Easy Allies |OT2| Love & Reset

LycanXIII · Jan 7, 2019

Are they still behind an episode of Trailer Jones, or did they get caught up?

I think they could do some reorganizing of the goals too. I know they wanted to keep quiet on Retros until close to release, but it's almost been a year since the last episode of the Souls one. I feel Game Sleuth is also too infrequent compared to other shows in that range. I know it's not fair to the patrons either to remove them and make them a higher goal since they've been "achieved" since week one.

abrack · Jan 7, 2019

LycanXIII said:
Are they still behind an episode of Trailer Jones, or did they get caught up?

I think they could do some reorganizing of the goals too. I know they wanted to keep quiet on Retros until close to release, but it's almost been a year since the last episode of the Souls one. I feel Game Sleuth is also too infrequent compared to other shows in that range. I know it's not fair to the patrons either to remove them and make them a higher goal since they've been "achieved" since week one.

They're still an episode behind. I grabbed the exact dates yesterday but basically there was 1 in July, 2 in September (one for August), 1 in November, and 1 in December, so the October one hasn't been made up yet. If it's still going to be.

klastical · Jan 7, 2019

Hasney said:
I don't think many people are pitting them against each other. Most people here seem to be saying that there's not much to learn from the Kinda Funny thing because they're so different goal wise. If EZA do another Patreon focused stream, they'll be looking to expand the audience again it seems and that's the best thing for them.

MrMette said:
I was not saying KF isn't doing well. I don't pay enough attention to them to know what they are up to, but it seems they are doing well to me.

I am sure they gave Jones/EZA some tips when they were going to start their patreon and I can imagine that was a great help. They also let Jones talk about EZA on their show when EZA started and Jones, Blood and Huber were on their show afterwards. I honestly don't have a bad word to say about the stuff I have seen from them the last couple of years.

I just meant that it's weird to keep saying EZA should look at what KF is doing as they have success with somewhat different formulas and I am sure their fans are looking for different things (even though there is for sure some overlap in the kind of content and the fans).

They are both successful patreon funded gamegroups and I am sure they can learn stuff from each other, I just think it would be a mistake for EZA to try to drastically change things when they are doing so well the last 6 months. I do hope it works out for KF, I just don't think it would be a good move for EZA.

I wasnt attempting to call out anyone specifically but the general tone of the conversation both in this thread and at large, regarding the kinda funny stream seems quite negative. I'll accept that maybe I'm just reading too far into things.

weebro · Jan 7, 2019

klastical said:
I wasnt attempting to call out anyone specifically but the general tone of the conversation both in this thread and at large, regarding the kinda funny stream seems quite negative. I'll accept that maybe I'm just reading too far into things.

Quite frankly I couldn't care less about kinda funny. I'm here to read about EZA and the constant KF comparisons are pretty annoying.

jondgc · Jan 7, 2019

Yeah, my apologies for ruffling any feathers a few posts back bringing up the Kinda Funny changes. I barely watch any Kinda Funny content and don't even know the names of the guys beyond Greg and Tim. I just used them as a point of comparison for a Patreon-funded videogame outlet that has has a similar run of success over a similar timeframe. I am not angling for any Patreon changes or any radical shift in content from EZA in the slightest...I just thought it would be an interesting discussion from a business perspective. I'll save that type of stuff for Cup of Jones maybe in the future. L&R!

Aadiboy · Jan 7, 2019

Tbh, if EZA should learn from anyone it's probably Giant Bomb. I would really like the EZA equivalent of Metal Gear Scanlon or Breaking Brad. Heck, even All Systems Goku is an example of the type of episodic content I want from EZA. It's a shame that all Let's Play content from EZA is relegated to solo streams. Full-Playthrough Fridays is getting there, but from what I've seen of those videos from the GT days, they try to beat the games in as few sittings as possible, and they have the feel of a live stream more than a pre-recorded show.

I would just like a weekly show with two or three allies playing through a game series that one of them has never played through before. It would last as long at it needs to last to beat the game/series, with 1-2 hour episodes.

Just to make it clear, I only really think EZA should learn from Giant Bomb's ability to make great episodic Let's Plays, I think they kill it everywhere else. Prepare to Try from IGN is another good example of what I'm looking for from EZA.

weebro · Jan 7, 2019

Aadiboy said:
Tbh, if EZA should learn from anyone it's probably Giant Bomb. I would really like the EZA equivalent of Metal Gear Scanlon or Breaking Brad. Heck, even All Systems Goku is an example of the type of episodic content I want from EZA. It's a shame that all Let's Play content from EZA is relegated to solo streams. Full-Playthrough Fridays is getting there, but from what I've seen of those videos from the GT days, they try to beat the games in as few sittings as possible, and they have the feel of a live stream more than a pre-recorded show.

I would just like a weekly show with two or three allies playing through a game series that one of them has never played through before. It would last as long at it needs to last to beat the game/series, with 1-2 hour episodes.

Just to make it clear, I only really think EZA should learn from Giant Bomb's ability to make great episodic Let's Plays, I think they kill it everywhere else. Prepare to Try from IGN is another good example of what I'm looking for from EZA.

As the Allies get settled into their new studio, I'd expect them to revamp their production schedule based on the studio space. I'm not asking them to redo all their rewards tiers or production schedule but just reconsider the new possibilities open to them and how they can make better use of their time now that they aren't restricted to Jones' garage for production or streaming at home.

I don't expect them to start doing new stuff right away but at the same time it'd be a disappointment if they didnt improve their production pipeline now that they aren't bottle-necked by the garage.

VanWinkle · Jan 7, 2019

I'm sure more of this group stuff will happen with the new studio. Whether any of it turns into an official series, who knows. That would probably be decided further down the line. But a group of them causally streaming something together? I'm sure that will occasionally happen.

NekoNeko · Jan 7, 2019

I really hope the studio brings more short bite produced videos with multiple allies but i've given up on that.

stan_marsh · Jan 7, 2019

That was a rough Easy Update for me, just got around to seeing it.

Opinions though. I can separate the hype and game no problem.
Kyle's line implying people are forcing themselves to love and praise games? lol

They seemed bugged if a game they don't like gets hype or much praise. I don't know just venting a bit, I'm over it.

I'm really bad at expressing what's in my head so sorry.

BradGrenz · Jan 7, 2019

klastical said:
While kinda funny might not be at an all time high on patreon they are probably still making bank because unlike eza they do get a significant amount of money from advertisements outside of patreon as well as hosting.

Yeah, KF is far more aggressively monetized outside of Patreon than EZA.

stan_marsh said:
They seemed bugged if a game they don't like gets hype or much praise. I don't know just venting a bit, I'm over it.

Both Ian and Kyle can have contrarian reactions to things. There's no reason to take it personal.

DMVfan123 · Jan 7, 2019

Awesome

Dmax3901 · Jan 8, 2019

stan_marsh said:
That was a rough Easy Update for me, just got around to seeing it.

Opinions though. I can separate the hype and game no problem.
Kyle's line implying people are forcing themselves to love and praise games? lol

They seemed bugged if a game they don't like gets hype or much praise. I don't know just venting a bit, I'm over it.

I'm really bad at expressing what's in my head so sorry.

I get you. It is a rather immature thing for them to say.

Phendrana · Jan 8, 2019

I really enjoyed Ian and Kyle's 2018 discussion, but I grimaced when I heard their theory on why people like Into the Breach. No, people aren't forcing themselves to like it because they wanted to rally around something. Seriously, guys?

As a big fan of the turn-based strategy genre, it's just an incredibly well designed game that has quickly become one of my all-time favourites. I especially love how much it embraces transparency. I often feel limited in other strategy games, because it's hard to formulate or commit to a strategy when there's so much RNG and variance involved. Into the Breach letting you know exactly what will happen allows for so much creativity in the strategy, and the rules of the system work together so well that it plays almost like damn puzzle game at times. It's genuinely one of the best games in the genre imo.

demu · Jan 8, 2019

frame trap when

Feels good to post this again. I'm starving for EZA content at the moment.

Hasney · Jan 8, 2019

demu said:
frame trap when

Feels good to post this again. I'm starving for EZA content at the moment.

Ben posted that they earliest they could record was Monday, so it would be late. It'll go up as soon as it's done.

VanDoughnut · Jan 8, 2019

Couldn't agree more with Kyle's shooting complaints for Red Dead. Would have been a better game with less subpar shooting/action, and more fishing missions and Lenny missions.

Seriously considering getting Into the Breach, but I need to CHILL on buying games.

And whoa at the Allies cramming these games into their streams for game of the year discussions.

Stinkinmushroom · Jan 8, 2019

Didnt Jones said around September/October that they were working on a Retro that should have been out before the new year? Any updates on it?

demu · Jan 8, 2019

Frame Trap!

Rezbit · Jan 8, 2019

3 hours, time to settle in.

False Witness · Jan 8, 2019

The Last of Us: Part II review out now!

Stowaway Silfer · Jan 8, 2019

Ben/Kyle/Huber is my favorite lineup for 3 person Frame Trap episodes, I'm always very happy to see them together. (That's even how the panel size change began)
Edit: My god it gets even better.

Wiggy · Jan 8, 2019

Congrats to damiani, game sleuth ep 1 is now over 1m views! The first EZA video to hit this mark.

Ryan Bates · Jan 8, 2019

stan_marsh said:
That was a rough Easy Update for me, just got around to seeing it.

Opinions though. I can separate the hype and game no problem.
Kyle's line implying people are forcing themselves to love and praise games? lol

They seemed bugged if a game they don't like gets hype or much praise. I don't know just venting a bit, I'm over it.

I'm really bad at expressing what's in my head so sorry.

Kyle enjoys expressing his distaste for games in an abrasive way.

sora87 · Jan 8, 2019

Wiggy said:
Congrats to damiani, game sleuth ep 1 is now over 1m views! The first EZA video to hit this mark.

Game sleuth should really be a higher priority than it is, imagine all those people who might have found this and thought it was a more regular thing on the channel.

Sheldon · Jan 8, 2019

False Witness said:
The Last of Us: Part II review out now!

"Early Reviews" could actually be a very successful YouTube gimmick. Shame it's in conflict with doing serious reviews on the same channel.

Nakenorm · Jan 8, 2019

Wiggy said:
Congrats to damiani, game sleuth ep 1 is now over 1m views! The first EZA video to hit this mark.

Damn, Congrats Damiani! 😁

klastical · Jan 8, 2019

I agree that game sleuths should be given a higher priority as well as retros. Personally I would cut friend code and dont skips and have been start doing game sleuths with damiani.

I know how well it went over last time damiani dropped a project in favor of another one so it's highly unlikely that's going to happen.

Urbannomad123 · Jan 8, 2019

klastical said:
I agree that game sleuths should be given a higher priority as well as retros. Personally I would cut friend code and dont skips and have been start doing game sleuths with damiani.

I know how well it went over last time damiani dropped a project in favor of another one so it's highly unlikely that's going to happen.

I don't follow your logic that dropping Friend Code will help Damiani to do more Game Sleuths. The time investment for both are no way near comparable. Damiani spends way more time doing reviews and, I believe, is currently working on a retro. Besides Damiani enjoys hosting Friend Code and many (including myself) enjoy watching/listening. It has been cool to see Damiani develop himself in the role to the point where he is now a pretty good podcast host.

Hasney · Jan 8, 2019

Yeah, the slow part in Game Sleuth is trying to contact people and waiting for responses, not in the actual execution of the myth or whatever.

Retros hold ups have never been the scripts either, been on editors/Brandon VO, so cutting either Friend Code or Don't Skip (the latter of which I would be STRONGLY against) wouldn't speed things up.

jondgc · Jan 8, 2019

Game Sleuth is great, but I imagine there has to be writer's block often on which idea to pursue. Especially if you pick an idea for a really popular game there is a chance some other YouTuber has posted a video on the topic (albeit likely not as thoroughly researched). Or, conversely, you come up with a great topic for an episode and try to chase down some leads only to get absolutely nowhere. Do you then proceed with the episode, and say "Inconclusive", or do you shelve it and try for something else? Definitely one of EZA's most fascinating series from a logistics perspective.

Nakenorm · Jan 8, 2019

I love the amount of TLOU hype in this week's Frame Trap. Actually rewatched the gameplay reveal the other day so hearing the allies be just as hyped just feels good.

Deleted member 437 · Jan 8, 2019

Wiggy said:
Congrats to damiani, game sleuth ep 1 is now over 1m views! The first EZA video to hit this mark.

Holy smokes.

Didn't really check out views, so this one really snuck up.

Some of the reactions are up there as well. Honestly, they might hit 1 mil too.

Paches · Jan 8, 2019

What it essentially is is investigative reporting, which takes a long ass time when you are juggling other projects/responsibilities. Sure they could come faster if he dedicated more time to it, but I don't think you can just crank out a couple a month by just dropped Friend Code. I view them as special treats, all of them have been really good.

LycanXIII · Jan 8, 2019

I feel like he should work on multiple Game Sleuths at one time, that way when he's waiting on a response from one, another is being worked on.

Xenoboy · Jan 8, 2019

I think Damiani doing retros is cannibalizing on the Sleuth output. But that's just my speculation.

Budi · Jan 8, 2019

Wiggy said:
Congrats to damiani, game sleuth ep 1 is now over 1m views! The first EZA video to hit this mark.

Wow impressive, grats Damiani and EZA!

y2kyle89 · Jan 8, 2019

Is Ticket to Ride considered a lesser Beatles tune? I kept expecting someone to reference it during Frametrap but it never happened.

klastical · Jan 8, 2019

Urbannomad123 said:
I don't follow your logic that dropping Friend Code will help Damiani to do more Game Sleuths. The time investment for both are no way near comparable. Damiani spends way more time doing reviews and, I believe, is currently working on a retro. Besides Damiani enjoys hosting Friend Code and many (including myself) enjoy watching/listening. It has been cool to see Damiani develop himself in the role to the point where he is now a pretty good podcast host.

I'm not saying that the time investment is comparable at all. I imagine damiani spends atleast 1 hour prep time on an episode of friend code, roughly one hour recording and atleast an hour on editing it. So that's six hours a month he could be working on game sleuths. As others have said if its waiting for correspondences that is slowing down the project then he should probably be working on multiple episodes at once.

I also like damiani hosting friend code, it just seems like the easiest thing to cut in favor of something that actually reaches outside of the core EZA audience. I feel the same way about dont skips, I like them but they are so sporstic that I feel like the effort could be better spent elsewhere.

Gaming_Groove · Jan 8, 2019

I doubt if Friend Code takes more than 5% of Damiani's working time per month, so I don't see it having any significant effect on his other output one way or another.

MrMette · Jan 8, 2019

I don't think it would be a good thing to force or push something like Game Sleuth (however you do it). Things like that take time if you want to do it correctly and I don't think trying to cut corners to get them out as fast as possible is the way to go.

Let it cook.

weebro · Jan 8, 2019

stan_marsh said:
That was a rough Easy Update for me, just got around to seeing it.

Opinions though. I can separate the hype and game no problem.
Kyle's line implying people are forcing themselves to love and praise games? lol

They seemed bugged if a game they don't like gets hype or much praise. I don't know just venting a bit, I'm over it.

I'm really bad at expressing what's in my head so sorry.

They're both really contrarian in their own ways. Its not even trying to nitpick something thats popular, they just outright dismiss it. Kind of a good thing neither of them do reviews. Didn't they also say 2018 only had 4 good games.

Paches · Jan 8, 2019

Hottake is amazing this week. I almost lost it at work when Huber exclaims "When you rip the arrow out of your shoulder, you will feel the pain.".

klastical · Jan 8, 2019

I'm obviously the minority in this so I'll leave things be after this post but Jones said on cup of Jones that the goal is to have 4 games slueths a year and one new retro. In 2018 we got 3 slueths and no new retro series soo... they are receiving money to complete those shows so it's not unreasonable to expect them with some amount of consistancy.

abrack · Jan 8, 2019

klastical said:
I'm obviously the minority in this so I'll leave things be after this post but Jones said on cup of Jones that the goal is to have 4 games slueths a year and one new retro. In 2018 we got 3 slueths and no new retro series soo... they are receiving money to complete those shows so it's not unreasonable to expect them with some amount of consistancy.

Personally speaking, I'm not bothered by the infrequency of retros and sleuths because those aren't at all the reasons why I love EZA and don't mind giving them money. They're just cool bonuses to me. But I know these are important to other people (a friend of mine eventually canceled his patreon pledge because all he really cared about were retros) and I don't think you're being unreasonable. I think this would be a good question to ask in Cup of Jones, especially if you know which episode he said that in or what his exact wording was. Because if you don't ask it now (in presumably a reasonable/respectful way), someone else will in a month or two and they'll probably be rude as hell, haha.

Hasney · Jan 8, 2019

Yeah, it's not unreasonable to expect more from those two specific shows. I don't think cancelling shows is going to change things though, just need to either change the scope of them or try and help Brandon's editing and VO workload.

Ben's voice over for that Don't Skip was great and I'd love to hear him do more. I honestly wouldn't mind Ben and Huber voicing their own reviews. Content creators are more personality based now than when GT launched and I think hearing reviewers speak their own words rather than go through the Jones voice of the editorial could be a big win to make the reviews more personal while freeing Jones time up.

weebro · Jan 8, 2019

abrack said:
Personally speaking, I'm not bothered by the infrequency of retros and sleuths because those aren't at all the reasons why I love EZA and don't mind giving them money. They're just cool bonuses to me. But I know these are important to other people (a friend of mine eventually canceled his patreon pledge because all he really cared about were retros) and I don't think you're being unreasonable. I think this would be a good question to ask in Cup of Jones, especially if you know which episode he said that in or what his exact wording was. Because if you don't ask it now (in presumably a reasonable/respectful way), someone else will in a month or two and they'll probably be rude as hell, haha.

Sometimes I wonder why Jones has to constantly field all these questions, especially projects he isn't directly involved in. They have a flat hierarchy where no one really answers to anyone yet Jones always has to answer stuff about what other Allies are up to. I guess we can't expect a Cup of Jones style show from every ally.

Aadiboy · Jan 8, 2019

So 2019 predictions stream tonight, 2018 award mediations next week, and Hall of Greats two weeks from now, in addition to the move to a studio happening sometime this month? Pretty good start to 2019, maybe we can get some goals on Patreon unlocked.

sora87 · Jan 8, 2019

klastical said:
I'm obviously the minority in this so I'll leave things be after this post but Jones said on cup of Jones that the goal is to have 4 games slueths a year and one new retro. In 2018 we got 3 slueths and no new retro series soo... they are receiving money to complete those shows so it's not unreasonable to expect them with some amount of consistancy.

Nah you're right imo. I know people will say they care about other stuff more, i do too, but game sleuths and retros is what will bring in new eyes on eza, new subs and hopefully new patreons. They're evergreen content, highly produced content and interesting to anyone looking for video game content just passing by. I don't think getting rid of other shows would help with these really though, they just need to better organise them. Having damiani on both a retro and game sleuths probably hurt both. I know it's a lot of waiting around for game sleuths, but i do feel they'd be done a little quicker if he was solely focused on that and friend code. I dunno, i want EZA to keep growing further and further and with the new studio they'll hopefully have more eyes on them. Having that kind of produced content at a steady rate along side the podcasts and reviews will hopefully keep even more people around for longer and subbed to the channel.

issa · Jan 8, 2019

Ian's

Aadiboy said:
Tbh, if EZA should learn from anyone it's probably Giant Bomb. I would really like the EZA equivalent of Metal Gear Scanlon or Breaking Brad. Heck, even All Systems Goku is an example of the type of episodic content I want from EZA. It's a shame that all Let's Play content from EZA is relegated to solo streams. Full-Playthrough Fridays is getting there, but from what I've seen of those videos from the GT days, they try to beat the games in as few sittings as possible, and they have the feel of a live stream more than a pre-recorded show.

I would just like a weekly show with two or three allies playing through a game series that one of them has never played through before. It would last as long at it needs to last to beat the game/series, with 1-2 hour episodes.

Just to make it clear, I only really think EZA should learn from Giant Bomb's ability to make great episodic Let's Plays, I think they kill it everywhere else. Prepare to Try from IGN is another good example of what I'm looking for from EZA.

They did it with their own twist in Brandon Plays Pokemon. It's the thing that made me follow them. It had jolly vibes and minimal but unique editing. I probably liked it more than I would've liked a let's play. Obviously it's not gonna work with every game, heck BSKM didn't work.

As for having let's plays, I think they need to have shows where they play games rather than let's plays specifically. There are at least 4 pilots in Easy Update episodes, if only there was a totally pointless thing they could cancel to have Ian work on those shows!

As for the Giant Bomb part, they should more importantly learn from them how to minimize the post processing time. As long as you have a switcher you could do a lot of things in real time.

Easy Allies |OT2| Love & Reset

Unshakable Resolve

One Winged Slayer

One Winged Slayer

One Winged Slayer

Unshakable Resolve

One Winged Slayer