Favorite games to watch?

[PurplePonyArcade]

I have a hard time respecting the view of only watching a game as opposed to playing it. To me that is not enjoying the game. That said you do not have to enjoy the game to enjoy watching someone play. I think that is why so many of us enjoy seeing bad games played.
However to me what defines as liking a game means playing it because even if you are bad at it some games can still be enjoyed for that reason. Case it point I am not great at Dark Souls and that is mostly due to having a poor understanding of the world around me, but I do enjoy it a good bit.
As for a game I enjoy that I watch more the biggest candidate is easily Super Smash Bros. Melee. I LOVE playing that game so much. I also enjoy a nice challenge and especially a fighting game related one. That said Melee's required execution level is a bit much. Maybe it feels a bit harder than usual for me because it is different, but it is very hard to learn. For that reason even while practicing it I have taken to watching high level play for Melee more than playing the game sad to admit. The second would be Tekken which I like a lot, but still watch more than play. As for a game I only watch and only do because there is still no way to play it outside of its home country is EN-Eins Perfektewelt. I appreciate the gift of the internet for being able to even see the game. Yes its art style is so many times worse than its predecessor, but it is still a good and good looking game and with that and being the sequel to one of my very favourite games I really wish I could play it but from the situation I only watch it.

 

[CaitSeith]

Nothing. Games are already mostly a huge waste of time. I'm not gonna make it even more pointless by watching.

Can I assume you at least watch movies? Otherwise what do you do for passive entertainment?

Yes, I watch one to two movies a day. They're not full of repetition and filler and they're not usually so awful at telling stories.

That pretty much depends on which movie you're watching.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm one of those people who miss watching Yahtzee and Gabe play through shitty point-n-click adventure games. The sierra ones were mind-numbing to the point that it felt like a form of second-hand psychoanalysis and the ones that Yahtzee himself made as a teen and young adult were...illuminating. Other than that, I like watching people play older games. Years ago, I loved watching Projared and other Screwattack members lose their shit (and their summer if I'm remembering correctly) trying to play through Predator on the NES. It actually inspired me to get back into gaming after I'd been left jaded by then-current triple-A bull poopy...and lead to me beating Predator myself. I should play through that game again...

 

[Michel Henzel]

2D fighting games mostly, I love watching those. But I really never bother playing them anymore as I have never progressed past the point of button mashing .

 

[deleted+75193]

DELETED

 

[Neverhoodian]

I love me some good X-COM/XCOM LPs. Old school or new, vanilla or modded, I'm game. I like to see the different tactics people use and how successful (or unsuccessful) they are.

I also enjoy Daggerfall LPs, though the insanely labyrinthine dungeons can make for tedious moments. The X-Wing series are great to watch as well, though they're few and far between due to their age, relative obscurity and the daunting amount of content they contain for a full playthrough.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

Do tutorials count? I watch quite a few of them for WoW. If were talking purely for entertainment, then the only games I watch are fighting games , mainly Street Fighter.

 

[Bobular]

I don't see the point of watching something when I could be playing it. I'll watch a good or funny clip but I can't imagine sitting down to watch a whole game.

I'm the same with sports, I don't get people crowding in to watch two groups of people kick a ball when they could all just go kick a ball themselves.

 

[Zaltys]

I don't see the point of watching something when I could be playing it. I'll watch a good or funny clip but I can't imagine sitting down to watch a whole game.

You can't play games or watch movies while you're coding or doing other such stuff. But gaming videos are perfect for multi-tasking. My desktop is usually split in two: I do the boring stuff on one side, while the game is playing on the other half. Usually I only listen to the commentary, but if there's something interesting going on, I might stop whatever else I'm doing for a moment and actually watch the video.

Think of it as an alternative to background music, or radio talk show.

 

[Silvanus]

I love watching people play Super Mario Maker on Twitch, because it's just endlessly new and unpredictable.

Other than that, Resident Evil 1 through 3 are always good for a laugh.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

TES and Fallout NV/4 would be mine, though I've watched several decent Dark/Demon's Souls, and will watch almost anything from a good, trusted LP'er (Gopher's always my go-to, and SorcererDave's TES stuff is often superb).

I have found ChristopherOdd who could be really promising. He comments, but it's always relevant to the game and he doesn't try to be a cartoon.

Eh, he's okay, but he is ostensibly rather--- buffoonish at times? LP'ing means it's easy to miss things and wotnot, sure, but Odd pairs that [understandable] scatterbrain playstyle with frequently rather inane interjections, as if he feels he has to react to this and that, even if he has nothing to communicate at that point.

As a streamer I feel he's much better, as there's no need to create 'content' and he has a more relaxed and off-topic on/off interaction with those who are viewing and commenting.

Nothing. Games are already mostly a huge waste of time. I'm not gonna make it even more pointless by watching.

From a personal time POV, I can understand that, but LP's do actually offer insight into game design and culture, and I'd say they are an essential and incredibly productive aspect of critique. I wouldn't say they've replaced written or short-form video reviews, but I do feel they've augmented critique, and I feel they provide a far better way of gauging whether or not you're going to like a game than anything else.

Gaming is an experiential, moment to moment medium - no text review can match five minutes of seeing someone interacting with the mechanics/design in order to really understand how something works in-game.

It's an example I always give, but Kay's LP of Dark Souls is a superb record and testimony of the game's particular genius; no game was better suited to a blind and very inexperienced playthrough, and it'd be harder to find a better personality type fit for the game itself (analytical, observant, good at adapting as well as pattern recognition).

There's endless dross online, sure. But at best, a good LP is a creative, emergent response to a work of art.

Of the 10000+ sub channels, I'm only following ChristopherOdd, Gopher, VanguardOfValor, supergreatfriend, Zen and Cyrrene, Materwelonz, Zemalf, and veriax.

Have you ever watched SorcererDave's [https://www.youtube.com/user/Jingles1215/videos] stuff? I'm guessing you'd have heard or seen his stuff if you're familiar with Gopher, as well as Veriax and Zemalf (hm, that sounds like a cartoon title... ).

I'll have to check some of those out, thanks. I've also found good stuff on VaatiVidya's channel for all things Souls. Pretty informative and easy to listen to if one doesn't mind a soft spoken British accent.

 

[Sonmi]

Fighting games are the only ones I really watch.

I've been following the Smash scene for a while now, but I've recently started following Skullgirls as well, needed to pick up something new since MvC has become so dull.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I think those are the things I like about him, honestly. I prefer a playthrough style wherein the focus is and remains the game, even if that means moments of silence or simply thinking out loud as he figures out his next move. I wouldn't call that manufacturing content so much as it's acknowledging that folks like myself tune in to hear your thoughts even if they're aimless; I find it far more engaging than "no commentary" playthroughs and far less distracting than a streamer chatting with the viewers, thanking a new subscriber or donation notification every 14 seconds.

Well, it quite literally is creating content - Odd monetises his channel, and tends to keep to a schedule and the kind of regular releases that's expected of LP'ers. He's not just doing it for a laugh, and he makes a point of stylistically distinguishing any streamed content added to his YT channel.

As for aimless thoughts: I kinda expect/want more at a profound moment in a Souls game than the LP'er to utter 'Wow!' or a hundred variations on OMG ('Oh my god! / 'Oh... my... god... ' / 'Ehmagawd!' / 'Oh gawd!' / etc... see also: 'No way! Really? No way! For reals? Really?! No way! Ohmyg-- '). Odd also misses some facepalm inducing details or lore points, and those are quite often quite painful to watch if you're familiar with the game.

I really don't expect masterful game critique on a first run, sure, but Odd's reading of a game is usually a bit too simple. Plus, he doesn't really RP at all, and seems to betray a bit of a lack of an imagination when it comes to how he thinks through his PC's actions.

I just prefer maturity and seriousness, especially when a game's tone dictates it, and it's hard to find sometimes as those who rack up the most views tend to be the same ones who'll do any and everything to be seen.

Odd's got integrity, sure, I'll give him that, but that alone doesn't exactly make someone interesting, observant, or compelling.

Clearly I much prefer his style to any gurning face-cam YT'er, though, and I still intend to go back to his Uncharted LP's given I've not owned a Sony machine since the PS1.

Have you watched any Dark Souls LP's, btw? If so, Kay's mature, serious, but also insightful and generally very quick to learn given her level of experience going into DS[1].