Really good responses here and even helped open my mind more on this. Thanks guys.
I've actually tried getting into some of them, mainly because of a game that is particularly hard to find or get into (gameplay wise). Mostly these are games of which I used to have a demo version some 15 years ago. So it's easier to just watch what I could've been playing then than to spoil the dream with crappy compatibility and gameplay issues.
In reality, though, I never watch them more than one episode.
There are two exceptions to this:
- I did watch an entire LP of an oldie called Sanitarium. This is one of those demo games. It had an interesting setting and atmosphere, but the gameplay wasn't intriguing enough. I watched a few episodes and the story caught me so I actually watched it until the end.
- This guy named clunythescourge1 made excellent Total War commentary videos (not exactly LPs, but close enough). I think I've watched all of them. Top notch humour and in depth analysis of his multiplayer battles in a game I wouldn't play myself.
I did something similar with my friend. We used to play a lot of video games, naturally not all of them had multiplayer and we took turns. However, some games I totally loved, but just didn't find them enjoyable to play. I've seen multiple playthroughs of MGS, MGS 2, MGS 3, Resident Evil 4 and Extermination (less known PS 2 horror gem) played by him. I would sit and watch as the story unfolded without having to work for it. Granted, those were pretty good games in terms of story and ambiance; and my friend is a master at taking the most out of a game so I guess you could call them slightly special cases.
Now there's a perspective I didn't consider. I can see myself getting into some Let's Plays of games that seem aesthetically pleasing, but aren't fun to play at all. Along with games that are just downright terrible like "Drake of the 99 Dragons", not entirely for the sake of comedy but like "I'm never going to play that, might as well finally see what the heck it was all about"
There's a lot of obscure FMV-heavy games from the 90s when it was all the rage back then that I can see myself watching LPs of or even Longplays of which are devoid of commentary. As much as I would like to probably play them their controls are literally pressing a single button or two to advance to the next video so I wouldn't be missing anything. Especially since A). they're pretty rare and B). if I do find them they're painfully expensive. So those I can definitely get behind.
Yeah I get what you mean, I would do the same with some of my friends back when Smash Bros. Melee came out. I was terrible at that game and always came last or got destroyed by everyone, eventually I found more enjoyment in just watching them play instead. They were so good at it that all the matches were fun to simply watch and their verbal exchanges just made it all the more entertaining.
Don't know about Lets Plays specifically but I do watch some live streams of games like DayZ from time to time. I prefer watching the highlights they upload to YouTube however as it can take some time for anything really good to happen.
That's one of my pet peeves with many LPs out there, where you have someone fumbling around for like 20 minutes completely lost. It can be some quality cringe in a way (like watching your mom or dad play a game for the first time), but usually I just find it absolutely unbearable. Like you want to reach in and slap the crap out of 'em.
I took a stroll through some Twitch streams awhile back and some were pretty okay, but I mainly found myself channel-surfing on the site in the end. The problem was as you said, hardly anything interesting happening for the most part and it typically being random folks just playing a game like any normal day but with a camera on. Nothing too exciting.
I watch Let's play a lot for two reasons. 1. I don't owe a PS or a Xbox. So i am limited to PC. and there are a lot of games out there that haven't and probably won't come to PC. and 2. i don't have money to buy games. ^^;
That's a fair point there, I found myself watching a few LPs for the new console games to see what they were like. I didn't really wanna spoil things for myself ('cause I figured I'm probably going to get it eventually), but it's going to be a long time until I get any of the new consoles so it couldn't hurt to see what I'm going to be missing.
Plus they tend to be pretty good fill-ins for whenever there's a scarcity of reviews.
I have a deep yearning to share with the world all those special moments in gaming.
Not big on lets plays as most up loaders buck their native roles for the gravy train. They stop posting original content and usually go offsite.
Yeah I get those occasional moments as well, though conveniently ironic all those awesome moments tend to vanish once the record button is hit. Or when there's company over and they watch you play. Pssh.
Yep, that's what happened to one of my favorite channels on Youtube (GophersVids) and I had to unsubscribe. Used to always do modding videos and tutorials and he still does but you'll be lucky if it's even once a month. Now it's 95% Let's Plays every single day and it just kept clogging my feed. Once you start getting paid for sitting back and doing what you love at home, why bother with anything else?
I watch shorter Let's Plays to see if I might be interested in a game I've never heard of. I had to stop doing this because I'd often lose any impulse control when I saw a particularly awesome game, and I made a few more purchases than I should have. "Hello, Japan, yes, I'd like to buy all your games please."
I still watch longer Let's Plays for games I can't play because they're not on PC. Although we were never really in the console war, I'd say it's a war that PC purists lost. I still want that game content, but I don't live near any friends with any consoles, let alone any of the games I want to play.
I'm not a big fan of the personalities out there. When I've decided I'm going to watch one, I try to find one with more than one person playing. If they're talking to each other, then it's not one person trying to fill in quiet time with annoying things to tell me.
I'd never consider making my own. The idea of having to record, edit, upload and advertise a Let's Play immediately makes me not want to.
I like the idea of that, sometimes a review doesn't do much for me and I have to see the game in action more to have a better interest. An LP tends to fill that void and being able to see/hear someone's thoughts as they go along kinda helps with that, more so if they have experience with the rest of the series and can give recommendations for other games in it (or similar ones outside of it).
I mean yeah there's emulators out there for those games you can never get on PC, but there's something about dealing with an imitation vs. the real thing that doesn't feel all that worth it to me. Plus the unstable glitches just ruin it so you tend to be better off watching a Let's Play anyway.
Yeah I'm not a fan of the strong personality players as well, as it ends up cancelling out the other. People end up finding themselves watching for the person rather than the game, to the point where the person could be staring at a blank wall with commentary and still get by on it.
