Cup of Jones - November 22, 2018

Just heard this question read on CoJ and thought I'd recommend a game. Check out wandersong if you have a PC or a switch! It's an awesome game where you play as a bard who goes on an adventure to save the world. It's entire presentation with the visuals and the music very much remind me of theatre. The musical element is used in all aspects of the game, whether it's for solving puzzles, communicating with NPCs, platforming, and sometimes even musical performances! Here's a link to the trailer: <a href="https://youtu.be/UjiAmsjolQ4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/UjiAmsjolQ4</a> Hope this scratches that itch for u

Ben Metal

Jones! I was curious if you've Detroit: Become Human or any of David Cage's other games. Picking it up for 20 dollars, I spent the Thanksgiving weekend being taken in by this wonderful world, interesting characters, its shockingly contemporary themes, and expert pacing and narrative. It feels very James Cameron - a big swing and it mostly delivers. It's my GOTY. I think I'm alone in this opinion - and its lack of buzz makes me eager to evangelize it to anyone with ears and thumbs. Thus, my question - if given a 30 second Super Bowl commercial to promote or champion any one video game to a massive global audience, what would it be, and why?

Paul Meekin

As an enormous fan of Red Dead Redemption that we know you are, I'm curious to know what stopped you from pushing the button on the ultimate edition? (Also if I may humbly recommend a book to you, if you have not come across it before; Energy Leadership by Bruce D Schneider).

Elliot Moscow

Jones! (I'm hoping to be brief with the context so you can keep it in the read-aloud.) This past May, the Los Angeles Convention Center operator AEG proposed a $1.2 billion hotel and concention center expansion. You can view a rendering and the full story here: <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-aeg-convention-center-20180508-story.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-aeg-convention-center-20180508-story.html</a> It seems to me like the essence of it is building a structure that connects West and South Hall in order to create one contiguous exhibit hall. (And some additional meeting room space in upper levels)(Another perk is an expanded parking structure for LA Live.) Construction would take about two years and they hope to be done by 2022 at the latest. Given the recent discussions on the future of E3, how do you think this expansion of the venue factors in to the future of the E3 experience? It seems very possible that either next year or the year after, E3 will be heavily impacted by construction.

Alec Church

Hey Jones, A topic that has been fiercely debated among my peers is the correct way to use the word "Next", and I saw the Easy Allies Facebook account make this same gaff (in my opinion) so I had to speak up. When you say, "I'll see you next week" this in reference to the Game Awards, it made me immediately think you were referring to November 29th, not December 6th. A quick google search helped clarify what the EZA Facebook account meant, but the post still confused me. "Next" to me implies the most imminent occurrence of said day/time, but it's often one of those kinds of words that can mean two things at the same time. It's an inaccurate turn of phrase, and something that I have removed from my vocabulary when scheduling meetings with clients and partners because it's too important to get everyone on the same page. I'm curious about your position, as you've done professional voice work and narration, and you are particularly skilled at communicating what you are trying to get across. Sorry if this is too nit-picky, would love to hear your thoughts. Love and respect!

Kanlink

Hey Jones, greetings from South Africa! I wanted to express my fondness for the rerun of the group stream last week (20th of November). As someone in the EU timezone area it's something that I never get to see on Twitch with other viewers. I understand that you and the allies can't stay up until 4 am to cater for EU viewers, and while seeing it live would be ideal, I think that a weekly rerun on Twitch is a great idea! Was the rerun successful? Is it something you'd continue to do in future? Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! L&amp;R

swarmingbats

Hello Jones! As a big fan of your Betting Specials I was really hoping we'd get another one for The Game Awards next week, but you ruled that out due to being judges for the show. That's fair, but wouldn't that only be a problem when you'd bet on the actual awards? Couldn't you just bet on the announcements and world premieres and be fine? Alternatively, on December 8th the first Kinda Funny Showcase will be streamed live, and Greg Miller posted on Twitter that at least 63 games will be shown. It will likely be mostly indie games, but there's still a lot of bets you could make. I dunno, just an idea. I think the Betting Specials are one of the most liked things you guys produce and it'd be kind of a bummer if we'd get less and less of them. L&amp;R

Dennis M.

Hi Jones. In the latest episode of spoiler mode you said that you didn’t feel Super Smash Bros’ controls were intuitive (or something along those lines). Could you elaborate why? Context: I find it fascinating as this is the second (*) big difference of opinion, game control related, that I have compared to you... and I do get quite curious to hear a complete opposite side to mine from people that can articulate their opinion like yourself. What I like the most about Smash —even beyond being a big party of characters and game franchises that I love— is that all fighters (**) share the same simple control scheme. There’s no list of obtuse 12 button sequence, 5/8 circle, z-motion, single frame cancel nonsense that you need to learn for each individual character in other games, and yet there's plenty of normal attacks and ways to utilize and modify special ones. It allows me to focus on what each fighter can do, rather than how to pull it off! My only gripe with the default controls is using UP on the stick to jump, but that’s something that every version of the game allows you to disable in favor of using a face button (at least since melee when I really got into it) (*) I’ll leave the first one for another week as it’s not that relevant right now (**) Disclaimer: I missed the DLC for Smash 4 so I don’t count Ryu, but AFAIK his SF quarter circle motions are an alternative control technique rather than a replacement. L&amp;R

AsGenesis

Hello Brandon – I would just like to echo another Patron’s sentiment regarding Patron tiers. I also think it may be time to take a hard look at what your higher tiers are rewarding patrons. Thankfully, I am financially stable enough to up my pledge, but I am having a hard time convincing myself it is worth the higher pledge, other than knowing my pledge will benefit your business. Here are some takeaways I came across regarding two specific tiers: 1) $20 Live Q&amp;A. Patron tier number: A decrease of around 700 patrons (at the time of this writing) compared to the 10$ tier. Analysis: The massive drop off compared to the previous tier indicates the average patron does not see value in this tier (on its own). It is extremely relevant to look at the next tier’s numbers. 2) $25 Podcast Producer. Patron tier number: An increase of around 200 patrons (at the time of this writing) compared to the 20$ tier. Analysis: Despite the increase in cost, there is an increase in numbers. This suggests the extra $5 spent has value in the average Patron who would have bothered dropping $20 already. My thoughts: I have no large empirical data, but I do see a pattern with you and other similar Creators. I believe $5 is that sweet spot where the price increase is mild enough that the average person will say “sure why not?” Unfortunately, I don’t have any other suggestions at the moment other than to relay the message that perhaps some type of new or change in tiers between the 25$-$60 level may lead to more people feeling good about dropping some of that lovely CASH. What are your thoughts?

Rammer

Hello Jones - once the studio becomes a reality, I'm wondering if you would introduce a sponsorship tier to temporarily name the studio after someone? SciShow and Crash Course used to do this on their videos -- for example "Crash Course is brought to you by generous donations and filmed at the Laurel and Hardy studios. If you would like to sponsor .....etc" Just a thought, maybe in lieu of or in addition to the Podcast Producer tier. Thanks!

Liz Castro

I think the video was really well done, it was enough for me to finally join in. (it also helped that I finally got a good job to be able to support properly). So I thank you for the public Cup of Jones as it did make me subscribe.

Hi Jones, I think this public video was really well received and it's always good to point the YouTube audience towards Patreon, as well as give Patrons an update that see a 2 hour Cup of Jones and don't think they have time for that! I think this should be a monthly update for that audience, a good opportunity to talk about the highlights of the previous month, what's going up next month and any interesting developments people might not be aware of, such as the studio search right now. To give you your time back, I'm sure we could cope with 3 cups a month to allow you to get the update out there. Alternatively, you could give a more general address for the month at the beginning of a normal Cup of Jones before interacting with chat and clip that part out. Either way, I think a semi-regular business/content update could really help engage with the audience that isn't glued to the Patreon. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving

Skankman

They used to do a show called Easy Allies Clips that was pretty much just what you said. I don't know why they stopped doing it.

Pablo Leiva

Hey Jones, Something I noticed recently is that essentially none of the content on your main channel consists of you guys actually playing games. While I think the abundance of podcast/interview style videos you guys put out is fantastic, I also think you are missing an opportunity to make some of your more casual audience feel a more personal connection with the nine of you (a connection that could possibly lead to financial endorsement). I know you have the Easy Allies Plays channel to hold all of your gameplay streams, but the vast difference in subscriber numbers between that and your main channel makes me think that your wider audience is either unaware of it, or uninterested in watching multi-hour long streams. This is unfortunate because some of the best EZA moments come from these streams, particularly the group streams when you guys are hanging out with less structure and just cracking jokes off the cuff. So I'm wondering if you have ever considered putting out a weekly "highlights" video of the group stream. I think being able to watch your reactions to the ups and downs of the gameplay, and being able to stay up to date with some of the inside jokes in a 20 to 30 minute long video would be very endearing to the casual viewer. The Clips series kind of touched on this idea, but I feel it missed the mark as the solo streams are often less entertaining, and there was no overall through line to follow. I know you guys are pretty maxed out in workload right now, but I truly believe a weekly video like this would bring in much higher view counts (and potential patrons) than many of your other weekly shows. Closer to your reaction videos, which give the same unstructured vibe. Just an idea I've been thinking of as a way to stay above 50k and move beyond, and wanted to hear your thoughts. Love and Respect, Tanner Holmes

Hey Jones I was just wondering are you guys going to plan on doing a best VR category in the GOTY discussions? I think VR especially PSVR is better than its ever been but its not covered all too much. Just wondering if you guys were planning on doing that at all.

Megan Linart

Hey Jones, just wondering if EZA will be covering the Kinda Funny Showcase on the 8th of December? From what Greg has been saying about it, the showcase seems fairly meaty with over 60 games to show off and there is sure to be some exciting stuff in there.

Jesse Nye

Hi Jones, thanks for everything you guys do! Every once in awhile I find myself playing a game that came out a few years ago, and checking to see what the GT/EZA crew thought of that game. However, sometimes that game happens to fall in the February/March 2016 timeframe which means we never got a proper review from your crew. So with that in mind - was Far Cry Primal being reviewed at GT at the time of the shutdown? Do you recall what the reception of the game was at the time it was released among the EZA crew? I'm really getting into it, but it's one of those games that just seemed to immediately fall off the face of the planet after being released in February 2016. -Andy

Andy Goergen

A lot of people complain about him spoiling games in reviews. I think that's the reason.

Hi Jones, thanks for the update. I'm a 25$ Patreon for quite a while now and I would like to actually up my pledge, but here is the little problem I have, none of the tiers above 25$ are attractive to me. A fan mail is a nice thing but I'd rather have something where I feel that my pledge for a specific tier lets me participate more with EZA rather then just receiving an email. And something like the 60$ pledge isin't really interesting because I almost never have time to watch your streams (that's also I'm living in Europe and the time difference makes it hard to watch often). I know that I could basically just up my pledge because I love you guys but I would hope you may consider a new tier or two that let Patreon interact more with you. I'm not sure if other fellow Patreon's feel the same but when you look at the number of Patreon's that are "Podcast Producer" to the number of Patreon's that pledge for the "Digital Fan Email" the drop is quite huge and I think with a more "attractive" tier more Patreon's might be willing to make the jump from 23$ to 40$ or 50$ a month. As always love the work all of you are doing. Big L&amp;R from Germany Daniel

Daniel Fuchs

2 Questions, if you don't mind. One about Red Dead and the other about Sony. 1.) Did you ever find a disconnect between Red Dead's story and gameplay? Like when the gang says they can't attack (someone) because that (someone) has a big army and is too well guarded. Then a few missions later, you and a couple gang members wipes everyone out. In the next story cut scene, no one is usually injured. It took me out of the narrative, sometimes. 2.) Do you think Sony is skipping all these public events to just finish their games? To my knowledge, demos, stage shows, etc takes time. Instead of pulling people off the main team to showcase a demo that may take 3 months to complete, just focus on the game in development to speed up the release date. Rockstar rarely shows off their games, and not many people complain. And the final product, well we've played Red Dead 2. Thanks.

NotYourMom

Hey Jones, personal question following up from the most recent EZA podcast - how did you get labeled as the "King of Spoilers" - it looked like it didn't sit well with you.

David Curtis

Hey Jones I love musical theatre, and have been ruminating for a long while on how one would get the theatric vibe of a musical into a video game. There have been some big musical-ish moments in games like the opera in FF6, but I have no idea how one would be able to transcribe that experience into something as interactive as a video game, especially given the huge disparity in pacing of the two mediums. Have you ever given thought to combining these two great arts and if so what ideas have you had?

Daniel Rona

I can give you an extremely brief: They got fired and GT shut down. They reformed as EZA. Greetings from Germany ;D

Sebastian

Greetings from Germany. I only recently found out about easy allies, and as a former GT fan, could you do a quick recap the events leading from GT to easy allies? Thank, happy Thanksgiving!

Kevin K

Happy Thanksgiving!! What’s your favorite flavor of Skittles?

Christopher Peterson