Let's Play: Half-Life (Part 5 released)

[TheLastSamurai14]

Good morning, Escapists. Welcome to my Let's Play of Half-Life. This is my first Let's Play, so constructive criticism is welcome, but please, no flaming.

The first episode starts with a small one and a half minute foreword. Each subsequent episode will be embedded in this post, as well. Enjoy!

Spoiler: Part 1

Spoiler: Part 2

Spoiler: Part 3

Spoiler: Part 4

Spoiler: Part 5

 

[Dr_Horrible]

Good morning, Escapists. I'd like to start the day by releasing the first episode of my Let's Play of Half-Life. Constructive criticism is welcome, but please, no flaming.

That was a pretty good start; certainly better than I started with let's plays.

One thing to remember is that you need more enthusiasm than you would use in real life. Speaking like that in person seems fine, because you have body language and all sorts of visual cues to help your speech. With voice-only, however, you have to convey all of the emotion through speech. Not to say that you need to act like Jim Carrey to get the point across, but extra emoting would be good.

Another thing to think about is the tone set by your Let's Play. Should it be informative? Funny above all else? For example, I try to be funny first and foremost, offering occasional trivia and so on. You have plenty of options; perhaps you want to make it something like a review or maybe a comedy series. You can try to inform about the game and it's mechanics, or you can make the game itself the secondary purpose.

That said, I hope you have good luck with these in the future, they can be a lot of fun.

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

Good morning, Escapists. I'd like to start the day by releasing the first episode of my Let's Play of Half-Life. Constructive criticism is welcome, but please, no flaming.

helpful snip

That would have been very informative for my second episode. There's not much to say about the tram ride apart from the missile and the spill, but I can understand my lack of enthusiasm about the rest. Unfortunately, I was editing the second episode when you posted. I'll be sure to take that into account from now on.

 

[Dr_Horrible]

Good morning, Escapists. I'd like to start the day by releasing the first episode of my Let's Play of Half-Life. Constructive criticism is welcome, but please, no flaming.

helpful snip

That would have been very informative for my second episode. There's not much to say about the tram ride apart from the missile and the spill, but I can understand my lack of enthusiasm about the rest. Unfortunately, I was editing the second episode when you posted. I'll be sure to take that into account from now on.

Ah, lateness strikes again for me.

Mostly, it's just something to keep in mind. It's not a problem on your end, just a new way of communicating everyone needs to get used to, like how a great conversationalist might need practice with public speaking.

The unfortunate thing about Half-life is that, while the beginning is amazing to play, it's difficult to make exciting for a let's play. Of course, the action picks up relatively quickly from there.

(Also, Half-Life is in my top 5 games of all time

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

A bit of an update: I've decided to LP the entire Half-Life series (one at a time, so I'm not overwhelmed) along with both Portal games. However, there are a few games in the series that I'm not sure how to approach.

First, Opposing Force and Blue Shift. They were developed by Gearbox, so not technically part of the official storyline, but the Combine OverWiki considers them canon until Valve says otherwise, so I'm not sure whether to play them or not.

Second, Lost Coast. Even though it's non-canon, it would still make a decent bonus LP after I finish Half-Life 2.

Third, Episode Three. Yeah, it's not out yet, but when it does come out, how should I approach it? Completely blind LP, or an LP as a second playthrough?

All of these choices are up to the community, as I'm completely neutral towards them. So, what do you guys think? Should I play them? If so, should I exclude certain ones?