Cup of Jones - September 13, 2018

Hi Jones. I wanted to say congrats on your Hall of Greats win. I've spent a lot of time listening to you on this show since becoming a patron, and it made me very invested in your victory. In fact, your presentation and the look on your face when FF6 was announced as a winner finally convinced me to correct one of my gaming sins as Huber said. Once I wrap up 100%ing Spider-Man, I will dive into Final Fantasy 6, my first ever Final Fantasy game. Since I have relatively little familiarity with the game and franchise outside of just general nerdy pop culture I was wondering if you had any recommendations for my first time jumping in. Is there a best version of FF6 I should try to get my hands on? Do you recommend playing in some particular manner to get the best first impression? Thanks in advance for any advice and have a lovely Thursday. Love and Respect. - Kyle

ZF

Morning, Jones! Congratulations on your earnest and earned Hall of Greats victory. Just got through this week's EZA podcast, and the Telltale segment running down through their game history. I was fascinated just to see most if not all of the panel act in bewilderment by their earlier pre-Walking Dead titles. That era defined Telltale for me, stretching out that comedy-loving era of adventure games just that much longer. The impossible dream would be a group stream cruising through some of those titles just so to get everyone's reactions. However, I have an absolute soft spot for both Poker Night at the Inventory games. On paper, I can see why the sound of a random jumble of characters tossed into a texas hold 'em game might sound cute but otherwise easily passed. But I can't stress how entertaining these games are by fueling some genuinely entertaining conversations with an absolutely insane amount of writing and voice acting. The Heavy's ignorant fascination of "Tiny Heavy" Strongbad or GlaDOS' unending superiority over an annoying, helpless Claptrap make for some fun explorations that wouldn't really hold water anywhere else. It's also a fun poker game! If you have a few dollars and 10-20 minutes to spare for a round or two, I'd highly suggest checking it out. I doubt we'll ever get a game like it ever again.

Kirbu

Brandon - You don't have to read this on CoJ I just wanted to let you know that your advice for my Daughter in Theater was very helpful. She has volunteered to help paint sets and she's even going to be taught lighting! She's turned her disappointment of not being part of the cast into excitement to learn something new while also contributing to the show. Thanks again!

Jason Walstrom

Hey Jones, while I usually don't ever post on Patreon, something happened this Tuesday night that I had to comment on. My favorite game of all time, Final Fantasy 6 was added to the Hall of Greats! I honestly didn't think that you would bring it this time, but you did, so thank you for going all out with that amazing video that legit brought tears to my eyes. Your video+defense made me realize that I could listen to you talk about what makes FFVI so special for hours on end, but I'll keep things to one question: In your eyes, who is the main character of FFVI?

Hello Mr. Jones! Quick one, I know it's super time consuming, but I will still suggest it. What about making videos like the one for FFVI for every new winner of HoG. Maybe a video for each game or a video for both games. The quality of the FFVI video is through the roof. Easily a 10. Amazing job. Cheers!

Kenny Montenegro

Just had an idea pop in my head for Hall of Greats! Would the Allies consider implementing a portion before the voting results for the audience to voice their collective opinion? Something like a strawpoll to go up when the final presentation is done for the audience to vote which game they would vote in. I noticed that when I popped into the stream there were almost 2000 viewers and the fan engagement opportunity just popped in mind. I see how this could create unneeded complications like additional work for y'all to fit in your already busy schedule. L&R p.s. would it help if people tagged their posts like [BUS] [FUN] for these questions? maybe a little organization from the patrons would help you out

September seems to be another stellar month for Youtube-Metrics. You almost got the same subscriber-plus and view-count of last year with still a full quarter to go this year, atleast if SocialBlade is believable. Questions: 1. Do you think that the 200.000-Youtube-subscriber-mark will be hit this year? 2. Does Easyallies earn more money with twitch or with youtube? 3. Do you consider these revenue-numbers for future planing?

Stefan Bien

I know there is a very valid reason for it, I'm just curious what it is :) Why don't you stream the podcast? It seems like it would be much easier than editing it, and Ian should be able to handle the music, titles, etc. on the fly. L&R, Tyler

Tyler Travis

Sorry if this has been answered in an earlier Cup of Jones or elsewhere on the Patreon, but do you have any updates on the newest episode of Game Sleuth?

Ashley H

Mr. Jones, What life advice would you give to the easy allies community? I think this helps us as the audience better understand what you value, and it might be helpful. Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

Jones! I find myself...not entirely on board for the Red Dead Redemption Hype Train. Be it the marketing or the vibes from the trailers, I'm a little worried RDR2 will underwhelm, or is having problems. (I've yet to watch the hands on coverage). Thus, my question: Have there been games in the past where the hype train was full steam ahead, but you had doubts about the quality of the title - either based on hands on experience or just overall vibes? For example it seemed most everyone loved AC: Origins, but I found it painfully dry....which I guess makes sense with it taking place in the desert and all. If Spiderman had been totally underwhelming, how would you have handled the Hands-on preview? Similarly, when GT gave Max Payne a 7ish score when everyone else gave it high marks, how did PR / the developer respond to that?

Paul Meekin

Hello Brandon! I received a code for Spider-Man pin, sent by Playstation Store for purchasing Deluxe Edition of the game. I live in Russia and buy games in the US store because it's often cheaper that way and for various other reasons. So I used EZA's PO Box address as shipping address and they'll deliver it to you instead. Hope you don't mind! <a href="https://i.imgur.com/4HFJUTz.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.imgur.com/4HFJUTz.jpg</a>

Sergey P.

These are super noticeable and can be a quick read as I'm scrolling through my mobile youtube feed on a daily basis- So I second the idea of using this feature. That being said, I would use it sparingly. I've mostly seen youtubers use it every couple of days, at max.

TAHK0

Hey Jones, I don't usually post questions as I know you receive a lot each week but I felt a need this week. With weekly clips getting the axe seemingly because nobody wants to do it (yes time and return on investment are the stated reasons however the Allies do many things because they want to so ROI seems like an easy thing to pick on and as in many contexts, it isn't time but priority that is the real reason behind this decision.) What are your views on the flat hierarchical structure at Easy Allies? I would like to hear the positives and negatives as you see them. I feel this decision comes as a result of that structure and would love to hear your take. Thanks so much for everything you do Brandon. Love and Respect, Marc.

Hey Jones, since you narrate all of the Easy Allies Reviews regardless of who wrote them, is there a format that the Allies have to follow? It wouldn't surprise me if you were just THAT good at reading whatever is put in front of you, but I was curious about how a review comes together and if the Allies have to follow any basic guidelines when writing their review for you.

Owen

I'd be curious if people are considering that Damiani might stream just to stream when he's going to be playing said MMO anyway. Just because he stops streaming doesn't mean he's going to drop the game he plays. Or maybe he might I dunno, but I don't feel like people are considering that when point out that he spends time doing that.

Owen

Hey Jones! Sorry in advanced, this might get long. I’ve been thinking how you guys manage your content and hours spent towards specific tasks at Easy Allies. After reading that Weekly Clips is getting the axe, I’ve been compelled to bring up one of my concerns. I’m wanting to get your take on exactly how important you think it is for certain allies to stream live on Twitch for hours and hours. With a few exceptions, the majority of your live streams from individual allies only bring in a few hundred viewers at max, and the archived versions on Youtube typically get in the ballpark of 200-500 views each. I’m trying not to point fingers, but with the canceling of Weekly Clips, a show that gets on average around 10,000 views, I’m wondering if Damiani spending many, many hours streaming to such a small audience is a better use of his work for easy allies than producing something that is enjoyed by thousands of people each week. Do you see your streams from the various allies that only bring in a few hundred people a good use of that allies time and energy? Do you guys try to balance something that you might enjoy doing (streaming) with something that might be better for Easy Allies but feels more like work than having fun? I'm not suggesting getting rid of streaming altogether, but maybe designate one or two allies to that job to free up the others. L&amp;R

Corey Swafford

With the recent announcement of weekly clips being canceled, I had a suggestion which you may have already discussed internally, but wanted to send regardless. As much as I love your transparency, a lot of disappointment could have been avoided if the logistics and planning was sorted out before announcing this production. I think sometimes EZA may get too ahead of themselves with planning/announcing projects. Another example is the delay of box peek. I just think further planning and discussion is needed before actually announcing a project. As much as I dislike being "in the know" i think holding back announcements and going through all scenarios which may impact EZA is extremely important to the health of our community and better sets expectations with patrons. L&amp;R! -Christian

Rammer

Hey Jones, A lot of the merchandise questions over the last few episodes have been suggesting that fans submit designs that may or may not be used. I'm glad that you're resistant to the idea as I'm personally not a fan of spec work, or basically having fans doing work for free. To be fair, you seem to be resistant mostly due to the time required for such an endeavor, but I just wanted to thank you for not taking advantage of your fans despite the fact that many of your passionate fans wouldn't see it that way. As for an actual suggestion, I just want to see you further pursue partnerships like you currently have with Fangamer. I think working with existing companies that have designers on the payroll that makes sure everybody involved is reimbursed is the way to go. I don't know if you have an exclusivity deal with Fangamer as for merchandise, but I would also suggest reaching out to the Yetee as they produce merch for a lot of other YouTubers. Thanks to the Yetee producing a new t-shirt everyday, it drives a lot of traffic to the site where they will also see the YouTuber merch collections advertised on the page. Just an idea as I, like many others, want to see more merch, but I also want to see everybody involved be reimbursed as necessary. L&amp;R

Phazonmasher

Hello Jones/Blood, I would firstly like to you know that I'm satisfied with the quality and rate at which you produce content. However I have often heard you and other allies mention time as being a constant obstacle you all struggle with. An issue it seems that has now resulted in the decision to do away with Weekly Clips. The community has often suggested that EZA's reliance on streaming may be somewhat to blame for this ploblem. Is there any truth to that notion? Without outlining exact scheduling, I was wondering if you could offer more clarity about what EZA's day to day production is like to help demystify why time is such an issue for the nine of you. L&amp;R

WarmFeelings

Happy Thursday Mr. Jones, I was wondering if your are worried much about people having to many expectations of the studio. That people will expect to large of a change from your current output to when you are working in a studio. As the fact that ya'll are 9 greatly talented people, but still nine people. While people expect you will make a lot of stuff or some greater change in quality then maybe reasonable. I guess in short, how do you plan on dealing with the potential of over hype when dealing with the studio change?

Mr.V

Hey Jones Now that you've had some distance from the Animal Crossing reveal have you had any more appreciation for the teaser trailer as a whole (the 1:20 video of Nook)? I'm thinking that it hints towards Nook having a more involved role in the upcoming AC game but what did you think of it on reflection once it was no longer just teasing about the annoucement?

Daniel Rona

Heya, Jones! Thinking back, I really enjoyed the trailer extravaganza y'all did after the Gamescom opening ceremony. Do you think you would do a trailer fest stream for all the new trailers dropping this week from TGS (granted there is a decent amount)? Was kinda neat to hear you all talk about games that might otherwise fly under the radar and not necessarily get a spotlight in keynotes or directs. That's all. Dumb idea? Yea... but I kinda like listening to your reactions on my morning commute and make a mental note of what trailers to watch later. After the Gamescom one, I found myself adding a few games to add to my list of what to keep an eye on. - Jason A. Sackel

Jason A. Sackel

Dear Jones I’ve heard you say that producing the monthly Top 10 videos requires a lot of work. I don’t doubt it, but could you explain why they are so labor intensive? Thanks! You guys are the best!

Kola Aina

Hi there Jonesy. With the confirmation of Animal Crossing Switch this past week, I wanted to ask what the number one thing you want from the new game is. Personally, I just want to be able to play as an animal. PS. I got the Spider-Man platinum in 4 days, inspired by you and Bosman getting it. I'm currently halfway through my second playthrough and I'm probably going to end up 100%ing it again. L&amp;R

Kate Bishop

Hi Jones, are you guys planning on doing some VR reviews aswell? I may be wrong but i don't think there has been any review of a VR game (except for RE7...) on Easy Allies. Games like Moss, Firewall: Zero Hour, AstroBot, Tetris Effect deserves some exposure don't you think? Thank you for everything you guys do and congratulations on passing 8000 Patreons :) L&amp;R

Sven Van Lathem

To me that would change how the podcasts function. I mean podcasts are meant to be listened to so adding visuals changes it.

Hello Jones! Lately I've been thinking back to last year when EZA were doing GOG streams. I really enjoyed these streams, especially with the added bonus of EZA giving out codes for the games being played so we could try them out ourselves. With that in mind, I wanted to ask if anything similar to this has come up in group discussions as something you could do in the future? For instance, when a new game such as Spider-Man releases, would it be possible to have a 2 hour stream showing off the game and include code giveaways using a raffle format? Perhaps Insomniac could provide a handful of codes to giveaway during this stream as a way to promote the game? I don't know what sort of collaboration would be needed for something like this to happen, but I thought it would be a good idea for a once a month stream, perhaps even a new show and Patreon tier. Granted, developers would need to be on board for this to work so I'm not sure how feasible it may be. Have any of the allies brought this up before? Do you think something like this would be possible once you've moved into a studio? Love &amp; Respect, Bryan Schmidt aka MistahShowtime

MistahShowtime

Hey Jones, I've been thinking a great way to enhance the presentation of podcasts, especially the weekly EA podcast would be to have B-Roll footage of games you're discussing playing periodically while you all chat. Had this been discussed before? I've seen it on other gaming podcasts and think it adds a lot, especially for some of the bigger games that are out. I realize this would be hard to implement on everything, but even just having it on the weekly podcast would be a great first step. It seems like it could help the flow of the podcast and give it a more polished look. Would love to hear what you think!

Jared Barzee

Cup of Jones is done as a livestream, and there's no way to edit the archive without re-uploading the video, which would not only take a significant amount of time, but would lose all the chat and previous comments. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Hey Brandon, is Busted Trifecta still happening? I don't think we've heard anything about it for a while now

mikkel hervel nemmøe

Hi Brandon, dunno if this was mentioned before so please ignore, if it was. Could you cut the video to the actual start of the show / your introduction? Would made me enjoy coj even more! l&amp;r, René

r3k

Hey Jones, You guys are running a tight ship. What productivity apps are you using?. You mentioned that the team was using Slack for chat but what apps/programs do you use specifically for calendars, task lists and organising?

Jovan Sreckovic

Hi Jones! Any plans on ever using that community tab on your youtube page? Might be good for twitch or patreon promotion.

Parasitepaladin

Brandon! The Dragon Prince! Avatar The Last Airbender Head Writer! Netflix! Now!

M

I personally find no value whatsoever in review scores and disregard them entirely, but if they're bringing in viewers and hype thereby directly pumping up your Patreon numbers I say keep it up. At any rate I myself and people like me can continue to ignore them so I don't see how having them is a detriment to anyone.

Jason Rumsey

I played octopath and did not like it but dragon quest 11 I very much enjoyed. What are your thoughts on dragon quest 11?

Joey and Cait

Thank you for audio version.

Matt Brookbank

Hey Brandon, was just browsing YouTube and noticed a video that had "premiered" rather than the usual designation of "published" for a new video and on further investigation, it seems like you can now schedule a video to upload at a certain time with a countdown like it was a livestream, then for those present at the time, people can chat live on the premiere showing and also donate money. This would obviously be difficult on videos that are timed by the early access tier, but have you considered it for other videos? If you haven't seen it, here's an example. Coincidentally from Linus Tech Tips that was brought up last week <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HNnXJMJkY0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HNnXJMJkY0</a>

Skankman

Hi, Brandon. I've noticed that in reviews you mostly say *statement 1*, but *pause* *statement 2*, but sometimes you say *statement 1* *pause*, but *statement 2*. Two examples from Shadow of the Tomb Raider review: "At first they can include pretty dull tasks like killing some guards or simply talking to a few people, but the game always tries to tie in a narrative with these quests to make the towns feel more alive which is appreciated." ( <a href="https://youtu.be/lllplqiop-Q?t=4m00s" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/lllplqiop-Q?t=4m00s</a> ) and "These are used to upgrade your equipment like weapons and clothes, but they’re also used for items like health potions." ( <a href="https://youtu.be/lllplqiop-Q?t=3m12s" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/lllplqiop-Q?t=3m12s</a> ) How do you decide whether to pause before "but" or after?

Alexander Zyryanov

Damiani created it when the communities feature first launched. Anyone can feel free to use it, it just adds a tag to your stream and if anyone happens to check the community they'll see EZA and fans streaming under it. There isn't really a community building feature in it at all besides hanging out in other people's chat who are fans. I don't think it's used too much anyway seeing as there isn't a lot of followers and I don't see people streaming to it often. Seems like communities are used a lot to tag you channel with the types of things you stream like VarietyStreaming, Speedrunning, Creative and stuff like that.

Kristen Rogers

They've been done. That doesn't mean everyone has to use them. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Hey Jones! A long time ago I noticed that there is an “Easy Allies” community tag on twitch (the kind of tag you can use when setting up a broadcast). Did you know it existed, and if so, is that something you’d like more twitch streamers to use in the future? Also, if you were the ones who created the tag, was it your original intention to build an active streamer community around Easy Allies in the vein of a discord or Patreon community? Any general thoughts would be great, it was just something I’ve never heard be brought attention to in the past. Edit: Communities just got removed from Twitch and replaced with tags, and I left a follow up question below since Kristen answered most of the first one!

TAHK0

For the next episode you take questions: Hey Mr. Jones! After hearing once again that a review (In this instance Spider-man) brought in more examples of rediscovering you and much of the former GameTrailers team, and in conjunction with the editorial on Review Scores, it made me wonder: In your estimation, do you think reviews are the most valuable product EZA produces (in terms of both viewership and financial growth), or if they are not, what is? Thanks for taking my question if you do, have a great day and Cheers!

Brandon K Gann

Any thoughts to covering BlizzCon this year? Diablo 2 Remastered shadow drop perhaps?

Steve S

By the time of writing this my favorite true crime parody show American Vandal make its return with season 2! As also a huge fan of Serial and Making a Murder Along comes some guilt when I watch things like this. Yes I feel anger and sadness but I also ask myself should I really be entertained right now? This is someone’s life and I’m enjoying this show. So my question is why do you think that the genre of true crime is so popular today and does it make you feel a bit off when you are entertained by shows like these?

Megan Linart

stay on Patreon, until it starts censoring and demonetizing certain views like Youtube, Twiiter and Facebook are doing.

Tom Smith

You are the bee's knees, sir.

Steven Sell

No audio version for last week? hope we get one this week..

Alec Dyer