Anyone into Let's Plays?

gamercal

gamercal

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No this isn't purely an advert or anything, I'm genuinely curious to find out the opinions of people here.

So a couple of months back, Gale said it would be cool if I did a Let's Play of a Super Mario World ROM hack, mostly because I'm a brit and the accent would be appealing -_-'

So I started one just for the fun of it, to see what it would be like. Turns out it was pretty fun, and a fair few people have really liked it so far. Although exams are getting in the way at the moment, beyond that I've been able to update pretty regularly, and it's a good relief from real-life stresses (unless WMM breaks lol).


In case anyone doesn't know, a Let's Play is basically a video series of a game, commercial or otherwise, which includes commentary (usually spoken). There's variants possible, as some people do narration after recording, and some use annotations instead of talking (although to me that is a playthrough, not an LP). Most, including myself, do their comments live though - I find it's both easier to do and more entertaining overall, as you see initial reactions to surprises and whatnot. It's sometimes hard to keep focused on the game though, but maybe that's my sometimes bad playing showing ^_^'


raocow and GVirusG are two of the better LPers that I follow. If you're curious about what LPing actually is, they are definitely two of the better ones I've seen. A lot better than my things anyhow D: >_<

*insert obligatory own channel link here*. I'm on my third and fourth LP series now, all SNES games because it's easiest for me to do them right now. If I have spare cash around at some point I might try and get a DVD recorder thing to better record my TV and do some other titles like Metroid or Lylatwars or something.

So yeah, basically this thread is for discussing LP's. Not just mine either, because I know I'm not the best ever at this stuff xD. A lot of why I'm posting this is to try and see what people like about other people's LP's, as I can then try and adapt that to my own ones.

Here's a couple of "guiding questions" for you to get started. You don't HAVE to use these, but if you do answer any that are relevant:

  1. Do you watch any LP's? If so, who? What is about that person that makes you watch their plays - are they funny, informative etc.
  2. If you do watch any, what style of LP do you prefer? I know some people don't like narratives because a bad voice can ruin a good playthrough, so opinions here are usually divided (and as such make for a good debate).

    On a related note, do you like watching commercial games being played or ROM hacks, or both? Again, people are often play on this issue (although it usually shows more in the people who LP, not those who watch them).
  3. Ever done any LP's yourself? You can link your channel and such here too, although I'm unlikely to add them to this post because it wouldn't really work that well :p. If there's enough interest another thread could come for that.
  4. In your opinion, what genre makes the best LP's? Traditionally most of them are Mario/platformers, but others are easily found out there, and I'd be interested to see what people think here.


Things I DON'T want to see as replies here:

  • Talk about ROMs and such. You know it's against the rules for legality issues, so don't bother with it.
  • Anything regarding ROM hacking being illegal etc. - it's NOT. Making a game based on a commercial engine is not illegal, it's getting the original ROM that conventionally is.
  • Flaming/Trolling/etc. Think what you will, but if it isn't at least constructive then don't even implicitly say it.
  • I guess that's about it, I can't think of any others at the moment. There might be, but my mind goes blank, so this is a filler bullet point ^_^


I will not be putting up a poll here because a poll would serve no purpose, as I'm looking for detail and not a simple "yes/no/maybe" answer. This is a discussion thread, so let's see some discussion!
 
If the only difference from other walkthroughs/playthroughs is just narration (which...can be done in the aforementioned types) then usually I don't see a point to giving them a different title.
 
I watch chuggaaconroy's LPs on a regular basis; I've watched most of his old ones as well. I think I started watching them around SMRPG or something like that.

I've also read/watched a bunch of Let's Plays from the Archive: Pokemon Quartz, Sonic 2006, Sonic Unleashed, Chrono Trigger, Princess Maker 2, etc.

And naturally I watch cal's LPs when I remember that they exist.
 
To be honest the title is something that got me a bit as well. I think the main thing with it is that you do an LP because you WANT to, to show off a game you really like. Playthroughs and LP's are practically identical to me, but hey, someone decided to call a thing an LP one day and there you go.

There's a definite distinction between LP and Walkthrough though. For a Walkthrough you are expected to know (and therefore show without the need to search for ages etc) EVERYTHING in the game. All the secrets/side stuff/etc. With LP'ing that rarely happens (only if you know the game inside out anyhow), especially considering many LP's and done blind.

It might be subtle, but the difference is there, especially if live comments are put into place as well (live comments on a walkthrough are out of place, let's be honest here). But hey, if you consider a walkthrough and a playthrough as the same thing, you probably consider a walkthrough and an LP as the same too. Not much I can do about that lol.
 
Yeah, I'm with Zenith. I watch and like Chugga, you, and NGW (although that's not a pure LP, I still count it).

dmaster out.
 
Raioufrost, ProtonJon and Deceased Crab have to be the best. I never really cared for Chugg, except him Earthbound/Mother 3 walkthroughs.
 
gamercal said:
There's a definite distinction between LP and Walkthrough though. For a Walkthrough you are expected to know (and therefore show without the need to search for ages etc) EVERYTHING in the game.
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I think that falls on the choice of the person who does the walkthrough. Not a inherent law of the type of playthrough you do. I have seen people do normal walkthroughs and they usually messed up a lot of times on those plays.
 
IMO, Chugga is the best LP-er out there. I also sometimes watch HCBailey (is that how it's spelled?) and The Killer Dorito.
 
Ah, psy, screwing up is different from not knowing of something though. You can mess stuff up as much as you want, but in a walkthrough it is expected (to my knowledge) that you show pretty much every secret in the game as well. In LP's it isn't as strict a requirement, as least not to me.

Idk, maybe someone else could explain it better?
 
To me, a LEt's Play is really just a walkthrough with commentary, although I would agree that it is less of a requirement to get 100% completion.
 
These guys did the best playthrough of Sonic 06....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSkKGX2mfFA

(Contains some swearing)
 
I watch Cal (obviously), chuggaaconroy, Machinima (when they do LP's, I sometimes also watch them for Call of Duty videos and stuff), superskarmory, and the person I've recently really liked is Darksydephil. His playthroughs are definitely nsfw, but he's a really funny guy who plays some great games.

To me, a Let's Play is exactly what 6-Dimension said.
 
My fave LP'er is Chugga. He's just too hilarious. I'm not saying that I don't like other LP'ers, though.

Anyways, I consider an LP a walkthrough of the game, but with more commentary of "other stuff" than commentary only based upon the important and little and every detail in the game.
 
OH MAN I JUST GOT A VIDEO CAPTURE CARD FOR MY TV AND IT'S SUPER AWESOME ^_^

Test video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XC-kO0fh7M

I'm gonna do one or two tests on other games from different generations to see what the overall quality is like, but it looks solid to me D:
 
Lueroi (on Youtube) has a hilarious LeafGreen LP (he calls it a walkthrough, but explains some stuff, so I'm not exactly sure what to call it). He also has a not-as-funny D/P LP/walkthrough.
 
oyeah1988 said:
Looks solid to me, Cal. Hope it wasn't too expensive. If you need any help with the set-up, just drop me a PM.
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It wasn't too bad because I didn't get the Platinum one. I figured I didn't really need the extra software because WMM is perfectly capable for what I need out of it, and it can open DVD files anyhow for me. It's so awesome though ^_^
 
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