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Let's Plays!

Started by GrahamRocks!, January 11, 2013, 05:55:37 PM

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GrahamRocks!

Lets Plays! The kinds of videos that have swept places like Youtube and Something Awful by storm. With various LPs and walkthroughs done by many fine people, such as Chuggaaconroy (my first and favorite personally!), NintendoCapriSun, SlimKirby, ProtonJonSA, SuperSkarmory, Lucahjin, JoshJepson, HCBailly,, Arglefumph (Okay he calls them "video walkthoughs" same thing! Any Nancy Drew fan will like this guy!), and Marriland, people everywhere are introduced to games they've never heard of or have atleast never played; and because of this, the games get more fans and appreciation from people who would have otherwise have never even touched them. Some good examples? Okami and the MOTHER series, both played by Chuggaaconroy, who is a fan of both games, and introduced me personally to the world of Eagleland and Nippon. I actually got Okami for Christmas last year because I liked his LP! And to think, originally I was just looking for a good Paper Mario walkthrough, and I clicked on the first result I saw which just so happened to be Chuggaas LP of Paper Mario.
There are, of course, different kinds of Lets Plays out there, which I'm going to try to categorize here...
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Informative:

Examples: Super Skarmory, Marriland, Arglefumph, Dilandau3000, The Great Clement, Enchantermon, Lateblt enc.

This type of Let Play is just a simple walkthrough of a game. Not many jokes are cracked, and they just tell you exactly what to do, how to do it, give recommendations on how to solve puzzles and show off any secrets they know. They typically know a lot of information about the game they're playing, so they know pretty well what they're talking about. A drawback of this type of LPing is that sometimes they don't seem to be very entertaining in their commentary, and it sometimes drags a bit if they go on and on about something, never even changing the tone of their voice.
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Blind:

Examples: KoopaKungFu, Jethrotex (at first), Toegoff, Pawdugan, Rosella500 (yes, I still call her that!) to an extent enc

This is a very... interesting run of a game. Remember how the Informative LPs know just about everything about their games and know every secret and tactic on how to beat it? This is the exact opposite of a Purely Informative LP, in which they -as the name implies- play through the game "blind", not knowing very much about the game itself, and basically plays through as best they can and try to figure out what the heck they're supposed to do. Unfortunately, while this can be at times funny, with the player being just as lost as the viewers watching them, this can be also a bit annoying if the person watching has already played through the game and knows everything already, and feels like they're smarter than the LPer when it comes to puzzles and choices in dialogue. Also, because they're playing Blind, they might not get every single item in-game, and most likely won't get 100% completion because of this.
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Funny:

Examples: Chuggaaconroy, NintendoCapriSun, DeceasedCrab, Dilandau3000, Pawdugan, The Great Clement, Enchantermon enc

These LPs are pretty self-explanatory. They are Lets Plays made because they want to have fun while playing, cracking puns and having various funny moments, such as failing miserably at something that they've done several times before (known as "The Lets Play Curse"), or winning awesomely at something they say has always given them trouble before. They often make bad puns, sometimes flip out if something surprises them (good or bad), or point out various flaws in terms of logic in the game they're playing. All in all, they always are due for a good laugh, whether it be from the viewer or the player themselves. Unfortunately, sometimes what they say or do gets passed on as a meme (examples? Steve The Red Pikmin, "Move faster Pokey!"), and they regret ever doing the joke in the process and feel they'll never live it down.
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Speedrun:

Examples: The Speed Gamers marathoners enc

This is another interesting one, and seems pretty popular. The point of this type of LP is to -what else?- go through the game as fast as humanly possible. Most of the games played are games like, Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Quake, Myst, Final Fantasy games, and others. Whether you're going through "tool assisted" (like Gameshark, Action Replay, Game Genie, emulators) or not, these are considered the easiest type of LPs to do, because you just have to worry about your time and not much else. Unfortunately, as you're playing through the game so quickly, you might miss a couple things here or there (like a certain item) which will be a bit annoying because you might not get a chance to get it back ever again.
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Collaborative:

Examples: TheRunawayGuys, The Speed Gamers, Yogscast enc

These can be fun if done well. This type of LP is basically a group of two or more Lets Players working together (or against eachother) to play through the multiplayer mode of certain games, such as Mario Party or Super Smash Bros, and basically either work together to win the game, or see how badly they can screw eachother over and be jerks to one another. Unfortunately, while it can be fun to watch them beat the snot out of eachother, sometimes they manage to start talking all at once, and it becomes hard to figure out what everyone is saying.
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Challenge:

Examples: Various LPers. Nearly everyone has done atleast one.

These can be practically anything. A Zelda "Three Heart Run", Mother 3 "No Equips", Fire Emblem 'No Deaths" (currently doing one myself! this is hard!), Pokemon "Nuzlocke Challenge"... there are so many variations, I can't list them all! unfortunately, sometimes the challenges (especially the Nuzlockes) can get a little stale if you don't add your own little spin on it.
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That's all I can think of at the moment.

Of course, no LPer is perfect, and there is no one way to do a Lets Play right. Play however you like! Of course, not every Lets Player goes for one style. Some, like Chuggaa or NCS, go for a mix where they're funny, but informative also, and sometimes make up their own self imposed challenges like beating a boss a certain way.

So, what styles do you like best? Who do you follow the most? Do you have any opinions of certain Lets Plays? Do you like certain Lets Plays better than others?
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I'm currently following: Chuggaaconroy, NintendoCapriSun, Dilandau3000, hercrabbiness, The Great Clement (aka ClementJ642), Enchantermon, Lateblt, Rosella500, PushingUpRoses, arglefumph, Pawdugan, Toegoff (whom I'm making a VERY rare exception in terms of Blind Let's Plays, Paw aside, because I like his style), JoshJepson.

Say

This is a very nice list. I'll have to check them out later :)

I think the one that I've honestly seen a whole Let's Play must be Teogoff - because he's like the nicest guy on earth and he's done a lot of those for the team (part of the job to revise all media). And Enchantermon, because he's a forum member and he could do a Let's Play of tetris and I'd still watch... lol :)

I must admit I'm very new to this tho, I am not to spend much time on youtube as it is. I wish I had more free time to explore more, that's why threads like these are so important because at least when I do I've got references and suggestions :)


Say Mistage
Phoenix Online Studios

#IndieSupport <3

dark-daventry

You know, I don't watch many lets plays lol. It's something I need to do more. I'm on YouTube a decent amount of time, but I mostly use it for music videos lol. I'll have to give some of these a shot when I have the time.
Founder of the (new) Left Handed Alliance Of Left Handed People (LHALHP)

Gay and proud of it!

Avid Adventure Game fan

Blackthorne

I think Let's Plays are fun for older games that you're already familiar with, but I absolutely abhor them for new games.

I just read a post by someone who hasn't bought the game yet, but he commented on how he loved the let's play.  I think it's crappy to talk about how much you liked a let's play, and then you don't buy the developer's game.


Bt
"You've got to keep one eye looking over your shoulder
you know it's going to get harder and harder as you
get older - but in the end you'll pack up, fly down south, hide your head in the sand.  Just another sad old man, all alone and dying of cancer." - Dogs, Pink Floyd.

dark-daventry

If I end up liking a lets play of a game, there's a very high chance I'll buy it for myself.
Founder of the (new) Left Handed Alliance Of Left Handed People (LHALHP)

Gay and proud of it!

Avid Adventure Game fan

KatieHal

I enjoy LPs, though a number of the LPers I once watched have dropped off from doing them, or at least from doing them regularly. Toegoff is the only one I watch consistently now, though I also usually follow whatever LPs hercrabbiness is doing. And I watch Paw's as well.

I'll have to check out some of those folks you listed, GR, that's quite a list!

As for watching but not buying--sometimes it's a money thing. Hopefully that person plans to buy it when they can. Or maybe for some it's not available where they are, that happens too.

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

GrahamRocks!

Same here! In fact, it was because I liked a game so much that I wanted to try it again for myself, that I got introduced to Let's Plays in the first place.

I remember it like it was yesterday...

I was 16, and I was at Disneyland with my Grandma. We'd gone there to celebrate my birthday, with this trip being the last big gift i would get. In our hotel room, there was a TV which had an N64 attached to it (or at least it had SOMETHING in the TV that acted like an N64) with a bunch of games in it which you could play for one hour. After the hour was up when you played that game, if you wanted to continue you had to pay. I only did that with Mario 64, and was shocked that it hadn't saved my progress.

Anyway, one of the games that caught my eye was Paper Mario. Now, at this time I'd started to become a Troper, so I'd heard about the game before and thought it sounded pretty good to me. I selected it and started playing...

I loved it! Admittedly, I didn't get all that far (I got to the point where I was looking for the Hammer at the begining), but just from that, I was hooked!

So, when I got home, I decided to look up more about it, particularly a video walkthough I could follow. One of the first results I found was... THIS!



I fell in love with this guy within the first couple of episodes. Heck, I hold these standards to every LPer I start follow: If you can't make me laugh or at least make me think "Hmm... that's interesting! I never thought of that!" within the first couple of episodes, then I won't follow you.

I typically look for LPers who are both funny AND informative! But, either one on their own is okay too.

It's amazing how far this guy has come since I'd started watching in 2009 (by the time I'd started watching him, he'd just started his 8th Let's Play, Super Mario Sunshine. Now, he's just finished his 20th!). His humor grows better and better with each LP he does. And in case you're worried that he sounds a little flat here, don't worry, he get a LOT more emotional later on! He loves Pokemon, Mario, Okami, Xenoblade, Zelda and the Mother series. It was through his Let's Plays that I got up the courage to ask my Mama for a Pokemon game, because he got me back into it after over a decade of it being "forbidden". It was him who got me into the Mother series, and Okami (so much so, that I actually got interested in Japanese Mythology), and he even redeemed Navi in my eyes. 

Edit: Yay! I got the Youtube embedding to work! I was wondering how you guys did that!

KatieHal

Kikoskia, btw, does a lot of funny LPs. I've enjoyed a few of his but for some reason I don't quite click with them as I have with others. Not entirely sure why.

Oh, I've also enjoyed Spoony's LPs when he does them. The Phantasmagoria 2 LP is just comedy freakin' gold! Though his LPs are less common as opposed to just the reviews, which are also fun and funny.

Dilandau I've also watched some from him. I think his Dreamfall LP was the first time I finally got to see that whole game. (Though I do own it, I don't think it will run on my comp. Once upon a time my comp was too slow for the game, now I think it's vice versa!) Ooo, I see he's got a GK3 one now, though, I should check that out. (Another one where I own but can't play it) I've seen on LP of that by Resulka, but while she can be funny, I find her commentary to be a little too frequent for my tastes, often talking over the game itself. She is how I found out about Wadjet Eye and the Blackwell series, though.

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

GrahamRocks!

Ironically, I didn't originally get into Dilandau through somebody referencing him in an LP (like how Chugga sometimes references NCS) or because I saw a review/rant about a game he's played (like I did with Clement with his Sonic '06 review, which I liked and seeing as he's a big Mega Man and Sonic fan, I decided to follow him).

I found him through his music. Back when I was first discovering King's Quest, I was looking for some of the music (since I liked it, especially 5 and onward) and saw that he had uploaded some music from King's Quest (and other stuff which I hadn't cared about then). I saw that he also did Let's Plays (with a REAL MT-32!), and in clicking on it, I found someone awesome!

Not ONLY was he knowledgable about most things Sierra (and Mass Effect), he was funny too! And, he was foreign, so he's multilingual too!

I would say that I follow AmayirotAkago too, but... his channel got permanently shut down by Youtube, and while I can look on Blip, he mostly does streams of games I don't play. It's a bit of a shame, becaue he used to be my "Go-to Space Quest guy" before I found Dilandau.

I'm currently about to start ME3 with Dilandau3000, but... I'm slightly dreading it, not because of the game itself, but because I listened to a video a few months back where he gave his thoughts on the ending (before the Let's Play), and he was in the camp that had hated the endings. Granted this WAS before the Extended Cut, but still! Also, I checked the last video of the game he did (aside from bonuses and the other endings)... and he picked Destroy, which is not the ending I prefer.

Let's Play I've watched of his: King's Quest 1-6 (have yet to watch 7 all the way through), Police Quest 1-3, Space Quest 1-6, Myst 1 (haven't finished Riven yet, and I don't plan to look at 4 or 5 until he's done Myst 3), Mass Effect 1-2, and Gabriel Knight 1-3.

After seeing his LP of GK1, I can see why Hassan likes Gabriel Knight so much! The first game is AWESOME! The second, well, the acting grew on me and the backgrounds and music are nice. The third... kind of a letdown.

Numbers

I just want to say that Paw Dugan's LP of King's Quest 5 is one of the most glorious things I've ever seen.

Toy Shop Owner: I can always build another sled, but finding another marionette of this quality...ich weiss nicht!
Paw: ...WHAT? That was the worst German EVER!
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

Oldbushie

http://lparchive.org/Drakengard/

followed by

http://lparchive.org/NIER/

Incidentally, Nier is an awesome if sadistic game. The True Ending made me cry manly tears.
.......... <3 Oldbushie <3 ..........
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Master of Time and Space
Aerobush of the Jarada Knights
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and...
The TSL Candyman




Hero Of The Queene!


dark-daventry

I LOVE NIER SO MUCH!!!!!!!! Such an underrated game. I'm in the middle of my second playthrough, and I'm hoping to get to all the endings in time.
Founder of the (new) Left Handed Alliance Of Left Handed People (LHALHP)

Gay and proud of it!

Avid Adventure Game fan

crayauchtin

I've been known to spend far too much time looking at LPs on lparchive.org

My favorite is still the QfG 1-5 Let's Play by Bobbin Threadbare.
"If your translation is correct, that was 'May a sleepy hippopotamus lie down on your house keys,' but you're not sure. Unfortunately, your fluency in griffin-speak is too low."

We're roleplaying in the King's Quest world: come join in the fun!

GrahamRocks!

YES!!! I love that one! It's good for research for my stories, and it's funny!