Submission Type

Links to Image/Audio/Video

Ayo Allies, I'm submitting a song from my friend's musical project, Birthday Bike. The song is called "Tom Moves to America", off the recently-released, debut album, "Thanks, Man", and it is inspired by a character from one of our favorite games, Shenmue.

I was involved in the writing/recording/performing/producing/mixing of the album, over the course of many years, out of the love and respect for my friend because you know...bonds.

This DIY project has been super important to my buddy and though we have no expectations regarding its success outside of our immediate friend group, I figured the least I could do is a bit of targeted advertising.

If anyone is interested in hearing more, the album is on multiple streaming services, including Spotify and Bandcamp under "Birthday Bike". Thanks for your consideration.

L&R,
Darumo

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/track/2Q1syO8mWOFJbEYdNmcRT1

Download (.WAV):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-BM6tT4hFNFDyAizOqk6TErFPXqnTRH3/view?usp=drivesdk

Hello Huber and Damiani!

I can’t count the dozens of indie games that were the highlight of unE3 this year! But also, thank you Square Enix and Capcom for bringing it this year! The Square Enix release schedule alone over the next less than two years is impressive! Still waiting for Nintendo, though…
While we wait for the 29th (hopefully…) and perhaps a look at “The sequel to The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild” (hopefully…), here’s a related musical submission: after turning Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule Castle from minor to major some time ago, I’m going back to this track to put it through the N64 sound treatment!

PS : Welcome Gabby, wonderful choice!

L&R,
Kévin Gillet

(It’s longer than 3 minutes, feel free to cut short, it’s the full outside version first and the inside organ version kicks in at 2:25) (and yes, it's a video, but it's music, that's how the old categories worked but clarify if you want to do it differently)

https://youtu.be/SBwSSFbpRW8

https://youtu.be/leztzSmZhIE

Hello Damiani and Huber!

Hope you guys are doing well and are fully recovered from the onslaught of video game madness.

Anyway, I’ve spent the last three months working on my entry for the Webtoons Call to Action contest, and I’m pretty confident that I’ll get the first half of chapter 1 done before the July 31st deadline. So, yeah, I have to split the chapter in half to fit the required criteria. I’m fine with that, that just shows how passionate I am for this story.

As for the comic itself, called Pantheras, without giving too much away, it’s largely inspired by some of my favorite shows like Avatar the Last Airbender, Gravity Falls, The Owl House, and Amphibia (by the way, Damiani, you should check out Amphibia, it’s heavily inspired by Zelda but with frogs and is on Disney+. One of the characters even looks like Link!)

The stuff you’re about to see are images that I’ve posted on social media and a few showcase exclusive images. Including one with a special announcement!

Hope you guys enjoy them, continue to stay safe, and be awesome to everyone around you.

Much love and respect,
Sara Knite

(These are little descriptions that should be read with the images shown.)
1 - This is the main protagonist. She may have a stern look on her face, but she secretly likes kittens.

2 - This guy is the deuteragonist and even though he has a huge smile on his face, he’s filled with a whole bunch of secrets. Also, sorry for the empty space. Had to hide a spoiler.

3 - This is a design for the guards of a city that the chapter starts out in.

4 - A little something I did to celebrate Pride Month.

5 - A little behind-the-scenes thing that I posted on Twitter. Look at this smug boy.

6 - Here’s a map of Pantheras where the story takes place.

7 - And here’s the promo poster! The one after this is a textless version.

8 - By now, I’ve posted a series of numbers in chat. Can anyone solve it? Will be posted on Twitter immediately after my showcase entry is done.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14_mh2XhTa1KmktjDjeNm4340wwP2zIcC?usp=sharing

Hi guys, this month I am submitting six drawings of FF9 characters I did for my "let's play" thumbnails, and a seventh FF7 drawing I did for the 25th anniversary! Hope you like them!~

https://imgur.com/a/UWe5dOE

https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1538830528740265986

https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1537682771837067264

https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1538418366276419584

https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1538418842497691648

Samo Rozman (@Namzor)

Aloha Damiani and Huber,

Its been a few months since my last post again and I got some good stuff to share this time. I finally had a opportunity to get off-island and went on a short trip to LA for Star Wars Celebration at the end of May. Had a great time but was extremely exhausted by the end of it. Saw a bunch of cool panels, bought some merch, even visited Disney for the Star Wars After Dark special event. There's way more than 9 pictures in the post, so feel free to pick and choose your favorites to showcase on stream.

As always, Mahalo nui loa for everything you do,
Love & Respect,
Samo Rozman
@Namzor


P.S. Also that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Special edition pre-order on Nintendo's eShop was just horrendous, they need to get it together to avoid another fustercluck like that.

https://imgur.com/a/wC56ebW

Hey Damiani and Huber,
For this month I was a little stacked with DnD prep for the two campaigns I run, so I wasn't able to produce any juggling video or voice over clip. Instead I have chosen to showcase just 4 of the 70-odd photos that I shot/edited from my trip back home. My baby nephew was born a few months ago, and he was a big reason that brought me back to the midwest.
The pictures show me holding a very grumpy baby after he had been passed through half a dozen people, my brother with his child, a lovely closeup, and a nice little shot of the older generation with the younger. They are my heart and my joy, and I want to take a moment here to celebrate them.

Additionally, I just wanted to say, Huber, though I know no words can heal the damage suffered by your enormous heart, I wish that my voice can join the tidal wave of love coming from this community that desires only for your happiness and health. Just as we sought to support Brandon and Amanda when they were in need, so too do we want to see you succeed and thrive. Your love of games like Persona 5, Resident Evil, and Shenmue truly inspires joy in those of us who follow your work and your streams. To me you are joy, you are love, you are passion, and the world would be a far darker and less jolly place without you in it. You are loved by so much of my heart. You are my spirit animal, my patronus, my totem, and I wish you nothing but love and happiness. I'm sorry it's taken so long for my words to be expressed and felt, as I'm not often on twitter, but I hope this sentiment has been worth the wait.

Thank you for indulging in my long comment.
Thank you for all that you do.
Love, Joy, and Respect,
Eric Jackson, AKA JacksOnDeck on twitch

https://twitter.com/AllyEricJackson/status/1539122486960332800

Greetings Damiani-San and Huber-Senpai,

As you may have guessed by that introduction, and by December’s Q&A, I have recently become a devout worshiper of the Church of Saint Majima the Deranged and Saint Kazuma the Ever-Suffering. That’s right, we’re gonna talk about Yakuza, a series I started playing this past November.

I have Gamefly, mostly because I have more than one system, and I don’t want to buy all the streaming services at once, but the trade-off is playing whatever game is sent to you. That said, I started with Kiwami 2, and Fate help me, it was like walking through a flowery field in the Alps. Even with all the hype going in, even with all the weird stuff I’ve heard about the series. NOTHING could have prepared me for the melodrama, the weirdness, the silliness, or the genuine heart of this game. I could just say it’s a beat-em-up, but it’s also a business management sim, an RTS, a minigame compilation, and a dating simulator among other things.

I decimated both Kiwami games, I also cut through the Remaster of Yakuza 3. That game wrecked me. When you get to the ‘all is lost’ moment, it’s soul wrenching. I don’t think I’ve seen Kiryu so deeply hurt and emotional in a scene, and everything that happened leading up to it felt like a gut punch. So far, Kiwami 2 is my favorite game in the series.

There’s just something about Yakuza. Its characters, the story it tells that is so engaging and entertaining. So many big, overly dramatic personalities clashing against each other, strange side characters that are in juxtaposition with Kiryu’s deadpan personality. The weirdness of completing a silly task or minigame and watching Kiryu’s mostly stoic expression turn into a goofy grin or orgasmic groan (don’t think for a second I didn’t take great joy in the Voice Actor Sidestory in Kiwami 2.)

Anyone who hasn’t played a Yakuza game before, please, please, please do so. I don’t know how Like a Dragon is, but 0-6 are a time you will never forget, and I promise that you will enjoy every second of it and all of the absurdity within.

That’s all from me. Who knows what I’ll talk about next time, but at least you can be assured that it will be a wild ride if I have anything to say about it. Until then, see you at the batting cages, or somewhere else in Kamurocho.

Love and Respect,
R.F. Switch, First Chairwoman of the Console Adapter Family.

P.S. Unsurprisingly, the Tarot card that best represents Huber is Major Arcana XVII – The Star. For he calls upon hope and looks forward towards the future. And, you know, wishing upon a star.

For this month, I’ll rapid-fire about everything I played since March for the first time, going negative to positive.

First up: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. King of Cards was meh, liked Spector of Torment, Showdown is fine, Shovel of Hope irked me down the stretch, and I couldn’t get past the opening level in Plague of Shadows because of how bizarre and frustrating Plague Knight’s controls are. Overall, I regret getting this.

Back 4 Blood’s Tunnels of Terror DLC is interesting: Head into Ridden Hives to recover Skull Totems and escape. However, both getting into a Hive and the type of Hive itself is a random spawn. Not being a stand-alone option in Fort Hope is baffling. Fun, but too frustrating to get to them.

Super Mario Maker 2 is an incredible cache of creativity in course design. However, not having online means no accessing community created stuff, so the massive appeal is locked off to me. Still, story courses are mostly great.

Ghostrunner’s Project Hel DLC is a prequel story taking about 2-6 hours. A great reminder why I love the base game, and thankfully doesn’t have much of the difficulty spike from the main campaign. An easy recommend for Ghostrunner fans.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is now my second favorite Borderlands game behind Borderlands 2 (especially Wonderlands’ inspiration Assault on Dragon Keep), because the D&D aesthetic is fantastic and fuses quite well with the Borderlands formula. Writing is a major improvement for the franchise, the Overworld is neat, and casting meteors NEVER gets old.

On April 24th, I FINALLY started Smash Ultimate. I rotate between Cloud, Sephiroth, and Sora, and as of writing, I’ve done brief training, one 8-player match with the CPU, and completed 80% of Classic Mode. But the other dozens and dozens of hours have been spent on the Spirit Board and World of Light. Overall, it’s been quite fun.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is one of the funniest games I’ve played. Including the new content, it took me six hours to witness everything. While it became a bit tedious in roughly the last hour, I have only VERY positive feelings towards it.

Lastly, I’m happiest to have played Super Mario Galaxy via the 3D All Stars collection. Didn’t like Super Mario 64, but finished it. Super Mario Sunshine? Never felt fun for several reasons and stopped my playthrough with 29 Shine Sprites. I always want to finish games because of the financial investment, so stopping is rare and I HATE that feeling. But Galaxy? Got EVERY Star and it was fantastic from the space theme to how it plays. A few stars are quite challenging, but overall, very approachable and nothing overstayed its welcome.

To close, after 18 months, I’ve started Cyberpunk 2077, so detailed thoughts in another Showcase, as well as thoughts about this month’s announcements. Still can’t believe Kingdom Hearts IV is real and ready to wait another five years for it to release, and turned 30 in May, so there’s that

Hello Damiani and Huber! I am typing this from a coffee shop. And even on Monday watching, probably at a coffee shop. A bit of a gaming update on my end! Finished Ocarina of Time in the beginning of the month and it was indeed fantastic. Highly deserving of all of its praises. I am chugging along with Horizon: Forbidden West. Really enjoying myself a lot with the main quests and a majority of the side quests. A slight few do leave my mind more quickly than the more memorable ones, but the ones that do involve combat are grand in spectacle. Hello Thunderjaws and Stormbirds. Thought I would use this month to catch up on my 12 in 12 Backlog Goals for the year, but Horizon has taken up a lot of that time. Sorry to God of War Ascension, Paper Mario, and Metroid Prime 2. The convenience of getting to transfer the PS3 trophies to this new PS+ Premium subscription is very tempting for the God of War Platinum journey I am attempting right now. But, God of War Ascension has had a few stutters, so we shall see.

Actual submission time! The Easy Allies Forums conducted another Hall of Greats for the month of May! The winners this time were Batman: Arkham Asylum brought by @capnbobamous and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt brought by @JDINCINERATOR! As for myself, I brought Madden 07, because I love that game dearly, maybe nostalgia factors into that. I am surprised by the outcome though, of it getting two votes and not getting banned. So that is a win! I am already preparing for the next one to actually bring a game that isn't a sports game. Here is the link for all of our seven games brought and our deliberations: https://forums.easyallies.com/topic/6547/the-eza-forum-hall-of-greats-may-2022

I hope you two are doing well overall though. Love & Respect! Go Jets! Hail Hydra!

https://forums.easyallies.com/topic/6547/the-eza-forum-hall-of-greats-may-2022

Hi Huber and Damiani,

For this showcase I’ll be doing a bit of ranting and raving. First off though, I want to commend Huber for always being a wonderful spirit in the videogame industry, always passionate yet headstrong, with an ability to see the good in most games he plays. I think it’s such a gift to have this wonderful quality in an age where negativity runs rampant.

Anyway I’ll start by saying I love playing games, will play just about any game there is, and I love sharing my viewpoints and my experiences with others. I thought I’d start with this primer, as the rest of the showcase, I just want to vent a bit on some videogame-related topics that are on my mind.

I am getting quite bored with the videogame industry as a whole. I know I’ll keep playing games and sharing my diatribes on the EZA community forums, but I can’t unglue myself from the notion of witnessing the industry I love going through the motions. The same old remakes, reboots, unnecessary sequels, safe cash-ins, unimaginative games with stale gameplay that fail to evolve formulae, games that place an emphasis on technology to the detriment of everything else; along with cinematic games that pretty much throw gameplay out of a ten-story building onto the mangled roof of a car, bleeding in the presence of the moonlight and shattered windshield glass.

I’ll take Sniper Elite 5 and express that despite it being a fun Nazi-sniping experience, it feels basic and bland, not helped by Karl Fairburne’s one-dimensional attitude towards the Nazis in a been-there-done that F-U Nazis parade of eye-turning clichés.

The Quarry meanwhile, is an impressive horror experience with the amount of decisions, story paths and endings it offers players, but underneath I think it’s an undeveloped if much larger game than Until Dawn. Oh, and the cast of characters are stereotypical and detestable teenaged morons. Half of me revels in the fact we can be the cause of their gruesome and hellacious deaths, while the other half of me wants to pour salted water into my eyes everytime one of the characters says or does something really stupid.

Elden Ring might as well get the EZA GOTY already considering everyone and their pussycat dolls loves it that much. Now, I appreciate Elden Ring and I know there are very good reasons it hits the mark with so very many people. But the way I see it, Elden Ring is only really presenting us with the things we love about games already. Take a Souls game and bolt it to a Breath of the Wild open-world and then you got your GOTY. To me it appears to be a game that’s making us immersed and obsessed in its world whilst masking how unambitious it is underneath, by refusing to show us something truly new.

Wow these Community Showcases need to a thousand words-there isn’t enough room to say everything here.

Thanks for all that you do.
Love and Respect.

Hi Huber and Damiani,

For this showcase I’ll be doing a bit of incoherent ranting and raving. First off though, I want to commend Huber for always being a wonderful spirit in the videogame industry, always passionate yet headstrong, with an ability to see the good in most games he plays. I think it’s such a gift to have this wonderful quality in an age where negativity runs rampant.

Anyway I’ll start by saying I love playing games, will play just about any game there is, and I love sharing my viewpoints and my experiences with others. I thought I’d start with this primer, as the rest of the showcase, I want to vent on some videogame-related topics that are on my mind.

I am getting quite bored with the videogame industry as a whole. I know I’ll keep playing games and sharing my diatribes on the EZA community forums, but I can’t unglue myself from the notion of witnessing the industry I love going through the motions. The same old remakes, reboots, unnecessary sequels, safe cash-ins, unimaginative games with stale gameplay that fail to evolve formulae, games that place an emphasis on technology to the detriment of everything else; along with cinematic games that pretty much throw gameplay out of a ten-story building onto the mangled roof of a car, bleeding in the presence of the moonlight and shattered windshield glass. The Summer Game Fest presentation exemplified it all as far as I'm concerned.


The Quarry meanwhile, is an impressive horror experience with the amount of decisions, story paths and endings it offers players, but underneath I think it’s an undeveloped if much larger game than Until Dawn. Oh, and the cast of characters are stereotypical and detestable teenaged morons. Half of me revels in the fact we can be the cause of their gruesome and hellacious deaths, while the other half of me wants to pour salted water into my eyes everytime one of the characters says or does something really stupid.

Elden Ring might as well get the EZA GOTY already considering everyone and their pussycat dolls loves it that much. Now, I appreciate Elden Ring and I know there are very good reasons it hits the mark with so very many people. But the way I see it, Elden Ring is only really presenting us with the things we love about games already. Take a Souls game and bolt it to a Breath of the Wild open-world and then you got your GOTY. To me it appears to be a game that’s making us immersed and obsessed in its world whilst masking how unambitious it is underneath, by refusing to show us something truly new.

Wow these Community Showcases need to a thousand words-there isn’t enough room to say everything here.

Thanks for all that you do.
Love and Respect.

Hello Mike and Mike,

Reporting once again from the EZA Forums. We recently completed another EZA Community retro GOTY election. This time for the year 2005!

As a reminder, the rules are for every participant to send their top 4 games for the year, which receive points according to their ranking. With 4 optional honorable mentions worth 1 point each.

Before I reveal the top scoring games. What are your personal GOTYs from 2005?

Here are the results! Feel free to read it as a countdown and I'd love to hear your comments.

#16. The Warriors - (4 points)
#16. SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs - (4 points)
#16. Myst V: End of Ages - (4 points)
#16. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - (4 points)
#16. Fatal Frame III: The Tormented - (4 points)
#16. Advance Wars: Dual Strike - (4 points)

#15. Mario Kart DS - (5 points)
#14. SWAT 4 - (5 points)
#13. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland - (5 points)
#12. Burnout Revenge - (7 points)
#11. Star Wars: Battlefront II - (8 points)

#10. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories - (8 points)
#9. Pokémon Emerald - (8 points)
#8. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - (9 points)
#7. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - (10 points)
#6. Need for Speed: Most Wanted - (10 points)

#5. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening - (11 points)
#4. Psychonauts - (13 points)
#3. God of War - (16 points)
#2. Shadow of the Colossus - (27 points)
#1. Resident Evil 4 - (33 points)

I also want to give a shout out. Voting has already begun for the next GOTY election and it's for the year of 2004! Everyone in the EZA community is welcome to join. Just head over to the EZA forums to participate.

Love and Respect,
Shoulderguy

Hello Chat and Hello Mike & Mike! - Greetings from the Midwest

Huber, I am pleased to see you on the couch again. I know it is bittersweet to see you solo-streaming so much in what Americans would call the “wee hours of the morning”. I’m not usually up because of work, but your mellow conversations with Chat keep me company while I listen to the vods the next day or throughout the week. I’m glad we have such an awesome and supportive community to help each other through the rough points in our lives. You help lighten our spirits and we help lighten yours. I thoroughly loved your playthrough of Rogue Legacy 2. The soundtrack and audio design really made that game enjoyable to listen to, as well as you reading the lore and your banter with Chat, just made for an uplifting experience. It has been a tough few months dealing with extra work for a position they refuse to replace but I have good news…

A couple weeks ago I gave them notice at work that I would be departing the third week of July and they would need to find someone to replace me. I am leaving the accounting/data entry field, taking a couple weeks off to rest and heal and then I would pursue a part time position in childcare, leaving more time for me to work on my voice acting side gig. If all goes well, I will have more time and energy to post videos on my Youtube channel and submit auditions for actual work. I am elated but also apprehensive. I know that the past couple years I have been preparing for this; working a second job in order to get my finances in order; training and practicing with the equipment and software; making connections and fostering relationships in the industry, and emotionally preparing myself, to be confident in my talent. The biggest help for that last one has been this community. Every submission I make to the showcase has been gleefully accepted and praised by you amazing and awesome people. The Allies and their industry friends have passed on my links and offered feedback. Thay have all made me feel so accepted.

So I guess I just wanted to take this time to thank you all for helping to make my dreams come true. In 4 weeks, I will make a leap into the deep end of the pool, but I know with the help of the Allies and this wonderful community I will swim. I wanted to send a hug to each and every one of you (and two for Huber). Seeing you go through everything you have in the past few years and still hanging on to your positivity has been an inspiration. And I know that I am strong like you and I can get through this and “Achieve My Dream!” - L&R Hugs and Smiles, Jessie Blu

There was a recent Love&Respect submission from a dedicated patron who documented every time Huber said that he loved something over the past 12 months and presented it to the panel. While the panel and myself had a blast listening to the list and Huber's reaction to said list, I want to express that the large list of things Huber says he loves did not feel like any sort of mockery but rather a celebration of Huber and life itself.

Sure, you could say that the frequency of a statement diminishes the impact of the statement, but when Huber says he loves something, I truly believe him in that moment, and it often makes me consider how much I love that thing too. I have a friend who I swear has a new all time favorite game or movie or food every two weeks, so I understand from experience that it's easy to assume that someone like Huber might... exaggerate a bit when it comes to his enthusiasm. But I can assure you that you can admire Huber for his purity. I was the guy at the two year Easy Allies anniversary concert in the bathroom that overhead Huber ask Brad about the top 10 bathroom fight scenes, so yes, he really does act the same off camera as he does on camera.

Huber helps us realize that there is so much in this world to love. I love the smell of rain on hot asphalt, or a living room at night lit only by the lights on a Christmas tree, or the PING sound of an M1 Garand in a World War 2 shooter, or laughing until you cry from someone in chat typing CHIMney Cricket during the E3 stream where everyone was referencing CHIM and Huber was distracted by a loud cricket outside of Brandon Jones' garage.

Huber, we love you. There's plenty in this world to make us sad, but there's more to love, and just one of those things to love is your character Law on Tabletop Escapades explaining to the prison guard how your jail cell bars got bent by saying with confidence "I fight in my sleep."

Mike & Mike!
Greetings.

At first this felt like a great opportunity to continue my chiptune EZA remixes with the Mike & Mike theme, and although I have started the Mike & Mike song I am not entirely satisfied yet, so it will have to wait until next time this duo take a seat together.

So let's just talk some games, summer, hobbies and whatnot.
I just began the first of four weeks of vacation today and have just started up Cyberpunk 2077 again. I played about 4 hours on release then stopped, waiting for it to get to a better state. In the end, I had waited for about 7 years, I could wait a bit longer. But now felt like a lovely time to dive back in, and it's fun. Feels weirdly great to play something else after basically only playing Elden Ring since February.
As for other vacation plans, I don't really like to make myself too busy since I feel like that's not the point of vacation. Not for me at least. I just wanna relax and get my energy back for the next work year.
But I have a few things on my agenda, I just got two new Warhammer minis that I'm gonna paint (perhaps will share the progress on July's showcase.)
I'm gonna take some time and do a hard cleanup of my Magic the Gathering cards (stash of shame.)
As per usual I will enjoy my time biking around where I live. Love finding new small roads to lead me somewhere slightly unfamiliar.
And last but certainly not least. I am gonna hammer in some great studio/recording time with my band. Since we got our own equipment up in the rehearsal space this spring. Songs are coming along and it's super exciting. Hoping to start releasing some tunes later this year or early next year.

Also, a shoutout to your great coverage as always during these event-filled times of the year. Always love the time leading up, with anticipation, expectations, hype and betting (great betting show, one of the goats!)
Can't wait to see the results show for the bets, always a jolly time.

Gonna end on a question. Do you have any summer-activities you love to do?

Take care. Love & Respect.

Good day Damiani and Huber,

I hope you’re both doing well today.

I just have some random thoughts this month.
I managed to get through my first ever From Soft game; Elden Ring. Correction: My Mimic Tear beat Elden Ring, I mostly stood and watched, whilst chugging down Crimson Tears and missing out on the killing blows. Beating the Valkyrie Queen with no damage on God of War’s hardest difficulty had no way prepared me for the challenge of this game, some of the fights just felt so brutal and insane, It made me run back to the Valkryie Queen. I never want to encounter Scarlet Rot ever again, the most annoying status effect I can remember. Having said that there was fun to be had but it ended being exhausting, because I was usually on edge and even some mid tier enemies keep coming back, near the end game I can’t remember how many dragons you have take on, it just got a bit much.
Overall; Cheesing and Mimic tear for the win!

I started playing Horizon Forbidden West around the same time, thought I would find it a breeze after Elden Ring but even on normal I’m finding some fights really challenging, the only reason I usually get by is the amount of healing items and skills the game provides, like smoke bombs, help to get away when feeling overwhelmed. I’m probably getting worse at games in general as almost everything I play, apart from turned based tactics seems to be a challenge.
I was going to write how nice it was to play a polished title like Horizon after Elden Ring until I came across a bug that prevented me from finishing a Rebel Camp and thus obtaining the platinum. An update was supposed to solve this but sadly didn’t work for me, I’m glad they added new game plus.

I grew up playing TNMT in the arcades but Shredder’s Revenge isn't doing it for me, not sure why, doesn't help that I really suck at this game.

I love Turned based tactics games but regret going through King Arthurs; A Knights Tale. Fights were fun for a while but it got really repetitive. Skipped every cutscenes and have no regrets.

On TV side of things;
Barry Season 3 was brilliant and weird.

Stranger Things 4 is awesome, shame we have to wait for part 2.

The Boys season 3 has arrived and, in my opinion, it’s still great, always so excited for the next episode.

Finally got around to starting Better Call Saul, I’m only on season 3 at the moment but loving it more than I thought I would but it’s eating up my gaming time.

Personal note; I feel out of touch with EZA with the absence of Cup of Jones, but I’m glad someone we recognise, Gabby, is the new community manager.

Betting Specials are the bomb and can’t wait for the results show.

Love and Respect
Robert Lee

Howdy Allies!

Thinking back, the last couple of weeks have been quite the blur. Between extended hours at the thrift shop I intern at, Summer Games Fest and just general life stuff, I'm not quite sure what happened and when it happened. And despite all of that, we've still yet to see neither hide nor hair of the Nintendo Direct. I'm not worried, though, because for the last couple of years, except 2020, they've almost always done a Direct in February, one in June, and one in September, so they'll announce it any day now. In fact, I am sure that as I'm writing this, if I just go and check twitter right now then the announcement will be there!

...What do you mean "20 Minute Xenoblade 3 Direct?"

Welp, goes to show that you should never think you can predict what Nintendo will do. Oh well.

Since Huber is here, I might as well talk about something I first played through a couple of months ago and got back to replaying recently: Hitman 1 and 2. Considering how much I enjoy Dishonored I really should have gotten into Hitman because a lot of what I enjoy about the former is also present in the latter. The big difference, I feel, is that Dishonored prioritizes free mobility and verticality, while Hitman focuses more on varied approaches and puzzle-like game design.

And I have to mention just how much I love Agent 47 himself. I don't think I've ever seen a character express so much by expressing so little, and his indifferent stoicism in the face of the often absurd people and situations he finds himself in is genuinely hilarious. He is easily one of my new all-time favourite video game protagonists. Now to pick up Hitman 3 as soon as I get the chance.

Also, in case you were curious, Huber, my favourite levels in each of the games are Sapienza and Mumbai, respectively.

I also want to vouch for a really neat little indie game I stumbled upon and ended up really loving: A bite-sized twinstick shooter called 20 Minutes Till Dawn. As the title implies, you need to survive for 20 minutes against increasingly large hordes of Lovecraft-lite monsters, and even though the game just launched in Early Access it has a ton of stuff in it already, with seven characters with unique traits like lightning magic or turning into a gunfire tornado, alongside seven different weapons that all function radically different. There is a Batgun. I refuse to elaborate. On top of that, the game has in-run upgrades with like 70 different perks and a more permanent talent tree you can upgrade between runs, as well as a gradually increasing difficulty system that ensures you won't get too comfortable even if you figured out a really good build. At just three dollars, this game is an absolute steal, so give it a shot!

That's it for this month, I think. Peace out, Allies. Love and Respect.

I really need to write these earlier. Sitting here after watching the hockey game and Tampa is still in it. I've had my share of beverages and good times with friends, yet one last stop before I head to bed is to write whatever I am about to write now. I also probably need to turn on my alarm for the morning. Should also eat something...

Anyhoo, video games. Sure. I really dislike the writing for the Horizon games. I think there is a solid story in there. The gameplay is tight. But, man, there is a lot I don't give a crap about. I think they really struggle with writing stories or editing things down to a good pace. I remember this problem being in the first game too. There is just a lot of nothing that gets said at times. There is just something that is off. I am one who tends to never skip optional dialogue in games. Let me hear those character stories. With these games though... holy crap that struggle was too much. I thought, maybe I just don't like that character. Get to another character I am jiving with. Three optional sentences later and I am checked out completely. A story editor is desperately needed. I still love all the bugs in the Horizon games. The latest did not disappoint. There was even a cut scene where the door closed too early and the characters went through it. Beautiful. Those hair physics. Works of art.

What else? I upgraded PS Plus. I've wanted to play Returnal and Guardians of the Galaxy. Cost seems worth it. Lots of games to dive into. First one on the list was Intelligent Qube. That is a phenomenal game. Love me a good puzzle game. Also, the best soundtrack. Does the game need music that good? Absolutely not. Am I glad it is there? Hell yea. They know it. There is even a trophy called "Isn't this music a bit 'too epic' for this game?" Just one word. Perfect.

Lastly, One Piece is so fricking great right now. The author is taking a month and he deserves it. Story is entering it's final saga. Great. That could be another 5 years. I'm here for it. What a time to be a fan. The Live-action series. Love seeing that they are actually building the sets and not just CG. That's so cool. Everyone that is apart of that just gets me excited about the project. Matt Owens being one of the showrunners/writers is fun. I've been going through Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. again and he worked on seasons 4 and 5, which were top-notch. He wrote my favorite episode of that entire series, The Devil's Complex. So I have faith. Also, Jeff Ward who was Deke in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Buggy in the live-action One Piece and I see it already. There is always the comic anyways. Just wishing the cast and crew the best. Nothing wrong with that.

Hi Damani, Hi Huber,

Hope your summers are off to a good start! And shoutout to the new community manager. Welcome, Gabby!

This past year has been a bit of a wild ride, thanks to a tough-as-nails test that I spent months and months prepping for and wound up having to take twice. But it was also the year in which a niche JRPG came out of left field, hit closer to home than any game I’ve played in recent memory, and helped fill me with the perseverance, courage, and confidence I needed to make it through the year. Let me tell you a personal story about that game.

First, some context: around this time last year, I was prepping for a grueling professional licensing exam. It was an uncertain and stressful summer, and though I gave it my all, the results weren’t what I hoped they would be. I wasn’t too far off the mark, but I would need to start the months-long study period all over again, knowing I had already fallen short once before and that I might very well fail again. That fear haunted me throughout the second round of test prep.

So in the evenings, to calm my nerves, I started getting back into a JRPG I had picked up but never finished: Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey. Firis’s journey to become a licensed alchemist turned out to be eerily similar to my own journey. Both of us were facing down difficult tests and months of preparation. And the stakes were high: the credits roll immediately after the exam, and failure saddles you with a bad ending and locks you out of an entire post-game story arc. The timing couldn’t have been more poignant, and I wound up rooting for Firis like no other JRPG character as a result.

Firis’s exam date arrived before my own. I crossed my fingers, hoped to heck I had leveled up enough and mastered enough alchemy recipes, and marched Firis into the exam center.

We failed. And let me tell you, watching Firis break down in the bad ending felt heart-wrenching. Especially since I had been there before.

But then we tried again. I reloaded the save file from right before the exam started. We wouldn’t have an opportunity to level-up or boost skills, but even so, we would just have to make do with what we had. I guess, just like in my own journey, I felt like I had to help her give the test one more shot. And heck, if by some miracle we got the good ending this time around, then maybe that could be an omen for a good ending in my own future.

Good news, Allies: the second time around, Firis walked away with a passing mark. And on my end, just a few months later, I did too.

L&R,
levelcapybara

Damon - Radioactive Magic

Hello Allies!

Since the last showcase, I have actually gotten an episode or two ahead of what I am showing you each month of my Pokemon game design study series. However this time I'm actually going BACK to a previous episode that I have specially reserved for Huber!

So, Huber, I once told Jones that if there was only one episode of my series I could convince him to watch in its entirety, it was the one about the Pokedex. For you, its this episode! Because this one is all about forming BONDS in video games! I would love it if, when you have a spare 39 minutes, to watch the whole thing, however, if not, here is 3 minutes to get a taste.

Start at 2:28
L&R

P.s the youtube algorithm has blessed me! One of my videos has gotten over 10k views and I gained over 100 subs from it! WOOHOO!!!

https://youtu.be/5df6ivYd17Y

Hello allies.

I’m continuing highlighting Apex Legends characters and today we’ll talk about Bloodhound.

Born in a family of engineers, Bloodhound became orphan at a very young age due to industrial explosion and was adopted by Uncle Artur, who lived in a community that rejected technology. After ten years of training, Bloodhound was given the final trial – hunting a Prowler with a small axe. During the hunt, Bloodhound discovered that the prey was already killed by a greater beast and found a Charge Rifle inside creature’s lair. When the beast attacked, Bloodhound used the rifle for self-defense and seemingly killed the creature. The scene was observed by Artur’s raven, and when Bloodhound returned, Artur exiled his protege from the tribe for rejecting the glory of the hunt for a quick kill. The same night the creature attacked the village, and mortally wounded Artur. Wishing to help Bloodhound threw Charge Rifle’s exploding energy core at the beast, causing it to flee. Artur, in his dying breaths, stated that Bloodhound had passed the trial. Several years later the village was visited by a hunter named Boone. Bloodhound joined Boone’s hunt for an elusive beast and the two eventually grew close and became lovers. When they finally found the creature, Boone revealed that he was attempting to capture it and sell it. The pair argued, and Boone left. Bloodhound followed him to the market and saw how the creature escaped its cage and brutally killed Boone. Finding Boone’s death lacking in honor, Bloodhound decided to gather honor in his stead in Apex Games, so that Boone may enter Valhalla.

In terms of gameplay, Bloodhound is a recon Legend. Like all recon Legends, Bloodhound can scan survey beacons to reveal the next ring. Bloodhound’s passive ability shows footprints of all recent enemy activities, allowing you to track your rivals, get an idea of opponents’ team size and state and, if they used abilities, learn what Legends they are playing as and whether their abilities are still on a cooldown. You can also ping footprints to pass this information to your teammates. Bloodhound’s tactical ability scans environment in front of you, briefly revealing enemies and traps for your entire squad. This allows you to discover ambushes or flanking attempts and see enemies through walls, smoke, and gas. Bloodhound’s ultimate ability enhances hearing, movement speed, reduces scan’s cooldown and turns vision black and white, except for enemies highlighted in red, making you the ultimate hunter. However, Bloodhound’s active abilities can be seen and heard from a far, so there’s always a chance that the hunter will become the prey.

I like playing as Bloodhound, because I enjoy reading history of recent events, and because this Legend’s perspective is so different from everyone else’s. In this video I’ve tried to highlight some of it, as well as Bloodhound’s interactions with Revenant and other Legends. This is just a small taste, the game has much more than I can possibly show in just 3 minutes.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AsxRquOgIVixgYMCTrQHTtReTeUhQA?e=cp8xV6
Damiani, please download video (for better quality) instead of screen-capturing it.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AsxRquOgIVixgYMCTrQHTtReTeUhQA?e=cp8xV6

Thanks for watching the "PC Beta Trailer - Hot Coffee", there's a link at the bottom that will introduce you to the most exciting universe in the world! No, seriously, thank you. It's always nice to know that there are still people smart enough to come across this kind of game.

https://youtu.be/9pscEZ821hU

Greetings Damiani and Huber!
I once fanned the flames of the console war in my youth, a proud Playstation/Nintendo paragon I was, and to a much lesser extent still am. I Never have had an Xbox darken my doorway.

In saying that however, I offer this olive branch to all Xbox enthusiasts. I recognise greatness when I hear it. Please all rise for the gaming international anthem, and extend some love and respect to every gamer among you, be they mobile, Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo, PC, or yes...even Stadia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baC5ADY7nLM

Love and Respect!
Ciaran.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baC5ADY7nLM

(FYI, this video contains two tracks from the Halo: Combat Evolved soundtrack. I'm not sure if that'd get a DMCA or something, I imagine it wouldn't but I don't wanna get the stream muted.)

Hi Allies, long-time lurker here. I am an amateur video editor and this is a short preview of something I've been slowly working on for a long time, hopefully showing it off and getting some feedback will spur me to finish it. It's basically a musical tribute video to the Halo series, but it goes through the games in order, and sorta stylistically tells the story of each one as it goes. Hope it's liked. L&R.

https://youtu.be/FkoQ5qs9fPc

Hey Allies!

I was going to submit another dev-log last month but got my dates mixed up and missed the boat. But I couldn't work on my game all this month anyway because of work so I’m resubmitting it again but on time this go around.

I would also like to submit a question if I could.
Do you like fireworks?

I ask because I hate fireworks! I work at a park and every night we set off fireworks during summer. Making my cushy 9 to 5 job, into a grueling 9 to 10 job. And I keep thinking, Why? Why do hundreds of people flock to see fireworks?
Do they not know that we’re in the 21st century and television and the internet exists? Or that they could be doing literally anything else that will better entertain they're time? I know I have a bias because these firework shows make my job harder but even when I was a kid I hated fireworks. Lighting them is cool, but being dragged from playing with my friends and Legos, to wait for 4 or 6 hours in a crowd of drunk rude people for a 5 to 10 minute light-brite show? No thanks.
So I'm curious if I'm the only one who doesn't “get” fireworks.

L&R

Beau

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLt-7N0qF98

Thanks to the Golden Voice tier on Patreon, this exists now. I had to cut the original a bit to make the lip sync match up but knowing how much Brandon loves lip sync in video games I hope he doesn't mind. Enjoy the GT Man!

https://youtu.be/7gL8yuyQzu0

Ello Ello fellow allies! As is tradition it seems, Steam Next Fest has decided to take place at a bad time again (Last time it was right around the release of Elden Ring lol). So in case you missed it, here's a nice little highlight video of some games I enjoyed. I tried to put spotlight on games we haven't seen. Hope you like the video!

https://youtu.be/QAj6P5ob1no

Ever since August 12, 2021 a sense of foreboding despair has loomed over the heads of a subset of the EZA community, on that fated day a episode of Huber Syndrome was uploaded starting a stir.

Like the wings of a butterfly it implanted a chain of events that took almost 300 days to finally meet its conclusion. When a particular word was uttered from Huber's mouth, he could never have known the consequences of his actions...

(Read the Rest after the video is finished please)

So yea some of us certainly have long memories. The fact that the FC was a frathouse is undeniable, but we really never did anything about it at that point, its not like we had anyone interested in decorating, or so we thought.

By the luck of the draw i won a small house on the lottery, and also by luck i made Cruxis Skyrend one of the tenants, and at that time he mentioned interest in decorating which i had no reason to deny considering that i am terrible at it.

Lo and behold, Cruxis turned out to be a god of decoration, in one day i had a badass house that looked better than anything i could have ever expected and the shock was so great we (the fc members) instantly started talking about asking damiani to let Cruxis do the same to the FC house, in about a week Cruxis had remodeled the entire FC on his own with some of us contributed with funding and furnishings from various different places in the game and now finally after Huber professed the truth we could never deny we finally have a amazing home with multiple cozy rooms a kitchen and even a bathroom for whenever Kyle decides to come back to 14 (apparently this next saturday in fact what a coincidence).

Thank you huber and damiani, see y'all next time whenever i can beat the deadline that i so often procastinate towards right at the last day of the community showcase deadline (posting this with 32 minutes left to spare clearly i should have done one more dungeon at least). Trans Rights are Human Rights, Love and Respect!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1azFbgKSkOo

https://youtu.be/saSKutFvXZc

https://youtu.be/QvDctmfW7Ts

The throne is empty, and is waiting for someone seize the crown. That time is now, for the return of the king.

Street Fighter 6’s recent showing this past month sent shockwaves through the industry and electrified mind & spirits of all gamers alike; being universally celebrated & championed by everyone who’s played it or laid eyes on it.

Capcom learned many lessons from SFV. The Developers understood they needed their next game to be distinct, to have personality, attitude, culture and edge. So they took inspiration from SFIII 3rd Strike, and brought in hip-hop, graffiti, street culture, and just plain wicked style.

The fresh ass funky beats of music that include a varied caliber of quality tunes to set the mood for any part of the game, and are then mirrored by great sound effects and new vocal work.

However the visuals go immensely further. The over the top painted visuals that splash & shred across the screen, all help elevate visceral character models of intense realism fight with each other in a deadly and beautifully lit ballet of animation.

Street Fighter 6 is both seriously gorgeous with its realism, but also so fun and exciting utilizing Capcom's signature & exquisite sense of animation and color. Simply put Street Fighter 6 looks like beautiful fun with serious impact.

Most notable mechanically is the Drive system, and its upon consumption counter negative effect Burnout. The Drive system while complex, is at the very least a incorporating some of the best mechanics of past Street Fighters into one universally robust combat experience; that will allow a multitude of character gameplay actions & interactions between players, making no one match ever the same at all. Things also become very interesting when players enter the temporary yet vulnerable state of Burnout when players consume the entirety of their drive system meter.

Observing gameplay alone, we can ascertain Street Fighter 6 is a deep and rich mechanically driven game, while simultaneously allowing such variety nuanced mechanics being able to be executed with comparative ease; deepening the well of creative strategy staged on a balance beam of high risk & high reward.

New & exciting information will come to light In the coming months. As we slowly crawl are way to Street Fighter 6’s early 2023 release, but until then we can rest easy with a grand smile knowing that the most venerable fighting game franchise in history is on its way to the top, to sit on its throne once more.

Coincidently enough, the fantastically & rhythmically engaging theme song “Not on the Sidelines”, is the perfect analogy for the path in which is set before Street Fighter 6.

The final lyrics in particular state, “I ain’t ever backin’ down (Come and step up to the plate). For my city for my town (I’ll do whatever that it takes). Imma go another round. Imma go and get the crown. To the top, I see the sight, I see the sight, I see the sight, yeah.”

Yeah, your God Damm right.