Cup of Jones - February 17, 2020

I requested access so I can edit the doc directly, and I'll get to this ASAP after today's episode when I have time. - Jones

Easy Allies

That definitely feels like a 20 person game. That's why the corners they cut are so obvious, and in my opinion, totally forgivable. It's as if they said "Look, this is what we have to focus on to get this made. If this is your type of game, hopefully you'll understand." - Jones

Easy Allies

I've answered a couple of times already, so I'll clarify here. Don is the only ally that is employed elsewhere. We do work on separate projects every now and then, but we're all full-time EZA. - Jones

Easy Allies

Yeah, I believe it has to do with size as well. And I have no idea how many people are actually going to be there. But if we want to make Disneyland gatherings a regular thing, this year could be helpful to judge those things in the future. - Jones

Easy Allies

Good to know! Thank you! - Jones

Easy Allies

Jones, Jessica is a great addition to any production she is in and I am grateful you added her permanently to Fiasconauts. Cheers! ~Logan Young ***this is just for jones, no need to read aloud*** check out this twitter person who is making awesome custom villagers of people (I am not affiliated in any way and receive no kickback, I just want to order one myself.) https://twitter.com/juutanart/status/1231471228310958085?s=20

Logan Young

Mr. Jones, Is there any off-camera coaching or planning for your on-camera content to ensure that it will come off as more entertaining or is it all organic. Would you be opposed to this practice as it may be more theatrical, but perhaps seen as less genuine? Also in the same vein of giving the people what they want...what is it that you perceive that we (the audience) want from EZA? Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

Hi Jones, I finished Batman Enemy Within a bit ago, that and Minecraft Story mode were the only Telltale games I hadn't played. So I knew what to expect in terms of how much your choices actually changed the story. But the story itself was intriguing from beginning to end. I think that it is the best example that I have personally experienced of how effective Bruce Wayne can be without Batman. Having the choice of playing as either one was really refreshing. The whole story with “John Doe” was one that was predictable, in the sense of the overall story arc, but unpredictable from story point to story point. It was another take on a familiar character that really surprised me by the emotional depth that was displayed. I really think more people should give it a shot just for the writing and performances. I have a question, but it has an endgame spoiler in it, so I have left it on this Google Doc; I hope this is okay as people who have not played the game can avoid spoilers easier. Feel free to edit your answer to that question into the document. (I’m trusting no one else edits it as well) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uKtoxSBV8D9NcmvMoDPrFPt-OPq7fzPw6C_Nae69cME/edit?usp=sharing Thanks, Varun Kachhwaha (Va-run Catch-Wa-Ha)

Varun Kachhwaha

For once, I see a Snowcone Guy post that doesn't seem too nitpicky (kidding, partially). Recently, one of that Allies (they never spoke or revealed themselves I believe) did a stream of the game "Not For Broadcast" which is sort of deals with this "monitoring" situation and I'm still not sure why we have someone walking back and forth to adjust or Damiani/the couch asking chat rather than monitoring the stream through twitch at least for the first few minutes.

Rappy

Hi again Jones, I already asked a question, so you dont have to put this in business questions. I do not know if you are a fan of transformers but a trailer was just released for a new netflix anime series based on the war for cybertron games. I just got to thinking it would be cool if you did a trailer jones for it if you or any of the allies are a fan of it. L&R again, Sean

Nextgenheff

A few weeks ago during one of his Banjo-Tooie streams, I asked Kyle if we could get bets in 2020. He said that he wasn't sure that there is enough demand from the audience and that we will need to make sure to be more vocal about it (or something along those lines). Recently, someone from Atlus has said something somewhat similar about bringing Persona 5 to Switch. Which one do you think is more likely to happen? I will make sure to stay persistent on this.

Yui

I just wanted to the echo sentiments about getting some new Twitch emotes. Whether they be done through a professional artist or sourced from the community, I feel like this would do a lot to increase interaction and engagement within the community. Having some standard emote archetypes or universal emotes that could be used more easily in other channels could raise awareness for EZA or increase subs that primarily want access to the emotes. I love many of the current ones, but I wouldn't mind seeing some of them rotate in and out to freshen things up.

redskyy

Can we get some more Twitch emotes? As some have mentioned, some of the emotes have lost relevancy, are rarely used, or are just not that appealing to use (I hope for the ideal world where ezaBuckle does not have to be used and it is often just replaced by the more easily typable 'F'). Even Kyle has pointed out some are just redundant (Don w/cards > Don without). I know someone has already brought this up in this CoJ about commissioning them and I'm all for artists being paid, but we all know when money enters the picture things fail or take forever to be put in motion. Not to mention the time spent on looking for an artist, describing ideas for emotes, and reviewing if their work is adequate. So I propose, why not only take suggestions from the community but submissions as well? Perhaps hold polls or just have one or a few of the Allies what they like best. This let's the community be involved with something severely overlooked on the Twitch channel, takes less effort and funds from Easy Allies, and Twitch subs get (hopefully) a variety of better emotes. Sounds like a win, win, win. I'd like for the EZA Twitch channels to have one of those emotes where even the Allies have gone "Hey, where did you get that emote?" (Lightning is probably the only one doing that for me) And perhaps you feel icky about using emotes that someone made for you locked behind the paywall of a Twitch sub without compensating them, but while not quite the same, games do a similar thing all the time and I think many would be fine with that. Games such as MonHun or PSO2 have held multiple design contests where the winners get nothing besides having their design be featured in game. You guys literally have Patreon tiers where people pay YOU to submit things. Again, I'm not saying artists shouldn't be paid but I think some would happily have their emotes used on the channel. I don't think this has to be made into some big deal or contest. Perhaps a patreon post and a couple mentions of it on a stream or podcast would help with getting submissions. I would very much like for some new ones for the EZX/anniversary stream at least.(quick suggestions: derpy Tootsie face, Gundam/Zaku head, MORE BOXPEEK)

Rappy

New show idea pitch - The EZA Back Issue Bin - With the new Top-Down camera on the main stage for Magic the Gathering and Board Games etc, I'd love to see the Easy Allies take a nostalgic trip back in time by looking through back issues of their favorite video game magazines! Jones, you and Blood could look through Electronic Gaming Monthly and share stories about what you remember about those games and ads of the day etc. I can picture Damiani and Kyle looking through an old issue of Nintendo Power and re-living their childhood glee while also telling us old childhood gaming anecdotes. Imagine Huber and Brad and Ben and Ian thumbing through old issues of PSM, Gamepro and Don probably knows of some obscure indie gaming magazine that none of us even know about! Also for the final product as you are talking about some of these games you could splice in some game footage to help the viewer understand and for some awesome nostalgic feels. There are a lot of happy memories in those magazine reviews and articles and even the ads and it would be fun to see EZA share those happy memories.

Jason Walstrom

Safety Post

Happy Gaming

Hey there Jones, I'm not sure if this is the best place to suggest this but here goes: Over the last month or so, Adobe announced that they would be ending support of Flash at the end of 2020. While this isn't a huge deal for the most part, it reminded me that a lot of my time when I was younger was spent playing and watching animations created using Flash on a myriad of different websites. Kotaku's Zack Zweizen published an article after the announcement that talked about how groups online had developed a program called Flashpoint, a program that was used to help back up and archive over 36,000 games created in Flash. It made me happy that these can be historically preserved, as a lot of artists and developers got their start using this software and the early internet environment to grow their resume. While this is a far cry, I think it would be a really cool stream to have the Allies check out different games on the program. Chat could vote or suggest different choices that they were fond of, or you could just open up random choices you find in a sort of roulette. These are all very small games that would be easy to pick up and play, and jump around with low stakes. I understand this is definitely not the sort of thing that the Allies typically play on stream, but I definitely wanted to suggest it given how large an impact this dying medium made on me, and how the different ecosystem allowed for a creative ground floor for a lot of wannabe developers to get their feet wet for free. Brian from Happy Gaming

Happy Gaming

Safety post

Nextgenheff

Hey Jones, With march almost here, just wondering when the next community showcase will be and who will be on it. If its huber i will clean up my batman beyond movie pitch and have that good to go for the showcase. Also, magic stream was great and you have done a very good job on the podcast the last two weeks. Keep up the great work L&R Sean (Personal question, is the laptop you are using on the podcast yours? Are you a doctor who fan? I have not kept up on the latest doctor, but Capaldi’s doctor made for some great tv.)

Nextgenheff

Jones! I rarely tune in to you guys live and tend to watch the archived streams on Youtube so I can get through it from beginning to end and at my leisure. I occasionally want to comment on how much I enjoy certain videos but I don't know the best place to do that. Twitter is my main social media outlet but you guys don't seem super active on it. YouTube comments are full of trolls in general and I'm worried you guys don't pay much attention because of that, which leaves Patreon which doesn't seem very active in the comments. Currently I want to gush about how much fun that Magic the Gathering stream was, so where would YOU and the other Allies prefer I do that so that you all can hear my feedback? Thanks! Love you guys.

Michael Federico

Hi Jones... Just a quick question I was wondering about? Audiences everywhere agree The "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie was a lot of fun, worthy of a sequel and has recently released to big success for a game adapted film this past weekend. This is a big deal for all of us, so I am left wondering what the Allies thought. Any chance of a film reaction discussion or spoiler mode happening with the Allies? P.S. Sega is the Coolest.

Tegan Combatti

Heya Jones, Yeah, totally. I'll get right on that. But while I've got you here, I want to ask you if Easy Allies were people on roller skates racing around a track through an audience pretending to be toy trains, that would be kind of weird, wouldn't it?

Asbo Zappruder

I'd definitely appreciate some of the more common emote types that most other channels have like Hi, LOL or even a Kappa variant.

Olf Himself

Okay Jones, let's talk GreedFall! First, I want to tell you that you actually /can't/ unlock all the talents, even with grinding, because there's a level cap. Next, I KNEW you would love the game, that's why I was the one recommending it on Cup of Jones, I agree 100% with your take on it. My only disagreement is that it should have been in the best of the 7s category, hahaha. Finally, and the thing I'd like you to read so people who listen to Cup of Jones know, is that Spiders, the dev team, is made of roughly 20 people, so give them credit for the game you love so much but it has flaws. L&R!

Joseph La Russa

Since nobody at EZA really wants to handle them, just like merch and sponsors, isn't it time to come up with a better solution for timely, professional Twitch Emotes to make the Channel look better and encourage more Subs? Lots of the current ones are repetitive, outdated, and no offense but subpar in some cases, such as ones that show poorly in Dark Mode. There's a wealth of artists dedicated to making great looking Twitch Emotes, and you could reach out to the community if ideas are lacking on yall's end. Not saying anything needs to happen immediately since I know yall are going through your funds freeze waiting for Roost sponsor payouts, but the timespan of regular release for quality emotes has really stagnated, so just a plan in place for a more regular rollout (a couple a year) would be much appreciated. I don't think Kyle wants the stress of doing them himself anymore, and as soulful as his are, they still pale in comparison to artists who know how to make them pop on the platform!

MBUN

Hey Jones, long-time listener, first-time question asked here. Apologies if you've answered this recently, but here's my question: Which Allies are fully employed by EZA? I know Don also works at Funhaus and Kyle does Keighley stuff, but that's about it. Thanks!

Aidan Vilchis

Will EZA be attending Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in August, officially or unofficially? Meet up perhaps?

Steve S

Hello Jones! An area in which you can improve in my eyes is the audio balance between game footage and your microphones during live streams. It happens a lot that a game is way too loud or way too quiet. And it looks like your current approach to that, is to rely on chat to tell you if the balance is off, and when you have tweaked it to good levels. But I'm not a big fan of this solution myself. Sometimes you are just not looking at chat for some time, while the game is blasting everybody's ears off. Other times someone in chat tells you "It's good now!" after you made the first adjustment, even though you have missed the desired balance by a long shot. And then those who notice it have to try to get your attention in chat again, just to let you know. And sometimes I watch the replay of a stream and have to see that the balance was totally off and nobody in chat said a thing for an hour, or at all. My suggestion is that you have a kind of "monitor" at your streaming desk, that let's you watch the stream yourself. It could be as simple as a tablet with some noise cancelling headphones attached, that is always watching your own stream. (Or a small netbook.) Then, every time you start playing a game or switch to another game, the person that is sitting on the desk or the person that is momentarily going over to the desk can have a quick listen, and the the balance could be achieved pretty much immediately, and without any guessing games, whether you hit or missed the spot. I hope my words don't come across too nit-picky, but everything from your intro to the studio and equipment screams "production value" and "professional", so it sticks out much more that we still have to dance this dance after all those years. Love and Respect, Snowcone Guy

Snowcone Guy

Thank you for being on GameFace this week! I only wish it was mentioned earlier so I could have watched it live. Any chance Shane will visit the studio?

Henry Ramirez

Hey Jones, Perhaps a little bit of a silly question today but whilst on my evening walks I often listen to the EZA Podcast and wonder, in what order do you record the halftime. To clarify, I'm asking whether you record the podcast in it's entirety, skipping over ad reads and editing them in later (if so when do you record them?) or if you read the ads live whilst recording with the panelists. L&R, Harry

Harry - 2SON

Hello Mr. Brandon, i was watching aMaximilianDood stream and the number of people watching him was over 10k, it was not an event, reaction or something special, it was just him playing SFV. while i'm not comparing the two channels, what would you or the allies say that EZA needs to grow to those viewing numbers? i know that the current people that watches the streams are a loyal fanbase, but it came to my attention that numbers. Again, don't get me wrong, i'm not comparing Max with you guys, both are awesome and have my respects.

Daniel Garza Andrade

Hi brandon. Is there a chance for a spoiler mode on the dragon quest 5 netflix movie? I would love to know the allies opinions. I personally loved it despite the "controversy". L&R Alex

Alex_AI

Have a personal question for you Jones: Now that you have provided commentary for the EZA MTG tournament, is there any e-sports event that you wouldn't mind trying commentary for if ever given the opportunity?

Karl Williams

There are possible discounts for Disneyland gatherings, which Mega64 has done before. I believe its a referral-based discount, but I have no idea what the requirements are. Rocco might be the best person to ask about it. Its a minuscule discount, for sure.

Austin Kruckmeyer

Hey Jones, in terms of the Easy Allies production schedule, what is the worst day a Nintendo Direct can land on, and why?

GmanSir

Hey Jones! Writing this right after the Magic Stream. You guys think about Yugioh tournament based off of “Goat control” this was a period where in 05 the game was more skill based than it has ever been. Decks with the necessary cards can be built for ridiculously cheap and full decks online can be found for very cheap. L&R Jason

Wire rope

Hey Jones - since we’re about 1 month away from the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I was curious as to which specific elements you are most looking forward to in this latest release? The new crafting mechanics? Favorite villagers? Special in-game events? Just the generally cozy vibes of the AC world?

Andrew MacMillan

Hi Jones, hope you and yours are keeping well. Just had a random thoght about GOTY's (in February I know...) Do you think when deliberating games it would be possible to display a graphic showing which ally played the game in question such as completed / not completed / or hours invested so we all get a better understanding of where everyone is coming from. May just be a lot more work to preload for Damiani but just a random thought, keep up everything you do :-)

Jason Presents

Hi Jones, As voiceover pro and legend 😉, are you familar with Greg Woods ? He does the commentary for the (very jolly) YouTube channel Jelle's Marble Runs. His style reminds me of yours quite a bit. L&R

Michael Wolf

It works, but you could also send us a private message here on Patreon which can help keep it separate from some of the spam. We did spot your e-mail before this morning though. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Aussie here. I too have concerns about the charity stuff. I actually sent an email (to the one on the EZA website under "fan mail") expressing the same sentiments. I'm just glad that this has been brought to your attention and that all the consideration is being put into the charity stream. Thank you so much for your efforts and I hope you all have the greatest time during the tournament! Quick question you could just answer here: is "easyallies@gmail.com" the best email to send that sort of thing to?

Radioactive Magic

Hello Jones, I know you don't want to do a best of the decade awards with good reason as it would take a ton of work. I was wondering if perhaps you might do a fancy 15 of the decade, like most underrated games of the decade, where each ally brings a game they think is underrated, you play 15 minutes of the game and then the allies come to agreement if it is underrated or not.

Mr.V

That is indeed correct! In the original DMC series, even though Vergil may look younger, he is in fact the older brother of Dante. Something that a lot of people might not know on the other hand is that in Ninja Theory's reboot of the series called DmC, they changed that around. While there is no mention of who is the older brother in the vanilla DmC story, the Vergil's Downfall DLC for the game surprised long time fans a bit when it revealed that in DmC's universe, Dante is the older brother not Vergil. You handled that first question very well, Jones. I'm impressed. TRIVIA QUESTION: (allies please don't post the answer in the comments, thanks) From Yakuza 0 to Yakuza 6, only counting the mainline numbered entries, in total how many unique playable characters the Yakuza series have had? (again, not counting the spin-offs, just the mainline entries in Kiryu's saga) Thank you for playing along with this Jones. Hopefully we both have some fun thinking about these stuff. BUSINESS (?) QUESTION: I have to say this. You know I do. So, here goes: You haven't played Yakuza before. Kyle hasn't played Yakuza before. Yakuza 0 stream with you and Kyle could be pretty fun. (Or Yakuza: Like a Dragon when it comes out later this year in English) As always L&R

Thoughts on your editorial: Some time ago when you guys said that you would only do intramural tournaments when an appropriate game came out instead of once a month the first thought that came into my head was “Greeeeaaaat, now the only tournaments will be fighting game tournaments that Ben or Brad will win everytime.” So it was kind of funny to me that you sort of brought that up in the editorial. In my opinion the best tournaments have always been the non-fighting game tournaments like Nintendo Land, Mario Golf, Mario Odyssey Olympics or Korg Gadget. Things that more or less anyone had a shot at winning but were silly enough to not be too salt inducing. I think having it monthly encouraged variety in the tournaments because there wouldn’t necessarily be a hot new fighting game out each time a tournament came around. I’m not saying I think you should bring back the monthly intramural tournament because I understand that there are other events you want to do and games you want to play. But what about a quarterly? Biannually?

Olf Himself

I loved EBA as well. Would love if they could do a "reunion special" tackling the major news in the past 5 years or whatever they want. They could also compete in Mysterious Monsters, if everybody could align their schedules. Or at least Daniel Kayser could join Jones for a MM episode, like the below image shows, they would be great together: https://twitter.com/danielkayser/status/1006660793679482880

Daniel Ribeiro

Hey Mr. Jones! Every now and then, there seems to be at least a question regarding content EZA could do that you have stated multiple times: Mr. Bosman doing his own show, EZA revisiting Top 10s, or even doing a “Best of the decade, generation, etc.”, and as someone who has watched every single episode of Cup, I have to say it was initially amusing, but not really anymore. I COMPLETELY understand not everyone watches everything, and there’s always bound to be people who haven’t been made aware of the stance pertaining to the requests, but do you think it would be a good idea if there is something you could direct people to for such requests/questions? I know you have repeatedly stated you’ll reserve the right to not answer questions after they’ve been answered enough, but with the amount of times people call for it, and more pointedly, the more times you’re having to repeat yourself (which, may I say, you have the patience of a saint), it’s becoming more noticeable. In any event, with the amount of times you’ve addressed these and other related topics (and my sincerest apologies for bringing it up again), I appreciate your candor. As always, thank you very much reading and answering whatever I ask and again, have a wonderful rest of your day. Cheers! QUESTION: Should there be a place you could direct people to when you’re being asked about content requests you have repeatedly said no about such as Mr. Bosman having his own show, EZA returning to Top 10s, or doing a catch-all best of project that require significant time and research much akin to Retros and the like? I understand not every person watches Cup, much less expecting the various communities across YouTube, Twitch, Patreon, etc. know the stance, but I have the perception (whether it is real or not), you are answering these questions about two or three times a month.

Brandon K Gann

Awwww man, I miss Epic Battle Axe. That was definitely one of my all time favorite podcasts. Brent and Daniel were so funny. Miss Dan’s puns.

Seanie Dee

Hello, Brandon. Can you please consider doing another “Easy Allies Reacts to Easy Allies” stream? It was my favorite aspect of your last year’s anniversary celebration.

Alexander Zyryanov

Jones, when you were at GT there was a preview for an episode of Timeline on Metal Gear. It was never done. I assume this is because of the sale and layoffs of GT from Viacom to Defy. Do you or any of the Allies have any interest in ever doing it? I know that show has some costs associated with it but you could do it in a one-time effort similar to Box Peek. Just a thought. L&R.

TravelingSnowman