Cup of Jones - 01/30/18

Hey Jones, (sorry for the late question, hope it makes it in!) What was a game that you were excited to review, because you were personally looking forward to playing it, but the game ended up being sub-par and disappointing?

Andrew Left

Easy Allies Superbowl commercial when?

GmanSir

With something that seems to become more and more common each year, what are your thoughts on Superbowl Sunday having essentially turned itself into an E3 like event for Movie Trailers by their respective studios? It's gotten to the point where they've started shadow dropping movies (i,e, Cloverfield Paradox on Netflix) to elevate hype. Anything in particular you're looking forward to? Hope all is well, and as always, L&R!

Hi Brandon, completed Resident Evil 1 for the first time. Great game and some really clutch inventory management. But what's really clutch is completing a game without knowing the language. How did you manage to get through FF in Japanese and enjoy the story? Have a great day

bjørnar haraldsvik

Hey Brandon, first time Cup of Jones questioner. What's your take on the Han Solo trailer? Will you be able to separate the younger character from Harrison Ford enough to enjoy it or do you think it won't work for you? The cinematography looks stunning at the very least. A lot rests on this movie for me. I was very let down by The Last Jedi but if Solo is good or hopefully even great, I can be optimistic again. Keep up the great work with EZA!

Matt Kuryloski

So, here is where one leaves questions, right? Don't answer that, just answer what follows if I'm at the right place. What are the odds of you guys doing another meet and greet in the PSX weekend? (you can skip the rest from the show, I just want to explain to you why I'm asking this so early in the year). I would love to be able to meet you guys (actually I met YOU Jones & Amanda back in the game awards 2015, but would love to shake your hand again), unfortunately the anniversary event is so close and plane fares are quite expensive at so close range for international flights; but I think I can get a fair price in a very advance purchase; like say December 2018. Just asking because, while I would go site seeing and maybe get to Disneyland, the main purpose for me getting my fat ass in a plane to L.A., would be the opportunity of hanging out with you guys for a while; so, I would like to have my basses covered. It's ok if you can't tell right now, we are 10 months away from PSX, if there even is one and it is held in Anaheim again. Just wanted to ask for the first time, see if I should keep my expectations low and maybe come back to this question when details about PSX are revealed. L&R César.

César Villa

I've heard you speak of doing meditation. I've tried it before, but could never clear my mind enough to feel as if it was worth it. Lately I've been working on my mental health and would love some tips. I'd also love to hear how you keep up your mental health when things get stressful. Btw, I regularly go back to your "Let's Talk About Nature" editorial on getting out of the house for a little motivation on getting away. Thanks!

Hey Brandon do you have any good hangover cures??? Some secret Jones recepe?? Next week we have Karneval in Cologne. It's basically a huge party starting Thursday till Wendnesday. And it involves a lot of beer^^

Tim Bechen

Hey Brandon! So I've long been a listener to this, and you guys are the only people online, in any capacity, I give money to at all - big fan! I also try to keep up with the various EZA groups online, and I've noticed a clash between your captain-ship, so to speak, of EZA vs what some people/patrons see as the best course of action. I know why you do it, so I'll spare you that question, as well as the suggestions I see - I do enough consulting for work. What I will ask is this: how do you balance Patreon growth vs morale within the team? What is that tipping point? If, say, you were at 49k for 7 months, would you turn to younger, thinner Tony Hawk and say "Ok Kyle, now's the time for general commitment to a few episodes of Final Bosman which I think would push us over", or similar scenario? Or if you feel that someone's time could be better spent elsewhere? I know that keeping a steady hand on the wheel is key, as you've mentioned, but how specifically do you decide on that balance? Forgive me if this has already been asked. Love and respect,

Hey Brandon! Just wanted to say kudos to Kyle and everyone involved in producing such an amazing intro for Box Peek - Hearing you and Ian singing together was heavenly! What was it like working with FantomenK remotely on a theme song and what was the production process like (e.g. who wrote the lyrics, who did the editing/mixing etc...)? Was this your first time recording your singing voice professionally (as opposed to your voice over and voice acting work)? Can't wait for the final product! Love and Respect, Mason

Mason Victoria

Have you guys thought about changing what time you start your group streams to help combat fatigue and to be more friendly to your fans who live outside of the western time zone? If you started streaming even one hour earlier you would make your streams much more accessible to the rest of the county. Staying up until 10PM is a pretty big thing to ask of your fans in the Midwest let alone your fans on the east coast who your asking to stay up until midnight. The streams ending earlier would also (theoretically) mean more energy for the podcast, an issue you discussed last week. Alternatively you could do group streams on Fridays which would work much better for every time zone since no matter what time it aired atleast it's the weekend. I fully understand that if you were to change what time you started your group streams you would receive emails from people talking about how inconvenient the new time is for them. So your basically stuck between a rock and a hard place and I don't have any solutions to offer, just wanted to put my opinion out there and hope for the best.

klastical

Mr. Jones 1- If the AZA audience wanted to pitch a game, book or movie to you what is the best way to do it? What hard limitations should we consider before we propose something? (Time, genre, mature content, console availability) 2- Have you ever seen/read Berserk? I just realized it has a lot of elements in common with A song of Fire and Ice, not to mention having major influences in the Souls Series. I imagine you saying "There's no time!" but luckily they condensed the first season into three high quality movies. The first has a runtime of 77 minutes and you can quit if it isn't your thing. I don't know about you but I am looking for my fix anywhere I can until the The Winds of Winter arrives. Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

Hey Brandon It seems like a bit of a catch 22 with the studio. Getting the money to move into one would probably require more/varied content to draw in new patrons, but having one is what would allow you to make more on-the-fly content, having the dedicated space for people to show up for work and do what they want, when they can, with the space you guys have. Having everything always set up and ready to go seems like it would be such a great boon to the business of Easy Allies, let alone the boost in morale and creative freedom. Is it feasible to simply save (more) money, rather than buying new equipment to make slight improvements that for most people are fairly negligible, and using those savings to go for the studio at some point regardless of reaching the $50,000 goal? Cheers Daniel

Daniel Rona

Brandon will add his thoughts, but we've had ads enabled from the very start. What type of ads appear and how often they're displayed is almost entirely up to YouTube. It's part of YouTube's business model (ads are paying for that video bandwidth), and there are certain features we can't use without having our channel monetized. I wouldn't be surprised either if not enabling ads limited our reach to new viewers across the YouTube audience. And even if we chose to disable them, some videos would still have ads due to copyright claims from companies like Nintendo. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

What would you name your Red Dead Redemption posse?

Professor Metal Gear

Good morning Jones! Understanding that the Group Stream Selection Committee is mainly Kyle's project, do you have any suggestions for improving the process by which we patrons elect games for the weekly group streams? The committee has come up with some AMAZING ideas, but the system of liking comments on a Patreon post is not ideal. I think that more abstract stream ideas such as the 2018 Predictions Stream are more in the style of a podcast, newer games frequently get ignored, and there is a lack of input from the Allies themselves. I know that Kyle is constantly working on tweaking the process, but curious to hear your input. Best, Brian D.

Brian Denu

Hiya! I think it might have been in the december Q&A, you Blood and Damiani(?) were MIA, and the other allies all talked about wanting to go back to the GT era of 100-point number scoring in reviews, instead of stars. I don't mind the stars, but is it something you are doing? And if you changed it, what about older reviews? It would be weird to scroll through the EZA reviews, and see a mix of stars and 100-point scale scores, but it would also be very weird to retroactively go back and score games with a different point system. What's up Jones? Changing the system? Has it been a discussing point among you recently? Am i just out of my mind crazy and imagined that entire conversation?

mikkel hervel nemmøe

Thanks for answering my question about multiplayer streams! No pressure of course, it was just an idea I wanted to throw your way. You guys are the best in the biz, and you've all been doing great work from day one!

Mumble Mumbleton

You briefly mentioned how a different approach will be taken with future Retro’s, and I was glad to hear it. The Souls Retro has been, by far, the biggest disappointment when I look back at what EZA did in 2017. Obviously you yourself do a lot of work, editing, and doing VO, and Blood helped out with editing the script, but I can’t help but feel sorry for Brad in all of this. It was huge undertaking for Brad, his first retro, and with such a beloved series. From what I’ve seen so far, he did an amazing job, and I can’t help but feel frustrated for him that the rest of the series is still not out. A retro is a huge undertaking, and they’re something we are only likely to get once a year, which is fine. However, because they’re a big deal, I’d like to see them treated as such. In my opinion, the first episode of the Souls retro should’ve never seen the light of day until the last episode was almost done, with all five parts being released over one week, Mon-Fri. I say this because I feel a new retro should be an event, much like a new doc from No Clip is. To me, it was such a squandered opportunity for you guys to get eyes on Easy Allies, and keep them there all week long, but due to the erratic release it’s likely the latter parts will never get the same amount of views they could have potentially gotten. You don’t have to address this, as it just my two cents, but feel free to if you want. L&R

BeatenDownBrian

Hey Jones, I know it may have seemed that way, but I don't hate previews ^^ I generally like everything you do ;) Don't quote me on these facts (I'm sure you know them), but ever since I heard you on a COJ talking about how it costs money to fly to different places to do some previews, I was thinking that, at least the previews YOU as EZA have to pay for (as in travel costs) are a waste of money, that could be spent in a better way. As for early reviews for multiplayer focused games I know that that is usually not a problem for you guys (since most of your reviews are late anyway :P [I'm totally ok with that though]), but even if it happened only once or twice last year (I specifically remember COD), that is still too often and should never happen in my opinion. And since you won't say my name unless I pose a question, here's q question: Do you think I can still enjoy Horizon Zero Dawn, even if my head hurts while playing ACTION-HEAVY 30fps games? The reason why I bought a PS4 was Bloodborne and I must've put hundreds of hours into it. But my head was hurting the whole time I was playing it. So despite my head hurting the whole time, it is one of my favourite games of all time. So I've been kind of interested in Horizon since the reveal (mech dinosaurs and seemingly good combat), but open world fatigue and the fact that it's 30fps are still holding me back. I do think about it once in a while though, which is why I'm asking the expert to tell me if Horizon is good enough to play while having a headache (possibly)! Thanks in advance, DiamondCrusader

Hi Jones! Would it be possible to let the huber dream challenge randomly invade future EZA group streams? It felt like a great half time mini game and pulled all the allies in. It could also be a simple ice breaker in the beginning. Also , if one were to gift the allies a game or two over steam which way should one go about that? I mean what mail address would that go to?L&R Alex

Alex_AI

Kyle said, I think during the group stream, that a Box Peek update post would be coming soon since the every couple months update specified before is rolling around on the 1st.

MBUN

Hi Jones, any update on Box Peek? I know he likes to take his time and there is no need to rush things but an update or teaser would be appreciated.. Thanks

Sven Van Lathem

Honestly, I'd love a Christmas Caroling stream with as many Allies as wanted to participate decked out in festive costume. My only ask for such a stream is that it would be done early December latest, as to give us time to enjoy possibly rewatching it multiple times through the holiday season. Maybe could even take the Allies straight from it to have a photo taken for an annual Official Easy Allies Christmas Card. That said, there might be a greater merchandise opportunity there to turn it into a full blown Easy Allies Christmas CD you could sell. I know Ian has sold CDs for Easy Update before, so the know-how to make that happen should be present. Oh and thank you for that flub with cutting away at the end of Cup of Jones. That was very amusing.

MBUN

Didn't WoW get banned for a whole year? Or has it been that long already?

MBUN

Hi, Brandon. I've recently had a couple of problems with posting a comment to Community Showcase. The first problem is a new one: my comment was deleted immediately after posting. I was able to make comments with different text, but when I posted what I wanted to post, or edit previously posted comments with desired text, my comment was deleted the moment I’ve refreshed the page. I've reached out to Patreon, and they said that my comments had been marked as spam by their third-party provider. They manually removed them from the spam filter, and after that all my missing comments had appeared. Another problem is well-known: top comments can disappear after a while. In this particular instance it was pretty severe, since more than 10 comments were lost. I haven’t received response from Patreon yet, but my observation shows that this happens when total number of comments is close to some specific number. If it getting closer to this number, then adding new comments to the post will make one or more top comments disappear. But if we bypass it by adding some more comments then there is a good chance that missing top comments will appear again. Unfortunately, this recovery isn’t permanent, because after several hours top comments can disappear again, even if no comments were added or removed. But it’s possible to bring missing comments back again by repeating this procedure. Also it seems that there is a limit to a number of comments that can be recovered with this method: I’ve managed to save 8 or 9, but earlier comments were still missing. In summary, if comment can’t be posted at all, then text modification or splitting comment in two parts may help. If comment is near the top, then it’s in danger of being deleted, but there is a chance to recover it by making several additional comments. And in both cases it’s a good idea to contact Patreon’s support. If you feel this info can be helpful to other members of our community, please share it on Cup of Jones. Also I have a suggestion. Since first comments are in most danger to go missing, maybe you can make a couple of dummy comments by yourself before publishing a post. At least for Group Stream Selection Committee and Q&A posts, where reposting a comment several days later is not a good option. Sorry for a long post and thanks for reading it to the end.

Alexander Zyryanov

Hi Jones, and allies! In regards to special events, I recall a Cup of Jones question from last year about charity events... Is a longer more focused charity fundraising stream likely to happen this year? It would be great to bring the community together to do some good, whilst it could also double up as a patreon drive! There could be fun goals set to donation and patron milestones, aswell as maybe EZA donating a dollar for every new patreon up to a point (could still prove worthwhile for you if some hopefully stay patrons for more than one month or even become 2$+ patrons). Love and respect!

GermanScientist

Hey Jones, Which video games you have played/reviewed in your lifetime that become a huge surprise in the end (good or bad), in particular: 1) Games that you had low expectations at first but turn out to be one that you enjoyed the most 2) Games that you had early high expectations (or hype based on Huber’s standards) but it turn out to be terrible or possible the worst game you had played of all time. Speaking about bad games, do you have a particular video game that you considered to be the worst of all time, and still is even if you try to give another shot?

I hope the game you’re bringing back to Hall of Greats is WoW. Even though I personally never cared for that game, it’s undeniable how important that game was to the industry as a whole. That fan base at its peak was probably the most devoted group in video games. Before MOBAs, before Minecraft, before the PUBG; there was WoW. I honestly don’t think it’s an understatement to say it was a cultural phenomenon in its hay day.

Hello, I was wondering if you are planning to go to the nintendo park of universal when it opens in a couple of years?

Mr.V

Hey Jones! I gotta ask, what was with the Freddie Prinze, Jr. hate on the Jan. 23rd podcast? Was it him in particular or just casting him as Fred? Some kinship with a character also named "Jones?" Lol. But seriously, I agree that Matthew Lillard was a better Shaggy than FPJ was Fred, but he still did a good job, and you can't deny his and Sarah Michelle Gellar's chemistry. Love and Respect. P.S. Please inform Brad that Fable and Dragon Age look nothing alike at all...like, not even remotely. Thanks!

Joseph La Russa

Hey Jones first off I just wanted to apologise for asking a question you have to answer monthly I was unaware of this and I absolutely understand how frustrating that could be. On another note I just wanted to know if you have thought about advertising easy allies in some new ways? Some things could be as easy as posting your reviews to gaming sub reddits on reddit to more elaborate and perhaps expensive things like paying for advertising through websites or other YouTube channels. Thanks again <3

Jesse.P

Regarding multi-person streams, have you considered using Mixer? It allows essentially 'simulcast', so you can see things from each player's perspective. Perfect for games like Sea of Thieves.

Louis Sandiford

Unfortunately, I think that the background noise people tend to talk about isn't as simple as a hum or an echo, but the planes, sirens, yard work, etc. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

It feels like the Souls Retro missed the planned date so has now been pushed to the lowest priority. I assume you have a plan for it, but that isn't something we have been told about. When do you expect to get the final 2 episodes out?

BeardedScotsman86

Hey jones, lots of people talking about soundproofing/background noise, which is understandably frustrating because real sound reinforcement is an obvious investment you don't want to make in a temporary space. One suggestion I can offer, to attempt to at least shore up some complaints, would be to take a look at the Izotope RX6 program. Even the lowest version of the software (RX6 Elements) has some amazing de-hum and de-noise algorithms that could kill some background noise with a quick pass. It's a very intuitive program, easy to use, and compatible with premiere.

Hey Mr. Jones! A couple of quick notes from last week: I believe an edit I made didn't take so it should have said, "...property properly." The "l" in properly must not have been kept. Ah well. Anyway, to your points about the Potter movies, I greatly dislike them because they leave so much out. Yes there must be condensing for time purposes, but when important material is left out or changed, that bothers me. I really enjoyed hearing your answer and I see where you're coming from. I guess for me, if there's going to be such drastic changes, call it something else. And I agree about Ready Player One: That is an 80s omage and impossible to create. I'm thankful for the trailers to get me interested in the story, but so much modern stuff just feels wrong. Enough rambling! On to this week's question: I know you're trying to feel out more details about the anniversary, and I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY agree with your statement from last week about keeping stuff close to the vest (I'm paraphrasing of course) for surprises, but will we know what the theme for the anniversary will be in the next month? Will it be another concert or something else entirely? I know I won't be able to attend, but knowing what it is still would be nice. Also it is safe to assume you'll have announcements as well like you did for Don't Skip and the Souls retro *cough* *cough*? I know a simple, "No comment at this time," seems likely but it couldn't help to ask! Thanks again for taking my questions and have a wonderful day!

Brandon K Gann

👍

Tony

Looks ok Jones!

Victor Hugo Capelini

Looks good

Amanda Troop