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Easy Allies 2016 GOTY Picks

O

Obliterator

Member
butman said:
Hope they get some private sponsors support next year.
Kinda Funny has a lot and personally i think that EZA is the best gaming podcast in the business. They known what they talking about.
KF are more superficials when they approach a gaming topic.
Click to expand...

I like KF but honestly EZA are some of the best on YouTube in terms of actually talking about games. People like to bash them for their positivity (which I'll never understand) but they actually provide great thoughtful content.

Compare Kinda Funny and EZA PSX content. Kinda Funny spends 30 minutes basically saying they played nothing other than Star Wars VR and Crash. Colin outright says he didnt play anything and was just there to meet industry friends. EZA had a 40 minute video where they went in depth about hands on playing of tons of games at least half of which were indies.
 
O

orthodoxy1095

Banned
Servbot24 said:
Kyle does use an annoying voice for the podcast (not sure why, it's not his real voice), but saying they don't have diverse taste seems like a strange criticism. Variety is one of their strongest aspects.
Click to expand...
I do understand a bit of the variety comments. It's part of having such a large group, when you try to nail down a consensus, the variety gets watered down.

Case in point, I think this GOTY list is actually pretty boring. The winner is nice, but the rest is pretty unsurprising. In comparison, listening to the Allies rattle off their individual (diverse) tastes and picks for games was far more interesting. Like Damiani giving a shoutout to Naruto and Attack on Titan? Very cool.
 
AudioEppa

AudioEppa

Member
I really need to consume more easy allies in 2017. Watched their 14 minute video, loved it. Shout out to Brandon Jones and Michael Huber for representing with Uncharted 4.

The thing that that always impressed me about these guys is how they always respect the audience at the same time being happy about gaming, So I never feel like they shove any preference down my throat. I clearly can tell they like what they like and it may or may not match my preference but it's not about that, it's about just being hyped about games in general.
 
Zomba13

Zomba13

Member
Watching the award discussions now, "Worth The Wait" spoilers:
FFXV really? I mean, opinions and all that but that game was not worth the wait. The game people were waiting for was shredded multiple times over and re-jiggered and cut and slimmed down. I like the game, very enjoyable, likeable main cast, fantastic villain, fun world and combat and dungeons. But no, not worth the wait. If it was a complete story, with characters givent he time to shine, with characters actually mattering, having more screen time in the game than in a single trailer for instance. I'd had given it to TLG, I thought that would've taken it because at least it feels like a complete game with no signs of development hell on it (outside of running like shit like every Team Ico game). The Witness though, one of the best games ever and worth the wait. I'd go through that wait or longer for Blow's next game. That man is a genius.
 
J

J-Skee

Member
AudioEppa said:
I really need to consume more easy allies in 2017. Watched their 14 minute video, loved it. Shout out to Brandon Jones and Michael Huber for representing with Uncharted 4.
Click to expand...

When it comes to reviews & videos like that 14 minute goty video, they're the best in the business, bar none.

That Worth the Wait argument though... oy vey.
 
C

Charamiwa

Banned
Bear Cub in Sky said:
They are a great group for Sony fans much like Kinda Funny.
Click to expand...

I don't think they are Sony fan so much as they mostly love japanese games and AAA titles, and Sony pretty much covers all of that. But I'm sure next year they'll be all over the Switch. I wouldn't mind more PC talk though, I feel like only Ben cares.
 
H

Hasney

Member
Bear Cub in Sky said:
They are a great group for Sony fans much like Kinda Funny.
Click to expand...

I don't understand this. Most the games are 3rd party anyway and Nintendo/MS haven't had exactly great years. GT in other years have been very pro MS and nintendo depending on their output, but this year, there's not much to talk about other than 3rd party games and probably 2 Sony games at most.
 
S

sora87

Member
Aaron D. said:
Huh.

Guess these guys aren't much into PC gaming.

Interesting list.
Click to expand...

Ben plays a lot of PC games, so does Ian. But that's only 2 people out of 9 i guess so they're gonna skew to console gaming overall.

Also not seeing the "eza are sony fanboys" thing.
Huber and Ben mentioned MS and Nintendo stuff from a pretty poor year for both publishing wise (Quantum Break and Toyko Marriage Sessions) that I expect most other sites to forget about. Also Blood repping Forza Hotizon and Pokemom S&M getting love. It's not their fault Sony put out much bigger games this year in terms of mindshare and arguably quailty.
 
A

ArjanN

Member
orthodoxy1095 said:
I do understand a bit of the variety comments. It's part of having such a large group, when you try to nail down a consensus, the variety gets watered down.

Case in point, I think this GOTY list is actually pretty boring. The winner is nice, but the rest is pretty unsurprising. In comparison, listening to the Allies rattle off their individual (diverse) tastes and picks for games was far more interesting. Like Damiani giving a shoutout to Naruto and Attack on Titan? Very cool.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's whty GOTY lists in general are boring. The number 10 pick is more interesting than the no 1 pick, because the top picks are all going to be the same big predictable stuff everyone who follows gaming even remotely already knows about.

Usually the only interesting thing is the more specific categories, like best soundtrack, moment, story etc.
 
A

Aaron D.

Member
Bear Cub in Sky said:
They are a great group for Sony fans much like Kinda Funny.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the tip-off was their Best Strategy pick, Civ VI.

I mean it's a great game and all, but there was a TON of competition this year, with a lot of titles eclipsing Civ in the strat genre.

Makes me think they have a casual knowledge of PC gaming at best.

No worries though. I like their energy. They just seem to skew mainstream and there's nothing wrong with that.
 
R

Rainy

Banned
Grayfox341 said:
Yeah, I messed up with TMS. Quite a lot of work was done with it and the review fell through the cracks in a real bad way. Happened with several things this year including King of Fighters XIV, SMTIV Apocalypse, Dragon Quest VII, and Total War: Warhammer.
Click to expand...

No worries, I thought I remember you tweeting that you enjoyed it (unless I made that up), was just wondering :)
 
T

TheDarkKnight774

Member
Hasney said:
I don't understand this. Most the games are 3rd party anyway and Nintendo/MS haven't had exactly great years. GT in other years have been very pro MS and nintendo depending on their output, but this year, there's not much to talk about other than 3rd party games and probably 2 Sony games at most.
Click to expand...
Yea I don't get it. There's no site out there more Jacked for the Switch. Hell even Ian seems to kind of like it.

Ian consumes a ton of PC indie games. EZA went PC for Battlefield and Overwatch. Ian went PC for Dark Souls 3. Ben went PC for Dishonored 2.

So on and so on. Now Kyle? He doesn't like PC
 
P

Primethius

Banned
Aaron D. said:
Yeah, the tip-off was their Best Strategy pick, Civ VI.

I mean it's a great game and all, but there was a TON of competition this year, with a lot of titles eclipsing Civ in the strat genre.

Makes me think they have a casual knowledge of PC gaming at best.

No worries though. I like their energy. They just seem to skew mainstream and there's nothing wrong with that.
Click to expand...

I don't think that means casual knowledge tbh. I'm a fairly knee deep PC kinda guy and even I'd pick Civ VI.
 
J

J-Skee

Member
Cess007 said:
What's up with Bosman and "A Link to The Past"? He doesn't like it? Why was that the bet?
Click to expand...

He hates it. So the goal was when a lost a particular bet, he'd have to stream it for something like 3 days or until it was completed. He found a loophole in which he played a recording of someone else speedrunning the game while he did something else entirely on Twitch. Thus, the Trial of Kyle Bosman was born.
 
K

killroy87

Member
Zomba13 said:
Watching the award discussions now, "Worth The Wait" spoilers:
FFXV really? I mean, opinions and all that but that game was not worth the wait. The game people were waiting for was shredded multiple times over and re-jiggered and cut and slimmed down. I like the game, very enjoyable, likeable main cast, fantastic villain, fun world and combat and dungeons. But no, not worth the wait. If it was a complete story, with characters givent he time to shine, with characters actually mattering, having more screen time in the game than in a single trailer for instance. I'd had given it to TLG, I thought that would've taken it because at least it feels like a complete game with no signs of development hell on it (outside of running like shit like every Team Ico game). The Witness though, one of the best games ever and worth the wait. I'd go through that wait or longer for Blow's next game. That man is a genius.
Click to expand...

It was their runner up GOTY, stands to reason they would consider it "worth the wait" lol.
 
C

Cess007

Member
J-Skee said:
He hates it. So the goal was when a lost a particular bet, he'd have to stream it for something like 3 days or until it was completed. He found a loophole in which he played a recording of someone else speedrunning the game while he did something else entirely on Twitch. Thus, the Trial of Kyle Bosman was born.
Click to expand...

Obliterator said:
Kyle legit hates that game even though he is a huge Nintendo fan.
Click to expand...

that explains why everyone has laughing when he was reading the contract obligations related to his twitter lmao

Also, come on Bosman, who can hate A link to the Past?
 
E

El-Suave

Member
Bits N Pieces said:
Just looking over the individual winners again, did they not have a best racing or driving category?
Click to expand...

I guess mostly just Bloodworth plays enough of the various racing games to have a truly informed opinion of the genre. If the discussion is too superficial for too many genres because there isn't enough expertise, it drags down all of the awards. The only solution would be if the "expert" gives his picks about a genre and they're labeled as that, not as a result of deep deliberations.
 
Yautja_Warrior

Yautja_Warrior

Member
Obliterator said:
I like KF but honestly EZA are some of the best on YouTube in terms of actually talking about games. People like to bash them for their positivity (which I'll never understand) but they actually provide great thoughtful content.

Compare Kinda Funny and EZA PSX content. Kinda Funny spends 30 minutes basically saying they played nothing other than Star Wars VR and Crash. Colin outright says he didnt play anything and was just there to meet industry friends. EZA had a 40 minute video where they went in depth about hands on playing of tons of games at least half of which were indies.
Click to expand...

Yeah I still like KF but mainly for Tim, as he's upbeat and positive and seems to still enjoy gaming. Colin and Gregg are a lot more negative these days, it doesn't feel like they have time to enjoy games anymore.

I watched their The Last Guardian review and Tim gave it a chance and really liked it, saying its worth sticking with it to the end, despite its flaws, yet Colin and Gregg only played a few hours and are already giving up on it.

But the EZA guys still feel like they love gaming and have more of a passion for it. You can tell they love what they do, when you watch stuff like their betting shows for events, so funny and entertaining.
 
B

Bits N Pieces

Member
El-Suave said:
I guess mostly just Bloodworth plays enough of the various racing games to have a truly informed opinion of the genre. If the discussion is too superficial for too many genres because there isn't enough expertise, it drags down all of the awards. The only solution would be if the "expert" gives his picks about a genre and they're labeled as that, not as a result of deep deliberations.
Click to expand...

I know the rest of them aren't really into racers but I would have liked to have seen Blood being given the opportunity to highlight his favourites and pick a winner (cause I've always liked his insight and opinion on them). Especially if we have these ones, lol.

Best Level Design (Ian Hinck Category): Dishonored 2

Best Shotgun (Michael Huber Category): Doom

Best Pre-Order Incentive (Kyle Bosman Category): Dragon Ball Z Xenoverse 2
Click to expand...
 
S

sora87

Member
Considering this was their first GotY awards since forming EZA and without all the tools and tech from the GT days, I can see them improving and including more specific genres next year possibly. Hopefully they'll even have a studio by then so we can get some cool videos too.
 
A

Aaron D.

Member
Primethius said:
Probably lol. Only XCOM 2 and Civ VI were titles that stood out to be when I think strategy this year. Well, those were the ones I put a lot of time into anyways.
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Guess I'm just a Paradox fanboy or something. Stellaris & Hearts of Iron 4 both felt substantially better than Civ VI (which again, is a great game, I just think it needs more patching/DLC to give it room to grow.)

Heck, I think Offworld Trading Co. even bests the new Civ.
 
wapplew

wapplew

Member
Bits N Pieces said:
I know the rest of them aren't really into racers but I would have liked to have seen Blood being given the opportunity to highlight his favourites and pick a winner (cause I've always liked his insight and opinion on them). Especially if we have these ones, lol.
Click to expand...

Forza horizon 3 is blood favorite racing game with real car of all time or something like that.
Don't know why they don't at lease give it a nod, make it 13 finalists.
 
O

orthodoxy1095

Banned
Aaron D. said:
Guess I'm just a Paradox fanboy or something. Stellaris & Hearts of Iron 4 both felt substantially better than Civ VI (which again, is a great game, I just think it needs more patching/DLC to give it room to grow.)

Heck, I think Offworld Trading Co. even bests the new Civ.
Click to expand...
I love Civ 6 and I think it's a worthy winner. That said, Paradox games should absolutely be in a conversation about best strategy. Stellaris is a neat game.
 
A

Aaron D.

Member
Grayfox341 said:
Paradox games intimidate the hell out of me, but it's a bridge I need to cross at some point.
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There really is a tipping point where it all falls into place. Of course that's likely after watching 20-40 hours worth of YouTube tutorials! :p

Their newer games really are getting better at easing the new player in, however. Stellaris in particular has a sweet campaign tutorial.
 
H

Hasney

Member
Grayfox341 said:
Paradox games intimidate the hell out of me, but it's a bridge I need to cross at some point.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I got lucky that I could sit with my girlfriend and work out Stellaris together. Once you're out of the tutorial and into that loop, it's only slightly more complex than Civ other than the fighting, which is very tactical. I certainly came out of the tutorial overwhelmed, but once I just paused, thought and did everything little by little, it was fine.
 
P

Primethius

Banned
Aaron D. said:
Guess I'm just a Paradox fanboy or something. Stellaris & Hearts of Iron 4 both felt substantially better than Civ VI (which again, is a great game, I just think it needs more patching/DLC to give it room to grow.)

Heck, I think Offworld Trading Co. even bests the new Civ.
Click to expand...

Stellaris is great. I'm a paradox scrub though. Still playing CK2 and learning.
 
U

UpDownLeftRight

Banned
Charamiwa said:
I don't think they are Sony fan so much as they mostly love japanese games and AAA titles, and Sony pretty much covers all of that. But I'm sure next year they'll be all over the Switch. I wouldn't mind more PC talk though, I feel like only Ben cares.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly certain Brad plays a lot of games on his PC instead now IIRC, but he doesn't seem to have stepped far outside of his usual realm of games, which is actually surprising considering the surplus of Japanese games the PC library adds.
 
P

PlayerOne

Banned
Pie and Beans said:
TLG is too recently released to be taken as a critical judgement.

Also seems like Huber and Jones didn't fight hard enough for Uncharted 4 considering their personal picks clearly underlined it as a full package. Patrons got it right.
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Pie and Beans said:
I think thats also a problem. Because Huber and Jones probably haven't had a chance to play TLG yet, by virtue of them feeling they don't have a complete opinion of the year, they likely stepped out the way and let everyone elses TLG hype roll through unchecked.
Click to expand...

So salty.

Those who picked TLG as their GOTY also played UC4.

Even if those two who haven't played TLG were to say UC4 was their GOTY after playing TLG, there will still be 4 others who ranked TLG as their first, and another one ranked it as his 2nd (above UC4).
 
G

Giever

Member
Charamiwa said:
I don't think they are Sony fan so much as they mostly love japanese games and AAA titles, and Sony pretty much covers all of that. But I'm sure next year they'll be all over the Switch. I wouldn't mind more PC talk though, I feel like only Ben cares.
Click to expand...
Ian is into some PC stuff too, but the main group as a whole is very console-centric, it's true.
 
O

Obliterator

Member
Yautja_Warrior said:
Yeah I still like KF but mainly for Tim, as he's upbeat and positive and seems to still enjoy gaming. Colin and Gregg are a lot more negative these days, it doesn't feel like they have time to enjoy games anymore.

I watched their The Last Guardian review and Tim gave it a chance and really liked it, saying its worth sticking with it to the end, despite its flaws, yet Colin and Gregg only played a few hours and are already giving up on it.

But the EZA guys still feel like they love gaming and have more of a passion for it. You can tell they love what they do, when you watch stuff like their betting shows for events, so funny and entertaining.
Click to expand...

Yeah Tim is for sure the best part about KF at this point. Honestly as funny as it sounds it seems like he would fit in personality wise much more with EZA than Colin and Gregg
 
P

Piers

Member
I can't shake the feeling that Brandon prefers cinematic AAA titles. (And aside from that, sandbox/construction games)
Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm curious
 
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