Cup of Jones - 01/23/18

You're a talented dude! Keep it up and you never know what can happen in the future! Lots of luck to you.

Alex Castellanos

Good morning Jones (afternoon for me in NJ), Bouncing off the idea on this month’s Q&A, where Damiani mentioned there were questions that he doesn’t like to be asked, are there any questions or styles of question that you aren’t a particular fan of?

Alex Castellanos

I bought my plane tickets and hotel room for m’lady and myself today! So the important question is, will you be joining us for Disneyland? (Edit: I just saw your tweet, why not give the coordinator a shoutout here too, the second part is still valid though)——— I’ve never been to California Disney, just Tokyo and Disney world. How’s it gonna stack up against the competition?

Tony

One of my favorite things about EZA is the amazing group interactions you have, such as the Gundam streams, because it's one of the few chances we have to hear you guys talk about something other than games. Have you guys considered doing a few shoots of group events outside of games? EZA learns to rock climb. EZA goes skateboarding. Etc. I understand ally time and editor time are at a premium, but two or three times a year? Easy Living especially I think would have benefitted from something like this. Also in the same thread, please, more group streams or group playthroughs. I know your reply is going to be "oh yes, we'd love to, maybe when we get the studio." Can I make a suggestion? I think it would really help if you'd add in a more elaborate description for the 50k goal of what the studio would mean for us - which exact shows? How many more group playthroughs could we expect? Again, I know you guys don't want to make false promises when you don't know for sure what you can do, but to be honest, the current 50k studio write-up is incredibly vague and uninspiring. I think being able to even nail down one or two firm things that the studio will do, would bring good things for patreon morale and hopefully give it a good boost (and hopefully help get rid of some of the studio questions you keep getting!). Sorry for the length of this! Keep up the good work. Love CoJ's.

Hi jones, currently I'm trying to complete Resident Evil: Director's Cut, I've completed RE3, RE: Survivor, RE7 and then RE5 in that order. Have you ever played or watched a movie series out of order? Thanks for the stream

bjørnar haraldsvik

Hey Jones, hope it's not too late to ask a question! I was wondering, how did the name "Easy Allies" come to be? Were there any other names you all considered being called instead of "Easy Allies"? and if so, can you share what one of those names was? Thanks!

Andrew Left

Hey Jones, sorry to double-up. I was interested to hear that you discussed hiring employees in your most recent Cup of Jones. As you may know I'd love to work on your graphic design, and wondered if there will ever be a way for those wanting to help to apply officially in the future? Apologies, as I know I have brought this up frequently, but I’d never want to give up on something that I am passionate about. L&R, Joe Ellis

Hey Jonsey, You discuss quite often that your biggest issues in streaming come from missing steps when setting up equipment. I've heard that a lot of businesses fail early on because they don't have processes in place for things like this, maybe not exactly like this, whereas big companies like McDonalds (think what you will) strive. Would a checklist for each set up, printed out large, help alleviate some of this stress? L&R, Joe Ellis

Hey Jones! Sorry for the double post, but I had a good idea that I felt that it would be sharing with you sooner rather than later. From what I can tell, you write down the take aways on the question printouts, or a separate sheet of paper. Instead of doing that, maybe you could keep and write in a Cup of Jones take aways notebook that you use every week? That way it would be easier to keep track of them, you'd be able to keep track of which ones are brought up more than once, and you could also use it to update the progress on them, which in turn would be easier for you to rely that info to us.

Parasitepaladin

(Last name pronounced Cow-in) With the two year anniversary looming, how do you plan to expand the patreon moving forward? How do you feel the current total is compared to what you projected it to be when you started, and what do you think you can do to attain the goal of 50,000 a month and sustain it at that level? For that matter, what would you do if the Patreon hits 50,000 for one month and then dips below? I am under the impression that a studio is a major commitment, and with a fluctuating service like Patreon, I am curious how you plain to sustain the $50,000 for the studio.

AC

There is something weird going on with Community Showcase post. Every time I post "hold" it stays. Every time I edit it to actual comment, it deletes itself. I've managed to post a link to the text file with the comment inside. Will this work for you?

Alexander Zyryanov

Mr. Jones, I wanted to get your thoughts on some Batman related questions. 1- Why is it that the world’s best detective solves most of his problems with his fists? It seems brutish for someone who should be smart enough to think of a better solution. 2- Could Batman really kill/defeat Superman? If so who couldn’t he kill/defeat? 3- If you were somehow teleported to Gotham, knowing what you know now, what roll would you play in that world?

Morgan Mohalla

Good Day, Brandon I wanted to come up with a random question for you. Here is what I have, who is your favorite fictional Brandon or Jones? Thank you for all the work you do, and have a good week. PS. When do you plan on starting thinking up your next hall of greatness nominee?

Mr.V

Morning. Are you or the other allies in speedrun? I don't think you already have done a speedrun of any game ( except the first levels of Super Mario on Tuesday night). Is it something that any of you is good at on your favorite game or any game? Not a worldwide level of speedrun, but still, I would like to see you trying on Easy Living, for example. L&R Aurélien

Aurélien GRANIER

Are there any plans to give Brad his own show??? I would love to see more of him.

Tim Bechen

Hi Brandon! Will there be a special event again to try and get more patrons to support EZA? The current number is good and all, but it hasn't exactly grown in a while, I feel. Any plans to maybe change some of the milestones as well?

Ville Ranto

Is any work being done (or planned) with regards to better sound-proofing the garage? There's a lot of background noise during pretty much every podcast / stream - the quality could be upped significantly with better sound insulation.

Louis Sandiford

Hey Jones, did you know that Nier: Automata is even better when you drink a banana-kiwi-apple-mandarine-pineapple juice while playing it? And now something more serious (something I usually don't do on cup of jones ^^): I really don't like it when you waste time doing previews! It costs way too much time/money to produce those little videos about something that could be good at the time of the preview and turn to hot garbage at release (also thinking about multiplayer focused game reviews, being published before the actual game release), right? Please let me hear your thoughts, Mr. Jones!? Yours Sincerely, Diamond Crusader +++ Thank you for your delightful attempt at announcing Nier:Automata in a NJPW announcer voice. I liked it a lot! + 2 short videos (12+11 secs)(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcJj8NUQ8PY)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcJj8NUQ8PY)</a> (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bea-kuUAP4)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bea-kuUAP4)</a> of NJPW announcing wrestlers +++

I've noticed that despite of using PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, you don't produce reviews in 4K. Is this some limitations with capture hardware, or you just want to save bandwidth and time when sending video files to the editor?

Alexander Zyryanov

Hey Jones, I forgot this in the previous video but thanks for answering my question! Love &amp; Respect &lt;3 May we listen to your silky smooth voice for many EZA years to come :)

Stefan Vlemmix

What character would you like to see added to Galaxy of Heroes and why? Also who is your favorite character in the game?

Dear Jonesey, What an amazing year! Thank you and great work! One of the things I love about Easy Allies is the chemistry between all of you. So with Weekly Hunts becoming a thing, do you think there could be a chance of more; 2 person multiplayer streams on the horizon? I really enjoy the intimate streams with each of the allies and the Tuesday group stream is 5 stars, but they each have different vibes from my perspective. Eorzean Allies with ally/allies joining Damiani are awesome, and the number of Easy Update eps with two allies playing together; are great fun.. but it would be sad to see Easy Update become exclusively a Let's Play show. Any who, thank you so much for your time and energy. So much love, and sooooo much respect! Mumble Mumbleton.

Mumble Mumbleton

Hi Jones! Just a quick answer to your question about the length of a playthrough of a star wars the old republic class story cut scenes. The couple I have seen were up to 10h but they also included all the companion dialogues. It might be more fun to play through those yourself but it will still take a while. L&amp;R Alex

Alex_AI

Hey Brandon! I'm dying for more news of Box Peek, and the exact second you were about to say something about what you'd read the stream cuts out. I need to know, what were you going to say so enthusiastically about Box Peek!?!?!

Daniel Rona

That's a group account with a lot of games tied to it as well as our community page. PSN still doesn't allow you to change user names, but it will be changed whenever that becomes a reality. It wasn't intended for promotion, it's just a quick sign in on my PS4. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

I'm watching the nidhog 2 group stream and I noticed that you guys are still using a profile called "gametrailers3" and I think it's a bit weird. Why promote a website that no longer exists/ a YouTube channel you don't own?

klastical

Heya! What do you think is the last game that could have beat Zelda at EZA GOTY, had it come out in 2017? Last Guardian? Bloodborne/ Witcher 3? Hearthstone ;)?

mikkel hervel nemmøe

I listened to the GOTY debate in full, after the fact because, ya know, it was the middle of the night in the UK. You should all be commended for it. It was particularly great to hear long form discussions about the awards. Anyway, question. What does a typical contract / job description for an ally look like? Do you have targets and descriptions, or do you just get on with things without such HR frivolities?

Kif

I think all 3 are very different games, watch some game play and it's pretty clear. I saw a reddit post the other day about this, and it seems dragon quest builders was a better game to most people. I am personally waiting on RE:Legends, since I backed the kickstarter, Not a minecraft building type game but closer to My time at Portia which is also not a block building game.

A question for Brandon and all of you Allies, The Switch is my only gaming system and I recently downloaded and played the demo for Dragon Quest Builders. I really enjoyed it but there are quite a few games on the system that seem to deliver a similar experience. Is DQB worth the 60$ or should I instead get Portal Knights for 30? Maybe even wait for something like My time at Portia which was recently announced. Which one should I get?

Axel Selhammar

I think he's doing some work over at Rooster Teeth, editing work and a few appearances. He's been editing a lot of Easy Allies Reviews as well so more off-camera work than on-camera, maybe? I'm sad to hear he wasn't at the GOTY:s, I've really enjoyed his Hall of Greats nominations, often choosing a different genre than the rest of the group. Don't know what else he's up to, though...

Axel Selhammar

TL:DR version of my previous comment: · You could really use an improved Visual Identity (logo, titles, etc.) · You shouldn't do the work by mix-n-matching stuff sent to you by non-collaborative amateurish fans · You don't need to spend $10.000 on just a logo for a good result · You could first hire a designer/studio to create a Visual Style guide for your entire visual aids · You should then hire a local junior designer to help you provide consistency and (for a small but reasonable salary) to follow such style guide in order to deliver all the visual content you need on a weekly basis. ---------- I'm a professional graphic designer and say all this with only the best intentions. You could very well know everything I'm telling you; and, if that's the case, apologies! L&amp;R.

Angel Sanz Correa

Hi Brandon I’ve got two phrases for you to say: “Los siguientes son los patrocinadores oficiales de Easy Allies para el mes de enero.” Meaning “The following are the official sponsors of Easy Allies for the month of January.“ And also “Estoy disfrutando estas microtransacciones.” Meaning: “l’m enjoying these microtransactions.” Idea credited to Sven von Brand who commented on YouTube for the second phrase.

Kian Jahromi

Hi Jones! I am a member of the Unofficial EZA discord. I very much like it there. Seems somebody had a separate discord for EZA monster hunting. Which is unfortunate, since it seems like that was a good chance to bring people to the Unofficial discord. ANYWHO. One reason it is unofficial is because it can't be looked over, which I understand. No hard feelings. Another reason is because you guys wants to focus more on the forums. So, where ya been? Between reddit, twitch, and resetera (and even the discords) the EZA community is spread out. I was hoping you guys could rally everybody behind the forums by using them. But with the exception of Blood answering questions and keeping people in line, and Kyle doing fantasy football, you guys have been absent from the forums. I'm sure you don't need me telling you that you guys being at least semi-active on there would draw people to it. That, and of course, a new forum layout. People really seem to not like the current one. I know you said a forum make over is quite down the line, but here is yet another reminder from an ally. As I said before, the EZA community is all over the place, it would be nice to see an official EZA branded place for everybody to join together. EDIT: I am mostly referring to a place like a forum, or a social network, where somebody can post something and it will stay there, and not a chat room Also, something I thought of, is you could limit your interactions for the time being, to bring attention to the forum. Like, say none of the allies will post in reset or reddit, and if you want those hot opinions they have, it is time to come to the EZA forums. This wouldn't be a permanent thing, unless you think that would help.

Parasitepaladin

Someone make a "break out the stick" gif stat!

Braulio Valdez

It was brought up quite a few times last year, and we mentioned it to their team, but ultimately it's up to them whether or not to include one. No doubt they get tons of requests. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Reserved

DaleBastion

I know it might take a great deal of time and money, but it might be time to consider getting that garage re-wired and get more dedicated high capacity breakers to support your setup. Oh, and on the last episode about that riddle. I believe the answer was a Coffin. The Person who buys me doesn't need me, the person who makes me doesn't want me, and the person who uses me can't appreciate me. I think it was word puzzle on silent hill homecoming.

ZyloWolfBane

Jones sit back and imagine this for one second: an easy allies flag in rocket league... sound good doesn't it. Lots of gaming sites/YouTube's have them. There's an entire folder in rocket league devoted to video game community flags. I would love to score the winning goal while the easy allies banner flaps around with me as I do a victory dance. Please help me make this dream a reality Jones. Please.

klastical

Have you guys ever considered doing a Gaming Draft? I’ve seen a few other outlets have a draft of what they believe will be the highest rated games (according to meta critic or something similar). Each person gets to choose five or so games and the one with the highest score wins. If there’s a tie, the one with the highest sales figures win. Figured it could be a year long thing you guys could check in on from time to time. As someone who watches most of your shows, I’d love to see who among the allies would win.

Heya Brandon. You do a good job and i enjoy everyone's videos. :) I'm sure this has come up before, so a fellow Patron will likely comment, but i'm just wondering what Don is up to? He wasn't at the EZA GOTY and i missed his input and his personality. I haven't seen him in podcasts and so was wondering what his current EZA status is. Thanks Brandon!

Getting someone to do a best of EZA video doesn't make them an Allie or Employee, is Brent Phillips an employee. It's called outsourcing. My question for this week is covering games at launch. There's a lot of games that come out and a lot of them don't get covered by EZA. Is there a reason why some games just don't get streamed? There's a review coming but it's not out on time why not stream for a hour. Do all your opinions need to be in a review or podcast?

Ibrahim Sozer

Hi Brandon, i was watching the Switch unboxing and i wondered, how was that day? do you remember how Damiani reacted when hi got to your house?

Daniel Garza Andrade

I am more interested in what actions Brandon is undertaking to get more money and thus maybe one more full time employed ally.

Fabian Winkler

A lot of movie adaptations have to cater to a general audience, I imagine, and a large part of that audience will never read the book or listen to the audiobook, so they won't really know what they are missing. Plus, having to condense hours of story into two hours means aspects of the story have to be overlooked.

Professor Metal Gear

Hey Mr. Jones! Do you feel there are any good examples of a property being properly adapted across various media? The context of this being: I saw the second Ready Player One trailer and it made me want to read the book. After reading the story, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but after rewatching the trailers, I have soured on them because they have scenes and dialogue NO WHERE present in the book and other factual inaccuracies. Why does this kind of thing happen when books or games have movies that fail to capture what made the source material so good or outright add unnecessary and completely different elements, effectively changing the story while being marketed to many fans who know the properties inside and out? Sorry for the rant-y questions. This is something that bothers me more than it should. Regardless, thanks for taking them and as always have a great day!

Brandon K Gann

Have you ever thought of adding a compression pass to your audio for the pre-recorded shows? I think this would fix many of the volume problems currently in the podcasts when some hosts are loud and other speak softly. I know there are built-in tools (and better plug-ins) available in premiere and I often struggle to listen at low volumes due to this issue. Love and Respect.

Brett C.

Hey Jones I was reading the patreon page where it says "Easy Allies does not employ most of us full time yet" I was curious as to whether you could tell us about the current situation in regards to who of the allies are employed full time as well as the allies individual roles and responsibility's within easy allies? Thanks in advanced - Love Jesse

Jesse.P

Have you ever had an emotional response to or been moved by a video game? I personally was wrecked during the final cutscene in Metal Gear Solid 4 between Big Boss and Old Snake.

Professor Metal Gear