Easy Allies |OT3| Begin corrections music, please...

[Stinkinmushroom]

I love Don's Design Lab. It's probably the best produced show EZA is doing right now, next to Mysterious Monsters. But having an almost two month gap between episodes doesn't exactly retain viewers.

When they launched phase four I was really hoping they'd have a consistent schedule for the produced shows ready, to give subscribers something to look forward to every week or every other week. They got it down with Achieve it Yourself and that's it, I think. Huber's Prison of Love is still MIA, DDL is coming whenever, same with the board game. That's not great. I'm kinda singling out Box Peek because it feels more of a guest show hosted on the channel rather than an EZA production. Like, Kyle not telling Brandon in advance and not wanting the show to be advertised is hilarious and I feel sorry for Brandon.

Also, how does Mysterious Monsters not have legitimate sponsor slots? The Salmon Globe thing is cute but I feel like Huber could sell the shit out of some ads, if you give him the right material. The goodies at the end could still be sponsored by the generous Salmon Globe corporation, of course.

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Gotta agree with some of the stuff here. But what surprises me the most is the constant guests. Some guests are great but there are way too many these days. Misterious Monsters: 2 to 3 guests (1-2 allies on cam. Next 3 boardgames: 3 guests (1 ally on cam) (sofia behind he cams) (yes i know the Blood fire story..). Fiasconauts: 1 to 2 guests. You would think with way more guests, it would give them time to work on more shows.. it just feels like some allies work less since phase 4. No I'm not talking about Blood or Ian...

 

[doodlebob]

I mean I dislike Hoenn and Sinnoh as well, they are probably my two least favorite gens. For as many optional areas as they have to explore, they are just a chore to get around since you are so hm dependent in them. I'm curious to give Sinnoh another shake in a post hm world assuming gamefreak isn't stupid and regresses to include them again :V

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That's fine, I've seen enough people dislike HMs that I can't be upset when people prefer something like Pokémon Ride in Sun and Moon. As someone who loves the adventuring part of the games, I love HMs. I love the idea of planning to go somewhere and seeing something that I can't access, and coming back to it when I have that HM or whatever. Pokémon Ride just cheapens that part a lot since it's automatically done for you. The aspect of coming back and exploring new areas is almost gone altogether with the newer games, and it's just a linear romp from point A to point B.

In future games I'd prefer something like Pokémon having field moves for the overworld that don't take up a move slot.

 

[BassForever]

That's fine, I've seen enough people dislike HMs that I can't be upset when people prefer something like Pokémon Ride in Sun and Moon. As someone who loves the adventuring part of the games, I love HMs. I love the idea of planning to go somewhere and seeing something that I can't access, and coming back to it when I have that HM or whatever. Pokémon Ride just cheapens that part a lot since it's automatically done for you. The aspect of coming back and exploring new areas is almost gone altogether with the newer games, and it's just a linear romp from point A to point B.

In future games I'd prefer something like Pokémon having field moves for the overworld that don't take up a move slot.

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Here is the thing, I think seeing areas and knowing you'll need to come back to them is great. What I hated about HM's is that you essentially had to sacrifice a spot on your team for an hm slave, or give most of you mons only 3 moves so that you'd have access to cut, strength, etc.

Ride was not the reason you lost that feeling, gamefreak's progressively less interesting world design is the problem. Think back to gens 1-4, replace getting an hm with getting a ride pokemon that does the same thing, you'd still have a lot of back tracking to do, but you wouldn't need to drag a poor bibarel in your party to know cut/strength/surf/flash.

 

[doodlebob]

Here is the thing, I think seeing areas and knowing you'll need to come back to them is great. What I hated about HM's is that you essentially had to sacrifice a spot on your team for an hm slave, or give most of you mons only 3 moves so that you'd have access to cut, strength, etc.

Ride was not the reason you lost that feeling, gamefreak's progressively less interesting world design is the problem. Think back to gens 1-4, replace getting an hm with getting a ride pokemon that does the same thing, you'd still have a lot of back tracking to do, but you wouldn't need to drag a poor bibarel in your party to know cut/strength/surf/flash.

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It's tied together. Game Freak has made the games a lot less involved on the player when it comes to decision making. After Gen 4, they admitted to making exploration more linear because kids got lost in Sinnoh, and that design philosophy has carried on since with the games getting more and more linear. It's not just level design, it's stuff like Pokémon Ride too.

Pokémon Ride removes the preparation part of it. You want to be able to use the Pokémon you've trained to be able to travel the world with you. If it's just a random Charizard that you rent and can call whatever free of cost, that ruins a lot of it. Like I said, I think field moves which don't take up one of the four moves would be the perfect balance without needing an HM slave like Bibarel.

Like, a Lugia would have a Swim and Flight field move, allowing you to use Surf and Fly without needing two of the four move slots taken up. You would naturally have all the possible field moves without needing an HM slave.

 

[RugoUniverse]

Gotta agree with some of the stuff here. But what surprises me the most is the constant guests. Some guests are great but there are way too many these days. Misterious Monsters: 2 to 3 guests (1-2 allies on cam. Next 3 boardgames: 3 guests (1 ally on cam) (sofia behind he cams) (yes i know the Blood fire story..). Fiasconauts: 1 to 2 guests. You would think with way more guests, it would give them time to work on more shows.. it just feels like some allies work less since phase 4. No I'm not talking about Blood or Ian...

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All Ian produced shows. His shows will always be heavy on guests because 1. he knows a lot of industry people and 2. I can imagine he just hasn't got the patience to wrangle the Allies to be on shows they're meh on being a part of.

 

[BassForever]

It's tied together. Game Freak has made the games a lot less involved on the player when it comes to decision making. After Gen 4, they admitted to making exploration more linear because kids got lost in Sinnoh, and that design philosophy has carried on since with the games getting more and more linear. It's not just level design, it's stuff like Pokémon Ride too.

Pokémon Ride removes the preparation part of it. You want to be able to use the Pokémon you've trained to be able to travel the world with you. If it's just a random Charizard that you rent and can call whatever free of cost, that ruins a lot of it. Like I said, I think field moves which don't take up one of the four moves would be the perfect balance without needing an HM slave like Bibarel.

Like, a Lugia would have a Swim and Flight field move, allowing you to use Surf and Fly without needing two of the four move slots taken up. You would naturally have all the possible field moves without needing an HM slave.

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That is the one thing I liked about lets go, your partner pokemon learning all the hm's (as silly as flying pikachu/eevee was) made a lot of sense thematically. I think a good mix would be once you get an hm any pokemon that can learn the move can also do the action without having to actually learn it. This would be a nice compromise between needing to prepare a well balanced team and needing to have an hm slave/no connection pokemon know all the moves.

 

[doodlebob]

That is the one thing I liked about lets go, your partner pokemon learning all the hm's (as silly as flying pikachu/eevee was) made a lot of sense thematically. I think a good mix would be once you get an hm any pokemon that can learn the move can also do the action without having to actually learn it. This would be a nice compromise between needing to prepare a well balanced team and needing to have an hm slave/no connection pokemon know all the moves.

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Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm talking about. Game Freak just goes on about doing it in a way that wouldn't impose any problems on the player even if it makes no sense at all, like Pikachu being able to Fly. I just don't want something like that or Pokémon Ride and would prefer a nice middle ground.

 

[Deleted member 42641]

The discussion on Death Stranding was perfect, just super close to my experience except I probably like it more and some other things they didn't describe much imo, but other than that I loved their talk.

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What did Huber think ? I can see Ian being just not into it, which I mean I thought control was really forgettable and death stranding my new potential GOTY so it evens out lol

 

[MegaSackman]

What did Huber think ? I can see Ian being just not into it, which I mean I thought control was really forgettable and death stranding my new potential GOTY so it evens out lol

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Both really liked it, they appreciate how unique it is, most of their comments were positives and they are quite happy with the game.

As negatives, Ian feels like the game gives you tools to deal with problems but then it introduces new mechanics that creare the same problems but applied to the new tools.
Huber felt the game becomes easier as you get new equipment and stakes in gameplay are lowered because of that.

They talked like 50minutes about the game but again, it was mostly a positive talk.

 

[klastical]

Here is the thing, I think seeing areas and knowing you'll need to come back to them is great. What I hated about HM's is that you essentially had to sacrifice a spot on your team for an hm slave, or give most of you mons only 3 moves so that you'd have access to cut, strength, etc.

Ride was not the reason you lost that feeling, gamefreak's progressively less interesting world design is the problem. Think back to gens 1-4, replace getting an hm with getting a ride pokemon that does the same thing, you'd still have a lot of back tracking to do, but you wouldn't need to drag a poor bibarel in your party to know cut/strength/surf/flash.

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I for one deffinitly dont miss the days of minnmaxing HMS. In gen 4 you could get them all on trophius and bibbarell but that still meant that you could only have four viable pokemon on your team. While I do agree with the other person that ride pokemon are dumb I accept them because they are a much better solution then giving up a third of your team to be HM slaves.

I would like to see more variety in the ways that you can explore the world. I really feel like we missed out on a golden opportunity to have a tip down open world pokemon game durring the 3ds era. There could have been loads of random areas that housed different biomes of pokemon. Start in a forest that has bugs and grass pokemon, that turns into a swamp with fish, and the pokemon that prey on them, and deep in the swamp you find a spooky rotted out house that has a strange sarcophagus hidden in the basement ig you can manage to move the furniture out of the way and clear a path to it. If you make your way across the crumbling boards of the upper floors without crashing back down you will find a flicking tv that your hypnotically drawn to....



Now I would just be happy to get a game that actually has all of the pokemon in it.

 

[Slim Action]

30+ hours into Death Stranding and I think the game does an excellent job introducing new tools and challenges at a steady pace. Every single "main mission" (and there are a lot) has multiple new options and variables.

(Also the "action sections" they all complained about are quite short and infrequent...and I actually like them)

 

[Wiggy]

Need that sonic trailer jones stat

 

[Deleted member 42641]

Both really liked it, they appreciate how unique it is, most of their comments were positives and they are quite happy with the game.

As negatives, Ian feels like the game gives you tools to deal with problems but then it introduces new mechanics that creare the same problems but applied to the new tools.
Huber felt the game becomes easier as you get new equipment and stakes in gameplay are lowered because of that.

They talked like 50minutes about the game but again, it was mostly a positive talk.

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Oh wow awesome !

I do wonder how it was playing before everyone else was because the online component is one of the best parts for sure

 

[Deleted member 4976]

Oh wow awesome !

I do wonder how it was playing before everyone else was because the online component is one of the best parts for sure

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That's gotten me curious too. The online component is so well implemented and such an integral part of the experience that playing that I feel bad for anyone whose playing Death Stranding without access to online.

 

[klastical]

Oh wow awesome !

I do wonder how it was playing before everyone else was because the online component is one of the best parts for sure

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From other podcasts it sounds like it was cooler before launch imo. Since it was only reviewers who had it they would find each others stuff all the time. Instead of it being a watchtower built by psnnameXYZ its built by monsterdunks (I think) and you recognize that as jeff gerstmann.

 

[RugoUniverse]

From other podcasts it sounds like it was cooler before launch imo. Since it was only reviewers who had it they would find each others stuff all the time. Instead of it being a watchtower built by psnnameXYZ its built by monsterdunks (I think) and you recognize that as jeff gerstmann.

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Definitely true that finding stuff by people you know would be great, but the charm of the game is that you're in a sort of micro server with the same people. So by late in the game when you're seeing the same name popping up and having various other interactions with people you don't know (but recognise the name) it definitely makes for some pretty epic moments.

 

[MegaSackman]

Oh wow awesome !

I do wonder how it was playing before everyone else was because the online component is one of the best parts for sure

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I don't know how they did but they mentioned that was mindblowing findind each others tools around the world. Huber mentioned that he found an Ian's Trike at the edge of cliff, and Ian found some Beb stuff that really helped him.

 

[Deleted member 4976]

Definitely true that finding stuff by people you know would be great, but the charm of the game is that you're in a sort of micro server with the same people. So by late in the game when you're seeing the same name popping up and having various other interactions with people you don't know (but recognise the name) it definitely makes for some pretty epic moments.

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Especially because you can form strand contracts. I made one just yesterday with someone who had just the best watchtower plus postbox location combos.

 

[The Third Heat]

Oh wow awesome !

I do wonder how it was playing before everyone else was because the online component is one of the best parts for sure

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I actually just heard someone from Eurogamer on stream (Aoife) talking about this, and she mentioned that the world was plenty populated during pre-release. Makes sense, since it seems most outlets got a lot of copies.

 

[abrack]

I hope everyone in my "microserver" or whatever appreciates all the resources I've dumped into building roads that no one seems to be helping me with!

 

[TK-421]

Jones said the allies won't be doing individual spoiler modes for Mandalorian since it will run into the holidays, rather they'll try to do a series one in January once the holidays are over.

 

[The Third Heat]

I hope everyone in my "microserver" or whatever appreciates all the resources I've dumped into building roads that no one seems to be helping me with!

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Yes yes yes. I keep seeing roads with like 2/3rds of the resources dumped into them and I'm like "people! just finish them!" *sigh*

 

[Deleted member 42641]

From other podcasts it sounds like it was cooler before launch imo. Since it was only reviewers who had it they would find each others stuff all the time. Instead of it being a watchtower built by psnnameXYZ its built by monsterdunks (I think) and you recognize that as jeff gerstmann.

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I feel like it being people you already know goes against the idea of the game. Its about bringing everyone together no matter a prior connection or not to realize we all want the same thing and are stronger when we work together.

Thats still funny though

 

[False Witness]

Yes yes yes. I keep seeing roads with like 2/3rds of the resources dumped into them and I'm like "people! just finish them!" *sigh*

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Never have I ever appreciated roads more.

 

[Deleted member 437]

Jones said the allies won't be doing individual spoiler modes for Mandalorian since it will run into the holidays, rather they'll try to do a series one in January once the holidays are over.

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Shit.

Exact thing I came in here to ask.

 

[Deleted member 28523]

oh shit ian and don are continuing Deadly Premonition this week. super excited for that. watching people discover and become captivated by that game is also as much as actually playing it.

 

[sora87]

Weekly Hunts and Silver Squad aren't on the schedule next week D: ohnoes

 

[Bloodworth]

Weekly Hunts and Silver Squad aren't on the schedule next week D: ohnoes

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Most things aren't duplicated on the schedule. Once this week's event is over, I just edit the date for the next episode.

 

[Deleted member 4976]

Just watched the podcast.

Allies, you keep fucking nailing that Blizzard discussion so damn well.

Bravo!

 

[Mikachu]

Not gunna lie I'd kill for a Kyle and Brandon nuzloke run series of any Pokémon game

 

[Kansoku]

Speaking of Pokemon, has Kyle ever said anything about the Mystery Dungeon games? Wold love to see a playtrough of his of Explorers of Sky.

 

[klastical]

Speaking of Pokemon, has Kyle ever said anything about the Mystery Dungeon games? Wold love to see a playtrough of his of Explorers of Sky.

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This would be awesome. It's such a bosman game.

 

[Feep]

All Ian produced shows. His shows will always be heavy on guests because 1. he knows a lot of industry people and 2. I can imagine he just hasn't got the patience to wrangle the Allies to be on shows they're meh on being a part of.

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Speaking as someone who assists with MM production, we feel that we always have Huber on so one Ally contestant (or two?) is pretty ideal. Our next shooting date definitely has a few.

 

[klastical]

Definitely true that finding stuff by people you know would be great, but the charm of the game is that you're in a sort of micro server with the same people. So by late in the game when you're seeing the same name popping up and having various other interactions with people you don't know (but recognise the name) it definitely makes for some pretty epic moments.

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I'm in chapter five and I dont think I've ever played attention to anyone's names. It's cool that the further I'm getting into the game the more opportunities for building there are since less players have already been in my location.

 

[Deleted member 437]

Man, not doing epi by epi of mandalorian is a missed opportunity. At most, they wouldn't get to the last 2 episodes which thry could totally do when they come back. Next episode is this Friday.

 

[gragrofe]

I hate to say it but my fatigue of disney and the over saturation of star wars related releases has made me not care about mandalorian at all. I'm glad some of you all are still hyped but I am off this train and more happy for it.

 

[MrMette]

Speaking as someone who assists with MM production, we feel that we always have Huber on so one Ally contestant (or two?) is pretty ideal. Our next shooting date definitely has a few.

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I completely agree with this. Especially as it would be weird to have the Allies repeat playing the game over and over again. I'm not saying they shouldn't re-appear ever again, just that there are only 7 Allies to swap out to, so they would have to repeat each 2 episodes or so. That would become very weird/boring quickly (and I suspect it would become weird for the Allies as well). It's nice to just see them re-appear every once in a while.

I personally feel like mysterious monsters is the perfect platform to have guests on and to try to get more people into EZA because some guests that they follow appear on the show. I do think you guys are doing a great job with that and do a great job with the show in general. Creating a gameshow like this with only the Allies as contestants would be a waste of potential imo.

I am not always a big fan of guests showing up to channels I watch, but I personally don't feel like EZA is overdoing it at all and they usually fit very well.

I hate to say it but my fatigue of disney and the over saturation of star wars related releases has made me not care about mandalorian at all. I'm glad some of you all are still hyped but I am off this train and more happy for it.

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I didn't even know what it was and had to try and figure it out yesterday when I read about it somewhere, and I'm still not completely sure what it is (but I did figure out it was Star Wars related). That being said, I am one of the weird people who doesn't really care about Star Wars and haven't watched most of the newest ones (I also have some hot takes about what I have seen from Star Wars as I believe it's very overrated), so I'm not the target audience.

I do hope for Star Wars fans that this thing will be good, but it's just not for me.

 

[NekoNeko]

guests on MM is fine but everywhere else i tune out immediately.

 

[MrMette]

guests on MM is fine but everywhere else i tune out immediately.

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It's weird, I have a tendency to do the same thing on most channels, but for some reason it hasn't really bothered me with EZA.

That being said, I usually have a tough time watching interviews (even though Ben does a great job with them, so I tend to power through them) as I tend to feel anxious when watching them. It's probably the reason why I usually don't like guests on most channels. But most EZA content with guests aren't interviews.

The EZA content where I do feel somewhat anxious (and I haven't really watched it because of that) is when devs come by to show off their games. I think it's a fantastic idea and I understand why a lot of people love that kind of stuff (and they should keep doing it), but I just feel weird when I watch something like that. So I usually just don't.

It doesn't bother me too much on podcasts (except if they have to do weird segments as I feel embarrassed for them if they have to) or stuff like Easy Update (which is always different in nature). For example, I love the episodes of Ian's torture chamber (including the ones with guests). The same goes for Fiasco, where I don't mind there being guests as it's an improv show to begin with.

There aren't that many guests on EZA to begin with. I guess Easy Update has most of them and occasionally one of the podcasts.

Edit:
Btw, yes I'm weird. I know.

 

[Deleted member 437]

I hate to say it but my fatigue of disney and the over saturation of star wars related releases has made me not care about mandalorian at all. I'm glad some of you all are still hyped but I am off this train and more happy for it.

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I'm not even into star wars. I read spoilers about these movies before they come out.

Mandalorian was good. It felt different from normal Star wars honestly. More gritty and less fantastical.

 

[jett]

I hate to say it but my fatigue of disney and the over saturation of star wars related releases has made me not care about mandalorian at all. I'm glad some of you all are still hyped but I am off this train and more happy for it.

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Honestly the last thing EZA needs is spoiler modes for every single dang episode of this thing.

 

[Deleted member 437]

Honestly the last thing EZA needs is spoiler modes for every single dang episode of this thing.

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I envisioned it more like ezanime honestly or game of thrones.

 

[IDreamOfHime]

Who's reviewing Pokemon? A bit worried for them with the tidal wave of abuse other reviewers are getting for being positive about it.

 

[klastical]

Who's reviewing Pokemon? A bit worried for them with the tidal wave of abuse other reviewers are getting for being positive about it.

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My guess is ben. Chances are they didnt get an early review code so its gonna be awhile before we see the review.

 

[Deleted member 4976]

In a just world, Kyle would review the game and actually take it to task for how significantly cut down it is and how much is missing rather than so many of these reviews which amount to:

"Pokemon loop, still good 20 years later."

Which has merit of course but also completely ignores that the series has become nothing more than an annualized sports entry on the precipice of MTX introductions that recieves largely the same scores everytime because it exists.

 

[Deleted member 51691]

Who's reviewing Pokemon? A bit worried for them with the tidal wave of abuse other reviewers are getting for being positive about it.

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They won't get a review code until release day probably. By the time the review goes up the pre-launch insanity will have died down.

 

[Brot]

Speaking as someone who assists with MM production, we feel that we always have Huber on so one Ally contestant (or two?) is pretty ideal. Our next shooting date definitely has a few.

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Mysterious Monsters is the perfect show for guests. My dream for the show is to have at least two industry guests per episode on it. Be it developers, content producers or people otherwise involved in video games. When Stinkles tweeted about the show I couldn't even imagine how great it would be to have him on. Seriously, MM could be so much bigger than EZA alone. I hope it gets there once you people feel comfortable enough with the production.

 

[Kneefoil]

Who's reviewing Pokemon? A bit worried for them with the tidal wave of abuse other reviewers are getting for being positive about it.

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I think that Brandon has probably become their Pokémon review guy. I could remember wrong, but I recall him expressing interest in doing the new Pokémon game reviews going forward when they were doing Brandon Plays Pokémon. He reviewed Pokémon Sun & Moon anyway.

 

[Deleted member 51691]

X019 is going to be fun this time it seems

 

[Sephiroth]

wow that Achieve It Yourself episode was amazing. The cut to Ben reacting had me in tears.

Ben: "YOU DIDN'T ACHIEVE IT!"