Cup of Jones - March 9, 2021

Yo yo! Hope this question gets in. In light of the announcement of Pokemon Legends Arceus and the feelings of excitement surrounding the promise of shaking up the core formula: Regardless of you feel about this early footage, I'd love to know: What sort of Pokemon game would appeal to you and where would you like to see the franchise go if GameFreak continued to experiment? Happy Monday ya boss

JLunaarS

Hey Jones, would Ian ever consider doing a review of a game? I’m thinking smaller games such as Loop Hero or something that the other reviewers might not get around to. I know he’s very busy with other things, but I think he’d be great at it and his use of the language is so eloquent it would fit. I’m thinking back to the Myst video he did for HoG. Such an excellent “review”. Even if he did an “unofficial” one on his easy updates or something. Just a thought. Enjoy the coffee!

JohnnyCantDance

Mr. Jones, Any chance for Daylight Savings Time Rant? Since time always seems tight, does losing an hour impact the allies in a meaningful way? Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

First time Cup questioner. Playing off of last week’s question about the awkward transition of Blood’s segment, have you thought of using more bumpers or stingers in the podcast to signal transitions like you do with love and respect? I’m imagining some crunchy guitar lick over a deep, guttural “BLOOD SPOT!” On second thought, maybe something a little less intense.

Tanner Rienhart

Heya Jones, Oh, that's so neat! And all in one day? Color me impressed. But if Easy Allies were simple folk, what would they do all day? Would they whistle, sing, dance, or sit around and wonder what royal folk do?

Asbo Zappruder

PSA to Jones and anyone planning on woodworking projects, check your prices. Up here in Canada lumber costs have DOUBLED due to increased projects during covid, saw mills closed b/c of covid, extra forest fires, and a pine beetle infestation. Related to the blood transition, it feels jarring because on the ad-free version it jumps and doesn't fit right. I waited to say anything to see if it was just jitters from doing something new. And whatever price point you put Tabletop at, I will pay. I will hitchhike to work and make my kids fund their own college education if I have to. 😉 But seriously, send out a simple survey asking if people would up their pledge for TTBG to come back?

Corrigall

Hi Mr. Jones Just wanted to bring up a Trailer Hype Fest 2021 stream. You could do something just before the summer since most likely, not everyone would be part of E3 2021. Thanks iboshow

Ibrahim Sozer

Dummy reply to fix a grammatical error and modify question.

Brandon K Gann

Hi Jones, I'm wondering what the plans are if any for the future of Mysterious Monsters. I can understand the halt on production until you're back in studio, but is the plan to start recording MM again as soon as possible, or is it something that hasn't been planned yet? I've seen comments as well suggesting that a Mysterious Monsters board game or app would be something they're interested in, is this something EZA or Jason Wishnov have given thought to? L&R, Alex

Alex McMillan

Wow - I can't believe how much I agree with this whole statement! Thank you for vocalizing this.

Alex Castellanos

Hi Brandon! Well, since you asked, I too am thrown off by Bloodworth's prompt take-over of the podcast. But I agree with others: I listen to the ad-free version, so it's a lot more jarring than if there was the podcast halftime segment in between. I also agree with others that if you'd like Blood to be the "co-moderator" in more than name only, maybe split more of the podcast up as opposed to just the one segment. (Which doesn't even occur every week) Happy to contribute and this was said with the utmost L&R, Alex C.

Alex Castellanos

Yo Jones the other day I saw a tweet from Maximilian dood with him and his daughter right before he was about to stream that got me thinking two things 1. when are we going to see Milo on a stream? and 2. when after this pandemic is over are we going to have you and your son Milo and Max and his daughter Ripley meet up for an Easy Allies Maximilian Dood epic gamer dad’s crossover stream??? Love and Respect.

Sage_Mode_Q

Hey Jonesy! Any hope for shorter content? Stuff in the 10-15 minute length? I think EZA makes amazing long format content and don't want that to go away, but I feel the long stuff is less approachable for those unfamiliar with EZA where as they might be more likely to pop on a quick video. Which brings me to the second part--Any hope for weaponized nostalgia? Ben's Zelda video and someone on the podcast talking about 'weaponized nostalgia' made me realize EZA really kills it on news and current events, but doesn't kill it on retro content that might be a good ever green for you. I personally throw on the same videos about classic games I love over and over just because of my fondness for the game. Doesn't matter if it's an AVGN review or a Did You Know Gaming video. Sometimes I just want to hear someone talk about NES games. Maybe marry the 2 ideas? Short videos that weaponize nostalgia? I dunno. Just a thought. Keep up the amazin' work! L&R Raven

Raven Perez

Hola!! I don't know if this has been answered. If it has then just ignore it but I love when EZA and Minnmax make videos together. Even Ben Hanson said he considers EZA as a big brother. My question is WHEN will you guys start having more appearances from them? I'd love to see Leo Vader for example in a podcast or another video.

Sekiro505

Hi Jones, long time patron and Cup of Jones listener, but first time poster. Buckle up (and feel free to trim if necessary), because it's gonna be a long one. I am writing because, for the first time in my history of supporting the allies on Patreon, I’ve dropped my patronage from 15$ to 5$. The decision was mainly motivated by my recent disengagement from the content the allies are producing, and the lack of value (for me) in what the 15$ tier offers compared to the 5$ tier; I was one of those people who watched every stream you guys made, but I noticed that for the last few months I've only been watching the podcast and an occasional stream, and I wanted to talk about why I stopped consuming as much content. First, a bit of history: I was not a GT fan, and jumped on the EZA Patreon bandwagon a few months after it was founded (the Kinda Funny interview you did when the Patreon launched is how I discovered EZA). I grew to know and love the team, and you’re still the first channel I check for conference reactions and E3 announcements (and I religiously listen to the EZA podcast). I think my disengagement is partly due to nostalgia for the “old EZA” (whatever that means). If I compare the current offering to what was published when I watched every stream, I noticed the following things: -Lack of longer full playthroughs. Back in the day the channel was ripe with long-form streams, with the famous marathon streams Ben would do on Wednesday (the way I experienced Xenoblade and Tales of Vesperia [still waiting for Ben to stream the ending one day]). These days that content is hard to find on the channel: Brad is the main long-form streamer, and Mike and Mike do an occasional full playthrough, but gone are the days of months-long RPG playthroughs (and it doesn’t help that Kyle was one of the allies most committed to long playthroughs). -Inconsistency and sparseness of the streaming schedule. It is really hard to know when Easy Allies will be streaming something outside of Tuesday nights and (mostly) Mike and Mike. The few streams present each week are concentrated in the early part of the week, and are typically one-offs, some multiplayer game. Again, Kyle’s Friday night streams played a role in anchoring the schedule, and I feel their absence. Pure speculation: I think these issues are partly due to Easy Allies having a bit of an identity crisis, trying (and having a hard time) to find a balance between being a review outlet, a streaming outlet (aiming for popularity? specialized content? both?), and a channel with podcasts and curated video content. I can only imagine how hard it is to balance creative endeavors, support numbers in USD, and the long hours it takes to produce a review; but it seems to me (and maybe this is just my perspective and I am completely off) that EZA is stretching itself too thin trying to balance all sides and not committing to any of them, so that at all times one aspect is lacking (there were very few curated videos/shows before Gen that Was; there is now slimmer presence in the streaming space). I’m not sure if what I discussed is in fact a problem, and it would be too hard to solve in a Cup of Jones comment anyways; but I wanted to justify (maybe mostly to myself) why I’ve dropped my patronage after all this time in hopes that some nugget in it might help EZA at large. And while I can’t fully solve it, I wanted to volunteer some suggestions that would reinvigorate my interest in the channel (in hopes that more people feel like me and these changes bring a sizable Patreon boost). -Have an official Discord channel connected to the Patreon. While EZA has a great community, it loses a lot of its potential because it is dispersed between many unofficial locations (forum, subreddit, discord, etc). If you create an official discord server, put it behind a (current or new) Patreon tier, and USE IT to interact with the community, you’ll see that many people (me included) would be willing to spend a couple of extra bucks to be part of that “club”. I’m not saying you should be on it 24/7 (that’s what mods are for), but you could use it to foster discussion, organize watchalongs of old content, and have the members interact with each other. -The return of D&D. I loved, loved, loved Tabletop Escapades, and would love to see them return. This kind of content can be made even in the current pandemic conditions, using various online tabletop services. I understand that Ben was getting tired of being the DM, but there are ways to lower the amount of work he has to put in (using premade modules, playing a string of one-shots, having people alternate as the DM, having a community member DM for the allies, etc). You could also integrate the show with the Discord server, streaming a live-recording of the session, asking people on Discord to name NPCs or contribute characters to the story, having patrons work on a side-campaign on Discord, etc. -More boardgame content. I really enjoyed the few episodes of The Occasional Boardgame Show that were produced, and I again believe that the show can be replicated in the current format. Some websites (like Boardgamearena) would let people play together and have one player stream their screen, with no setup time whatsoever; or Tabletop Simulator on Steam has an insane amount of official and unofficial recreating of boardgames. Huber could keep playing his Resident Evil 2 Boardgame adventure, or the Allies could play though Gloomhaven, Pandemic Legacy or Betrayal Legacy together. Again, this could easily lend itself to playing and interacting with patrons via the discord. -More consistent stream schedule (and longer playthroughs). This kinda happened in phase 4, and (understandably) lost steam as the pandemic happened. Knowing that EZA regularly streams in a specific timeslot of specific time slots every day/week would help increase interaction on twitch. I think a regular schedule (Kinda Funny-style) would be good, but just sticking to a schedule is ultimately what matters. Maybe one week a slot is taken by the Showcase, maybe one week it’s taken by the Q&A; some days it’s a full play through, some days it’s an off stream, some days it’s Stream Team. But at least we know to consistently expect EZA to be online at a given time (and maybe we can finally give the Goddess the redemption she deserves with a FF13 trilogy Full Playthrough). I wanted to conclude by saying that I still love the podcast and your reactions content, and I’m proud and happy to keep supporting you for the foreseeable future. L&R Nicolas (aka Nikilist87)

Nicolas Petit

Hey Jones, It's an excellent point that you never had the title in the Bosman era and Blood is definitely the comoderator, but I always felt like you were the number 2 to Kyle and his crutch a lot of the time. He would love to throw to you first. He got you involved a lot and your 'stamp' on the podcasts was definitely felt. As just a listener, I can feel the same 'presence' from Blood on your version of the podcast. You throw to him a lot and he chimes in a lot with relevant or additional information. It comes across that he also does a lot of the work. It still just feels a little off when you set up everything else in the show but his one story. I just feel like if there was another segment he ran, another topic he brought up, or if you guys ping-ponged 'also this week' or something, it wouldn't stand out as much to me. I also haven't heard any of podcasts you've led with ads since I became a patron just before Kyle left, so maybe it wouldn't be so jarring after an ad read. As always, thanks for taking my comments/questions/concerns. I always appreciate having cup of Jones to hear about the business and what other fans are feeling and thinking. L&R, ~Matt

Matt Galeza

(Don't read this aloud next week.) If you were going to do a podcast as Kermit, naturally you would have a mic on the table he's pretending to speak into as you'd normally have for yourself, but that microphone would be off in reality while there's a second mic below at level with you that you're actually speaking into, and any time you leaned the Kermit puppet away from the mic while speaking you'd have to artificially add distance for yourself from the real one to keep the illusion consistent.

MBUN

Not a bad thing. Could be that I'm conditioned to "one host" but when blood STARTS its definitely always jarring to me. Sometimes I think my pod froze sometimes I think its a ad read. Getting used to it. Never made the connection that its always after halftime. Could be the cut? Could be less jarring if your a sunday listener and just got through pod half time. Just saying def notice, def wakes up my brain. Jarring. Not good. Not bad. Just agree with the dude would said it

Best cup of Jones

Victor Ko

Hey Jones! Just chiming in on the question this week about the Blood segment of the podcast being jarring. I think like the original question, it doesn't bother me alot, but it is noticeable. And listening to news this very morning made me realize you could probably fix it with just a simple verbal throw to Blood, i.e. "Blood?" News with two co-anchors seems to do this for probably the same reason, something like: "And that's why we don't want to be walking into snowmobiles this Christmas! Jim?" Jim: "There's a new fad in fashion that's just sweeping aisle 5!" Since this happens after the ad read I imagine you could just do the Blood Throw after the ad, and then do your cut just before the throw so that it makes it into both versions. Anywho, just my two cents!

RobBobWill

Now I require more Jones as Kermit in the future.

Ninja_Kitty_Meow

hey Brandon have you watched the lastest trailer for Monster Hunter Stories 2? (march 9th) and if yes, did it do anything for you? I had written the gamet off but that trailer somehow hooked me. could you see yourself enjoying that game entry? ~ have a wonderful day ~

Wishing you and the rest of the Allies the very best! I believe it was during EZX when you all did this..each Ally made a video sharing a piece of video game/industry memorabilia they hold dear. Any chance of doing these again? Maybe once a year each of you could share an item. 8 short videos (1 per ally. Not 8, lol) shadowdropped throughout a 12 month period would make for a cool mini-series. Just a thought! Take care and stay safe!

Hey Mr. Jones! As we’re getting close to the Anniversary, will we hear about any specific programming or plans soon? Understandably, some plans would normally have long been announced because it involved travel and gathering, but since this will be another week long digital celebration, is it going to be like the Patron Party or something else entirely? Thanks again for reading and have a wonderful rest of your day! Cheers! QUESTION: Since the next Cup will be after the official day, Happy five years to EZA! As we’re getting close to the Anniversary, will we hear about any specific programming or plans soon? Will this be closer to the Patron Party or more like an Easy Livin'?

Brandon K Gann

Hey Jones, Arkham Asylum you say? In my opinion that's the best Batman game.

Rich J