Cup of Jones - August 30, 2018

Morning Jones! Personal question. Not sure if you have answered this one before but just recently became a patron so I haven't been up to date on all your episodes and questions you have answered Anyway as a big Castlevania fan I was just wondering how did you get into the series? For me I remember when I was a kid I borrowed my neighbors SNES and he had Super Castlevania 4. I remember falling in love with the game and was a fan since. The music was perfect in setting tone and the world they built was the perfect Gothic horror with the way things looked. Symphony of the Night was the next game for me and we all know how great that one is. Probably my favorite in the series and 4 is my second. Anyway I am rambling now. Thanks for answering my question. P.S. What are your favorite games in the series?

Chris Eyerly

People have suggested this before and I keep forgetting. My bad. - Brandon

Easy Allies

brandon@easyallies.com

Easy Allies

We do get this question a lot, which is why I'm answering here. We're actively looking to recreate that "homie feel" with our new space, but that will hopefully be just one of the spaces where we produce stuff. - Brandon

Easy Allies

Hi Jones You can cut this portion: Your final pronunciations of my last name were correct, with the ss sounding like s rather than an sh. Virtually everyone who reads it outloud before hearing it adds either an extraneous i or n, which I find odd but have gotten used to. Actual question: You mentioned that for the full play through fridays, there would always be at least 2 allies present (unless Huber pulls an Evil Within 2 again). What are some pairings/groupings that you'd like to see turn up in those streams, be it something we've seen before, such as Huber playing through a horror game with Kyle there for commentary, or something that doesn't show up on camera often but you get a kick out of when you see it? L&R Joe

Joe Edmisson

Brandon - As far as I'm concerned there has never been a decent Alien Xenomorph game! I admit that I haven't played all of them but the ones I have played have done nothing but disappoint me. How hard is it to make a decent Xenomorph game?!? Sure, Alien Isolation was good I guess but I don't want to hide from an Alien, I want to blast one to smithereens watching it's alien blood spurt all over the spaceship walls. Don't even get me started on Aliens: Colonial Marines even though that comes closest to the kind of Alien game I want. I'm curious how you would fix this franchise, what kind of Alien Xenomorph game do you want to see? - Stay Frosty, The Jastrom

Jason Walstrom

Greetings Jones! I did not expect my first time writing in to be about cats, yet here we are. This is a personal comment, not even a question, but I couldn't let the coincidence pass. I too had a childhood cat named "KC", and from the sound of it, he was a kindred spirit to yours. My KC (named after "Kansas City", my older brother is a diehard Kansas City football fan) was also an independent soul, who could roam whenever and wherever he wanted, night or day, indoors or out. He was a real tomcat, and my brother has always said KC was big enough and tough enough to pick fights with coyotes at night. But he always knew where home was, where he could return to for food, shelter, and love. And he was the only cat I've ever known to absolutely adore belly rubs. My KC passed away over two decades ago now, but I'll certainly never forget him. This was most certainly a tangent of the highest order, but I've never heard of another KC until now, so I felt that I had to say something. Assuming they were not, in fact, the same cat, just in another life. Love & respect. Cheers!

awesome_express

Hi Brandon! Can you share any details of what exactly happened with the Spider-Man review when it was taken down on YouTube for a few hours? Great review, by the way! :)

Ville Ranto

Hey Jones! Where and how can I send you Steam codes for a possible stream?

Lukas Riedler

Hey Brandon! It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a question, I hope all is well. Anyways, I was wondering if something like GT “Timelines” were a possibility in the future. They seem to take up a similar spot as retrospectives, but I’ve generally been more partial towards the timelines due to the focus on the games as a finished product. Are these more work than retros or less? Maybe add it as another goal? (Oooor finish and release a metal gear timeline now that Damiani is in the group again) P.s. I’d like to second the suggestions to add more mid range pledge tiers. I’m at podcast producer and would like something around between the 25$ and 50$ incentives. 😁 Pps Warcraft would make a good timeline too.

Tony

[BUSINESS SUGGESTION] Hey Jones, I have a suggestion for the Top 10 series. Not exactly a solution to last week's Town-Gate but maybe it could help. Put simply - Honorable Mentions. The infamous WatchMojo does a lot of Top 10 videos and before the #1 entry they do a quick run down of their honorable mentions by name. Just a bit of gameplay footage, mentioning the game and aspect with respect to the list would be a nice addition to each list. It would be a nice addition to the Top 10's and to make it feel more unique to EZA there could be 9 honorable mentions picked by each Ally. This way An honorable mention can be named throughout the list instead of all at once before the top pick. The main issue with this is the increase in video length. Though since it would be a few seconds of gameplay with a name drop, the total added length would probably be over a minute if that's how you choose to format it. Much love, much respect - cheers!

First time posting - second after the above mistake, I've been following you guys since 2006 and just finished watching all Cup of Jones episodes in August. Really love the personal touch and transparency you bring to every question. I have many questions I wanna ask you, but gonna respect the 1 question per week rule. Since almost all of the Allies and a very large part of the EZA community like Anime, would you consider at least watching a 30-60 minute summary video of series like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto to at least understand the references and better engage with the allies and community about this subject? They're well worth watching in full, but since you don't have much free time, this seems to be the best compromise. Plus you will also get to see why so many of your close friends love these series. Sorry if I went beyond the word limit. Thanks for taking the time to read/answer this question. L & R.

Daniel Ribeiro

Hi, Jones.

Daniel Ribeiro

Hey Jones, my dream 'top 10' video from EZA would be "top 10 HOG games". Has this been brought up before? Is it something you might possible maybe might do in the future? Or would it just be too big a bloodbath? Or would everyone just look at each other and all agree the dumb paper Mario game is clearly number 1?

mikkel hervel nemmøe

Hello, the last month was the single best month in regards to youtube-views outside of E3 for EasyAllies, even better than the E3-month of 2016. Was it just a fluke or do you think it was related to the coverage around the GamesCom? The show had a significant rise of its impact to the games world in the last few years and I think it would be great if you could send some Allies to the event in future years. As a viewer from Germany I would of course love to connect this with an meetup and of course would donate some extra money to make this possible. Maybe you should create a option to donate extra money outside the Patreon with a defined purpose like a crowd-funding to bring in some more donations. I could see the people who make your donation-streams so successful getting more involved here, especially those who give a lot but don’t want to commit a monthly obligation. Stefan

Stefan Bien

Hi Jones, This is a follow-up to a biz question dated July 17th about modifying two or three patreon mid-range tiers to stay above 50k by providing healthy optional incentives. I preferred to wait for the new patreon goals to be announced and to see how much push it will give and to do some calculations before writing this post. This is also inspired by what I have seen in successful creators like Philip de Franco and others. Objectively, Blood Pact & the digital fan mail are the main targets to be changed for the following points: 1- Blood Pact is nice idea but as a value it doesn’t match up with the current pledge price of 60$, it’s a niche reward for the people capable to pledge this much and the content itself is public, it’s a small idea of choice that can be part of bigger tier attracting more people. 2-Bloodpact depends only on one guy, the one and only Mr. Bloodworth which is nice for the current no studio status. But with the studio things should change & it isn’t great for the content itself especially if the game has a fast pace… commentating and following up with chat become harder. 3-Digital mail can’t be marketed very well because of its private nature, and if people can’t share and talk about it, the tier loses big part of its value. 4- For the people not interested in this tier, it makes the jump from the tier below it which is “Podcast Producer” to the one above it “Blood pact” cost +35$ which is insane for the value it presents. 5- Usually, Fan mail and specially the digital one are open to the majority of members (like 5$ and above) and it’s more of appreciation mail in my opinion. 6- I have to state that I’m not familiar with the fan mail tier myself so I can’t talk about the quality of the content. Also, I never heard any impressions about it myself from anyone. Even at the current 50 & 60$ cost, both tiers are approx. 10.5% of the total income (excluding the sponsors) and it’s provided to you by 1.1% of the total supporters. Which indicate the need for better rewarding/incentivizing mid-high tiers replacing the existing one. So, what can replace the 2 tiers? There are multiple ideas but I will go and detail the one I’m most convinced with to bring the best results and even to some sides of eza reach & marketing! This is based on my basic knowledge of EZA and what’s I have seen working nice with the other creators. The 55$ tier: 1- Blood Pact: same as the existing show but in the studio with one guest. 2- Easy Livin’ (June/July) & New Year (December/Jan) signed posters & coasters. (2 designs each year, minimum 4 months pledges before the due date) 2- Get exclusive discounts on the limited time merchandise (the plan is to release new design each 3 months for everyone, to get the discount you need minimum 3 month continues pledges in this tier each quarter) The benefit of this change is to add enough value to this tier and hopefully more people will be interested in the optional rewards. This move will enhance the merch and sequentially the brand reception. The discounts can be managed with the company/website handling the merch, and the poster/coasters can be managed with any local company, it is low cost and easy to ship. also the community is filled with designers that are willing to help. One last point, the current merch store is full of dead designs, so I suggest keeping the classic design and removing the rest. the time limited 4 designs per year will keep things fresh and interesting. Sorry for the long post. L&R /Mr_Cid

Mr_Cid

Mr Jones, There was a question last week about hiring for the Allies in the future. You kindly explained you are at capacity for staff for the foreseeable future, but you appreciate community support. My question is what can the community do for you and the Allies? I already hear you saying you are uncomfortable asking for anything more from an already generous community, but have you considered that some out there would be glad to do more to help or make the community a better place? If you are willing could you set some guidelines for fans who want to contribute more than just money? This can include: Ideas- "Indie and the Jones" sounds delightful, can we pitch other ideas? Gifts- Most Tuesdays see the fans send gifts and treats. Can we also send gifts? What should we not send? More Money- The community has risen to the occasion more than a few times when a need is expressed, just give the word. PR- Would you encourage an awareness drive from patrons and fans to share videos and posts on social media in a coordinated effort to get more people into the community. Polling the community- Would you ever ask the community to weigh in on issues, in a more official capacity than just the comments? Donations- Would you accept/encourage video game and hardware donations to build an EZA game library? Art/show contributions- Would you be okay with fans sending art for official merchandise or thumbnail use? Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

Did you delay Yoshi Switch?

GmanSir

Trailer Jones. Have you considered putting links to the trailers in the video description? Just to make it easier to find and watch the trailer before listening to the discussion. Not a mayor thing, but something that seems easy to do that might make some people happy. L&R /Johan

Why does that worry you? They have had the game since the 24th. At the obsessive rate at which they where likely playing it ( especially Kyle), it seems about right that they would have it 100% completed by now.

WarmFeelings

Jones, you have a good Mickey impression, that "Oh boy" killed me last week. Now to my question, last week you said something that worried me. You said you and Kyle had both got 100% completion of Spiderman. I need some clarification on that. I'm hoping by 100%, you mean you got to the credits, 100% of the story/main missions done, NOT all the collectables side stuff/challenges or whatever the game has to offer as well. So, please clarify what you mean by 100% completion, and how many hours did that take you? L&R POKEY CLYDE

POKEY CLYDE

Does anyone remember Jone's email? the one he mentioned on CoJ before?

Mr_Cid

In the most recent Patron Q&A there was a question about what game you add into the Hall of Greats. Huber said GTA 5 and that it was one of the greats and Damiani said World of Warcraft. So my question is what was going through your mind then, considering that WOW got no votes and Huber seemed somewhat reluctant to give GTA his last vote. And also did this make reconsider bringing them back?

Kian Jahromi

It's so funny, I played BotW and the towns mentioned in the list I can hardly remember. Don't get me wrong, the game is great, I just don't think that the towns are particularly memorable. At the same time, this was the first Zelda I played since A Link to the Past, so I don't really feel a strong connection to the franchise. I finished the game after 35 hours and then I put it on a shelf. Overall, the world felt kinda empty to me, the characters were quite flat and the silent protagonist doesn't speak to me (I know, bad pun). So I can kind of understand all the criticism for the list. Thanks again Brandon for your insights and your editorial!

Timo Arnken

With all tons of videos that have been made- is there a personal favourite yet? A specific episode of Fiasco Nauts or was there a time when the podcast just felt perfect or maybe something pre-recorded like e3 bets that really clicked with you? Love and Respect, Sean x

See You When I Get There

Business Question: I'm currently at the $5 patreon tier, and I am only able to injest the content on here through audio. I've noticed many times the soundcloud link will not be posted when the early release video is posted(Easy Allies Podcast/Frame Trap/Friend Code/Fiasconauts). If you could please let everyone know to include the soundcloud link on the early posts that would be great! I rely on the soundcloud link because the RSS feed is utter garbage for me and always stops part way through. Thanks!

Rosamune

When the studio comes, will it be an open environment where any of the allies can stop by whenever they want to stream a game or just hang out? If so, are you incentivizing the allies in any way, maybe by offering them a certain percentage of the stream donations for the hours they are live? Sorry if this has been answered before.

D.M. Deyo

You may have gotten this question before, and I apologize if you have. This is my first month as a Patron after supporting over on Twitch for quite a while (I really want the Huber game show) - Do you ever fear that the dynamic might change when you get your a stand alone studio? Where you might lose a little of the homie feel that comes with being in the space you're in now. I totally understand the want/need for a professional space, but I'm just curious if you've wondered about that at all. -Have you and the Allies have ever had that conversation, or has everyone always been gung-ho about getting a studio? - Thanks L&R

Owen

Brandon, Have you ever come across someone that has given you a negative/snide reaction to what you do with EZA? whether it be family, friends, an associate. I still know a lot of people that see gaming as a child's past time compared to film, tv,reading etc.

Jordan Buitendyk

I re-watched your 2017 awards and got frustrated when you spent a ton of time discussing Zelda, when we all knew what was coming anyway, and didn’t give other nominees much time. With 10 finalists, it’s already known which games don’t really have a shot. Here’s my suggestion to determine the GOTY: 1) The Allies determine the 10 GOTY nominees behind the scenes, and then each establishes his own top-10 from those nominees. 2) The Allies announce their top-10s on camera, and the winner is determined by average. 3) After the winner’s announced, the Allies can then discuss what they loved/didn’t love about the 10 games, without having to prove a point to anyone. I think deliberations are still great for categories like Best Soundtrack and Best Multiplayer, etc. But I think the GOTY deserves more structure. Thanks! L&R

Zachary Jennings

i don't think the goal will change, because it has to be maintained so the allies can afford the place.

Daniel Garza Andrade

No question, just clarification. Median is a middle element of ordered objects. So if we talk about median year of Easy Livin' games, we have to arrange them from oldest to newest at look at the release year of the game in the middle. Median is more accurate than average when you have few very small or very big numbers. For example there were several modern games in Easy Livin' and they pull average up to 2005. But most of the games were from late 90s and early 2000s, so median year (2002) is more accurate.

Alexander Zyryanov

Business - Apologies for another Top 10 suggestion. How about arriving at your Top 10 via Kill Your Babies method? Make the deliberation Patreon Exclusive? I love love love all the KYB videos Ian has done in the past. Would be extremely happy if KYB becomes a regular show.

LeeLore

Hey Jones! A suggestion for top ten's is to make you deliberations patreon exclusive videos. That way you could have more exclusive videos to make becoming a patron more enticing. This would be more of a behind the scenes kind of video so I don't think it would have to be too extravagant, just a single camera while you duke it out, or if you're not all together then maybe a set up like the monthly Q&A's. I really enjoyed the deliberations during GOTY's and would like to see more videos like that and so I think that this might be a way to have more content similar to that without doing too much more work. It would also allow more people to see how the list was made and see the thought process behind why each of the allies picked what they picked. Just a thought! L&R!

Hi Jones! I was recently searching up videos to introduce some friends to Easy Allies, and when I do that, I usually gravitate towards one-off "IRL" type videos like Kyle's stand-up or the Dino-Crisis diorama stream-- The stuff that really can only emerge from that Easy Allies "essence". That being said, I noticed there aren't quite as many of these games-adjacent self-contained videos as there used to be, when they seemingly used to happen all the time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though, because I feel like we've gotten an equal amount of new/regular EZA events (like the charity stream, Easy Livin', Hall of Greats, etc.), and Easy Updates, that are just as awesome, but just differently-awesome. I also realize that most of these types of "IRL" videos spawn from bets, so they shouldn't be creatively forced to meet a demand, but they are super fun and always have great "story lines" leading up to them to retell. I hope I'm getting across the types videos that I'm referring to, and if I did, I was wondering if this is something you guys have noticed as well, and if you had any general thoughts behind it?

TAHK0

Jones, here's a business question/suggestion for Top 10's going forward. You mentioned that in the case of the 4 Zelda towns, each was suggested by a different ally, and each of those refused to budge. You also mentioned that number 1 in your lists doesn't necessarily seem like a number 1. Rather than structure it as the 10 best in descending order, maybe present 10-2 as each Ally's personal pick for the best, with just #1 as the group choice. This keeps #1 distinct, and to me, would make it easier to swallow if multiple entries from the same game show up on the same list, since we'd see they were effectively each someone's personal #1. You wouldn't even have to change the countdown, since 10-2 are already counted off by a different ally. Of course, hopefully the allies would a backup choice for deliberations in case their first pick becomes the group choice, or in case multiple people are arguing for the same pick.

Nicholas Bobbie

I loved the chatting about the different towns in Final Fantasy 6. If I were to pick one from that list, I'd say Narshe. It has great, distinct look that seemed so different from other Final Fantasy towns up to that point, with the snow-covered, mountainous landscape, the steam pipes running everywhere suggesting a higher technology level, the cave system underneath, etc. You also go from invading it in the prologue to defending it from Kefka after the party meets back up. It doesn't play a strong role in the story after that, but I know finding it abandoned in the World of Ruin was pretty heartbreaking to me to find it abandoned (but mostly otherwise unchanged) in the World of Ruin.

Nicholas Bobbie

In the US, a "cup of joe" is outdated slang for a cup of coffee. Brandon streams Cup of Jones pretty early in the morning (Pacific time), the time people typically drink coffee. It's our morning cup of Jones.

Daniel Matos

After you are comfortably in the studio, will the $50K goal change?

Evan Charles Teague

Hi Brandon, why do you picked the Cup of Jones as the title of your show? do you have more insight of why the other names on the other shows in EZA were chosen and what were some not used names?

Daniel Garza Andrade

There are so many E-Sports nowadays. I don't keep up and would never try. But if the Easy Allies had to pick a genre or even a game that was REQUIRED to cover on a weekly basis what would it be. I myself would love fighting game news from Ben Moore wearing a Gi. You could reopen Ben's Dojo! Or Brad's Overwatch Overview! But what is your ideal scenario if it was something you had to do?

Dominíc Brown

Jones, is it time for Bloodworth to become officially recognized as a Cup of Jones co-host? He provides so much valuable information in realtime, it just seems right. Cup of Jones featuring a Trickle of Blood...

Brad Grenz

So Jones, what's your personal GOTY so far?

Brian Denu

Hey Mr. Jones! While listening to the main podcast’s discussion surrounding the CyberPunk gameplay reveal, one aspect the panel didn’t touch on I think is an interesting possibility is singular streams becoming more prominent. The point was put forth from Mr. Bosman that he believed, “No game could get 235K viewers.” But it does make me think: Do you believe we’ll see many more one-off streams of games, revealing various details about them? As much as press conferences are big deals, I see the potential of this happening more often alongside the two to three times of the year we get press conferences as we know them. For example, Smash Bros. has had noteworthy and quite lengthy Directs while there have been other streams like Destiny 2’s reveal and Battlefield V with Trevor Noah. Thanks for taking my question if you do. Cheers!

Brandon K Gann

Do you guys have access to your supporter demographic? If so would you be willing to share some stats with us? Love the content, but am always left wondering who is it that can participate in these cup of Jones on weekday morning. College students? Younger would be at school, and older like me at work. Just wondering. -L&R

Javi

Did you see Ready Player One? If you have, what did you think and do you see video gaming like that possible in 50 years?

Steve S

Someone on the last COJ asked about Font Re-Designs and extending that conversation. I have looked at your T shirt selection on your website but have found the fonts really basic and unappealing. Has any thought gone into making better designed shirts for the public (especially quote/meme shirts) or are you sitting on your laurels waiting for fan gamer to make some more great ones (I am playing devils advocate here sorry)

Steven Beaumont

Just a comment no need to read it next week at all its probably better if you don't, you have talked plenty about it today. Trust me I’m the last person to be angry at a top ten and to be honest I had no problem with it. Maybe instead you should’ve done some thing like a top 10 towns from the Zelda franchise. Next time if you have a top 10 list and you notice many of them are from 1 franchise that can fill up a ten list maybe you can lump them into a top ten *blank* from a certain franchise to avoid people getting frustrated. Love and respect to ya!

Megan Linart

BUSINESS - With the repeated requests to upload audio versions of all the shows, is there a possibility to institute a reward tier for this? You folks would be better equipped to assign a dollar value, so I don't want to suggest a silly number.

I would say sometimes the audience may have a point. Not everything coming from the audience is bad per se. In this case, I think a majority of us felt that particular list was not truly thought out. I do not want them to cave in. By all means, if they think they did a 10/10 job putting three towns from the same game in there, more power to them. If they are not sure and think the audience has a point, well I don't see it as caving, we can all make mistakes or reconsider the rules when doing something. Accepting criticism is not a sign of weakness if it has a point. Anyhow, L&R

LiquidEnder

Jones, as a business how to you take the feedback from things like the last controversial top 10, and improve upon that without having everyone think you are just doing what the audience is telling you to do?

strawhatninja