Community Showcase - February 2020

Hello, Jones and Bloodworth, As a high school teacher, I have found this winter and spring to be busy times, and I haven't had as much time to play video games as I would like. I have however beat my first game in a while which was king of cards. I have to say that it was a great bit of fun, and the card element was well designed. I would put it above plague knights campaign, but below the other two as far as which ones I had the most fun with though. I have also played a good bit of smash brothers. When I take my students to academic tournaments they have a lot of free time and they like to challenge me or each other at the game. I have to keep my skills up to be able to defeat them. I am really looking forward to this month as there are a number of games like Animal Crossing or Pirate Warriors 4 that I will play a good bit of. It will be my first animal crossing since wild world which was the only one I ever played till this point.

Mr.V

Link to my promo https://drive.google.com/file/d/19DrgNt8FsC6Z_61Dd8bYYgOoMf8aYXBk/view?usp=drivesdk Thanks for the support and kind words @Jessie_Blu_

JessieBlu

Please stay ...Safety.... come on!

Tegan Combatti

Greetings Gentlemen. Easy Allies is a marvelous conduit that bridges the gap between the joy of gaming and people all over the world, and for that I thank you. However, there is one genre of video games in the Easy Allies organization that in my opinion, at times is unrepresented, and when it is being represented, I feel certain aspects & content are being misrepresented or are completely overlooked entirely: this genre is Fighting Games. Five excellent fighting games were released in 2019, each with their own strengths & weaknesses. “Mortal Kombat 11”, “Samurai Showdown”, “Dead or Alive 6”, “Fantasy Strike”, and “Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid.” While “Samurai Showdown” was briefly praised, and “Mortal Kombat" was generously showered with attention by the Easy Allies this past year; “Fantasy Strike”, “Dead or Alive 6” and “Power Rangers” were barely mentioned- if not at all. The worst offense being that “Power Rangers: Battle for Grid” was completely ignored by the Allies… Which is truly unfortunate because it is a fantastic game, and a wonderful development story. Not to mention in my 30 years of experience playing Fighting games, I would say “Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid” is the Best Fighting Game of 2019. Accompanying these sentiments is the fact that other than the “Hall of Greats”, “Street Fighter,” one of the most venerable game franchise of all time, has sorely rested outside the warm embrace of the Easy Allies lime light. I also find it personally saddening that “Street Fighter V”, let alone other entries in the franchise, have often been forgotten in various commentaries of Easy Allies game discussions, hopes, dreams or any other form of consideration. In truth I do have some serious issues with “Street Fighter V” due to major frustrations I have with its design choices, gameplay mechanics, character roster, etc.. However keep in mind those criticisms are coming from a EXTREMELY critical eye, and note that other fighting games & series have fared far, far worse upon release and over time… …And in all fairness, all entries in the “Street Fighter” series are just like your children; you definitely have your favorites- and some ARE more disappointing than others, but you love them all the same. Furthermore, with those complaints put aside, “Street Fighter V” and its subsequent iterations still proudly represent an excellent fighting game experience for both casual & hardcore players. Now a truly massive & fabulous game being released on February 14, 2020, “Street Fighter V Champion Edition” includes 40 characters, new V trigger systems, fantastic animation, excellent character design, amazing music, tons of costumes, gorgeous looking stages, multiple gameplay modes, and a enormous amount of imagination & fun waiting to be discovered within it’s robust gameplay. I implore you Allies, 9 and all, to give some consideration & respect to “Street Fighter V Champion Edition” now. …And it’s a good idea in general to play more and show more love to Street Fighter & fighting games. The future is bright, so be a part of it. “We await your return, Warrior.” -Love & Respect, Tegan Combatti

Tegan Combatti

comment protection

Ian Alexander

Hello, Brandon and Ben! In 2014 Ben started up a new show at GT called Tabletop Adventures. It was a wild and crazy D&D adventure played in the office - where it seems the whole idea was looked upon as frivolous to the higher-ups at Defy. In 2016 the show was revived at Easy Allies and the escapades continued. In 2017 I finally got up the courage to try to join a D&D group. I ended up joining two games online at once. I used the same character in both campaigns, which may not have been the best idea. One of the groups eventually had to end due to family emergencies but the other has continued to this day. I wanted to thank Ben for introducing me to the game, but I also want to talk about the next stage of my D&D journey. I have been considering trying to DM my own game, but the task seems overwhelming. I discovered that there is a Tabletop Gaming shop across the street from where I live that runs games and rents out spaces. The problem is, as an American with poor Chinese ability living in Taiwan, I wouldn't really be able to play in one of their usual games. It's possible I could work with them to arrange a game for English speakers though. The other option is to play online again, which would be easier in some ways - but I really would like to have a social activity I could do in person. I know it's not totally necessary, but I was thinking that one way to get more confident about the idea of DMing would be to ACTUALLY read through all of the Player's Handbook and DM's Guide. I also figured the best way to get started would be to run a one-shot. I was thinking of doing an adventure where the players are escorting a captured thief to prison. The game would end when he is delivered to the king, or if he manages to escape and flee. It might be possible for him to convince the players to help him escape as well. I guess I would just need to prepare a few ambush encounters and some encounters with the King's soldiers in case they aided the thief. I feel like this might give some room for role-playing instead of only combat and a few choices along the way. There could also be some obstacles along the way, such as a broken bridge to let the players try to overcome them. I'll be turning 36 this month, and I've found as an introverted adult it can be quite hard to make new friends. Hoping that DMing a new group might help me with that. Lastly, I just want to encourage Ben to bring back D&D to Easy Allies in Phase 5 even if its some one-shots. I know I am not the only one who misses the show. Love & Respect, Ian, @alexander_arts

Ian Alexander

Should we put "Hump"?

XWF Outlaw

Good afternoon Jones, Ben and Chat. I been away for a bit but as the great Hideo Kojima once said, I'M BACK! First off I would like to congratulate Ben for 100 episodes of Frame Trap! Looking back, it has taken a while for me to go through all of the great moments of 2019 of Eazy Allies. And I think I have found the winner. Was it the Allies reaction to Keanu Reeves appearing in Cyberpunk 2077? Or was it the day that the Allies moved into the brand new studio? Or maybe it was the conclusion of S2 of Box Peek? No. For me personally, the best moment belongs to Mr. Ben Moore himself. When on November 24th he let out a series of tweets that would go on to live in EZA infamy. Culminating in the perfect battle cry for equality and tolerance. An epic, inebriated translation for the Love & Respect motto myself and other allies still resonate with this glorious, unfiltered Hottake too PEGI 18 to repeat here. If Roost printed that tweet on a tshirt I would buy it on Day 1! Witch reminds me... I played Metal Slug for the first time over the holidays. (XD) It's a great throwback to the arcade run & gun games I used to dump quarters into when I was a kid. And it's even better playing co-op with a buddy. As for the month of January, there has been one game my main focus has been on. And that game is: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore. I never owned a WiiU and of the handful of exclusive trapped on that system it was one that I have heard many Community members sing high praise for the game and its intriguing concept: A Shin Migami Tensei and Fire Emblem crossover rpg about jpop idols and evil spirits. I gave it a try having never played a game from either franchise before. My godess, I am having a blast with this game! The combat mechanics, distinguisheable quirky characters, and a soundtrack that slaps make for a great game for otakus and weebs alike. I also plan on doing my first build for Amateur Gundam Construction next week and looking foward to seeing all of EZA @ EZX next month. As I stated earlier, after many months of blown deadlines for submitting, none hurt more than last months Showcase with Ian. Long story short, my father passed away on Thanksgiving after a long battle with Parkinson's disease and I had been in a emotional wreck throughout the holidays. Ian's Easy Update on Depression and Grief came to mind as an attempt to heal and try to understand it all. I hope somewhere Ian is watching this so I can tell him and this wonderful community a tearful "Thank You!" for all the wellwishes and kind words they have sent to me. This is the best Community in the world! That's for this month's post. Hope to update you all on next month's shenanigans Here's to great 2020 for Platinum Games and EZA. L&R. X.

XWF Outlaw

Safety Post

Happy Gaming

Hey there Ben and Brandon! This month, I had an idea for an experimental sort of video or series of showcase entries. Meditation has helped me with stress, anxiety, depression and a lot of other negative feelings over the last long while in my life. I thought it would be an interesting experiment to make a relaxing video where we can sit and meditate together as a group on the showcase. I would like to encourage everyone to sit back and take the following three minutes in my video to close your eyes, breathe, and listen to a track I arranged from Chrono Cross's "Dreams on the Shores of Another World". In the video, I will be on camera doing the same. If you're not comfortable with meditation, I hope you enjoy the music. Otherwise, I hope this is something that can bring everyone a little bit of peace and calm in their lives, if only for a moment, and maybe something I can bring back in the future. Interested to hear what everyone thinks, as I've never tried anything like this before! Love and Respect, Brian from Happy Gaming https://youtu.be/_NveHpHmWIk

Happy Gaming

Safety, blah blah blah

Jason A. Sackel

Lets see if we can keep the 2020 rule going. While an easy way to do that would be to talk about One Piece because it has been nothing short of fantastic, I did actually play a fair amount of video games this month. Although, Netflix announced it would be producing the live action One Piece series. I find it ridiculous to be critical when nothing has been shown at all. The people involved seem excited and I hope them the best. Some are saying, "Why, what's the point?" Who cares. Eiichiro Oda seems to be elated that their story is going to reach an audience of a new medium... you know, the one who has poured their soul into making the series which the rest of us simply just read and absorb on our leisure. There will always be the comic and cartoon. No need to be petty. Anyhoo, enough about One Piece, lets talk video games! So, I started with the final DLC to One Piece: World Seeker. In the end, it was an ambitious project from people who clearly love the source material. At times, it was apparent they bit off more than they can chew, but I hope they make another because it does seem like they learned by adding tweaks here and there, like being able to adjust how close the camera is. I did enjoy it as a whole and am just glad it wasn't another rehash of the same story. I also played the first DLC of Shenmue 3, but because of the 2020 rule, won't talk about that. The Kingdom Hearts III ReMind DLC was next. So what can I talk about while sticking to the 2020 rule. Christopher LLoyd as the new voice of Xehonart was fantastic. His line reads were so good. Hearing him spout some of that lore nonsense like he believed he knew what he was talking about... solid acting. They finally added what the game was lacking though, challenge. The new boss fights, super fun. Now, I don't consider this a spoiler, but the final line being "None of this... makes sense to me" is poetry. Finally, probably the game I spent the most time with. I didn't get around to it last year, and, I was a fool. After spending many hours with it, and many to still come, it clearly was the best game of last year. So addicting and even if there was no 2020 rule, I wouldn't be able to find a bad thing to say about Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. I forgot how addicting Monster Hunter World was. The new clutch claw mechanic is such a blast. I had a hard time getting into using the Great Sword before, but now it has been my go to. Seems like it was a great time to start this up as the crown quests will begin next month! I fully intend to get the platinum for this just like I did the base game!

Jason A. Sackel

BB........

Kate Bishop

Hi Jones and Ben! I want to start off by saying I loved the GOTY deliberations this year, even though some of my favorite games didn’t get the awards I was hoping for (justice for Control and Sayonara Wild Hearts). This month I’m going to talk about a couple of big hitters, with one GOTY nominee from 2019, and a big winner from 2018. Let’s start! I had hoped to finish Death Stranding before the year ended, but when I was writing my post last month, I was nowhere as close to the end as I thought. Turns out there were a whole 10 chapters left and let me tell you, I felt every single one of those chapters as it dragged forward. Death Stranding is a game with too many ideas. Every time another layer would be added, it rarely felt like that new layer actually made the game better. No, I didn’t really like Death Stranding, but it’s not for the reason Kojima might think. In one move, I can make it a more enjoyable game. Take out BTs. They aren’t hard, they aren’t scary, and the only thing they do is slow you down. Granted, they’re adjusting the alert system in a patch, but that’s a bandage on what I see as a head wound. You want to make a game about connecting people and rebuilding a broken country? Great! Lose the combat and let me focus on what actually matters. And Mads getting the Game Award for Best Performance? Look, I can mumble “BB”, too, but I’m not getting an award for it. With my hottake out of the way, we’ll move to my next game, EZA 2018 GOTY Winner, God of War. What an interesting experience this was. In the early going, I was a bit tuned out. I never enjoyed the previous games and it felt like this new one was keeping me at arm’s length. Little did I know, that was on purpose. As Kratos warms up to Atreus, I felt the game warm up to me. By the end, I was absolutely enthralled. The point that I really felt my opinion shift, which is crazy that I can pinpoint, is the first fight against a dragon. That’s when I felt like I truly got the game. I’m going to eventually get the platinum, but I needed a bit of a break by the end. Great game but Spider-Man is still my 2018 GOTY. Now I’m playing Yakuza Kiwami 2, and while I’d say it’s good, it’s not hitting in the same way Yakuza 0 did. I’ll stick to it. Finally, in a first for me, an anime recommendation. I’m not really into your Dragonballs or Narutos. Gimme that cute shit. I’ve been watching K-On! And it is easily one of my favorite shows now. Incredibly wholesome, it’s just a story of friendship with no jealousy or boyfriend drama or cheesecake fan service. The music is top tier too. Love and Respect, GOTYlocks

Kate Bishop

pls don't disappear!!

Hello Jones & Ben! This will be my first monthly showcase submission, exciting!! One of my new year’s resolutions was to be more confident with myself and my work so I think this is a great place to start. I’ve put together a little collection of six pictures I really like from the past few months, everything from spur-of-the-moment iPhone photography to fully edited pictures from my Fujifilm. I hope you enjoy! picture 1. My little cat Lily 2. Link!! 3. A typical Gulf of Mexico sunset 4. A neat police car from a local tourist trap 5. From my all-mythicals play through of Pokemon Moon 6. The London skyline, shot from Greenwich https://imgur.com/a/QCgHsW6

save this!

Lyn

Howdy, Ben and Jones!! This past month I’ve continued my quest of learning the ins and outs of digital art. I’d like to think I’ve made at least some progress! The majority of these were drawn for friends. It’s wonderful to have something as tangible as art to give to them. My other shtick is baking/cooking and that doesn’t quite cut it when most of your friends live hours and hours (and hours) away. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOqiCShX4AI56a2?format=jpg&name=900x900 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOq9y_JXkAUK0l-?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOvbMNwX4AUSTYK?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOwMJaqX4AAVo-Q?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EO7f3IBXkAYjswb?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EO73L_tW4AEDE7p?format=jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EPzi-23XsAE8CgD?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 Thank you so much! I hope you’re both doing well!! Lyn, @GooPartyPlanet on twitter

Lyn

All the links should work but if not, here's the whole folder https://drive.google.com/open?id=1INK-qEZFh6f66hGmjhNbywLn-sk9WARh

Hi Ben and Jones! It’s been a while since I’ve submitted anything to the showcase. The past few months have been full of ups and downs but I’ve had fun experimenting with art and figuring out what I want to do outside of my usual job. One of the big things is I finally had the time and motivation to sell at conventions! It was fun drawing fan art and seeing how my interests changed throughout the year. Here are some of the prints I sold as well as some I drew for fun. The first two are Demon Slayer prints I drew last year. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OSABcQvss1TP9VMMrEbbfE-RidfvCaFI/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L48Jt_1iNv2_G8LmoEW1QZ43SCMBkvgJ/view?usp=sharing Also as a bonus, I drew Kermit dressed as one of the characters from the show. https://drive.google.com/file/d/11goqqHg2GpdzAGe4rkqGuwL91-hPzLG8/view?usp=sharing These are portraits I did of the 3 leaders from Fire Emblem Three Houses. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PHaAKDH_NqtIsKKK_a2pFMmlt43dTCbo/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_vxd1cH9ubBKrlr4ijBt-NpOGXhyr-ob/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fRqfHgm-QHaSmybOzs8uTHhFcMFy1qIY/view?usp=sharing Pokemon Sword/Shield fanart I drew for a countdown before the game released. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uGrEebzsBkAoffQqIZL2NwRO4b-Rgu81/view?usp=sharing Finally I started a countdown where I’ll be drawing an Animal Crossing Villager everyday until the game’s release. Here are the first two: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YUJFR0m6bHye8YlldIf1xLUNZO8zdJew/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1INK-qEZFh6f66hGmjhNbywLn-sk9WARh/view?usp=sharing Thanks for all your hard work! L&R - Youchube

Safty post

Nextgenheff

Hey Jones and Ben, Ben, a few months ago I believe I was the one who suggested trying low rank great jagras hunting. After Safi was released and I got my hands on a powerful greatsword, I put together a build and went to work myself. Thanks to Kemmi for helping try earlier in the night I was able to pull this off. https://youtu.be/BDJqn5vtyHk L&R Sean, Nextgenheff

Nextgenheff

Don't read this on stream, but the above video includes a few seconds of the old dragon ball theme. Youtube and twitch don't seem to care at all, I didn't get any notice or copyright warning when the whole stream was uploaded. But if you are still worried about it, I made an alt version of my video without that clip. https://youtu.be/MnapmdCQMsE

Super3dcow

It has been over a year since I last made a Pop'n Music Progress Update video. I'm always happy to show more Pop'n Music for Ben Moore! And let me know soon if there is a chance I can bring Pop'n Music for a group stream or something around EZX so I can start making plans. Thanks for everything! Enjoy. https://youtu.be/HaK_l-wnn-s

Super3dcow

Hello, Moore and Jones! Loved watching the whole GOTY deliberations, as always! Shoutout to Sayonara Wild Hearts, which I finally played through this Saturday, and that was a memorable experience! Following the various lore dumps of last month from various people submitting to the showcase, here are some nuggets from me: this submission is coming to you from Toulouse, southern France, where I currently am a software engineer, though I previously got a PhD in seismology trying to figure out the structure of the Earth's crust beneath Taiwan, and also the structure of the inside of the Moon, using seismic data from the Apollo missions. I am originally from another region of France: Charente (where Cognac comes from), around Angoulême, where was hosted this past weekend this year's edition of its International Comics Festival. Oh, and I don't know if that bit came out clearly in past submissions: I love me some video game music. This month, my submission is for Ben. After Tabletop Escapades Battle Theme, the Night Hag's Violin, Birdcough's Circus and Kalveed, I'm turning to another Ben universe: Neo Tokyo, home to the cliffhanger-filled saga of Noodles & Broth. Also, special cameo from Frame Trap's opening. Happy 100th, Ben! Hope you guys enjoy this one! Oh, and do you feel it yet? Animal Crossing is getting closer and closer... Love & Respect, Kévin Gillet Link to the music: https://youtu.be/m5ckRYt7jQ8

Kévin Gillet

Hi Ben and Jones, With Temtem and all the talk on the last Frame Trap about Fakemons "yes that a thing" and needing to shake some rust of my pixel art skill, I try doing my own fake starting monsters https://sta.sh/0giwmmosrhm

Hi Jones and Ben, First off, full disclosure, this is not mine, it's my sister's Webcomic, she is an Allie but more humble then me, and I would not be a good brother if I did not shill her new web comic. The comic just started and she will be updating it each week, please be excited. She reads a lot of anime books so expect a very anime style plot. http://www.themessageofcyan.com/images/Page08.png Thanks, L&R

Hello Brandon and Ben, this month it’s a pretty mixed bag in terms of art from me unfortunately. A little Capcom love, a random dungeon diving Pikachu and my take on some Star Wars folks. Last image is old and probably seen by folks before but since I never properly got to address Ben I figured I’d send in this art again. My take on the TTE crew. Thank you Ben for being a great DM and providing myself as well as the whole community with just so many hours of entertainment and stories. Keep up the great work and as always thank you for what you do. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xV_mYY1TvHvAe9Y4pkPIJFxZDXt0h-bO

And now presenting the winners of Space Dom's Miscellaenous Game of the Decade Categories! -Best goon dialogue: Jedi Fallen Order. Those Storm Troopers are adorably hapless. -Best trade-off for lack of fast travel: Red Dead Redemption 2, because of the cinema mode that lets you hold a button and watch the world go by. -Best hallucination set piece in an action-adventure game: a tight race with many many contenders, but I have to give it to Batman Arkham Origins, because they use Mad Hatter instead of Scarecrow and make a bunch of Wonderland visuals, and I like that. -Speaking of Batman, most amusing ripoff of Detective Vision: Tomb Raider (2013), with "Survival Instinct". I guess it's the best anyone could come up with, but it still beggars belief. -Best data entries: Doom 2016. Very detailed but they never take themselves too seriously, much like the game itself. -Best skill tree videos that demonstrate the moves you're unlocking: Castlevania Lords of Shadow. They take the form of pencil sketch animations and they look really cool. -Best loading screen tips: Death Stranding, because even dry descriptions of the things you do in that game are always amusing. -And finally, best save system: a multiple tie between anything that tells you how recently you saved when you try and quit, instead of saying "unsaved progress will be lost" as though it's reasonable to assume that the player is noticing every time an auto-save occurs. I'll be at Disneyland and EZX next month. Hope to see a bunch of you there! Regards, Space Dom

DaleBastion

safety

JessieBlu

safety

JessieBlu

safety

JessieBlu

safety hold

JessieBlu

WOW ITS STILL HERE!! - Jones - Link sent to your Patreon...

JessieBlu

Studio Ghibli movies on NetFlix!!! For once Europe didn't get shafted.

Trung Nguyen

Hi Brandon and Ben. Here are some stuff I drew last month: https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1214637895128104961 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1223720945615065096 1&2: Tried to do things a bit differently again. Did the lines the last with ink brush and it shows I'm bad at making consistent lines as you can see in work in progress that it's not accurate to the sketch but the colors stayed clean. https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1214638129493225472 3: The stuffed animal was just me drawing a red ball but since it made no sense be floating I added the body. https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1215036372823793664 4: Ryu. Colored him as older one but I really wasn't happy with the hair so I won't submit it. https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1215760418041421825 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1215760579325046785 5&6: And here is young Chun-Li and matured colored one. https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1216250840060776449 7: My current Twitter banner. https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1219862911008563202 8: I finished this a bit before I finished my Yakuza 0 replay. I really love this game and I might do one for each game. https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1221003511565103106 9: Welcoming Lunar New Year and also RE2(2019) Anniversary hence the zombie pose. I also finished the story of Iceborne but since I'm out of slot I can't show you my hunter. Also watched Ni no Kuni movie on NetFlix. It was OK. I still love the music. That's All. Love & Respect. TearjuEngi

Trung Nguyen

Also here for that sweet sweet reply safety

Safety comment.

Joseph Caruso

https://youtu.be/2RXHSHz37pM I've mentioned it several times before but I can't reiterate enough how incredible of a convention MAGFest in Maryland is, so instead of telling you about it, I'll be showing the allies and community some highlights over the next few months. For Ben, I wanted to share the most impressive set of the entire 4 day event; Carlos Eiene a.k.a. Insane In The Rain doing a solo set by playing multiple instruments, looping his own live samples. And then there's a special treat for Jones afterwards. Enjoy, and I know it's quite the ask but do yourself a favor and make it to Maryland one January to experience this stuff yourself. -Joe

Joseph Caruso

hold the line!

Tokyo Slim

I don't really have any cool NEW pics to share this month, but I'm planning out activities and sidequests to fill out a 33 day trip to Tokyo this summer for the Olympics, and I think Ben will be excited about some of the stuff I've got planned. I will disclose that amongst other activities that I may be making videos or photo blogging about (which will possibly be shared in future Community Showcases) I will be going to Tokyo DisneySea, which I know Jones likes, and I will be going on a 6 bowl of ramen tour of Tokyo, which I feel like Ben might appreciate. No new pics, but here's a couple old ones from the 2011 Sapporo Snow Festival that I don't think I shared before: Ice Cream and pastry shop, Tanukikoji shopping street https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PhBfulB_Ibk/TVIbwRwX2UI/AAAAAAAAAek/HjandUvdNng/s1600/IMG_2792.JPG Hatsune Miku painting https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PhBfulB_Ibk/TVIb6TfFQeI/AAAAAAAAAes/z2gqcunNaJ0/s1600/IMG_2819.JPG NORBESA ferris wheel, which is on the roof of a building https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PhBfulB_Ibk/TVIcVIhDryI/AAAAAAAAAfM/jLgsKyOGYkY/s1600/IMG_2934.JPG Shot bar made of ice on the street near my hotel https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PhBfulB_Ibk/TVIdcEptKuI/AAAAAAAAAf0/iw6q2NqrcxE/s1600/IMG_2983.JPG Ice Sculptures https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PhBfulB_Ibk/TVDBaczzovI/AAAAAAAAAdE/VtH90BnX_uA/s1600/%25E7%2594%25BB%25E5%2583%258F+005.jpg Snow sculptures https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PhBfulB_Ibk/TVDBcU-nJHI/AAAAAAAAAdI/7CxiQ27lNNo/s1600/%25E7%2594%25BB%25E5%2583%258F+006.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PhBfulB_Ibk/TVDCViwo-YI/AAAAAAAAAd8/KEzWji29XOs/s1600/%25E7%2594%25BB%25E5%2583%258F+020.jpg Just Snow: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PhBfulB_Ibk/TVDBO_Cx2cI/AAAAAAAAAc4/1snJO9OT6sk/s1600/%25E7%2594%25BB%25E5%2583%258F+002.jpg

Tokyo Slim

Shenmuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue

Tokyo Slim

I hope this sticks!

I did it Ben and Jones! I finally made it back to the community showcase! Boy, quite a lot has happened since I last posted, I'm not quite sure where to start. First I'm glad to see all the Allies are doing well and I'm sending my prayers and wishes to you all for a great decade! Speaking of decade, we're in the 20's now, it feels kind of weird that at some point we're going to have to specify what 20's we're talking about, although I suppose we can always call it the "roaring 20's" unless of course we get a weird case of deja vu this decade, which I'm hoping isn't the case since we all know what happened after the roaring stopped. Anyways, I haven't even talked about games yet, I'm just excited to be back watching you guys and just listening and watching the rest of the EZA community create more awesome and conversations. Whoo! Did I mention I love you guys and Community Showcase? =) As for games there is a lot to talk about, first of which is that I got my first perfect game, 100% achievements! And then I did it again! Two perfect games and in my opinion they are a bit underrated to boot. Dex: Enhanced Edition, a cyberpunk metroidvania and Superflight, a super chill endless flyer. If anyone has a chance you should check them out! Also in regards to games I almost lost my mind this past month because there are rumblings that my favorite game of all time may be getting a reboot or remake. Now obviously there are only rumors and the publisher worries me, but the fact that the Knights of the Old Republic may no longer be a dormant franchise whose last entry was sixteen years ago is extremely exciting that would get my Shenmue 3 reaction if it were to come true. Not only that but it would fulfill the trifecta of formerly dormant franchises that I have been eagerly waiting more than a decade for a sequel (the others being Psychonauts 2 and Age of Empires 4). What a time to be alive as they say, and next gen (though out of my financial reach) is just around the corner! I'm also pretty excited that Metro Exodus will be coming to other PC platforms this month, although I'll still probably have to wait until it goes on sale to snag it, as it just so happens I'm playing through Metro 2033 for my third time, trying to get 100% achievements on this run through. I have to say that this game and franchise really grows on me every time I go back. Well, I'm getting close to my limit, and I think my scatterbrained mania is running out of steam even though there is so much more I want to talk about. Best wishes to both of you, I hope you have a wonderful February! Blessing and Love and Respect, OutcastWriter

Hello Ben, Jones, and CHAAAAAAAT. This month is not only the sixth part of the Shenmue EZA-DUB, but also this episode should be the finale. A Smarter man would scrap the next two episodes and end on what will probably be the high point of this series. However, the next two are fine also. BUT ENJOY THE MOST HIGHLY ANTICIPATED EPISODE OF THE SHENMUE EZA DUB TO HAPPEN IN THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY! https://youtu.be/mrSeiFnRMng Starring:
Michael Huber Michael Damiani & Ben Moore All Of The Love All Of The Respect Dan Allen Detroit, MI PS: Catch-Up On the whole kitten caboodle of the Shenmue EZA-DUB Project at youtube.com/litmitmedia

Dan Allen

What’s up Ben and Jones? Gotta say Ben I admire you for standing up for Devil May Cry 5 in the GOTY deliberations, I’m loving this game. I always get taken in by your passion of video games and can’t tell you how many games I’ve picked up because of the way you talk about them. Props to you man! I have a different take on the games of 2019 and that’s how good the controller vibration is. I need some form of feedback in games as playing any game nowadays without rumble feedback just feels hollow to me. The following were played using PS4 gamepad on PC. Resident Evil 2 – The sound and atmosphere in this game make my speakers sing in a eerie way. Vibration is awesome, every shot feels so satisfying. Bravo Capcom I knew I could count on you Devil May Cry 5 – Capcom you’ve done it again for the most part. There doesn’t appear to be any feedback when getting hit. There’s no extra kick when firing the shotgun but everything else feels so responsive. Great Feedback. Metro Exodus - For a shooter this deserves better, no real feedback when getting hit. Not much feedback when shooting. Just weak. Sekiro: Shadows Die twice – I admit I’ve not played much but rumble feels weak in that I can’t feel the kills, they just feel empty. Some feedback when taking hits but not much. Maybe it’s a PC thing. I need to play more. Rage 2 – It’s there but again for a shooter just feels lacking especially with the shotgun. Can’t feel the hits either. Remnant From the Ashes – Vibration is superb, this made shooting so much more enjoyable. Great feedback, every shot has a punch to it. Game is also fun. Borderlands 3 – Not bad but not great, another shooter that feels lacking to me. Strange. Phoenix Point – Controller support but no Vibration. What a shame. Slay the Spire – Sadly does not support rumble, this would have been awesome with some feedback. This is the game I’ve spent the most time with this year and the reason I haven’t finished many games this year. Gears 5 – Best rumble support of the year for me, everything feels great. This should be the standard. There’s feedback for every shot and every hit you take plus the rumble intensity feels appropriate. Control - Feels great, especially when using the powers. Shooting, explosions and taking damage all have feedback. Grabbing and hurling an object hits the rumble motors at the right time in the right place. Well done 505 games. Disco Elysium – Great game but no controller support. -5 points Jedi Fallen Order – Rumble very prominent maybe overdone in parts. Even rumbles when you start running. Explosions feel great, there’s feedback when using light saber and deflecting shots. Good feedback on Jedi powers. Ace Combat 7 – Excellent rumble feedback. Biggest offender from 2018 – Dragon quest XI – No Vibration Support My GOTY – Disco Elysium That’s all Rob Lee

robert7lee

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Miguel Menjivar

Hello Ben and Jones. Greetings Chat. For the last month I’ve been playing a lot of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and I LOVE this game. This is the best Persona Game that is not a Persona game. When this game was originally released on the WiiU, I was one of the 3 people in the world that actually played the game and was one of the best JRPG experiences that I had, so it was no surprise that I was going to play it again on a better system. Having the game on the go is probably the best thing that could have happened to this title as well. In general, this game is not for everyone, it might be just for a very small group of people. If you like JPOP, Japanese Idols and Persona Lite elements, then this is a game for you, otherwise probably don’t try it since basically that is what the game is... But to be honest and to contradict my own argument before, the reason why I love this game is not any of the things I mentioned before, what I really love is the amazing combat system. I can’t believe how good and well though the combat is, it combines perfectly the weapons triangle of Fire Emblem and the weaknesses of Persona, giving you a lot to think about during the combat, but overall the very best thing on the combat are the sessions. Sessions are combos and the way they work is that once you attack a weakness of an enemy, a session will start, and then another character on your party will attack that enemy if the original attack you did before is compatible with your second character, the attack then will continue if you third character is compatible with the attack the second character did. At the end depending on your compatibility with your characters you could have combos with more than 20 attacks in one turn. I’m sure I’m not doing a great job describing the system but I would suggest you guys check a video of it and see how cool those sessions are. Did you play this game Ben? I don’t remember that you talked about it before. Finally, there are no games in February that I’m looking for, so what I will do is try to finish some of my games that I have on my pile of shame, games like Control, Fire Emblem Three Houses and Resident Evil 2 are my priorities here, I have to finish at least one of them. Yes I know, those are some of the best games from last year and I really need to finish them before the middle of March. Finally, I don’t agree with your EZA GOTY 2019 but I can respect your decision as a group. Well, that will be everything from me this time and as always, I wish you the best. Amor y Respeto. Miguel.

Miguel Menjivar

Hello Jones and Ben! Greetings from Finland! The PS5 reveal might be around the corner so I thought this was the last chance to make fun of typical next gen talk seen commonly in console concept videos. So here's my short skit, made with love and respect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w23gFsynZTw

Let me lock those in. *thud*

FatherCashew

Hi Jones & Ben. Long-time listener, first-time caller. :) I don't consider myself especially good at video games (just stubborn), but I'm sharing a short clip of one of my prouder moments in gaming from 2019. I still remember Ben's praise for Celeste during 2018 GOTYs (it warmed my heart), so I thought he might appreciate it. Last year was the hardest year of my life, so a game whose message is "you can do hard things" was perpetually a great reminder. I haven’t yet jumped into the DLC (mostly because I’m scared), but this is, in my opinion, the hardest level in the game. Chapter 7 - C-Side. Sorry for the quality and a few strange cuts in the video; I had to edit some different clips together because I don’t have a capture card and Switch only grabs 30 seconds at a time. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nl9_X3VvL4 L&R FatherCashew

FatherCashew

Safety post, to hopefully stop Patreon from counterspelling my entry.

Small Leviathan

Hello Brandon and Ben! I've got a special subject for this month's showcase that I've been saving since last summer just for you, Ben! Well, sort of. I've actually been saving it for either Ben, Ian or Huber. Ian was on the show last month, but since was the first showcase of 2019 that one was reserved for my top 5 games of 2019 list (which was, ordered fifth to first: Outer Worlds, Blasphemous, Baba is You, Sekiro and Katana Zero) I saved the subject for my next chance, which is now, so let's go! Until last year, I had been a competitive Yugioh player since like, 2014. I didn't always play meta decks, but me and my group of friends from the local games store would travel to various official tournaments in the county from time to time and I've even been to the Swedish nationals a couple of times (though I've never made the top cut). But as the years went on, our Yugioh group lost more and more players as people quit, moved, had to focus on studies or work or were just broke. By the summer of last year, I was basically the only person showing up to the store to play Yugioh anymore, so I decided it was finally time to put my decks away for good... ...because I started playing MAGIC: THE GATHERING instead. Specifically, I started playing the Commander format, as it's way more budget-friendly, a plus for someone like me who is unemployed and disabled (speaking of which, I recently landed an internship at a local grocery store. It's unpaid but hey, baby steps) and I had always thought the format seemed fun. The community at my locals were super friendly and helpful, even giving me a ton of cards to help me build my first deck, a Red-Green-White Dinosaur deck centered around Gishath, Sun's Avatar, a massive dinosaur whose effect lets you reveal cards from the top of your deck whenever she deals damage and put all dinosaurs revealed into play for free. This isn't just fun because I love massive creatures, but is also a nice sendoff to my yugioh career, as the Yugioh deck I saw the most success with was, what else, a dinosaur deck. Not much more than half a year later, and I now have about five decks in total, with plans for a sixth one on the way. Magic has become something really special to me, as it's not just a hobby, but a passion I now share with several friends (including my best friend Sable who I'm shouting out again, love you buddy) but also has let me reconnect with some old ones. I decided to wait all this time to talk about it on the showcase because Ian brought up Magic on episode 89 of Frametrap, and I wanted to share what was one of the highlights of 2019 for me with one of you in particular. Here's hoping that Magic episode of Occasional Board Game Show is still a thing, and as a heads up, Ben: They're releasing new Commander decks this April, here's hoping that's as exciting for you as it for me. Love and Respect, Small Leviathan

Small Leviathan

Hi Ben and Jones 2019 was remarkable for the number of excellent space games that came out in quick succession: “Outer Wilds”, “Observation” and “The Outer Worlds” all received coverage in the GOTYs. However, there was one space game, which I don’t think I heard mentioned by the Allies at all last year. This is my very own “Don’t Skip” for “Heaven’s Vault”. “Heaven’s Vault” was produced by Inkle Studios in the UK and written by Jon Ingold. Inkle came to prominence with “80 Days”, co-written by Ingold and Meg Jayanth. If I can nestle another Don’t Skip within this one, “80 Days” is amazing and everyone should play it – apart from anything else, it includes a very charming scene set in my beloved Cambridge. “Heaven’s Vault” is set in a cluster of moons and asteroids set in a sprawling Nebula. You play as Aliya, a former street kid who was taken on as a protégé by Professor Myari at the University of Iox. Aliya is an archaeologist in a civilisation which believes that time recurs cyclically forever, meaning that history and archaeology are extremely undervalued. Myari sends you to track down a missing roboticist, giving you a robot companion called Six (you don’t want to know what happened to the first five…). There is a central mystery to the game’s plot, but the game is less about reaching this endpoint than it is about uncovering the history of the Nebula. In order to do this, you need to learn how to decipher inscriptions in “Ancient”, a hieroglyphic language. This is the game’s central mechanic, as you sail “the rivers” – the mysterious stream-like paths of the Nebula – searching for new texts, which you take a stab at interpreting. Initially this seems like an impossible task, but as you continually add new words to your dictionary, you find that you’ve not only internalised the language, but also the long history and complex culture of this universe. I’m a historian myself, and this game captures the feeling of studying history better than anything else – following your enthusiasms, whittling away at nagging questions, learning old languages that nobody else seems to care about. At a couple of points, you seem to run out of leads and find yourself going back and forth between the university, the pub, and your friend’s house looking for inspiration. That also feels true to life… There’s a lot to love about this game. It has a unique Islamic-inspired aesthetic, beautiful music, and Six is a brilliant sidekick (in a remarkably crowded year for brilliant sidekicks…). It isn’t perfect. Sometimes navigating the Rivers is a bit of a chore, and while I admire Aliya’s commitment to “RP walking”, as Huber would say, sometimes you wish she’d get a move on. I can imagine someone completely bouncing off this game. However, I found myself compelled to dig deeper and deeper. By the way, “shao-dao” to LittleKittenBit – we had a brief chat about Heaven’s Vault during the GOTY stream, which inspired me to write this! Samuel Cardwell (aka FlintPaper577)

Samuel Cardwell

Love<3Respect

Howdy Allies! Sending lots of love and respect from my bed as I sadly got hurt on the job and now I'm stuck laying on my stomach for the next couple months with a spine injury. Alas, not all is lost, I can still draw and play switch (bless the switch), and I've decided to start work on a children's book. I have plenty of time to work on it and hopefully next showcase I'll have some things to show. Just trying to stay positive :) As for now though, Happy to show some of my other work with the allies, excited Ben gets to see these because of his love of fantasy and there's even an archer in there for Jones. I hope you all have a better start to 2020 then I. And thank you all once again for building such a wonderful community. Love & Respect ~Skim-,-milK https://bit.ly/316ftUc https://bit.ly/2u4jhcL https://bit.ly/31ffdCN https://bit.ly/3aTcoLW https://bit.ly/37O5CoZ https://bit.ly/2Obc6Gm

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K

Hey Ben and Brandon If you don’t remember, in December’s Community Showcase I said I was going to do a Doom Retrospective every month as a lead up to Doom Eternal’s release. With Doom being my favourite franchise of all time I wanted to celebrate what’s probably one of my most anticipated games in recent memory. Sounds great! But where was the January video? Yeah about that... Long story short, I got really sick over the holidays due to changing Epilepsy medication which pretty much put me out of commission for a good number of weeks so I couldn’t get another video done in time sadly. The good news however is I’ve pretty much resolved all of that and I’m now feeling a lot better so we can continue back on the path of ripping and tearing! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9CoOcOLItg Picking back up where we left off we’re going to be taking a look a Doom II and see if they managed to improve on the original genre defining masterpiece. Just as a general point, I tried to make the pacing a lot tighter this time around and add in more actual observations and analysis as the last video in retrospect didn’t really have too much of it. There’s still dumb jokes don’t worry but personally I’m a lot happier with how this turned out compared to the last video. Hopefully you all enjoy watching it as much as I did making it. Love & Respect Jack Price

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Ben Fitter

Hey Brandon and Ben! I was having a hard time deciding what to do for a piano cover this month, but at the last minute, I thought of something that might appeal to both Ben's love of this particular game, as well as Jones's love of marketing campaigns. While this song was not created for the game, it will be forever tied to it in my eyes because of the brilliance of this particular ad. Hope you enjoy! L&R - Ben (Warning for Jones: Video contains visuals from original commercial. I am not super familiar with Copyright/Content ID, so if you think this will cause any issues, feel free to skip my entry for this month!) https://youtu.be/2FogM6xpPYI

Ben Fitter

Hi Brandon and Ben I've got more Mega Man progress to show this month. Have finished the rig and made some animation tests. Pretty happy with how he turned out, not perfect but suits my means. Planning on doing an action sequence with him, that will take some time to finish so I might drop some progress updates if I think they'll interest you. https://youtu.be/2lBxBwSOlXU Love and respect, Dave Cleland

Hello Jones and Ben! This is actually my first time submitting something to the showcase! So the Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC came out last week and brought with it 14 new superbosses. The secret boss in particular was so tough that it took me 6(!) hours to beat him the first time on Proud mode. Yet it was just so much fun that I went back and beat him again and I decided to record it so here it is. this time it only took 1 hour haha. I know this video is way above the length limit and I'm really really sorry about that. There's just so much going on with this boss that I don't know where to trim it. KH3 REMIND SPOILERS BELOW!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm6A2RdwAf0 P.S. THIS GAME GOT SNUBBED!!

K

💜

JessieBlu

Hello Brandon and Ben, Jessie Blu here...Just a few quick words to let you know my submission this month is not exactly what I had hoped, but Ben I think you can understand when I say I started working on it and got partway through and realized this is going to be a lot more complicated than I anticipated. So instead of being able to release the first episode, I have sent a promo for my first episode which I am targeting to release by February 14th, in time for Anime Milwaukee, which I will be attending with my daughter. If any allies in the midwest plan to attend, please @ me on twitter and I will look forward to connecting with you. I do however have some news … I have booked a TV commercial shoot for this Saturday. It is just local but its TV! Anyway, Ben, Congratulations on your recent marriage and I look forward to meeting you in March for the 4th Anniversary. L&R Jessie Blu <3

JessieBlu

Hey Jones and Ben, Have some thoughts on conversion of energy and cycles. (Note: as of writing this comment, I just finished Persona 3 and I feel like this reads a bit differently with that in mind despite the fact I wrote this weeks ago) L&R Kittle Snow https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bvpe6fAah7QgAuQzshQkNsMTqG8soykiSzs5lBMLoag/edit?usp=drivesdk

Kit Snow

Here’s my ranking of all 2019 games I’ve finished: 36. Sea of Solitude. Boring. 35. Life is Strange 2. Caricature characters, forced self-destruction decisions. 34. Anthem. Flying is fun, there’s just no reason to. 33. Blood & Truth. Good, but controls are a struggle. 32. Greedfall. Feels like pre-alpha build. 31. Baba Is You. Bad tutorials, same routine puzzles. 30. Observation. Nothing bad, but can’t go higher. 29. Rage 2. Shooting is fun. That's it. 28. Devil May Cry 5. Liked playing V on Easy difficulty. Immediately forgot the rest. 27. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Music drowns atmosphere of great environments. Muted it half way through, but it was too late. 26. Afterparty. Good writing, enjoyable game, but many technical problems and it feels like it should be more open. 25. Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Worse than The Banner Saga in nearly everything. Still it’s the first Nintendo game I'm not regretting buying. 24. Erica. Too ambiguous. 23. Disco Elysium. Without player guiding and progression feedback it’s more frustrating than great. 22. The Walking Dead: The Final Season. Good, but ends too happily. 21. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. Good, but beating Impossible Lair requires trainer. 20. World War Z. Numerous glitches, but fun, especially alone. 19. Creature in the Well. Not my genre, but I enjoyed it. 18. Far Cry New Dawn. Very liked it until huge difficulty spike in the end. 17. Concrete Genie. Charming. 16. Death Stranding. Good traversal. Good social commentary. But nothing memorable. 15. Judgment. Fascinating story can’t decide between realism and fantasy. Not enough VO. Boring open-world with good lighting. 14. Trover Saves the Universe. Hilarious. 13. Superliminal. Great idea and puzzle progression. 12. Kingdom Hearts III. Great worlds, visuals and music, but gets too repetitive, especially in the end. 11. Telling Lies. Intriguing and captivating. 10. Gears 5. Some glitches don’t ruin excellent campaign. And driving the Skiff is my best gameplay of 2019. 9. Sayonara Wild Hearts. Great music, visuals and difficulty. Short. 8. Man of Medan. Intense horror during first playthrough. 7. Apex Legends. Had amazing time during first months. Then it became evolving game, which’s my cue to leave. 6. A Plague Tale: Innocence. Great game with excellent characters. But if you explore you get a bit too powerful. 5. Days Gone. It’s a slice of life. Harsh, eventful, hope crushing and hope fulfilling life. Loved it. 4. Metro Exodus. My first Ray Tracing game - it was amazing. Also exploring home environment felt awesome. 3. The Outer Worlds. Trailblazing game design and interesting stories both big and small. Would be higher if it was more emotional. 2. Control. First next-gen title. Great combat, great lead, great exploration. I also love how weird stuff slowly becomes just another day on the job. 1. Borderlands 3. I wasn't expecting this, but in 2019 I cared the most about the cast in Borderlands 3. Multiple emotional moments and the ending almost made me cry. ♬This game is on fire.♬

Alexander Zyryanov

Patreon: I'm the best at saving things Me: Hold my comment

Travis Miosi

Howdy! So, I managed to make two art things this month after a long holiday work season. The first is a wire sculpture I made at work with office supplies lying around. My department now protects the asset. This is the way. https://twitter.com/Obvious_Decoy/status/1221980963758059520 The second piece is a geo art thing that I think is really cool, but probably gonna keep working on. Thanks for lookin. Cheers! https://twitter.com/Obvious_Decoy/status/1221981301684621313

Travis Miosi

Ahoy Mr. Jones, Mr. Moore and my fellow allies. I'm back and I can't think of a better tune to submit, given the guest...co-host? Whichever. I submit this tune because its Ben. Please enjoy. L&R, Matt B https://youtu.be/58LGkJVXRbM

Matt Bollenbach

casting hold comment

Good morning, Jones & Ben! I did it, I actually came with D&D poetry this month! This month is about my pirate girl, Addie, and the more than a little tragic relationship she has with her best friend. This one kinda ended up super long, so I hope you enjoy it! (And hey!! I capitalized it this time, Jones!) L&R, Spencer (@spoolesofthread) (comment & poem together combined are less than 500 words!) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UE8dfOm_T1T-lnCFETjZYtvniHk7c1sFD41q1raBDsk/edit?usp=sharing

Hello Brandon and Ben, I return once again after last month where I was giddy with excitement to share how inspired I’ve been by GameTrailers/Easy Allies over the course of the last 14 or so years, as well as providing a snippet of my best and worst games of 2019. This month I’d like to share some limericks and a song parody I’ve written, which should give a good insight into my personality and sense of humour. Before I provide them, I want to once again thank you guys so much for the amazing content you produce day in and day out and commend Huber for his excellent new series Prison of Love-and I’d certainly love to see a series 2 where the Allies gain redemption for having them sit through games they weren’t comfortable with. I’d also like to see a possible return of The Fancy 15 in the future, and a show where Ben is the host- because his wisdoms are always inspiring, and his writing coupled with his videogame knowledge is beyond reproach. I also want to commend Don because since performing his nutrition rap, I can’t get that Bavarian cream out of my brain even when I’m not digesting chicken pot pie. Also big thanks to the EZA community for enticing me to play The Outer Wilds after the Patreon GOTY poll went up. Please enjoy the following creative pieces I have unveiled below. What A Horrible World (A Louis Armstrong parody) I see fiends are mean drug addicts too I see them fume at me and you And I think to myself what a horrible world. I see eyes of dew and shrouds of fright The trite cursed day, the somber night And I think to myself what a horrible world. The darkness of the despair so bitter in the head Are also veiled by the people burning sheds I see enemies throwing stones shouting have a few But they're re really shouting I HATE YOU! I heard the elderly sigh and I saw them shrink They know much less than they'll ever think And I think to myself what a horrible world Yes, I think to myself what a horrible world. Limericks 1.When I saw the Xbox Series X I thought it had top of the range specs But it looked like a bin Which was a great big sin So I plastered myself with Semtex 2.The Last of Us is a champion A part of the Playstation pantheon But I found it pretentious So I was contentious To be a willing companion 3.Souls players told me to git gud Which I readily misunderstood I said go get a life And find a new wife Now I have restored their livelihood 4.When I played Detroit Become Human And started sniffing and snorting cumin It became a chore And began to bore So I started to lose my acumen Love and Respect.

James Davie

Hola Ben y Brandon, Last year’s Backlog/Played games list was very helpful for me, so I decided to continue it. Here’s my 2020 list so far which were played on the Switch, unless noted otherwise. First up: My Brother Rabbit – Plays like a point and click puzzle game, based on a brother who helps his sick sister by imagining a world for them to get lost in. Quick colorful game that tests your vision on nicely drawn backgrounds. Baba Is You – Working through these puzzles out loud was hysterical. My son (who hates puzzles) came to see why I was laughing and decided to join in. I’d struggle on one and he’d just be like “Oh...do this..and that...boom, done!” Went back and forth until we unlocked the final level early and finished it there. A literal play on words, and very much worth playing! Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox 1X) – Concerned I wouldn’t be able to push through since I’m not very good at parry/counter type mechanics, I really enjoyed the majority of this game. Debra Wilson did a great job as Cere, but her facial details felt off. I knew it was her instantly because of her notable eyes and voice, but the rest of her face felt bland. Cal’s face on the other hand was pretty good, but his voice acting had me struggling to care for him. In the end, I cared more about Greez and Cere. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Xbox 1X) – Played with a headset as recommended, but this game was very intense. It hammers at the senses constantly, while opening the mind to understanding the mental struggles some people deal with. Great use of audio throughout the game and I enjoy Norse mythology as well, so hearing that in-game was a major plus. Unravel Two – Started this game with my daughter a while back, but we decided to finally finish it up. We would start a session, get the mechanics down, and then start laughing uncontrollably when we’d thwart the other person’s jump or swing. At times, I’d connect my character to hers so she could take full control, and it felt great watching her enjoy managing the game on her own. Breath of Fire 2 – Tried to beat this game multiple times as a kid, but it constantly hammers you with random encounters, more so than other rpg’s. Also ran into parts where you need to do a 1v1 using a party member I never bothered leveling up, so it began to wear thin. Glad to have finished this and BoF1. My first “Did Not Finish” of 2020 was Blacksad: Under the Skin. The game and characters seem interesting, but the game itself plays horribly on the Switch. Ended up watching a no commentary playthrough online which was great because the person made many of the same in-game choices I was making. Wishing you both nothing but the best! Amor y Respeto, Juan Rolón Jr.

Juan Rolón Jr.

Don't wanna miss a thing

Steven Beaumont

Hey Ben and Brandon, I missed the last 2 months of submissions so I will give a 2019 recap quickly. With the arrival of our second child last year I have not had anywhere near as much gaming time (or money) so I missed a lot of what has ended up on the GOTY lists. I completed a Live Dex in Pokemon Shield which was fun but I have been in a but off a gaming slump trap of mindlessly shiny hunting but wanting the inspiration to play something better (Fire Emblem is waiting for me but I have only beaten the practice battle). I am hoping to get out of my gaming slump soon but on the flip side my son 4y.o had the greatest gaming explosion last year when I got him a Switch Lite and he has beaten 2 games to credits: Captain Toad and Mario Odyssey. He is absolutely enamoured with Mario games and even got us to dust off the Wii U for some co-op fun with Nintendoland and Mario 3D World. Well that's all from me, congrats on joining the 'wedding band' Ben and have a great day.

Steven Beaumont

Hello! You may have gotten a taste of Bug Fables by our buddy Hentsch earlier in the showcase. I’d like to take the time to show you just a little more about the game, in the form of bootleg Don’t Skip! Shoutout to EZA community member “Leprosyx” for bringing this game to light for us. https://youtu.be/GH1TvaHKNb8

ZatVunDoot

Hello! You may have gotten a taste of Bug Fables by our buddy Hentsch earlier in the showcase. I’d like to take the time to show you just a little more about the game, in the form of bootleg Don’t Skip! Shoutout to EZA community member “Leprosyx” for bringing this game to light for us. https://youtu.be/GH1TvaHKNb8

ZatVunDoot

Safety comment

Phazonmasher

Hey there Jones and Ben, So that Tales of retro episode 2 isn't happening this month. Wow, it's almost like making a retrospective is hard or something. Who would have thought? So instead, I guess I'll talk about what I've learned during this process so far. Lesson 1: Even if you think you know it, triple check it. I like to consider myself a repository of gaming information, especially JRPGs. There have been times where I would put stuff in my script that I was absolutely sure was correct to only find later it was misinformation that I picked up. While it's embarrassing to admit as a trained journalist, I haven't always double checked my sources or own knowledge. Don't let that arrogance make you look like an idiot, or worse, a liar. Life lesson 2: Listen to your editor. I have a very particular way of writing that I've learned through years of working in print journalism. Broadcast journalism, even in a YouTube video, is super different, and the writing style has to accommodate for the medium. I'm grateful to my partner who has worked in video and his insight into editing for that medium is indispensable. It's just that I'm not good at changing my habits and I get combative when somebody says I'm doing something wrong so I've had to start eating a lot of humble pie, and it tastes disgusting. But I'm becoming a better person through it! Life lesson 3: Accept delays. People get busy. People get depressed. People need treat yoself days. I know there are people looking forward to our next episode, but we have to accept that the end product isn't going to be great unless we're also feeling great. So that's really why it's been delayed on our end. I've been feeling out of it all month and my partner is busy with his actual job. But I can guarantee that when it does come out, it's going to be the best possible product it can be. Well, until we realize a day after posting it's trash, but that's everybody. Well, hopefully, episode 2 will be ready by the next showcase, and we're gonna cut a three minute version just for you guys. I hope I'll be able to share our efforts by then. Thanks again! L&R.

Phazonmasher

Hey y’all! The highlight of the Easy Allies’ 2019 output was, without a doubt, Mysterious Monsters. As a game show fanatic, I’m always happy to see a new game show with a fresh format succeed, especially online. However, I am rather spoiled, being in the UK, where game shows are wonderful AND plentiful! In the spirit of sharing the wealth, below are some recommendations for quiz and gameshows YOU should watch if you’re a fan of Mysterious Monsters! Big fan of the Trickster? Then you’ll love ‘Only Connect’! It’s a very tricky British quiz show which is about finding what is the common link between a set of four clues. The show is extremely dry, and started from very humble beginnings, but has developed a really quirky sense of humour (for instance, one episode cold opens with the host reciting the Maximus Decimus Meridius speech from ‘Gladiator’, completely out of context, before introducing the teams). An example question would be, what connects these clues; Vincent Vega in ‘Pulp Fiction’, Donald Gennaro in ‘Jurassic Park’, Moaning Myrtle in ‘Harry Potter’ and Tywin Lannister in ‘Game of Thrones’ (Answer: They all died while using the bathroom) Love the fantastical setting? Then ‘The Crystal Maze’ is the show for you! The Crystal Maze is a British cult classic, starting in 1990 when it was hosted by Richard O’Brien, the creator of the Rocky Horror Show. The show involves a team of people journeying through four time zones; such as Aztec, Futuristic and Industrial, playing small Escape Rooms individually in each zone to earn time crystals. These crystals are then used to buy time in the Crystal Dome at the end of the show, a giant glass Crystal with huge fans in the ground, which blow around pieces of gold foil you need to grab. The show is currently hosted in the UK by film director Richard Ayoade, and the show’s first American series started on Nickelodeon this month, hosted by Adam Conover. Do you enjoy watching the winner take away disappointing prizes? Then I recommend ‘Taskmaster’! Taskmaster is a modern comedy game show which has had 9 series in the UK (and 1 rather lukewarm US series). The show involves 5 comedians attempting to complete peculiar tasks faster or better than each other. Previous tasks have included “Make the most delicious dust”, “Sneeze as fast as possible”, and “Impress a Mayor”. Each episode ends with the winning comedian taking home a prize given by each other contestant, which have in the past included a plate of Googly Eyes, 14 kilograms of curry and a contestant’s wedding ring. If you’re outside the US, the full series is being uploaded officially to YouTube. These are just a few suggestions, there are dozens of other great gameshows in the UK to check out, but these are a few that are really worth looking into. Love & Respect, Alex McMillan – Northern Ireland

Alex McMillan

Hello Ben & Brandon! Thanks for picking my entry for the stream team. While I was certain it wouldn't win, it means a lot that it resonated with you guys. I will refrain from suggesting it again until next year; hopefully you'd be done with Metroid prime by then and some other more popular games that could take votes from it. I'm happy to report that the wiiU had no more accidents and I was able to finish Mario & Luigi Super Star Saga. What a fantastic little game. I specially liked that while it's clearly made for kids, it doesn't hold any punches during the battles; and if you are not putting attention and using the triggers to defend yourself; you can easily get killed in a couple of turns. I want to say: Hey Pokémon Company, take a note or two of how to make a game appealing for everyone; but of course they would just laugh all the way to the bank, while Alpha dream just went under last year. A sad thought that there won't be more games in the series, but since I just started with it I have a lot more to play. Changing the subject, after beating Mario & Luigi I got started with The Talos Principle because I don't want to fail Ian again, and I'm loving every second of it. I think I'm pretty close to the end, just looking for stars to get to the 6th floor of the tower, but damn; some of those things are really tricky. I hope I can beat it in February so I can move on to... I've been talking for over a year how I was cleaning the road for Breath of the Wild. I beat all the previous games in the franchise and after beating Mario & Luigi to not have 2 games at the same time in the same console, and beating the Talos Principle so I won't fail Ian again; I think I'm ready for it; or almost. A friend from work lent me this book saying that it's pretty good and I should read it. I believe it's pretty famous so you've probably heard of it. The Analyst by John Katzenbach. I think I'll read it and then start with Breath of the wild. I don't want to hold on to his book for too long, and given that my gaming and reading time compete closely, I'd better read the book before taking such a dive into Hyrule. Just saying that, future showcase may get pretty weird. Maybe next month you'll get a book report; after that, I don't know. We'll see. And that's it for this month, allies. Love & Respect, César.

César Villa

Hello BB, I was curious if you know why Brandon Jones hates anime ? 😄 Just playing I'm sure he watches it in private and is a big time secret fan lol 😜 My real question is how is 2020 treating you so far? And if you don't mind sharing what r ur life goals this yr?

MGS-JUNKIE

Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga Ooga-chaka Ooga-Ooga

Ibrahim Sozer

Hello Ben & Jones, It's been a few months. Remember my action RPG made in Dreams? I showed the intro to both of you in June last year. I've prepared another small video. The game is called 'Mimeo Prophecy' and also won 'Best narrative' at Media Molecules award show last week - woohoo. The 1st chapter is playable in Dreams and about an hour long but what you're about to see, is all unreleased content and is still in development. Some clipping towards the end but that's just how development goes. I'm not hiding that. It's the very beginning of the next chapter and shows more combat from the game. I hope you'll like it. Video: https://youtu.be/EQZhcsWGJf0 L&R Sebastian

Sebastian

Keep it secret. Keep it safe.

Asbo Zappruder

Good afternoon gentlemen, Hey, we’re well into this 2020 thing now. How terrifying. Let’s distract ourselves with some games. Let’s start with a game I recently finished. For Christmas, I received something called Dragon Quest XI for the Switch. I don’t know if either of you are familiar with it but it’s pretty good. I’d say it’s pacing is exceptional and it found unique things to do in each town, even on repeat visits. I found the post game to be particularly interesting. I overall enjoyed it and the bigger story it was telling but it seemed to come at the cost of the impact of some things in the main game so I’m a bit conflicted about it. Also, I didn’t like how the mermaid sidequest ended. But those are probably the only issues I had with the game. Oh wait, no. I also want to say I hate collapsable floors. Anyway, since I played the Switch version, I also got the extra stuff, including the content at the start of the second act that I didn’t learn until afterwards wasn’t in the original game. It’s pretty robust and I’m curious what it was like to play without the additional context provided by those extras. Speaking of extras, the Tickington sidequests were a delightful shot of nostalgia. Well, mostly delightful. One of them does require a trip through the Cave to Rhone. I can’t say that all the new content is going to be worth it for people who already played the game on Playstation but I would suggest that people who want to give it shot strongly consider the Switch version. I don’t plan to start anything big in the next couple of weeks. (I may dip back into Mario Maker 2 and see if I can make a Zelda level.) I’m holding off because Rune Factory 4 is coming back at the end of the month! I checked and apparently I played 120 hours of the 3DS version. I’m looking forward to at least another 120 more. There is just so much to do in this game. There’s farming, cooking, crafting, and shopkeeping. Then there’s the social aspect with the dating sim features and the dozens of festivals and events that happen throughout the year. And then there are the dungeons where you and Forte go off exploring and fighting monsters (theoretically you can take other characters besides Forte but why would you?) You then befriend some of those monsters and force them to do manual labor for you. And all of that isn’t even getting into the story which there is a surprising amount of. Yes, there is a lot about Rune Factory 4 that is very silly. And there is also an RNG element to some story progression that I’m hoping they have improved on for this version. But it has long been on my list of favorite 3DS games and I can’t wait for more people to discover it. Anyway, that’s February. Cheers boys!

Asbo Zappruder

don't die post

Kitsunelaine

Alrighty! Here we go! So I'm going to end this post by posting a piece of music I've been working on over the past month. There were a few things I could have posted instead of this, but one of them I wasn't really sure about the ethics of? So I work in anime professionally and I do trailers. I thought it would be kind of cool to show 'em to Brandon, since, he's *the* Trailer Jones, and I've only been doing trailers professionally for a year (And only a handful at that! So I've got a lot to learn...). But, since they're professional trailers for actual anime releases, the waters there are kinda muddy and I'm just sitting here like... "I probably can't use the Community Showcase for that!" So instead I've opted to share a piece of music I've been working on. Anyway, here's the song. It's been awkwardly chopped down from 4:43 to 3:15, so there are some strained cuts (I cut out a couple of bridges). There's a version of this with singing but since I'm still practicing, I'm sparing you all that right now. I cut out the intro and faded out the ending to help make time... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZeF2YKNqdgT-SWttz2oDtFcg8eWCcgOK/view?usp=sharing

Kitsunelaine

My comment from last month REALLY didn’t age well what with January turning into delay season. While my schedule has been stretched out a good bit and now I can enjoy every game I’m looking forward to without concerning myself to finish in a set amount of time, I’ve become quite jaded on any release date given. Sure, I understand the dates are intended to obtain pre-orders, inform shareholders, and the like, but as a consumer, I wish they could keep those dates internally and not tell us, the public, until about three or four months before it’s set to release. ALMOST every major game for the Spring has had a delay, whether it was being put into or out of the Spring: Ori and the Will of the Wisps, DOOM: Eternal, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy VII: Remake, Iron Man VR, The Last of Us Part II, Marvel’s Avengers, CyberPunk 2077, and Dying Light 2 ALL have felt the sting of being pushed, whether it was only a month or to an entirely different season. The ONLY two games that come to mind that haven’t been tabbed with a delay (yet) are Half Life: Alyx and Resident Evil 3 Remake. Those were officially announced in November and December respectively, and now we’re getting a four month turn-around. Again, I don’t mind delays, I just don’t like being given a date we all know isn’t going to hold. On a completely different note, the only thing new I played in January was about two weeks ago, and that’s the Kingdom Hearts III DLC, Re:Mind. While under no circumstances will I spoil anything, I am left with more lukewarm feelings about various aspects. That said, the final 15 seconds of the DLC has left me slack-jawed about the far-reaching implications of what Kingdom Hearts as a franchise will be moving forward. But these final 15 seconds I could not have seen without the aid of YouTube because to gain access to this requires you to overcome the absolute toughest set of challenges Kingdom Hearts III has, which is a response to the game being criticized for being too easy regardless of difficulty setting. With the exception of one hidden boss that wasn’t too difficult, there isn’t any notable postgame tasks unless people didn’t do synthesis or mini-games prior to the final showdowns. This gating of content, especially story and lore content specifically, behind an intense difficulty spike is disappointing, and is a trope I hope goes away. One final thing about the DLC is not the game itself but the orchestra video that comes with it if you decide to purchase the $40 version. It’s about an hour and 40-45 minutes of a performance of music throughout the series, with an expected emphasis on Kingdom Hearts 3 in the back half. But watching the corresponding cut scenes with the orchestra playing and seeing the conductor get INTO it was a real treat.

Brandon K Gann

save

Hello, Brandon and Ben! This is only my third submission to the community showcase. My first one was a little over a year ago, and Ben was on that episode as well! I made a Last of Us trailer, and the month after that I made a Red Dead 2 trailer, but after that I just… didn’t, for some reason. Red Dead 2 is still the last trailer I made, but there is another trailer I cut before that one, for Breath of the Wild, that I wanted to show you guys. This is one of the first ones I ever made, so it’s probably sloppier than the other two (that's also why it doesn’t take into account any feedback Jones gave for those two either). https://youtu.be/06Ist0eZRFk L&R (P.S: The volume might be a bit too high on the video, sorry about that)

https://youtu.be/rn4VyBRsAKw My Hypetrailer for 2020. You probably can't show it because of the music but maybe you could watch it before the show and give your opinion :)

Dragonhunter

Game(s) of the Decade – Editorial Long-time first-time. Upfront; legitimate trigger warning for depression, anxiety, suicide, toxic behaviour. Also, spoilers. This last decade was the most devastating and mot amazing time of my life. Parents splitting up, sports injuries, good times, good grades, bad people. My dad struggled with drinking, and it cost him his marriage and almost his children. I floated from job to job, not really fitting in or feeling right. The world lost colour, food; its flavour. The mirror became my enemy. I was in a relationship that started in 2013 with a high school friend. She and I enjoyed the first summer together before she moved away for school. Neither of us knew how hard it would be. I remember saying goodbye with a tight chest, sweating bullets. I got a job through some friends, still feeling that tightness in my ribs. One day I found out I was possibly on the chopping block after a bad encounter with management. Feet firmly plated on the floor; the world fall out from under me. I needed this job. I had nothing else. I worked so hard they couldn’t get rid of me. I destroyed myself doing it. On September 2, 2015 I got the call. THE call. The call that you never want to get: ” Dad’s dead” Feet firmly planted on the floor; the world plummeted. Colour was gone. I helped tie my brothers tie. I cried at the service. He never asked for help. His spiral was silent. We saw it happening, but we never knew how bad it was. The time for pleas had passed. He was gone. He drowned in a bottle and we watched it happen, helpless. 2 years, nearly to the day, I got the call. THE Call. The one you’ve waited so long for. I got into school. I quit my job and went to follow my dream. Chest, still tight. World, less grey. Soon after, my relationship ended. It hurt. I was writhing in pain on the inside. She said she couldn’t carry me anymore, and that I was ruining her life. I was alone for a week, on spring break. I spoke only to delivery drivers. I needed help. That Monday, I went to counseling. I went into the room where everything changed. I had to face the mirror. I didn’t like what I saw. It took so long, but my climb had started. I had to reconcile who I was, what I had done. My part in the relationship that had ended with a wound. I had to forgive my father for his pain, what he had done, why he did it. I had to forgive myself for not being able to help him in his downward spiral. I had to recognize my own anxiety and fear, and the mountain I had to climb. The one I’m still climbing. That’s why my games of the decade are God of War, Spiderman, and Celeste. Love & Respect, Spencer

Spencer from Canada

Please don’t evaporate

Michelle Jackson

Game Dev Update: https://youtu.be/aDk0iBeyUh4 Just some footage from an early area in the Demo. Nothing is final blah blah, y’all know the drill. Apologies for the weird edits, I recorded 9 minutes of footage and had to make a lot of cuts for time.

Michelle Jackson

Don’t evaporate

Megan Linart

Whachugot to say?

Eric Jackson

Hey hey

Eric Jackson

Let's gooo

Adam Hentschel

Hey Brandon and Ben, This month I am dedicating my submission to my grandad Bill. On the 4th of January, he sadly passed away. He had been fairly immobile for the past few years and then since the start of December, he wouldn't even get lifted out of his bed. He just wanted to watch TV and sleep. I have done a lot of thinking about him over January and started to realise how big an influence he was in my gaming. I grew up with a NES and SNES, whereas he had a Sega Mega Drive with the Master System addon (the bit that clipped into the Mega Drive to play Master System games). He had a lot of games that I loved, but never owned. I got to play Aladdin, Altered Beast, Action Fighter, Columns, Spy Vs Spy, Sonic and many more. One of the stand outs was Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, but not because of the golf game. If you hit the ball 100 times without putting it, you would get a game over, then I would pass it to my grandad who would do some magic and then a level from Fantasy Zone would appear (the magic he did, I have since learned, was the Konami code). A few years after I got to play all the Mega Drive games, I went over and remember he had 2 new controllers with extra buttons on top. I was looking at them and seeing L1, R1 and thinking oh these must be for the master system (no idea why I thought that), and then the game came on the screen and it was Wipeout. At this point, I had never even heard of PlayStation, so it was very exciting to play these new games. As well as Wipeout, at some point he also had Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, DOOM, Destruction Derby, Die Hard Trilogy and ESPN Extreme Games. He had other games, but these ones stuck out in my head. The biggest game he introduced me to though was Final Fantasy VII. I remember going over and he had the game paused outside Aeris' house. He let me play from there and I got to experience a bit of the story. I immediately asked for the game as a Christmas present. Without my grandad, I would not have played a lot of the mentioned games as I never owned them, and if I did, it was because he showed them to me. I also have good memories of going over and he had cheat codes written down for the games that he would get from game magazines.  He was in his late 50s when I started playing his games and was able to finish games like Tomb Raider in his late 60s. I remember saving in FF7 and accidentally saving over his Tomb Raider save. Luckily I could recover it with level skip cheats. He lived a good life to the age of 85 and passed peacefully in his sleep. Love and respect, BeardedScotsman86

BeardedScotsman86

Hello guys! So id like to just clarify a few things from last month before I review Druck. Skam is just the shows title it means Shame in Norwegian. Each season is 10 episodes long, Also as of now i’ve watched both Druck and Skam France for the remakes. Now onto the review! What I hope to see out of any remake is to really make the story you've seen feel fresh again and with that i'm so happy I watched Druck first! The seasons follow pretty much the exact same structure as the original Skam starting season 1 you definitely felt the similarities more but I have to say seasons 2 and 3 are just amazing! Feeling so different and incredibly unique on their own! I really want to touch on season 3 with more detail because its my favorite season for Druck and I have to say I enjoy it even more than the original. So as I mentioned last month Season 3 of the OG Skam follows Isaac as he explores his sexual identity and himself when he meets and falls for the new student Evan. In Druck the main plot is virtually the same but instead of Isaac the main character you follow is Matteo and the “Evan” character is named David. In the original Skam Isaac and Evan were both quite charismatic, in contrast Druck has Matteo and David really feel much more reserved and quiet, and their personalities mesh so well together. Matteo is a very sensitive version of the character and that alone felt very fresh and unique to Druck. The acting by both of them was actually very superb, they both were very complex and the issues that were dealt with in this season were quite different from the original. Just such a fantastic season! Closely following it was season 2, this season being my second favorite it also felt entirely new, I don't know but it seems after season 1 it just became a whole different show! In particular episode 7 of season 2 was a huge stand out, and features some of the best acting i’ve seen in Skam so far. As for some of my issues with Druck, like I hinted at before, season 1 was a little weak..what i feared a Skam remake would be kinda happened in season 1, many of the plot points were followed beat for beat, the episodes were shorter, and the Jonas character felt a lot weaker than the original. But that is about it for my complaints, an excellent remake of an already great show! I'd give this season overall a 8.5 out of 10 I'll be back next month, but ill be taking a little break from the Skam reviews while I wait for season 5 of Skam France to finish. But im going to a reptile expo at the end of February and getting my first ever pet snake, so im hoping I can share how that went with all of you next month, see you then!

Megan Linart

Hey Ben and Brandon! Over the course of December and the first few days of January, I was fortunate enough to watch a friend from the EZA Twitch chat stream a little known game called Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling. What began as a simple yet cutesy romp through a world of insects eventually grew into something that I genuinely looked forward to each and every time I got that Twitch notification. Seeing as those streams helped me power through the final weeks of my college semester, providing some much needed relief from the stress of tests and project deadlines, it was only fitting to give back a bit. So, for this month’s submission, I chose an early-game overworld theme known as “Outskirts”, and had a little fun with it! I hope you all enjoy and just as a heads up, you should all look forward to seeing even more Bug Fables, possibly in this very showcase! Adam Hentschel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVCkK0zjn6A

Adam Hentschel