LP Advice

I dunno. I feel there are plenty of people who are good at humourous let's plays. Just going of my subscription list on Youtube, I have:

The Yogscast, Kikoskia, and Toegoff, who does mostly blind L Ps.

There are also plenty of humourous L Ps on Something Awful that are good.

I'd actually advise against using Retsu as a "what not to do" guide. Sure, they pick on bad L Pers, but they've also done people they just feel are "overrated," and once or twice have gone for people they actually like just for the lulz. It's not really a good "what not to do" guide.

I like a lot of different L Ps, personally, from the informative runs to the blind "WTF WAS THAT" runs. The main thing I look for in a video LP is just the narrator themselves. "Is this person interesting and fun to listen to? Do they have energy in their voice? Do they sound like they're enjoying themselves?" Beyond that, I couldn't care less about things like live vs. post, informative vs. snarky, highbrow vs. lowbrow, whatever. I like L Ps that cut liberally and L Ps that show every tedious moment. For this viewer, at least, it's about being enjoying as a narrator.

Although if you want random examples, I think my favorite "informative" style LP is that Superman64 LP that Proton Jon really needs to finish, and my favorite "what is this i dont even"-style LP is that one of the Vietnamese Pokemon Crystal bootleg.

If you're doing a Let's Play of a game you have on Steam, make sure to disable all the pop-up notifications (View -> Settings -> Friends) and set your visibility as Offline (Friends -> Offline).

Chipcheezum is notable for being both funny and being the most informative person about the games he plays.

LP's aren't just about funny remarks, they have to showcase the game in some way, negative or positive. And most of the time, bumblefucking around is a terrible way to show off any game. I'll take a funny guy who knows what he's doing over a bumblefuck making witty remarks about something he knows next to nothing about.

Then again, bumbling around is still a representation of what playing a game for the first time is like. In some ways, it's more authentic to what the actual game experience is like. Hence, my personal preference is for a keety dumbass who only sort of knows what they're doing to a droning smartass.

Though I won't disagree that Chip Cheezum is a darn good person to take notes from.

Yeah, take note of what the SA LPer's do. The LP board holds all LPer's there to a high standard, so that should be the first place you look. As much as we've been avoiding it, that 90% crap saying holds very true for most Youtube LPer's. You're going have to dig deep to find the really good beyond the most popular ones, and even then a good number of them are not that impressive.

EDIT: And that reminds me. Be animated. Put emotion into what you're saying, and don't just phone it in. This may be true of all speaking skills, but when your audience is potentially thousands of people, missing the fundamentals will hurt you badly.

edited 2nd Nov '11 10:59:33 PM by GIG

Hey, I'm considering making a LP of a turn-based RPG, how am I supposed to do that?

Also, what to do to make sure people at least know my video exists?

Now turn based things are pretty hard. If you're doing a video, know how to edit like a pro, because dear Lord knows how quickly an audience will turn on you out of boredom. Edit out unnecessary battles unless you're showcasing a new enemy or something important happens to your party that becomes a major point later. Here where post commentary will be a major thing: You won't need to comment over everything, just the things that you've selected. Remember, if it's really long, then focus on just the highlights of your recording time.

And if all else fails, turn based games lend themselves extremely well to Screenshot LP's

edited 2nd Nov '11 11:19:07 PM by GIG

I feel this post has a fair number of good tips for LPing.

Really, ask your friends about your voice. And make sure they're being honest. Because if your voice is just a horrible wreck, you should stick to screenshots.

Avoid going towards Yes-Men for questions about yourself in anything, find someone you trust to be as impartial as possible. Hugbox thinking is your worst enemy.

edited 2nd Nov '11 11:35:26 PM by GIG

Eh, I find that SA LP's are just as prone to crap as the rest of 'em. They may "weed," so to speak, but there's still bad writing styles, player arrogance, unfunny, and voices that are just kind of not-good to listen to. That, and they tend toward that SA brand of humor, which is a definite Love It or Hate It kind of thing.

I think Chip is good because he knows how to combine informative with amusing (he can snark on/make fun of a game while still explaining it), he generally keeps his crew around so that he has people to bounce off, he speaks animatedly, and he picks games that are entertaining on their own to watch. The fact that he tends to go for the blatantly weird or So Bad, It's Good games certainly contributes in part to his success, I think.

If you have to make a video, cut everything non-essential. Offscreen any grinding you may need to do, and disable fighting animations if possible. It all looks very flashy, but eventually it just makes the game drag after viewers have seen it dozens of times.

Personally, though, I'd just go for a screenshot LP. Turn based games lend themselves far better to that format.

edited 3rd Nov '11 6:07:01 AM by Fluid

True, but the crap is not as prevalent as Youtube. So there's quite a few places you can take notes from.

Just check out a few threads, and if the writing/commentary style seems to be well received, you might want to take note of that.

My personal opinion, gold standard for screenshot LPs is The Dark Id. Guy goes out of his way to show off 100% of the game, or at least as much as is feasibly possible, has hilarious MST-esque commentary from the game's cast, explains everything beyond satisfactorily, usually posts videos of the most important parts, and when it's necessary, provides all the background, All There in the Manual crap that's necessary to understanding the game.

I mean, don't try to emulate him, because nothing will kill your LP faster than trying to be funny. But do read his LPs and take note of the amount of effort he puts in. I know I'm repeating "effort!" like a broken record, but he really exemplifies that well.

Honestly, his NIER LP is probably the best one I've ever read/watched. Ever. It's so ridiculously in-depth and well-done it actually convinced me (and about a hundred goons) to buy the game.

edited 3rd Nov '11 6:49:32 AM by WildKnight

Totally agree about The Dark id. His Dirge of Cerberus Let's Play is what what got me into the genre. The comedy in that was just brilliant.

edited 3rd Nov '11 7:57:34 AM by BaleFire

I guess my point is, take pointers from people rather than places. Just because someone's on SA doesn't mean they'll be good, and just because someone's on You Tube doesn't make them bad, etc.

Editing ain't so hard. Go download yourself a few program called VirtualDub, and it'll all be good.