RF Generation Message Board

i can't be the only person addicted to watching Lets Plays on YouTube.  If you don't know what an LP  is, its basically a series of gameplay videos by someone who commentates while they play through the game.  Some are good, most are really bad....but once you find an LPer you like you'll go through their playlist for hours.


So....anyone?

i've watched some now and then but never the whole way through a game they play. i enjoy seeing a little gameplay with commentary if the person talking is good but to watch through the whole game seems a bit much to me...at that point you may as well just play it yourself.

I sometimes check them when I want to get a "feel" for the game (when a demo is not available, for instance).  They are kind of hit-and-miss though, as the wrong personality can rub me the wrong way.  Like techwizard said, more for a feel, but the whole game is just too much.  I might as go as for as to say that the Quicklooks on Giantbomb are a bit much sometimes.

I don't think I can watch most of them. Mostly due to time restraints. Anything over 15 minutes is too much for me to handle. I prefer a short review instead. If the person is really funny than I can watch an LP. I just can't get into them though. 

I love Let's Plays and speedruns - I'll watch people stream all day. I just recently re-discovered SpeedRunsLive.com, and I used to watch a group of speedrunners screw around on Mario Kart 64 and Mario Party 2 all day. If you can find the right group, they're awesome to watch.

speed runs are different though, they're doing things that most people don't have the skill or patience to try. watching a speed run is more like watching a professional sport, whereas watching a lets play for more than a few minutes feels to me like sitting on a couch watching a friend play through a game...it's cool to see the game, but it's not nearly as fun as playing it yourself.

Crabby and I did a couple pre-podcast. You can check them out on his YouTube page.

I like Crabby's stuff. I usually skim through most of it as they can be quite long. I wouldn't consider his stuff lets play. It's more like the whole game from start to end. Its petty epic to see the length of his videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/2000Crabmaster

yep.  To me its kinda like watching anything else on tv. Besides, there's nothing really good on tv anymore.  I turn on a Lets Play while i'm doing stuff around the house just for background noise.  If the LPer is entertaining i can watch just about anything.  Or if they're just crazy good, like watching people sequence break Super Metroid and 100% it in less than 2 hours without tool assists. 

And now people are doing Lets Races, where they'll upload a video of two or more people playing a game at the same time and see who can beat it first.  check it out, you'll beer surprised how fun it is to watch, especially when its a blind race.

Thanks for the shout out!!

The only guy I have found that I can stand watching his Let's Play type vids is Cornshaq. He generally plays the game enough that he can do a very solid run and it SUPER informative about the game, its mechanics, glitches, secrets, enemy patterns, etc. I've used a couple of his videos to help get through some tough spots on a few games. And from the looks of his channel he has done several non-typical games like Mad Max and Dirty Harry that I will probably end up using to help me through those games too.

I don't really get LP's.

I guess they're useful for very difficult games or when you're stuck at some point in a game. But to watch an entire LP? What a monumental waste of time. Why not actually play the game yourself then.

I find it somewhat cerebral to watch other people play games, and comparing their playing style versus my own. It makes you rethink a lot of the game.

Thats kind of like saying "why watch sports" or "cop dramas" etc. Other than wildly fantastical shows/movies you could go do the real thing rather than watch it. Sometimes its just pure entertainment value from watching others play something.

Yeah, I like LPs. Both of them in-fact, I like Let's Plays and the commentary free Long Plays too.

Normally only watch them of a game I'm reminiscing about and want to take a look at again without digging out the computer/console to play through again.

same here.  its hard for me to watch an LP if i don't have a personal connection to the game.  i like NintendoCapriSun alot and can watch most of his LPs, but besides him i can't really stomach some of the other LPers if i don't know what they're playing

uberhaxornova's are fun. Other than him all I ever watched was Retsuprae make fun of LPs

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

Actually, I'm not too big on watching other people play.

However, if I'm stuck on a certain level, I'll view a "Let's Play" video of that level as a walkthrough of sorts to see what I might be doing wrong.

Actually, now that I think about it, there is one big exception:

[img width=700 height=394]http://i.imgur.com/GUYFq.jpg[/img]

I did a couple of shitty Bulletstorm live plays and started recording some more games as part of a planned series that never got off the ground. I'm think heavily about revisiting it since I have an abundance of free time now.

Thats the kind of stuff I love! Short and funny. My kind of "LP"

I say go for it. You've already got the perfect place to plug it when you start right here on RFG.

I tried my hand at it tonight! Unfortunately I had an issue with the video capture but I will try again tomorrow morning before I go into work. :)

Here is the portion with me playing. I have some interesting mannerisms when I'm in the zone. I actually forgot for a bit that that I was filming! :b

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGJ9b_TsIsw

NintendoCapriSun has a ton of short LPs.   His mega man LPs are the best

Still trying to get the system down, I'm being plagued with failed captures and video-to-sound issues. :(

I need to get my capture card setup again, or get a better capture card...