Cup of Jones - September 23, 2019
Added 2019-09-23 16:57:29 +0000 UTCThis week has a little bit of everything: reactions to a big event, a new episode of a monthly show, embargoed reviews of new releases, and lots of streams of new and old games. There are also several new seasons in production for Achieve it Yourself, Prison of Love, and Trailer Jones. So it feels good that with the gaming industry firing on all cylinders right now, and our coverage moving from one release to the next, we have even more fun stuff to share with you in the near future.
Brandon
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_aDe6NJ17Q
DISCLAIMER: I take questions from the post comments on the previous week’s episode here on Patreon. You can ask a business-related question which I may answer live, or a personal question which I may answer below. If your business question was not answered live, I either replied to it in the comments, or referenced the answer in a recent episode. Feel free to inquire why your question wasn't included, or ask the same question a second time if you think I may have missed it. I will edit your comment/question before reading it live to ensure the show moves as quickly as possible.
PERSONAL QUESTIONS
MEGAN LINART - Can I just have your quick thoughts on Grease 2? JONES - I’ve never seen it, actually. It’s been built up so much over the years by its fans that I’m scared to give it a try in case I can’t stand it for some reason. Is it available on a streaming service, by chance?
SPACE_DOM - What impact, if any, does the new Rockstar Games Launcher for PC have on your life? JONES - Very little. I just picked up San Andreas on PS4 for our final Top Ten, so getting the game for free on PC isn’t very appealing. But I’m sure I’ll be downloading it when Red Dead Redemption II comes to PC. It’s only a matter of time.
Comments
Seems like sponsor slots have been open since E3 ended. Is that a concern at all or a pretty normal post-E3 occurence? With the emphasis on streaming for phase 4, have you sought out or been presented with opportunities for more stream sponsors? On a related note, as someone who mostly listened to the podcasts, I was initially indifferent to the phase 4 changes. However, I've been stuck at home for a few weeks recovering from surgery, and I've found myself watching along with the many streams you guys have going throughout the week. Just wanted to say thanks to you and all the Allies for bringing some jolly vibes and laughter into my days.
DashTwenty7
2019-09-29 22:29:18 +0000 UTCSafety post.
Daniel Ribeiro
2019-09-29 16:56:13 +0000 UTCHi, Jones. Regarding your reply last week, don't worry. I'm just sharing my thoughts and getting some incentive to keep going, since it's quite an undertaking and as you can expect, some movies are very, very rough watching. For almost all of these movies, I had only watched them once since I almosy never watch, play or read something again, because that takes the place of something new that I never experienced before. So this also helps me appreciate them again - even the really horrible ones are funny since you can laugh at how bad they are. Anyway, continuing the adventure, this week is time for the Blade movies: Blade (1998) - 6/10 - Good movie. The first and last fights are great with amazing choreography which reminded me of John Wick. The special effects are very cool. I love how it has a grungy/underground feel to it and the world feels so bleak and hopeless, which just puts a smile on my face. I had this memory of the first Blade movie not being very good, but I'm glad to be wrong. It definitely holds up and is still a solid movie even though it doesn't have much special effects, it didn't age as much because it is more grounded in reality than trying to rely on special effects. It unfortunately loses steam in the second half of the movie. The movie is 2 hours long and this is where it would have benefitted greatly from a more condensed runtime, maybe 20-30 minutes shorter in order to keep the pace up. If you can, try watching the first fight, it goes from 00:07:00 to 00:10:30. Really cool one. Blade 2 (2002) - 9/10 - Freaking great movie!!! I can't even express how great this movie is. It's great from beginning to end without losing steam at any moment. The characters are really great, the story shines, the twists are smart, the special effects are great, the score and music is really appropriate and this movie even incorporates moments reminiscent of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986) with Horror and an uneasy alliance that are amazing. The dialogue is highly entertaining just like in Aliens. They even manage to bring a loved character that you didn't think they would. The action scenes are great and the fighting choreography really shines here. At times I kept thinking that this is like a John Wick movie, but with vampires and it just nails it. Then at the end, after already knowing the score I'd give it, who do I see directed this movie... Guillermo - Freaking - del Toro!!!!! I love his movies so much, I knew he directed Blade 2, but that didn't even cross my mind. So it was a beautiful surprise like a puzzle where all the pieces fit together perfectly, so of course he did! It's interesting to note that for both Blade 1 and 2, I had thought of the same score that I had already given them all those years ago. If you haven't watched this movie before or it's been many years since you did, I whole heartedly recommend it. Blade: Trinity - 2/10 - This movie is bad, very, very bad. Where to start when so many things are extremely bad... for starters, when someone makes even action scenes bland, you know there's a very serious problem. Bad story, horrible characters' personalities, bad special effects that are even worse than Blade 1 which came out 6 years prior!, the villain is lacklustre and imposes no threat, the humor is completely humorless, no explanations to what the main vampires are or how did they get to where they are, stupid decisions that go contrary to previously established personalities in the first two movies, subplots and events that dont amount to anything, no payoff, killing characters for no reason and which doesn't make any impact whatsoever. To give an example of how bad things get, one of the main characters rescue a kidnapped little girl in a room in a building, you see one of the main characters leading her out of the room, then cuts to another scene somewhere else and there's no indication that anything happened with that little girl. The next time you see the character who rescued the little girl, she is nowhere to be seen. The movie continues for another 22 minutes and she never appears again, ever. None of the characters say anything to indicate they did anything with that little girl - plus there wouldn't even had time to do anything, like it would take at least 20 minutes to get her to anywhere even remotely safe. This when she was in a building full of vampires and even vampire dogs, while you see the main characters fighting and no sight of the little girl anywhere, not even after the villains are killed. Did she disappear in thin air? Did she became invisible? Did she go back to that room and stayed there all defenseless until she died? They certainly left that little girl all alone to fend for herself in the most dangerous place possible. Like WTF!?! There's no logical conclusion to it. Why was that little girl even kidnapped in the first place if it served no purpose to the story?! No purpose at all. It's insanely bad. It would have been much better if the main villain had killed her, at least then that would have given more purpose to the characters' motives trying to avenge her and the others. There's another scene at the beginning where Blade doesn't see that a human is not a vampire. The first movie established that Blade knows exceptionally well how to distinguish humans from vampires. As well as Blade having very keen senses. The Blade Marvel Wikia even states: "Blade is also able to sense the presence of supernatural beings" and "He is capable of seeing objects with perfect clarity at much greater distances than ordinary humans. He retains this same level of clarity even in near-total darkness." In this movie he kills a human by mistake in a lit environment at a distance of 10-15 meters. Yet the writer - which is also the director - thought it would be a great idea to make him kill a human by mistake?! If they at least had made him be affected by some drug which impaired both his senses and mind, but he was completely fine. I guess that with age Blade lost his keen senses and also became stupider somehow. I which that was the end of it, but there are other extremely bad subplots. Like the first two movies hammered the viewer in the head that vampires are everywhere and they control politics, finances, real estate, the police, etc. Blade himself is the one who even says all of this in the first movie. Yet, here Blade lets himself get caught by the vampire-controlled police knowing all of this and for no reason whatsoever, just to be drugged and almost killed at the hands of vampires when as far as he knew no one was gonna help him?????? There are so many extremely bad events like this that you start wondering how incompetent the writer/director was to think any of this was even remotely okay. This movie is extremely bad! Anyway, I hope this at least made you laugh a little, Jones. Because then it was worth writing this - and watching this trash of a movie. And yes, I want you to laugh of my misery, at least then it served a higher purpose - unlike that subplot with the little girl...... This is absolutely a personal question, so no need to read live on the show or anything. Though any thoughts or input you wanna share are more than welcomed. Also, no need to put it on the next CoJ post since it's too long. A reply here is more than enough. L&R
Daniel Ribeiro
2019-09-29 16:55:53 +0000 UTCHey Jones, Have you guys ever considered making a semi-regular show/podcast where you casually talk about non-gaming nerdy stuff? Something along the lines of Frame Trap but for Movies, shows, Anime, etc. For example, we always hear Kyle or Huber talking about a show or Anime that they’ve got into lately but we rarely hear them go in-depth about it. I know you guys have some some venues for that but nothing really captures what I have in mind. Reaction Shots is usually just about a specific theme. Frame Trap rarely talks about non-gaming stuff. And Spoiler Mode requires multiple allies to finish something in a timely manner and be interested in talking about it. And we don’t get to hear the thoughts of anybody who might have finished it later or couldn’t make it to the recording. I just think it would be nice to get a venue for Allies to talk about and discuss what they might be into lately that doesn’t necessarily involve gaming.
K
2019-09-29 11:16:35 +0000 UTCIt was simply something Damiani wanted to review, and I don't believe he had gotten a chance to play it before. The PC version released a year before Easy Allies existed, and we did review it on Xbox at GameTrailers. There wasn't any reason to have reviewed the game at EZA until this new Switch release, which many are curious about due to this very unusual situation of Xbox Game Studios publishing a game on a Nintendo platform. As for saying "whatever releases on Switch gets a review," there's not really much support for that idea. Of the last 20 reviews, only 4 were done on Switch, and there are notable games such as Daemon x Machina which we have not had the chance to review. -Bloodworth
Easy Allies
2019-09-27 22:02:02 +0000 UTCMr. Jones, Has there been any progress with cross training the allies in different areas so that each member can be more versatile to the company? If not.....why not? If so.....what's next for improving the efficiency of EZA?
Morgan Mohalla
2019-09-27 14:55:56 +0000 UTCHello Jones I have a question regarding reviews. I saw that you guys posted a review of ori and the blind forest for the switch. Now was this review done only because it released on the switch? I am just finding that whatever releases on the switch get a review but other things get left behind. I know it is in regards to what ally wants to cover a review but why choose this version instead of the PC version that had already released? Don't get me wrong I am not against this I just founded curious. L&R!
Isaias Sanchez
2019-09-26 14:52:09 +0000 UTCHeya Jones, So if Phase 4 of Easy Allies ate lunch at Mindy's, as seen in Guys and Dolls, would it choose the cheesecake or the strudel?
Asbo Zappruder
2019-09-25 22:09:49 +0000 UTCHey Jones, Castlemania games sells a highly effective HDMI adapter for the Nintendo 64 called the EON Super 64 for $150. There are less expensive options out there, but from the reviews I've seen this is the best option for playing Nintendo 64 games on modern displays short of having a console modified. Do you think that this could be a worthwhile purchase for the company if you or any of the Allies want to stream/capture a Nintendo 64 game on native hardware from the studio and/or during future Easy Livin's? I've provided the link below. Love and Respect, Dan https://castlemaniagames.com/products/eon-super-64
Daniel Schwartz
2019-09-25 17:10:19 +0000 UTCThat is potentially an option, but it's not about the PC's performance. There's just something throwing it off with the new TV we put in the streaming room a few months back. We've found a few temporary solutions, but still troubleshooting to decide what the best course is long-term. -Bloodworth
Easy Allies
2019-09-25 16:47:17 +0000 UTCHowdy Jones, I just wanted to throw my hat in the ring and say that I would love some coverage of RDR2O. I think the new updates are substantial and worth discussing in depth. I think Rockstar has handled the online aspect of this game better than anyone had hoped after their poor showing in the Beta when the online mode was initially released last year, and some attention should be given to the efforts they have put in. If time doesn't allow for it then of course I understand. L&R Swan
Swan
2019-09-25 16:20:15 +0000 UTCIs the post for telling us when you will be collecting Q&A questions redundant now that you're answering all the questions? Just since there's no rush anymore, well, unless someone really wanted to be first or something.
BeatenDownBrian
2019-09-25 15:33:09 +0000 UTCI think this came up not too long ago, but I can't remember what episode. It pretty much came from Kyle renaming the email section L&R back on GT Time. It used to be called "well you're the one who started this conversation" (Said in Bosman's best snarky voice), but Kyle thought it was to aggressive, so he changed it to L&R. Fans just kinda latched onto it after that, and especially when GT got shut down. That's how it came to be at least, Jones will have to answer what it means to them, and to himself.
BeatenDownBrian
2019-09-25 14:42:46 +0000 UTCHave you guys considered getting a Two PC stream setup where one PC just does capture and the other does the rest? Seems you've had some chugging when too much stuff is happening on the streaming PC.
Olf Himself
2019-09-25 11:59:27 +0000 UTCI would also be very interested in Greedfall review even if it comes out way later.
Alexander Zyryanov
2019-09-25 11:58:22 +0000 UTCHello Brandon. Now that you have way less time to play video games, do you still like when games require grinding?
Alexander Zyryanov
2019-09-25 06:39:29 +0000 UTCCheers jones! Your question last week about reviewing Like Father Like Son as compared to games like Mario Maker and MUA got me thinking. What do you think about a more casual show where you just discuss a game without a review score. Similar to how kinda funny reviews games on their gamescast. I think this might tread on some frame trap and friend code territory but I think putting content out on a game right at release might have some value. You won’t have to totally play through a game by release and you could just give your thoughts on a game so far. This could also help with getting review codes late. As I said frame trap and friend code would eventually cover this kind of material but just thought putting the content out when a review embargo’s up might be valuable and give more visibility to the discussion and was wondering what you thought. This is my first time leaving a comment on CoJ but I’ve been listening for a while now and think it’s awesome you do such detailed updates on EZA, so thanks for that! L&R -Beeks P.S. I’ll be attending my first major smash bros tournament Big House 9 in a couple weekends and if I make it on stream I’ll be sure to rock the love and respect tag. So look out and root for me Allies, I’ll definitely need it!
tbeeks15
2019-09-25 02:21:11 +0000 UTCJones would there be any interest in doing a mid game of the year awards discussion similar to your game of the year one? I feel like games that release early in the year can get overshadowed by games that come out in the fall.
strawhatninja
2019-09-24 19:25:37 +0000 UTCHey, Jones. This is a question that I know has been asked before, but EZA is always growing and I think most of us become fans without ever grasping the answer to this question. How did the "Love & Respect" motto come to be and what does it mean for Easy Allies or for you?
Rayluaza
2019-09-24 18:34:49 +0000 UTCHi Brandon, I recently watched a Corridor Crew video and at they end of it, they released a metric saying (paraphrasing) "So about 60% of the people that watch our content are not subscribers, so if you could please subscribe it will help us grow and generate more and better content." I was already subscribed, but I felt that was a nice way to ask people to do so. I really think it would behoove you on your Podcast and Twitch streams to start and/or end with some hard numbers. As an example, I really liked it when Bloodworth implored people to sign up to Patreon for a dollar and I think that should be done more often. Anyways, great stuff as always and I really like the new shorter version of Cup of Jones!
GW Fawkes
2019-09-24 16:30:17 +0000 UTCHi Jones, While listening to CoJ and hearing someone ask about next year's anniversary celebration, I heard you say you wanted to do something that involved more interaction between the Allies and fans and I had an idea I think would be fun. (will edit later to add details)
JessieBlu
2019-09-24 15:06:14 +0000 UTCGreetings Jones. With the GOTY and Best of E3, there is still one reward i'm missing from the GT time : the most disapointing award. You know, the one that a lot of people didn't understand and though it was saying a game was bad, when it was just saying disapointing depending on the high expectations. Is it a reward that could return someday? Love and Respect Aurélien
Aurélien GRANIER
2019-09-24 12:47:49 +0000 UTCHi Jones (or Blood), can we expect reviews for any of these games: Greedfall, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Daemon X Machina and AI: The Somnium Files?
Jesse Nye
2019-09-24 10:32:25 +0000 UTCMind giving any thoughts on how Easy Allies could approach covering Ring Fit Adventure, assuming the interest and opportunity lines up? It's the first fitness game to have a hook that'd actually keep me motivated, and you, Brad or maybe even Sean appear equipped to give the audience better insight into just how well the game does or doesn't perform as a fitness product. There was a little taste of that in the podcast around its unveiling, and I'd love to actually get an in-depth look at this as both a motivating game and a fitness routine from a crew I already trust.
Kirbu
2019-09-24 00:29:50 +0000 UTCNo question, just wanted to comment on the reply to my suggestion about Spoiler Modes. I get why you’d lean towards doing a promo with a new episode, but there’s a few reasons I suggested using one of the older ones. I believe them to be evergreen content. Even personally, I have gone back to watch Spoiler Modes months after they were put up, as I was late to a game etc., and I’ve never found them to be dated. To Bradely Spies point about people only be interested in certain ones, it’s why I suggested using one of the episodes covering a game that sold really well, which hopefully would cast the widest net (in retrospect, KH3 might not be a great choice, even though it sold well). However, take Sekiro, and RE2, both are games that people still talk about, and both constantly show up when people talk about their goty so far. Even though they might be 10 month old games at this point, to a fan who never got to see that Spoiler Mode, that’s still interesting content imo. I didn’t mean to suggest just randomly throwing up an old episode. I saw it a chance to transform an existing episode into a general promo for Spoiler Mode, maybe through a short message edited into the start of the episode, before then re-uploading it publically. You mentioned not wanting to rock the boat on something that’s already working well, which I can of course understand, but this is also why I suggested repurposing an older episode, so that the new one remains behind a paywall. My main reasoning behind this whole suggestion is that people can’t miss what they’ve never had, but if you can give them a taste of it, they might wanna come back for more.
BeatenDownBrian
2019-09-23 23:54:21 +0000 UTCHey Mr. Jones! I’ve been loving the Pokemon Silver streams so far, but I’ve gotten the feeling, one way or another, the game time has been cut down by circumstances both in and out of your control. To provide an example for both, first the ones you CAN control: Artwork. I LOOOOOOVE the artwork that’s been showcased so far, the one downside being it’s taken about 10-20 minutes out of the strict two hours. As for an example of what you CAN’T control: Computer issues. Whether it’s a power outage, XSplit or OBS (Whichever is being used) is acting up, the audio is whacked, or something else, it’s felt like the last couple of streams some of the scheduled time was lost in on-the-fly troubleshooting. While the art is a nice way to start, and you can never predict what may or may not happen to internet or computer, I feel like these examples and more limits how much you can do. Silver is a GREAT candidate of having a stream that can last a LOOOOOOOONG time, but I feel like you and Mr. Bosman are unnecessarily losing playtime. SO: Because the 7 pm end time is strict to adhere to because of the podcast as people will be waiting around, do you think it would be better to have the podcast being recorded simultaneously during one of the earlier streams (probably the Mana stream because Mr. Hinck is needed to be in the Control Room and he’s a part of Weekly Hunts) that way anytime lost at the start can be tacked on to the end? Or is this a case of just needing to expect only an hour and a half of game time instead of two? I apologize if this is read as frustrated, but I am not and just want to see the Silver stream be as great as it can be. Thanks a ton for reading this novel and again, have a wonderful rest of your day. Cheers! QUESTION: Could the podcast be recorded simultaneously with one of the Thursday streams earlier in the day so the game time lost at the beginning of the Silver streams due to tech issues and the art showcase can be tacked on at the end, thus preventing a rushed feeling of a hard out because of the podcast recording while also getting the two hours of game time? Or should I just accept and expect that Silver playtime will be an hour and a half at most moving forward?
Brandon K Gann
2019-09-23 17:59:50 +0000 UTCI've been wondering the same thing! It'd be pretty cool to have them on and Kristen as well !
Whovian
2019-09-23 17:14:12 +0000 UTCJones, has there ever been discussion of doing something with the "Wives of Easy Allies"? They may have no interest but Amanda, Bloodwife, and Huber's wife probably have some interesting takes on the Easy Allies venture and I for one would love to hear it as a married man of 14 years. If Blood and Huber's lovely wives have no interest in being on camera, that's cool, just curious if that had been discussed. L&R!
TravelingSnowman
2019-09-23 17:08:57 +0000 UTC
