It is no replacement for me, if the game looks good enough I'll play it myself to get the full experience, if it's not then it doesn't matter either way.
Poll: The 'Let's Play' phenomenon and the future of your purchases
- Thread starter ObsidianJones_v1legacy
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If I want to play a game then I avoid all spoilers related to it like the plague. This means that Let's Plays have no bearing on whether I buy a game or not, ever. Plus, all of the LPers I've come across are either boring or obnoxious so I don't bother with them to begin with.
Honestly, lets plays probably have made me buy more games than simple reviews. For instance: I bought Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Crysis 2, and Far Cry 3 just to name a few. Its mostly because the lets players I watch don't upload 20 videos a day and actually have a specific rotation of one, maybe two videos each day varying between 3-4 games. Also, I would likely buy all the games I watch if I had the money, but eating, gas, and bills come first and after those I have enough to maybe buy 1 $20 game a month and even then it is rarely a game that I didn't see in a lets play.
I've found let's plays to be really usefull.
there have been games I wanted to see what happened in the story but couldn't afford it.
I usually watch "the rad brad" on YouTube.
there have been games I wanted to see what happened in the story but couldn't afford it.
I usually watch "the rad brad" on YouTube.
Thats fair enough. I think there are games that are even A to B which aren't the same in an LP (Metal Gear ironically, is probably one of those because you don't get to actually pull the trigger in dramatic moment A or wildly button mash in the microwave corridor.)ObsidianJones said:
But I agree that probably the majority of games have the sort of story where LPs are great way to experience them (probably even better for the more mediocre games with grindy gameplay). Final Fantasy X's story was based a lot around the feeling of travelling and exploring places and loses out in an LP, but Final Fantasy XIII has no gameplay/story mix and lots of grindy uninvolved combat. I reckon it's probably better watching an LP of FFXIII than playing the game yourself
While I was badly craving for Trials Evolution to arrive on the PC [footnote]AND HOW COME THIS ISN'T A THING AROUND HERE YOU WEIRD PEOPLE?![/footnote], I was burning through dozens of Let's Plays of that game. That's that. But usually, nah. Exception being DayZ. Watching a Let's Play is much more satisfying than actually playing it.
For me, if the story is really good I won't watch the Let's play. I tried to watch Bastion and I just couldn't first time I felt like I was stealing for watching an LP. It isn't ultra difficult, or hard to master the mechanics, it is a really well drafted story with great voice acting.
I couldn't justify watching the Let's play, any game that relies more on telling a story than on the gameplay I have pretty much not watched.
Things like Dragon Age Origins I have watched after paying for and playing the game myself, no one really focuses on the lore however, it's more how you build your character or the personality they have and the player has that draws people in for those.
I couldn't justify watching the Let's play, any game that relies more on telling a story than on the gameplay I have pretty much not watched.
Things like Dragon Age Origins I have watched after paying for and playing the game myself, no one really focuses on the lore however, it's more how you build your character or the personality they have and the player has that draws people in for those.
Well, it's out for the PSP, PS Vita, PS3, and Xbox 360 at this point...Revnak said:
OT: It depends. I'm a bit half-and-half on watching LPs on watching for the gameplay vs. watching for the people, and that's why I like Chip and Ironicus so much. I mean, hell, the reason I got into Metal Gear Solid in the first place was because I watched their LPs of the franchise.
If it's for a game I wasn't really interested in or don't feel would hold my attention while playing, I'll just watch an LP. Examples by the aforementioned duo include Uncharted, No More Heroes, and 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.
I only watch LP's of DLC's that I'm not going to shell money out for. (I'm looking at you Awakened!)
If just watching a game be played can substitute the actual experience of playing it, then there wasn't much of an experience to begin with. That said, I bet this is more true with modern games then retro, since modern games go for the 'cinematic approach', and retro is all about actually playing the game.
I read through a text LP of Dead Rising because I couldn't get it myself and thought it looked vaguely interesting. I also read through an LP of KoTOR 2 with all the restored content, that was heavy on the analysis of the characters and story. I liked that. That's really what I want from Let's Plays, I like them to actually critique and analyse the games they're about. It's why I watch Spoiler Warning [http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?page_id=16386] (also because Spoiler Warning is bloody funny).
I mostly tend to just watch LPs of games which I have already played through, and out of those I mainly stick to one's that involve choices, as it's always interesting to see what decisions other people make. Incidentally, the only game so far that I've watched more than one walkthrough of is The Walking Dead. I will occasionally watch a walkthrough of a game I don't intend to play, but in that case it'll most likely be because of the LPer, not the game itself.
That said, an LP has yet to convince me to buy a game I otherwise wouldn't have bothered with.
That said, an LP has yet to convince me to buy a game I otherwise wouldn't have bothered with.
Some LPs have inspired me to buy games, while others have given me enough of an experience not to need to play it for myself. For example, after watching Phelous do Silent Hill, I felt I didn't need to bother playing it with an emulator or whatever because I had already had a very enjoyable experience from it and didn't need more. But then Evil Tim's LP of Wolfenstein made me buy it because it looked like such fun, even though he doesn't like it himself and constantly slags it off. So it depends. I definitely appreciate how LPers have introduced me to games I wouldn't have heard of otherwise.