Let's Plays

[Goafer]

Not sure if this could be merged into the Podcasts thread or not, but I didn't want to post in there since no one else seems to mention Let's Plays (I only skim read it).

 

Me and my other half watch a lot of Let's Plays, although our tastes vary a bit. I quite like Game Grumps and Best Friends Play, due to the fact that it's basically just a bunch of people pissing around and playing games. Top bants and all that.

 

My other half however, seems to prefer when it's just one person playing. I fucking hate those types of videos. Everything about it is just so self indulgent. The facecam, the complete lack of conversation/discussion and the yelling. OH GOD THE YELLING. She was watching Markiplier and he never stops yelling. Ever. Same with Jessie Cox. Sips is also getting on my tits a bit. Watching his videos, you're never more than 10 seconds away from "Son of a bitch" or "Holy shit". I also find those types of videos a bit patronising, almost like an instructional art show for kids. "Let's do this, and then maybe try this". I really don't know what she (or anyone) sees in these types of videos.

 

And don't get me started on Pewdiepie. I'm sure he's a nice guy or whatever, but he's the Michael Jordan of annoying pricks. I die a little inside everytime I'm trying to check out a game I want to buy and I accidentally click on one of his videos. Admittedly, his videos crop up surprisingly little considering how big he is. Suppose that's a blessing.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Not sure if this could be merged into the Podcasts thread or not, but I didn't want to post in there since no one else seems to mention Let's Plays (I only skim read it).

 

Me and my other half watch a lot of Let's Plays, although our tastes vary a bit. I quite like Game Grumps and Best Friends Play, due to the fact that it's basically just a bunch of people pissing around and playing games. Top bants and all that.

 

My other half however, seems to prefer when it's just one person playing. I fucking hate those types of videos. Everything about it is just so self indulgent. The facecam, the complete lack of conversation/discussion and the yelling. OH GOD THE YELLING. She was watching Markiplier and he never stops yelling. Ever. Same with Jessie Cox. Sips is also getting on my tits a bit. Watching his videos, you're never more than 10 seconds away from "Son of a bitch" or "Holy shit". I also find those types of videos a bit patronising, almost like an instructional art show for kids. "Let's do this, and then maybe try this". I really don't know what she (or anyone) sees in these types of videos.

 

And don't get me started on Pewdiepie. I'm sure he's a nice guy or whatever, but he's the Michael Jordan of annoying pricks. I die a little inside everytime I'm trying to check out a game I want to buy and I accidentally click on one of his videos. Admittedly, his videos crop up surprisingly little considering how big he is. Suppose that's a blessing.

 

I recently met up with a friend and was ranting and raving about how good PT was. One of the first videos that popped up was Pewdiepie playing the game. It was actually my first ever experience coming across that guy. Annoying as fuck.

 

Watching two or so people play is more fun than one person just playing up to the camera.

[MadDog]

I'll look for a let's play if there's a game I'm thinking of buying but not 100% sure I'll like it. I usually have a much better idea after watching a good let's play. Even if a game reviews bad, I trust my judgement after watching one.

[nekunando]

To be honest, I generally get bored pretty quickly watching someone else play a game. I want to be involved

[Ronnie]

I only watch IGN Let's Plays. They've convinced me to get plenty of games including Trials Fusion and Darkest Dungeon. I find most other Let's Players too annoying to watch.

[drahkon]

I quite like Game Grumps

 

Me too. I enjoy listening to Dan and Arin. I keep re-watching (or rather re-listening) older stuff as background noise when I do other stuff.

 

I also like to watch the occasional James and Mike Mondays

[Ike]

Me too. I enjoy listening to Dan and Arin. I keep re-watching (or rather re-listening) older stuff as background noise when I do other stuff.

 

Same though I'd argue they aren't Let's Players. Unless it's Danny playing the game. They are better as background noise rather than watching them play games.

[drahkon]

Same though I'd argue they aren't Let's Players. Unless it's Danny playing the game. They are better as background noise rather than watching them play games.

 

Yeah, you're right.

 

Sometimes it's funny watching the gameplay, though. Sonic '06, Sonic Boom and Sonic Adventure DX spring to mind

 

And don't forget Arin's steady decent into a mental breakdown during the Mario 64 playthrough. Without the gameplay it's only half as funny.

 

 

Great compilation

[Murr]

I was going to say that I don't think I've ever watched any "Let's Play" films, but that would be a lie as there have been occasions if I'm at my wits end with a game I'll take a look for a walk through of that part of the game which 9 out of 10 times are Let's Play films.

 

I don't really get it though, I've not intentionally watched one to see if I'd like a game or not. Or watched any for games I don't own on other platforms.

 

My friend does it alot though. He's an Xbox360 and XboxOne owner and is not convinced to buy a Sony console. Yet he's said he's watched complete play through's of The Last of Us and Heavy Rain on PS3. Reason being he said they looked like good games and didn't want to miss out on them, but didn't want to buy a new console.

 

I don't know though, he's still missing out on them by watching them rather than playing them though isn't he? I'd rather play Sunset Overdrive which I am interested in, than watching someone play it on YouTube.

[Sméagol]

I generally only watch short clips. Either I want to see some gameplay from a game I'm considering buying, or I want to rewatch a particular scene from a game. But I use Let's plays for those..

 

I rarely watch a Let's play from the beginning, and then watch it for a while, but I've never actually finished a complete playthrough. But I'm really picky which ones I choose, even if all I want to see is just a few minutes of something in particular.. Because some Let's players have a talent of annoying me in no time whatsoever. Exagerrated reactions, too much cursing, yelling, super lame jokes, annoying voice, bad audio quality, bad editing, eating / drinking noises, other background noises.. The list is long. I don't mind a voice over, and don't mind some of the things on the list in small doses, but if you behave like the typical teen Youtuber I'm not going to take you seriously and I'll click the back button as fast as I can. If you can't do a voice over properly, then just do text, or nothing at all.

 

I think I've seen that Pewdiepie once for a few seconds.. I'm not sure, which I hope is because my memory blocking functions are working, and not because of my bad memory in general.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Sméagol

[Glen-i]

Multiple commentators are always better than one.

If anything, that was only cemented when I took part in the 24 hour Kirby marathon.

 

We were generally chatting about loads of stuff throughout. But as soon as @Dcubed had to leave and I was playing Mouse Attack by myself, it was very hard to keep talking.

But once his sis woke up from her power nap, it went right back to natural conversation and laughing.

 

We've also done Boom Street (That one is my favourite vid we've done so far) and almost half of Woolly World and it's surprisingly easy to have natural banter when there's someone else there with you.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Glen-i

[Fierce_LiNk]

Yet he's said he's watched complete play through's of The Last of Us

 

When you next see your friend, please hit him for me and make sure that it really hurts.

 

What a shitty way to experience a really amazing game.

[Dcubed]

Multiple commentators are always better than one.

If anything, that was only cemented when I took part in the 24 hour Kirby marathon.

 

We were generally chatting about loads of stuff throughout. But as soon as @Dcubed had to leave and I was playing Mouse Attack by myself, it was very hard to keep talking.

But once his sis woke up from her power nap, it went right back to natural conversation and laughing.

 

We've also done Boom Street (That one is my favourite vid we've done so far) and almost half of Woolly World and it's surprisingly easy to have natural banter when there's someone else there with you.

 

Yup it's true. Keeping banter going on your own is really tough! It doesn't come naturally at all, so you have no choice but to play up to the "camera" to keep things interesting.

 

I don't really watch many Lets Plays myself. Mainly just the Grumps; they're usually a good laugh. But I do have respect for anyone who can keep an audience engaged, especially on your own; it's tough to pull off well! (and on a regular basis, I can see it very quickly turning into serious work; not nearly as fun as it seems at first glance)

[Jonnas]

So yeah, the only playthroughs I watch are that of the Grumps', not because of in-game content, but because the hosts are entertaining. I don't find it fun, to watch a playthrough to see what the game is about, you lose a lot by not playing it yourself (in fact, I tend to skip Grumps series where they play a game that I want to play eventually)

 

That said, there are runs for stuff like Fire Emblem, Civilization, and certain platform games, where all I want to see is how other people choose to complete a certain level/segment/chapter, or play a certain faction/civ/unit. But I only search for stuff I already played myself, anyway.

 

Great compilation

 

God, Arin sucks so much at Mario 64 Too bad that video didn't include his attempts at staying Zen in Rainbow Ride.

[Happenstance]

I used to watch a load of Let's Plays but I started to find the Youtubers doing them more and more annoying, especially when they started taking money from Publishers to play the games and some of them admit it until later.

 

These days I'm pretty much just down to watching Giant Bomb when they do full runs of games. Like Drew playing through all the MGS games at the moment or Vinny doing all the Castlevania ones.

[Goafer]

I don't find it fun, to watch a playthrough to see what the game is about, you lose a lot by not playing it yourself (in fact, I tend to skip Grumps series where they play a game that I want to play eventually)

 

I also skip games that I know I'll want to play later. I had to skip the Best Friends playthrough of The Last of Us, as I was playing it at the time. I ended up playing it at my normal pace, then watching a few episodes of their playthrough until it had caught up with me. It was actually pretty good to play it myself, and then see how well they fared.

[Happenstance]

I did a similar thing with Persona 4. I watched enough of the Giant Bomb Endurance Run to know that I wanted to play it so I bought the game and stopped watching but then I got into a routine of playing a few hours of the game, stopping and then watching more of the Endurance Run until I caught up with my point in the game.

[Glen-i]

I'm just gonna shamelessly plug @Dcubed's and my live stream of the last few moments of Pokemon XD (You know, the console Pokemon game that people only bought because it had a Lugia) We'll be starting it in around 10 minutes.

No charity fundraising this time, it's purely for giggles. DCubed and I will be there, and hopefully DCubed's sister if she can stay awake...

 

You can find it here.

EDIT: That's the actual link

Edited September 4, 2015 by Glen-i

[darksnowman]

I'm just gonna shamelessly plug @Dcubed's and my live stream of the last few moments of Pokemon XD (You know, the console Pokemon game that people only bought because it had a Lugia) We'll be starting it in around 10 minutes.

No charity fundraising this time, it's purely for giggles. DCubed and I will be there, and hopefully DCubed's sister if she can stay awake...

 

You can find it here.

EDIT: That's the actual link

 

I've dropped in for a bit. You guys are English wackos. :p

[Ike]

Aw, I missed it.

[darksnowman]

Aw, I missed it.

 

Maybe it'll be archived and you can catch up.

 

I'd the headphones on when I was watching. I forgot how good the music is in Pokémon XD!

[Ronnie]

I find 99% of Let's Plays too annoying to watch. The personality is everything in things like this. I do enjoy the IGN Let's Plays a lot though.

[Glen-i]

Maybe it'll be archived and you can catch up.

 

I'd the headphones on when I was watching. I forgot how good the music is in Pokémon XD!

 

It will be, it's currently uploading, I'll edit in a video once it's up.

 

It'll be about 30-45 minutes.

 

This one was really spontaneous, seeing as I was about to finish Pokemon XD anyway, I'll try to provide more warning next time.

 

EDIT: There we go! It's there in the archives now, @Ike. We did kinda goof up with the volume balance a bit. The more bombastic music drowns us out a bit and there's more than a few teething problems...

The unprofessional approach only adds to the charm in my opinion... I hope...

 

If you want to skip to when we actually start the file, skip to 5:48

 

Edited September 4, 2015 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

Yeah, we had no plan going in or anything. So excuse a few gaffs along the way, Glen-i was just coming to the end of the game and we suddenly figured it would be a laff to stream the end bit (we hope you agree :p )

 

So yeah, it's all rough & ready (it's been a while since we streamed last and I kinda forgot how to work the thing) and completely unscripted. In other words... PROFESSIONAL!!

Edited September 4, 2015 by Dcubed

[Nolan]

I love LPs when I have the time. Even reading them or screenshot LPs if I'm at work instead of a video. I'm picky about who I watch though. With rare occasion can I be arsed to pay attention to a single player. (Chip Cheezum does it well as he tries to be very informative, but usually he has a guest to help conversations along.

 

Typically I just go to LParchive.org and see what strikes my fancy. Dwarf Fortress is a great read, anything by Chip Cheezum (and general ironicus) is normally good for a watch. And TheDarkId did a FANTASTIC hybrid LP of the Drakengard series plus Nier. Highly recommend reading those.

 

There are a few others but it's late and I'm not going to list everything I'd recommend (unless someone is actually interested) otherwise I'd sound like more of a prat than I already do.

 

 

And yes, I do watch LPs of games I've played and beaten when the LPer is particularly good/entertaining. Or just nostalgia.