Community Showcase Submissions - October 2018

Hello friends, here is Part Two of my submission: bit.ly/wcs12opener (ZIP File with the movie link and pictures) It has been a while since I brought something to the showcase. Without a doubt it was about time. Over a year ago I made an anime style fight scene as an opener movie for my Wohnzimmer (living room) Championships. A video game tournament series that I celebrate twice a year with my friends. I do a new film for every event. So I would like to share with you the current opener. The Championships should have taken place already. Due to Covid-19, I delayed the event to next month. But since this is the last showcase Kyle is going to see, I have no choice but to leak this piece. Hopefully none of my friends are watching... This time I (again) picked a few of the usual combatants, found action figures that (with a little visual makeup) looked alike, get them dressed in actual representations of peoples clothing (picture: Character_01), built a miniture of my living room (picture: Room_01) and added everything a stupid toy commercial needs (music, voiceover, logo animation). Voila - The fictional toyline "Wohnzimmer Champions" was created. Easy, right? Since my sons demand a lot of my time, I worked on this in the morning hours from 5am till 8am. But since I had 5 month time - I made it. I had no experiece in modelmaking whatsoever - not a minute. But sometimes it is exiting and fun to peek out of your box, right? I made a version with subtitles for you guys - but wouldn't it be more fun to show Kyle the german version and let him guess what the heck is going on? (not very much, that's for sure) Kyle, I would say, what you accomplished through creating BoxPeek was the major inspiration - not for the content of my film, but to DO IT. It gave me certainty that I was up to the task and that I would finish it. I know, the three spots are silly and the dialogue is dumb - but I could imaging my friends having a great time, seen themselves in form of an action figure. Why all this work for the introduction of an event of maybe 20 people? No one in the room expects it and nearly no one beside these people is going to see this. Someone once put the perfect answer in a written dialogue: "How come you don't do bonus bits at the end of the show no more?" And I said: "Come on, kid. Nobody cares about those." The kid said: "Yeah, but you do, don't you?" Sending all my Love & Respect, Christian Marschalt

Ron, we honestly love you and I think you'd love the EZA Fan page on Facebook! a good bunch of dudes over there! We're here for you

Hey Blood and Brandon! WINGATAKUS here.Jones you wanted screen shots so here ya go. Wasnt sure how to group the photos so its the last 4 post in the link. The Boss ,My Palico , some Spider man , My custom in Gran Turismo , Zelda , Toad for Smash and My badass femshep from ME2. Have a great one Guys L&amp;R and a tease for next month Mario Paint <a href="https://twitter.com/myawesomeideas/media" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/myawesomeideas/media</a>

John Wingate

Got Skipped last week so double posting? What Up Ian and Brandon !!! My first time submitting to the showcase woot! Just went to a Floyd Yoga Jam wich is a yoga festival full of music art yoga good vibes bonfires and drum circles. Had a blast. I was volunteering working security at the alcohol checkpoint right behind the stage. Everyone was so nice. So I just drew while listening to bluegrass funk soul rock reggae it was way chill. Love and Respect WINGATAKUS ps Beauty Bois for life!!! Easy Update Nights When ? <a href="https://twitter.com/myawesomeideas/status/1037763981014982656" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/myawesomeideas/status/1037763981014982656</a> easy allies c s

John Wingate

Dear Patreon, please don't eat my original comment. Love, Matt

Matt Bollenbach

Hey Blood and Jones!!! I was going to submit a different piece for community showcase this month but with the announcement that Box Peek is finally coming out, I couldn’t contain the hype. Enderglow and I did an art trade with the theme of Boxpeek in mind. I drew it and she coloured and created the background for it!! I know you guys are working on secret projects but this announcement makes me so excited to hear about stuff coming down the pipeline! Thank you for everything you guys do!! <a href="https://twitter.com/candy_thorns/status/1047863974228705281?s=21" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/candy_thorns/status/1047863974228705281?s=21</a>

(Just in case).

Greetings, Bloodworth and Jones! With another Community Showcase, comes another game review. I always try to keep my submissions themed somehow revolved around the guest ally. But for Bloodworth, I’m going to do something just a bit different. I haven’t brought a game I necessarily associate with Mr. Daniel Bloodworth, but a game that I bought because of his recommendation. (Hint for Blood: It was a game he reviewed in early April) That’s right, it was Minit! Before April this year, I had never even heard about iit before. Though one Frame Trap later, I was curious enough to try it out. My first takeaway is how much fun exploring can be when a limitation was set upon me. I really had to change my mindset for this game. Every time I went to a new screen, I saw all the options that I had to proceed. Yet, the most I could ever do was just go down wherever my impulses led first and commit to it. After I used up all my time, that’s when I would take a moment to reevaluate what I saw during that round, and then picture where I want to head next. But my most pressing concern coming into the game was if my lives were going to be in vain. Thankfully it wasn’t a problem I ran into. Despite the game being a series of logic puzzles at every screen, most of them weren’t too difficult for me to overcome. Even if I couldn’t figure out the puzzle in one life, sometimes the walking back while being away for a moment helped put me in the right perspective when I eventually got back. Sometimes, the most satisfying solutions where when I was just wandering around, and suddenly had the “ah-ha!” moment for a puzzle I encountered a couple of lives ago and had to give up on at the time. It also helps that the rewards were exciting as well. I truly didn’t know what to expect whenever I found something new. Being able to make the connection between a new discovering and a previously met NPC with an unfulfillable side quest at the time was euphoric. Even the less interesting rewards like an extra heart or coins still had tangible benefits. Going to the southern island was one of my favorite discoveries, and the reward that unlocks for getting there was especially gratifying, considering I had to complete a multitude of tasks to get there. It may not be a Monster Hunter or Dragon Quest. But Minit is still one of my games of the year. It was a game I was happy to jump back into after playing it for the first time. Thank you, Bloodworth, for the recommendation back in April. And to all the allies who have not tried this game, I pass this recommendation on to you now. It’s not a long game, but it’s surprising how much can be taken away from it. (It’s on Switch too, if that helps.) Love and Respect -ChrisTheFields

take the shot and edit!

César Villa

stop holding and edit

César Villa

stop holding! time to edit!

César Villa

Happy Birthday!

César Villa

For insurance reasons

Good day to you Jones and Bloodworth! Sorry for missing last month's Community Showcase but I'm glad to be a part of the conversation with so many incredible people. Just wanted to say that I saw that big thumbs up from Jones at the thought of continuing my rant about Fire Emblem Conquest's story, so I may decide to pick that back up next month, but this month I wanted to be a little more positive. Saving up for a house has led me to purchasing less games this year but that hasn't prevented me from stumbling across some absolute gems of games. One of those is Terraria. I haven't played a building game of any sort since Caesar III in the early 2000's so Terraria was an absolute blast of fresh air. I can honestly say I have never spent so much time doing wiki research on a game, trying to find out how I can do everything the game allows you to do. It has been an incredible and relaxing experience, in fact it's my end of the day chill game. I hope everyone gets the chance to play a game where your imagination is pretty much your only limit. Have a great October Allies, Love and Respect.

Hello Brandon, and hello Blood. I missed out on the previous Community Showcase due to some financial issues, and I just wanna say that it's good to be back. I've been having to deal with a lot of stress over the last couple of months and getting to partake in the community showcase has been sort of a normalizing factor in my life, so I just want to say thanks for you being here and listening to me. I've actually got a fair amount of stuff to talk about this time around, so I'll start off with something I was looking forward to for a long time: Dead Cells. I was interested in this game when it came to Steam Early Access, but I chose to wait for the Switch port and I've been enjoying it a lot. The presentation is slick and the combat is fluid and responsive, giving the game a great feel as you move rapidly from foe to foe. My only complaint really is that the game feels somewhat... brief. With only four bosses in total, out of which you can only face three in a single run, I feel like Dead Cells could have done with a bit more meat to it, and I'm hoping it'll get some kind of expansion in the future. Don't get me wrong though, what is there is fantastic. The second thing I wanna talk about is Iconoclasts, which I am a bit more mixed on. It has a lot of really engaging worldbuilding and a lot of unique platforming mechanics, but the game starts to feel like a slog towards the end and the core cast outside of the protagonist are all so hostile to each other that it feels hard to care, and it ends up making the central antagonist, Agent Black, seem like the most sympathetic of the bunch. I'd still recommend Iconoclasts despite my gripes, but let's just say I won't blame you if you end up not finishing it. I also wanna mention real quick that I got back to and have been enjoying Fallout 4. I don't have a lot to say about it, but running around the Commonwealth as a cool revolver-toting gunslinger is a lot of fun. I'll finish this post by recommending my personal favourite horror game, fitting for the Halloween season: ANATOMY. It's a very simple game about exploring a dark house, collecting cassette tapes to bring to a tape recorder. This might sound boring, but ANATOMY carries itself with its strong atmosphere, great sound design, and completely novel theming. It'll probably only take you 10-15 minutes to finish, but every new playthrough will have a new ending if you keep going, so it's worthing investing at least an hour in this little horror piece. I can't promise you'll like ANATOMY, but I can promise you've never played anything like it. ANATOMY also has my personal favourite video game tagline ever: "Every house is haunted." Love &amp; Respect, Small Leviathan

Small Leviathan

For safety

Doug

Hey Jones, Blood and chat! I don't have anything specific to promote, discuss or shout about this month so instead I thought I'd use my Showcase submission to say thanks to a few members of the community itself! Three in particular: Thanks to Tahitian Warrior for the always welcoming conversation in chat whenever I get the chance to pop in. To MizRacy for thinking of me during streams that I can't be in chat for and getting in touch on Twitter! And to Echo Chrome, for convincing me to hunt down a way to play the original Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm not far yet, but I'm already in love with that soundtrack. Sorry if I've missed numbers etc from usernames - I'm sure you all know who you are! Love and Respect, and more shout-outs next month, Barry

Doug

Safety reply

Samo Rozman

Aloha Brandon and Blood, After missing out on the last two months due to working on my submissions way too late, hopefully this one gets in because I think you will enjoy the pictures and videos. Last week I had to make an emergency trip back to Japan so it was poorly planned and funded, but I managed to find the time to get some fun stuff in. And although I just missed TGS (arrived on the evening it ended), I did still get to visit Tokyo Disney during its 35th Anniversary and Halloween celebrations, in addition to the beginning of the Universal Studios Horror Nights with the One Piece event an amazing bonus. Pick the album you like best since I took a ton of pictures, or show a video if you wish. Have an amazing October, L &amp; R, Samo Rozman (@Namzor) <a href="https://forums.easyallies.com/topic/5157/recent-trip-to-tokyo-and-osaka" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://forums.easyallies.com/topic/5157/recent-trip-to-tokyo-and-osaka</a>

Samo Rozman

The other day I logged onto Steam and was greeted with one of it's pop-up ads which stated: Star Control: Origins, Now Available. My reaction was, “.... whhhaaaAAAATTTT?!!” I hadn't realized that a sequel to one of my favorite games of all time, “Star Control II” was even being worked on, and there it was! In this day-in-age this pretty much never happens, right? How did I not know about this? I quickly ran to Twitter to make sure @HoegLaw was aware of this as well, since he's one of the few SCII fans I know of. Yup, he knew. Anyway, I am 23 hours in now, and have been totally side-tracked from finishing Spider-Whoever. This game is a ton of fun. If I were to pitch Star Control, I'd say it's a space-exploration RPG which feels like a precursor to something like Mass Effect... but if most of the aliens were like the Elcor and the Hanar. The writing often makes me think of Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy. Star Control: Origins doesn't do a ton to expand on the functionality of the original game; I could see some people feeling its derivative of SCII, but I am still enjoying the nostalgia of exploring the galaxy, gathering resources, talking to weird aliens, and solving problems through words and/or 90's arcade space battles. It's definitely got the budget of an indie game, but for a sequel to a 1992 game like this it feels fine. Anyway, just wanted to share my excitement for this weird game, and encourage anyone who feels intrigued to check it out. -Ian, @alexander_arts

Ian Alexander

hello brandon and blood Ive been trying to post something for the community showcase for a while, but i never really have anything to say or time sneaks up on me and cant send a drawing either but this month i wanted to share a feeling with y’all that i havent felt in a while and dont know how many ppl get this, i call it “toxic hype” a hype so big, intense and vicious that straight up poisons your excitement for anything else, to the point where you dont even feel like playing any another game, for example, the whole back half of september after i finished spiderman, i just wanted to play ac odyssey, i dont know why since im not the biggest fan of origins, and i know its at least going to be very similar gameplay wise judging by the E3 demo, but i guess the premise, my favorite pantheon, my favorite conflict in ancient greece and the fact that is not a desert anymore (i can appreciate that it was a very pretty desert, i just dont like deserts) got me so excited that when i tried to boot up other new games like for example dragon quest, i just sighed, played for 20 minutes and stopped bcus i just didnt want to play that at the moment, i just wanted to play a game that doesnt exists By the time you read this i will probably already have 10-15 hours in this game and have my savage hype saciated enough to play something else, but has this ever happened to you? Love your content, Hope you have a great day!

Fsnowzombie

Hello, October Allies ! The Best Month of the Year is upon us ! Not only that, I'm going to spend the second half of the month in Japan, which rules ! Except for that part where I'll have to wait until I come back to France to pick up Starlink and Soulcalibur VI. Oops. Oh well, I'll be more than busy absorbing Japan, and at least I can get my hands on Mega Man 11, Astro Bot, Super Mario Party and The World Ends With You just before I go! Seriously, October is already my favourite month even without gaming, this is just overkill! Unfortunately, for my monthly music submission, no creepy spooky music from me this time... but hey, if you want some, just go back to the July Community Showcase for my Night Hag's Violin music inspired by Tabletop Escapades. And next month, I'll share something I made some time ago that will probably fit Jones's mood at that point. Instead, this month's submission is... weird. I wanted to do something Bloodworth-related, and I also wanted to go back to KORG Gadget. My painfully obvious first thought was F-Zero, but then I asked myself, is there nothing with slightly more EZRA-esque music if I'm going to do it in KORG? The answer of course, is Earthbound! So I sort of remade and expanded a bit on Battle Against A Weird Opponent from Earthbound! Hope you enjoy! Link: <a href="https://youtu.be/kiysKFFafGw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/kiysKFFafGw</a> Have a wonderful October, everyone!

Kévin Gillet

saver

Hey Brandon, Hey Blood, I want to exploit the situation that the one-and-only Daniel Bloodworth is sitting on the couch this month. Thus, instead of telling a gaming-related story about last month, I want to ask two questions that are specifically directed at him. 1) In the last Frame Trap you (Blood) mentioned that you would not recommend a completionist run of the Witcher 3. Could you elaborate on why you think this is/was a bad idea? 2) It has been many years since I played a racing game extensively – I think the last racing game I remember finishing is Need for Speed Underground 2. Every once in while I get the urge to start a more recent racing game. But every game that seems interesting fails in at least one of the following conditions: 1) it has to be a P.C. game, 2) there has to be a story line and/or an upgrade system that encourages me to continue playing and 3) the focus on “skillful driving” shouldn’t be to big (as I just said I haven’t touched a racing game in years). Do you have a recommendation? Am I just too critical? Thanks for answering my questions – I promise that I will have a real “story” for next month. Love and Respect Thim

Hey Self.

Hey Jonesy! Hey Blood! I reached 999 moons in Super Mario Odyssey! Eli N. Peters

(I think patreon ate my first attempt to post this - apologies if it appears twice)

Samuel Cardwell

Hullo Jones and Blood! The downfall of Telltale was a bit of an emotional moment for me. I haven't played too many of their post-Walking Dead games - the only one I played all the way through is "Tales from the Borderlands". But I've been with Telltale since the beginning. I'm an enormous fan of the old Lucasarts adventures. Telltale bringing back Sam &amp; Max was like my Shenmue 3 - a moment of pure joy at the unexpected return of a beloved franchise. This got me thinking: which Lucasarts game would I pitch for Hall of Greats? I can narrow it down to the following shortlist: Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island 1, 2 and 3; Sam &amp; Max Hit the Road; Day of the Tentacle; Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis; and Grim Fandango. Each of these is, to me, 'one of the greats'. But to have a chance of winning, I think a game needs to be two things: 1) Iconic 2) Playable ‘Iconic’ is obviously subjective. But as an example, I would say that Goldeneye has an iconic status which Perfect Dark doesn’t. On these grounds, I would rule out Fate of Atlantis, as I think some would unjustly write it off as a licensed game. I would rule out Monkey Island 2 and 3, even though most critics see 2 as the best in the series. And I would also rule out Sam &amp; Max and Day of the Tentacle. They feel like perfectly-formed iterations, rather than genre-defining games. That leaves playability, or the question of whether a game ‘holds up’. I’m going to knock off Maniac Mansion straightaway. It was the first true Lucasarts adventure and it deserves enormous respect. But I never finished it. Why? Because it’s obtuse, it’s ugly to look at it, and it kills you when you make mistakes. Heart-breakingly, I’m ruling out Grim Fandango as well. I think that game has the best world, the best characters, and the best story of any Lucasarts game. Perhaps of any game, full stop. But its attempt to translate the old formula into 3D is imperfect. You spend a lot of time awkwardly circling around, hoping that Manny ‘looks at’ what you want him to look at. As a result, the game feels clunky and slightly dated, where the earlier 2D games are essentially timeless. So that leaves the Secret of Monkey Island. Not my favourite and not even the best in its series. But it’s the game that defined the genre. It perfected the SCUMM interface, which Maniac Mansion had invented. It introduced the key Lucasarts feature of never letting the player die or enter a failstate. It remains genuinely funny and charming. And it’s still every bit as enjoyable to play as it ever was – with or without 2009’s outstanding Special Edition. I’d love to see any of these games get a nomination for HoG, or even a stream – Jones, what about a Fate of Atlantis stream?? L&amp;R, Samuel

Samuel Cardwell

Hi there Jones and Blood! Boy do I have a month of fun for this showcase. First off, to continue from last month, I finished Mass Effect Andromeda, and as promised, I’ve got thoughts (though not the full thesis I brought up before). As I was going through the game initially, I was lacking a drive to keep pushing. There wasn’t anything that really motivated you to pursue the main story, so I focused on getting all planets up to 100% sustainability. The problem with that is the game was pretty much only busy work, with minimal story tying everything in. This was compacted by the fact that you got your whole team so early, complete with a trophy, which told you “this is your crew, get used to it”. Compared to previous ME games, this robbed the game of a lot of forward momentum, making it hard to quit that first time around. However, this changed once I finally started doing the loyalty missions, where I finally got to get a hint of these characters and their story. Earlier in the series, loyalty missions were intended to get you even more connected to these characters that you’ve met along the way, slowly teasing out backstory while making you care about them. Andromeda hides these missions, which feature the real meat of the story, without anything telling you “Hey, you should be doing these as you go along.” This left me with the most interesting stories of the game at the very end, which was satisfying and frustrating at the same time. I couldn’t help but get annoyed that there wasn’t the charm I found in these missions throughout the rest of the game. In my mind this comes down to one big problem, which harms the game as a whole. It is way too big without enough interesting things to do to facilitate the huge size. This results in 70 hours worth of busywork tying together the 10-20 hours of fun story. It felt like a call from on high to just make everything bigger, even though it didn’t need it. With that said, I did enjoy those loyalty missions enough to actually like the game, but the number of glitches and near-gamebreaking bugs I ran into made sure I had to work for it. Since I used so much of my time this week to talk about that, I’ll be brief with the rest of entry. Coming straight off Andromeda, it was time for Spider-Man. As I expected, it was the game of my dreams, with the opening (as soon as you take control) bringing tears to my eyes. Inspired by the work that Jones and Bosman did, I got the platinum trophy (my first ever) in four days. I am already 70% through my second run. Absolutely perfect and without a doubt, my GOTY. Next month will be big, as I play through Red Dead 2, Yakuza 0, and WWE 2k19. L&amp;R, Kyle “GOTYlocks” Lee

Kate Bishop

I typed this up last month, wish I could have gotten it in while Ian was on the show: No one normally responds to my Twitter posts, so I delete them after a day or two if they get no response because they are reminders, that at nearly 50 years old, I still just don't fit in anywhere. A month ago Ian took the time to answer my questions about software and gear. Because of Ian's response I was able to work on a few projects during a hard time. I made a Dead Cells review, it came out pretty good. I recorded a lot game footage and am working on my own retrospective about games that have influenced my life. I have plans to start a podcast about games, including board, console, PC, and table-top. I also got to talk with Yoann Laulan for permission to use his Dead Cells music, he seems interesting. None of that would have happened if Ian hadn't talked with me. My family has had a hard time for the past 10 years. Two different jobs of 10 years and 7 years closed their doors with no notice. That was over 700 people that lost their jobs. My Dad turned 69 this year, he was suffering from early dementia and Parkinson's during the last 10 years. Doctors expected him to live for a long time, he was very strong. I wasn't prepared for my Dad's death last week. Because I had that time with some editing software I was able to create a tribute for my Dad at his funeral. Thank you Ian. Ian didn't know I was going through an emotional time and lots of stress for the past 10 years and he didn't know I needed a friendly voice. Even I didn't realize at the time how much I really needed a friendly voice or just someone to acknowledge I still existed. Sometimes if we find ourselves alone in the dark, a friendly voice is a glimmer of light that keeps us going. Ian's response that day provided me with what I needed to stay busy and not fall into depression. It led me to be able to create something for my father that he would have been proud of and that honored his memory, something that everyone we know will always remember. Thank you Ian, more than I can express. My dad was Ronald Payne. He served his country during a terrible war and was poisoned with Agent Orange and he suffered for a long time, but even at the very end, he still smiled. He played guitar and sang, he wrote in his journals how music was the way to bring peace and that war would never be the answer. Before his mind left him, he spent time writing music, poetry, and writing and directing Christmas plays. He always wanted to work theater productions or movies but it just wasn't meant to be. He was a warrior poet. Through his actions he taught me the meaning of both love and respect.

In the Halloween spirit, I thought I'd share a Two-Face costume I did a couple years back. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/u03VLJoSDl/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&amp;igshid=a0c7br7vic3i" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/p/u03VLJoSDl/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&amp;igshid=a0c7br7vic3i</a> Also in the Halloween spirit, during the month of October, I'll take a shot at watching several horror movies per week. Anything from legitimate horror, psychological thriller, slasher, campy B horror, or so bad you can't help but make fun of it the whole way through. I got a head start, watching the original Chucky when the teaser image for the reboot came out. I can see why # 2 scarred me as a youth Andy's age lol. What are some of yall's horror movie favorites/ recommendations? Also, platinum #3 in the form of Spiderman. Shed a tear during that last act.. 9.5 indeed!

Jordan Kirk

Ahoy Mr. Jones, Mr. Bloodworth and fellow allies. Last month I shared my take on Moonlight Nocturne from Symphony of the Night. This month, despite Halloween rapidly approaching, I thought I'd go in a very different direction. I hope everyone has their dancing shoes on because it's time for a disco explosion; I present for your listening pleasure, Rainbow Road from Super Mario Kart (SNES)! Please enjoy responsibly. L&amp;R, Matt B <a href="https://youtu.be/8nwP-2xuEnQ" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/8nwP-2xuEnQ</a>

Matt Bollenbach

Hello Brandon and Bloodworth, So this month was pretty uneventful regarding to my life, but I have had an amazing gaming experience in the month of September and just want to gush about it. I recently played Life is Strange 2 Episode 1 took me a full 4 hours to complete and I was blown away on how good it was! Like many I went in pretty excited but skeptical. I knew I would overall like the game but was pretty nervous about traveling to multiple places, and not having that huge of a connection to the two brothers. I was fine with letting Max and Chloe go but I felt it was going to be tough not to think about them the whole time I was playing this. But by the opening credits I was so on board and practically didn't even think about Max and Chloe. Which is a complete testament to DONTNOD and there understanding of what make characters interesting and believable. The dialogue is way more realistic and better written than the original game. I really love the voice acting especially the two brothers in the game, the voice work for both of them is so sincere. They are very quiet characters which makes them feel more grounded in the narrative, its very fresh and different from the brash, and angsty characters from the original game. The lip sync and over all look of the game is a huge step up from the original as well, the first episode takes place in October so the color pallet is a soft blend of reds, oranges, yellows, greens and grays. There is a nice warm glow from the sun, bigger more open areas with plenty of detail, the textures are more prominent, and the soft beautiful soundtrack brings the entire thing together in a visually striking package. Over all this episode took my breath away by the end, it took its time and I loved everything about it. I love Sean and Daniel and I cant wait to see where they go next! If the rest of this season is as good as this first episode its a top contender for my GOTY. Well that's all I got for you guys Thanks for another great month of stellar content, hope you have an awesome Halloween! I cant wait to see what costumes you guys have planned.

Megan Linart

Jones talked about it on COJ. There won't be any more of them in the future. Also, just for the future,feedback like this would probably be better left on a COJ episode or on the community wall. It's not really what the showcase comment section is for.

BeatenDownBrian

Just one thing I want to say which I know you've probably seen a lot but I feel it's worth repeating. Stop the alliances in the Hall of Greats!

PS. Brandon, I'm happy to hear you're such a Red Dead head because that was the first game I worked on when I moved to LA! PPS. If anyone's interested in those LEGO shorts I was talking about: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSgj31S7aQg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSgj31S7aQg</a>

Neil K Bonsteel

Hi there Blood, Jonesy, and spirits of the other Allies! It’s-a me - the Powers of EGOT guy! Many years ago I discovered the strangest of YouTube show called The Final Bosman. It only took a few episodes before I was hooked, and it became the gateway drug for the rest of Gametrailer’s cast and content. And then two weeks later the whole thing shut down. I told myself that’s what I get for loving anything. Fast forward a bit to this year in which I was rewatching some GT content, and I thought about how devastating it must have been for your crew to lose all that. As far as I could tell, you guys were living the dream, given the freedom to create extremely creative content for a medium you care deeply about. That’s the type of position you work hard for and should grant you the privilege to say, “I did it. I’m successful.” Then poof - all gone. I didn’t have to try to empathize that long before I realized that I, too, had gone through something similar just the year prior. At the time I had been working 6 years as a lead animator for an indie cartoon studio (we did a lot of LEGO shorts), where I was given an excess of artistic freedom in that I wasn’t just animating, but writing, directing, storyboarding, and even coding when the chance came around. And years prior to that, I was striving to get into that very studio, constantly working on my own projects to bolster my reel, and working for them PT while also working a FT jobs in LA. Then one day about a year ago, just like GT, it all went away with a single somber meeting before I could even get my morning coffee ready. Yet from the ashes rose EZA. So why couldn’t I do the same? EZA inspired me to start refocusing my efforts on turning my life around and pursuing projects that may not make me successful, but certainly make me satisfied. I decided to dust off my Film degree and an old nugget of an idea dormant in my college journal and do something fun. I made a podcast! It’s called “The Script Apart Podcast”, and it’s essentially about hapless actors doing cold reads of scenes from bizarre movies I’ve come up with. The first episode, for instance, is a tale about the underground world of competitor grocer baggers. Following the reads, my younger brother and I create audio trailers for the fictional movie, which I’m dropping right here for you to listen to! <a href="https://soundcloud.com/scriptapartpodcast/ep01-teaser" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/scriptapartpodcast/ep01-teaser</a> And should nothing come of all this effort and people hate it, I don’t really care. It’s felt nice to spit in the face of fate and have some fun. Sorry if this comment has been extensive, but the appreciation of how much EZA has inspired me spiritually and creatively is difficult to condense. Thanks for everything you cool cats do! Neil Bonsteel / Mayor McFrumples

Neil K Bonsteel

Don't disappear.

Dan Allen

Greetings From The Mitten Allies, All of the Love, All of the Respect I submitted to the ‘Ol Showcase for the first time ever last month. I wanted to use the Community Showcase to make something weird for the Community Showcase. So, I submitted a poem that was, for the last month, miscredited as being written by me.(Unexpected) It is, in all likelihood, truly written by Yu Suzuki. I do feel a little bad about that. This video is what came of it though. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUB1yG1v554" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUB1yG1v554</a> I know you guys hear this all the time, but Thank You so much for everything you do. L&amp;R Your Friend &amp; Ally, Dan Allen - Detroit, Michigan

Dan Allen

Stay on target

VGJunky

Hello! (Tie-sin Win) Still learning code and pixel art, but I got a job! Nothing game development-related, but there are too many games to buy in the coming months. I also platinum'd both Dragon Quest 11 and Spider-man. Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy was announced! While I can't see myself playing through them again, I'm glad everyone has the chance to experience it. That said, I think the original sprites are far more charming and so I tried to recreate one using Bloodworth's likeness. <a href="https://twitter.com/TysonDNguyen/status/1045744061620129794" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/TysonDNguyen/status/1045744061620129794</a> I also would like to highlight something my partner has been working on! It's a music playlist with songs that chronologically match with story/theme beats in Tabletop Escapades. Can't be played on community showcase, but if you want to listen to new music or experience the show in song, search for a playlist called "Tabletop Escapades" by Shelby Flanagan.

Tyson Nguyen

Pleeeeeaaaaaaassasssseeeeee don’t evaporate!

Michelle Jackson

(Updated) Game Dev/General September Update: <a href="https://youtu.be/zHLJ-fzrF4Q" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/zHLJ-fzrF4Q</a>

Michelle Jackson

I made a bunch of game clay stuff a few years ago before I was busy with work all the time. My plan is to start submitting one a month. So here is the first, inspired by the menu in Majoras Mask <a href="https://imgur.com/TqMdJie" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/TqMdJie</a> <a href="https://imgur.com/i8vNFul" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/i8vNFul</a>

TheClassiestHobo

Safety comment because Patreon hates me.

Phazonmasher

Hey Jones and Blood, Since you asked for Halloween stuff, let's play to the audience. So, Blood, let's talk horror game music! Every October, me and a friend plays one or two horror-themed games. There have been some stinkers, but I think we've lucked out more often than not. One of the biggest standouts has been Capcom's Clock Tower 3. Not only is it a hilarious and fun horror game, it has some real great horror music inspired by film and early Resident Evil. The best tracks are obviously the boss music, especially the scissor twins. The track samples the sound of scissors snipping as the underlying beat, and it's just delightful. Playing to Jones specifically, a real criminally underrated all-ages horror game is The Haunted Mansion on the PS2/GCN/Xbox. It was released alongside the Eddie Murphy film, but is not based on it. It's just a fun Luigi's Mansion clone with its own unique take on it as you use a magic lantern to blast ghosts until you can capture them. Speaking of the music, however, it's just atmospheric ambience until you pause the game. The game then plays a barbershop quartet rendition of Grim Grinning Ghosts. It's so rad. Finally, some quick fire best of horror game soundtracks - Rule of Rose, Silent Hill 2 and 3, Resident Evil 2, Corpse Party, Shadow Hearts and the original Clock Tower on SNES. So Jones and Blood, got any particular horror game soundtracks that resonate with you? L&amp;R

Phazonmasher

Back in the late 90s, when I was around 8 years old and my brothers a few years older, we discovered how much fun it was to scare kids on Halloween. My dad had a Compact Disc with some T-rex roaring sounds, followed by chewing on bones. It was on a Cincinnati Pops Orchestra release with fantasy/adventure film scores, with some random sound compilations thrown in. This one was called Jurassic Lunch. In front of our house is a brick walkway with some chest-high bushes. My brothers stuffed my old White Power Ranger costume to make a dummy, and propped it up in front of the bushes. Both of my brothers dressed in all black waited hiding behind, one with a boombox at full volume cued up at the T-Rex roaring. Let me take a moment to let you know, people in our neighborhood never did anything very scary to trick or treaters. It was all mild scares until today. As kids walked by the dummy, they would hear a humongous T-rex roar as my brother reached over the bushes right next to them, grabbing the dummy, and whipping it behind the bushes. Many kids screamed in absolute terror. In the larger groups, some kids actually thought we were taking one of their friends. For years so many kids knew us as the scariest house in the neighborhood. On a video game side of things, I've never played through the first 3 Resident Evil games. I have RE1 Remake and the original RE2 ready to play for the days leading up to Halloween. Can't wait!

Super3dcow

Saving from deletion

Karl Williams

Hey Jones and Blood, Don’t have any games to discuss. So instead, I want to talk about the Pokémon anime. I’m following the Twitch marathon and the marathon has been a mixture of both nostalgia and new experiences. I used to watch Pokémon when it premiered but stopped at some point during the Orange Islands saga so watching Johto and beyond will be a fresh experience, especially because I never played any of the main games. At the time I’m writing this, the Johto saga will have ended so I’m anticipating the Hoenn saga. With the Johto saga complete, I figured I would give a few takes: 1. The Kanto region is still as entertaining as ever while the Orange Islands were pretty much boring. I didn’t see all the Johto episodes during the marathon, but I did enjoy most of the episodes I watched. I pretty much loved all the Gen 2 Pokemon that were featured. It’s hard for me to pick a clear-cut favorite, but Wobbuffet, Totodile and Snubbull were hilarious. Cyndaquil, Chikorita and Smoochum were adorable. Never run into an Ursaring. Don’t piss off a parent Lugia. You’ll never catch Entei. 2. Team Rocket are without question the best characters on the show. Practically everything about them (chemistry, humor, backstory, costumes) is gold. The same cannot be said of the OG crew of Ash, Misty and Brock. Brock’s shtick of falling for every girl the group encounters gets old quick. Misty can be downright insufferable sometimes, especially when she berates or insults Psyduck. I absolutely can’t stand Ash though. There are way too many moments where my dislike for Ash keeps growing. The Bayleef episode where Ash just yells at Bayleef to “go away and stay away” straight up pissed me off. I feel good knowing Ash will never win a league championship (Orange League not counted). Gary was right, Ash is a loser. But since Gary lost to Ash in Johto, he’s a loser too. You disappoint me Gary. Can’t wait to see what May, Max and the other new companions are all about. 3. Pokémon: The First Movie was the only Pokémon movie I saw before the marathon. I saw it when it originally came to theaters. There were a few things I remembered: Mewtwo being awesome; regular and cloned Pokémon fighting each other; Ash dying. It was nice to see the movie again but holy crap, that movie was godawful. The 2nd movie wasn’t any better, but I did like the Entei and Lucario movies more. 4. So far, I think 4Kids has done a pretty good job with the dub. The cast is great. I’ve liked 4 of the 5 opening songs. The songs they used at the end of each episode in the earlier seasons were catchy. There have been some miscues, whether it be censorship or the treatment of rice balls, but they made the show fun to watch. The switch to the new cast will be brutal. I’ve reached the 500-word limit, so I will continue my thoughts next month. Smell ya later.

Karl Williams

(Don't eat my comment patreon)

POKEY CLYDE

Hey Allies, Normally I write about my game progress, but not too much has changed this month. A little progress in God of War, World of Warcraft and I started GTA Vice City going for the platinum. Instead this month, I wanted to share pictures of where I now live. At the start of June I moved to the Scottish countryside and here are some picture I have taken on my many walks. First shot is from a small rest area within 10 minutes walk from my house. The next 4 pictures are from a hill that starts within 5 minutes walk from our house, but to the area I reached with my wife and back was around 4 miles total. The pictures are not taken from the top though as I was running low of water and didn't want to continue the whole way. The final 2 are from another walk me and my wife have done twice now. It is just under 4 miles that loops around some country roads, past a castle (sorry no pictures of that) that is now a bed and breakfast and leads back to the main road to get to our village again. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/IossG3L" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/IossG3L</a> Love and respect, BeardedScotsman86

BeardedScotsman86

This post shall not be eaten today.

Sara Knite

Greetings Jones and Bloodworth!! Zephyr Moon here! As of the recording of the showcase, it is day 4 of Inktober and I am full steam ahead. My preparations for this busy month has paid off and I can breathe easy in between all the other stuff I have going. This year, I have taken suggestions from this wonderful community as well as from the 8 of you (Don is not excluded, but I do have something planned for him.) I pick sketches at random per day so anything can pop up. The first was one of my own prompts and a good way to start getting into the groove (and quickly discovering the dying red marker.) The second was one suggested by Bloodworth during the Q&amp;A a couple months back and is a complete coincidence that it popped up. The last was suggested by Lotiaz in chat and it really helped me in experimenting with the skin textures that I’m probably gonna do from now on. <a href="https://twitter.com/ZephyrMoon2/status/1046769130794356736" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/ZephyrMoon2/status/1046769130794356736</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ZephyrMoon2/status/1047196833850843136" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/ZephyrMoon2/status/1047196833850843136</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ZephyrMoon2/status/1047542497919098881" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/ZephyrMoon2/status/1047542497919098881</a> Thanks to everyone that sent me suggestions and I hope that I met or will meet your expectations. Love and Respect. Zephyr Moon

Sara Knite

standby

Christophe Fettouhi

Hello Jones and Bloodworth I am sorry for not being able to be attending live this time but I will be on a business trip so I hope you both are doing well and not getting overworked and chat is having a good time too. Now for my showcase today I would like to show of my newest addon to my music collection. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BoHqrIbg70W/?taken-by=cfettouhi" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/p/BoHqrIbg70W/?taken-by=cfettouhi</a> Octopath traveler in my opinion has one of the best scores/soundtrack in 2018. The artist that made the music has put a lot of effort into this and you can hear listening to it via the cds the suttle small background percussion, bass guitar etc. that give the songs volume which are really hard to do in the game. This is because of other sounds overlapping from menues, winds etc which takes a lot of these key things away and as a music person myself love to listen to. I highly recommend that if anyone likes the music form the game to check it out. You get great value for buying it. 4 cds (no LP form what I know) with 20+ songs on each of them. I know a lot of people just go to youtube and listen to it but, please remember the artist doesn’t see any money from that so, if you like the music buy it or listen to it over an official streaming service that pays the artist. Everyone should get payed for their work and effort they have put into creating something. I have great stream guys and see you all next week maybe 😊 Fettouhi

Christophe Fettouhi

Standby

XWF Outlaw

Good Afternoon, Jones, Blood, and Chat. Sorry I had to miss last month due to an payment error with Pateron. Turns out it worked out better than expected since my hold comment (Little PIG, Little PIIIG!!!) made it on EZA Clips that week (RIP :( ). So thanks to whoever clipped that if you're in chat today. My games this month i have played have a a few usual suspects. So here comes the Lightning round. Played and Platinumed Spider-Man. Wow, what a game. Swinging around Manhattan with the perfect control mechanisms feels so amazing. (pun intended) GOTY contender. Bought the season pass and cant wait yo see what happens next. Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Arrived at the second city and l like the game so far. Combat is quick and stylish. Lush and beautiful jungles. And it is so kickass to see Lara Croft in full-on John Rambo mode taking out Trinity. Super Mario Odyssey: Quest for 999 Moons. I am almost there, Jones. 900 moons. All that's left is coin farming 97 and the dreaded jump rope and Volleyball challenges. Fortnite. Season 6 has started and I love this addicting game. Pixle Ripped: 1989: a PSVR title with a retro NES and GameBoy art style. This game-within-a-game-within-game with a cute story and dazzling puzzles to complete is one I could see most Allies loving. That's all for now. Hope to talk to you next month, barring any payment problems. I begin my road to Kingdom Hearts III with my full playthrough of the series of the fall. L&amp;R.

XWF Outlaw

Chim-chimney chim-chimney chim chim charee just keep on replying so patreon doesn't eat me!

Steven Beaumont

If there was one non-monetary thing that the EZA community could do for you guys (or perhaps something you'd like for the community to know), what would it be?

MizRacy

NOTE: I'm going to ask this on the Q&amp;A as well (if I can get my question posted in time), so if it's already been answered, feel free to skip it. (QUESTION BELOW).

MizRacy

Hi guys. Every season I look foward to The Easy Allies Hall of Greats. I always have a great time; well, until this last one. I have accepted that this series is a work in progress. I didn't like that you could vote for your own game but you fixed that. But as soon as you did, alliances started happening. Why did they happen? I believe because Kyle has to have a control in the outcome. Pokemon Red and Blue beat Ben's Mega Man X cause Kyle voted for his game and Ben did not. That was not fair. Kyle's Mega Man Legends was not banned because of his alliance with Don. That's not fair. This last one was just awful with multi-alliances and weird dealings. Put a stop to this. Make it fair. You may think that this isn't the right place for Community Showcase but based on the comments, it has affected the community and it affected me. With all my love, put an end to it and let's have a clean Hall of Greats going foward.

Mikehook1

Hey Guys, This money was very bill heavy so I have been mostly unable to buy new games. I have surpassed level 50 in Monster Hunter World and would easily give it my current 'gameplay GOTY' but beaten out slightly overrall by God of War in terms of tightness and polish. The two exceptions I had to make was for the Capcom Beat Em Up bundle. 4 of the 7 games are near and dear to my heart as I played them on Mame emulation in the late 90s due to our first computer being made by a computer technician whom my father had built their house. So all these years later to see 'Knights of the Round' 'Warriors of Fate' and 'King of the Dragons' (the fourth being final fight) in the palm of my hands was so exciting. I finished King of Dragons again for the firsy time in over 15 years and it was glorious. My proudest achievement so far was beating every boss and only using 1 or 2 lives each boss (very scrub brag).  The other game was ff15 pocket edition and before all the nay-sayers throw me off a bridge I will say that I approached this game very cautiously. I have beaten a fair amount of Square properties but I am yet to see the credits of a single final fantasy game. That being said when they showed ff15 gameplay for the first time I was exited as a kingdom hearts fan to see the game move to to an ARPG. i thought that this was the game I would jump into the series on but alas 2016/17 came and went to no avail. Every time  ff15 went on sale on psn I would weigh up my time, whether I was already invested in a 100hr game and my budget and it would always fall to 3rd or 4th on my budget game index. Then, finally comes the switch release... pocket hd... sigh but I was very curious and that intro price point ooh. Do some delving and the internet liked the game and wait 10-15 hour play time. Hmm not paid til next week. Full price after promo "oh god no" f-it. Buy. Play. Having fun. If I finish this game, the real game will definitely be higher on my cheap deal index. I also finally beat the original Zelda on the NES online. I have now completed 9/18 zelda games. After your latest Cup of Jones you now have me wanting Dragon Quest over Spiderman. I love both genres Jones please settle this for me. Love and utmost respect. Well done on your successful HOG entry Jones.

Steven Beaumont

It’s been a rough and tumble month, but now that I’ve finished a couple circus shows I want to knuckle down on some quality art. Sculpted and painted the first image, so I can say my sculpture degree isn’t going to waste. Sorry, the drawing was a bit rushed but I'm having fun with art of the guests, so it just had to happen. :D P.S. If people want to follow me my instagram is jacks.on.deck. L&amp;R <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BogMnk6jVef/?taken-by=jacks.on.deck" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/p/BogMnk6jVef/?taken-by=jacks.on.deck</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BogMOTBjlVd/?taken-by=jacks.on.deck" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/p/BogMOTBjlVd/?taken-by=jacks.on.deck</a>

Eric Jackson

I’m caught up on One Piece.

Hello Daniel. I was waiting for you to talk about my 2018 GotY - Detroit: Become Human. I know that the year isn’t over yet, but I’m sure that nothing will top this game, because for me it is perfect. Even game weaknesses made my experience better. I had some problems with controls, especially with the right stick during QTE, but those “mistakes” only convinced me that I’m controlling not an obedient robot, but a living being who can’t achieve everything he wants. Also this game is criticized for obscure dialog options, but sometimes I also say not what I wanted to say, so dealing with consequences of miscommunication was very touching and relatable experience. The visuals are very important for me and in this game they are simply amazing. Lighting and the number of details let you breathe the atmosphere of every place you’re in. Camera work and editing keep you engaged even in static scenes. And characters are so convincing that in many scenes I could swear that I’m watching a live-action movie. And let’s talk about game’s story. In most games you can guess consequences of your actions and follow chosen path without much thinking. Detroit: Become Human is different. Characters can die even in quiet scenes, and events can start happening before you prepare to react. Even small decisions matter, so when I had to make big ones, I was using all my knowledge, intuition and life experience to find the right answer. For the entirety of my first playthrough I was on the edge of my sit filled with excitement, doubt, sorrow and hope. And even through my ending was far from perfect, it felt like a miraculous achievement. After finishing the game a couple more times I’ve decided to unlock every node on every flowchart. Even with the help of the internet this is an enormous task, because some nodes can be only achieved if you made a certain choice 25 chapters earlier or if you have certain relationships at very specific level, while keeping only certain characters alive. I’ve spend several days just planning my playthroughs and almost a month executing them. Of course I had to watch a lot of repeated cutscenes, but I was rewarded with scenes and events, that seemed impossible. Spoiler warning, as I’m about to give some examples. Kara can willingly abandon Alice &amp; Luther. Marcus can be kicked out from Jerico by North. Connor can become machine after he became deviant. Also there is a completely different ending which I will not spoil, because it is not even hinted on the flowcharts. Detroit: Become Human sets you on compelling path filled with rich characters, lets you make your own choices and learn from your mistakes. On top of that this game made me emotional, which almost never happens. This is what I’m playing games for, so for me it’s obvious: 2018 GotY is Detroit: Become Human.

Alexander Zyryanov

Hold

Desquick

shield

César Villa

Hello Blood &amp; Brandon! It's October, so to kick off Halloween season I want to share a story about a ghost that I could swear didn't exist and was a product of people's imagination paid me a visit. [End of paragraph] It was the summer of 2017. A couple of my wife's high school friends decided to visit us and spent a week in hour home. One of her friends brought her 7 year old daughter with her, and me thinking that she may get bored with no other kids around, I unplugged the wii from the LCD TV in our bedroom and moved it to the old CRT in the hall where I have the NES &amp; SNES plugged. The kid never played it, but that event was the trigger for what's next.[End of paragraph] One day, they were out sightseeing while I stayed at home, and a little bored I turned on the Wii to keep playing Rhythm Heaven Fever. I got the DS original after watching the GT review on it and spotting it in a sale in Amazon; and those were well spent dollars. I devoured that game, getting a perfect score in all of the events in 2 different files.[End of paragraph] I wanted to repeat that feat in the wii sequel. I was only missing around 10-15 perfect scores; but I was not able to play as much, because I used my 1 hour commute to play the DS one, but for the wii I had to borrow from the quality time with the wife.[End of paragraph] I turned on the Wii thinking that I could make pretty good progress in a 2 hour session, but then I couldn't explain what was happening: I'm failing miserably! Games where I got only a few errors in previous sessions now I can't even beat; oh my God, seriously, what is happening? After many tries and controller changes thinking that could be the problem, it finally hit me: INPUT LAG![End of paragraph] I remember watching streams from different outlets (including you guys) where people just randomly said “oh, I failed because of the input lag””; and I just thought “”bunch of wimps”; never truly believing it could have such an impact; but this being a rhythm game were timing is everything, yeah, I finally understood how problematic it could be.[End of paragraph] Still, whenever I see some thread in reddit asking about input lag or complaining about it on a game or setup, I default to my “bunch of wimps” response, but then I remember that day, when that ghost manifested itself to me, and I feel a shiver down my spine.[End of paragraph] Love &amp; Respect. César.

César Villa

This is horribly written and I should edit it... but I'll probably forget.

Jason A. Sackel

For the month of September, there were two games that I played. Both of which I had highly anticipated. Spider-Man and Transference. Transference. I had fun with this game and played in VR. While super short, there was enough substance in the story to feel satisfied. Unfortunately, the puzzles offered zero challenge. The demo's content is not in the game at all. For those curious, that is worth giving a look. Spider-Man. The game is fun. I enjoyed swinging around NYC. It was the first thing I did once I could do whatever. Alright, enough gushing. Holy hell this game is buggy. Within my first hour, I hit an invisible wall in the middle of battle. It was some mission at the heliport behind 55 Water. I had an indefinite black loading screen happen a few times. It became quite entertaining because cars would begin honking and it created a dialogue of New Yorkers being impatient for the loading screen. One guy even shouted "What's taking so long?" I do want to congratulate the game as I now have a new favorite thing I absolutely despise in a game. It was during one of those neat times where I had time to kill before the next story mission appeared on the map. Let me do this little side mission. I start the mission and it changes from day to night. From that point on, the game had no stakes when it came to the story for me. Time became irrelevant. I never felt the need to take care of something right away. I know it isn't the first game to do time of day transitions either, but from the games I have played at least, the first to do it this poorly. For a game that is story driven, it should have just said "come back at night" or something. I also had a really bad audio bug. Gonna try to avoid spoilers, so sorry if this makes no sense. In the scene at the end of where the E3 demo took place, during that final part we saw in the presentation, the sfx lowered to soft and all I heard for the most part was the music. The main villain's dialogue was also missing completely... I thought it was a really neat style choice to display confusion and the hopelessness of the situation. Then the next scene started, still no dialogue and I figured something was wrong. I had to look the scene up on YouTube to hear how it should have sounded. I ended up being glad that I got the glitch, because I liked the scene a lot more with it. To end on a high note, I ended up going to Epcot for the Food &amp; Wine Festival. My friends even convinced me to finally buy a few of those pin thingys. The MagicBands also make everything so convenient. Disney World in general, but Epcot specifically, easily remains the best of all of the Disney parks.

Jason A. Sackel

Hi allies! Today is my birthday (October 3)! Though I am very excited for the family festivities and the thanksgiving dinners, I am probably most excited for one other thing that will bring my family together, only to rip us apart: Super Mario Party. In an effort to keep my creative juices flowing, I have decided to continue my artist portfolio by composing for various genres. When writing this piece, I found myself thinking about the Ice Cavern in Final Fantasy IX. Here's to hoping to write for another fellow Ally's project some day! <a href="https://soundcloud.com/mason-victoria-638433876/film-scoring-mysterious-place" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/mason-victoria-638433876/film-scoring-mysterious-place</a> Love and Respect, Mason

Mason Victoria

I’m going to spend my comment for the second month in a row based off an EZA stream, and this comment is something I’ve wanted to do for a little while now. While I won’t be able to field the five-minute cross-examination, I too wish to make a Hall of Greats case. Disclaimer: This is entirely for fun and in no way should nor will be taken, though if an Ally wants to use said game and any reasoning, all the more power to them. So what should I champion? My favorite game of all time and right the horrible wrong that the franchise doesn’t have more representation in Final Fantasy VII? Or perhaps, one year later, bring back an excellent title that should be in one day in The Last of Us? NAY!!! Ladies and Gentlemen, Gears of War 2 is “One of the Greats.” The original wowed many a gamer with it being a marquee showpiece on HD graphics at the start of the seventh generation, highlighting an involved cover system and prioritizing couch co-op as a satisfying way to play, but the sequel refined, and even introduced, landmark elements that many games have copied. More weapons, more enemy types, polished mechanics…. Short of Gears 3’s gameplay, Gears 2 is the best Gears of the series. Looking at the three modes, starting with the campaign, the original’s is compelling, though there isn’t much in terms of really connecting with the characters AS characters. Gears 2 makes it its mission to provide a personal tale against the backdrop of an all-out, desperate, final assault from humanity to prevent their extinction. Multiplayer became a lot more approachable. The original required players to start, but in Gears 2, you could play against bots with customizable settings such as difficulty, round length, etc. It also had more modes than the original to chainsaw your way through the opposition. Or point-blank shotgun them to bits. Whichever the situation requires. Sadly, modern Gears is now a hybrid of this, requiring other people to play, whether against others or the computer. And of course, the mode that made its mark on gaming: Horde. Personally, I’m not a fan of Horde because I don’t like lengthy game modes that are just wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies, but it cannot be denied that post Gears 2, many games included their own version of Horde. Halo 3 ODST’s Firefight, Left 4 Dead’s Survival, and of course the mode now synonymous with Call of Duty: Zombies. Yes, Gears 2’s horde was improved upon with each sequel, but without the original’s version, who knows how much of its impact wouldn’t be felt today. In conclusion, Gears of War 2 is a much improved sequel to, at the time, a system seller for the Xbox 360, and in all three modes of a compelling campaign, a malleable and engaging multiplayer suite, and the engrossing Horde, it has established itself as “One of the Greats.”

Brandon K Gann

Hello Blood, What is your favorite car and why ?

MGS-JUNKIE

52K is so close I can taste it. I need a Huber and Kyle full playthrough of Resident Evil 2 Remake in the new year. Also Jones, good work getting FFVI into the hall of greats, if you got snubbed I was going to riot. Anyways, keep up the good work allies!

POKEY CLYDE