Easy Allies Podcast #144 - 1/9/19

Hitman 2 and IO Interactive. I don’t know how well Hitman 2 sold but it was top on Steam for a good while. Regarding the fate if IOI they just recently opened a new office in Malmö Sweden (to reach talent from the same city Massive Ubisoft is located) so hopefully they are not in trouble and even growing larger!

How do you feel about carbon offsets Kyle? You could try some kind of morality offset for this Jumpforce game. Donate to a charity or something. I personally find the suggestion to be a bit dubious, but I also disagree with the human tendency to throw the good out with the bad. That rabbit hole will eventually drain all joy from your life

Wool

I feel the same way whenever he brings it up. There is very little a developer can do to stem this kind of obsessive player behavior. Content takes a lot of time and money to make, and it just isn't possible to create it faster than it can be consumed. The only way around it is to timegate content, or make it prohibitively grindy.

Wool

In regards to Darksiders 3. the CEO of THQ Nordic had said they'd be happy if the game sold 100,000 copies in a few months and they'd be looking into doing a sequel after that point. It has sold more than that amount on steam alone so it has met their expectations.

SomeGameNews

Correction for Huber: As said by the lead producers (Mike Gamble and Ben Irving), Anthem has zero paid DLC. All future content drops will be free. To add to that, all micro-transactions are cosmetic, and all of those cosmetics are obtainable in-game through some means anyways. And no lootboxes.

KYLE YOU MENTIONED SOMETHING FRONTMISSION RELATED. I LOVE YOU!!! 🤘🤘🤘

A day or so before the podcast airs there will be a post on this patreon asking for submissions. Welcome to the community, dude.

James Kennedy

How do I submit questions for L&R? I'm somewhat new to being a patron.

Just jumping in really quickly. I think this is an issue that has to be decided by the individual. I don't think other people should be judged for enjoying the art of someone who is problematic, but I understand that some people can't distance the artist from their art (and that is okay, too).

James Kennedy

I should preface this by saying I’ve never seen the series, but I think it’s really unfair to try and say that Kenshin is something disgusting that people shouldn’t enjoy now. What the creator did was horrible, but I think there has to be a separation of artist and art. There are probably a lot of good people in that fanbase, and I don’t feel like they now need to all hate a series they love due to the creator being a shit person. Like another comment said, that would be the equivalent of never listening to a Michael Jackson song ever again.

NoaZo

Ha, I think they are probably more interested in interviewing people that are more connected to the industry. At the end of the day, my mother is just a lady who plays games (or according to the youtube comments section, doesn't exist). So, she isn't actually going to bring a whole lot more to an interview than a interview with any other given EZA viewer. I, of course, would find it wildly entertaining, but I'm not sure if many other people would.

James Kennedy

Once you are set up to invite people for shows and interviews it would be amazing to have James Kennedy’s mother on a show

Richard Goetz

In an interview, From said they wanted to work with a Western publisher who could provide them insight on how to better implement tutorials, etc to appeal more to a Western audience, and they had already worked with Activision in the past with stuff like Tenchu and Lost Kingdoms. It seems to be more about familiarity with them as a publisher instead of any kind of rights issues.

Phazonmasher

Correction : I read in an interview that Sekiro was developed as a new Tenchu game, but it evolved to become something different, today know as Sekiro. So I'm sure that's why Activion is involved with From Software in Sekiro, it's because Activition used to own the rights to the Tenchu license on PS2.

Aurélien GRANIER

Don't care if this comment gets mentioned but I've just gotta say my peace. Rurouni Kenshin is a fantastic story with phenomenal characters/character growth. It was very sad to learn of it's creators background but the story still stand the test of time and deserves to be appreciated and enjoyed by its fans. At 29 years old, Kenshin is still one of my favorite characters and anime of all time. Top 5. And if we're going to continue this conversation, if you were a fan of Michael Jackson's work I'd ask you to next listen to one of his songs ever again. Even if the creation meant something to you but the creator was a horrid human being, there is still a positive to be found.

DualOrange

Some feedback on Pro Strats that isn't just "I didn't like it". The panel should be "Pros" so there should be no "I didn't get that" or "I didn't know about that". It should be just a "Listen, do this" and if there are any disagreements within the group it should be "Here's why that strat is dumb/inefficient". Well, I'm assuming that's how it was supposed to work. That being said, I'm not seeing the potential for this segment in the same way as And For That Reason and Recruit Me.

Rappy

I did not like pro strats at all tbh

Jeremy Ferris

CORRECTION from the 2019 production special. Kyle said MLB would be called MLB 20 the show but the MLB season takes place within the calendar year so this years MLB The Show is MLB 19.

David Sobiegraj

Pro Strats was confusing and weird...

Anontastic

Even as an Epic Games Exclusive this time?

VGJunky

The Last Guardian is the best game this gen, take it back Ian!

The Division 2 will outsell The Division 1, you should check the game's popularity since the last dlcs Kyle, its got WAY more goodwill than Destiny. Also people are lukewarm on Anthem. People will have to choose between Anthem which they know nothing about or Division 2, which has the buzz of the first one's great updates in 2017-2018

Térence Caron

I don't get Huber's obsession with "People BURN through those games". You don't have to burn through it. If you play Anthem like a Twitch streamer thats different. Destiny has a bigger problem, its replayability. You just cant ask for 1 month's worth of new content, thats not human. Ask for replayability and interesting power progression. Also hopefully, scalable content. Destiny is real bad at scaling content and letting players play most activities.

Térence Caron

As someone who plays Destiny 2 weekly, I was not that excited for Anthem. However, Jones' testimonial of what it was like to play the demo was enough to make me at least keep it on my radar. One of the reasons I keep going back to Bungie's games is how well they nail just simply playing the game, and if Anthem is able to match or surpass the gunplay and movement of Destiny 2 while providing a unique enough experience that I don't feel bored of it out of the gate, I'll certainly give it a try. Thanks for the discussion, EZA.

Ah I missed the double standards and virtue signaling^^ good to have you guys back in action^^ on a more serious note, I do think that Anthem will be Bioware's Swan Song, though this does not imply any sort quality

erni

The manga Huber mentioned are not series running in Jump. The reason Kenshin is included is because his Manga is still ongoing and selling extremely well. The incident with the manga-ka wasn't really a big deal in Japan. Most people where more worried about his career than the fact he had some sleazy DVDs. It is hard to imagine but he bought those DVDs when they where still legal. The reason Japan changed its laws is most likely because of the summer Olympics.

Also my TRAVIS STRIKES AGAIN PLEA: So Suda has stated several times he wanted this game to be small. He wanted to feel the feeling of making an indie game again and being very hands on. This is actually his first time back in charge of scenarios and so hands on in a long time! Also it is absolutely a test to get traction for No More heroes 3. He's said it many times in interviews. He's also stated he desperately wants to make NMH3 and considers this game KIIIIND of a prequel to set that game up story wise? So brothers.. sisters.. please give this game some love. It's comin' out at a budget price of $40 bucks. Get the physical copy and you get the DLC free. I think it's gonna be a good time.

Raven Perez

Cynical Bloodworth striking like a safari rhino from the darkness.

Raven Perez

Correction: Far Cry Primal was a full priced $60 game when it came out.

ToastIX

I really love the new segment Pro Strats Only. I like how matter-of-fact and committed y'all were to the advice lol Reminded me of things me and my friends used to do. Looking forward to more!

Travis Miosi

Dragon Age Inquisition is the best selling game Bioware Montreal (the real Bioware) has ever done. Anthem will not have payed DLC. There are only MT for Vanity and perhaps new Javelin (classes).

Patrick

It's a bit. Not a real game.

the_finnish_ally

"Pig" is a light way to describe a collector of child porn

DaleBastion

Sorry, but what was the first game they were talking about during pro strats? Welcome back love yew guys

Sam Robbins

PvE Only is a big selling point for me. I love Destiny 2 for the missions, but haven't gone back to the game since learning that the best gear for my level comes from PvP.

Mac

I think there's plenty of reason to be optimistic about Anthem. People are too quick to compare it to Destiny and all the problems that had. A better comparison is Diablo 2 and 3. Anthem has a similar difficulty system and loot to the Diablo series. People get through the Diablo story quickly, but they keep playing because high difficulties really test your skills and there's tons of builds to try out with rare loot. The lack of PvP is not a fault of the game. It's a feature. A PvE focus means skills and gear combos can have a lot more variety and unique effects.

Dustin McNab

I had a comment locked and loaded about all the Anthem talk when it was first brought up. I held off though because I had to see it through to the Final Word first and I'm glad I did. It's a bit frustrating seeing so much negativity towards Anthem and similarly DA: I, which was financially and critically well received (hey I thought it had some of the best characters in the series, new cast and old), just because of "it's EA". Currently, they do not plan to have any paid DLC for Anthem and microtransactions are all cosmetic. That could change in the future, but that's what they're saying right now.

Rappy

It's new, give it time

Nicholas Poer

Wow, Huber and Jones KILLED IT! For the record, she beat all the games, with the sole exception being Rondo of Blood. However, give her credit, she still beat Death. As for meeting her... you are going to have to travel up to Canada, Ian. ;)

James Kennedy

I do not like Pro Strats, anyone else...?

Rudy Ramirez

Ian throwin haymakers early on. KH3, Last Guardian. Just daammnnnnn

Owen

You're living a worse life if you cast aside an artistic medium that brought you joy in the past simply because you learn the creator has been a pig since before you even liked the thing. Rurouni Kenshin isn't the problem here, similarly it's not your fault if your high school teacher treats you like shit because your Dad was a bad kid in her class 20 years ago. Fuck that. Art in any form is going to appeal to at least one human, and if that's you and you say otherwise, you're not being true yourself and might as well be the embodiment of Twitter University.

Mac

Happy New Year you guys, y'all have a dope 2019 to look forward to!

Vishal Singh

welcome back from break, Allies!