Tanukitsune

Longplays and Let's Plays?

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I think my favorite let's plays ever are this fellow's series of Myst playthroughs.

 

Well researched and structured, explaining the story as he goes, putting it in context relative to other materials in the franchise, while also trying to appear to be working through the logic of each puzzle instead of just going ahead and solving it.

 

Admittedly, i'm a huge fan of Myst to start, but it's a series of let's plays that might also make a compelling case for the series to a person who never really "got" it.

 

,
,
,
,
,
.

 

That's the proper narrative order for the series, though not the order the Let's Player did them in. (Which was... I think... Riven, Uru, V, IV, Myst, and finally III? Very anarchic.)

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Chip and Ironicus are easily one of the best LP duos out there. http://www.chipandironicus.com/

Chip plays, Ironicus comments alongside him. Chip puts A LOT of work into his LPs, his gameplay is always interesting to watch (well, as long as the game supports it) and he makes sure to mix things up by trying different styles to keep things from being boring. He tends to edit the videos to skip boring or unneeded parts, but not in that special Youtube way that ends up with there being 5 cuts per second. The videos are honestly professional quality. I think he has a job now at Volition doing something similar, so clearly it pays off. He is also extremely knowledgeable about the games themselves and knows interesting ways to break them, as well as interesting ways the systems work and interact. They just finished a Watch Dogs LP and looks like they'll do some Zone of the Enders next. The Duck Dynasty LP with KC Green is fantastic too. He also does some more casual streams of random games for his Patreon. His Sonic OC Hank the Chog is a real gem.

Research Indicates' old Trespasser LP is also extremely well done, and almost feels like a documentary at times? It's been awhile since I watched it but if you can't bring yourself to play that weird, ambitious broken game then take a look at his LP. He also dives into some of the technical aspects of the game, why its broken, and what happened during development.

Slowbeef & Diabetus are also a good LP pair. A lot of 'LP history' there as Slowbeef was among the first to begin LPing, back before the LP subforum on SA existed (I think). Kind of interesting. They comment over flash games, old adventure games, and other terrible games. Also mock shitty Youtube LP. Best viewed as a 'second screen experience', I would say.

Edit-

Sno, I'll check out that LP tonight! I've always been slightly interested in Myst as a figure in gaming history and never played it when it was current. It'll be interesting to learn about it this way. 

 

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Sno, I'll check out that LP tonight! I've always been slightly interested in Myst as a figure in gaming history and never played it when it was current. It'll be interesting to learn about it this way.

 

 

The one thing i'll add to what i said above is that the order the player did them in can be slightly irritating at times. If you try to watch in narrative order, you'll find him kind of assuming knowledge of or making reference to things already detailed and explained in videos for later games. The Riven LP might be the best one to start with since It was the first one he did and because it's also still only the second game in the series. It's also pretty universally regarded as the best Myst game.

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I was thinking I should watch in release order or post order. He knows more about those games than I do so he must've chosen that order for a reason. My interest is more 'academic' regarding the games themselves, rather than their narrative content. Maybe after I finish I'll go grab The Witness since J. Blow has said he intended to make a modern Myst.

Oh, speaking of Chip Cheezum, he had a stream where he covered Pyst, that horrible, horrible, 'parody' of Myst (Featuring John Goodman!)

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I was thinking I should watch in release order or post order. He knows more about those games than I do so he must've chosen that order for a reason. My interest is more 'academic' regarding the games themselves, rather than their narrative content. Maybe after I finish I'll go grab The Witness since J. Blow has said he intended to make a modern Myst.

Oh, speaking of Chip Cheezum, he had a stream where he covered Pyst, that horrible, horrible, 'parody' of Myst (Featuring John Goodman!)

 

I don't know if there's any logic to his release order, i think he just liked Riven and Uru most out of the series, but those two do give you pretty good footing to relate to the other games in the series. (Riven tells the story that many of the other Myst games sort of revolve around, while Uru lays out the background lore in about as clear a manner as the series ever offers.)

 

Those Let's Plays don't get too much into development history or design analysis or anything like that, if that's what you're looking for. They're very story centric, but... i mean... Myst is kind of all about the story, how it strives to contextualize its puzzles as logical facets of worlds full of implied history, and those LP's are terrific at drawing out those details, noticing and pointing out design motifs and subtle environmental stories that reveal things about those worlds that in turn reveal things about the puzzles contained within.

 

That's the kind of stuff people love Myst for, and it's the kind of stuff so few other first-person adventure/puzzle games deal in. Even with the genre kind of exploding back into prominence, i can't honestly think of any recent and clear examples of a game properly doing what the Myst series did. I am quite excited to see what becomes of Obduction.

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It's not technically a Let's Play but I didn't know where else to put it and I thought this guy deserved more recognition:

 

 

I thought this one was hilarious and I love his accent. Does anyone have anything else like this? Or anything more generally about video games? I used to watch Yahtzee but then I got bored and I liked Errant Signal but I ended up disagreeing with loads of stuff and found myself getting annoyed. 

 

These aren't Lets Players but they're similar (also better) than Errant Signal:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5CYeHPLer3lbEhgonvbbAA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqr2tH3dPshNhPjV5h1xRw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI3GAJaOTL1BoipG41OmfyA

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I really enjoy Long Plays of games I think look cool but that I know I wouldn't actually love to play. Or games that are cultural artifacts that I don't have the time or desire to sit through.

Game Informer's

, for instance, was fantastic for me. While I don't find their staff to be the most charismatic or well informed, hearing two calm convivial friends chat about this game and their experiences with it as they worked their way through it gave me a great sense of it, including parts I wasn't seeing. I watched it over the course of a week or so, just putting it on while I was doing dishes or other household chores. 

 

I also watch Let's Plays of games that I super want but don't have the console for, to see what I'm missing. 

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This guy walks across open world maps to see how long it takes:

 

Just Cause 3 took 8 hours and 40 minutes.

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A let's play person who I think really does not get enough traffic is Bobbin Threadbare

 

I like Bobbin Threadbare because he's quiet and informative and puts a lot of effort into his lets plays. He also does lets plays of games which I bounced off in an hour (like Bioshock Infinite or Thief 4) but am still sort of interested in seeing, just not actually playing or games which I just would never otherwise look at (like Academagia) in a million years. 

 

I also really like his lets play-lectures series', even if they sometimes they get a little bit preachy.

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Thanks Jutranjo! The second link, Super Bunnyhop, was exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for! I haven't checked out the 3rd so maybe that'll be a hit too. 

 

The presenter kind of sounds like Don Hertzfeldt with his intonation sometimes. But I love that guy so it's fine with me. 

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