February Community Showcase Submissions - 2018

After some issues, I make this post in curtesy of Small Leviathan: Hello Ben and Brandon, or if you recall my submission last month, Page of Life and Knight of Blood. February was a bit of a rough month for me, but it's just one of many, so I think I'll be fine. Game-wise, I've primarily been rotating between Splatoon 2, Warframe and League of Legends for most of February, but I've got a couple of other things to talk about, too; the first being Fallout 4. I picked it up on a sale earlier this month, but have only played it a little bit. The shooting mechanics are good, but I don't care for the setting and I'm really not interested in the settlement building. As such I get the feeling that this is one I won't finish. A game I did finish this month was The Mummy: Demastered. An interesting game with very good pixel art, though I think they had a bit too big of a fascination with flying enemies zig-zagging across the screen. Thinking about, it was actually one of the more frustrating Metroidvanias I've played in general, though I will say that one thing I really liked was how they took the classic Castlevania Clocktower level and turned it into a boss! Overall I'm giving this one a cautious thumbs up. On the flipside, I also started playing Axiom Verge this month, now that's a good Metroidvania! Excellent visuals, good sound design and a constant stream of new, surprising powerups that'll constantly keep you on your toes make Axiom Verge on the best in the genre. I'm not quite finished with it yet, so expect to hear more of it at a later date. Other than that, and playing Dying Light with a friend (that game has a lot of problems, but I have to admit I adore the parkour system) I'm primarily just waiting for Monster Hunter World's PC release, as well as my personal poptart, if you will: Hiveswap: ACT 2. In other news, Nightmargin, the the artist and composer behind OneShot, my all-time favourite game, recently revealed a new project: "Goodbye, Northern Lights", a visual novel set in a world after a robot apocalypse. This is in addition to a game they were previously working on, "Bless You, Rip",which has a playable demo, so I can't wait to see what's in store from these fantastic developers. Love and Respect, Small Leviathan

Sebastian Hall

(please use the name "Wicked Pony" thank you) I hope I make it in time for the showcase(sorry I submit this very late) Since Ben is here, here's my update of collection of gunpla <a href="https://i.imgur.com/poYIJqS.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.imgur.com/poYIJqS.jpg</a> (Top left-right) Providence Gundam. The last boss of Gundam SEED (Bottom left) Vidar(blue) and Grimgerde(red and pronounce Grim-Gird) from Gundam Iron-blooded Orphan (Bottom right) OO(pronounce double-oh) Gundam 7 Sword/G from Gundam OO with LED unit installed

Wicky "Pokkuti" Salsa

Just replying to try to stop this from being removed again.

Patreon ate my comment (twice), so I'm re-posting this. For the past couple of months I've been working on a virtual Hall of Greats (Hall of Greats Teaser: Beginning Year) in Unreal Engine 4, and I just wanted to share the "trailer" (0:56) I made for it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN5FZCCELYk" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN5FZCCELYk</a> If you're interested in either, there are links in the video descrption to a more straightforward walkthrough video, and the actual project file itself. But I figured the trailer would be best/easiest for the format of the showcase. Thanks for everything. Love &amp; Respect! **Note for Jones** I purchased the rights (standard license PremiumBeat) for the song in the trailer. It covers internet video use and I don't think you streaming/recording it would be an issue, but I firgued I should mention it since you might know better than me (the walkthrough contains some video game music I don't own the right to).

The show is tomorrow. You may wanna call your reservation.

César Villa

The show is tomorrow. You may wanna call your reservation.

César Villa

Time's running up.

César Villa

Hello again, I'm back with some more music! Before I talk about that I would like to make a correction from last month: Brandon, you misread the band name as Sherbet Files when in fact the band name is Sherbet Flies (don't feel too bad about it though, a BBC presenter did the same thing over here in the UK on national radio haha). The music I'm submitting this month comes from one my solo projects and is heavily influenced by bands like Le Tigre, LCD Soundsystem and They Might Be Giants. I had been planning on holding back music from this project for until Ian was on the show due to the presence of a Korg Minologue synth, but I figured that I'd probably have more songs from this project out by the point that they're on the showcase. The song is about my upbringing as a closeted trans person growing up in a country where being trans was illegal and the paranoia of being outed that I felt at the time (I now live in the UK where I'm out to friends and family). P.S. Thank you for the opportunity to share, watching the livestream last month and seeing all of the L&amp;R in the comments was a really rewarding experience (I started laughing when people said my singing was like Bosman's) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P64Xbpdf3cE" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P64Xbpdf3cE</a> Side note 1: they/them or she/her pronouns please (forgot to say last time) Side note 2: I wrote the song and have full rights etc, there shouldn't be any copyright issues

Elle

Good day Allies, Brandon and Ben. I just drop by to say “thank you, Ben Moore” for his stream of my beloved franchise Suikoden. I am waiting for his feedback after he finish the first game. I still believe for the revival of this franchise. Hoping and praying that through this channel, Yoshitaka Murayama the creator of the series may find courage to continue the story and Suikoden will live again.

King Poh

Ben Moore and Mr Jones. 1) I love everything you guys touch. 2) I lack any real artistic skill so instead I ask this. What do you do when you know that your backlog is relatively satisfied? I don't mean you beat everything of course. I myself still have a couple games to finish but I think I'm going to commit to personal projects instead. But what do you do instead? Is it Anime Ben? Do you just jump to your anime backlog?

Dominíc Brown

I splurged on a few cheap DS titles this past month and I found a surprisingly good title, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. a gem-matching game set in a fantasy world with RPG mechanics, and a story. A gem-matching game with decent RPG elements an actual story with a little bit of depth to it? Maybe I'm just not in the know with gem-matching games, but call me surprised. Pardon the pun, I'm enjoying this "gem" of a game. P.S. Regarding last week's post concerning the Alka-Seltzer ad I saw Amanda in, you said it was helpful to know where those ads showed. It was on the Weather Channel. Hope the Allies are having a great week! Love and Respect.

On a regular basis, me and my brothers have small gaming challenge in which we force each other to play games that we have not played before. In February, we started a new round and this time I got: “Cave Story+”, “Borderlands 2” and “Eldritch”. At the time of writing this text, I have not really touched Eldritch. Additionally, I think I have a potential “hottake” on Borderlands 2, but since I have not finished it, I am postponing my full opinion to March. So let’s talk about Cave Story + and my personal issue with it. The game can best be described as 2D metroidvania platformer with compelling characters, setting, story and gameplay (I am quoting Wikipedia here). In fact, I would recommend this game to anyone who is interested it if it wasn’t for one specific thing: the difficulty of the final bossfight in comparison to the rest of the game The final fight is a string of four boss fights without saving options, each of these bosses is (to my mind) harder than all previous bosses and if you make unwise choices in the game (by not getting the right weapons – which you do not know beforehand) each fight is significantly harder and longer than it could be. Don’t get me wrong: All of these thing are not a problem for me in general. I like a good challenge in a final boss and giving the player a choice to approach fights differently is certainly a quality of a game. My issue comes with my feeling of wasted time. The game is rather short – getting to the boss took me 4 hours. Each attempt of beating the final boss is – depending on how far I get – 5-15 minutes. So, in a worst case scenario (which I experienced) two non-successful tries on the bosses boil down to 1/8 of the full play time of the rest of the game. I feel that I could beat the game if I put another hour in it, but on the other hand I am not sure if it is worth it. An hour of doing the same things over and over again just to see the end of the game feels more like work. This is especially frustrating, since I enjoyed the first 4 hours and every failed attempt takes away from my enjoyment. I will post an update whether I finish Cave Story+ eventually.

[This is a repost of my January comment that was swallowed by Patreon the last time] At the end of December, I decided that I had “to put my money where my mouth is“ after my November comment. Consequently, I decided to play ONLY games I kickstarted for the whole month of January. I played (but not necessarily finished): “Elegy for a dead world”, “Flame in the Flood”, “Kelvin &amp; the Infamous Machine”, “Mighty No. 9”, “Moon Hunters” and “Torment: Tides of the Numenera”. Due to space constraints, I cannot talk about all of them, so I am going to focus on the two that left the most positive impact (so not Mighty No. 9). 1) I backed “Flame in the flood” immediately after I saw the trailer in a TrailerScore episode simply because I liked the art style and the music. And I have to admit those two things are really my personal highlight of the game, which might relate to the fact that the game is a rogue-like – a genre that I usually try to avoid. Indeed, the first two hours of the game were really a pain for me and I almost hard quit: I could not figure out the complete crafting system, the inventory is not intuitive all the time and I was not sure how to handle the different enemy types. Only after reading a game guide that explained the mechanics, the game fully clicked for me and from there on out the journey was absolutely enjoyable. Long story short: I still really don’t like rogue-likes, but if you do I can highly recommend flame in the flood. 2) Back in the 90s I was not into RPGs, however, I really dug the idea of “Planescape Torment“ with its weird universe. Thus, I had to back the spiritual successor “Torment: Tides of the Numenera”. I could spend another 400 words about the major qualities of the game. So in order to cut things short here are just some keywords: A female companion that constantly shifts through alternate realities; combat is almost always avoidable (and can be cut short by talking to your enemies mid-combat); it has an interesting “action point system” in which you can spend points (that only regenerate while sleeping) to increase your chances to solve tasks and lastly an absolute weird RPG setting with expansive in-game lore. The game is far from perfect but really worth a shot (if you don’t mind a lot of reading).  

Hello Ben and Jones It took me a while to decide on what to write for this month. I have been playing Radiant Historia this month on my 3ds. While I wish it was on the Switch when I am playing it, it does remind me of one fact. How much I love my 3ds and how great of a system it has been for the past handful of years. I am pretty sure that it revived my interest in gaming when was pretty much dead last generation. Plus, it has three of my most favorite games ever on it/(Fire Emblem Awakening, Link between Worlds, and Dragon Quest 8). Radiant Historia is a great fun game and has been the ideal swan song as the last new 3ds game I will most likely get. In all I am sure I will end up in the end around 1500 hrs play time on the system. Here is to a great little system that kept Nintendo going strong in its darkest days.

Mr.V

Hi Jones and Ben! First things first, I want to thank Ben. As of last year, I had only played one JRPG (outside of Pokemon), Legend of Dragoon. I hadn’t found one that jumped out to me until Ben’s effusive praise of Persona 5. It all sounded and looked good, that I couldn’t help but be convinced. Ben is responsible for introducing me to my new favorite game, and I’ll never be able to thank him enough for it. Now, for what I actually played in February. As Jones is familiar with, I spent some time with Steep and came down mixed on it. That Olympic DLC is quite choice though. I’m still playing Stardew Valley when I can. A PSN sale ensured I finally got to play Super Meat Boy for the same price as a soda (I’m bad but it’s good). Ninja Turtles in Injustice 2 are amazing and one of the coolest additions to a fighting game I’ve ever encountered. And our main event? Night in the Woods, fresh on the Switch. From Don’t Skips to Frame Traps to friends telling me I have to play it, I knew going in that Night in the Woods was going to be good. I kept putting it off though, knowing the story would hit close to home for me. You see, about a year ago I had to move home to Colorado from Chicago, due to a long story filled with sighs. Living with your parents as you’re about to hit the big three-oh is no fun, so Mae’s story resonated with me already. With its release on the Switch, I finally had an excuse to play it. I have never played a game that spoke to me like NITW. I connected with the characters on a whole new level. The music still plays in my head. Truly beautiful and emotional. My game for March, which I’ve already begun (and got Ending A), is Nier: Automata. But I suppose, we’ll just have to wait for next month to dive into that. For now, the battle against the backlog rages on another month longer. Love and Respect y’all. GOTYlocks on Twitch chat

Kate Bishop

Can I comment protect my own comment by commenting? Let's find out!

Ian Alexander

XCOM2 War of the Chosen is a really good expansion. Reminds me a little of the Nemesis system. More games need to have enemies that follow you and adapt to your strategies in some way. I'd love a Resident Evil 3 remake where Nemesis retained damage and developed immunities and new strategies as the game went on.

Ian Alexander

Greetings Allies! Zephyr Moon here! In honor of Ni No Kuni II coming out in just 2 weeks (as of the streaming of the showcase,) I think we should all take the time to remember Oliver and the journey he took to save his mother. I did some experimenting with the coloring this time around and I think it came out all right. I’ve also been replaying the game on my PS3 and it’s still just as good as I remember and I sincerely wish that either Level 5 or Bandai Namco would give it the HD polish and release it for the PS4. More people need to play this wonderful game. Love &amp; Respect. <a href="http://bit.ly/2oP4r3b" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/2oP4r3b</a>

Sara Knite

Hello Brandon and Ben, For my first time participating in the community showcase I want to talk about my current favorite low stress game: Dragon Quest Builders. Open ended sandbox games like Minecraft and ARK: Survival Evolved tend to just bore me to tears and the only Dragon Quest I have ever played is the original on the NES, so when I downloaded the demo of Builders on the Switch I was skeptical of how much I would enjoy it. After an hour of playing the demo I was having so much fun I bought the full game. I believe there are a couple reasons as to why I’m so attached to Builders. The first reason is quests and missions. I don’t enjoy when games give me a feeling of aimlessness with few or no objectives I’m working towards. While the quests in Builders are often simple tasks like find this person or build this object, it gives purpose to what I’m doing. I’m not building just for fun, I’m building to save the world! The second reason I’m enjoying this game so much is in the vibes and tone of this game. The tone and artistic style of Builders can be summed up in one word: charming. The monster designs are so adorably goofy that I don’t know if I should hug them or smack on the head with a hammer. The writing has wit and humor but isn’t so joke filled the game becomes a parody of itself. I always get a smile when one of my villagers runs up to me applauding when I complete one of their quests and I’m pretty sure that main theme and overworld music will be stuck in my head forever. I have enjoyed the artistic style of Builders so much that I now want to dive into the Dragon Quest franchise and at the very least play every numbered game. Dragon Quest Builders did something I thought would have never been possible, it made me genuinely love hitting trees and rocks for hours on end. Jon Koenig

Hi Brandon, Hi Ben. In honor of the 50th episode of Frame Trap, here's a little video that I made. It's not necessarely original, I'm sure, there are many others like this one made by the EZA community, but here's my contribution. And sorry about the ending, I couldn't resist. <a href="https://youtu.be/sdnfXkdA_Fw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/sdnfXkdA_Fw</a> L&amp;R Aurélien

Aurélien GRANIER

Your 2017 hottake compilation had me in tears. Fantastic work.

Joseph Caruso

I know each of the Easy Allies have been to gaming conventions like E3 for professional reasons, but I want to praise the smaller conventions that are just for the fans. I recently experienced my 7th MAGFest, which stands for Music and Games Festival. It's a huge convention in Maryland with over 22,000 attendees celebrating games with a focus on videogame music. My first year I got to witness Nobou Uematsu and his band perform Dancing Mad on stage, and he even acted out a Colossus roar from the original X-Men arcade machine (the Colossus roar is a MAGFest tradition, for some reason). Last year, David Wise himself signed my copy of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, and I got to speak to Gareth Coker briefly about his appearance on GT Live. Four years ago, I got to talk to Dan Avidan and Brian Wecht from both Ninja Sex Party and Game Grumps, and two years later, Ninja Sex Party was the headliner and their performance was beautiful and hilarious. Gaming is more accepted and mainstream than ever but even in 2018 being around thousands of other people who are unironically into listening to a jazz band play music from Earthbound, or cheer our heads off after an amazing Team Kill during an Overwatch tournament still feels too good to be true and something I could never imagine experiencing as a child. Sure, the average attendee may be moderately socially awkward, but I’m always impressed with the diversity of people coming to MAGFest; most of the friends that come with me I would describe as former or “casual” gamers. Growing up in the early 90s, I had several close friends or acquaintances that enjoyed videogames but the general consensus was that they were simply a way for lazy children to avoid exercise or worse, turn kids into violent zombies. Once again, ignorance is rearing its ugly head, as politicians are using videogames as a scapegoat for violence. We as a community should continue to spread the Love &amp; Respect, both online and in person, devoiding the opposition of ammunition against us. You get what you give, and at Easy Allies and events like MAGFest, it’s a whole lot of happiness, insight, and support being given and received. Sorry for the tangent but I hope each of the Allies has had the opportunity to go to a gaming convention as fans themselves.

Joseph Caruso

With my first Community Showcase post, I just wanted to share some of the reoccurring thoughts that go through my mind whilst i go about my daily job driving across the country, listening to lofi hip hop and stewing in my own thoughts. My personal game of the year from 2016 was overshadowed by its older brother Star Dew Valley. Which is a shame because even though it wasn't the game i spent the most time on, it certainly kept me engaged. You know? one of those games where it's 10pm and you say "one more hour before bed" then when you next look it's 3am. The music kept my soul at peace, like listening to the rain whilst you're snuggled up with a cup of coffee. The exploration, loot, story mission and combat was all surprisingly fantastic and when playing with a friend where if you died you could lose your stuff gave the game a cherry on the top of an already delicious treat of a game. The game? Starbound. All i'll say is 2 years later, and i still loved every second i spent with it. Don't Skip!. Onimusha is my favourite Capcom series and it breaks my heart that nothing has been done with it for over 10 years. I'm hoping Ghost of Tsushima is really successful. So successful in fact, that it'll put a boot up Capcoms ass to do something with Onimusha. I played Both Warlords and 2 last month. I thought maybe i was being blinded by nostalgia, but my recent play through proved me wrong, they hold up. C'mon Capcom, you ain't shy about re releasing other series. Onimusha deserves a 2nd chance. Finally, Just a special thank you to Ben. As i said, my job is driving across all over England and FrameTrap is fantastic for my shifts. I use to be a cynical gamer until i took your advice on the podcasts you do and if i didn't, i wouldn't of tried the incredible games i've had the pleasure of playing like Persona and Yakuza. Your love and passion for games, keep me from going insane driving for 8 hours. Hope you enjoyed the Hottake compilations i made on twitter as a sign of my appreciation. Hope one day i get the chance to shake your hand and do what we do best, talk about video games. Prototype Jay.

Prototype Jay

I'm hyped for Ni No Kuni 2, let's go.

POKEY CLYDE

P.S.: Brandon, you actually have pronounced my name correctly in almost every Podcast Producers credits so far, but just to make it official it’s pronounced kar-WAH-skee.

Matt Karwoski

Hey Jones and Ben, I don’t normally post comments for the Showcase, but this month I had a fairly major gaming milestone that I figured I ought to share: my first ever Platinum trophy! The truth is it’s a rare thing for me to beat a game in general, let alone to the degree of completionism usually required to earn a platinum. Part of this is due to simply being distracted by new releases before I’m done with the game I’m already working on, but I think the biggest reason is that I love the feeling of knowing that there is more of that game that I love waiting for me if I ever choose to go back to it. Just from 2017 alone the list of games I love that I’ve left incomplete includes The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario + Rabbids, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Persona 5, Yakuza 0, and even my personal GOTY pick Super Mario Odyssey could arguably be considered unfinished, though I honestly feel pretty satisfied with my 600 Moons. All of this brings me to the game that managed to keep its hooks in me all the way to the platinum. That game is NieR:Automata. The original NieR was one of those many games I had left unfinished for years, starting and stopping a few times and finding it quite interesting, albeit a bit rough around the edges. I resolved to finish the fight over these past holidays so I could finally dig into Automata, and what I found in the original NieR was a game bursting with ambition and creativity but not quite the technical skill to see its ideas fully realized. Diving straight into Automata after seeing the original to its final conclusion was astounding. Suddenly all those boundless ideas, that madcap brilliance, that genre-busting inventiveness, was backed up by an exceptional developer capable of turning those great ideas into a truly great game. From its haunting, eclectic soundtrack to its tragic characters to its deft and surprisingly varied gameplay and combat systems to its themes of humanity in a world devoid of humans, NieR:Automata now holds a place among my absolute favorite games of all time. With NieR finally out of the way, I’ve recently begun my journey into Monster Hunter: World—a journey that I suspect I shall never complete.

Matt Karwoski

There I was. Sitting, wondering what to play. My friends aren't on to play Monster Hunter: World, so I got some time to kill. Something catches my eye though. A box that has been sitting on my bookshelf unopened for months. The SNES Classic. Is it the moment to finally give Final Fantasy VI a try? Popped the box open and hooked it up! I then sat down to write this. It'll be a March thing... maybe. Since I'll be tackling FFVI soon, I'll lay out where I stand with Final Fantasy. Never touched One through Six. Seven. I played through it last year. It was pretty dumb and garbage. There was a "pivotal" scene that my reaction to it was "Good. That character deserved that." "I'm gonna go ahead on my own even though we've been chased by monsters and a psychopath up to this point with no real experience in combat before the current events unfolded." Sure. That is what you get and deserve. Cid was awesome though. Eight. Early on I knew that I was not going to have the patience to put up with those characters. Nine. Perfection. Love the game. Ten. My first Final Fantasy game. Meh? Auron was cool at least. Eleven. I gave it a go for a bit. Wasn't for me. Twelve. I just remember everything being so bland and stopping after a few hours. Thirteen. No interest. Fourteen. My experience with Eleven turned me away. Fifteen. I skipped it because there is seemingly so much wrong with that game. It looks pretty, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'd be that fun to spend time with. I did play one new game this month that I'd like to give mention to. Moss. Moss is such an endearing game and was an absolute delight to play. The VR aspect of it was top notch as well. It is really neat to have an area displayed in front of you, where you can stand up and just look around to find secrets. Having a fixed camera for each area really encourages it and I was in constant awe. My eyes would be telling my brain to look through a corridor, I should duck my head a bit to not hit on the cornice. Simply fantastic. If you have a PSVR, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not playing it. Worth every penny.

Jason A. Sackel

Hi Brandon and Ben! Once again need to say I'm just totally stunned by how much you guys liked the Lego set, more than I could have hoped for. I thought you might like to know how the idea and set came to be. An animation company I do a lot of work for occasionally has "Art Challenges" where they come up with a theme and any staff who want to can submit a piece of art or an animation and it will be shared on social media. December's theme was "Christmas Movies" so I took on the all time Christmas classic: Die Hard. I wanted to make it just a tad more festive so I thought an unwrapped Lego Die Hard playset would be pretty fun. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfd6QMAAdnV/?taken-by=davidjcleland" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfd6QMAAdnV/?taken-by=davidjcleland</a> I never intended to make this a practical set so this is just a render, but it did get me tinkering about in the Lego Digital Designer. I was watching one of your group streams at the time and I though "let's see if I can make the couch", so I did, and it all just snowballed from there. We also did a Stranger Things theme that I did a short animation for I think you might like, it's also on my instagram but this post is all about the Lego! And just finally, a few allies were commenting on twitter about getting their own version of the kit, so here's a link to the instruction manual (and stickers) as a PDF. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gk7OznNcs8dEroJ9fILHgiTUDdKELgtN/view" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gk7OznNcs8dEroJ9fILHgiTUDdKELgtN/view</a> Love &amp; Respect, Dave Cleland

Greetings Ben and Brandon! Definitely a little longer than 3 min, but I did just put out a review of Monster Hunter World that I'd love for you to both see! Between Ben's writing and Jones' v.o., you've both inspired me to produce better things all the time! Appreciate you taking the time to read this! L&amp;R <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-zCDWfSrKk" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-zCDWfSrKk</a>

Hi Brandon &amp; Hello Ben, Brandon: Last month I mentioned to you that I started playing Batman: The Enemy Within but had only gotten through the 1st episode at that time. Well, I’m happy to report that I have now caught up and am eagerly awaiting the 5th and final episode. Maybe even more than that, I can’t wait to see your play-through of the last episode as well, as it’s always a fun and enjoyable time. Watching all of the different choices that you have made, seeing the many different outcomes as a result (and some very similar ones no matter what the choice) has been a highlight for me these last few weeks. I have personally really enjoyed this second season of Telltale Batman, even if it may not rank quite as highly as the first for me. Benpai, as of posting this, I recently tweeted out to you that I have just purchased copies of the Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel games for PS3. I know that some really praise the ‘Trails in the Sky’ games over the ‘Cold Steel’ variety, but as I prefer sitting on my living room couch to my bedroom’s computer chair (not much of a PC gamer), I’m hoping for some time this month to get started on this series and see what it has to offer. Thanks for bringing to light, the often overlooked smaller JRPGs and giving me something different to dip my toes into. I’m also really enjoying your Suikoden play-through and am looking forward to when you get to Suikoden II. Thanks as always, -Alex Castellanos

Alex Castellanos

Hey Allies! Recently in the UK we’ve been experiencing some major snowfall that’s caused all sorts of fuss and commotion, especially here in Wales. As a result I’ve had a lot of free time on my hands due to not being able to get to work. In this time I’ve managed to start delving into some backlog games like Rise of The Tomb Raider and South Park: The Fractured But Whole. However in between this I wanted to play something “comfy”, by that I mean a game that doesn’t require a lot of mental investment and just lets you chill out. At the time I couldn’t think of anything that would fit this descriptor, however I then recalled on the last episode of Frame Trap (that’s episode 49 at the time of writing) about a series that Ben talked about that fit this niche perfectly, that series being Dynasty Warriors. I played the series extensively when I was a kid when they were initially being released on the PS2, starting with Dynasty Warriors 2 and going all the way until number 5. After this however I sort of forgot about the series as time went on. With the recent backlash to the newest entry in the series and with Ben’s discussion of the game on Frame Trap it reminded me of the fun I used to have with the series so I decided to give Dynasty Warriors 8 a spin on Steam. After some initial technical difficulties, mainly due to the shockingly low effort port job given to the game on PC, I soon found myself totally sucked in. I can accept all of the critiques that are often levelled against the Warriors series; the simplistic combat, cheesy dialogue and repetitive nature of gameplay as they are all objectively true to varying degrees. With that said however there's just something about the core gameplay that is incredibly satisfying. Mowing down hundreds of dudes in an over the top flashy manner with cheese-tastic J-Rock shredding in the background is just something that fills my heart with joy. I’ve managed to sink over 20 hours into the game and I don’t plan on stop anytime soon. I’d be curious on what the Allies “comfy” games are but as for me, I’ll be diving back into my jolly hack and slash interpretation of ancient Chinese history. Love &amp; Respect, Jack Price

Noise noise. Deletion preventing noise.

César Villa

Hello, Allies! I started building this Master Grade Hyaku Shiki 2.0 during January's Gundam Stream but was only able to finish it in February. Here's a short video showcasing this kit (you can mute the video): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJjMdTAXdiw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJjMdTAXdiw</a>

not a reply . just some comment protection :P

Alex_AI

I've made it a goal to collect every JRPG released on the PlayStation and PS2 as that's my favorite era for the genre. Now I'm starting to play through the games I've been hoarding. First up was the Wild ARMS series. Over the last month, I've played through Wild ARMS 1-5. Here are one sentence reviews for each game that I hope will convince people to check out some of the coolest JRPGs that were seemingly ignored in their day. Wild ARMS 1 - There's an item duplication glitch that allows you to max out stats from the beginning making the game a hilarious jaunt. Wild ARMS 2 - The antagonist is a demon trapped in the sun named Lord Blazer. Wild ARMS 3 - When entering combat on a horse, the battle screen is the party riding on horses as monsters chase them. Wild ARMS 4 - Don't play this one. Wild ARMS 5 - The protagonist beats monsters over the head with a shovel. Next up on the docket is Koudelka/Shadow Hearts. I probably won't be getting to those this month because of Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet and Ni no Kuni II, but I'll update when I get to them.

Phazonmasher

I have had a very busy month since my last submission. On my PS4 I have finished 6 games in full. Firstly I got the platinum in Fallout 4, and then Bioshock 2. Both of those I had already progressed through a lot of, so it was just finishing them off. Then I started and finished Bioshock Infinite platinum (including the DLC) in less than 3 days of play. From that I moved on to finish off Shadow Complex Remastered and then Day of the Tentacle platinums. Finally I put in the work to get the platinum in Yakuza Kiwami. Kiwami was no Zero in terms of GOTY contender, but still a fun game. I have also worked my way through more of Mario Odyssey. I have just defeated Bowser and got around 260 moons. Still a lot more to go there. With my stack of PS4 games out the way, I got Breath of the Wild. Hoping to have a lot of time to relax with that this month. Finally, as always, I am also still dipping in and out of Overwatch and having a lot of fun with it. Got to Plat last season, although stopped doing competitive when I reached it due to everything else I was playing, so not sure I deserve the rank yet, or just got good games to get there. Will keep going at it. Much love to the Allies and chat for being awesome

BeardedScotsman86

Hi Ben and hi Jones, How are you doing today? Hopefully fine. Between the Release of bayonetta on Switch and Civilization 6: Rise and Fall (first expansion-sized dlc for civ 6) a lot of things happened this February in the gaming world. However, nothing brought me as much joy as a certain purchase I was finally able to make. I am talking about a Sound track for a 3DS game. In general, I believe the 3ds has some very memorable and awesome Sound track/score collections like shin megami tensei 4, Etrian odyssey 4 and many more. The one I am writing about has eluded me for a long time. At first it was too expensive for me and later I simply could not find it anywhere and now ladies and gentlemen, /-insert drumroll-/ I have finally gained a copy of the professor layton vs. phoenix wright sound track collection. It is fittingly titled “Magical Mystery Music” and it is quite magical indeed. It is a 3-disc set. Two are used for the Games score and one is the movie sound track with all the arranged goodness from the cutscenes of the game. It has new orchestra versions of well-known Layton and Phoenix wright themes like "Pressing Pursuit ~ Cornered" from the original ace attorney and a lot of new themes adding up to a total of 93 songs/themes. Some people might be wondering by now what the connection between attorneys, archelogy professors and magic might be. Well I won’t spoil much but this game takes place in a medieval setting amongst knights and witches. So please check it out as we need more love for this game :P With a new Phoenix wright already announced for the switch I hope that the Layton series will also reemerge on that system and who knows maybe someday we will even get a sequel. Special thanks to Ben Moore for streaming suikoden at a convenient time for german fans like me. L&amp;R Alex_AI and cain_alex on twitch.

Alex_AI

Patreon Fix

Randy Verschueren

Good afternoon Jones and Ben. This will be my first post in community showcase, so I hope my words will find some brief entertainment for yourselves and chat watching at home. The past month have been a rotating door of 3 different games that have been keeping myself busy this cold February. The first is Yakuza 0. Since both Ben and Huber hipped me to this franchise I decided to give it a spin and boy I am hooked. I am not even finished with chapter 5 but I have already sunk over 60 hours traversing Kamurocho and Osaka with its vast side-quests, countless mini-games and most of all, the karaoke lounges. Kazuma and Majima are an epic duo that I look forward to seeing progress all the way to Yakuza 6 with Kiwami on deck. Next is Shadow of The Colossus. I still own both the PS2 and PS3 versions but with the Ps4 remake it is one of the most stunningly beautiful games I have ever played and since I know the story so well I have been fiddling with the photo mode that in previous other games I never took advantage of and I am liking it. Hope to finally have time to take down the first colossi. Finally, since I recently became the owner of a Nintendo Switch I only saw it fit to christen it with the company’s globe-trotting plumber mascot in Super Mario Odyssey. I have just finished my first playthrough and currently sit at 535 moons. The second playthrough is underway and I hope to give another update next month in my attempt to get to that elusive 999 moon count. Sadly, even though I picked up Monster Hunter: World on day one and meant for this potential GOTY to be my sole game addiction, I simply couldn’t keep up with my online friends’ pace. My “normal” work week is around 60+hrs between 2 jobs that blankets my weekends. Between consuming EZA content and sleep there is not enough time in the day to contribute more than I would like to. Monster Hunter: World is meant to enjoy with friends. The unstreamed hunt with Ben during the beta, however brief, was my highlight from this amazing game that I hope to have the time and will to return to. My work will NOT keep me from returning to So Cal for EZA: Revengence after attending last year’s concert and Jones at Disneyland. However, this time I WILL be able to attend the Meet-up at the park witch I was only able to attend from 35,000 feet in the air on my way back home so looking forward to seeing everyone there. Love &amp; Respect, The XWF Outlaw, @XWFOUTLAW on Twitter.

XWF Outlaw

Ben, because of you i heard of Courtney Barnett and played Persona 5. For this i am eternally grateful.

To answer Brandons question: i would love the Allies to catch up, but i don't want to give anybody more work than they already have. It would have been cool if my writing was good enough that they wanted to catch up. Ill keep at it :)... PART V After a short swim; I find myself on small idyllic beach, there are no signs of life anywhere, no foot prints in the sand, no birds or fishes, no bugs, nothing at all. What was that cloud that saved me ? Where did it come from ? Even better, who was that woman that threw me into this mess ? And why ? Where am I ? ugh .... ? My Phone ! if i'm dressed, I should have my phone! I start tapping my pants and pockets franticly looking for my phone, but nothing, I don't have my phone, suddenly I feel more dispair than before, what the hell is happening ? I guess I won't get any answers by just standing here. Before I venture forth, I looked up into the sky one more time, to where I started falling, I can still see some of the ring shaped clouds that formed when I fell through the sky.

Randy Verschueren

<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/TimBashen/status/969100441710682112" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://mobile.twitter.com/TimBashen/status/969100441710682112</a> Finally Ben is here. That photo was taken in the Tokyo tower at the one piece „theme park“ it isn’t really a theme park. Just a few little games with a one piece theme. But a must see for one piece fans. And I nearly spent all the money in the world at the mugiwara store. Have you been in the one piece tower Ben??

Tim Bechen

Here's a portrait I recently drew of my D&amp;D party: <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenCT/status/966105578379579393" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/StephenCT/status/966105578379579393</a> This is the first campaign I've ever played and I'm loving it so much! All of my friends have such great characters and our DM is fantastic! The campaign is very anime inspired and we just entered a tournament arc. My character is the short elf in the front. She's a lawful evil cleric named Cuss Marrow who's obsessed with the god of death and carries a giant greatsword named "Corpsegiver". Playing her is the highlight of my week by far and I would've never gotten into D&amp;D without EZA and TTE. So thanks for that! L&amp;R &lt;3

Esther Devil

Hey Ben and Brandon! I've been working pretty haphazardly this month on a wealth of tragically secret things (plus trying to get myself to LA in a couple of weeks) but managed to squeeze in some time to make some pixel art. I haven't done a pixel cityscape like this in a few months now and it was really great to be able to scratch that itch. This piece was more detailed than my usual stuff and kind of has a story to it, which is super neat. I usually stream myself pixeling stuff, this included, and that's always a really fun time I get to share with friends and viewers :D So here's that! <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DW869byUMAAvJb-.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DW869byUMAAvJb-.jpg</a> and <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DW86_40VoAA5qWQ.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DW86_40VoAA5qWQ.jpg</a>

Noah Weinstein

Reserved (not sure if I can submit in time)

Henk Groenendijk

I started a D&amp;D group in February with me as the DM (it's my first time playing/DM-ing), we will begin playing later this month, so I've been preparing materials for the campaign. Here's some of the stuff I've been working on. I've posted the images in a gallery on imgur: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/buZCp" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/buZCp</a>

Michelle Jackson

Hello Allies! February was as slow month, so I'm sorry; it's story time! Do you know what you were doing December 31st 2007 just as midnight stroke? I do, I was beating Final Fantasy IV. After watching the GT Retrospective on the franchise I decided it was time I to give it a serious try. While I decided to buy a DS so I could play I, II, III &amp; V; for IV &amp; VI I tracked down a couple of SNES cartridges so I could have the original experience. I remember you (Ben &amp; Brandon) &amp; Damiani did a Just Played on FFIV in the GT days. You mentioned how awesome the main theme is and how cool the story unfolds, but you failed to mention the moment that stuck with me the most. I believe it was done in purpose to avoid spoilers, so I'm sorry; I'll spill the beans right now. Around mid game I was stuck with these annoying twin brother &amp; sister that I really can't stand. I'm hating Palom &amp; Porom at every turn. I don't think their abilities are useful, their humor is dull and I can't wait for them to leave my party... Enter Castle Baron; after defeating Cagnazzo in the throne room and thinking that everything is fine, Palom &amp; Porom are the last ones to leave the room telling one of their bad jokes. Ugh! And then... What is happening? Why is the dramatic music playing? Why are the walls closing down? Why are these guys telling Tellah to take care of Cecil? And then, it happened. The brothers that I'm hating just sacrificed their lives for the sake of Cecil, and I can't believe my eyes. There they are, turned in stone, blocking the walls that would have crushed the rest of the party. I don't think their sacrifice would have affected me as much if I liked those guys, but because of the fact that I'm just wishing for them to leave for so long, I just felt terrible. Shortly after that event I got killed. When I came back to load my file, there they were again, looking back at me with those childish eyes. I hadn't saved after their death, so I just turned off the SNES and didn't play for a week. I just couldn't bring myself to watch them die again. What a moment.

César Villa

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzScwJ0U0H4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzScwJ0U0H4</a> (NOTE FOR JONES: No intro really needed this time, but maybe give a heads-up on the NSFW violence of the game being featured, if you feel it's necessary)

DaleBastion

This may seem a bit odd, I recently got into burst coin mining, it’s the only Cryptocurrency that uses Hard drives, (Proof of Capacity) instead of Graphics Cards, (Proof of Work). 1 burst is worth around 4 cents right now. Do you guys ever think about Crypto and possibly setting up some EZA wallets that people could donate crypto too, maybe one day in the future it could add up and be worth more, maybe a retirement fund perhaps. I would throw you guys some burst if you had the wallet setup for it. I am sure there are some other miners in the EZA community.

This war written back in January, but I'm so glad that Ben will be here.

Alexander Zyryanov

Originally, I was going to leave a personal comment, but this February has held interesting trailers appealing to my interests, so they take precedent. First, at a Golden State Warriors basketball game, Sony Santa Monica debuted another trailer for God of War by projecting it completely covering the basketball court and utilizing various video screens throughout the arena. While some dialogue was recycled from a previous trailer, there were double entendres about being a Warrior and things that could also apply to playing basketball. For example, Kratos telling Atreus “Pace your shots. Speed costs accuracy.” I bring it up because even if you’re not a fan of God of War, I highly recommend you see the video, located on the Santa Monica Studios twitter account, for the sheer spectacle of where video game marketing could be heading. The other big trailer occurred at D23 Japan. You guessed it: Kingdom Hearts III. It had not one, but two trailers, showcasing more story plot points, and debuting both the Monster’s Inc world and the theme song for the game “Don’t Think Twice.” As a longtime fan of the series, there’s only ONE game I’m more excited for: The Final Fantasy VII Remake (Look for Death Stranding before it comes out sometime in the 2020s X-D). Anyway, I personally enjoyed all I saw as the story aspects of the trailer highlight characters from some of the side-games, a very important aspect of the main narrative which, personally speaking, I felt was an absolute must for the upcoming game with the off-the-rails and convoluted nature that is the series’ main plot. And yes, I even like Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s “Monster” designs. You heard that right: Goofy doesn’t look THAT bad. While I like the new theme, I don’t love it as there is off-beat percussion which really throws the rhythm off. I hope it’s either a work in progress, or there’s another version such as an orchestral arrangement. A final couple of points: I absolutely LOVE the graphical design of the game as it looks smoother than any other “non-realistic” game out there. And STILL keeping to a release this year? After recently hearing the first third of the game is 90 percent done, the middle third 60 percent completed, and the final portion undisclosed on its progress…. We’ll see. I won’t believe it until that game is in my hands.

Brandon K Gann

Since I’ve cleared my backlog, I’ve decided to make an experiment. I’ll play two highly praised games that I’m sure I will not like. Today I’ll explain what bothers me in each of these games. Then I’ll play them with an open mind and share my impressions in next month’s post. The first game is Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I never touched any Zelda game so I’m judging this game on its own. Firstly, I don’t like how this game looks. When monster disappear in a cloud of smoke and when 8-bit style sound plays for each item pickup, it just screams to me: you are playing a video game. It’s perfect for a game like Sunset Overdrive, but when I play an RPG I want to be immersed in its world. Secondly, I don’t like how much this game forces you to play in a certain way. Breakable weapons force you to constantly manage your inventory. Absence of quest markers and radio towers forces you to explore the world or play with a guide on a second screen. I like to decide myself what quests and activities I want to do and what part of the world I want to explore, but Zelda robs that choice from me. And finally I don’t like climbing anywhere. In Shadow of Mordor it was acceptable, but in Zelda it will be painful because climbing is slow and stamina is limited. The second game is Super Mario Odyssey. My history with Mario is pretty limited: I think I’ve finished Super Mario Bros. and I’ve played an hour of Super Mario 3D Land. I have no memories of the first and didn’t like the second one, so I had zero interest in a new Mario game. When I saw Odyssey’s trailers I thought “This looks different, it could be fun”. But then I saw gameplay and it was just more of the same. My issues with Mario are pretty much the same as with Zelda: forced exploration. Gathering certain amount of stars is fine for achievements and leaderboards, but when you forced to play the same level again and again just to progress to the next stage it quickly becomes boring. And since you’ve heard game’s story a countless times there is no real reason to go forward. Here are my issues with Mario and Zelda. Now it’s time to play.

Alexander Zyryanov

Just wanted to share this selfie I took with my cat Lucky while playing Monster Hunter: Worlds. She's my Palico in and out of the game. <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/3LfbzK7FnIwTHKm93" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://photos.app.goo.gl/3LfbzK7FnIwTHKm93</a>

Brad Grenz

Hey Jones, and Ben, Cisco here. Looks like I am first this month so I will take this opportunity to get this out of the way. Ben, on the 20 point scale is Persona 5 a 10. It is? (Sigh of relief) Alright great, you are still worthy. P5 should've been goty just saying ;) So along the true lines of community showcase let's talk about what I've been obsessed with. So in January, after 60 hours of Yakuza Kiwami, I finally started Yakuza 0 and played it into February. Over 40 hours and I am 100% sure more than half has been spent on a single chapter. The second I unlocked Club Sunshine I have been taking over the town. What a mini game. Working through the special lessons with each girl has been so incredibly rewarding. They are all such great characters, who all feel dramatically different from each other and grow though the lessons, and through the story of facing the Five Stars. I still haven't left the chapter. Along side Yakuza 0 it has been nothing but Monster Hunter World and Fortnite Battle Royale. Monster Hunter is a game I only play Duos with my friend currently. Jumping back in for new events or just to hunt when we get the itch. I love it immensely and it doesn't get old because I have 3 seperate weapon choices I main to keep the variety alive. Long Sword, Bow, and Sword and Shield. Man oh man do they all feel great to use. As for Fortnite, it has consumed my life along with my friends. We play pretty much every night and I play on my own. Even at school in the library I squeeze some games in since my PS4 progress transferred over. Thanks Epic. Oh and somehow i redownloaded Skyrim on my laptop and got my 220 mods working again. So putting some more hours into that in addition to my ~440 on steam and 200 on PS4. Excited to get into Divinity Original Sin II in the month of March so look forward to a report on that next month. Love you all. Can't wait to watch Easy Allies in Concert Revengeance and the next HOGs. L&amp;R Cisco AKA Ace Edit: 46.5 hrs into 0 beat the Five Stars and unlocked that sweet Mad Dog of Shimano form. Still pumped up on adrenaline

Desquick