Let's Plays: A Mentospective
By Mento 6 Comments
Hey all. For this blog I'll be going over Let's Plays, because Yahtzee just did something similar and this whole video game blogging business is a "follow the leader" industry. By which I clearly mean that I intend to give my own standpoint on this continuing internet 2.0 phenomenon irrespective of the ramblings of some maniacal ex-pat. I guess I should probably write " ZP response blog" somewhere just to be safe. Ehh, maybe later.
A Let's Time and a Let's Place for Let's Play
That's a catchy and non-stupid sub-topic title! The value of a Let's Play is hard to accurately define, unless you believe internet dollars are real things, so we'll say it is entirely dependent on its educational and entertainment value. Preferably with a mix of both, but one or the other is fine if it's at an acceptably high standard. Now for some stuff that isn't a retread: The games that work best with decent Let's Play coverage. Most examples are pulled from SA's external non-subscription (hey don't subscription sites suck, by the way? Am I right guys? Guys?) LP archive, called imaginatively enough the LP Archive.
GOOD
SURVIVAL HORROR Best Features of a Survival Horror: Scary shit, story.
Worst Features of a Survival Horror: All doors seem to be locked either with sliding puzzles or keys currently situated a mile away in some nurse monster's gullet.
Survival Horror is easily the most entertaining of the Let's Plays to watch, simply because it excuses you from the nerve-wracking experience of running around for keys in a haunted building and lets some other chump do it while you reap all the scares and story beats. Plus you get the benefit of watching said chump lose his shit if it's a blind run.
Example: This Forbidden Siren LP is informative, keeping the commentary to an understated subtitle track (can't spell "subtitle" without "subtle", y'all), while handily navigating the player through annoying stealth section after stealth section and letting them experience the game's creepy-as-hell atmosphere and story. There's no way I'd have the patience to play this game myself. The sequel's LP by the same dude is also worth a look in as it covers a game never released in the States.
INTERESTING FAILURES
Best Feature of an Interesting Failure: They're interesting. Possibly unique. Possibly unique for a reason.
Worst Feature of an Interesting Failure: Actually trying to play them.
There's usually plenty of genuinely imaginative ideas that simply could not be realized fully by the under-experienced or under-funded development team, creating something only a fool would love. Fortunately, the world has enough of those amusing fools to create a Let's Play memorandum for these forgotten non-gems. Fun for MST3k-ing, but only if the LPers are actually funny (Unskippable take note).
Example: This Jurassic Park: Trespasser LP is fairly famous in LP circles for the host's Brad-like sardonic southern wit covering the sheer debacle of this early physics-and-dinosaurs-based shooter/thrower. He finds plenty of good things to say about the game, however, including how it blazed a trail for games like Half-Life 2 to follow with all its hoity-toity notions of competency and fun. The Yahtzee article also mentioned the Daikatana LP which is even more famous, especially if you like no-clipping and frogs. Oh yeah, I heard there was a good playthrough or two of that Deadly Premonition game somewhere as well.
GOOFY ASS MULTI-PLAYER
Best Features of Goofy Ass Multi-Player: It's a lot of fun, even from a spectator viewpoint. Beefs are born as quickly as they are squashed.
Worst Features of Goofy Ass Multi-Player: Not always easily available, especially if you're a hermit. Occasionally becomes an annoying and incoherent cacophony.
The Goofy Ass Multi-Player experience seriously depends on one's tolerance for stupidity. Fortunately, rather than flailing moronically at the game's challenges (which is frustrating for everyone) they're mostly flailing moronically at each other. With the right game and the right crowd, it's one of the best types of LP for sheer entertainment value.
Example: Those likable dolts of the Freelance Astronauts covered the New Super Mario Bros Wii (that's a title destined for obsolescence) in suitably chaotic form, with a ful playthrough using all four players. As expected, they barely survive most levels, the largest obstacles to their success naturally being each other.
FILLING IN BLANKS
Sometimes you just want to play a game because it reveals a lot of information that would be spoiled by a sequel, with said sequel either an imminent release or a recent purchase. Often, though, the earlier games in a series are far less polished and are a chore to get through, especially if there's a significant time lapse between it and its sequel. This is where LPs become valuable historical records for games either too difficult to obtain or too horrible to play.
Example: SA user and LPer "The Dark Id" often covers games of this type, usually in a screenshot format that neatly summarizes the game rather than subject the viewer to endless hours of terrible in-game action. While some of the games he covers are objectively quite good, most are merely mediocre. The benefit of reading these LPs is that these games are often part of a larger series of much higher quality, so the LPs are a more entertaining method of catching up with the prequels and gaiden games than actually playing them. Specific examples include FF7's melancholy shooty vampire spin-off Dirge of Cerberus, deeply unpleasant dragon-sim and sort-of prequel to Nier Drakengard and Resident Evil's frequently baffling zombie excursions which include pretty much all of them up to #4 if we're talking about the bad ones, but for generosity's sake I'll just post the LP of one of those horrible rail-shooters.
ENDURANCE RUNS OF LONGER GAMES
Best Feature of Longer Games: Longevity, first and foremost. There's usually a lot of worthwhile content buried in an even larger amount of repetitive dreck.
Worst Feature of Longer Games: Players (usually older ones with jobs and such) often lack the patience or free-time to play these goliaths from start to finish.
The longer game can be a bit too cumbersome for most, who prefer their gaming in short bursts. Having long stretches where the game seems to go on forever without a save point or a reprieve can make a person's eyes glaze over, and any and all goodwill towards the gameplay or story are eventually forgotten as the tedium sets in. Fortunately, someone else's endurance run of same will cut these playthroughs down into manageable chunks to view at one's convenience and pleasure.
Example: i dunno much about endurance runs other than.. other than the one we got at this site vinny used bufu on things and i watched it MORPHELGORBL
Dudes, totally feel free to respond with your own thoughts and LP recommendations. For the record, I actively detest any LP that is: "creatively narrated" (fucking English majors) or "wacky/insane" (sort of a little pot kettle black, granted).