Episode 01: Vinny goes racing, Brad meets the Raincoat Killer, Jeff meets Zach, and Ryan sees "F K" in the coffee. (Covers: The beginning through Anna's autopsy)
Episode 02: Vinny hides, Brad runs away, Jeff meets Harry, and Ryan sees a shotgun. (Covers: Greenvale General Hospital through the Lumber Mill)
Episode 03: Vinny calls for Thomas, Brad goes fishing, Jeff meets Forrest Kaysen, and Ryan meets Gina. (Covers: Greenvale Community Center through Forrest Kaysen)
Episode 04: Vinny eats a sandwich, Brad buys a new suit, Jeff yells at George, and Ryan is a punk rocker. (Covers: Muses Gallery through Becky’s house)
Episode 05: Vinny sneaks around, Brad fights a wall lady, Jeff talks to Isaach and Isaiah, and Ryan profiles. (Covers: talking to Isaach and Isaiah through profiling the Muses Gallery)
Episode 06: Vinny is rumblin’, Brad finds a radio, Jeff talks about Zach, and Ryan holds his tongue. (Covers: The second half of the Muses Gallery through York talking about Zach)
Episode 07: Vinny heads to the meat locker library, Brad eats lunch with Emily, Jeff doesn't want to play this game anymore, and Ryan is in the White Room. (Covers: The White Room through the Graveyard)
Episode 08: Vinny learns more about the Raincoat Killer, Brad disses the game, Jeff finds a file, and Ryan sees a giant demon dog. (Covers: The second half of the Graveyard through Returning the Files)
Episode 09: Vinny follows Deputy Willie, Brad sticks into, Jeff hears the 13th bell, and Ryan watches a cat fight. (Covers: The 13th Bell through the Clocktower)
Episode 10: Vinny yells “You!”, Brad finds a punch loop, Jeff walks up a flight of stairs, and Ryan calls it. (Covers: The Sheriff’s Department through Red Tree)
Episode 11: The ending and epilogue of Deadly Premonition!
What do you do no nights you can't sleep? Watch the Deadly Premonition Endurance Run.
After watching and later highlighting the best moments from the Persona 4 Endurance Run last year, I started to have the itch to finally watch the Deadly Premonition Endurance Runs. And just as with Persona, I certainly wasn't planning on watching these multiple times, so might as well make another one of these. I went back and forth over how to best cover both series. In the end, I decided to edit both series together to cover more elements of Deadly Premonition and to combine the best (and different) aspects of Brad and Ryan’s and Vinny and Jeff’s play throughs.
In terms of the format of this series, I wanted to highlight different aspects of Deadly Premonition, ranging from character introductions, gameplay segments, and the overall story. In some ways, this is a summary of the entire Endurance Run. Sometimes this does not lead to the “funniest” moments of the Endurance Runs, although I’m pretty confident most of those are in this video as well.
If one highlight was funny in both play throughs, I generally went with the one I thought was funnier to avoid having two identical scenes play back-to-back. To help carry a flow throughout this best of series, I edited the videos in rough chronological order to follow the game’s narrative. Sometimes one Endurance Run will take longer to get through a segment of the game or get sidetracked doing side missions, while the other will continue marching through the main story. This is why sometimes there will be multiple VJ or BR videos back-to-back.
Episode 01: Vinny goes racing, Brad meets the Raincoat Killer, Jeff meets Zach, and Ryan sees "F K" in the coffee. (Covers: The beginning through Anna's autopsy)
Episode 02: Vinny hides, Brad runs away, Jeff meets Harry, and Ryan sees a shotgun. (Covers: Greenvale General Hospital through the Lumber Mill)
Episode 03: Vinny calls for Thomas, Brad goes fishing, Jeff meets Forrest Kaysen, and Ryan meets Gina. (Covers: Greenvale Community Center through Forrest Kaysen)
Episode 04: Vinny eats a sandwich, Brad buys a new suit, Jeff yells at George, and Ryan is a punk rocker. (Covers: Muses Gallery through Becky’s house)
Episode 05: Vinny sneaks around, Brad fights a wall lady, Jeff talks to Isaach and Isaiah, and Ryan profiles. (Covers: talking to Isaach and Isaiah through profiling the Muses Gallery)
Episode 06: Vinny is rumblin’, Brad finds a radio, Jeff talks about Zach, and Ryan holds his tongue. (Covers: The second half of the Muses Gallery through York talking about Zach)
Episode 07: Vinny heads to the meat locker library, Brad eats lunch with Emily, Jeff doesn't want to play this game anymore, and Ryan is in the White Room. (Covers: The White Room through the Graveyard)
Episode 08: Vinny learns more about the Raincoat Killer, Brad disses the game, Jeff finds a file, and Ryan sees a giant demon dog. (Covers: The second half of the Graveyard through Returning the Files)
Episode 09: Vinny follows Deputy Willie, Brad sticks into, Jeff hears the 13th bell, and Ryan watches a cat fight. (Covers: The 13th Bell through the Clocktower)
Episode 10: Vinny yells “You!”, Brad finds a punch loop, Jeff walks up a flight of stairs, and Ryan calls it. (Covers: The Sheriff’s Department through Red Tree)
Episode 11: The ending and epilogue of Deadly Premonition!
After watching and later highlighting the best moments from the Persona 4 Endurance Run last year, I started to have the itch to finally watch the Deadly Premonition Endurance Runs. And just as with Persona, I certainly wasn't planning on watching these multiple times, so might as well make another one of these. I went back and forth over how to best cover both series. In the end, I decided to edit both series together to cover more elements of Deadly Premonition and to combine the best (and different) aspects of Brad and Ryan’s and Vinny and Jeff’s play throughs.
In terms of the format of this series, I wanted to highlight different aspects of Deadly Premonition, ranging from character introductions, gameplay segments, and the overall story. In some ways, this is a summary of the entire Endurance Run. Sometimes this does not lead to the “funniest” moments of the Endurance Runs, although I’m pretty confident most of those are in this video as well.
If one highlight was funny in both play throughs, I generally went with the one I thought was funnier to avoid having two identical scenes play back-to-back. To help carry a flow throughout this best of series, I edited the videos in rough chronological order to follow the game’s narrative. Sometimes one Endurance Run will take longer to get through a segment of the game or get sidetracked doing side missions, while the other will continue marching through the main story. This is why sometimes there will be multiple VJ or BR videos back-to-back.
Episode 01: Vinny goes racing, Brad meets the Raincoat Killer, Jeff meets Zach, and Ryan sees "F K" in the coffee. (Covers: The beginning through Anna's autopsy)
Episode 02: Vinny hides, Brad runs away, Jeff meets Harry, and Ryan sees a shotgun. (Covers: Greenvale General Hospital through the Lumber Mill)
Episode 03: Vinny calls for Thomas, Brad goes fishing, Jeff meets Forrest Kaysen, and Ryan meets Gina. (Covers: Greenvale Community Center through Forrest Kaysen)
Episode 04: Vinny eats a sandwich, Brad buys a new suit, Jeff yells at George, and Ryan is a punk rocker. (Covers: Muses Gallery through Becky’s house)
Episode 05: Vinny sneaks around, Brad fights a wall lady, Jeff talks to Isaach and Isaiah, and Ryan profiles. (Covers: talking to Isaach and Isaiah through profiling the Muses Gallery)
Episode 06: Vinny is rumblin’, Brad finds a radio, Jeff talks about Zach, and Ryan holds his tongue. (Covers: The second half of the Muses Gallery through York talking about Zach)
Episode 07: Vinny heads to the meat locker library, Brad eats lunch with Emily, Jeff doesn't want to play this game anymore, and Ryan is in the White Room. (Covers: The White Room through the Graveyard)
Episode 08: Vinny learns more about the Raincoat Killer, Brad disses the game, Jeff finds a file, and Ryan sees a giant demon dog. (Covers: The second half of the Graveyard through Returning the Files)
Episode 09: Vinny follows Deputy Willie, Brad sticks into, Jeff hears the 13th bell, and Ryan watches a cat fight. (Covers: The 13th Bell through the Clocktower)
Episode 10: Vinny yells “You!”, Brad finds a punch loop, Jeff walks up a flight of stairs, and Ryan calls it. (Covers: The Sheriff’s Department through Red Tree)
Episode 11: The ending and epilogue of Deadly Premonition!
I knew I could count on the Endurance Run! Never fails!
After watching and later highlighting the best moments from the Persona 4 Endurance Run last year, I started to have the itch to finally watch the Deadly Premonition Endurance Runs. And just as with Persona, I certainly wasn't planning on watching these multiple times, so might as well make another one of these. I went back and forth over how to best cover both series. In the end, I decided to edit both series together to cover more elements of Deadly Premonition and to combine the best (and different) aspects of Brad and Ryan’s and Vinny and Jeff’s play throughs.
In terms of the format of this series, I wanted to highlight different aspects of Deadly Premonition, ranging from character introductions, gameplay segments, and the overall story. In some ways, this is a summary of the entire Endurance Run. Sometimes this does not lead to the “funniest” moments of the Endurance Runs, although I’m pretty confident most of those are in this video as well.
If one highlight was funny in both play throughs, I generally went with the one I thought was funnier to avoid having two identical scenes play back-to-back. To help carry a flow throughout this best of series, I edited the videos in rough chronological order to follow the game’s narrative. Sometimes one Endurance Run will take longer to get through a segment of the game or get sidetracked doing side missions, while the other will continue marching through the main story. This is why sometimes there will be multiple VJ or BR videos back-to-back.
[Obligatory spoiler warning for the ending of The Last of Us]
This is a blog I wanted to write--and tried to write--on and off in various forms over the past two years. With the news that, indeed, The Last of Us Part II is happening, I decided to try again and write about some thoughts I've had about one of my favorite videogame endings of all time.
Although The Last of Us is one of my favorite videogames ever, it is also one of the games that felt like the conversation around it got away from me. This was around the time where I was visiting a more mainstream, by the numbers videogame website for most of my commentary on games and before I dived head first into this whole Giant Bomb Dot Com thing. A lot of the people who played the game over there loved the game like I did and had their expected big Spoilercast that covered all of Joel and Ellie's adventure, including, of course, the ending and that final conversation. But their takeaway was more focused on something I didn't quite anticipate. They talked about how, "Joel is a monster!" And, "Joel is the bad guy; I was the bad guy!" They debated about whether or not Joel did the right thing when he chose to save Ellie, and asked questions like, "If you were in Joel's position, would you have sacrificed Ellie to save the world?" This eventually lead to talk along the lines of, "Well, we don't really know if they could have found a cure by dissecting Ellie's brain or what the distribution network was like to pass along the cure to everyone, so it's not like Joel alone doomed the world or anything". To me, this feels like one of the last things Naughty Dog wanted players to walk away with thinking as the credits rolled.
Outside of the games coverage I consumed, there was also the fact that it felt like I was the only person I knew who played The Last of Us. At the time, I wasn't reading any message board discussions on pretty much any topic, so I was outside of any of the conversations that must have taken place around the summer of 2013. As for people I knew in real life, I didn't know anybody who actually finished the game. The regular people I talked to about games either, 1) never heard of it, 2) were excited for the game based on how good the Uncharted series was, but never played it, 3) played and liked the game, but never finished it, or 4) tried playing it, but didn't like it enough to finish it.
In comparison, 2013 was also the year of BioShock Infinite--which quickly turned into that year's game with the big, crazy ass ending that everybody had to talk to somebody about--and Grand Theft Auto V--unquestionably the biggest game of the year, that also had a few unexpected twists with its ending that was worth talking about as well. For those two games in particular, I found no shortage of conversations about how those games turned out. Hell, I've had multiple hour long conversations about BioShock Infinite's last thirty minutes alone.
However, what I really wanted to talk about at the time was that final conversation in The Last of Us. Not that it felt like I had a grand revelation that nobody else in the world had thought about, but I still felt I didn't have an avenue to discuss what interested me in particular about the ending. While I don't want to diminish the conversations and questions people had about the state of the world at large after Joel saves Ellie's life, I overall don't think this is the most interesting conversation about The Last of Us and its ending and in some way distracts from some of the other stuff that's going on. In particular, these types of conversations put emphasis on Joel and his actions, and detracts from Ellie and her state of mind.
The big spoiler about The Last of Us to me wasn't how both Joel and Ellie actually made it out alive (Surely this is one of those games where one of them had to die, right?). Instead, it was how Ellie is actually the main character of The Last of Us. On paper, yes, the title of protagonist easily belongs to Joel, since you play as him more and he has more screen time. Still, as the game progresses, there is a shift from Joel to Ellie, between how Ellie becomes more sociable with Joel, to how they start to form their connection, to how for the last parts of the game you take control over Ellie. The most noteworthy example of this is with the last scene in the game, where the game changes perspectives from Joel--who just killed a bunch of Fireflies, in order to flee with her--to Ellie--who has awoken, still phased over everything that has happened to her over the past few months, and still very much alive.
Ellie walks through the woods, following Joel, as he talks about their future and him reminiscing about his daughter, Sarah. The last action you as the player has to perform is look up at Joel and reach out to him, so he can pull you up onto a ledge. At this point, the game goes into Ellie's past, which is one of the few times this happens throughout the entire game. The only other instance of this is when you are able to explore Ellie's inventory to find the letter from her mother and Riley's Firefly pendant. The ending is the first and only time in the core game where she mentions Riley and when she was bitten. How she is missing her best friend and how she is "Still waiting for my turn" to die. At this point, we get to what I think is the crux of the final act of the game, where Ellie asks Joel to swear what he said about the Fireflies was true; that they have given up finding a cure and there were plenty of other people who were immune, just like her, out there. To me, The Last of Us is all about the lie Joel tells Ellie. It is a game that develops two characters who actively don't want anything to do with each other, to being reluctantly together, to being pretty much all they have left in the world.
(As a side note, I'm not sure if I've ever told anybody this, but there are moments throughout The Last of Us when their relationship develops that has always triggered an emotional reaction from me. The best example of this is the ranch scene. Every single time I see anything from this scene, I either get teary eyed or I straight up start crying. I'm not the sappiest person out there, but this scene always gets me in a way pretty much no other form of media has done so before or after.)
The Last of Us gradually builds up Joel and Ellie's relationship, but ends with it hanging up in the air. It shows how Joel is willing to give anything to save Ellie, but ends with Ellie reluctant and talking about how important Riley was to her, and how she is gone without her. (While The Last of Us: Left Behind offers a deeper glimpse to their relationship in addition to being an incredible supplemental story, it is not required to grasp how important Riley was to her) It shows Joel trying to smooth things over with Ellie who openly distrusts him.
There is pretty much nothing in The Last of Us that makes it a "feel good" game, but it is one that nevertheless had heart. There's Tess's goodbye to Joel; there are moments like the ranch scene; and yes, even the part with those damn giraffes. It is a game that continued to grow on me, and ends with a lot of that uncertain. In 2013, long before we knew that there would be a sequel to The Last of Us, let alone one featuring Joel and Ellie again, all I could think about was how their relationship would come to an end, because of what Joel did. In my head, I never pictured Ellie seeking revenge or actively hating Joel or anything. I imagined her walking back with Joel and both of them living back at Tommy's dam and continuing to live with the fact that the she is alone in the world. How pretty much everyone she has cared for died and all she has is some kinda selfish guy.
One last thing I want to mention is the Savage Starlight comic books, which are essentially The Last of Us's "Tales of the Black Freighter". While you find them throughout the story out of order, each comic correlates to what is happening in the story at the time. For those of you are not familiar with these comics, here are a few examples:
Joel and Ellie fighting against the scavengers and escaping from Pittsburgh:
Daniela and Captain Ryan have been thrown into the Arena, where the hungry eyes of the Travelers watch as they are forced to fight to the death. Will she put aside her feelings for the captain to fight for her own survival?
Joel and Ellie first encountering David's group at the University, which leads to the big conflict during the Winter chapter:
After their improbable escape from the Arena, Daniela and Ryan are now the two most wanted humans in the solar system. Their newfound infamy has attracted the attention of a mysterious organization called the Last Watch.
Following scarce and cryptic clues, the trail to the Last Watch has led them to Saturn's tiny and misshapen seventh moon: Hyperion.
In the game's final scene, the player only controls Ellie for about a minute and all there really is to do is follow Joel up the hill. The only other thing the player can interact with is finding Savage Starlight's last comic book--both in terms of it being the last collectible in the game and the final numbered comic in the series. The description of this book directly references whether or not Joel's secret will be revealed and the graver importance this will have once the truth is out there:
The Travelers have been crippled... for now. Daniela's daring plan, and her seemingly miraculous escape back home, has made her a galvanizing figurehead to the Last Watch. Captain Ryan's "sacrifice" has made him a martyr, an illusion Daniela won't dispel. But how long can she keep what really happened a secret?
I think there are a couple of different ways to interpret Ellie's last line of dialogue. Maybe she knows Joel is lying, but can live with it. Maybe she is pretending to be Ok with it, but in reality she isn't. It is believable that Joel and Ellie will continue to live together. And at the end of the day, Ellie is a strong and independent character who can process and deal with how Joel lied to her in a half a dozen different ways. Still, I played through The Last of Us to completion a total of four times, and every time I get to the ending, I feel empty. All I can picture is how Ellie's trust in Joel is broken or how this could be the beginning of their unraveled relationship. How they could get back to Tommy's and never really talking to each other. Or how one of them could some day take off and leave the other behind.
The final conversation between Joel and Ellie and the uncertain future they have is probably one of the uneasiest ways The Last of Us could have ended for me. It is far from the obvious choice of either killing off one or both characters, and has made me reexamined and thought about this game over and over in ways I never anticipated. I wished for the best of both of them over the course of the game and it refused it end that way. And for all of those reasons, I absolutely love that ending and think it makes a great game even greater. This ending is just one of the reasons why I consider The Last of Us to be one of the pinnacles of videogame storytelling.
Finally writing my thoughts on a now three and a half year old game is kind of weird, especially in light of today's announcement. Some day we will know what is next in store for Ellie and Joel. There will be a point where we will know exactly what troubles come next for them, where they will go, and how their lives together will change. And I sure as hell bet there will be some sort of follow up to Joel's lie and/or that conversation (And even if there isn't, that's probably Ok too). Personally, I can't wait to see it all for myself.
This is basically a combination of three videos I wanted to make. I started working on this in mid-October when Dan mentioned dancing and DDR. About a week later, Dan actually played DDR on UPF while a bunch of other people spent 4 hours building half of a computer. And there was much rejoicing.
This is the unlikely mashup between Alex's 2016 Extra Life stream where he played Rock Band 4 for 12 hours straight and the film Whiplash (2014) starring J.K. Simmons, an incredibly great actor in a terrific film; certainly neither of which deserves this kind of treatment.
Today, with this blog posting, I am officially saying goodbye to my favorite videogame of all time. A game that has been with me on and off in various forms for almost eight years, or a little under a third of my life.
When I first heard about Persona, it was from a friend who told me about this weird JRPG where teenagers shot themselves in the head to summon monsters. I picked up a copy of Persona 3: FES on PS2 mainly because I wanted to see what the hell this game was for myself. Despite the weird premise and some of the otherness that came with the game, I quickly became hooked on its gameplay mechanics, the routine, the Social Links, the music, the style, the characters, and the narrative. Every day I would go to school, come home, sit down in front of my TV, and play through Persona 3 in three hour stretches until the game was finished.
Looking back on this period, it almost feels like I planned everything out this way. By the time I finished Persona 3, its sequel, Persona 4, was finally coming out in the west. I asked my brother to buy me that game for Christmas and I ended up marathoning my way through it over Christmas break. (In fact, was halfway through my New Game+ before Jeff and Vinny even started recording their let's play) A lot of the positives I have to say about Persona 3 can be directly applied to Persona 4, except even moreso. In addition to the strengths Persona 3 had, Persona 4 was more vibrant, it had more colorful, defined, and relatable characters, and it is still the funniest game I have ever played.
Since those three months, Persona turned into one of my favorite franchises, with Persona 4 ranking as my Greatest of All Time game, where it has more or less remained there ever since its initial release. Despite Persona 4 turning eight years old this year, it turns out that 2016 turned into another year jampacked with arguably way too much of this game, primarily with me wrapping up my eighteen month long New Game+ file for Persona 4: Golden around the same time I finally decided to start watching the Persona 4 Endurance Run.
On the Endurance Run
Years ago, I was browsing the internet when I came across a let’s play series for Persona 4. I didn’t watch it--because who would be crazy enough to watch somebody else play through this game to completion--but I did skip to the last video for some reason. The closing moments of that series had two people talking over the New Game+ screen, reflecting on the incredible journey they’ve just been on, amazed that they actually finished this game. It turns out this was my first exposure to Giant Bomb two to three years before I even became aware of the site, the Bombcast, or anything else.
Since I became a Premium member, I have looked through the back catalogue on the site and ended up watching a few older videos: a few random Quick Looks here, a BioForge play through there. I even watched the first three or four videos of the Endurance Run a year or so ago, before I threw my hands and exclaimed, “Man, I don’t have time for this!” I guess this was one of those things where it wasn’t an issue of time, but had more to do with the right opportunity.
This February was a perfect storm of sorts. I was finishing my on again, off again New Game+ file in Persona 4: Golden around the same time I started to upload random, dumb Giant Bomb videos on YouTube. And then somebody on the forums posted how the Persona 4 Endurance Run started seven years ago. And then somebody else started to create “HD remakes” of the Endurance Run. It was a combination of all of these things that got Persona 4 on my mind to the point where I started to think about watching the Endurance Run again, in earnest.
When I finally committed to the task, it took me a solid seven months, but I finally finished it. All I can say is I am sincerely happy that I watched this series. Sure, it took me over half a year on and off to get through all of these videos. Sure, I could have played more Overwatch or I could have finished up DOOM. And yeah, I could have watched a lot more 2016 Giant Bomb content if I didn’t decided to open up this time capsule. To give you an idea, I have not watched any of Brad and Dan playing through Hitman, I have not watched a majority of this year’s Unprofessional Fridays, in addition to not seeing random Quick Looks or Premium Features I would have otherwise watched if I didn’t decide to do this. (And don’t even ask about whether or not I’ve watched the new Shenmue Endurance Run. I’m only human! I can’t tackle two of these simultaneously!!)
But at the same time, if not now, then when, dammit? And if one were to spend 99 hours and 45 minutes watching Giant Bomb videos, they could certainly do worse. It’s a little difficult for me to say whether this is my favorite piece of Giant Bomb content (In all honesty, I don’t think I have one), but this is definitely on my shortlist of some of the best stuff on the site.
In terms of what I thought about Jeff and Vinny playing Persona 4, well, watching this gave me the impression that I definitely would have been one of those guys telling Vinny and Jeff what to do. I probably would have said things like, “Casting Diarama to recover 40 HP is wasteful; conserve your SP”, or “When the Arcana card is spinning around, it just stops randomly; pressing X does nothing”, or “No, actually Tentarafoo is a worthless spell; don’t listen to these fools”, or “You should put the ice evasion item on Yukiko since she will always be weak against Bufu; now she’s always going to get hit”, or “You should always be buying new armor and weapons; it does make a big difference”, and so on. There is an endearing charm to seeing Jeff and Vinny fumble their way through Persona 4, that is until they become surprisingly good at the game, and seeing random accidents and mistakes always brought a smile to my face. That said, I still got that itch whenever I saw some of their poor decisions. I know that makes me somewhat intolerable, so I’ll take this moment and apologize on behalf of my hypothetical self for telling them what to do.
On Making the Best Of Series
So when I decided to watch the Endurance Run, I knew two things going in: 1) I was definitely going to commit myself this time to watching the series from beginning to end; 2) I certainly wasn’t planning on watching this from beginning to end more than once. This series is a hair under 100 hours long, which is so long I could personally replay all of Persona 4 Golden, which is noticeably longer than vanilla P4.
I have mentioned this randomly before, but the main reasons why I made this Best Of series was to condense the Endurance Run into something more manageable; to create something so I didn’t have to watch all 155 videos to relive Jeff and Vinny’s play through. The other main reason, besides seeing and laughing along with this series for myself, was because there was so much about their time with the game I didn’t previously know about. How did they find out who was the killer? How did they find out about the True Ending? How did they react to the more dramatic moments in the game? What other funny stuff happened besides that one time Vinny casted Bufu? That’s why I set out to capture the “highlights” and not necessarily the “funniest” of funniest moments. (Although, I’m pretty confident that most of those ended up in here too.) I wanted to represent as many different aspects of this game and the Endurance Run, so somebody could sit down, watch these videos, and think, “Oh, so this what it is like playing Persona 4”.
Looking back over the series, I am proud of my work and hope that this stands out for future duders. It was great to hear the positive feedback from everyone after I uploaded a video, but I also hope that somebody who hasn’t even heard of Giant Bomb yet will watch this three years from now, or somebody will see this pop up on YouTube and will be inspired finally watch all of the Endurance Run for themselves.
The one thing that has given me pause was just how damn long this series ended up being. Granted, I had to go through 155 videos, but I didn’t anticipate this series would be 18 episodes long. I’ve had conversations with myself that are probably unbelievably boring to everyone else about how long should this episode be or whether or not I should shorten this part up. Without going into all of those details, I still think I did the best job I could, and I think I achieved my original goal with this series...even if this abbreviation is itself pretty damn long.
Before I move on, I would like to give a few quick shoutouts. First, I would like to thank @zombiepie for featuring the Best Of series on the Community Spotlight every single week (in addition to the other dumb stuff I made this year). The Giant Bomb community is a dedicated and interesting group of people and he has done a great job showcasing the work and discussions that happened in the community week after week. Seeing my work promoted along with all of the other awesome stuff is an honor.
I would also like to thank the people who have commented in the Community Spotlight, on my blog posts, and the YouTube videos themselves; especially to those who have routinely left comments. Since I enjoy random video editing like this and I honestly would have made this entire series regardless, even if not one single person watched these videos, knowing that a couple thousand people also watched and enjoyed these videos is pretty cool and I appreciate the encourage and feedback I received. Additionally, I would like to thank MonoPingo and the other people who uploaded highlights from the Endurance Run on YouTube. It was these random videos that gave me an idea about what kinds of hilarious jokes, twists of fate, and mishaps happened in the Endurance Run. Without these videos, I probably would have never watched this for myself.
Finally I would like to thank @turboman for his countless work highlighting the best of Giant Bomb. Over the past few years, Giant Bomb has turned into my favorite videogame website, both in terms of how it covers games and for its countless, unusual, and surprising comedy gems that these dudes have produced over the years. That said, the biggest critique I have with the site is there isn’t exactly a great way to discover these gems through Giant Bomb Dot Com itself. Because of his Best Of videos, I have gone back and watched more classic Giant Bomb, when I probably would not have otherwise. If I didn’t go through his Best Of series, I’m honestly not sure how into Giant Bomb I would be, if I would have ended up becoming a premium member, or if I would have watched this Endurance Run, let alone start making my own videos.
On the Future
There may be one or two people out there wondering what’s next, if anything, for me. Well, there is one more Persona 4 video I have sitting on my computer that needs to be rendered. However, I’m not sure if I’m going to upload it. Here's a peak behind the scenes: As I was watching this series, I have been keeping notes on the progress of episodes, what clips I have used, and what clips I have not used. This includes some really funny scenes that appeared in the same video as another really funny scene or extended sequences--like the school campout and the trip to Tatsumi Port Island--that I couldn’t justify fitting into a video like that. Originally I was going to upload this video to act as a coda for this series, but after seeing how this could be a two hour long video, that feels like overkill.
Besides that, I have a random short video idea that is closer to the Evangelion or Life is Strange videos I posted earlier this year. I would like to try and get that done before the end of the year, but I am still in the clip gathering phase and don’t know yet how everything will come together. If that doesn’t work, I have a few other ideas that may come to fruition. (Fortunately, all of these plans somehow leads to more ANIME!!!)
In terms of if I am going to do this type of thing for another Endurance Run....no comment.
On Saying Goodbye to Persona 4
And so, with all of that said, I’m ready finally saying goodbye to Persona 4.
Persona 4 / Persona 4 Golden is the single video game I have spent the most time with. I mean, at this point it has to be. I have played through this long ass game to completion four times in under eight years. Beyond that, I watched not one, but two animes covering this material, played through Persona 4: Arena, and yes, even that dancing game. (Hey, it turns out that’s actually a really great rhythm game!) And after all of that, I decided to watch two guys spend nearly 100 hours playing through this game.
I think I'm done. I love this game to death, and I still think it is great on so many levels. If I started a new file tomorrow, I will probably still have a great time with it. But I’m done. I can’t come back to this game. At least, not for a very, very...very long time.
At this point, I don’t quite see this as me turning my back on Persona 4, but rather it is finally time to move on. Beyond how much time I’ve spent with this game and how many other great games there are left to be played, there is also the simple fact that people who don’t live in Japan / can’t read fluent Japanese will soon be able to play Persona 5. Does anybody else remember that first teaser trailer that said this game was going to be released in 2013? Did anybody else hear about random Persona 5 rumors back in 2010? The wait is (almost) finally over!
While it feels like The Internet continues to talk about Persona 4, and with good reason, it is worth mentioning that I don't think Persona 4 was a fluke or anything; Persona 3 is an incredible game in its own right. Persona 3: Portable in particular is an exceptional game that is in many ways just as good as Persona 4. The Persona series speaks to me on a level few games ever do and if Atlus is able to create another game that is even close to what they were able to accomplish with Persona 3 and Persona 4 on a PS2, then there’s a very good chance that Persona 5 will be another game I will absolutely love.
While I have spent a lot of time with both games over the years, Persona 4 in particular is my videogame equivalent of comfort food. While there is great joy and value to have something like that on and off in my life over the past eight years, I want to find my next Persona 4; whether that game ends up being Persona 5 or something else entirely. I have the general mindset that my favorite movie, song, novel, or videogame doesn't actually exist yet, because somebody has yet to create it; there will never be a time where people aren't creating truly beautiful or masterful works of art, so there is always something great to discover. So when I say goodbye to Persona 4, I am saying that with the anticipation that there is perhaps an even greater game out there to play.
In any case, for the time being, the road to Persona 5 has been a long one, but the end is in sight. I can’t wait to finally play that game for myself.
P.S.
In case if anybody asks, I am dying to see whether or not the gang is going to do an Endurance Run for Persona 5. And if they do end up doing a Persona 5 Endurance Run, I will most definitely make a Best Of series for that game too at some point. So stay tuned(?)
This Best Of series for me is both: 1) Finally sitting down and watching the Endurance Run for myself; and 2) Highlighting the funniest or my favorite moment from all 155 parts of their playthrough. Typically I picked the moment that made me laugh the most, but I also wanted to capture what it is like playing this game. (As in having a balance between when certain characters, Personas or mechanics are introduced, Social Links, and dungeon crawling.)
This video features clips from Parts 151 to 155
Highlights from this episode include: summoning Satan, the True Ending, and the end of the Persona 4 Endurance Run
Even with this and other Best Of videos, you should really see this series for yourself. There are almost too many funny moments to cover in a highlight video like this and the Persona games are really entertaining to watch someone else play.
I am currently writing and editing a longer write up on this series and a few other Persona 4 related stuff, but for now I just want to say thank you guys for watching this series. I had a ton of fun watching the Endurance Run and editing these videos together, and I hope you guys enjoyed watching them.
This Best Of series for me is both: 1) Finally sitting down and watching the Endurance Run for myself; and 2) Highlighting the funniest or my favorite moment from all 155 parts of their playthrough. Typically I picked the moment that made me laugh the most, but I also wanted to capture what it is like playing this game. (As in having a balance between when certain characters, Personas or mechanics are introduced, Social Links, and dungeon crawling.)
While I was originally aiming to complete this series before the launch of Persona 5 (so basically around September 14, 2016), I did manage to finish watching the Endurance Run on that day. All I have to do is finish editing the last couple of remaining videos. As a result, updates should be more frequent than they sometimes were in the past.
This video features clips from Parts 145 to 150
Highlights from this episode include: God's Hand, Ameno-Sagiri, and Christmas Eve with Chie
Even with this and other Best Of videos, you should really see this series for yourself. There are almost too many funny moments to cover in a highlight video like this and the Persona games are really entertaining to watch someone else play.
You don't not get attached to the Persona 4 Endurance Run:
This Best Of series for me is both: 1) Finally sitting down and watching the Endurance Run for myself; and 2) Highlighting the funniest or my favorite moment from all 155 parts of their playthrough. Typically I picked the moment that made me laugh the most, but I also wanted to capture what it is like playing this game. (As in having a balance between when certain characters, Personas or mechanics are introduced, Social Links, and dungeon crawling.)
While I was originally aiming to complete this series before the launch of Persona 5 (so basically around September 14, 2016), I did manage to finish watching the Endurance Run on that day. All I have to do is finish editing the last couple of remaining videos. As a result, updates should be more frequent than they sometimes were in the past.
This video features clips from Parts 136 to 144
Highlights from this episode include: The revenge of Funky Student, Trumpeter, and a very surprising Enemy Advantage
Even with this and other Best Of videos, you should really see this series for yourself. There are almost too many funny moments to cover in a highlight video like this and the Persona games are really entertaining to watch someone else play.
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