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Post some "Let's Play" channels that focus entirely on the gameplay

Your Cousin Vinny

Your Cousin Vinny

Banned
Jun 11, 2018
965
The Corpse of the Motor City
Disregarding live streamers which by definition are attractive for their personality and/or level of play, one would get the feeling that legitimate "let's play" channels that are about the game experience itself (narrated or unaccompanied) are kind of a lost art, or at least a side of the phenomenon that is violently elbowed to the side to make room for the Pewdiepies/Game Grumps/etc. of the world. Further, finding such channels that actually curate their content in a semi-professional way is notoriously difficult, as many of them are very flippant in their presentation of the game itself, sloppy in their play and not terribly mindful of how their progression maps to a viewing experience.

One channel I've found that does a simply wonderful job is a channel called WatchMeBeibeh. Not only do they have playthroughs of one of my favorite game franchises in Fatal Frame, but their gameplay quality is second to none. They have clearly practiced these games and are incredibly efficient and skillful in moving through the various puzzles and combat portions, yet at the same time they allow the viewer time to read in-game material while being mindful to allow the viewer to skip long portions that may not interest them. They are also beautifully completionist, even with elements of the game that are notoriously difficult to achieve. All this is seamlessly strung together in flawless runs, and properly organized into playlists.


​

Anyone else have a Let's Player who does justice to the medium?
 
DGenerator

DGenerator

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,922
Toronto, ON, Canada
"Justice to the medium?" Let's Plays are inherently transformative properties, providing commentary, content and input into a game required for it to become a fair use performance.

Watching someone play a game without any input is not justice to the medium of lets plays. Quite frankly, it's almost freebooting the game's content.
 
OP
OP
Your Cousin Vinny

Your Cousin Vinny

Banned
Jun 11, 2018
965
The Corpse of the Motor City
DGenerator said:
"Justice to the medium?" Let's Plays are inherently transformative properties, providing commentary, content and input into a game required for it to become a fair use performance.

Watching someone play a game without any input is not justice to the medium of lets plays. Quite frankly, it's almost freebooting the game's content.
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I wasn't excluding content that has commentary, in fact I'd love to see that. I'm more or less excluding videos that are 50% people messing around and being off-topic.
 
Mobyduck

Mobyduck

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,100
Brazil
I usually enjoy blind let's plays, as they can be very entertaining if the player knows what he is doing. But, I've watched a couple series that are somewhat similar to what you described. Among them, Highwang's La Mulana Remake series and Deceased Crab's La Mulana original series. Highwang is very good because he actually go through all the lore bits of the game, which are very interesting.
 
Kard8p3

Kard8p3

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,272
Easily Super Best Friends Play. They're my favorite channel, honestly. Been watching since they first started.

Edit : maybe not exactly what you want, but they're still really good.
 

Deleted member 46493

User requested account closure
Banned
Aug 7, 2018
5,231
I want to say HCBailly, because he researches thoroughly and replays his games many times to come out with the most optional playthrough... but his voice take some time to get used to and he talks during cutscenes/story moments. But the way he plays and optimizes his gameplay is great.

Sirlionhart's SMT playthroughs are good but they are edited versions of Twitch streams.
 
OP
OP
Your Cousin Vinny

Your Cousin Vinny

Banned
Jun 11, 2018
965
The Corpse of the Motor City
kenta said:
Yes, you're looking for Longplays, which are Let's Plays without commentary
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Then no, I am absolutely about commentary and would love to see channels linked here in which the commentary is thoughtful toward the game being played. "Thoughtful" is, of course, up for interpretation, but generally I'm not referring to "plays Amnesia, screm.gif" type of stuff. :B
 
snausages

snausages

Member
Feb 12, 2018
10,359
I don't really understand the OP but I like accountingnightmare and vash the shell bullet for their DMC stuff. Instructive, fun and interesting.
 
Silver-Streak

Silver-Streak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,007
I mean...technically that's my channel. When I talk I'm usually talking about events happening in the game rather than cracking jokes (I'm not very funny). I also don't (nor will I ever) use facecam.

(Although for Extra Life I'll be throwing up a visualizer connected to my microphone channel to at least fill up the camera spot in the template).

That said, I'm not looking to advertise and only add a few videos a month so I don't think I'm a good example.

There aren't many channels left that do both focused commentary and no camera. Game Grumps would be close but they don't really comment on the game (they are more comedy focused).

Markiplier would be close but he uses a face cam and switches between focused commentary and humor.
 
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kenta

kenta

Member
Oct 25, 2017
857
Your Cousin Vinny said:
Then no, I am absolutely about commentary and would love to see channels linked here in which the commentary is thoughtful toward the game being played. "Thoughtful" is, of course, up for interpretation, but generally I'm not referring to "plays Amnesia, screm.gif" type of stuff. :B
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Gotcha, in that case I enjoyed EpicNameBro's series on Dark Souls and Bloodborne. He walks through the games and discusses the mechanics and the lore and his theories. When I play through one of those games, I will play through a section on my own and then watch his video of the same section. It always helped me play better, even though I don't give a half of a crap about the lore :p

Timu said:
Hmm, the longplays I watched don't seem like Let's Plays at all, more like play/walkthroughs if anything.
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Maybe I'm using the term Let's Play loosely -- I don't really follow the scene. I just meant you're watching someone play through the game and there's no commentary
 
Kyougar

Kyougar

Cute Animal Whisperer
Member
Nov 3, 2017
9,360
HCBailly https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjKIkpn1ZK6Wqigen1YBAYA mostly does (classic) JRPG's. The guy is a monster, he plays every 15- to 25-minute episode several times before he makes a video out of it. He completed the game several times before even doing a let's play. Most of the let's plays are completionist/walkthrough kind of playthroughs.


But what you are asking for in general is not what most viewers look for in a let's player. Most "Quality" Let's players are narrow in their specialty and the games they play. It is great when you find someone that has quality, but it is most likely, that he or she only has that 1 game you were interested in.
Viewers watch let's players that have a constant output and that they can stand. Even if s/he isn't knowledgeable about every game or particularly good at the genre, viewers are mostly fine with it, because finding good let's players with editing skills, good tech, known to be completing games, etc. is hard.
 
StayHandsome

StayHandsome

Member
Nov 30, 2017
762
I myself am interested to see more of exactly what you're asking for. I'm not a fan of Let's Plays with exaggerated reactions, who aim to entertain more through the personality of the player rather than th experience of the game itself.

My only contribution would be Kay Plays, which is an old favorite of the pre-Era Souls community. They're blind playthroughs and not the most professional in terms of recording quality, but she gives thoughtful commentary as she plays. She stopped making videos in 2016, unfortunately.
 
grang

grang

Member
Nov 13, 2017
10,072
Gonna hijack this to ask a question about something like this I've been looking for. Are there any channels that feature something like in the OP for games that specifically focused on character/dialogue choices? For example, something like Detroit: Become Human. It's a game I'm not likely to play, but would be interested in doing a "run through" where I could watch and then select the choice, taking me to the next video, choose your own adventure style. I know that's a huge amount of work for a creator, but anyone know if channels like this exist?
 
Timu

Timu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,574
kenta said:
Yeah, that's... what I'm... saying...

Let's Plays have commentary and Longplays don't...

Cool... okay see you later
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Oh, sorry about that, I misread your post, my bad.

Funny enough there are those who label their vids let's play with no commentary, but I don't see it that often.
 
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PSqueak

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
Try professional speed runners, they don't quip that much and just focus on beating their own times.
 
Mobyduck

Mobyduck

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,100
Brazil
Day9 might also interest you. Besides life advices, he also comments a lot about game design decisions while playing games. His Bloodborne let's play is pretty good. He does have face cam, though
 

bakedpony

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,263
Try Never Played. They don't show have any face cams, just the gameplay. In this particular series, one is playing blind while the other person is giving tips and insights.

 

Deleted member 14735

Oct 27, 2017
930
The problem with longplays is that often times they're played no differently than let's plays, that is either blind or without care for giving a good experience watching. It just feels like a lot of times someone decided to play through a game, hit record, and uploaded what they got. Let's play channels with minimal commentary that are focused and actually provide a proper, well thought out playthrough are very rare and I wish there were a lot more of them.

So, this topic is relevant to my interests lol, but unfortunately I can't provide any examples myself. LPArchive has had all of the good ones I've been able to find, but they're hit and miss themselves.

kenta said:
Gotcha, in that case I enjoyed EpicNameBro's series on Dark Souls and Bloodborne. He walks through the games and discusses the mechanics and the lore and his theories. When I play through one of those games, I will play through a section on my own and then watch his video of the same section. It always helped me play better, even though I don't give a half of a crap about the lore :p
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Oh, he slipped my mind, EpicNameBro is a good one for sure. And Matthewmatosis' videos on Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and Devil May Cry. On the topic of ENB though, did he purge his channel at some point? There's a whole lot missing there now from what I can recall. I went to check him out not that long ago and I couldn't find the playthrough I'd watched before.
 
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lord_of_flood

lord_of_flood

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jan 1, 2018
1,743
TheSeraphim17 is pretty good about what he does. He posts a lot of videos that are intended to be guides to whatever he's playing on whatever difficulty, or otherwise posts his challenge runs. His gameplay and commentary indicate that he's fairly skilled and knowledgeable in a lot of areas. His commentary also shows that he has a better understanding of design and design intention than many other gaming channels do. He's pretty interesting to watch and listen to, at least IMO.
 
Timu

Timu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,574
lord_of_flood said:
TheSeraphim17 is pretty good about what he does. He posts a lot of videos that are intended to be guides to whatever he's playing on whatever difficulty, or otherwise posts his challenge runs. His gameplay and commentary indicate that he's fairly skilled and knowledgeable in a lot of areas. His commentary also shows that he has a better understanding of design and design intention than many other gaming channels do. He's pretty interesting to watch and listen to, at least IMO.
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Yep, that guy tends to play on the hardest difficulty settings as well.
 
Sai

Sai

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
5,622
Chicago
Kinsei said:
I highly recommend Chip and Ironicus. https://www.youtube.com/user/ChipCheezumLPs/featured?disable_polymer=1

For more visit https://lparchive.org/ and search for LP's with the 'informative" tag.
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Also highly recommend these guys. They're both super knowledgeable about tons of stuff independently so they bring a great game/history knowledge, as well as humor, to the stuff they make.

I super recommend their both their Watch Dogs and Uncharted 4 playthroughs, they're fantastic.
 
Sacul64

Sacul64

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,769
Your Cousin Vinny said:
Then no, I am absolutely about commentary and would love to see channels linked here in which the commentary is thoughtful toward the game being played. "Thoughtful" is, of course, up for interpretation, but generally I'm not referring to "plays Amnesia, screm.gif" type of stuff. :B
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I like Brainscratchcoms. Been watching them for years no but they will usually do practice runs before they do the main run and also have Raws with no commentary on a second channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7xVh97yNiVhZksbdGu7nag
 
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,360
lord_of_flood said:
TheSeraphim17 is pretty good about what he does. He posts a lot of videos that are intended to be guides to whatever he's playing on whatever difficulty, or otherwise posts his challenge runs. His gameplay and commentary indicate that he's fairly skilled and knowledgeable in a lot of areas. His commentary also shows that he has a better understanding of design and design intention than many other gaming channels do. He's pretty interesting to watch and listen to, at least IMO.
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This was my first pick

Sacul64 said:
I like Brainscratchcoms. Been watching them for years no but they will usually do practice runs before they do the main run and also have Raws with no commentary on a second channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7xVh97yNiVhZksbdGu7nag
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And this was my second pick lol

I remember liking their Crash N. Sane Trilogy playthrough since they could also reference changes / differences between the remaster and the original title.

It's worth mentioning that both channels do commentary in post. Maybe that can help narrow down your search?

Anyway I can't think of many other LPers that are consistently on point / knowledgeable about every game they play, unfortunately. I can think of one really cool LP I watched that was pretty cool for LPer showing off their in-game knowledge.Raizhen010's LP of Wild Arms 3. This one's great because he shows how busted the game is (at several points he defeats bosses that are supposed to be unbeatable / unwinnable).

I'm gonna echo some of the suggestions to watch speedrunners / speedruns with commentary. It's much easier to go around looking for speedruns than it is to search using the term "let's play" and then hoping that the LP is by someone who actually knows what they're doing. Walkthroughs are also a better term to search with (though they also have a much more distinct use and aren't often commentated)
 
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Truly Gargantuan

Truly Gargantuan

Still doesn't have a tag :'(
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,034
The Outer Haven Network on Twitch do really good play throughs of the MGS series. They go through all optional codec calls, Easter eggs, and even talk about story and theme interpretations. Really good stuff

https://t.co/X5KO5H8fVP
 
Diablos54

Diablos54

Member
Oct 26, 2017
401
https://m.youtube.com/user/Cjosh1354

That's mine if anyone's interested lol! Don't have much on there atm and it doesn't exactly look great cause im only really just starting to use it. Only complete playthroughs of FF IX and Shenmue 1, with Shenmue 2 and Dragon Quest XI currently in progress. Spider-Man starts Friday as well
 
Subconian Dreamer

Subconian Dreamer

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,611
Australia
Kinsei said:
I highly recommend Chip and Ironicus. https://www.youtube.com/user/ChipCheezumLPs/featured?disable_polymer=1

For more visit https://lparchive.org/ and search for LP's with the 'informative" tag.
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Yep, these guys are great and can be super in depth in showing off the games they play (e.g. the currently ongoing Metal Gear Solid V series featuring three different play styles through each mission to demonstrate the different ways you can approach the game)
 
Skel

Skel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,032
France
lord_of_flood said:
TheSeraphim17 is pretty good about what he does. He posts a lot of videos that are intended to be guides to whatever he's playing on whatever difficulty, or otherwise posts his challenge runs. His gameplay and commentary indicate that he's fairly skilled and knowledgeable in a lot of areas. His commentary also shows that he has a better understanding of design and design intention than many other gaming channels do. He's pretty interesting to watch and listen to, at least IMO.
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My pick as well.
 
Rendering...

Rendering...

Member
Oct 30, 2017
19,089
Kinsei said:
I highly recommend Chip and Ironicus. https://www.youtube.com/user/ChipCheezumLPs/featured?disable_polymer=1

For more visit https://lparchive.org/ and search for LP's with the 'informative" tag.
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I came here to recommend these guys. My favorite LPers by far. No gimmicks, no pandering to a sophomoric audience. They're all about the games. C&I aren't trying to be personalities, but as longtime collaborators and passionate gamers they've got an easy chemistry you can't fake.

Chip provides the gameplay and in-depth info on the games' mechanics and background, and Ironicus's sharp observations and encyclopedic knowledge grease the wheels of the presentation and give Chip natural opportunities to drop game-related exposition.

Their time tested format combines entertaining gameplay, lively commentary, and dense info bombs in a conversational package. Chip goes so far as to edit in alternate footage to highlight cool mechanics or interesting details he missed in the main playthrough. He'll even take the time to showcase unlockables and bonus content. You get all the benefits of an in-depth walkthrough along with off-the-charts entertainment value.
 
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