Colossal Expectations, Llamas, and Heists - Easy Allies Podcast - Apr 5, 2024

Ep 417 - Eternal Strands has some new takes on ideas similar to Shadow of the Colossus, but we aren't fully sold quite yet. Meanwhile, we've got our eye on the next game from the makers of Dead Cells, and Monaco 2 looks promising. Plus, impressions of Open Roads and Llamasoft, as well as our Discord's Top 10 Battle Songs.
0:00 - Intro
2:03 - Eternal Strands Reveal
15:05 - Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story Impressions
39:55 - Open Roads Impressions
49:33 - Discord Top 10 and Game Recommendations
1:14:11 - Monaco 2 Preview
1:24:58 - Windblown
1:29:35 - Also This Week
1:52:56 - L&R: Any Game Art?
2:01:57 - L&R: Reviving Dead Console Features
2:11:56 - L&R: Faithful Throwbacks
2:19:53 - Bets
2:24:48 - Closing
Support us through Patreon: / easyallies
One-time donations: streamlabs.com/easyallies/tip
Schedule: easyallies.com/
Live streams - / easyallies
Stream archives - / easyalliesplays
/ easyallies
/ easyallies
/ easyallies
#EasyAllies #Gaming #podcast

[@martymcintosh5026]

i like the closeups on Huber when Blood was talking about the documentary

[@brentrobinson316]

Legit thought he was going to fall asleep at one point. Love ya Blood and the passion you have but sometimes you don’t need to go as deep as you do on a topic. L&R

[@allosomuchheart]

@@brentrobinson316 SHUT YOUR MOUTH sir, L&R. Let him go deep thats what we want.

[@gregmantis]

Loved the section on Llamasoft. I spent the first decade of my gaming life loading games from cassette tapes (VIC 20 initially followed by an Amstrad CPC) so it's funny to hear Blood find that so alien: "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE" followed by waiting 20 minutes while the game's title screen slowly loading in line by line. I'd love to see a future playable documentary on the Oliver Twins who were also British legends of that sort of era. Super Robin Hood, and especially the Dizzy series were games that we all grew up playing on this side of the pond.

[@wideface]

The timing on the closeups on both Huber and Blood when they’re talking about the Llamasoft games are pure kino. Bravo, Isla.

[@Badalight]

I still don't get why Isla hates Nier Automata. The entire game is about transhumanism. Seems like right up her alley. I get she doesn't vibe with the gameplay, but the themes and story seem perfect. I don't get the Huber slander either. He says it's too up it's own ass, but simultaneously loves Kingdom Hearts.

[@GroundPunch2]

that would be personal taste i think?

[@TundraBoy69]

Nier fans were bothering her, saying she didn't play it right cause she didn't think it was the best game ever. Probably just made her dislike it more, Nier fans are a little crazy.

[@charoleawood]

I didn't enjoy Nier Automata either. I remember buying the first game when it released, my husband played it but I fell off hard. As for Automata, I dedicated to doing everything in the game to try to find where the fun was (yes, I got all the endings). Overall I thought the story was the worst thing about it, I enjoyed the sidequests more than anything. People were just so gaga about it, especially Ben Moore, and they were so crazy about 2B's character design and the music and the story, all of which I thought were flat-out bad (you read that right).

[@SIXminWHISTLE]

Isla hates about 80% of games she tries, at least that she mentions on camera, I'm not surprised at anything she doesn't like at this point. Huber isn't exactly known for nuanced takes and doesn't really like anything else that's in the ballpark of Nier. With Ben and Brad gone I think we lost the people who did like Nier.

[@Echo__plex]

Maybe people just have different opinions on games that you love? It's really not that complicated, Chief.

[@CoraValentine1999]

That starship troopers reference got me

[@bengotagun]

Hey ya’ll. Been a fan since the GT days and have listened to damn near every EZA podcast. While its been tough to see some incredible allies leave the group, I gotta say you guys and gals have been doing an incredible job making it work. One suggestion if I may - I’d love to see blood take some improv classes and just get more comfortable riffing with the others at the desk. So many times it feels like there’s a great comedic opportunity and a big chance for some truly funny, potentialy viral clips, and Blood just kinda chuckles and moves on. I appreciate that he’s keeping the poscast on track and timely, but would love to see that balance out with allowing silly moments to bloom organically. Even just letting huber and Isla riff for a minute or two when they get going could have some huge potential. All of this is said with pure love and respect and hope for this podcast to continue forever.

[@RentonyHawk]

The Witcher soundbit killed me 😂 On point Huber!

[@BOTCHED]

The black and white cut in to Blood while he was 30 minutes deep into the Lllamasoft rant was pure gold.

[@ccan_max5285]

Another good episode/pod

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

Kinda crazy that these guys didn’t know games used to be on Cassette tapes. Makes me feel old. The games back then needed to be loaded into the system, this took however long one side of the specific tape was, but on average it was around 5 minutes. I used to have a ZX Spectrum and the games made a horrible screeching sound when loading, similar to the dial up internet sound from back in the day.

[@EasyAllies]

I KNEW that there were games on cassettes as like a vague bit of trivia, but it was never something I'd ever seen in action. I think that in addition to age, it also wasn't as common of a distribution method in the US. But I really didn't start getting exposed to PC games until 1985, 1986. Both the Apple IIe PCs at school and our first C64 had games on floppy diskettes. -Bloodworth

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

@@EasyAllies Yeah I’m in the UK so that might be part of it. I also didn’t get a console until the early 90’s and outside of arcades I had been playing games that took 5 minutes to load all my life, so I was shocked to find that console games booted up instantly and I couldn’t make a cup of coffee while they were loading.

[@LupusAdNoctem]

If you were gaming when games came on cassettes, you _are_ old 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@InnerRise]

​@@LupusAdNoctem DEAD💀 I didn't even know that was a thing.

[@jamesbroome4802]

I love how old game could be about anything. Not everything has to be Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Game like Hover Bovver show how almost any concept can be made into a fun game.

[@freakshowGH]

While it's remarkable the Switch hasn't dropped in price once, I think it often gets lost just how much bigger the video game market has gotten since the days of the PS2 and how much of that growth can be attributed to the PS2 itself. Putting up those sales numbers at that time is remarkable, glad Huber brought that up.

[@kerplunk1195]

damn 13 sentinels vs 999. The easy allies discord is so based.

[@Mmachine88]

More info on NinjaTheory, it does seem that the co-founder had left several years ago, and he kinda sold the company behind the back of the other co-founder as no one at the studio was aware of the deal with MS/Xbox. But the team overwhelmingly were positive with it because it was going to allow them to create bigger and better games and fulfill their overall visions while wanting to remain creative control and doing what they want to do.

[@InnerRise]

Overwhelmingly positive? Proof?

[@comradestannis]

Glad you're no advertising BetterHelp anymore.

[@FoxJupi]

I personally dont care, as long as they're sponsored thats what matters.

[@comradestannis]

@@FoxJupi Even so, some sponsorships are... not worth it, I feel.

[@FoxJupi]

@@comradestannis if it keeps the channel alive, it's worth it to me haha. I'm not liking where I see things going. I'm very concerned.

[@comradestannis]

@@FoxJupi I suppose...

[@TheADawg911]

So we found the FFXIII Battle Theme on the Patron Top Ten list, but where's the FFXIII Patron Full Playthrough?

[@SebTheGreat84]

Did we get Huber to play Balatro yet?

[@jamesbroome4802]

So true about Silent Hill 2. I really wish Demon Souls remaster on PS5 had some new content but it would of not been creators intent.

[@fin9672]

Hang on, both Blood and Huber had no idea about games coming out on tape, back in the day? I am younger than blood and remember all that very clearly. it was massive. I had street fighter on tape for my amstrad! piracy got totally out of hand haha. Maybe they were more of a European thing?

[@GorTheMovieGod]

NieR Automata soundtrack is a 11/10 how DARE YOU!

[@mucknstrunz]

IS there gonna be a Rise of the Ronin Review??

[@BOTCHED]

Probably not if Huber didn't vibe with it.

[@charoleawood]

1:06:06 Assassin's Creed Rogue --- a graphically brilliant PS360 game. Also just a pretty great game. I hated the story, but Assassin's Creed is always best experienced doing everything and to that end there's a lot to love in Rogue.

[@charoleawood]

55:19 It's the beginning of FF8 that I like the most with the SeeD school stuff. But once Quistis goes from being a badass instructor who intimidates Squall to being just another member of his party I lost interest --- she really should have been the leader at that point.

[@charoleawood]

46:06 I agree with Huber, definitely shoutout to voice actors, it's preferable to get professional voice actors for animation and videogames. HOWEVER, I'm also shouting out Elliot Page and Willem Dafoe for their roles in Beyond Two Souls --- two of the best performances in a videogame ever.

[@monkeymovie-rn4mc]

Best pod on the net!

[@Shif7er]

damiani so bitter about the ps2 damn

[@walteravila4072]

Kinda glad Tameem is out, he always give me the worst vibes. Remember the reveal of DMC with that lame Dante redesign, and Tameem show up explaining his vision, with a extremely similar haircut and fashion as this new DMC version Dante, from that moment he always give me the impression of one of those people that makes everything about themselves.

[@jeremyvisser3877]

I couldn't imagine quitting a game because the tutorial is too thorough. FF8 is a fantastic game, I personally don't like it, but not because they attempted to educate me on the systems and mechanics.

[@MrConeman]

Gunna say Dragon Quest not appearing in the list has a lot to do with the morality of the composer.

[@chariotgoblin8060]

Slow news week I'm guessing

[@rallymonkey150]

Yea this was a frame trap with more indie impressions

[@samwisegame-geek3392]

This is literally how the podcast is now. And has been for weeks

[@Obscho]

Its funny to me that damiani is criticizing eternal strands for the anticipated look of a game that is made to appeal to a certain audience, when the allies play anime games with the same look all the time. Don't get me wrong, I like them too.. but then dont criticize a game for going for a certain audience if you like games that do the same, its kinda hypocritical. Look at granblue fantasy or genshin

[@charoleawood]

8:38 Huber describing why I don't like Shadow of the Colossus. And earlier as they were expressing worries about the game getting "annoying" with falling off beasts it was so ironic because that, too, describes Shadow of the Colossus. Great artstyle in Colossus, don't get me wrong, but the only thing I can imagine gets people to love it so strongly --- in spite of the emptiness and annoyance --- is that it's a "Jessica" game, which doesn't grant it any more points in my book.

[@matts6595]

Whats a Jessica game?

[@charoleawood]

@@matts6595 This is an in-joke at EZA, i think it was made last year when Bosman was guesting on the podcast. A "Jessica game" is one which the story revolves around a man who's lost a female love interest or else a daughter. These stories are a dime-a-dozen both in games and movies and so we roll our eyes at them (we're assuming the name of every lost woman is "Jessica") even as plenty of them do work their magic on us.

[@matts6595]

@@charoleawood thanks for the explanation!

[@Calashnikov]

I love the guy, but the ignorant disrespect shown by Huber throughout Blood’s Llamasoft piece in this episode is disappointing to see. Jeff Minter is a legend over here. Do the knowledge.

[@TaoJohn]

That said, I skipped that section 5 min in because I didn't care...sooo... Huber probably zoned out fir the same reason.

[@TheSSJSnoop]

How did Huber disrespect him? Blood spent half an hr giggling over a cool retro documentary game and then after everyone has entertained him, he makes fun of Huber trying to relate to his excitement and thus Ian pointing out that nobody else cares as much as Blood, sorry 😂

[@samwisegame-geek3392]

I feel disrespected by your comment. Especially do the knowledge. Wtf does that mean lol

[@hijiSuru]

I think the segment would have been better 10 minutes shorter, as no one else had played it. There isn't much engaging commentary other than Blood's enthusiastic summaries and Huber struggling to make comments and quips with little to no background.

[@Calashnikov]

@@samwisegame-geek3392 El-P said it on an old rap tune. It means learn something.

[@brandonnuckols6625]

"But here's the thing, you have two more neighbors!" is my favorite gaming mechanic of all time. Loved Bloods breakdown of this whole thing.