Poll: What makes a good Let's Play

[RJ 17]

Well above all else it has to be entertaining, generally this means adding in lots of satire and humor over the game being played. Whether or not the creator is any good at coming up with satire or humor is the real question. Take Spoony, for instance. His wit and humor just comes naturally, and as such his playthrough of Phantasmagoria II is frickin' hilarious and a pleasure to watch. So are his playthroughs of SWAT 4.

Like all things in comedy, you've either got it or you don't, it's that simple. Some people can make great jokes on the fly other people can't. The guys over at Rooster Teeth make good Lets Plays because they're all just a bunch of goofy bastards that play off of one another. Other lesser known Lets Players just seem like they're trying to force their jokes.

But it's not all about comedy, as I said, it's more about being "entertaining" in general and that doesn't necessarily mean being funny. It's just that going the comedy route is the easiest way to get to "entertaining" so long as you're good at it. The over-all point is that a Lets Play has to be as entertaining or more entertaining as if the person watching it were just playing the game...because if it's not as entertaining or more entertaining than playing the game yourself, what's the point of watching it?

 

[Eve Charm]

Oh also always know what your suppose to do and/or have an Walk-through ready. I'm sure people quit watching game grumps after the first episode of naughty bear or the rouge squadron one where they talked over the game telling them what to do and didn't pay any attention to it to look for like an objective list as they talked crap on the game non stop that any normal player would have saw.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Their voice and commentary. As harsh as it may sound, if I can't stand the voice, then it's a no-go. Now, voices aren't something we can change, so it does indeed sound harsh, but that's reality. If you don't have a voice for commentary, then that's just the cold fact. So any LP's done by young kids or guys with high/irritating voices.. sorry, but no. Of course the commentary has to be good as well. It doesn't have to be funny of course, but it does have to be enjoyable to listen to. And genuine. Stuff like PewDiePie is just a pain on the ears.

They're the big things at any rate. Of course the game in question has to be interesting for me as well. If it isn't, then great commentary alone won't save it for me. An example is one of my favourite LPer's, veriax. He's doing a Dragon Age: Origins LP. The commentary is very great, but the game itself is just so boring, that I can't watch it.

So, those two combined is what makes an LPer for me. My favourites are the aforementioned veriax (mostly RPGs), Gopher (mostly Bethesda games) and ReformistTM (mostly Mount & Blade: Warband and its massive modding scene). I also watch a lot of PrinceofMacedon for Rome Total War stuff.

Edit: Also, I do enjoy a good blind LP. It's fun to see the genuine reaction from an LPer on something. I've watched several blind LPs just to see how people respond to certain events.

 

[CriticalMiss]

You should watch some Retsuprae youtube videos where they make fun of people who try and do LPs really badly, don't do those things. My list of things for a good Lets Play:

- Decent quality. Use good audio equipment and video capture software.

- Editing. Don't show yourself failing over and over if you can just edit out the fuck ups, you can always make a blooper reel of you messing up and call it a bonus video later. Also you can get rid of loading times to cut down the video length.

- No twattery. Don't scream like a moron or make stupid jokes to try and get more views.

- Be informative/know the game. If you have cool facts or trivia about the game/developers then talk about it when there isn't much going on in the game. It also helps if don't get stuck for five monutes because you don't know what to do.

- Don't talk over cutscenes. Story yo!

- Change the settings before you record. It's not fun watching someone adjust the brightness so don't waste time recording that.

- Play for a reasonable amount of time, then edit it in to smaller videos that are cut at appropriate times.

 

[ommadawnyawn]

Knowledge, skill and a sense of humour. Delivery isn't super important but I can't stand it when people scream at everything in the game (Pewdiepie). I generally don't watch let's plays of games I haven't played and mostly watch retro.

HideofBeast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtWUcBW5MP8

Clement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzaZz3Wd3xw

Austin Mackert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVS1ipw4PCQ

Anyways, I don't understand the charm at all. Those who watch are obviously gamers... so don't they prefer playing the game rather than watching hundreds of hours of other people playing?

I usually watch something I've recently beaten just to get a second opinion and seeing if I missed anything interesting. I don't know a lot of people with the same taste in games, and it's usually more vivid than a forum discussion.

 

[necromanzer52]

Interesting, and/or funny commentary. Also it has to be a game they're very familiar with, and are quite good at, so they can generally just play on autopilot whilst chatting about various aspects of the game they like/don't like, and show you cool stuff. Though I don't mind them going off-topic from time-to-time if there are lulls in the action, and they can stay funny/interesting.

How many times have you looked up an LP of a game you're incredibly familiar with? I bet never, unless you were following an LPer you already knew.

The vast majority of LPs I've watched have been games I'm quite fond of, or have at least played, as I enjoy seeing how other people deal with the same situations, and am interested to hear what they thought about all the different aspects of a game, and see how their opinion lines up with my own. Thus interesting discussion can be generated.

I'd only watch an LP of a game I haven't played, if I had no intention of ever playing it myself, as I like to go into games knowing very little except their basic premise, and gameplay style.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Playing interesting games and being entertaining in general. That's why the only LPs I watch is GameGrumps, because they are occasionally hilarious, OMFGCata, and Jim Sterling's LP, because he is fucking Jim Sterling.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Great picture quality and editing, good optional commentary, humour if appropriate. Another thing that is not necessary but makes me appreciate the LP more would be going for 100% completion.

 

[TelHybrid]

Shutting the hell up during game dialogue.

Oh, if a let's player is going to try to be funny, it would help if they were actually funny. Nothing worse than bad jokes.

Oh and if they start mimicking Angry Video Game Nerd and just throwing out a load of profanity, then that shows lack of creativity, originality, and is just generally childish and annoying.

Commentary needs to be interesting, with a pleasant voice, decent sound quality (invest in a GOOD mic). Game footage needs to be directly recorded, not a camera facing a screen.

Yeah... I'm a critical sod. =P

Edit: Oh playing some obscure and unique games would be a plus. Having "Let's Play The Last of Us" #108788969786 isn't interesting.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

It simply has to be either funny and/or informative. High video and sound quality also helps a great deal.

The type of game has to be one I've either never played before (and have no intention of playing) or one that I haven't got bored of yet.

 

[mitchell271]

There's only a few I find really entertaining. I like Peanut Butter Gamer's stuff, just because I like his style of humour. Same thing with ProJared, to me, he's absolutely hilarious! Rooster Teeth's stuff just seems incredibly immature to me.

I guess, the key to a good one would be a wacky sense of humour, good reactions and having a specific goal or self-imposed rules. For example, ProJared's Nuzlocke run or PBG's Minecraft Hardcore series.

 

[Xan Krieger]

I'm a fan of the Let's Plays by the Achievement Hunter guys from Roosterteeth and the reason is comedy. I know every Let's Play they do is gonna have me laughing till my lungs hurt and that's why I keep watching them.

 

[stormeris]

Firstly, there is no such thing as a 'good' let's play. They're all fracking terrible and lazy.
They require basically no effort whatsoever, because the game pretty much does everything for you.
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.
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The only let's play that isn't completely godawful is of a game that is long forgotten, like old classic games, something you can't find no more. Not something that just came out... Especially if it's a single player story driven LINEAR game.

 

[Tom_Pladgett]

I watch LPs from time to time, purely of games I've just played or am currently playing myself. It's interesting to get a different person's perspective to the game and see how they may do things differently. I can't stand LPers who try to MST3K the hell out of everything, since comedy is hard and requires more effort than 95% of them can muster. The best LPers to me provide sincere and enthusiastic commentary about a game.

Just to plug one of my favourites, Christopher Odd is an underappreciated LPer, check him out on YT.

 

[MrMisfit]

For me, 2 things make a good LP. High quality video and no commentary. I do subscribe to a few YouTube channels that do have commentary but I actually like them because they have interesting personalities.

 

[anthony87]

As long as whoever is doing the LP doesn't act like Game Grumps or PewDiePie then I'm happy.

 

[jhoroz]

I wish people would stop harping on about Game Grumps, who clearly ripped off Two Best Friends (as admitted by Ego Raptor himself). Not only are Best Friends infinitely funnier, but they actually complete their Let's Plays right 'till the end. The only genuinely funny thing I've seen Game Grumps do is their Sonic 06 LP, and even that had some really dull moments.

I watch LPs mainly for comedic purposes, since I find nothing interesting in watching people dryly complete a game when I can play it myself instead. And since there are very few funny LPs out the (PewPie is the cancer of Youtube) it really boils down to Two Best Friends and Rooster Teeth

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I used to do them all the time, but haven't had nearly enough time in recent months to do it. However, I enjoyed being humorous throughout them and trying to be knowledgeable about the game I'm playing AND give my opinion on certain aspects of the game and whether or not I'm actually enjoying it.

Either be really funny or informative. If you can do both, even better. That's my opinion.