Easy Allies Podcast #114 - 5/30/18

FFX was the last great FF game

Plz work on improving audio quality for listeners ;(

Mumble Mumbleton

And on the Nintendo conference, I haven't really heard anyone about the unnamed Fire Emblem for Switch, but there is actually a Nintendo page for it listing the release date as 2018, so we just have to see some of that, right?

Zkarts

I was starting to get a few GT vibes watching this week's podcast. Feels good. Nice to have Ian behind the cameras.

miggity

Agree on this. Camera angles just pull you away and it feels like a pretend show instead of hanging out with friends vibe. It does't feel like Ian is even part of the group in this episode. And as a nitpick... at least on my tv close up to Kyle has some nasty aliasing on the glasses. We need some fxaa or msaa on those glasses. Love the new look though! Cameras were well spent. Luxury!

Mikko Koponen

WIth the different camera views, one little tip, for Kyle at least, since he's the host and sets up the topics, direct your focus to your cam when you're setting up topics or reading some news or whatever, instead of looking at the panel or the center camera. It really helps to pull us, the viewers, in.

Kyle, please... <a href="https://youtu.be/BGpy-n4NtpM" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/BGpy-n4NtpM</a>

Anontastic

Concerning Beyond Good &amp; Evil 2, the last dev diary, after showing a short demo, confirmed it will be showing more at E3, showing how the game works in its seamlessness at different traversal scales (on foot, on a scooter, a small fighter, a freighter) and they suggest they might show something about the space travel and the multiplayer co-op component.

Zkarts

He'll find some way to reference Shrek again if he gets enough of these comments

VGJunky

CORRECTION: Third time's the charm - the burning chateau is Uncharted 3 - Chapter 6 &amp; Chapter 7

Matthew Leonard

In regards to the L&amp;R question about trying retro games. I disagree with Kyle, I think that MGS1 would actually be one of the best retro games to try on the original hardware. You can not figure out a couple special moments, as they were meant to be, on modern hardware with a digital version. MGS is one of my favourite games that I unfortunately can almost never safely recommend checking out unless played on original hardware. Oh how I want to play it with my nephew someday... maybe it’s just nostalgia, but it’s one of the greats isn’t it? It holds up. Love this episode. Great job with production, nice to have Ian again doing his thing. Also nice to be a patron again.

mar

I agree, totally forgot about it when making my list

Easy Allies

This is a really dumb and HIGHLY nit picky suggestion but I feel like one simple (probably less simple when taking into consideration space issues) thing that Ian could do to help make the shot look more dynamic would be to introduce some separation between the panel and the background. Some rim lighting would be KILLER. Jones' shirt really gets lost in the background and when you have a set as busy as your guys' it'd be great to pull your subjects out of it a little more. Maybe a shallower depth of field? Maybe try to light your background a different temperature than the panel? Anyways, it's great to see the new equipment being introduced and I know there are growing pains! (It's also really annoying when rando know-it-alls on the internet try to pick apart all the hard work you've been doing. ) I appreciate the work, Ian! Good job, guys!

DjDeathCool

Love the new gear can wait for E3 but a have to say for the podcast I really would like if it stay as a single shot. I love seeing everyone's faces as you guys talk.

I'm in the minority that enjoyed the single camera setup. Though I love the better lighting, cameras and production quality thanks to the switcher, the multi-cam setup has some minor flaws. Some have already mentioned that when cutting away to the "panel cam", "Ian cam" or "Kyle cam", we loose sight of the other allies and thus their reactions. Sure it's a small thing, And Ian mostly did a good job... but when you switch from one camera to another full screen, it's impossible to catch everything. One solution to this could be some picture in picture layouts. This could even inclue b-roll. I made some mockups. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/yzbWaLf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/yzbWaLf</a> What do you think? Another suggestion for Ian would be to move his camera to face him more head on so we'd see more than just his profile. Either way, I'm excited for the production quality bump and I hope to see some experimentation in the coming months to get the most out of the switcher and other new gear! :)

GermanScientist

I know there's going to be growing pains, but for audio only listeners, I think the setup was a bit of a downgrade in quality, at least for this episode. Kyle in particular sounded like he was standing several feet away from his microphone in a cave. I know everything will work out well! &lt;3 Just giving some feedback =3

Kiraz

yep I have to agree wholeheartedly with this.

LiquidEnder

Correction: Square-Enix's last E3 press conference was at the 2015 show. 51:12

ToastIX

One concern I have is when you switch to someone speaking...lets say it is Kyle. Some of the funniest things happen when Kyle is speaking and people are acting up and reacting to something Kyle is saying. We could be missing out on some potential hilarity...just a thought. Cameras are so good now...going to have to start wearing makeup soon lol. Production was top notch in this.

ComboBreaker

And more spoilers for E3 are coming in every day. I don't want to ruin anything for anybody, so I'll just say that: Again, it revolves around Microsoft's press conference.

Timo Arnken

Every year I hold out hope that Bethesda will resurrect one particular game from their catalogue; interestingly it's a game that exists in a shared universe with Wolfenstein 3D. They even acknowledged it's existence in a DOS prompt at their conference a year or two ago. It's time to reboot Commander Keen. It's the platformer we all need in 2018. Please Bethesda.

Greg

Love love love the new format, guys. Can't wait for that studio push!

Input One

Love the way everything looks and sounds! CORRECTIONS: 1) As in Pokemon GO, you get stardust by catching, 100 dust and at least 3 candy per catch. You also get XP in GO by catching and evolving. The amount of XP varies by what Pokemon you catch/evolve. This looks the same by the video for Let's Go. 2) To catch in GO like Brandon was saying, you hit in the circle on screen. The color circle defines both the chance to jump out and the rating awarded. This color circle loops a shrinking motion that you need to land the hit in. The smaller color circle you hit, the higher the rating you get (nice, great, excellent). You get more XP the higher the rating. The color can be from green to red, this is how likely the Pokemon is to jump out and try to run. You can also spin the ball to land a curve ball, or land a catch on the first throw. These also add an XP Bonus. 3) As for the Pokeball peripheral, this is a guess, but it looks like there's a button you can press and release. This could be how you tell it to throw the ball. How you spin it for a curve ball I have no clue. 4) One last thing to help on breaking down the system and how things are used: - Dust is for Powering Up exclusively. - Candy is used for evolving and some for Powering Up. - Berries modify bonuses. More Candy, easier catch, less jumping/attacking Pokemon when catching. - Other items are general management.

Justin Greene

OMG, I can't believe I fell for Kyle's Uncharted trolling last week! : )

Barnstar

They mention in the Podcast that it will be four on the table plus Ian on the switcher now, so it is safe to assume we're business as usual, but Ian is now doing the switcher every episode as well.

Hudson Bilbrey

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but what's the rotation going forward? I read somewhere else that Ian will be in the booth on every episode, which I'm very happy with, but will Brandon still be on every episode? Does this mean that there is only one rotating guest from this point forward?

Andy Goergen

Great vibes!! Ian, you're a badass.

Matt McCarthy

You can feel the budget

GW Fawkes

Looks great guys! And awesome camera work Ian!

Brad looked really happy in this podcast. I really like that.

Same here, I used to love the random Ian chime in from the booth

They probably just have pretty wide angle lenses on their smaller cams (with limited optical zoom range) and had to resort to extreme digital zoom / image cropping to achieve those medium close ups. Should be easily correctable with a pair of tele lenses.

Camian

I just got major nostalgia to Ian in the booth back at GT, when I first started watching the podcast a few years ago and thought Ian was just some grumpy guy who hated Nintendo. Love you Ian!

Ian, please keep and work with the lavs.

This looks amazing! I wonder if in the future you'll need to have an extra person just to manage the cameras and have the normal 4 on screen. Looks really good though. Ian did a great job on the camera work.

Matt Kuryloski

I can't believe how good the podcast looks now

Maverick Summers

Could it be the Kyle-cam is a bit out of focus? Seems to focus on the RedBull instead of Kyle...

Volker Bach

Well... he used to be a hair stylist ;)

Volker Bach

But why, though? I don't think the "garage vibe" is what defines EZA, and very much hope they continue to improve on production and get that studio. What I like about it is mainly the chemistry between the allies and I don't see any change in that sense. Do you?

I haven't noticed before but Brad's hair is really stylish!

Danni-H4

I have a feeling Square Enix will show Just Cause 4 as well.

The Warrior Within Soundtrack

Personally, I loved the new mics, and the production values are off the charts. I love the new look and feel. Great job, guys!

Phazonmasher

My bet is Shadow of the Tomb Raider is going to show the flooding scene from the gameplay demo. It's a great slice to show people.

The Hashtagonist

File sizes would be way too big and quite frankly unnecessary for a podcast

the lapel mics don't sound that great imo. But everything looks amazing

Sean Dupree

I love the way it looks with the new gear. And, not to forget, Ian back on hopefully every episode is great! Of course, the transitions between shots will only get better and better. Only good things.

Backlog Crusader

That Battlefield V trailer is definitely multiplayer. The UI that shows up has team scores, capture points, and a game timer on it; none of which would be in a single player story mission sort of thing. They've also said that the shushing thing can happen in multiplayer. I'd guess that it's a melee kill animation. I think that the reason the characters look all weird is because they're introducing cosmetic character customization; something that hasn't really been in a Battlefield game. I'd bet that they're going to go the Fortnite route and monetize character customization hard. I'd even go as far to bet that the whole reason there are so many animations of characters getting in eachother's faces is to let players show off their cosmetics, essentially advertising them to the people their playing with.

Kenneth Childs

i'm probably the only one, but this does not feel like EZA anymore. You've gained modern media techniques and lost a lot of charm.

Randy Verschueren

I actually liked the new mics and wish you wouldn't go back to the old ones...

Happy to have you back at the controls Ian. Just hope you're happy to be back there, because I remember you kinda lamenting the TriCaster seat in the past, but maybe that's because you were locked away in a booth cube rather than your open air setting now? Anyways, go Switcher Snakes! ScsSssSssSssSssss~

MBUN

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed his big floppy band-aids.

MBUN

I like to WATCH the podcast for those epic reactions.

Star Tsurugi

Very good color correction Ian. The FS5 looks pretty balanced. Thank you.

MLegend (SmoothGradient)

The only thing I can criticize is that the Jones and Kyle cam have a lot of aliasing especially noticable in Jones' hair and Kyle's glasses. The main cam does not have that issue.

This new look is giving me GT Time vibes. I like it! But can someone please give me the context for Kyle’s band aid dual wielding?

Was hoping to see this in glorious 4K, is youtube still encoding or is it only 1080p?

These pre E3 podcasts are always so much fun. Love the new cam stuff!

FreeDoM

PLEASE DO NOT GO 60 FPS!! You guys are one of the only podcasts I can watch in 720p/1080p because it isnt forced 720p60fps/1080p/60fps. My laptop just cant handle it and the EZA podcasts are some of the last non-forced 60fps HD on youtube. If you go 60fps I have to go 420p. :/

Baircade

Love the look, but have you tried to see how 60 FPS looks? I know some people find it "soap operaey" and all that, but I always find it weird for a filmic look on a group of people just talking. Plus YouTube gives you a better bitrate Glad the mics are returning though, that audio wasn't the best!

Skankman

Yeah me too. I had those big mics obstructing their faces

Sven Van Lathem

Well, there'll be four people at the table going forward

Eric Grynberg

Love the new look! Did something happen during the sponsors segment, though? There seems to have been a slight hiccup after Scorn

Larry DuPreez III

Love the new cams! I'm wondering if Kyle's solo cam might be better as a two-shot instead though.

Looks perfect !

Sven Van Lathem

Upgrades were worth it.

Łukasz Wizła

Man, this looks so good now. I love the context switching and the cameraman view, etc. It's amazing. I know you said you would go back to the stand mics in the audio only post, but this looks so good I kinda don't want to go back.

Lavalier mics quality difference are less noticeable on the video version, but are really proeminent on the audio version. Maybe they can still make it better, cause the less crowded table feels so much better.... But I guess audio quality should be a podcast's main concern. The mini 4ks have weird framerate and too much aliasing, probably some enconding woes idk. But it's good that they've got time to iron things out before the main show that is E3.

Eric Grynberg

They said 4 moving forward

Garrett Kuenzi

I guess I'll be the grump. I found the sound quality this time to be not as good (but not bad) And the mini 4k cams were a jarringly low framerate. Ian's production was great though

All Easy Allies Podcast should open with a single shot on Kyle

Henry Ramirez

Look at these bunch of beauty bois. Fantastic bump up. Feel the budget!

Gah this looks amazing guys, great work.

Cash

It’s so pretty Omg.

Matthew Robles

Looks fantastic! Great job on the switcher, Ian. Very happy to see you guys grow and evolve. L &amp; R

PRODUCTION QUALITY 10/10

Worth the Wait!

Daniel Murray