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Community Showcase Submissions - December 2018 (Patreon)

Published:
2018-11-29 09:08:43
Imported:
2026-06

Content

This is it! The end of the year. For some it's just another month, but it always makes me look back and get excited to talk about our favorite memories in games and elsewhere. As we move into the holidays, I'm grateful to be able to hear from all of you each month, and enjoy your various inspirations live. I was a little scattered last week, and missed a few Patrons. Feel free to submit an additional post if we skipped you, and I'll work to get better at organizing everything.

Ben Moore joins me next Thursday, December 6th, following Cup of Jones and before our reactions to The Game Awards. Join the festivities!

- Brandon

Comments

Desquick

Maybe this will get in. I am sorry i couldnt do a Lunarvalen Academy post for Ben. Ben you know i loveya. Been pretty busy. Got a new job now and still a full time student. Also Jones will like this. I am in a health class and have required gym hours. So i have been going to the gym consistently for a month. I am feeling good and healthier. Seeing definition in my arm muscles and able to be on the bike for increasing amounts of time. I am almost done with the quarter and since I've work at a school I will ha e a few weeks off for the holidays. I am happy to be working at a well paying job because it will allow me to go back to see my girlfriend in the Philippines in February. She will be taking her board exams for her Physical Therapy License. Can't wait. As for games been working on school more than gaming but I want to get back to Red Dead real bad. God of War is GOTY. I have also been keepi,g up with anime of course. I have over 10 this season but my favorite has to be Run With the Wind a college track and field anime. The animation and character development are fanatastic. Much love Cisco

Sara Knite

Seasons greetings Jones and Ben!! Zephyr Moon here! Aside from Ben, remember last month when I announced that I am now developing a webcomic based on an old idea that I had? Well, after cringing at my old notes and character dialogues, I basically have now started to rewrite the story that’s much more fitting to my style and a little more relevant. So here I introduce the main protagonist of my webcomic who coincidentally shares the same name as the best pupper in the world, Sophie. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxAA0phAhCSu07jBQbnjM9dazxx9miW7/view?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxAA0phAhCSu07jBQbnjM9dazxx9miW7/view?usp=sharing</a> I created the character way back in 2012 and she has undergone many changes since then. Namely on how hollow of a character she was back then to somebody who is a little more well rounded and looking to better herself. And while I’m at it, I thought it would be fun if I drew Ben in the style of my webcomic. Hope you like it, Ben! <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/13dzfGtPiFm7F-qlJheZI80dmJ7gVhjci/view?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/d/13dzfGtPiFm7F-qlJheZI80dmJ7gVhjci/view?usp=sharing</a> Also, since the holidays are coming up, I thought I’d share a holiday tradition of having assembled a gingerbread house. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/17uurnlFri5NcwiaBSR2NlxjOYGNTGEMN/view?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/d/17uurnlFri5NcwiaBSR2NlxjOYGNTGEMN/view?usp=sharing</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mY2CShyz9-MA2jN-ccS4cyBHfdHxBcU9/view?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mY2CShyz9-MA2jN-ccS4cyBHfdHxBcU9/view?usp=sharing</a> Happy Holidays Allies and many heartfelt congrats on acquiring the studio! Love and Respect. Zephyr Moon P.S. Dragon Quest XI is my GOTY.

Alexander Zyryanov

Hello, allies. As some of you may know, I’m making Russian and English subtitles for Easy Allies reviews. I’ve started doing them back in June, but I never liked the idea that subtitles just suddenly appears on review #127, so in September I’ve decided to make subtitles for every Easy Allies review. I knew that subtitles for old reviews aren’t in high demand, but I just wanted to bring harmony to the playlist. Besides, I thought it would be a nice gift to Easy Allies 3rd anniversary. Turned out, I can make subtitles much faster than I’ve expected so instead of 5 month it was done in 2, which is great, since this month’s panel has my favorite writer Ben (Blood in chat is a close second) and my favorite video editor Brandon. I know that making subtitles can be intimidating, and it can take a lot of time, if you not sure where to begin. So I prepared a video to show you my method. Besides my commentary, you’ll see the entire process of creating Russian and English subtitles for Astro Bot Rescue Mission. Of course I have to use intense time-lapse to fit 90-minute video into 3 minutes, but my Patreon post also has a link to full unedited capture if you want to see something in details. A timer in the top-left corner will help you to find the same moment in unedited version, and it will also show you, how much time each step takes. 3-minutes video: <a href="https://youtu.be/5UzppMBqbB0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/5UzppMBqbB0</a> Full video: <a href="https://youtu.be/WdQFbgP7FWM" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/WdQFbgP7FWM</a>

Alexander Zyryanov

(Duplicate post in case first one will be deleted) Hello, allies. As some of you may know, I’m making Russian and English subtitles for Easy Allies reviews. I’ve started doing them back in June, but I never liked the idea that subtitles just suddenly appears on review #127, so in September I’ve decided to make subtitles for every Easy Allies review. I knew that subtitles for old reviews aren’t in high demand, but I just wanted to bring harmony to the playlist. Besides, I thought it would be a nice gift to Easy Allies 3rd anniversary. Turned out, I can make subtitles much faster than I’ve expected so instead of 5 month it was done in 2, which is great, since this month’s panel has my favorite writer Ben (Blood in chat is a close second) and my favorite video editor Brandon. I know that making subtitles can be intimidating, and it can take a lot of time, if you not sure where to begin. So I prepared a video to show you my method. Besides my commentary, you’ll see the entire process of creating Russian and English subtitles for Astro Bot Rescue Mission. Of course I have to use intense time-lapse to fit 90-minute video into 3 minutes, but my Patreon post also has a link to full unedited capture if you want to see something in details. A timer in the top-left corner will help you to find the same moment in unedited version, and it will also show you, how much time each step takes. 3-minutes video: <a href="https://youtu.be/5UzppMBqbB0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/5UzppMBqbB0</a> Full video: <a href="https://youtu.be/WdQFbgP7FWM" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/WdQFbgP7FWM</a>

Kit Snow

Hi Jones and Ben! Narnia's always been one of my favourite things, in the world. My dream is to get some exploration of the Golden Age of Narnia where the Pevensie siblings are Kings and Queens, so I went ahead and drew what I (loosely) imagined what they would look like! <a href="https://imgur.com/a/WtxjR7T" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/WtxjR7T</a>

Master Pantz

Hey, I hear you guys like cats? Here is a video from 2012 of my cat named Samurai -- stealing my money!! He passed away a couple years back, but is still fondly remembered &lt;3. Just wanted to share this funny video of him with you all and hopefully break 100 views :D (currently at 97). Keep up the good work with EasyAllies. Shoutouts to Moof! Video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z0KF4nw1eE" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z0KF4nw1eE</a>

BeardedScotsman86

Hey Brandon and Ben, Last month I tried to share these pictures, but they were missed, so sharing again. Snippet of my comment to go along with the pictures: "I took part in a 5th anniversary celebration for a Trophy website I use, www.truetrophies.com The challenge put forth was to earn a trophy with the name starting with each letter to spell out "Happy Birthday True Trophies". I earned the 25 trophies in just under 2 days of play time to complete it in 5th place. True Trophies has an interesting concept for trophies. It calculates the amount of users that have a trophy versus how many have played the game and gives a "true" score for the trophy, rather than just the base value." This month I made more progress in WoW and Overwatch and also picked up the platinum in Crash Bandicoot 2. Also with the help of a youtube video, I learnt to complete a Rubix cube from any combination. It is actually surprisingly easy to learn the technique. For the rest of my post, I thought I would go into some information on my trophy hunting. I have a google sheet that I use to track lots of different information. Firstly I track my current progress. This is games I still have trophies to obtain from. I use conditional formatting for each of the coloured backgrounds. The game names change depending on if it has a platinum (blue), or if I haven't obtained any trophies (red). I also colour the backgrounds of the remaining trophies depending on how many trophies I have unlocked. The darker it gets, the closer to being finished. The second page I will share is my completion list. A game goes here once I haven't got all the trophies. Potentially this excludes DLC if I don't own it yet, or don't plan to get it. The final page is my stats. This is calculations based on multiple pages to work out where I am, and how much more I have to go. I am aware that there are websites I can use to track this already, but I found it helped keep me focused on getting through some games. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/IossG3L" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/IossG3L</a> Love and respect, BeardedScotsman86

Jason A. Sackel

I played quite a few games in November. I played the new Spider-Man DLC. Yup, it was more of the same. I did get a new bug though! After completing a mission, I headed to the next mission right after and a message popped up said "You are leaving the mission." Can't wait to see what kooky thing I find next month! I'm really loving Tetris Effect. This has easily been my favorite game this year. The ambience of it is just so divine. I have easily gotten sucked into the rabbit hole of "Maybe just one more game..." many times over. PSVR for it is such a treat as well. I also played the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Again, never owned the original PlayStation, so this was all new to me. I think the quality of the games decreased as they went on. I remember my initial reaction after starting the second game was that they were starting to overstuff and oh, boy, these new characters are dreadfully irritating. The third game had some parts that were far from fun. The controls for some of the gimmicks in the latter two games definitely didn't age well. In the end, the first game was fun. Second was passable. Third was... I'm just glad to never have to do any of that skateboarding garbage again. Finally, I played Yakuza: Kiwami. I always really wanted to get into this franchise and Kiwami being free on PS Plus was a great opportunity to hop in. I really wanted to love this game. Oh man, the pace was horrible at times. I'll use this early mission as an example. I had to get a ring. Went to the shop and bought it. Got pickpocketed. Chased him. He runs off. Chased him again, ran again. One more time. He already magically pawned it, so went to that shop. Had to get more money. Got more money, went back. Upped the price. Got more money and went back. Price was bumped again. Got more money. Owner realized my character was telling the truth and gave the ring back rendering the prior steps just a complete waste of time. That is sadly what a good portion of the game is. A complete waste of time. I have been told that a lot of the charm comes from the minigames, but when the main story is usually trying to rescue someone or presented in something urgent, it feels disconnected from what the character would do. I thought back to Shenmue. Even though there was an urgency to the plot and you can ultimately fail the game with a "bad ending" if too much time passes, Shenmue has events requiring you to go somewhere the next day or at a later time, allowing you to have reason to spend that time on less trivial tasks. After finishing the story for Kiwami, I had no real desire to go back. An aside. Changed my PSN name. No issues experienced so far.

Eric Jackson

Hey Allies, unfortunately due to the fact that my father is in the hospital this week has left me unable to commit to my personal goal of guest art and the follow-up promise of Jones art from last month. Instead I'll leave for the community a juggling video I made in honor of a friend when I was living in Kansas City, MO, where I basically tried to cram as many filters and effects as Premier Pro would allow before my computer caught fire. I make a personal promise that Jones will get some art next month as a late Christmas gift, and Ben should expect some fan-art to his twitter feed within a similar time-frame. Thanks as always to the wonderful community for their support and the Allies for their ceaseless devotion to the righteous cause, and cast our eyes onto the brighter tomorrow. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOB0k_W3RD0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOB0k_W3RD0</a> (There probably shouldn't be any concern over copyrighted music, but if there is you can simply mute my track and play something overtop if that's acceptable. Also, it does run long so of course just cut it short.)

Megan Linart

Hey Brandon and Ben how has this month been treating you guys? For this month I have been really getting into photomode in games so I wanted to attach some of my favorites I took this year hope you enjoy! Please keep in mind these are not the best quality due my reuploads but feel free to critique them all you like! <a href="https://twitter.com/MadamGojira64/status/1058120887642308608" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/MadamGojira64/status/1058120887642308608</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MadamGojira64/status/1067242138553995265" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/MadamGojira64/status/1067242138553995265</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MadamGojira64/status/1058886272499044352" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/MadamGojira64/status/1058886272499044352</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MadamGojira64/status/1053096730194075648" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/MadamGojira64/status/1053096730194075648</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BpHQyDNgIQi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/p/BpHQyDNgIQi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link</a> Words can not express how much you guys make make me laugh and smile, all of your shows especially Box Peek leave me with so much joy. I just want to thank you for all of the hard work you guys do! Keep being awesome and have a Safe and Happy holiday! Ps. Ben I think Wolf’s rain is an anime you would really enjoy. It’s pretty old but still amazing! Also just did my first ever livestream on twitch and it was terrifying but exhilarating any tips for a new streamer?

Megan Linart
>>17558981

Also im trying this from twitter this time because the better quality images are there please let me know if you have and issue saving them. Feel free to DM me

Anonymous

Hello Brandon and Ben! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I’ve been a Patreon for quite a few months and participated in the Q&amp;A, but this is my first time writing in for this. I was the one that recently asked about metal music and appreciated the mention of Dream Theater, since they are my favorite band. Here’s a quick story of how I got into them, and really metal in general, thanks to gaming. Rock Band 2 featured their song, Panic Attack, which really sparked my love of them, and all music. I’ve seen them at least 1-2 times on every tour since then, have done multiple meet&amp;greets, etc. I’m definitely a superfan! The reason I mention all of this is that they recently announced their tour dates for their upcoming album, and for the first time in many years, they aren’t playing within 6 hours driving distance of where I live in Ohio. I’ve not set any plans in stone, but I’m genuinely considering flying to LA, a city, state, and side of the country I’ve never been to, to see them play two nights in a row at the Wiltern on March 21 and 22. Coincidentally, the very next day, is the Easy Allies 3 year event. I have no idea if I’ll end up coming, but it’d be a great excuse to fly to California to see you guys in person, as you are the first and only Youtuber/Twitch group I follow. Your genuine and heartfelt friendship and warmth is something that I hope we all strive for, and I know I’ve learned a life lesson or two watching. Hoping to see/meet you eventually - L&amp;R, Tyler

Anonymous

Devil May Cry 2 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. Let’s break down its greatness mission by mission. Mission 1: This opening environment is huge, sprawling, and open-aired. Much better than Portal 1’s cramped corridors and testing rooms, though not quite as good as Inside’s closing “Day at the beach” level. Talk about an open world! The combat is reminiscient of that part in The Witness where you are on a boat and then you are in the air (spoiler) and your windshield gets splattered with flies and gnats. The camera got carried over from dmc1, which is good because its the only thing I liked about that game. Speaking of dmc1, what kind of a messed up game design makes the act of trouncing foes fun, and even rewarding? As Matthewmatosis (dmc2’s director) points out in his 2 hour Devil May Cry Commentary YT video: “‘Tisn’t right to delight in a fight”. Battle should be serious, heavy, repetitive, and miserable, which is what dmc2 accomplishes in its opening minutes. In conclusion, case closed.

Steven Beaumont

Hey Jones and Ben, Not too much to update this month from me. I finished pokemon lets go Pikachu and collected 5 new shinies - slowbro being my favourite, I am almost finished Red Dead and actually have your spoiler mode to thank for pushing me through. I had started to spin my wheels a bit in chapter 4 so I felt I would watch your spoiler mode (spoilers don't ruin great things from being great) - in case I gave up on the game. Now I am 75% through the story progress so the things are all happening and I absolutely love Arthur Morgan. As someone who was so worried about his character portrayal in the ads (faking us out with Dutch's lines seeming to come from him) I have no doubt that he is in the top 5 or 10 of video game protagonists. Looking to the game awards let us put our hands together and ask the video game gods for our first trailer/gameplay of Metroid Prime 4 maybe even set after the events of Fusion please.... Two final notes for Ben to Champion. Can we have a Jolliest GOTY category for the EZA awards. My Picks would be amongst 'Kirby Star Allies', 'Dragon Quest XI' and 'Pokemon Lets Go'. Also due to the unfortunate nature of time and games not being release in a vaccuum can we please give 'Hollow Knight' an award. Lets make it 'Metroidvania of the Decade' and call it a day. Love and utmost Respect. P.S. not hyped on the money grind of rdr2 online....skip

Phazonmasher

Hey Ben and Jones, After taking a break from games to get caught up on anime and gunpla last month, I'm back into the video game scene. I've been asked to be on a video game music podcast to discuss one of my favorite game soundtracks, and I figured it was a perfect time to revisit a title that just so happens to be one of my favorite JRPGs and open world games of all time - Xenoblade X. Xenoblade X is a divisive game in nearly every category, from its core structure to its visuals and especially its music. It's my favorite in all of these categories and I'll get into it all now! First, I love the structure of Xenoblade X. It does have a very intentional MMO feel to it with the story being doled out through missions accepted from either a central hub or icons throughout the map. The lack of traditional narrative progression does feel a little stilted, but I really grew to like it as it was easier to pick back up after an absence. I knew exactly where to go to continue the story which isn’t always the case in more traditional games. Speaking of the story, Xenoblade X has one of my favorite plots from Monolith Soft. I've already spoken at length earlier this year about my initial playthrough of Xenosage Eps. 1 through 3. Playing those games have allowed me to appreciate the story in X all the more as they share a lot in common, and the ideas present between Saga and X help to further connect the Saga and Blade games in my mind. I know people really trash on the character models in X, but I kind of like the weird HD-era Xenosaga-esque anime doll faces. They're nowhere near as charming as the characters in Xenoblade 2, but it's definitely something I have a fondness for. Nobody can deny the visual design of the world is bad, however, as Xenoblade X has one of the most gorgeous open world in games. Every environment is distinct with strange and fantastical flora and fauna that are ripped straight out of a 1980s sci-fi manga. I normally hate most open world games because of how samey most environments feel, but I feel like I never see the same thing twice in X. And finally, we get to the music. I think Hiroyuki Sawano's score is fascinating because he didn’t write a traditional game score. He's a television and film composer, and he wrote a score more suited to those mediums. It’s easy to see why it could rub people the wrong way though either through his abrasive electronic/orchestral style or how the music is sliced apart to fit within the game. It also didn’t help that the audio mixing is real bad during cutscenes. All that being said, I adore Sawano’s work, and I can’t wait to go to bat for it in a few weeks. I would love to write more, but I'm probably already over the limit. Apologies! I just wanted to gush over how much I love a stupid video game for a stupid console where neither got the chance to receive the love they deserved. P.S. I also just wanted to thank Ben for the Xenoblade X love during last year's Opinion Yell. I know he doesn't have a lot of love for it, but it meant a lot to me to see him sticking up for it. L&amp;R

César Villa

Hello Ben &amp; Brandon! First a disclaimer. DECEMBER IS A MONTH, DAMN IT! It has 31 days! It has 4 weeks and a half just like every other month! I refuse to talk about game of the year until the year is actually done. Took that out of my system, now on with the show. Last time Ben was there I told you what I was doing on new years eve 2008. Can you guess what I did in new year's day? ... Of course you can't, that was so unfair; I'm sorry, I just wanted to giggle a little at your expense. New years eve I beat Final Fantasy IV (remember the Palom &amp; Porom story?) so new years day I got started in FFVI. I had played this game back in 1998 when I was 16 years old and, this may be unsettling to you, Jones, but I didn't feel it. I borrowed it from a friend in high school, got to the end of the world by just going thru the motion and basically only enjoying the music; but I didn't beat it; just didn't felt like it. I specifically remember thinking at some point “what's with all this drama? This is JUST a video game!”. Now, in 2008 I turned 26 while playing it, and it was a completely different experience. You can say from the Palom &amp; Porom story that I got a lot more sensitized to video game characters. I think I needed to grow up more to fully grasp and get how far ahead of the curve this game was. Just little things like having credits roll at the beginning with Terra, Biggs &amp; Wedge approaching Narshe while the main theme plays was something new in the medium. I don't think I can praise the game any more than you already have; acknowledging it as one of the greats; so I'll just say thank you Jones for making me pick it up again (and the whole series) after watching how much love you poured into it thru the fantastic Retrospective. And as a foot note, a friend from work took a trip to Japan this November, and in his return he brought back with him the FFVI OST, for me. Poor CD player hadn't been used in over a year, but that evening I walked to Narshe, got underground in Figaro, took a hike in the phantom forest, saw Edgar choose his freedom after Sabin tricked him with his rigged coin, searched for friends with Celes and beat Kefka once again in my mind as every track played. It has been made pretty obvious in my running theme in the Q&amp;As that I love video game music, but few composers can top Nobuo Uematsu's work. Thank God for him and his creativity. Love &amp; Respect. César.

Karl Williams

Hey Brandon and Ben, Pokémon Anime thoughts Part 3. All about the characters. Let’s begin. 1. Team Rocket are still the best characters, but they have a few faults. Their new motto sucks. Jessie got stuck with two lousy Pokémon. Seviper is absolute trash and Dustox is completely useless. Mime Jr is adorable but seeing Chimecho leave the party so soon hurts. And while I appreciate that they are still the primary antagonists, I really wanted to see more of Team Magma and Team Aqua in the Hoenn region since I hardly know anything about them. Ash is still trash. Can Brock PLEASE do something in Sinnoh other than falling for girls, cooking and commentating on gym/league battles? 2. I didn’t think it was possible to find someone I loathe more than Ash. But the show proved me wrong. I’m of course talking about May. “The truth is, I don’t like Pokémon” IS NOT a good first impression. All she did was make me think she’s the Female Ash, only much worse. Doesn’t know jack about Pokémon and must rely on plot armor to help her win Pokémon contests. Seeing Nurse Joy rightfully scold May for overworking her Bulbasaur in a Pokémon contest brought a huge grin to my face. To Dawn and all the other female companions that follow: PLEASE DO NOT BE LIKE MAY. 3. As for Max, May’s younger brother, I liked him a lot. Unlike May, he knows his Pokémon…some of the time. He can sometimes provide savage commentary to both Ash and May which they deserve. And with Misty gone, it’s his job to c-block “Brock the Rock”. His behavior after his dad losing a gym battle to Ash was not a good look, nor was thinking Tracey was awesome (Tracey will never be awesome). But whatever, I ended up liking him more than May. Shame he’ll never keep that promise to Ralts and be its Pokémon trainer, all because Ash will never age because he’ll never become a Pokémon master. That infinite loser. 4. Hoenn rival takeaways: May sucks, but she got the better rivals. Drew can be smug at times, but he can be humble too. Harley is a grade-A prick and he’s great. He will do anything to sabotage May in the Pokémon contests. And can’t knock him with his sense of fashion. Wear an outfit that sort of resembles one of your Pokémon? GENIUS. And seeing him cosplay as May at one point was hilarious. I wish I could share the same enthusiasm for Ash’s rival(s). Tyson, the Hoenn league champ, should have been Ash’s main rival. Instead, we’re stuck with that piece of shit Morrison. This chump thinks he’s Ash’s equal, but when the time comes to finally face Ash in the tournament, what does this clown do? He freezes up like a little bitch in his match, nearly to the point to of losing via forfeit. Can’t believe Ash bailed him out and let the match continue. If Ash had lost, I would have just hated him even more than I already do. Morrison had no place of even existing to begin with. That’s how much I hated his guts. Once again, I’ve hit the limit. Next month’s lengthy comment on the show will be the last one….hopefully.

Brandon K Gann

As I alluded to last month, this is part two of two in celebrating great people via Easy Allies. Last month were the Allies themselves always being a guaranteed source of jolly vibes, but for this month, I want to focus on those who I’ve interacted with or shared in being a part of a stream or video. So naturally, I want to start by showcasing… well, this very Showcase! I want to say it’s a lot of fun to hear everyone’s thoughts about their previous month, opinions on different games, or even their stories and memories about a moment where gaming did good for them. To all of those who submit artwork, compose music, make videos, capture fantastic photos, and share in your creativity however you see fit, you are incredibly talented, and I hope you never give up in continuing to create and share. It is an absolute delight to just be a part of the same stream as listening to what “Love and Respect” sounds like on the high seas or as an RPG fight, watching an update on a video game being made, or going on a world tour to lands I’m not sure I’ll ever visit. While I contribute every month to the Showcase with a comment, the bulk of my interactions are in the forums, and it’s there I really want to express my gratitude. Being a part of various threads and conversations is a really good time, be it topical chats like our thoughts on the Game Awards or discussing the latest episode in a given show. But my favorite threads are when we come together for fun things like games or countdowns. For example, being a part of threads where we came up with Top 100 games of all time, GOTY threads (not only in the present year, but past ones as well), and determining what the top 50 characters were are my absolute favorite times being on the forums. There are also times when I start some ideas and they take on a life of their own. Like when I try to start the E3 threads for each conference about a week prior, so everyone can give their thoughts, predictions, hopes, dreams, reactions, and analysis. Or when I ran the Kill Your Babies (and a fun subset called Selective Creation) threads for a year covering practically every topic you can imagine. Currently, the only thing I’m curating is the forums’ Master Desire Index, and at one point, the list was 120 plus games strong, and has slowly dwindled to under 100. Of course, all of that wouldn’t have meant anything without all those who contributed in every one of those instances, so once again, a heartfelt thank you for being a part of a place that, in my personal experience, has always been welcoming and engaging. If you’ve never been a part of the forums and/or are interested, all are welcome, and I hope to see you there!

Anonymous

Hello again Allies! Hope my comment prints correctly this time! Good thing Ben is here for this showcase because I really wanted to discuss fighting games! I recently purchased a fightstick and have been enjoying games such as Marvel vs Capcom 2, the SNK NeoGeo fighting games for switch and many others. I was wondering if you all are considering having more fighting game representation for streams/group streams or maybe even a show similar to Giant Bomb’s Ranking of Fighters or even Fancy Fifteen (I believe fighting games would really benefit from the structure of that series). I know that the genre isn’t among the favorites for the Allies besides Ben, but those games create objectively the best streams. The Last Blade 2 stream especially will go down in history as one of the greatest streams EZA has ever produced. I would definitely recommend the Allies play Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, and Darkstalkers Resurrection for a group stream. It would be incredibly hype to see Huber, Brad, and Ian play Darkstalkers since that game’s gothic and supernatural style is right up their alley. They wouldn’t even have to be tournament streams. Most of the time it’s more enjoyable to see you guys mess around with characters and the game as a whole similar to the Injustice 2 stream rather than seeing the chaos ensue when Kyle holds a strict adherence to tournament rules by not being able to pick other characters during the Marvel vs. Capcom infinite tournament. Also I was wondering what are the chances you’d have Maximilian and Yovideogames as guests for a group stream? I have seen Damiani on some of their content as well as Simmons on Damiani’s Friend Code podcast. I am aware that not everything that’s ideal can happen or pan out but it would just make for some real jolly vibes. Much love and much respect!

Joseph Caruso

Good day Mr. Jones and Mr. Moore. I just finally got to experience Playstation VR last night and I wanted to share my impression as an early adopter of the virtual reality headsets on PC, the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. I was so excited for VR three plus years ago that the upcoming hardware was the main reason I decided to get into PC gaming. While I've had plenty of truly magical moments on both my Rift and Vive, I have to say that I'm overall disappointed that the success and support of modern virtual reality seems to have more or less remained stagnant since it's launch in 2016 - most VR titles are still relatively low-budget and I end up playing only a few hours a month at best, regardless of the incremental improvements to the hardware itself. I've been waiting to play Resident Evil 7 in VR for years now, and there is still no VR support for that title on PC, so I finally caved and got myself a THIRD virtual reality headset since the bundle with Astro Bot was on sale, and I kept hearing how good that particular title is. Setting up the PSVR was about as easy as I expected, and while the Vive and Rift aren't exactly uncomfortable to me, Sony's headset is comfortable in its own unique way, being lightweight and applying pressure to less sensitive parts of your head. Since I use a powerful PC, the virtual reality on the PS4 Pro is not as high fidelity as most titles on my computer, but it's certainly not a night&amp;day difference, I assure you. I've only played the first few levels of Astro Bot but, it's done an excellent job reminding me that software is way more important than hardware. I've even played similar 3D platformers in VR before, such as Lucky's Tale, but this game is polished and absorbing on another level. It's depressing that modern VR still feels so niche and limited in scope, despite the technology being so impressive, but games like Astro Bot help me accept that it's okay if VR never reaches the heights of the rest of the industry, as long as these titles keep getting better and continue to make our jaws drop every once in a while. What I'm trying to say is, if you have a Playstation 4, get a PSVR. You may not be playing the next Naughty Dog title on it, but you'll be blown away in ways you weren't expecting.

Dan Allen

Hello Allies. Keeping it brief. THIS MONTH The Shenmue EZA DUB Project continues. First off, a big Thank You to Jones and Bosman for going above and beyond last month in reading their lines. Amazing to say the least. Also, Kyle was very right in that this is going to take a very long time. Even with me only planning on Dubbing the opening to this game. Getting as many allies in as I can. (Don probably not a possibility) With that being said, I thought it’d be fun to, in the meantime, put out an official (but silly) trailer for the ol boy. So, here is the Official preview of the Unofficial Shenmue EZA DUB. *There is also a shorter teaser I tweeted to Jones* Also (I hate to double dip) if Ben could say “Lan-Di Sama, We found it” That’d be great. Just for reasons. The Trailer <a href="https://youtu.be/FzqHo_T9IBg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/FzqHo_T9IBg</a> The SHENMUE EZA DUB PROJECT PLAYLIST <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUB1yG1v554&amp;list=PLUUk-a7SquQ9QGbcBGrs6JOIGDgFWLYbA" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUB1yG1v554&amp;list=PLUUk-a7SquQ9QGbcBGrs6JOIGDgFWLYbA</a> Happy Holidays All of the Love, All of the Respect Don’t Trust Santa Your Friend, Dan Allen Detroit, Michigan PS: Any line not recorded specifically for the Project is just a placeholder, and will not be in the final cut.

Anonymous

Hi Allies! I recently joined the $10 Patreon tier, and am very excited to be making my first submission for the showcase. Before I do that though, I just wanted to let you know that I love the work you guys do, and there's no other outlet or content creator I follow as obsessively as I follow you guys. The nine of you – collectively and individually – have a unique voice and charm that I don't think anyone else has, so just keep on doing what you do! Can't wait to see how EZA continues to grow in 2019. For my submission, I wanted to show you a trailer I put together not too long ago. A few months back, I started fiddling around with video editing, and found that I quiet liked it. I'm not great at it, and there's still a lot that I need to learn, but I've enjoyed being able to put together trailers for games that I love. I've only made four of these so far, but I personally enjoyed making one for The Last of Us more than any of the others. I wanted to know what you guys think about it, and though any input on how it could be made better is obviously not necessary, it will certainly be appreciated! Most importantly though, I just hope you enjoy it. L&amp;R! <a href="https://youtu.be/lLWDZ2dzoyI" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/lLWDZ2dzoyI</a>

Anonymous

Hi, Ben and Brandon! I’m here to review games based on the allies I’ve played for the first time. But I gotta keep this intro short. I can’t waste words, for Ben Moore is special! He gets not one… but TWO reviews! Both games he reviewed revolving around the theme “eleven”. (Jones feel free to read whatever game Ben guesses first) *MegaMan 11* MegaMan is a series I love dearly. And I was beyond joyous when I heard the news about MegaMan 11. And now that it’s out, I can say confidently that it is my new favorite game in the classic series. The running, jumping, and shooting is all standard affair. There’s not much to say on that front. But the new gear system was a genius addition. I was impressed by how the stages were really designed around them. I require them to be a standard for the series going forward. If there are complaints I have, it’s these two. For one, I’m a little bummed that there aren’t any secrets to find in the various stages. Careful observation rewarded you with an Energy Tank, but I felt like I was missing something playing every level. If only there were cool MegaMan 7 or 8 secrets to find. And my second criticism being the Wily Castle in this game was a little underwhelming. The first two stages were very fun and challenging, but the final two were barely an ordeal. But everything else really clicked with me. Welcome back, your Majesty. Long may you live in this new golden era. *Dragon Quest XI* After finishing this game, I went back to watch the review posted by Easy Allies. After giving it the full watch, I must say Ben, I’m a little disappointed. I try not to get hung up on scores, but really? A 9.0? … That’s too low. Dragon Quest XI is not only my favorite game in the series, not only one of my favorite RPGs of all time, but one of my favorite video games ever made. The battle system was easy to learn, easy to overcome, but entertaining every clash of the way. I loved all the characters. Sylvando is the best boy. Every town’s distinct visual flair and NPC dialect made me feel like I was globetrotting. The story was standard, but that’s not a bad thing at all. It just made the journey easy to pick up, and jolly the whole way through. Well most of the time, anyway. And without spoiling the ending, holy crap I did not know such series wide emotional payoffs were possible in a video game! And there isn’t any complaints I got hung up on. The Postgame can feel a bit too grindy, and I wish the music wasn’t MIDI instrumentation, but those are the only minor blemishes on this otherwise flawless gem. So happy to hang its Platinum trophy on my PSN shelf. Thanks for all you do allies! Love and Respect! -ChrisTheFields

POKEY CLYDE

Black Friday is a beautiful thing. When September came around I had the hard decision of getting Spiderman or Dragon Quest 11. I chose Spiderman (obvious game of the year), but thanks to Black Friday I not only got Dragon Quest 11, but I also decided to stack another 100 hours of JRPG onto my life with Persona 5. I still have to finish Red Dead Redemption 2, so it's gonna be a while until I get to these great games.

Alex_AI

Hi Ben, Hi Jones, How are you today? Hopefully fine. I am sure being in the business of video game journalism you have been asked a thousand times what your most favorite game or series is. It is probably not a stretch to assume that you may have even asked yourself this question more than once. Now I don’t know if you have a definitive answer for yourself but me… well over the years I have learned about myself that I enjoy so many genres and yet the SRPG (strategy role playing game) seems to be my favorite. For some reason I have way more stamina to play long sessions in this genre unlike others. However, despite there being so many great SRPGs the one series that I always gravitate towards and have beaten well over 7 titles twice in, is remarkably unknown outside of japan. I am referring to the super robot wars (SRW) games. For those who don’t know this series … imagine Fire emblem or Shining Force but instead of a medieval fantasy world you get a mash up of different worlds across all kinds of mecha anime like Gundam Wing, the Big O and Macross Plus, some series original mechs and many more. The games are not outstanding gameplay-wise, but they offer enough depth. To me personally it is just extremely addicting to watch all those mecha anime series being thrown together and seeing those extremely over the top battle animations as well as listening to the various arrangements of those animes themes and songs and hearing the passion of the voice actors screaming the attack names. It is usually around this time of the year that SRW enthusiasts like me get rewarded with an announcement for a new title in the series. This year is no exception as we actually got several titles revealed during a life stream, one of which was the new console title SRW T (T for Terra) for the PS4 and Switch. The fans have been rather lukewarm about the previous release but this one has me quite excited. Spoiler warning for the SRW Fans that don’t like to watch the reveal trailers that show all mecha anime participating in the upcoming title! We got “cowboy bebop” and “gun x sword” plus “captain Harlock” and “G Gundam” in this one! I am fully prepared for 2019! SRW T + Fire Emblem Three Houses aaaaand maybe more news on SMT 5 Switch. Hope you are ready for 2019 as well. L&amp;R Alex_AI. PS: for those who like to read the Community Showcase post afterwards. Here is the link to the SRW T Reveal Trailer in English: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZRlcM41Lcg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZRlcM41Lcg</a>

Nora Parón

Note to Reader: Please don’t use my name on patreon, it isn’t my name anymore! You can just call me greenbendy (twitter and twitch), she/her pronouns please. After listening in to some of the Box Peek Q&amp;A’s I suddenly remembered the Dino Crisis Diorama group stream, and realized that was probably Kyle’s motivation for creating Box Peek. So, instead of being inspired the normal way and creating a paper puppet show, I went ahead and made a diorama. At first I wasn’t sure what to make, but then I had the realization of video game levels. I could have a good amount of reference, but I could also make more in the future if I wanted. So I started creating my diorama: the Heliport on Shadow Moses Island. I hope you guys enjoy! It might take a while for my next project as this did take a while, but I’m also looking to send in some other stuff to the showcase since I just upped my pledge. (Note; the song at the end is a bit loud, don’t know how to change that so just keep it in mind) Happy Showcase! greenbendy P.S, let me know if there would be a problem with game footage/audio, I can make an imgur photoset and send it your way instead. L&amp;R <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaaznrfw9ew" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaaznrfw9ew</a>

Tokyo Slim

Last time I shared pictures, it was of a foggy camping trip. This time, It's a foggy park near my house and a foggy container ship and grain elevator near my house. Also, a non-fog related picture on the Seattle Highway 99 Viaduct, which is about to be closed and torn down/replaced with a tunnel - which is tangentially video game related because this specific part of it inspired one of the main locations in the game Beyond Two Souls, and this sign is visible in the game during the section where you're homeless. About a month and a half from now, this sign will be gone. L&amp;R <a href="http://oi65.tinypic.com/rj03yr.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://oi65.tinypic.com/rj03yr.jpg</a> <a href="http://oi66.tinypic.com/6t32td.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://oi66.tinypic.com/6t32td.jpg</a> <a href="http://oi66.tinypic.com/2yuimbr.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://oi66.tinypic.com/2yuimbr.jpg</a>

Anonymous

Hello Allies long time no comment, After finally adjusting to a new job and new hours I decided, after some thinking to get a Xbox One S and a year of gamepass. In doing so I'm finally getting a chance to try some games a shot that I've had my eye on for awhile. Finally getting to play anything Halo related past the first game, giving Gears of War a actual chance, and not the 15-20 spurts I'd given the games in the past, but the one game so far that has really, really sunk its fangs into me is Sunset Overdrive. This is a game I almost feel like I need to kick myself for not playing sooner. While the gunplay is basic, the traversal, the soundtrack, and the over the top presentation all combine into this near constant feeling of "just 5 more minutes " and honestly I wish Spider-Man had taken a few notes from Overdrives presentation. Speaking of which, Spider-Man is probably without a doubt my favorite game released this year, ahead of even the mighty God of War, although Red Dead Redemption 2 makes a really, really strong contender, honestly I'm kinda going back and forth between the two when trying to pick a Game of the Year contender. However with this airing just before the TGA's I'm gonna take my usual stab at predicting stuff starting with Avengers game update, with Avengers 4 trailer Harry Potter RPG officially announced Red Dead Redemption 2 somehow Winning best sports game, and best family game. Despite not being nominated for either category. Gameplay reveal of V, along with confirming Vergil and Sparda in the game. Beyond Good &amp; Evil 2 trailer Psychonauts 2 update, Summer release window Bayonetta 3 will have some collaboration with Lady Gaga, also first trailer. Metroid Prime 4 first trailer, shows off at least one new suit design, and new ability. Death Stranding release date announced, probably has a trailer that leaves everyone saying "The fuck did I just watch!?" Borderlands 3 being the worst kept secret, and possibly leaked between the time of me posting this, and you reading it on stream Brandon. At least one game announcement that leaves people more confused then excited, except that one guy who really wanted a Awesome Possum reboot.

Anonymous

Hello Allies! First of all, thank you so much for doing what you do, I've been following some of you for over 10 years, it's both amazing and inspiring to watch you and see how far you've come. I have been producing music for sometime now and I would like to share my solo project called "games" with the community and welcome your opinions! Hope some of you will like it! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poGhMwcvYwM&amp;list=PL1RRcvH6lsJP-lARxK6yDBQx6E1fL__xU" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poGhMwcvYwM&amp;list=PL1RRcvH6lsJP-lARxK6yDBQx6E1fL__xU</a> Regards from Tokyo, Rafael

Anonymous

Hi Ben and Brandon, Long time fan, first time responding to the Community Showcase. I've been following you guys since the gametrailers days and you always were and still are... best in the biz. This month I have something to share. A trailer for Box Peek! I used to make game trailers/tributes for the games I played but that was 7+ years ago. I loved making videos for my FFXI linkshell (guild) The Calm. When everybody was trying their best to not die for hours on end fighting Tiamat or Vrtra I was looking for the best camera angles. I was a ranger so I could do it while shooting arrows :) Anyway... I installed adobe premiere, downloaded all the Box Peek episodes, some FFXV music and started tweaking. Since I didn't have the video and audio separate it was... challenging but I managed to get something out of it. Hope you like it! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n2AhRvgtjc" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n2AhRvgtjc</a> Music is from FFXV (combined with Box Peek audio), found it on youtube (links are in description). If you can't show the video sharing it would be cool. Greeting from the Netherlands ^^/ L&amp;R, Jax Mcclane

Anonymous
>>17657922

I think I have to reply so patreon won't delete my comment accidently.

Small Leviathan

Hello Brandon, and hello Ben! As a child, I would have frequent sleepovers at my godfather's place, a cosy, cabin-like house out in the woods which smelled like pine, oil paint and scented candles. My godfather, a short man with a gentle soul and a love for nature, owned a SNES, a curious little machine to me as someone who was born during the time in which the Nintendo 64 was looming on the horizon, and who was first and foremost used to PC gaming, at the time. They had a slew of classic games, such as Mortal Kombat (which I wasn't allowed to play) and A Link Between Worlds (which just didn't grab me at the time, and honestly still fails to do so) amongst others, but there was one game in particular, that I found absolutely mesmerizing. The third game in a venerated trilogy, this game pulled me in with its level of visual fidelity, which was unlike anything I had seen before, as a well as a unique ambient soundtrack that was as chilling as it was soothing. Of course, with my lacking game literacy and the limited time window, I never did get far in this game, so it remained elusive to me, until one day, the older of my godfather's two kids (who at the time were young adults) decided to show me the endgame, including the game's final boss, something I could never imagine reaching on my own at the time. It's been more than ten years since then, and I've since purchased and beaten that game in my own time, but all the same, it holds a very special place in my heart because of the time and the people it reminds me of. This is why the biggest highlight of all the things added in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, which I am going to bed early to pick up as the store opens tomorrow, is none other than that oh-so-nostalgic game's final boss: King K. Rool. Nostalgic tirade aside, this November I got to pick up something I've had to wait on for a long time: Monster Hunter World. I refused to pick up PS4 version on principle, not wanting to deal with paid online and the hindrance of 30FPS, but when the PC port came along I was in a really bad place financially, so I had to wait. I don't think I have a lot to add to the conversation around this game as a whole, but it is the best Monster Hunter has ever felt to play, in my experience. Finishing off this month's submission, I wanna recommend a game to Ben, because I recall another ally saying Ben is always willing to try something new, and I'm always ready to shill for my all-time favourite game: OneShot. To keep it short, OneShot is an adventure-puzzle game about helping a child carry the sun (a giant lightbulb) to the centre of a foreign world, and it is spectacular. Love and Respect, Small Leviathan P.S. Also, you should totally play the Octo Expansion as well, Ben. It is way better than you think it is.

Anonymous

Hi Ben, Hi Brandon, Last month i did not write a showcase submission and I do not have any updates on any games that I played in November, because I played less than 5 hours total. You may now ask: What else did I spend my spare time on? Well, I (or to be precise: me and my wife) bought a house and so I used almost every free minute on renovations. I painted and redecorated walls, took out old carpet, laid new flooring, connected power outlets and assembled furniture. And while it was a lot of work which gave me sore muscles for weeks, I am pretty proud how far we got in only one month.I learned a lot of new skills (I am not a craftsmen, but a computer scientist) and will probably learn a lot more in the upcoming years. Moving into a large house certainly has its benefits: I now have my own big office (190 square feet) with enough room for permanent VIVE Setup. Which means I can finally play VR games without moving furniture. I will show some photos from my “gaming-room” once it is finished (I still need to buy pictures for the walls). Below: you will find some photos from my new home “town” Geseke (less than 30k inhabitants) which I took on a walk with my dog this weekend. As you can see: it is pretty rural here :) That's it for this month. I hope I have more gaming related stuff to talk about next month. L&amp;R Thim <a href="http://de.tinypic.com/r/5a0thw/9" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://de.tinypic.com/r/5a0thw/9</a> <a href="http://de.tinypic.com/r/i4piyc/9" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://de.tinypic.com/r/i4piyc/9</a> <a href="http://de.tinypic.com/r/2motbsz/9" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://de.tinypic.com/r/2motbsz/9</a>

César Villa

Ah, fuck you patreon; you deleted my comment and I didn't have a copy. Let's see if I can come up with a new one before the show. Edit: Hello Ben &amp; Brandon! First, a disclaimer. DECEMBER IS A MONTH, DAMN IT! It has 31 days! It has 4 and a half weeks! I refuse to talk about game of the year until the year is actually done. Took that out of my system, now on with the show. Last time Ben was there, I told you what I did in new years eve 2008. Can you guess what I did in new years day? ... Of course you can't, that was so unfair. I'm sorry, I just wanted a little giggle at your expense. New years eve 2008 I beat Final Fantasy IV (remember the Palom &amp; Porom story?) so the next day I got started with Final Fantasy VI. I had played this game back around 1998 when I was 16 years old and (this may be upsetting for you, Jones) I didn't feel it. I borrowed it from a friend from high school, got to the end of the world by just going thru the motions and returned it without beating it. I enjoyed the soundtrack but not much else. I specifically remember thinking at a plot point “What's with all this drama? This is JUST a videogame!”. Fast forward to 2008. After drinking the cool aid that was the GT retro on the franchise and decided to give it a shot, I gotta tell ya, I think I needed to grow up a little bit to fully get how ahead of the curve this game really was. Just having the credits roll while you watch Terra, Biggs &amp; Wedge walk to Narshe while playing the main theme, is something that was not common at the time. Since I don't think I can say much more that hasn't been said both in the retro and the video you (Brandon) produced for the Hall of the greats, I'll go in a tangent now. This last November, a friend from work took a trip to Japan, and in his return, he brought a precious gift for me, Final Fantasy VI OST. Poor CD player hadn't been used in over a year, but listening to those tunes I got to relive all those moments like going underground in Figaro, take a hike thru the phantom forest, witness Sabin choose his freedom after Edgar tricked him with his rigged coin, Search for Friends with Celes and finally beat Kefka in one epic decisive battle. At this point, it should be no secret I love video game soundtracks (hint: I've been asking for your game scores recommendations for this past year in the Q&amp;As) so I'll end by thanking God for Nobuo Uematsu and his work. Few composers, death or alive, are up to his abilities. Love &amp; Respect. César.

Sebastian Hall

Hi Brandon and Ben, First of all, I just want to take a moment and give some extra love to Ben. He is such a great guy, always having good thoughts and comments on things and games. I love to always turn into his stream as they are always so cheery and he is excellent at both playing the games and interact with chat and make everyone feel included. I think we all should give Ben Moore (see what I did there?) of that Love and Respect. So to my post. Last week I ended up having to go away for work and doing a week “on site” with a client and the Microsoft Hololens. This was a lot of fun and I learned a bunch of things which is always a bonus. We were located in Northern Wales and had the last days off. As we had Snowdonia, the beautiful national park fairly close by, we decided to do a day hike. Me and my colleague got up early and decided to head out despite the grey looking sky. After a couple hours out on our adventure the heaven decided to open up, it was stormy and absolutely pouring down. This made the landscape look even more magical and almost like something straight out of a story book. Despite being soaked by the rain we had lunch at a lake and continued on before we realised that were completely lost. The rain hindered our sight and the stormy gusts made our paper map rip apart. Despite all of this we pushed on for another 3 or so hours. Things started to get a little worrisome as we realised things was gonna get dark quickly and we didnt want to be stuck on a mountainside on a stormy night. We kept the mood high despite all of this and we couldnt but laugh at our situation as we continued on. We had our phones but there are not much signal in the deep valleys of Wales. Luckily enough we eventually found a proper road, as we could, cold and hungry start to find our way back. Don't feel sorry for us though, we got to see some amazing scenery and when we got back, we had a hot tub and cold beer waiting for us. In the end, it was an experience I wont forget and it still makes me chuckle when I think back at how everything went south. Have you guys ever had a hiking experience go a bit (or a lot) wrong? Love and Respect Lotias (Imgs here: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/79xrNRT" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/79xrNRT</a> )

César Villa

Safety comment in case the other gets erased. If you already got my name there, just ignore this. Sorry for the extra noise, Jones. Hello Ben &amp; Brandon! First, a disclaimer. DECEMBER IS A MONTH, DAMN IT! It has 31 days! It has 4 and a half weeks! I refuse to talk about game of the year until the year is actually done. Took that out of my system, now on with the show. Last time Ben was there, I told you what I did in new years eve 2008. Can you guess what I did in new years day? ... Of course you can't, that was so unfair. I'm sorry, I just wanted a little giggle at your expense. New years eve 2008 I beat Final Fantasy IV (remember the Palom &amp; Porom story?) so the next day I got started with Final Fantasy VI. I had played this game back around 1998 when I was 16 years old and (this may be upsetting for you, Jones) I didn't feel it. I borrowed it from a friend from high school, got to the end of the world by just going thru the motions and returned it without beating it. I enjoyed the soundtrack but not much else. I specifically remember thinking at a plot point “What's with all this drama? This is JUST a videogame!”. Fast forward to 2008. After drinking the cool aid that was the GT retro on the franchise and decided to give it a shot, I gotta tell ya, I think I needed to grow up a little bit to fully get how ahead of the curve this game really was. Just having the credits roll while you watch Terra, Biggs &amp; Wedge walk to Narshe while playing the main theme, is something that was not common at the time. Since I don't think I can say much more that hasn't been said both in the retro and the video you (Brandon) produced for the Hall of the greats, I'll go in a tangent now. This last November, a friend from work took a trip to Japan, and in his return, he brought a precious gift for me, Final Fantasy VI OST. Poor CD player hadn't been used in over a year, but listening to those tunes I got to relive all those moments like going underground in Figaro, take a hike thru the phantom forest, witness Sabin choose his freedom after Edgar tricked him with his rigged coin, Search for Friends with Celes and finally beat Kefka in one epic decisive battle. At this point, it should be no secret I love video game soundtracks (hint: I've been asking for your game scores recommendations for this past year in the Q&amp;As) so I'll end by thanking God for Nobuo Uematsu and his work. Few composers, death or alive, are up to his abilities. Love &amp; Respect. César.

Anonymous

Greetings Allies This month i was going to go all in on my 2018 manga impressions with a full blown awards list but no matter how many rewrites i did i was never happy with the finished product so please be excited for that in January's community showcase submission. Instead i'm going to give a quick impression of some of the games i have been playing of late so without further ado. 4 hours into hollow knight there is not going to be another 4, I had a feeling that Hollow Knight wasn't for me going in but with it on sail for a good price and with money to burn i said balls to it and picked it up anyway and… i wish i hadn't. i was in love with the look and feel of this world but i can't see myself putting the time needed for the game to grab me and metroidvania aren't really my cup of tea, so back onto the bottom of the backlog it goes more than likely to never be played again. Made it to the final boss of Undertale and i have no drive to finish the game and feel that i have wasted what little time i have spent with the game so im dropping it from my backlog all together don't @ me. It took a few sessions for Night in the Woods to sink its teeth into me but never the less it left its mark on me like few games have this year, everytime Mae and her mum had there morning conversation in the kitchen i'd find myself becoming more and more invested in her life and as the hours passed by i new this game was something special. Finally got round to attacking the muramasa rebirth’s DLC and i have to say this is quickly becoming my new favourite Vanillaware title fighting dragons crown for the number one spot. The new combat stile and characters really helped me stay invested after using the three sword style throughout the campaign. This is truly a must buy for all vita owners and id love to see it get the Pro treatment that Dragons crown did. With Ben on the couch this month i feel compelled to give my first impressions on Trails of Cold Steel 1. I'm only a little over 40 hours into the game so far and just finishing off chapter 5 but the story just starting to get into the swing of things but the quartz and the combat as a hole is what has kept me with the game so far. The cast of characters and the ability to hold multiple storythreds at the same time is where Cold Steel really has pulled me in and i look forward to seeing how 2 continues theys threads. Those are just a few of the games i've been spending my time with. Whilst i have Ben here 1 question did you ever get round to playing 4 goddesses online?

Anonymous

Hi Brandon and Ben, As promised last month I'm back with my completed "baby-man" animation, hope you enjoy: <a href="https://youtu.be/4VbOFyML2mg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/4VbOFyML2mg</a> I think I'm all caught up in the festive spirit so have decided to start sharing some good vibes about the allies when I submit to the Showcase. Ben you are an amazingly positive voice in the allies, I always appreciate your view on things and passion for games you love, even the ones i may never play! Speaking of voices, Brandon, best voice in the biz and your interaction and openness with the community through this and Cup of Jones is incredibly refreshing! Happy holidays to all allies around the globe, this showcase every month is one of many things that demonstrate you are the best community out there! We live in hope of the 4 hour Frame Trap, love and respect, Dave Cleland PS. Great news on the studio! 6 rooms huh, that sure is a lot of Lego...

Anonymous

Hi Brandon and Ben! I've got more art this month- two pieces entirely unrelated to each other, but I've been very busy so I haven't had time to do much. First is a piece I did for a fanart contest for a mobile game I like. It's kinda weird but I think it came out really well, so I'm proud of it :) Second is fanart of the she-ra reboot, because I binged it all recently and it's the best. SUPER jolly with great characters that I loved immediately, so I had to draw Adora, the one I relate to most. Happy Game Awards day, Allies! &lt;3 Love and Respect, Casey <a href="https://twitter.com/enderglow/status/1062202648768610304" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/enderglow/status/1062202648768610304</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/enderglow/status/1070172417824251904" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/enderglow/status/1070172417824251904</a>

Happy Gaming

Hello Brandon and Ben, I'm still in the process of getting capture equipment set up, and so while I would like to share a new(er) video episode, it's a little ways down the line. Instead, for the showcase this month, I've decided to trim down and share a previously released episode. This is a recut 3-minute segment from my video essay about one of my favorite games of the year, Celeste, called "Celeste and Encouragement": Now that I'm working more regularly I'm hoping to be putting more video content out, but for anyone else interested, I still do my podcast, Happy Gaming, around once a month. With the podcast, I try to bring a positive mentality to looking and talking about games, and in general recognize how wonderful the medium can be. Thanks so much to all the allies for being a constant creative and uplifting inspiration throughout the years. I'm hoping to be able to share a new episode in the showcase once a month from now on if I stay on schedule. For everyone else, I'd love to keep in touch as well. The Easy Allies community seems like the best and most welcoming place to share. I really hope that everyone enjoys the podcast and the episode, and has a happy Holiday season. I look forward to seeing what everyone else posts and has been up to. Ceers, Brian from Happy Gaming <a href="https://youtu.be/Yr5zzJqCNYI" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Yr5zzJqCNYI</a>

Jordan Kirk

Hey Jones, Ben, and chat! Since it released 20 years ago, Ocarina of Time had housed one of my favorite iterations of a pastime. Not ghost or spider hunting… Fishing! The calm Kakariko theme, the exhilarating rush of the controller vibration as you reel in your catch, and the dopamine seeing a fish as large as Link. That being said, I've got something to say.. Ocarina of Time, you have been dethroned! Red Dead Redemption 2 officially has my favorite video game fishing. Encountering the vibration and dopamine for the first time again in a world with such verisimilitude has been an absolute joy. My initial encounter, I spent 3 in game days at one location. Cycling between filling up my inventory with all the fish I could carry, then setting up camp and cooking them, repeating until nightfall, sleeping, and repeating again. At this point, I've sunk nearly 40 hours into the game, and I'm not even halfway through the story. It is a beautiful thing. Also at the beginning of the month, I managed to binge through Castlevania season 2 on Netflix. It's an improvement in many ways on season 1, and that's high praise, since season 1 itself was amazing. Season 2 and Castlevania Requiem were just the right pressure I needed to finally try one of the greats. After 21 years, I've finally played through Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. And not via Requiem, but a copy I've had for quite some time on Xbox 360 Arcade. I ultimately came away a little disappointed, only because I had such a high bar. It was a little easy for me, sneaking up on borderline boredom. To the point that bosses would go down in a matter of seconds. That being said, a handful of moments like the first hour post inverted castle, and every musical tracks introduction have me able to appreciate and respect that this game is indeed “One of the Greats.” Spyro Reignited Trilogy is next on my list, and boy, has it been a jolly good time. I've been a fan of the trilogy since release. In fact, my first Community Showcase topic was completing the first 2 games around the time of Crash N'Sane trilogy in hopes that Spyro was next. Again, I've completed the first two, in all their beautiful HD glory. Thus bringing my Platinum trophy count to 5! Speaking of jolly good times, I've made a bit more progress in Dragon Quest XI. The story continues to hit the right beats, as it just incorporated one of my favorite sci fi topics into it in act 3. At around the 130 hour mark ( Draconian hard mode is indeed hard) I'm still having a phenomenal time. when I went out into the overworld and a theme I hadn't heard since Dragon Warrior 3 started playing, you better believe I had a huge grin! That's all I've got for this month. Hope to watch the Game Awards with y'all. Happy Happy Holidays!

XWF Outlaw

Good Afternoon Jones, Ben, and Chat. Can anyone tell me a week were we had more kinds of hype for our medium ever? The Game Awards, new Avengers trailer, Kinda Funny Live, Fortnite Season 7, Super Smash Bros., multiple new game announcements AND new studio for EZA? I'll wait. After last months compleation of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 I started the game that has halted my attempts to complete this series TWICE. The game I have been dreading on returning to before KHIII? It was KH Re:Chain of Memories. Man.. That combat mechanic is super frustrating. Long story short: picked Olympus Colosseum, hit Hades, then hit a wall. I don't know what to say other than, in order for me to finish this game, I'm going to need the strength that weilded Ben to somehow complete Fallout 76 kind of strength. This past month also saw Black Friday expand my backlog once again. Essentially, i got a Ben Moore gift basket. Persona 5, Nioh, Wolfenstein II, and Sekiro preorder, plus Kubo &amp; the Two Strings on Bluray. As I type this month's Community Showcase comment I am sitting in a rental house in Orlando starting a weeklong vacation at The Most Magical Place on Earth (TM). In the past I have always submitted comments in the Showcase but next month I will be in the photo segment for the first time. In closing I would like to add another congratulatory log on the L&amp;R fire to congratulate you all on your new studio acquisition. This was a long needed and much deserved gift from all of us who give you money to make things to show our eyeballs monthly. 2019 will most certainly be a happy new year. Congrats Allies and happy holidays. You earned it. Cheers.

Super3dcow

Hello Ben and Brandon! I am back for another update on my Pop'n Music progress. Just so Ben isn't lost, I do a weekly live stream that was heavily inspired by all of you guys. I think of it as my own spiritual successor to Bosman V Wozniak. I hope you enjoy! <a href="https://youtu.be/ZX639wVpYno" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/ZX639wVpYno</a>

Trung Nguyen

Hello Brandon and Ben. Just finished Astro Bot Rescue Mission this week and it was magical. I haven't have such a joyful time playing a game that felt like I was a kid again for a long time and would recommend it 100%. Also started Shenmue and I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. I really don't need the right stick for camera because it originally wasn't there and just feels weird to use. Haven't played Monster Hunter World since Behemoth whooped my ass so I'll be playing it a bit during this Winter Festival event that is currently going on. Really love it and it's definitely one of my GOTYs. Here is some art for the month: <a href="https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1070260710389760000" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1070260710389760000</a> And congratulations for getting the Studio. I have no doubt you guys will put it to good use and shave the uneasiness some people have moving out from garage. Love &amp; Respect Tearju Engi

Trung Nguyen

Movie recommendations: Fist of Fury(HK), Clue, A Girl Who Leapt Through Time(anime) Series: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water Games: God Hand, Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

Samo Rozman

Aloha Brandon and Ben, First off I would like to congratulate you all on getting a Studio. Seeing all of your joyous reactions in that announcement video made my evening. I can't wait to see what kind of EZA flourish is going to be added to your future content once you finally move-in. For this month, keeping with tradition it seems, I would like to share a few more pictures from another previous vacation. The submission that I was working on for the November Showcase is still on hold due to the holidays and me just slacking at the moment, so again in its lieu, please enjoy a quick glimpse into my 2008 trip to Paris for the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational (via Venice). 2008 was a huge year for Blizzard in my opinion, with the “Burning Crusade” wrapping up its content and the next expansion “Wrath of the Lich King” releasing later that year. So a couple of my friends and I decided to head to Paris (I was in Europe already that summer) to check out the city and also enjoy some gaming. We visited a lot of the sights, ate great food, got to see Diablo 3 announced in person, played some Lich King early access, then swung by Venice as well since we flew out of there on the way up. Luckily it was a sunny windy day in Venice, because although that city is uniquely beautiful, you can have some bad experiences depending on what kind of weather you're unlucky enough to get. Have an amazing December, Merry Christmas (or your equivalent faith holiday) with your families, and Happy New Year. I'll see you all in 2019. Love &amp; Respect, Samo Rozman P.S. I've been playing the new Leisure Suit Larry game, and while its not as great as the earlier iterations, it is definitely fun with good humor, puzzles, and a distinct art style. If you enjoyed the previous games, I can recommend this one without reservation. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/P9ADdlp" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/P9ADdlp</a>

Anonymous

Season's greetings Ben &amp; Brandon, My very first community showcase submission. I work as a songwriter and usually write pop or EDM tracks, but sometimes you just gotto scratch that itch and make some JRPG music. This one is called: "Haunted Something". Enjoy! L&amp;R from the Netherlands, Marvin Link to the music: <a href="https://youtu.be/XvyY4fwjF-s" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/XvyY4fwjF-s</a>

Kévin Gillet

Hello, Brandon and Ben ! Exciting times ! Not only will the Game Awards be a nice amuse-bouche before Super Smash Bros Ultimate (I've seriously had the theme of that game in a loop in my head for a week), but THE STUDIO REVEALED ITSELF!?! Well, not quite, but the keys have, at least. I'm not just over the Moon, I'm out of the Milky Way! I'm so happy for you guys that this finally happened, and I wish you all the best for the coming weeks of preparation! Meanwhile, for this month's community showcase, it would have made sense for me to submit another piece of music inspired by the ever wonderful Tabletop Escapades, considering Ben is here (you may high-five Ben on my behalf). But of course, it had to be the showcase directly following Box Peek! So I'm sorry Ben, I'll most likely do more Tabletop Escapades music in the future, and I hope I'll have some for the next time you're on! Anyway, I wanted to celebrate these beautiful five episodes Kyle gave us this time, by reworking the splendid Box Peek Theme Song from FantomenK into a GameBoy Pokemon Battle Theme. Hope you like it, once more congratulations on getting a studio, and a happy Super Smash Bros Ultimate Release Day to all! Link to the music: <a href="https://youtu.be/3ir_C-OW784" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/3ir_C-OW784</a>

Kate Bishop

Hi there Jones and Ben! What a month! First off, congratulations on getting the studio. I was crying with pride and joy for you guys. Hard to believe how far y’all have come since that dark day when GT shut down. I can’t wait to see what you do from here. Now, on to the games. First, unsurprisingly I was consumed by Red Dead 2 this past month. Arthur Morgan is easily one of my new favorite protagonists, and his story is one of the most interesting and layered I’ve ever found in a video game. Still keeping it spoiler-free, because I would never want to rob someone of experiencing that story with fresh eyes. All I’ll say is if you’re feeling like it’s dragging a bit, keep pushing. You’ll get to a point where you won’t want to put it down until credits roll. However, and Jones I’m sorry for this, the amount of time I spent fighting with the controls to do something simple takes it out of my GOTY contention. The story is exceptional, but when you compare it to the ease you can do things in Spider-Man, it can’t compare on that aspect. With that said, where’s my Sadie DLC? Once I wrapped up RDR2, I picked Pokemon Sun back up. After a few more hours of grinding, I took on the Elite Four and was successful. My team was Incineroar (Named Becky, after Becky Lynch, my favorite wrestler), Alakazam (Cross), Solgaleo (Jericho), Raichu (Mort), Tentacruel (Jontenta), and Charizard (no nickname since I got him in a trade). Once that was done, I needed something new. I played around in Bit.Trip Runner but I’m very bad at it. Picked up Mortal Kombat XL on sale and devoured the story mode. I really loved all the new characters they added, with Cassie Cage standing out as my favorite. And that brings us to today. I’m finally crossing off a big one from my backlog, hailing from the long ago time that is 2017. Right now, I’m close to halfway done with Horizon Zero Dawn and wow. Wow wow wow. I am in love with this game. The story has me hooked, it’s an absolute blast to play, and Aloy is such a wonderful character. Every time I learn something new or find another clue about the past, I get reeled in more. Each encounter with the machines feels intense and I continuously come back to a quote from early on — “It is one thing to hunt a beast. It is another to hunt a machine.” Every single machine you encounter will teach you to respect them and their power. I didn’t think anything would make me reconsider my 2017 GOTY for Persona 5, but Horizon is giving me second thoughts. I’ll be continuing to go through Horizon for this month, with Smash Ultimate providing a bit of variety once that comes out. Love and Respect, Kyle “GOTYlocks” Lee

Joe Frantik

Hello Brandon and Ben! First off congrats on the studio! Very excited for what you can do with that space. I was gone traveling the world for 3 months, I went all over Europe, Asia, and Australia. During which I didn't game at all (except a quick pop or two in a PC cafe in seoul). I came back to a full backlog just before thanksgiving, and while I haven't made much progress (spiderman down, RDR2 in chapter 4) I am excited to hop into dragon quest 11 based largely off of the recommendation of Mr. Ben Moore. Easy allies has really helped me expand my gaming horizons and I am excited to get into to this one. I likely won't beat it for a while and will take a chip away approach to this massive game but the passion shown for it really has be determined to give this a real chance! Love and Respect, Joe Frantik

Anonymous

Merry Christmas Brandon and Ben! I hope you both had a great Thanksgiving and congratulations on getting the studio! Woo-hoo, can’t wait to see what you guys do with the new space! This month has been kind of quiet for me, staying busy with the holiday rush has been taking up most of my time but I’ve still been able to play some great games! Two of those great games are gems I hope all the Allies have planned, but I’m pretty sure the Venerable Ben Moore has played both of these beautiful and well-crafted games inspired and shaped by Japanese mythology and culture. They are Okami and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. While Okami has been heralded as one of the prime examples of video games as art, I completely and fully believe that Muramasa: The Demon Blade belongs in the discussion as well. While the Muso-style gameplay, the constant back-tracking, and the perception of its story being confusing has probably prevented Muramasa from being considered among the pantheon of games as art; there is no denial that this game is absolutely gorgeous and pays wonderful homage to traditional styles of Japanese art. Oh what a feast for the eyes it is. I look forward to playing other games with such beautiful art styles, though for the moment, such titles are failing to come to my mind. Perhaps you gentlemen have such a suggestion? If not that is perfectly fine and I hope you both have a great December, I will be hoping and praying everything with the move will go swimmingly for both of you and the rest of the Allies. And as a P.S. just wanted to let Ben know that I should finally have the money saved up to get a gaming PC in December. Once that PC arrives I’m going to boot it up and finally get to play the original Valkyria Chronicles (my last PC kicked the bucket right as it was downloading the game from Steam) and I look forward to giving my thoughts on the much personally anticipated game when you return to Community Showcase. Love and Respect, OutcastWriter

Doug

Hey Jones and Ben (and chat!) Congratulations once again on the studio - incredibly happy for all of you. Very excited to see what it looks like and how the shows visually evolve on the new set. Seeing as we have Ben here this month, I wanted to ask specifically about Frame Trap. I’ve detailed here before how big of a deal Frame Trap has been for me – not only was it my pathway drug into EZA, the backlog really helped me at a time when I desperately needed the good conversation, jolly vibes and hottakes. It still does, on my good weeks and my bad ones! So Ben – how do you see Frame Trap evolving in the new studio? What are your dream goals for the show (a logo rebrand? a specific set? demons as panelists?) and do you think we will we ever break the 4 hour mark? Love and Respect Barry P.S. Klonoa full playthrough. Lock it in.

ZatVunDoot

Hello Brandon Jones and Ben Moore! I just received a cool vinyl album, Gods &amp; Nightmares, covering the remaining tracks of Hollow Knight that can't be found in the original soundtrack. Admittedly, I only got this as a collectors item because I simply adore Hollow Knight, but happily own the music digitally as well so I can enjoy it everywhere. Figured I'd share some photos I took of the album cover and a neat little pin that came with it. Congratulations on your huge announcement earlier this week! Love and respect! <a href="https://twitter.com/ZatVunDoot/status/1070498326728990721" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/ZatVunDoot/status/1070498326728990721</a>

Brad Grenz

Hey BenJo, With Ben here today, I thought I’d do a round-up of things I’ve enjoyed in 2018 that are right up his alley, but I don’t believe he’s played. Mutant: Year Zero: This game released just Tuesday, but the game unlocked early for anyone with a preorder, so I’ve already managed to sink in a good 6 hours. The game has been billed as Xcom with a snarky, talking duck, but what you really need to know is it’s actually Xcom with a huge stealth component. The game moves between real-time exploration and turn-based combat at will. Each map you freely explore, to look for resources, hidden chests, or bits of lore. When you discover enemies, you must carefully sneak each characters into position to execute the perfect ambush. Using careful planning and silenced weapons you can whittle down a sizable force into something manageable by picking off scouts on patrol. You will need every advantage you can get once the full camp is aware of your presence. There’s no management layer like Xcom. Instead it’s a linear death march towards your objective with the occasional optional area or encounter. Reportedly the game is not long, but it looks nice and the writing and characters are really well done. Since the price is only $35, it’s an easy recommendation. Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I Kickstarted this game, excited by the prospect of another throwback RPG, this time using some really crunchy, old school D&amp;D derived mechanics. The game at launch was buggy, and the difficulty was not well tuned, but the devs have been great about pushing updates and fixes. That said, it made a great impression from day one. The 3D engine looks great and the character creation options are immense. There’s a huge list of subclasses to build from. The writing is sharp and the dungeons are vast and challenging. You can play for dozens of hours before you ever make it to the “Kingmaker” phase of the game where the player is entrusted with a personal barony. Reportedly, the last couple of chapters remain buggy and overly difficult, so I’m slow playing this one, but in my first 30 hours I’ve enjoyed it immensely. Battletech: It says a lot that in a year with incredible games like God of War, Marvel’s Spiderman, OnRush, Pillars of Eternity II, and more, Battletech may actually be my personal GOTY. It is easily my most played game of 2018 at over 100 hours clocked in Steam. It embodies the perfect alchemical mix of nail-biting, strategic combat, deep and interesting mech customization, a satisfying loop of finding enough jobs to keep your mercenary group solvent, and that Pokemon-esque lust to find, and salvage, one of every mech in the game. It’s a truly magical formula that only gets better as the devs build out the game post release with UI refinements, balance improvements, and new play modes. The just released Flashpoint DLC piles on additional mechs, mission types and biomes to fight in. Battletech is an exceptional experience I that earns my highest recommendation: the coveted Golden Bradzo award!

sirvorn

Hello Jones and Ben, Hope you’re all doing well and feeling rested for tonight :) First off I want to say major congrats on the studio. I’m so happy for you guys and you guys deserve this so much &lt;3 I hope you take your time settling in and getting into a new groove of things &lt;3 Last month, my post was about what FFXV means to me and my mother. Since Ben is on the showcase this time I thought I’d give a quick update on how Yakuza 0 went for my mother. I introduced this as her second game ever to play because she’s Japanese and LOVES her TV dramas. Yakuza 0 100% feels like getting to play in one. She adored the characters, was enamored by the story, and couldn’t get enough of interacting with the towns and everyone in them. I think she's done more in the game than I have! Here’s a rundown of how she felt after finishing: ----- Favorite character: At first Kiryuu. By the end Majima. Favorite side-activity: singing along with the karaoke. Close second: cabaret management. Favorite substories: The Doll Girl, The Show Must Go On Least favorite things: 1) combat. After 100 hours of FFXV then moving to this, I thought she was going to hard quit at that first room with 20 people to beat up. Heat actions almost made it more enjoyable...almost. Note: She never warmed up to fighting huge groups, but small groups/boss battles? She was all in babeh! 2) no appetizing food close ups. Overall: 8.5/10 ---- So two for two games so far! After finishing Yakuza 0, I had a variety of games ready to suggest next but she asked me “what about the other 14 Final Fantasies”. Oh boy. Had to settle in for that face-time explanation. Showed her a bit of each mainline game and lo and behold she picked: FF XIV. We started playing together and well...story for another time :p So question for you guys: any games to add to the suggestion pool of games for her :) ? Older turn-based games might be out; she was not into the look of the older Final Fantasies. She loves learning new things and one of the draws for her is the characters. She's expressed interest in Witcher but she's also expressed interest in Bloodborne of all things so there's that. If it’s in English that’s ok, I don’t expect you guys to know what games offer Japanese or not and M-ratings are fine. I have most consoles and handhelds so go wild :D As always, love and respect. Cheers.

Tyson Nguyen

Hello! I'm super excited for the next three days and hope there will be a lot to look forward to after The Game Awards and Kinda Funny Showcase! Hopefully, there will be an expansion for Monster Hunter World announced. I'm also hoping that Nintendo Online will function well enough to play Smash with my friends who have scattered around since we graduated. To the art! Artwork: <a href="https://twitter.com/TysonDNguyen/status/1070534663310073856" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/TysonDNguyen/status/1070534663310073856</a> I've been in a creative rut and wasn't sure I'd have anything for this showcase. So this afternoon, I decided to default to my favorite creative exercise, a video game mock-up! They can be really fun and low effort, you can just make whatever you like and not have to worry about any logistics. I really enjoy researching screenshots and seeing how game artists made HUDs that provide information without too much clutter. Congrats on the studio and the Don't Skip was great, Ben!

Anonymous

Hey there Brandon and Ben, While I had played Crash Bandicoot when I was younger, and remember enjoying it a lot, I didn't end up buying the N.Sane Trilogy when it released last year. That changed just this month though due to the imminent launch of Spyro Reignited. As a way of getting into the ‘classic platformer’ mood I caught the Crash Trilogy on special and played through all 3 games over the next week. And I’m happy to say that they hold up. They were fun, controlled well mostly, and also offered enough of a challenge to keep interesting. The option to play as Coco throughout each of them was a greatly appreciated addition as well. In my opinion Crash 2 was the best of the bunch, having built upon what Crash 1 already did so well. While Crash 3 took it a step too far with badly controlled motorcycle levels, air based dog fights which only show up twice in the main game, incredibly slow jet ski levels, and eventually giving you a bazooka that seemed over powered so I chose to not use it. Crash 2 was so fun in fact that I decided to return to it and got my first EVER platinum trophy, which was not an easy feat. Every level in the game has a time trial, and the most difficult trophy in Crash 2 is the one you receive for attaining a ‘Gold Relic’ rank for each of them. Some of the time requirements were really tight! And when you’re playing on time trial all check points through the level are removed, so any death means restarting from the beginning. Which, when you’re running through a stage trying to be as quick as possible, happens a lot more than when taking it slow and steady. Nevertheless, I was able to manage it with some perseverance and I’d recommend it to any of the Crash fans we have in the Allies. So then Spyro Reignited launched and I hopped right in. I haven’t quite gotten through the whole trilogy yet, I’m half way through Spyro 3 at the moment, but I am having a really good time with it so far. I also got my second, and third, platinum trophies from Spyro 1 and 2 respectively. Compared to Crash 2 they were a breeze but were still fun to get. I’m fearful that the Spyro 3 platinum might be a long way away with Smash Ultimate being released tomorrow… But hopefully I’ll get back to it after not too long. It’s a good time to be a gamer! Love and Respect, Gareth Forshaw [for – shaw]

Anonymous

Hello Brandon and Ben, With 2018 nearly over, I want to reflect on some of my gaming experiences over the year, and in the spirit of the game awards later today I’ll discuss them by category. The most relaxing game I played this year: Dragon Quest Builders. Sandbox games can be stressful for me, the scope and aimlessness can be overwhelming and freeze me up while I try to figure what I should do next, but builders has a great solution for this by being a mission driven game. Whenever I’m unsure of what to do next, one of my townspeople probably has something for me to do, whether that’s going out to find an item, a person or to construct a new type of building. Then if I have an idea for something I really want to build, there’s there’s typically no ticking clocks I have to worry about. The low difficulty, great music and fun visuals help to make a great game to just unwind with. The least relaxing game I played this year: Far Cry 5 DO I HAVE TO GET ATTACKED EVERY 20 SECONDS??? Far Cry 5 is a game that absolutely never wants you to let your guard down, enjoy the scenery or really just have even the slightest moment of peace ever. Trying to accomplish any task or travel to any location becomes a circus of violence as literally every living thing in the county attempts to maul your face, shoot you in the head or maul your face while shooting you in the head. Just getting from point A to point B started to get so exhausting I would just fast travel as much as possible, which is really disappointing because this game is very pretty and it would have been nice to get the chance to just look around. The game that surprised me the most this year: Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion This is admittedly a little bit of a cheat because it’s not a full game, but this was really so much better than I thought it could have been. Octo expansion is structured very similarly to the main campaign, which is a series of fairly brief stages where you typically have to get to the end of an obstacle course. What Octo expansion does so much better than the main campaign is amount of variety within these stages. While many stages are an obstacle course, there are many ways you might have to go about this, such as having to escort a large ball with you, having a limited amount of ink or being locked into one of the special modes like the jetpack. Along with these there are some great puzzle based stages, the standouts being a giant game of pool and using your weapon to carve out a statue made of crates. Then, once you’ve done all of that you get thrown a twist I can only describe as completely bonkers. Octo expansion is legitimately one of the best pieces of DLC I have ever experienced. That’s it for now, next month I’ll talk about my favorite game of the year and some other generally thoughts on 2018 Love and Respect, Jon

John Wingate

Wingatakus here This is way late so maybe you ll see it? Hey Ben Brandon Congrats on the studio! cant wait for you guys to get settled Been messing around in mariopaint for a while and went back to finish an old project. First two are from years ago but the black and red one is new thanks for all the inspiration you guys give and peace and love and respect. Ps Brandon can you yell in your cowboy voice Hey Ma i just won some Manime! <a href="https://twitter.com/myawesomeideas" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/myawesomeideas</a>