knite

Happy Holidays Jones and Brad! Hope things are going well for you guys! Just another drawing video for your pleasure. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/TUSt5OsaYIc Hope you guys continue to stay safe and be awesome to everyone around you. Merry Christmas and Happy 2022!! Much love and respect, Sara Knite

Sara Knite