Community Showcase - September 2020

Hello Jones and Blood! Woof, last minute, mistook the day. Hopefully will have time to add the link to some music. Isn't it nice to see the first signs of autumn in Animal Crossing? Also, I'm now excited for the Mario deluge coming over the next few months! Didn't have time for much more, so went back to an old favorite, transcribing Zelda music by ear and replaying it through the Ocarina of Time instruments, which is particularly pleasing to me when it means taking an originally fully orchestrated piece, and “demaking” it. This time, my test subject was one of the boss themes from Skyward Sword, enjoy the retro trip! Link to the music: https://youtu.be/rDLSXokU06A

Kévin Gillet

Hello Jones and Blood. Like many others I've spent some time in Microsoft Flight Simulator this past month so I thought I'd share a few screen shots. (short descriptions in the gallery) https://imgur.com/a/THnUlUF

Olf Himself

Hey Jones and Bloodworth, Attempting to make my first showcase post, I hope I’m not too late! If I’m not, then for my first showcase post I figured this would be a good place to drop off of my favorite Ghost of Tsushima screenshots since they're just currently sitting on my PS4 and I haven’t posted them anywhere else yet. For you see, there are many lessons one must keep in mind when becoming …. The Ghost https://i.imgur.com/JYhK9eu.jpg First one must be calm in the face of overwhelming odds https://i.imgur.com/uoISElA.jpg And always be ready to strike first https://i.imgur.com/pIQBvuw.jpg You must be able to strike silently and effectively https://i.imgur.com/WeZXPoO.jpg And willing to show your enemies no mercy https://i.imgur.com/kYA2lNz.jpg But with all this killing it’s also important for a warrior to: Calm their thoughts https://i.imgur.com/Mm5VAqV.jpg Relax with some music https://i.imgur.com/LH52S9u.jpg Admire the beauty of nature while honoring shrines... https://i.imgur.com/xsNPZqU.jpg And petting foxes https://i.imgur.com/FQl2hg0.jpg And of course, getting some rest when you can https://i.imgur.com/7yWGLfC.jpg

Mo Grant

Hi Jones and Bloodworth, I was thinking of giving these terrible regular submissions a name, like Shout-out's Shout-outs, but that's too good a name for what they are. https://youtu.be/nNANAd77XkM -shout_out_to_yoko_taro

Shout_Out_To_Yoko_Taro

Hey Brandon and Blood August was a slow month for my Gameboy game project. Still plugging away at it when I’m in the mood and I have made a few breakthroughs recently so I need to keep that up. As always you can follow that at https://jon-is-k.itch.io/phenomenology Now to ramble! Started some lengthy games so I haven’t finished much but I have made enough progress for some impressions. First up Dragon Quest XI I didn’t actually start DQXI but picked it back up after some time away. While this game is incredibly charming with fun, goofy yet endearing characters, enemies and locations, I do have some issues. Minor mid-game spoilers ahead. Halfway through you hit a big story moment and your party splits up for a while. While split up I went through a series of vignettes about my party members and what they were doing. Eventually I started meeting back up with my party but the game presented finding the party members as some big surprise. Now I suppose for the player character himself it would be surprising but for me it was like the game telling me to be shocked by something it had already shown me. Secondly, why does this game only have 5 music tracks? For the first 20-30 hours they were fun, adventurous songs but now it’s just a little grating. Also since there’s only 5 tracks, the track that gets played for whatever story beat is going on tends to be wildly inappropriate, which does at least add some unintentional humor. Next, Star Wars: The Old Republic Normally I’m not much of an MMO person but I decided to check it because I had enjoyed the Knights of The Old Republic games so much and wanted to see if it was anything like those. And I must say it has exceeded my expectations and is feeling like a genuine sequel. The gameplay is nothing great, standard MMO cooldown based stuff. What impressed me was the storyline, particularly that my decisions felt like they mattered and I wasn’t being railroaded down a specific path to move the plot forward. More minor spoilers ahead, I was given a mission to take out a rival Sith Lord and during my hunt for him I ran into some Republic soldiers. Now I could have chopped them down with ease but I decided since they weren’t bothering me to let them live. This meant that the commander of these soldiers now owed me a favor. A little bit later I’m ready to confront the rogue Sith who is leading me into an ambush, so what do I do? I call in that favor and have the Republic soldiers stage an ambush of their own. In reality it was a small moment but I loved that the game gave me those options and let me follow through on them. I didn't cover the other game I started, Yakuza 0. That one will be for next time.

For safety?

Jason A. Sackel

I remember at the beginning when I was going to aim to be positive. The 2020 rule... then 2020 evolved and I strayed from that goal. Or it could just be because I played Death Stranding and suffered through that dialogue. Anyhoo, new consoles are around the corner, as much as it may seem like they're not. Next gen may not have a price tag yet, or a release date, but they are coming this year. It is a bit of a lull for me as all the games I was interested in for this year have come out... at least ones with release dates. I played a bunch of Fall Guys in August. That game is a hoot. Easy thing to play a round or two after work and then go about my day. The new stuff looks great too. Aside from that, didn't really play that many games in August. I decided to take a look at the Avengers Beta. College friends were playing, so I figured I hopped in. Hopped in and... yea, that all seems... horrible. Again, I know nothing of the comics. Movies are my base for knowledge. I just couldn't get into it at all. Wasn't liking how it played or anything. At first I thought maybe superhero games just don't do anything for me, but I really did enjoy the Spider-Man PS4 game. Yes, I got many bugs and made jabs at it for it, doesn't mean I didn't have a good time with. Looking forward to that Miles Morales game... whenever it comes out. I feel like it will be more of the same since we've barely seen anything from it. I did, however, just play a few hours of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2. Even though I'm on the East Coast, that game still decided to unlock at 9PM for me, and I wasn't gonna complain. That game is super fun. Don't know if it is the nostalgia or what, but time sure flew by in a snap. In fashion, I did glitch through a level where it reset the skater and the message "You Broke The Game!" displayed. So, that didn't take long. Interesting to note, when I clipped it to post to Twitter, it stripped the music out. I do want to get excited for that Star Wars Squadron game. Loved the Rogue Squadron games for 64 or Gamecube or whatever system that was on. Something just seems missing to hook me. I think I just want to see flying on planets through canyons. Maybe that just isn't the game though. If they've shown something like that... well, said it before, not the biggest Star Wars fan, so it's entirely possible I missed it. I do really like Mandalorian though. Saw that Season 2 begins in October. Hope they don't mess it up and fill it with a bunch of nonsense from the cartoons I never watched. Hoping they continue to let it be it's own thing. That's all.

Jason A. Sackel

Yo dudes! I've been spending all my creative energy on D&D recently. We just finished the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure book. If anyone wants to watch, there are now 26 episodes of it up on my YouTube channel, AlexanderArts. Now, we are beginning my own adventure starting off at the gates of Neverwinter. Here's a drawing of my players walking down the road arguing as they often do: https://i.imgur.com/ZHiRrfR.jpg L&R - Ian, @alexander_arts

Ian Alexander

Hope this ain't too late!

Nik Gothic

Hello everyone, this time I decided to be different and show you this short animated snippet I've worked on. I hope you don't mind my strong Northern English accent. https://www.sendspace.com/file/syegwl Blood's got the Dollar! https://i.imgur.com/ECTcfyk.png

Nik Gothic

Good Mr Jones and Mr Bloodworth With the release of Wasteland 3 I‘d like to give my own personal take on 4 turned based tactical shooters I’ve played, the a genre you guys won’t shut up about. EDIT : STOP READING THIS AND CONTINUE PLAYING AVENGERS

robert7lee

Hi Brandon and Blood! Since I have been (literally) gearing up for my "digital" and final year in my masters program, I haven't had too much time to write music over the past few weeks - but here are two little sound redesigns I did over the summer for practice! The first clip is from Overwatch's "Reunion" short while the other is a sound redesign of a really cool upcoming game called "Arbiter" by an indie developer by the name of Jordan Scott. https://youtu.be/SntBZOAWvkE L&R Mason Victoria

Mason Victoria

Hey Jones and Blood! Back again after a few months off with another piano cover. I was all ready to give FF7 Remake the best soundtrack of 2020 award, but now after hearing all the great tunes in Paper Mario, I'm not so sure anymore. Here's one of my favorites. Enjoy! (Warning: minor spoilers for Paper Mario. If you don't want to show it on stream, feel free to just play the audio instead!) https://youtu.be/RVpXNDuqMGY L&R - Ben F.

Ben Fitter

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Chris Park

Hey Allies, this month's Fate/GO topic is Vehicles for Bloodworth. Was gonna do glasses but like half of you got specs in the last year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TfQK0WN8lI&feature=youtu.be

Chris Park

Hello Brandon and Blood, I am back again with a few illustrations that I hope will actually make their way out of the google drive clutches this time. First is of my character Knight Light having an encounter with a creature. Second is an enemy from the story (sort of my own take on a Dark Link style antagonist) and the last is just a couple jolly little Otoms (pronounced like Autumn) walking along. As always thank you for the hard work you and the other allies do. See ya next month. - Teeg https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xV_mYY1TvHvAe9Y4pkPIJFxZDXt0h-bO?usp=sharing

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Scott A. Ford

Hey Brandon and Blood, Last month I submitted a trailer for my Dreams game, which was something very new for me. This month I’m sharing some work that’s more in my regular wheelhouse: illustration! I’ve been working on this illustration inspired by Breath of the Wild all month and I finished it just in time. The rest of the images are previous art I’ve made inspired by other games (I’m sure you’ll be able to guess number 4), and the last 3 images are original concepts although certainly inspired in-part by some games. Thank you to this wonderful community and for giving me this opportunity to share my work. Love and Respect! -Scott (Apologies, I don't know why these URLs are so long. It's just linking images from my website.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59c06204cd0f6804b6af8190/1599116230259-D9N5UNE0VFWYMFMQFTQZ/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kJNDhPMcsO_TOiarXWVm8cB7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1URPD_N3ElsMYY03yH0CusPNo3sysBedb0mM-cC8kGfM8TkxC0aoRwwbnj8JuJQ_2MQ/The+Legend.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59c06204cd0f6804b6af8190/1570431577722-A70JJR2IW562ZZX410VS/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kFn01b69qibFV6p4ATINgYx7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmaHJ0CCIp0h94CjFWATtzumDyWwG6cTlYaiji1mbxg2_decyTpAb-46CnvkjVgn6l/The+Shadow.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59c06204cd0f6804b6af8190/1562871897978-YITZ79FFA5OUBOMEETOL/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kJNDhPMcsO_TOiarXWVm8cB7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1URPD_N3ElsMYY03yH0CusPNo3sysBedb0mM-cC8kGfM8TkxC0aoRwwbnj8JuJQ_2MQ/Inside.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59c06204cd0f6804b6af8190/1529525603384-46JY7ENQRJUNUVWNGWY6/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kE1G8aDDySyXafgMqMi-3Wt7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z4YTzHvnKhyp6Da-NYroOW3ZGjoBKy3azqku80C789l0k5fwC0WRNFJBIXiBeNI5fIBAe0aRMxRrpn6J5i2IfAjEZwkdJGvTULFlkLSJhK3Nw/Pokemon.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59c06204cd0f6804b6af8190/1527749894679-X5JGAMFRTGOASDKYDALO/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kHTjdXaoHj2XBS1xQ9Jx_M57gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1Uei60Zpw-ZuEzVY2XSpngzHUNhdVwAOL_XMz32vi4iSsh9ymnU-gXScjHEMuNgenFw/colossus.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59c06204cd0f6804b6af8190/1570427848675-ESQLBSBOTNT7N57XC4J2/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kG284hVRLz-zYNMrYZnw8EJ7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1UZXAmQjcUaGvtDJnohbotxAfO5uJETmysAlKtn_m6UEymckJ182J4VANKRoNJSa1Eg/bedroom+final.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59c06204cd0f6804b6af8190/1540051242322-G52A1T8VRV85DQBIFFST/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kOYwZPfEvRFxm7gMPocsC_h7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1USKTnjlr-7aYKj1PN4YAtt0ftepjOUea2kFuo7jJDcoNDxb2w5SppyqLtPdkEDDHsw/The+Sleepy+Toad.jpg

Scott A. Ford

See Saw is a piece of cake. Don't at me.

Trung Nguyen

Hi Bloodworth and Jones. After 10 years I'm looking for a new apartment and it's been stressful. Haven't found one yet and all the things you need to do when it happens just makes it a hassle. It's gonna be worth it though since my current one is so small. I like Christopher Nolan's Inception which is why I was excited to watch Tenet. On IMAX to boot. These types are also interesting to rewatch which I eventually will do. Let's go to drawings: Street Fighter V finally getting a "Rival Schools" representative and a legendary comic relief. Akira Kazama and Dan HIbiki: https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1292799028875464704 A delinquent girl. Yankee: https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1292088374426312709 Characters from a classic Rumiko Takahashi's graphic novel series. Kyoko and Yusaku: https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1296558178541469696 Change of hairstyle Chun-Li: https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1296289156625203200 And end it off with... X and Zero: https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1294493544489639936 That's all for this month. TearjuEngi

Trung Nguyen

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Nextgenheff

Hey guys, I didn’t really have anything or a story to share for this showcase, then crusader kings 3 came out on Tuesday. I am not big into pc games, but I got a new gaming laptop in June to play the few games that I have picked up. After watching some videos, I was really interested in trying Crusader kings 3. With my laptop purchase I got a free month of gamepass pc and redeemed it to play the game for free. When I went to install it I got this message… “Crusader Kings 3 is rated above the restrictions set on this account. To install, please ask for an adult to sign in and download. Or you can continue to browse hundreds of games in the store.” Now for context: my Microsoft account was created 6 years ago after I turned 18, my birthday information is correct, and I can edit my payment information and buy stuff. I guess in their eyes I was old enough to edit payment info but not to play an M rated game. Through research I found out that apparently an “adult” in my family group can unrestrict my account and let me install and play the game. Thing is, I was not in a family group. My account was only linked to another account, my mother’s, by the fact that we share a family office 365 plan. I shared this on a discord, took some advice, and logged into my mother’s account. I found out she does have a family group, but again I was not or ever a part of it. Finally after around 15 minutes going back and forth between our accounts I was able to edit my age restriction settings… which by default are set to unrestricted. After closing and reopening the xbox app, I was able to start downloading the game (still have no clue why I had account restrictions). So, after all this complicated stuff I was able to play a complicated game. It took a few hours of playing the game and watching videos for some of it to click… I can now expand through military conquest quite well. I became the king of Ireland and united the entire isle. This is where stuff started to go wrong, I accidentally kicked my heir out of the country (thankfully he came back after he turned 18), my only wife and soulmate was murdered (never figured out who did it), and by reading one book converted to Judaism (not my realm, or children, just me). This opened me up to being invaded through holy wars, and I came super close to losing everything. Right before a siege against my capital was almost complete: I died, my Christian heir took over, the wars were negated, and the kingdom of Ireland lives on to this day (Not well, but lives on). This game is definitely great to try if you have gamepass and are “old enough to play”. Nextgenheff

Nextgenheff

Safety reply.

Brittany Fuller

Hi Brandon and Blood! After a very long time of forgetting or not feeling like I had anything to share, I was finally going to make a Community Showcase post about how I got to participate in Beta and Alpha testing Spiritfarer! I'd gush what a beautiful game it is, laugh about some of the bugs, and recount the thrill of having my name in video game credits! However, as I prepared to write my post I got a horrifying text from my mom. All it said was, "Amber was attacked and set on fire today." Amber is my younger sister. Someone set her on fire while she was walking her dogs. I originally wrote out a detailed post about the series of events that took place Wednesday morning, based on how they were originally recounted to me, but I revised it. I realize this story is awful enough without a full retelling of the events that took place. Easy Allies has been gracious enough to share my Twitter post with the link to the GoFundMe for her medical expenses. We've already received a tremendous amount of support and are completely astonished at the response. I know things are tough for everyone right now, and there are so many worthy causes needing support, so if a donation is not within your means, I understand. Please at least consider signal boosting my sister's story in case someone you know is able to donate. Even the smallest amounts add up when many people contribute, we see it every day on Patreon. To donate or share, you can search "Help Amber Fuller Recover From Burn Attack" on GoFundMe, check the Easy Allies Twitter account for their post, or look for this post on Patreon as I'm placing a direct link to the fundraiser at the bottom of my submission. Thank you Jones and Blood for reading my comment, for your direct hand in signal boosting the story already, and thank you to the Easy Allies community who immediately stepped up to help spread the word, contribute, and send a wave of positivity our way. Thank you for being as generous, supportive, and amazing as I've always known you all to be. You're honestly the best community around and I'm so proud to be a part of it. Love and Respect Always. Brittany Fuller aka logic__error gf.me/u/yv6kpd

Brittany Fuller

Good afternoon Blood and Jones! My first appearance and submission for the Community Showcase is here! Over the past month and a half lets say, I have been creating a website for Hall of Greats! Overall just for practice, so I don't get rusty during Covid and learn some new stuff possibly, especially practice when I learned the Wiki does exactly what I wanted to do! The website is table heavy, so I hope you like tables! Each page has a sortable table that shows games for each category on that specific page (Inducted, Nominees, Ceremonies, and Allies). When you click a game in each of those tables, you are brought to the game's page where there is some info on that game, some related to Hall of Greats. If a game has been inducted , it will be shown as a winner with three stars above the name. When you click on an ally or hall of great text on that game page, you are brought to that given ally's or hall of great's page. The footer has links for the Hall of Greats forum, the Easy Allies website in general, and my personal GitHub which you don't have to show. The things I wanna work on later are working on games that were brought more than once, especially the ones that won eventually like Last of Us, an issue with Super Mario 64 where it won't render in Brad or Damiani's Ally table because they both brought it and having that filter with all of their games was a difficult thing for me to get my head around in time for the Showcase (darn you unknown man who was talking about Gamescom last week), including if a Patreon Vote was needed in the Ceremony tables, and finally making the website mobile friendly! With all of that said, here is the link! https://hall-of-greats.herokuapp.com/

Joey Bruno

Greetings, I have finally made my grand return to the showcase, and sorry its not more exciting but going through quite a lot of financial stuff since covid laid me off from my job. But im back and sorry its not going to be the most amazing submission. But id like to continue were i left off and finally tell you about my trip to the reptile expo in April. I know is been a while but it was so cool and a highlight of this pretty rough year. The place was pretty packed but they had so much stuff from the reptile stands to tons of tanks for sale, i really was looking into getting a corn snake for my first snake because they are so easy to maintain and they are good eaters so i made my way over to the corn snake breeder and they were all so tiny. I already had the enclosure all set at home so i wanted a snake that was big enough to utilize the space and the first snake i laid eyes on was perfect size, and had such a pretty pattern he had thick red black and white stripes all down his body i asked if i could hold i'm and he was so friendly i knew he was the one. So 200 dollars later he was all mine. Its been officially 4 months since ive had him and i couldnt ask for a more cooler pal! I named him spike after buffy TVS because his colors reminded me of him he is a milk snake and very sweet and gentle. While we were there I loved looking at all the boas. they look so tiny its so hard to believe they get a huge as they do. My brother and his girlfriend also adopted a leopard gecko named issy, we didnt stay too long after that becuase of COVID and the place being as packed as it was but it was such a fun time. We both love our reptiles and this is something ive always wanted to do since i was a kid im just happy i can do it now! cant wait to send in some pictures of Spike in a future submission. Thats all i wanted to do for this submission sorry its not more detailed im kinda writing this last minute. But the next one will be more thought out. Have a good one everyone!

Megan Linart

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Asbo Zappruder

Good afternoon, gentlemen, Things have been happening on the island of Poppleton. Let’s dive right in. 1. It all began when Diana stepped in my office. She was planning to marry Morton, the curator of the art wing at Blather’s museum, but he hadn’t been seen in 3 days. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-7QKYt2W0ZQCcIquDR_-ZvG3BjvE3Zu4/view?usp=sharing 2. My first stop was to Morton’s house where I found two items of note. The first was his latest museum acquisition, the Royal Crown. And the second was a hastily torn piece of paper with the numbers “85-83” written on it. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tPZMyThK6oDdZ986ezO55ee4GbZSJiL7/view?usp=sharing 3. I visited Morton’s father, Shep, who told me that the last time he saw Morton was 5 days ago, eating lunch with a shady-looking fox in a blue apron. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OBOOO_LhkjmlaT3YkvGERIEax5cxrTJk/view?usp=sharing 4. On my way home, I stopped at the museum to drop off the Royal Crown. But I was in for a shock. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oxsqxjzVNrGEr-JY3_4pAKDqPg2Yemup/view?usp=sharing 5. I looked at the art Morton had already hung and wondered how many of them were fakes as well. I started with Seurat’s masterpiece, painted in 1885 according to the plaque. Wait. ‘85? And the one next to it was painted in ‘83. Which mean that ‘82, the date of the third painting, was the missing part of the paper! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q0RiTJqUA1Qgh6YtHBLChwTn1zHehPr9/view?usp=sharing 6. I met Diana in Morton’s backyard and asked her about the forgeries and the numbers. The numbers meant nothing to her and finding out about the forgeries just upset her. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-7ewrS7FVwj7Jh7buxei0wT-Yaulo8ab/view?usp=sharing 7. I returned to Shep’s to update him and ask him apologize to Diana for me. To my surprise, he said didn’t know anyone named Diana and that Morton had no plans to get married. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cy-1Fa89-1jGvWpGvmWDIlVkjLWX0XdK/view?usp=sharing 8. I raced to Morton’s house to find his bookcase had moved, revealing a hidden room. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fu8q3uW38T6suH_ke_QNLxfHciV4OLo1/view?usp=sharing 9. I was unsurprised to find that the numbers 85-83-82 opened the safe. And even less surprised to find there was nothing inside it. Diana had run off with the real Royal Crown, leaving me with a room full of fake paintings, an empty safe, and the overwhelming feeling that I was a chump. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RSjAy4yk09SW686rQld6KMXyjwel5wED/view?usp=sharing Anyway, that was August. I’m sure September will be much calmer. Until then, Asbo Zappruder / screaming_argonaut

Asbo Zappruder

Greetings Brandon and Blood, By the time you read this I'll have turned 28 and am celebrating by buying Creaks and Beyond Blue. Does Blood have any indie recommendations from this year that I should check out? I am always thirsty for games to try out-I don’t know if I should say I’m ahem “Bloodthirsty”-but I would like to know what he has enjoyed from the indie scene this year. I like many others have been addicted to Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout since it released a month ago and I feel like there are several metaphoric nods to capitalism within it-such as the way 60 players rush to the finish line and try to beat out the competition, as well as how everybody looks, behaves and plays the exact same way- I don’t know whether I’m a conspiracy theorist or whether there are capitalistic undertones in Fall Guys. I can't help but compare Bloodworth to those wilderness giants from Skyrim-I hope this comparison isn't shocking to read and that Blood finds solace and gratification in knowing he can feel at home wielding a huge boom stick and using it to smite his foes and “Team Rocket” them skyward into oblivion. I also wonder how Blood felt about The Witcher attaching his namesake to its second dlc expansion Blood and Wine. I would like to know what Blood’s feelings are about the F1 games. I've played most of them since the original F1 game on PS1 and I believe F1 2012 is the best in the entire series thanks to an extremely polished presentation and the epic music. I am dismayed about recent entries though when it comes to classic car content and am starting to believe gamers would benefit from an entry that encompasses F1s history including most if not all the cars, teams and tracks-simply adding 5 or so classic cars every year just isn't enough and the feature just doesn't feel fully realised. I have to give props to the Studio Liverpool version of Formula One 2001 for making crashing so fun-I loved turning my Minardi around and parking horizontally on the final straight of the Canadian GP and watching the field of AI helplessly pile up and crash all over the place, some of the cars even pirouetting through the air in a symphony of debris and carnage-timeless pleasures like these are sorely missing today. Lastly can either of you think of GT reviews for bad games that contained some amusing illustrative moments? I found a funny one involving the Ironman 2 review where Tony Stark just vanquished a Russian general who expires in front of Stark and War Machine with Tony offhandedly saying “Ok that was the most awful thing ever” then walks away. I can't seem to find GT's Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust review on YouTube and I'd like to be able to find that. Thank you once again for all your amazing content and passion-especially throughout these perilous times. Love and respect.

James Davie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2FPgxdQWFI Hey Blood and Jones and chat. In the past I've shared footage of my brother cosplaying as Voldo from Soul Calibur at MAGFest but there was the perfect contest for him at the most recent event in January, a dance contest, and the MAGFest youtube page finally uploaded the footage of the contest a few weeks ago so now I can see it and share it. This does include music so I leave it up to you decide if you want to mute it for the stream but if you do, please unmute the video after the dance [1:45] so you can hear the videogame celebrity judges give comments. Thanks and once again I hope one day you can attend MAGFest one day. Next year is going to be DOOM themed but now they are thinking of doing a digital event, so you may be able to see the concerts live via a stream.

Joseph Caruso

Hello Jones and Bloodworth, For my Community showcase post I would like to have Brandon interview the guest with an assortment of broad ranging questions related to life and videogames. There is a list of 10, please pick 5 that you like and feel free to skip and replace any unsavory or outlandish questions with a different question from the list. L&R Morgan Mohalla 1- You have mentioned that you have done AV work for your Church in the past, have you ever found working in the games industry difficult or challenging when it comes to matters of faith? 2- Having been in the video game industry for so long, being at Gametrailers, and EZA, is there a corporate or industry position that you would be able to transition to if the need arose? (Possibly at Nintendo) 3- If you could "fix" the videogame industry, what three wishes would you make on a genie's lamp? 4- If the wonderful Brandon Jones needed to step away from EZA and a power vacuum was created, what would you be willing to do to secure power for yourself or the one you believe should lead the group? 5- What video game (or series) do you feel you have the most intimate knowledge of, and could you provide a hyper specific example? 6- Assuming that time, labor, access to people, money and resources were not an issue, what would your dream EZA project be? 7- What is you favorite and least favorite community interactions with the EZA community? 8- What is something about your job that you wish people would understand or appreciate more? 9- What are some lines that you are not willing to cross in the course of your duties at EZA? 10- What is your foolproof plan for making 2020 a year that everyone remembers fondly?

Morgan Mohalla

Dummy comment because I made enough edits to practically make this a second draft. DON'T TAKE THIS AWAY PATREON!!\

Brandon K Gann

Hi Brandon and Blood! As a life long Suikoden fan, you can only imagine my elation when spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicle was finally revealed. I immediately backed the Kickstarter, and and dug in to the Suikoden I and II soundtracks, for a cover, to do what little I could to raise awareness for the kickstarter. Not realising that it would be finished by the time the showcase rolled around, but oh well! I Decided to have a "bite" at the Vampire Neclord's theme, "Gothic Neclord" High fantasy JRPG's and Vampire's. Is there anything cooler? Anyone who finds themselves with the opportunity to play these classics should absolutely give them a fair shake, and please everyone keep your eyes open for Eiyuden Chronicle when it releases. Hope this is a Bloodworthy submission! Enjoy, and stay safe! https://youtu.be/5m8TiqPAJyg

Ciaran Lyttle

Pls dont eat

JessieBlu

Safety

JessieBlu

Deleted "Scene" - This is for "Chat" I took out this paragraph because I can say a lot more than 500 words in 3 minutes =) But, speaking of treats, Blood, I was wondering if there was any chance we could get a fall/Halloween stream update of your Animal Crossing Island? The last time you streamed to test your internet you mentioned you would like to do another stream later in the year. I would love to see you stream it again, or maybe, Brandon if you’re planning to for Halloween, you could visit the islands of the Allies that are still playing once everything is decked out for the season. I know many of the Allies love Halloween and it might be a good time to get them to Hop back in even if they put it down for a while. Animal Crossing is so relaxing you can get lost in it for hours, but it also has the community aspect which is the main reason why I’m still playing. I love sending people stuff they need (feels especially good when Jones thanks me on-stream). That half hour playing in the morning until my pain medications kick in makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something. And sending stuff to people I know they appreciate starts my day off happy.

JessieBlu

Hi Jones, Between equipment issues and an uncooperative family I do not have an audio file to submit. I guess this month you'll have to do the honors and read my comment for me. Greetings Allies and Chat! I hope everyone is well, not just physically, but emotionally. This lock-down has been quite stressful and has taken its toll on a lot of people. I haven’t been forced to stay home like you guys (quite the contrary) but I still miss human physical contact. I thrive on hugs and am feeling very depleted right now. Hopefully as restrictions are lifted and if a vaccine comes before the end of the year we can begin to feel comfortable with the thought spending Holidays together with our friends and families again. For now I'll have to be content with the virtual hugs from my online pals. I wanted to start this month by thanking Bloodworth for the recent video “Ori – A Musical Perspective with Gareth Coker”. This interview was perfect to share with my daughter, not only because she wants to pursue music composition for media in college, but the guest actually attended a school she has on her short-list. We appreciated how in-depth the discussion was and how the references to the pieces of music mentioned had clips of the game behind the discussion (#JonesEdit 10/10!). She took down Mr. Coker’s information because if she should have questions or a project where she has to contact someone in the industry, he would be a great point-of-contact. With everything you do behind the scenes for the business side of Easy Allies, not to mention your podcast appearances, and your monthly Blood Pact game and discussion, when you randomly pop up with a preview, review or one of these videos, it reminds me how far above and beyond you go to bring special treats to the viewers and it makes me want to ask “when do you sleep?” I also wanted to thank you guys for listening to my suggestion about bringing on more “shout-out“ tier sponsorships. I felt really bad I had to lower my pledge but I was glad to see two people move in where I vacated. Hopefully as the economy begins to return to normal, people will up their pledges again. I would like to make one more suggestion… I think you could capitalize on a golden opportunity. I know in the past you had a $2 tier and have mentioned you don’t want to make a new tier if you didn’t have anything you could offer, but I would like to propose the return of the $2 tier and you could call it “Double-Down on Don”. Everyone loves Don. For just one extra dollar a month, you could give a couple days early access to any special shows Don produces. There could be 3 shows, there could be 5, you never know, but the risk/reward for that one dollar to get even a couple days early access would be worth it! The recent Don’t Skip is a great example. Out on paternity leave and he’s still dropping shows on us. Don content is the brass ring of Easy Allies. You never know when it’s gonna pop up but when it does you feel like a million bucks! Thanks for everything that you do. I hope when all the Covid lock-downs are over we can get together without fear of making each other sick. I am a very affectionate person and I need some hugs. L&R JessieBlu

JessieBlu

Safety post

Hello Brandon and Blood, Since covid hit I've been stuck I home so I've started learning Unity and Pixel art for fun. Here is a video of a game i've been working on. This is showing the Dialogue system and will be maybe the opening scene. There is still a bunch I want to change but pretty happy with it so far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcXRX7USkos

Only two real things of note in gaming for me happened in August; gamescom and my first playthrough of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The bulk of what I’ll talk about will be Deus Ex, as I just finished the main game, the three DLC missions, and an interesting mode called Breach. Last month I said Human Revolution was pretty good and after enjoying my time, I wanted to try the sequel. Overall, I don’t like Mankind Divided as much. To start with the positives, being on current gen has noticeable improvement in its look over the prior game and Prague is a more interesting setting than Human Revolution’s Detroit and China. Also, my major critique of being forced to play a certain way at times was addressed, and I greatly appreciated being able to play how I wanted from beginning to end. And to echo a praise I said last month, I really enjoy the conversation system, though it doesn’t look as nice here. Also finding Portal’s companion cube in a basement was equally bizarre and delightful. However, the reason why I’m not as high on Mankind Divided is with the exception of a couple side-quests, many of the narratives weren’t as interesting as almost everything in Human Revolution. So much so I felt many of the quests, especially the main plot, felt muddy and by the conclusion, it didn’t feel satisfying. Sure, it’s pretty easy to identify the main bad guy half-way through (which for a game all about conspiracy and manipulators in the shadows, this isn’t really ideal), the problem is the story didn’t leave an impact, plus there’s a couple of plot holes. In the other mode, Breach, you complete various challenges where you need to download data, take out a certain amount of enemies, or accomplish another goal and once you reach a pre-requisite amount, a timer starts where you need to reach the spot you spawned in or you fail. There’s potential and fun to be had, but its Achilles Heel is the exponential difficulty spike the longer you play. After you complete a challenge, the A.I. automatically gets better in one of three areas: Damage, Defense, and other buffs. This eventually means you can’t make a dent and they’ll eliminate you in about three or four shots. Eventually, you’ll run out of ammo, not have the proper equipment, and with the booster pack system, you can’t purchase what you need to keep playing new stuff. Take out the modifiers and booster packs, and this could’ve been the best thing about Mankind Divided. To close, gamescom’s ONL was decent, though not as good as the PS5 reveal stream. I DID appreciate seeing DOOM: Eternal’s DLC and Crash Bandicoot 4, but it was the Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Demo that has me HYPED. With the announcement of “launch window” coupled with Halo: Infinite’s delay, the PS5 has now pulled ahead of the Series X in which one I’ll get first, though still not at launch.

Brandon K Gann

You’re a rockstar.

Eric Jackson

Hey Brandon and Blood, Hope you’re doing well. As per usual, the night before the showcase and I’ve decided to throw a little something together. I’m currently the Dungeon Master for my group of friends (don’t worry, we are well and truly socially distant), and I decided to tell a portion of the first part of their ongoing journey with character voices included. I hope you all enjoy. See if you can spot the subliminal messages I’ve subtly thrown in for good measure. And as always, Love and Respect. https://youtu.be/ttwPZxTmdj8

Eric Jackson

Hello Blood & Jones! August was an unusual month for my gaming, meaning that I tend to be very methodical about how I choose the games I play, but this month I just let go. The next game in my backlog is Xenoblade Chronicles, but after spending 4 months with Breath of the Wild, I didn’t want to jump to another multi-month adventure right away; so I’ve been playing some re-releases of classic games. I got the Mega Man X collection on the ps4 on a sale a few months ago mainly because I have never played the games released on Sony platforms, but wouldn’t you know, I haven’t touch those yet and have just played the SNES ones. Also not sure why I got the urge of press the share button on the ps4 controller and have been streaming my play thru on Twitch; but turns out Sunday morning streams with neither a camera nor a mic does not attract viewers; but still it has been a fun experiment mainly because I get so self conscious every time I fail; it doesn’t matter nobody is watching, I don’t want to fail in front of my non-existent audience. On another note, the wife got the Castlevania Collection sometime ago, and after checking the trophy list I realized we hadn’t beat any of the games on it; so I picked that one up again with the intention to get the platinum. It’s not supposed to be that hard, all of the trophies are bounded to finishing each of the games, but then again, beating any Castlevania is no walk in the park. And since I’m talking about Castlevania, I think I have mentioned before how I got into the series because the wife introduced me to it very early in our relationship. In one of our first dates Symphony of the Night came up (the only one I had played) and I blew her mind when I told her there was an inverted castle that she had missed; so we played it together shortly after. A couple of weeks ago, that Castlevania itch came back to her, and she decided to get it for the ps4, even when we already had it for the ps3. We spent the last 2 weeks playing it with my cousin, and her mind was also blown when we got to the inverted castle and she realized that we were only half-way done with the game. Symphony of the Night is truly one of the greats. And that’s it for this month, allies. I hope you and your families are doing well. The world is such a crazy place right now, but having these monthly streams where the community shares their talent and passion around gaming does help get a sense on normalcy even during the craziest of situations. Estamos en contact, César.

César Villa

Safety post

Happy Gaming

Hey there Blood and Brandon, This month, I've been working hard getting capture and editing equipment all in order. I haven't had the drive to do podcasting as much as I have in the past, but have been wanting to get back into it, and to start producing more video content to go alongside it. Because I do all of this myself, it is fairly time consuming, but I was able to get a complete review up for Detention, which you read my closing comments on last month. The video is a little over 6 minutes, so you'll have to cut me off, but I am very happy with the results. I wanted to share it and hopefully get constructive criticism if possible for future videos! Love and Respect, Brian from Happy Gaming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkF9kOIiZzw&feature=emb_logo

Happy Gaming

Please don’t evaporate.

Michelle Jackson

Howdy Allies! The Unusuals demo is split into 2 halves that focus on each protagonist. Previous submissions have mostly shown Perenelle’s half, so I wanted to share something from Vincenzo’s half. Sorry for all the awkward cuts, it was a bit tough getting the video under 3 minutes. https://youtu.be/l5CP1npY2RM

Michelle Jackson

Safety save and wear a mask.

Sara Knite

Greetings Blood and Jones! Hope you are doing well. No artwork this month since I’m continuing my work on the webcomic and coming to the decision of redrawing the line art using a new brush and updating character designs for the first 3 episodes. Fuuuuuuuuuun. I keep telling myself that it needs to be done since I’ve been secretly hating how I’ve done the line art and really like how it came out in episode 4. Consistency is important, people! I’ve also been at work drawing up the #drawtober prompts that I got from the community. You’ve heard right. I’m not going to use #Inktober this year since the creator of the hashtag has now been caught plagiarizing from a black artist. As someone who has had their work plagiarized before, I have zero tolerance for those that do. Now for something a little personal. 3 weeks back, 2020 has hit me. My dad was sent to the hospital where it was discovered that he has liver damage and it’s irreversible. He stayed there for 2 and a half weeks and has come home even better than when he left. He’ll be taking medication for the rest of his life and he has said that he’s gonna work at taking better care of himself which is all I can really ask for. During this whole time, I’ve been keeping my nose to my work and being in chat during streams really helped keep my mind in focus. So I want to thank Easy Allies, my fellow mods, and the community for helping me through this difficult time. Love you all. Hope everyone is staying safe out there, wear a mask, and wash your hands! Black lives matter! Much love and respect, Sara Imshaug SaraKnite

Sara Knite

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Adam Hentschel

Hey Blood and Brandon! In light of the recent 3D Mario Collection, I re-harmonized the hub world theme from Super Mario Galaxy and recorded it in a jazz quartet setting. As always, thanks for listening! Adam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6qeBGJ5WXc.

Adam Hentschel

Hey Brandon and Blood, This has been a busy month of gaming. My main focus at the start was on Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. I played the game everyday for the first week and went on to get the platinum trophy. The hardest part being win 5 times in a row. I had a 4 win and lost on the final. Multiple 3 streaks losing on team games. I finally got the 5 wins by quitting out when I was going to lose to keep my streak going. I got 2 wins, had to quit once, 2 more wins, 2 quits and a win to get the trophy. I know it isn't the way they wanted the trophy to be unlocked, but I went with it as I was done with the game and wanted to move on. I moved on to Hitman 2 and finished all DLC trophies. The trophy list is so big, they had to split it into 2 lists as around 128 trophies is the maximum. Hitman 2 has 146 trophies in total. Not a hard completion overall. Just time consuming. A fun game that I would recommend. Each weekend, I work towards my completion on The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game with my son. He is 7 and enjoys working together. He always gets excited when we get a trophy. Finally, I have been enjoying my time with Apex Legends new season. Still a very enjoyable Battle Royale. Hope all of you in chat and the Allies are well. Love and Respect, BeardedScotsman86

BeardedScotsman86

Hello Brandon & Blood. Do you like when video games have bugs? I love it for many reasons. Glitches can give you an inside on how video games actually work. They can introduce fascinating troubleshooting puzzles that will make you feel really smart upon completion. They can personalize your gameplay experience by making some parts much easier or much harder. And if game isn’t that good, entertaining bugs can be the only reason to keep playing. In May I’ve submitted a tribute to this aspect of video games. But I couldn’t fit everything into 3 minutes, and the bugs kept coming. So today I present another collection of glitches from games I’ve played recently. Spoiler warning for The Last of Us Part II and Xenoblade Chronicles! And apologies for occasional Russian language – sometimes I play games dubbed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQU9yA0pEyE

Alexander Zyryanov