Cup of Jones - 12/12/17

Yes ! The Malazan series is great. I absolutly love it ( that's where my username comes from). I strongly recommend it.

Whiskeyjack

Jones! No! You are 100% right about the Bayonetta reveals! 3 should have absolutely been announced first! Having the ports be announced was great but it did nullify the reveal of 3 a bit. I think most people were predicting the ports of 1 & 2 anyways, so having the '3' in the moon show first would've had a greater impact and then the port announcement after would just be the sweet cherry. Of course in the end, it's all sweet because 3 Bayonetta games on Switch in 2018, can't get no sweeter.

Hey Jones, After playing most of the major games this year (persona, zelda, nier, mario), I have to say my favourite game is one I just finished: a small indie game by the name of "Finding Paradise", which was such a beautiful experience, it made me cry (which doesn't happen very often, certainly not with video games). Please have someone from the allies play it (I think Ian especially would enjoy this) as it's only 5 hours long.

Lukas Riedler

Hello Jones! Three things for you, I feel that your responses will probably be short, which is what I'm telling myself so I don't feel guilty. Please consider leaving a "I do not answer questions from this post" comment on the audio posts of Cup of Jones. You get a couple of comments every post, I feel people would notice the comment from Easyallies more than the caption in the post itself. (this problem may just solve itself in time though) You have previously cut all of allies salary to send Ben to Japan. And you have done one time goals/drive for box peek and charity. When you get questions on doing things like this again, you usually bring up that maybe you'd do it for a camera. Why not do that, but for other more outside the box things. For example, send somebody to take a course/class on social media networking. Obviously a brain stroming session or taking suggestions would be required for more ideas, but you get what I'm getting at. I have an idea for a stream! Please do consider this. I can only assume, that a ton of members of the community have ideas for streams and shows. I bet that many of them know that they are mostly pipedreams, but still would really like for you guys to hear their ideas. So I propose that once a year, you hear all of their ideas, by doing this. Make a patreon post, or a post in the easy allies forums, since that would honestly be much easier, asking the community what their ideas are. Give us one month to write down our ideas for streams and shows. (one idea person to keep it simple) Then at the deadline, all the allies get on stream, and read out all the ideas, saying what you think about the idea, if you like it or how much you want it, any problems and hurdles with the ideas, etc. While I'm sure everybody knows to not expect any new shows from this, I think it will make a lot of people happy knowing that you guys at the very least heard and acknowledged their ideas.

Parasitepaladin

Heya Jones, every time I hear you say the word "intern" my ears perk up a little bit. As someone who once dreamed of the day GT put out a call for another intern, and an LA local, it's a hard thought to ignore. Considering the future, how do you feel you would go about that process? L&R! - Henry/StealthyLasagna.

Brandon I did road maintenance for a living for several years and all ages are bad at driving. Now to my questions. Burgers or pizza? Also want to hear what your thoughts have been with Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes as of late. Shameless plug for my guild named Be Nice.

Happy Holiday, Jones I just wanted to say it was a pleasure to meet you and most of the Allies at the PSX Meet & Greet last week. I say most cause I totally botched my initial plans for the Meet & Greet. I forgot to bring my EZA shirts and I really wanted to take pics with each Ally while wearing them. I even had select games to include in the pics (Wind Waker HD, Bloodborne, Yakuza Kiwami, Knack 1 & 2). The price I pay for having too much fun at PSX and arriving with one hour left at the Meet & Greet. I won't make the same mistake next time....hopefully. But the thing I wanted to tell you at the Meet & Greet that I totally forgot was that I was going to spend the Monday following PSX at Disneyland, my first time being there. Even though I was only there for one day, I had a great time. I rode Space Mountain, I got a few photos taken with Mickey and I met a few of the Disney princesses. It would be hard to compare my experiences at both Land and World since the only time I was at Disney World was over 20 years ago but I know that both places were magical. This message is long enough as is so I just want to say happy holidays and happy new year to you and the rest of the Allies.

Karl Williams

Hi Brandon. Wondering why there is a lot of Easy Allies content that is not on the patreon page. For instance there are no reactions, no hall of greats, why is that? I usually find the content you produce here, because I want the early acess, but you make me go to youtube to find some of the stuff I really enjoy...

Miguel Pires Ramos

I have a suggestion for selecting a game for Group Stream: pick 3 games from Group Selection Committee and add one game by yourself. It will give us a clue about what you are currently interested in which will help us to come up with better suggestions. Also it will guarantee that there always will be a normal game to vote, if $1 patrons would not like crazy ideas of $2 patrons.

Alexander Zyryanov

Hey Brandon! I hope you haven’t been asked this before, and I’m sorry if you have, but have you ever thought about making SomeGameNews’s videos part of EZA propper? If you stuck a deal with them where they would continue to create the same weekly highlight videos, but under the EZA main youtube page, it could be a benefit to everyone. It would be a plus for them if you promise them all the revenue from said videos. It would certainly be more than they are currently making, as all 100,000 of your subscribers could see it rather than people who just seek out the content. On top of that, they could put their names on the videos and get a bit more awareness. It would be a plus for EZA. You would have another segment without much extra work. I’ve also heard that you occasionally get complaints that you put out too much stuff, and it’s hard to keep up. This would be a way to get the community to feel like they are on the same page week after week, seeing noteworthy highlights and jokes. Hope you have a great holiday! Quaznarg

Quaznarg

Hey Jones! It is Sunday night, December 17. Roughly 8 days since talking for 5 hours straight at the PSX meet-up and my voice is STILL pretty weak. What do you do to prevent losing your voice during an event with lots of speaking?

Alec Church

I also experienced those metal gear games all in a short time span and it was indeed glorious. Such a great series to Bing and I loved seeing how much it evolved.

klastical

So, what did you think of Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi? :)

This year i binged 6 seasons of Game Of Thrones in a week, and played Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, 3, 4 and peace walker in the span of about 2 months. Have you ever binged a series of games/movies/tv-shows similarly? For me, theres nothing better than devouring something that took many, many years to create, all in the span of a couple months

mikkel hervel nemmøe

Hey Jones, First off, you were close with your 2nd pronunciation of my last name in this episode. It's actually pronounced like "pause" or "laws", with the Z sound instead of S. For the question, I know you've mentioned how you developed a card game, but were you ever interested or ever attempted to get into working on video games? If so, any reason you chose to pursue game journalism as a career over game development?

Logan Tawse

You mentioned a few times that you are very salty about George R R Martin and the song of ice and fire books. Why is that exactly? And who is your favorute book character???

Tim Bechen

On one hand Weekly Hunts tier would be cool but it's also another obligation for Ben, where I think he wants to play with the other main Allies when the game comes out. So it would be like he plays with the other guys and then has another time slot when he plays with the community? Dunno, plus it would suck to be locked out of hunting with Ben because of budget constraints.

VGJunky

Brandon Jones. Turn signals and blinkers. Why don't people use them?

Minamik

I don't know what the specifics of the GOG deal were, but they do have a lot of Falcom games, which I know Ben has enjoyed some of. If he were ever to decide to do a playthrough of one of those, might that be an opportunity to go back to that?

Minamik

Today's Friday isn't it... :(

Minamik

Watching this on Thursday, and I'm like, "Well...Patreon problem solved!" lol

Minamik

Jones, what exactly are thinking about right now?

I've been curious, back in the GameTrailers era, after New Year's 2016 I believe you had two types of meetings. 1. More one-on-one meetings with the future Allies about their YouTube numbers and finding focus with their shows. Huber's "Huber Hype" in particular has been mentioned in the past. 2. The Dave & Busters Last Hurrah which you guys were discussed the next year as a group. Hopefully that's accurate, but if not, feel free to clarify. But my curiosity, now that it doesn't matter because Defy is no longer breathing down your neck, can you reveal more insight into what you told the allies about improving view count or how they could re-focus their shows? Also, how did this Corporate Jones compare to the EZA Jones we all know and love now? Thank you, L&R!

Robert I.

While Tony Hawks 2 is the most widely praised game in the series, I would argue that 3 is objectively better from a gameplay perspective thanks to the addition of the Revert. Where as in 1 and 2, a vert trick would mean the end of your combo, the revert allows you to continue the combo indefinitely, giving you a tonne more options for tricks and lines throughout the Level.

Harrison Holt-McHale

Thank you Alex D! I was trying to ask that survey question the last 2 weeks but it was somehow just lost in translation on Jones, but you said it so well! -------- Jones, please do not ONLY do a survey stream, EZA has a split audience, some like me rarely watch streams and it would be a shame for you to only get opinions from a portion of your audience which may skew results. I know its bens show, but for example Tabletop isn't represented in streams, only youtube/podcast form - so polling a streaming audience about tabletop seems silly, right? I personally like the ideal of an easy allies .com survey which you point to on streams, podcasts, shows, ECT for a couple of weeks, so everyone could participate be them patron, twitch subscriber or just YouTube viewer. A question on the survey could be which categories the person belongs to. --------- also, you don't need to read this in the next cup, just wanted to make my point of view known vis-a-vie a survey given I brought this topic up in the past. Thanks! L&R Matt

Matt Brookbank

So, net neutrality.... are you worried?

Kif

Nice and simple. Can you guys do another battle of the bands please? That is a video from GT I still go back and watch on a regular basis.

I'm wondering if you have any advice for new streamers. I just recently started casually streaming games, as well as some creative art-making streams, and I find myself getting a sort of "stage fright" part way through streaming. Since my audience is very small at this point, I find it difficult to maintain banter when at times my stream will drop to literally zero viewers, so in those moments I know that I am only talking to myself. But on the other hand, I don't want have a silent stream because if someone new tunes in, I don't want them to be immediately bored. I realize that I'm just starting out, and it takes time to build an audience and build confidence in my streaming presence, but I thought I'd ask anyways. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, -Scott

Scott A. Ford

So it's gotta be phrased like a question, then? No problem. Here's Tony Hawk 2, part 2, take 2: Jones, though you had to cheat, that's a good Tony Hawk pick. 2 is indeed the best and most highly rated game in the series, and When Worlds Collide is definitely one of the top tier songs in it. I actually bought the album after hearing that song. However, it's still pretty shocking to hear how little contact you have with the series. Aside from being its pinnacle, 2 is in fact one of the highest rated games EVER, currently taking the #2 spot on Metacritic's all-time list, and often suggested by members of the Group Stream Committee. I'd say that kind of glowing and enduring praise is deserving of you spending a little quality time with it, wouldn't you? I personally recommend the Dreamcast version, which has much smoother graphics than the PS1 version, though the choice is yours entirely. P.S. NEVER assume drivers know what they're doing or care about safety. ALWAYS look BOTH ways when turning or going through an intersection.

TurboChickenMan

Heh, why not? ^_^

TurboChickenMan

I suspect the studio will initiate a complete reworking of goals and tiers.

TurboChickenMan

Hi Brandon, Do you have any favourite book recommendations? I love reading and I am always looking for new authors to read. I try to find different genres and have favourites in each. So for example, a Fantasy recommendation from me for you would be Steven Erikson and his Malazan Book of the Fallen series, which is a massive time investment but honestly so worthwhile. For the crime genre, I would say Harlan Cobens books, start with Deal Breaker as that follows an amazing character. I do have a random genre, so things like the Power of One or Kite Runner would fit here. Do you have any recommendations? Cheers Wesley

Wesley

Spoilers are weird to classify especially if you haven’t played the game because stuff like what you just mentioned can seem like a potential spoiler even if it’s got no actual impact. Jones actually called me out on the Zelda review in this video which shocked me because I was 100% certain they showed you fighting Ganon, so I re watched the review and noticed it’s not the actual final boss, but another boss fight you happen to have with an enemy named ganon, that made a Mr M who was 50-50 on buying Zelda and the switch at the time and didn’t know anything otherwise rather annoyed at the review. Looking back I’m conflicted (I mean it’s a ganon fight in a Zelda game, 9/10 times that’s a huge part of the game) but I guess that’s why it’s a point of contention

Mr M

I think it's funny all the talk that you had of musicals in the past episode as I am going to be seeing The Lion King musical on tour very soon. It's no full Broadway show but still a big budget show that I'm very excited to go see. Have you seen it? Any thoughts on it? Hearing you talk about musicals reminded me of my fun times of theater in high school. I actually played drumset in the pit band in our production of the Pirates of Penzance. Do you have a lot of experience in behinds the scenes stuff in theater production? I'm very interested in this side of you Jones. I love hearing about all of your other interests! Thanks!

Hi Papa Jones - the holidays are fast approaching like Huber on a bear with an axe bellowing "SHENMUE HD! MAKE IT HAAAAAPPEN!!!". And I've been a real good boy this year, so wanted to buy myself a cheeky little present. Perhaps I could support my 9 favourite Beyonces at the same time ... MAYBE, I could buy some wonderful EZA merchandise??! I know you've had a lot of questions about merchandise lately, but is there ANY chance that there will be some new items up in the store in time for Christmas? Cheers, James (@blindlyfumblin in chat, etc.)

James McCoy

Regarding the Xenoblade spoiler: You're right; most of the time people who haven't played a game won't recognize minor spoilers they see and probably won't even remember the review once they start playing. I feel like this was an exception. I haven't played the game yet, but it is clear from the materials I've seen and read that the starting motivation is a search for "Elysium". In the review, you show a scene that takes place in "Elysium". I know that because a character says, "This is Elysium." I noted that as a spoiler when I watched the review and I feel like I'll remember it. It's not a big deal to me or anything. I'm probably not gonna play Xenoblade for a while. It just seems like something that should have been caught. EDIT: After looking at the review again, that apparently wasn't even the thing people were mad about. I didn't even notice the "major" spoiler.

Will you Consider of making a Raining Day Ian and Ultima Brad MERCH for the Upcoming E3 betting special just to build up the HYPE next year? people would love to support their betting contenders to see who will be on top that will decide the fate of EZA(and the Lore). it would be a missed opportunity since Ultima Brad is Pretty Much popular among EZA fans at this point. im sure that BRAND MANAGER can smell the SWEEET SWEEET money from far away. Shirts/Mugs/Sunglasses/pins/etc. anything is fine. :)

Otoshigami

Sticking with the Christmas questions I've been asking all of December, we all remember Christmas moments when we've received that perfect gift but what about moments where you were not the recipient? One of my most cherished moments is the reaction my mom gave me when I got her a new cell phone. If you don't have any examples then what about a cherished moment you've had with Amanda during Christmas?

Joey and Cait

Hi Brandon. No question this time, but I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful answers on what I've had to say over the last couple weeks. It's really appreciated to have the opportunity to feel heard. L&R

Eric Mitchell

LucasArts definitely had the best LOGOs/Intros. The custom LucasArts everytime I got a new SW game was so epic. One of the best is definitely Star Wars Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles

drd7of14

Patreon just announced they're not doing the changes.

Olf Himself

Hey Jones, would it be sneaky to change the rewards tiers to try to offset the Patreon changes? Few Examples: $50 (48.25*.029+(48.25+.35)) = $49.99925 $20 (19.1*.029+(19.1+.35)) = $20.0039 $1 (.64*.029+(.64+.35)) = $1.00856 Personally, I don't think I'd change my pledge...Even though it's annoying that it's going up a little bit...But especially for the $1 pledge peeps. I do recall that pledges have to be on the Dollar mark, thus negating the suggestion, but is there any way that this angle can be taken to the Patreon gods, to allow for more deviated pledge tiers. At the very least, a .25/.5 increment. As far as the listing it could still say $1 Cup of Jones with a subnote that says minimum 64 cents...Or something like that. Don't know if it's possible and if it'd be more confusing, but figured I'd throw it out there cause some patrons will definitely be more effected than others by this.

drd7of14

Yours was the patreon only discord channel right? The way I remember the mods on the Unofficial Alliance discord (the one that used to be official) describing it was that a patreon only channel needed to be made by the guys running the patreon, and since EZA’s no longer officially running it (Ehie Yovach and Sparks if you see them are the admins) they won’t make it.

Mr M

Kinda sad you didn't acknowledge my comment (not sayin you should have read it entirely) before my Patreon Discord question Brandon :( But thanks for the answer.

Térence Caron

Hey Brandon, NoClip recently saw a decline in patrons, coinciding with the new payment structure from Patreon, and it was interesting to see that NoClip has an alternate source of revenue from those willing to fund them from outside Patreon. Does EZA have any plan B options in their back pocket just in case Patreon starts to not work out as expected?

I can't tell you how many times I've had to veer off the road because of people not following traffic safety on the road with bikes. I live in a heavy residential area, there's also very little sidewalk so the majority of the area is the road we drive on and just dirt instead of sidewalk, so even if people wanted to be off the road they "could" they just don't. Either way I work graveyard shifts so the majority of the time where I DO drive it's in the dark or in the middle of the night, and it'll be someone on a bike, wearing all black, with no lights, no reflectors, and going the wrong blasted way and I rarely see them coming because they'll be just out of reach of my headlights but close enough that if I didn't move they might get a face full of door. It's extremely common, I don't know if it's just a los angeles county/california thing or what but it's ridiculous. Happens in broad daylight just as much but at night I'm legit scared people will run right into me, cause they aren't even in what would be considered the bike lane portion of the side of the road they're even on, they're practically where the cars should be. There's never enough to be said about traffic safety.

ZyloWolfBane

Wow, i wasn't expecting all those Mexico histories, thank you Jones! No questions this week. P.S. Disney's Coco

Alejandro Medina

Hola Brandon, when streaming a game that has multiple version across the different platforms and people gets into chat they always ask what version is on, should the person streaming put a watermark in there just people realize or avoid the same question over and over? i know it depends on the streamer, but i think it's a good idea :P

Daniel Garza Andrade

Mornin' Jones! Just a quick question: why aren't you uploading the reviews that you guys do directly to Facebook and/or Twitter as well as YouTube instead of just sharing to those sites? I think the fact that those videos would then start playing automatically (without sound) would grab a lot more people scrolling through their usual feeds and greatly increase the chances of getting new viewers compared to just posting the links like you currently do. L&R Mr M

Mr M

Echoing this. Would very much rather even a google form for feedback/criticism or something over a stream

Mr M

That's what I get for commenting before finishing the video... loved the Sophie visit. :D

Dale Son

Is there a reason why you don't have any goals after the studio? EZA is slowly reaching that goal and there's nothing beyond the studio. When you guys started this venture you believed that you would get a few thousand dollars at most but you still had 9-10 goals above that.

Ibrahim Sozer

many of those we set up appointments for in advance, passing a link back is standard practice. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

G'day Brandon! Three-part question about reviews: How locked in are the easy allies to doing reviews? Not that I don't enjoy them but it seems like they take a lot of time and effort, and with the ever-growing list of review outlets (some of which are simply able to cover more games and go into more detail than the Allies are) it seems like trying to stay on top of reviewing even just the biggest games of the year is a monumental undertaking. Would you ever consider collectively taking a step back from reviews and using that time to focus on more Easy Allies specific content? Maybe only doing the occasional review but having it be more in-depth. I would love to see official EZA reviews for older games, particularly those that make it into the Hall of Greats. Second, I would love to see the Allies try and broaden their scoring system. 2.5 Stars should really be considered the average (not 'Inferior'), but I see so many games getting 3 or 3.5 (which really should be considered 'good') even when the review has almost nothing truly positive to say about it other than "well at least the game functions as intended". I know this is a problem with the games industry at large but it can feel like the Allies are pressured into bumping up scores to fit that mould. I believe in you guys, and I believe you can break that mould. Reviewing older games, good and bad, could help you set up a baseline for where a game can fall on a 5 star scale that really uses all 5 stars, and how the context of the time of the game can affect scoring. Thirdly, If you do feel obligated to have *some* sort of official coverage about the latest games, a neat idea would be having a 'Critical Round Table' at the end of each Week/Fortnight/Month where those who would be doing the reviews cover the games that came out in that time and have a prepared statement followed by questions/answers from the rest of the allies that maybe haven't played the game, or at least not played as much, and using that discussion to evaluate the overall feelings felt about the game and where it falls on that 5 point scale. Brandon, you are a legend for answering all these questions from us. You are the absolute best. Love and Respect -Daniel P.S.... I like podcast halftime.

Daniel Rona

Quick thought about exposure: you guys do these videos like the psx recap where you talk about a bunch of games in rapid succession. Have you considered reaching out to the devs of the games and letting them know that you've talked about there game and giving them a timestamp in hopes that they tweet about the coverage this giving EZA more exposure. Just a thought, don't knowing it's weird or not. L&R

klastical

Listen to this again at 30:30 mark, where he clearly stated that Ben approved it after the edit was cut.

BHL

Lola? The most adorable dog ever? When you have SOPHIE? :P

Dale Son

Hey Jones, I dont really watch sitcoms on tv anymore, but when i did, i always looked forward to this time of year when my favorite shows would have their "Holiday Special" episode. (Some of my favorites being from Simpsons, The Office, and Friends, to name a few) .... So my question to you is: do you have a favorite "Holiday Special" episode from a tv show you used to watch, and can you share why this episode is your favorite or one of your favorites? .... Thanks!

Andrew Left

The fan survey is an excellent idea! But please, don't do it in a live stream, like you so enthusiastically suggested. You won't hear from at least half your audience that way, me included. I'm practically never in the chat, but I watch double-digit number of hours of Easy Allies shows every week and write regularly on the forums. I'd love to give my feedback, too.

Ville Ranto

Hey Mr. Jones! Thanks for your comments on Patreon grenading themselves. Because I'm not sure if this is the last Cup of Jones for the year, is there a date that has been decided when the regular flow of things return in terms of content rollout? Hope yourself and all the Allies have a wonderful holiday break!

Brandon K Gann

Your favorite President, Jones??

Is there any particular video game related tradition you have during the holiday season or do you rather prefer to use the holiday season to take a break from games?

Professor Metal Gear