Cup of Jones - 02/13/18

Since Jones answered this rather well in the episode I wont say too much more. But I Highly recommend making your presence known in the community first. the More friends you make and the more you socialize with others your name with naturally start to pop up in more and more conversations. But I would recommend focusing on making strong and meaningful connections more than working to get your name known. A lot of other Patrons/Fans go to Meet-ups to see friends they've made as much as they go to see the Allies <3

Hey Jones, what would be your dream Fiasco set to write and be a part of?

Doug

Backup, in case deleted or whatever happens. :P "'Ello Senor Jones, So just curious, I'm personally cool with the 0-10.0 scale going forward (RIP STARS), but is there any chance of getting a similiar rubric to the 5 Star system? I always personally thought the Masterful, Excellent, Decent, Inferior, and Terrible were clear defining the overall quality of a game. While it didn't specify the differences between enough, as the new 20 point system allows for, the Arbitrary Numeric Value seems to mean less in the sense of an EZA review, but more to an overall gaming Open/Meta-Critic review. Again, just my thoughts...But I'd love a break down for what the scores mean, aside from just being a percentage of perfection (which I don't believe exists) vs. the level of quality up to Masterful. Love and Respect Jones, definitely missed the week off from CuJ, but well deserved. :) -drd7of14"

drd7of14

'Ello Senor Jones, So just curious, I'm personally cool with the 0-10.0 scale going forward (RIP STARS), but is there any chance of getting a similiar rubric to the 5 Star system? I always personally thought the Masterful, Excellent, Decent, Inferior, and Terrible were clear defining the overall quality of a game. While it didn't specify the differences between enough, as the new 20 point system allows for, the Arbitrary Numeric Value seems to mean less in the sense of an EZA review, but more to an overall gaming Open/Meta-Critic review. Again, just my thoughts...But I'd love a break down for what the scores mean, aside from just being a percentage of perfection (which I don't believe exists) vs. the level of quality up to Masterful. Love and Respect Jones, definitely missed the week off from CuJ, but well deserved. :) -drd7of14

drd7of14

Hey Jones, I noticed that the other day Blood was 'checking out' x game on youtube. It happened to be on the main page and not the easy allies plays page. Was this intentional? If not ot comes to my question. Due to the time intensive nature of Don't Skip's, have you guys considered doing 'Don't Skip Live': a 'Fancy 15?' Of the game in question where the reviewer can give their praise live, lowering the production time of Don't Skip drastically. The stream doesn't have to go Live on twitch but be something like 'Brandon Plays Pokemon'. Food for thought.

Steven Beaumont

Hey Jones Last year, I think it was at Comic Con, Damiani was testing out streaming from his Mobile Phone to Twitch. It seemed to work out fairly well as I recall. I walked the floor, checked out booths and stuff like that. Do you think you could do something similar at E3 this year?

Olf Himself

Hi Mr Jones, I know 2nd EZA anniversary is next, but I was wondering, do you think EZA will have an E3 meetup ? Either during or after ? Just asking cause I got a ticket and was hoping to fly to LA for a meet up !!!

tahitianwarrior

Hi Brandon, I wanted to discuss the possibilities of reaching the $50k studio goal. EZA has achieved a great deal since its inception, a credit to you, the EZA team and the Patreons. There is however a road ahead for Patreon to hit $50k consistently. Currently EZA averages around $42k per month in Patreon support, $8k per month short, $96k annually. It may be worth considering changing up the approach to get to that goal, by opting for a one-off fundraising campaign. Reaching $96k in one campaign will fund the studio setup and a 1 year lease. Once EZA are in the studio, the quality of output will improve, and possibly the quantity of shows as well. The obvious is the snowball effect, as the quality improves, as does the ongoing support. As an example: Kickstarter or similar endeavour: 'Fund the EZA Studio Campaign' Create a pilot episode of what the output and production value could look like for 1 show in a studio environment. This may mean hiring a professional studio for a few days to produce that show, and the promotional fundraising campaign to go with it. Seek support from other youtubers to cross promote this for you, possibly sharing the new studio with them as a base of operations when they are in LA for gaming conventions. Naturally word of mouth will spread of this across many of the gaming forums. Develop a major sponsorship package outside of the Patreon goals that EZA and the Patreons would be comfortable with. This may already exist behind the scenes as far as I know, if not worth considering if it at least gets 1 large sponsor on board. In essence, create some type of event, demonstrate the benefits through quality production, quantify the promotional opportunites, and create the sense of urgency with a clear goal. I personally would be happy to contribute to this, I've quite often contributed funds to projects such as Shenmue 3, Pillars 2, Kingdom Come to help them get made knowing others will enjoy them, as may I if they turn out well. I would like to think there are others like me, and members of the Patreon group that would give that little extra in a one off campaign to reach that goal. As an average, 6000 Patreons x one off contribution of $16 would get us there, not a big ask IMO. Some might contribute $5 extra, some $50 to get to that average. The drive to fund the 'E3 desk' and 'Box Peek' demonstrated EZA supporters are happy to provide additional support when called upon. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read, Love and Respect. Skender Yashari

Just thought of this..... Did Talking Syndrome get nixed or is it on hiatus? I haven't seen it for a while and feel like I missed an announcement. Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

Brandon, has there ever been a time when you did not like the score one of the allies gave to a game because you felt it should have been higher? I mean to the extent that it sort of upset you a little.

Bakryu

I thought I had deleted the audio version by mistake! Did it just not show up in the itunes patreon feed at all?

When Easy Allies started, I felt like we had the same information that you had. The way forward was quite clear, even though it took a few weeks to get things completely running. Now when EZA year 2 is nearing its end, I feel like a lot of the decisions are made behind the scenes, and the next info dump for us will be the second anniversary festivities. I understand you want to have something special for the people attending the event, but I think it would be wiser financially thinking to discuss the January meeting decisions on their own, since that could give a boost to your Patreon numbers. I'm sure the anniversary celebrations will boost your numbers on their own, and you can always leave something small to reveal at the second year partybalooza. Still love everything you guys do, love and respect!

Jones <sighs> this is sort of a feels moment for me, I remember when easy allies first started, i was so happy and excited and signed up on day one, i would be involved and update to date with everything you guys did. As the weeks went by though you started to produce so much content it became difficult to keep up with everything. When you guys mention certain patrons by name i feel so sad knowing i could have been one of those people too. Anyway not trying to draw this out any longer, i appreciate the amount of content and variety of content you all produce, keep up the awesome work. From a guy who probably would have been a known patron well sorta maybe...Bakryu .</sighs>

Bakryu

Hi Jones, any movies you really dig and like to recommend?

bjørnar haraldsvik

Howdy! Unrelated question: What is the most amount of money you had to spend on a car repair? Related question: What percent done will you be with the next retro when you annouce it?

Parasitepaladin

Mr. Jones, I really enjoy the editorials and the more creative things you do with them. My question is do you have a list of editorials you want to do? Do you need ideas? Is it just something that happens when you get fired up on a topic? L&R Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

Hello Mr Jones. Even though the last parts of the Dark Souls Retrospective have not been released (when I'm writing this, at least), has anyone start working on the next Retrospective? Doing some research, capturing footage or writing the script? L&R Aurélien

Aurélien GRANIER

When is the Two Year Strong Stream scheduled for? I need to make work arrangements

Henry Ramirez

Hey! Do you keep an actual, physical (or digital) list of your top 10 /favorite games? If you do, it would be fun to hear them! If you don't, it's a fun excercise to do on your phone when you're waiting in line or something like that.

mikkel hervel nemmøe

Just a few quick questions: - Are you planning to add Hall of Greats to your website or are you going to do something with hallofgreats.com? - You've previously talked about promoting your podcast on Youtube with 5-10 minute teaser segments. Can you give us an update on that`?

the_finnish_ally

Where's the audio version?

Hi Jones, I know that Cup of Jones is just for the patrons - but how about a little snippet once in a while to entice people to jump in for 1 dollar? Your Happiness answer at the end of this video seems like a great thing to cut out as a little monologue to share with the world

VGJunky

I recently saw the short video on the score changes and I believe this is a good move for the Allies. With most sites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes giving everything a points based rating, I feel this will help new viewers get a better grasp on what a game is like and help broaden your audience. I personally never liked the 5 star system because a 3 star rating vs a 4 star rating never felt significant. I feel that because games are such an intricate and diverse form of media that it only makes sense to have a rating system that is less broad and can pinpoint its quality.

My Latin Lover

REPOST BECAUSE OF PATREON: Hey Mr. Jones! Per your comments regarding adjusting the funding goals: If you drop Trailer Jones down (which, by the way, Box Peek was the one-time $44,000 goal), and introduce a more attractive option, would it be a show, or something about production? I'm not inquiring specifics as again, I believe in needing to keep to surprises (Much like today's announcement of the collaboration with Kinda Funny in two days' time of writing.), but saying something along the lines of "It would involve X." and leave it at that would provide a nice tease and generate interest. But I'm an easy mark and think things like that are cool X-D. EDIT: This comes three days after I left the above question: EZA changing the review system probably will be a MASSIVE talking point for a good little while, so I'll stick with one additional question: On all previous reviews, have the reviewers considered retroactively NOT changing the star score, but attribute a number from the new 20-point scale (So just adding a new number they feel is most accurate to their review) on the reviews in text, or are they too old for that to be feasible? I understand the reasoning for the change, but I'm surprised EZA didn't want to implement quarter-stars (Thus keeping the star system but introducing the 20-point scale). Regardless, thanks again for reading what I put here and have a wonderful day!

Brandon K Gann

Hey Brandon, This week, instead of Star Wars talk, I’d like to tell you about an idea I had for a new show for the Allies. Currently, I think the biggest “blind spot” in the EZA content stream is in-depth discussion and gameplay of recently released games. Sure, we have Frame Trap, but Frame Trap comes once every two weeks without visual gameplay, and sometimes a game will get little attention after a release and we’ll miss a chance to hear an ally’s opinion if they aren’t on that week even though they may be the expert or best qualified to discuss it. Spoiler Mode covers recent game’s plots well, but only happens for larger story based releases. My idea for you is to have a two man show weekly or bi-weekly, rotating the Allies, where two sit down and play together, hopefully in a situation where one is more experienced in the game and the other is new to it, so that there can be a natural teaching or discussion between the two about the game, so we enjoy the banter between Allies but we can also see the game showcased. Some episodes, the game could be completely new to both or they could both be experts. The show could be filmed over an hour and cut-down to highlights, or simply be freeform with no editing for 20 minutes to an hour if you are worried about adding editing time. This way, we could get more game-focused content hopefully without adding too much work time for the group, and we could get the banter between the allies that we enjoy so much, and the musical chair nature would always be creating interesting pairings. Who wouldn’t want to watch Ben teach Ian how to compete in Dragonball Fighterz, or Jones teach Huber the laws of the high seas in Sea of Thieves? Let me know what you think! Keep up the amazing work, Matt Kuryloski (kur-LA-skee phonetically) (you nailed the pronunciation last week but I’ll keep this in a few times until it sticks, also ‘-ski’ names are generally Polish!)

Matt Kuryloski

I've noticed there are always recommendations on how to improve EZA by patrons on each episode of cup of Jones and while I know it's with good intention, as they only want EZA to be the best it can be, I can't help but feel there are too many suggestions. I love constructive criticism but when you're constantly being told how to improve it gets to become too much, as if it is never good enough. I hope the recommendations stop eventually but I know they never will as people constantly want perfection and why shouldn't they they're only human right? Also, You do not need to read this on Cup of Jones I just wanted to let you know I am getting tired of hearing patrons say you should try this or that.

Joey and Cait

Jones has answered this a couple times, he said he teases Kyle to do one at almost every meeting, but doesn't want to force anyone to do what they don't want to do. He said morale is the most important thing to him right now and Kyle hasn't shown any interest in doing one for the time being. I loved Kyle's show too though and while he's too busy with Box Peek at the moment I think we'll get some form of that editorial show one day!

Hi Jones, new Patreon here. Can / will Kyle do an editorial show like he used to on Final Bosman?

Adamantum

Jones why did kyle say in EZA podcast eps. 99 that you don't think terminator 2 holdes up??? explain it to me because I missed the point, the boat left and I wasn't on the boat. Its probably one of my favorite action movies and I am deeply hurt if this is true but.. I still like you :) Fettouhi

Christophe Fettouhi

On my journey I had a lot of time for myself and to think a lot ^^ and of course part of it was to think about happiness and at what point in your life you were the happiest. I always came back to that for it has a lot to do with the people around me. Can you relate to that? How important are the people around you for your personal happines. I imagine your wife plays a big role? I mean I really like being alone sometimes but that can be very boring and lonely sometimes ^^ I hope thats not to personal, but the question from last week "what is happines made me think"

Tim Bechen

G'day Jones! I'm back home in Australia after our extensive WDW holiday, but I can't stop thinking about one thing. The Void. Jones - tell me you've tried this... I was traveling with my best mate and she took me to it while we were at Disney Springs. (I was unaware of its existence, so you could imagine my reaction). Made me curious... any other franchise/specific game or movie events you'd love to live out in 1:1 VR? Cheers, Cam Smith.

ScentThick

Hey Jones. My question for the next cup o' Jones. How are you doing ?

Randy Verschueren

A couple of Cups of Jones ago you got a question about the changes you'd want to see in Animal Crossing for the Switch, and to my shock you did not even mention any new Villager Personalities or Animal Species. As such I'll now ask you this: If you got to choose three new Animal Species and one Villager Personality that would be added to the next Animal Crossing game, what would you choose? If it were up to me, I'd like to see more reptiles in the game, like geckos or snakes, and even though they are very different from the kind of animals currently in the game I'd love to see moths rendered in the style of Animal Crossing, considering that they're already puppy-dog eyed fuzzballs as is. Personality Types is a trickier one, I admit, and something I'd have to think about more myself, but I know for sure there's room for more of them in there.

Small Leviathan

I've been watching Kyle's SSX stream, and it made me want to go play SSX Tricky for the first time in forever, so I felt it was appropriate to ask an SSX question this week, As I know you're a huge fan of the series, just wanted to ask what you would love to see in a new SSX game if EA ever did another one. Would you want it to be very similar to 3, since I know you love that one so much, or would you want some sort of combination of the changes made in the reboot with some of the sensibilities of the older games? Would love to hear your ideas. I know personally, I would hope they keep the control scheme from the reboot as that's one of the main reasons I really enjoyed it.

Logan Tawse

I think he answered this a few weeks back, I think he ended up going with Asylum... but perhaps I'm wrong?

Hey Brandon First time caller here, so a quick introduction of myself: I'm 30, from Switzerland and I have been following you guys since the early GT days with GT being my go-to-source for anything gaming related, but especially so since you guys started doing your own shows and skits which were a breath of fresh air from the usual all-business-attitude of certain sites. Anyway, I'm listening to most of your content during my commute to work which is also why I haven't commented yet, even though a certain topic has been bothering me for a while now: During Cup of Jones, every single week we get suggestions of all the things you should do to "improve" the EZA content, like even more community integration, take examples from other youtube channels, etc. Sometimes it even seems like some people feel entitled to have a say because they donate you money. Personally I feel like all of you at EZA should just do whatever you like to do, because you are all insanely creative people and the "weird" stuff like opinion yell, reindeer academy, fiasco and hopefully soon box-peak are the content which makes you so unique and enjoyable. As long as you do what you love to do, people will tune in, because you can feel the passion behind it. So, TL;DR: Please go on and do all the crazy things YOU want to do and not what others tell you to (myself included :)). You people are amazing, L&R Silvan.

Hey Jones, not a question about coffee this week - shock horror! I recently 100%-ed Snake Pass on Steam and I absolutely loved it. I gobbled it up in just a couple of days as I found it's old school charm and idiosyncratic controls really engaging, intriguing yet also challenging. It made me realise that one thing I really look for in games is ingenuity and creativity; even if some elements of a game are a little weak that creative spark can get me through a game regardless. I'm thinking of games like Killer 7, Noby Noby Boy, Child of Eden, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat etc etc. Yet there is great risk in creating games that go against the grain, the risk that nobody sees beyond the eccentricities or that they use them as an excuse to not play the game in the first place. The global achievement statistic for 100%-ing Snake Pass on Steam is 2%... only 2% of people who played it saw it through to the end which is insane to me! Why aren't people completing these games!? Anyways, if you haven't already I highly recommend playing Snake Pass and I wondered if you know of any games that similarly impressed you with their creativity. L&R David.

Hi Brandon, the photos i was refering to, one that the Easy Allies twitter account tweet it about the 2 year anniversary and the other is one in the twitch schedule about group stream, blood already said that there's no talking about those photos yet.

Daniel Garza Andrade

Looking back at the arkham games, which one is your favorite?

Hello Jones. Couple of questions: Do you love Disneyland because it's DISNEY-land or do you enjoy theme parks in general? If so, what other parks you like? if not, what do you enjoy the most about Disneyland? and do you remember the first time you went? I personally like theme parks in general, from the biggest Six Flags to the smallest amusement park, i'm in. I love the rides, the shows and most of all; the atmosphere, which is the strongest point of Disneyland imo, it's magical everytime, specially for someone outside the U.S. like me, who can't go that often. P.S. I checked the live DQ Builders audio edit VoD you recommended me and loved it, plus the recent video of Ian teaching Huber how to edit, we're only missing a Don video on the topic.

Sebastián Fereira

Hey Jones, this is a very important question! Will you ever allow Sophie to have a boyfriend or even husband and maybe even have children? Please answer this time and not just say you don't know your fruits or something like that :P (just kidding, Bananaworth is very funny to me) The belly is like the jiggliest part, DiamondCrusader

Jones, YouTube supports multiple perspectives at once which the viewer can switch between. I have never actually watched a stream live with this feature but I would assume it works since the VODs have them. Squadron as an example has videos on YouTube with all 5 players on a Heroes of the Storm match streaming in the same video and you can choose who to watch. I think this would be a better alternative to Mixer, assuming it works fine, since everyone has a YouTube account and who has a Mixer account.

Gta IV is without a doubt my favorite in series too!

Mr Jones. I would like to hear your more in depth thoughts on GTA IV as I've only heard a few comments from you over the years. For me, not only is it my favourite GTA, its my favourite game of all time. I just love the story, the world and the characters. I can understand people not liking the 'realistic' aspects of GTA IV compared to the madness and chaos of San Andreas (a game I don't like at all) but the hate GTA IV gets astonishes me. Thanks for your time.

Mixer allows you to stream 4 perspective (4 standalone streams) on one channel, so it would be perfect for Sea of Thieves or even PUBG. Would be great to see the Allies try something there, I like Twitch but Mixer is really great too, even if it gets flack because everythin Microsoft gets flack...

Térence Caron

Batman Beyond became part of canon since 2015 I believe.

Ibrahim Sozer

YES, JONES FINALLY WATCHED YOUNG JUSTICE. YES

Ibrahim Sozer

Hey Jones, Cup of Jones and Tabletop Escapades have become two of my favorite podcast to listen to here lately... I like all the EZA content but these are my fav.

Nic

Hey Brandon! Have you heard about there being a Tesla in space that'll just be there for nearly ever? What sorts of crazy technological advancements do you think we'll see even in the next tens of years?

Dalink28

No question, but I just wanted to say that flights and hotel are finally booked for next months anniversary meetup (and maybe a little bit of Disneyland time as well!) See you all then!

Hello! If one day (the market must be closely following your success and reach) you guys receive the right offer for EZA, have you discussed what level of independence you want to retain? I.e. selling it off completely "for dat sweet juicy deal" vs control over production and IP. I can imagine that it can be tricky to you to validate "a service to the fan community" vs "securing a living for the future".

wouldyoukindly

Yes yes the MarbleLympics! Somehow stumbled upon it last year and enjoyed it greatly!

Hey Jones I don't like Batman. But my family and friends keep insisting I should watch Batman the Animated Series. Sell me on it, what would make me enjoy that show despite having no positive feelings towards Batman as a character or Gotham and its villains. Unrelated extra question: Have you heard of Jelle's Marble Runs? The 2018 Winter Marblelympics are happening right now. It's the most thrilled I've been about any sports event ever. Amazing commentary that reminds me of your style a lot. P.S You don't need to address this on the stream, but I had a question a couple weeks back about the studio dilemma, was there a particular reason it wasn't brought up?

Daniel Rona

Lord of the Rings, do you prefer the books or movies? Also, what is your favorite moment in the story?

Chris Georgaras

He works for IGN now.

BeatenDownBrian

(no question) Damn, Jones, you had that slick Black Sports version of the Dreamcast! RIP... Shoutout to Dreamcast Junkyard. Looking forward to tonight's stream.

Mac

Did you ever play Parasite Eve on PS1? underrated and I'm looking forward to the day one of you may stream it.

sam

Hey Jones, got a follow up for you. When I had wrote that comment I had just started with the main game of Steep, which was a little disappointing. After last night, I ran through the Olympics DLC as a snowboarder and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. I feel like the main game suffers from being a jack of all trades, getting too distracted by way too many activities that aren't quite dialed in. However, the Olympic DLC fixes that by giving focus, pushing you from event to event in such an addicting and satisfying way. Even though I was able to get all three gold medals in one night, I had so much fun that I'll be revisiting it any time I get that hankering. Basically I think that game would have been better if it was just focused on snowboarding and skiing, but would you agree with that? Either way, Olympic DLC is worth your time! L&R

Kate Bishop

You should give that Buttons fellow a Twitter account if you want to do more on social, I think it has potential

The Hashtagonist

Have you considered bringing back Trailer Jones as something done once a quarter to re-intice Patrons to reach that 45k goal again, remind them of what they are missing?

Professor Metal Gear

Good morning!

ZatVunDoot