Cup of Jones - December 23, 2019

Amanda sadly will be out of the house. - Jones

Easy Allies

Safety post.

Daniel Ribeiro

Hi, Jones. Happy new year and decade to you, Amanda, Milo, the Allies, the EZA community and everyone's families. May this year and decade be the best for gaming and everything else. Cheers. As for questions, for the first post of the year and decade, I decided to go with both personal and business questions. Had to separate this post into 2 parts because Patreon kept deleting it if I posted everything in a single post. Context: This will be extremely personal and the answer could be very long or short, so feel free to share as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. What do you plan, aim to achieve and hope to accomplish and, in a general sense, that is accomplished in this year and decade as a son to your parents, as a husband to Amanda, as a father to Milo, as a brother to your brother, as a son-in-law to your parents-in-law, for yourself, because you are all those versions of yourself, but also an individual separate from those versions, as well as a human being in this universe - this last one may seem weird, but think of it like helping preserve the planet, be a force for good in society, raising awareness for issues and/or solutions, where you hope society/mankind goes or achieves, basically, as being part of mankind and of this world, how do you see yourself as and what part you want/should take in both. Question: As a son, husband, father, brother, son-in-law, human being and for yourself, could you please talk what are your plans, goals and hopes for this year and decade? I know this is extremely personal, I'm literally asking who and also what is Brandon Jones and what he plans and hopes in this year and decade as all these versions and as a whole. Please interpret this question any way you want. I love all these versions of you, no matter how much or little I have seen of them, and as a whole. (Part 1/2)

Daniel Ribeiro

No questions this time, just two things FYI: 1. In "Community Showcase - January 2020" you typed "No submissions will be accepted past January 7, <b>2019</b>". 2. I was one of those people who were sad that you didn’t review Geedfall. After finishing this game I must admit that you were right to skip it. It feels like work in progress that’s at least one year before release. Many interiors are literally copy-pasted; VO can be all over the place during single dialog; AI has navigation problems; camera can clip through objects during dialogs; combat is fast but unresponsive; control configuration is weird; fast-travel is too restrictive resulting in a lot of running back and forth. There are some good aspects too, but at this point it’s very hard to enjoy them. Maybe it will be worth to return to in Don’t Skip form after several years of patches (if they will patch it), but in 2019 you made the right call to prioritize other games over Greedfall.

Alexander Zyryanov

Hey jones. With the year coming to a close I was curious about something you wish you could’ve changed this year and/or this decade. L+R Jason

Wire rope

Can easy allies have a "flash sale" on your spreadshirt site since it's going to be deleted soon?

klastical

Hi Jones - is Amanda there with you today, and if so, could we please trouble her for a rendition of her line from the Shrek the Third video game? Thanks, Space Dom

DaleBastion

I have that fear too! It's called Thalassophobia ( I hope I spelled it right)

Happy new year Jones! Is EZA going to Gamescom this year? It would be a joy to see you roam the video game playground that is Gamescom, and for many European Allies and Patreon supporters, it would be the only chance to ever meet you guys in person. I thought I better ask now, because if I would ask three months prior to the event, you would probably already have different plans, and the answer would be "maybe next year." If there should be true intentions among the Allies to make this happen, please don't sleep on it. L&amp;R Snowcone Guy

Snowcone Guy

Totally agree with what you said about chat doing what an audience does. I like to think of it like how someone watching sports on TV might yell at the screen. Chat is not really talking to you at those times. We're just screaming at each other.

Olf Himself

Please consider doing a EZA Reacts to EZA 2019 edition before the anniversary. Last year's one was so much fun.

Olf Himself

Merry Christmas Brandon! Since we had talked about it before, I was wondering if you have more interest in Yakuza Like a Dragon now that they've announced their "Sujimon Collection" side activity for the game. Each Sujimon have their own weaknesses and abilities and there is even an Encyclopedia that gives you information about them. The game has 252 Sujimon to collect and become a Sujimon Master. More info here: https://gematsu.com/2019/12/yakuza-like-a-dragon-has-sujimon-collection-element Thoughts?

Jones I am glad you didn't use Ice Punch in that fight because it forced you into a very difficult situation where you were almost constantly 1 turn away from death. Seeing you survive, bet, and make informed decisions on how to survive felt like way more of a test of skill then seeing you use a correct attack. It made the fight feel honest and epic, I couldn't ask for more. I think the people complaining weren't actually annoyed as much as just wanting that W. You got it and it was guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud. Happy Holidays, Jones.

Jeffrey Tessar

Hi jones. On the last frametrap you mentioned having trouble beating breath of fire 1. Would you be willing to stream this game in order to let the eza community help you figure out how to beat the game together? L&amp;R Alex.

Alex_AI

About the Ice Punch moment in Silver Squad (actual question later): Being tense you weren't using ice punch was part of the fun! We like to amuse ourselves in chat. It wasn't really directed at you or in want of any solution, it was just an audience doing their "oooooooooooh"s and "aaaaaaaaaa!!!"s At least that's the way I view it! ---- Ben established Don't Skip as a vehicle for talking about games with a extremely personal voice (literally too). Now we got your Don't Skip with your opinions and experiences. What about the other allies? Ian and Don's previous HoG submissions are basically Don't Skip videos (well, with some small revisions they could be). Maybe Don has a venue to finally use his full script for AvP? They already have the right mindset to make a Don't Skip so maybe all that is left for that to happen is some friendly nudging? Just saying. I'd love to see a Don't Skip from all the allies, written and voiced by each one but those two I've highlighted seemed to be closer to the path to fully produce one. L&amp;R

Eric Grynberg

(For the next live episode when you’ll take questions) Hey Mr. Jones! Now that we’re in January (and I’m sure will be one of the top topics for this episode), I was curious what the GOTY plans are this year. Will EZA stream deliberations again? What categories will EZA keep outside of the big one and which will be swapped out? Will you be dedicating a group stream for personal lists as well like last year? What date should we save in our calendars for all the content? Regardless of the plan, I’m looking forward to EZA’s GOTYs. I hope you had a Happy New Year and as always, thanks for reading and have a wonderful rest of your day! Cheers! P.S.: Per your request for comments regarding your Silver Final Four experience: FULL DISCLOSURE – Yes, I am one person who felt despair that you kept not picking Ice Punch would cause you to restart the whole challenge. While keeping your experience, failure would’ve caused you to lose out on items used and money spent. So in the moment, yes, personally speaking it was frustrating during the fight. HOWEVER. As you clearly explained in your mid-episode editorial, because you’re being kept from playing how you would’ve normally played, and with the exhilaration when you overcame the challenge, it legitimately was more entertaining to see you just brute force it as opposed to knowing the typing beforehand. In the moment, sure, we all would like to see you know the typing, leading to easier victories and more progress on streams, but with hindsight being 20/20, I realize that how you did it made me feel more elation than if you would have known the typing advantage ahead of time. Personally speaking, It’s VERY hard to know how something will feel better from the struggle, when experiencing it comfortably and predictably. You did awesome, and I can’t wait to see you revisit Kanto. QUESTION: What is EZA’s GOTY plans this year? Any changes from previous years and when will it take place?

Brandon K Gann

I was not frustrated watching you battle the elite 4. I was afraid you were going to lose and then run out of time before you needed to leave for Star Wars, give up, and then decide that you didn't want to play anymore. That failing at the Elite 4 was some kind of appropriate ending and that we would miss out on the post-game reveal.

Olf Himself

A while back, I recommended the YouTube channel Bright Sun Films for their documentary videos about cancelled and abandoned Disney parks. Did you get around to checking it out?

TurboChickenMan

Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!!!

strawhatninja

It was frustrating watching you battle the elite four and not use ice punch. I would have done the same thing my first time as well but that's what made it fun.

Ibrahim Sozer