The Let's Play Sandcastle [Let's Play Discussion / Test Posts. Interest Check = Ban]

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > The Let's Play Sandcastle [Let's Play Discussion / Test Posts. Interest Check = Ban]

«‹›592 »

An Actual Bear: Feb 15, 2012

TraumaticRatio posted:

Alright well I've been getting some mixed emotions about my other vids, so I want to know what you guys think about this one. I want to make sure that it is appealing before I post it up. For whom this may concern, I took Heren's advice and tried to avoid saying stuff like "I don't know..." or just basically "I". I also avoided saying things that have a future tense. For example, something like,"I might..." or,"In the future I will..." so that way it won't seem like I'm being indecisive. Also, sorry for the white noise in the BG. I just noticed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_IuxIorOas

Your microphone audio isn't centered, I don't know if it's a problem with my headphones or not but I'm sure someone can clarify. On my end it's slightly louder in my right ear than in my left ear. Again though it might be an issue with me. I also noticed your video seemed pretty dark, it could definitely do with being a tad brighter. I think in your case I would consider bringing in a co-commentator, because the problem with RE2 is that there is already a lot of LP's of it and yours doesn't really give me a reason to watch it if I've already seen a different LP or already played it for myself. It's something for you to think about at least.

# ? Jul 25, 2012 16:08

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 11, 2024 21:28

UnknownMercenary: Nov 1, 2011; I LIKE IT
WAY WAY TOO LOUD

Mezurya posted:

Looking much better, a lot more focused. I only have two things of advice:
-Your mic is still a bit buzzy, look at some guides to noise removal or look up some better quality mics if you're okay with buying some equipment
-You should put some text and the episode number on the pictures to make it look nicer.

Something like that would look nice, I think. Also, you should make those pictures into links, so people can just click on the pictures. If you don't know how to, I can let you know.

How's this? I just quickly cropped the website logos so it can probably look better.

I'll look into doing more noise reduction, but I'm already applying it to my recordings through Audacity.

Heren posted:

Great to see this back! Christopher Walken will never not be awesome.

As far as a title goes the one you have is fine. If you want to hook in more readers put whatever you think is most interesting about the game in the title. To SA goons it's probably going to be playing as a dirty cop, so something like "Plant Evidence, Take Bribes, Let's be a Cop in True Crime: New York City"

Overall these videos are much better than the first one, so congrats. It sounds like the game has audio issues. The phone calls cutting out when street noise interrupts them is fine, but when the audio gets stuck on a "Jesus! Motherfucker!" loop that repeats constantly it's annoying. The same goes for that fly buzzing sound later on. Don't know if there's anything you can do about it, but it's something to be aware of.

One thing I don't think you guys did is explain the HUD. I keep seeing +X career, which I assume is the leveling system, but the number on the badge goes down from 5 to 4 and I don't know what the semi-circle bars are for (assuming two are health and stamina, but then there are two more around the badge).

When it comes to explaining things I think you also need to cover the shoe collecting, showing up in a completely different set of clothes, and all the different types of crimes. But that's all stuff that can be covered in its own video(s), so the commentary on the first video seems okay.

For the post Mezurya made good points. You could use a smaller images and text links underneath it, or link a big image like that.

Yeah, I was planning to explain the ranking up and the collectibles etc in the free roam videos, since that's the area of the game it mainly affects. I should also clarify that the game has a very silly karma system (much like many games that have it) where you can do all sorts of nasty things like plant evidence and extort local businesses so long as you take the time to merely shoot suspects in the kneecaps instead of aiming for headshots. The karma rating only appears to change incidental dialogue while you're free-roaming, and we'll be commentating over that. Since the only other thing it affects is the ending, I was thinking of letting a thread vote decide unless the thread gets little activity.

UnknownMercenary fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Jul 25, 2012

# ? Jul 25, 2012 16:49

Garnavis: Aug 25, 2011; Hey, I calls 'em like I sees 'em! I'm a whale biologist.

Let's Play...

Episodes

About the Game
Jedi Power Battles was a tie-in to Star Wars: Episode I. As the name implies, it's all about being a Jedi and beating up robots in sort of an arcade beat-em-up style. While it sounds like a great idea, there were some issues with the execution, particularly when it comes to the controls. You can see in the video, however, that in spite of its glaring issues, it's still kinda not very good. But you get a lightsaber, and they don't fart around with any of that "Jedi are peacekeepers" poo poo.

About the LP
I don't know about you, the viewers, but when Star Wars: Episode I came out, I was exactly in the target age range and I thought it was awesome. At that age, I also had terrible judgment, so when Jedi Power Battles came out, it seemed like the best game ever. So when Donnor suggested that we do a Let's Play of this treasure, I was pretty excited. (note: I'm pretty sure I still have terrible judgment)

Donnor will be our tour guide to the world of ridiculous jumping puzzles and protracted blaster deflection battles. SegFault and I will be alternating in the player 2 slot, mainly serving the purpose of getting lost and confused and generally being a problem for Donnor.

Garnavis fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Jul 25, 2012

# ? Jul 25, 2012 19:47

Cake Attack: Mar 26, 2010

Cake Attack posted:

Evangelion meets Shin Megami Tensei. What could go wrong? Let's Play Devil Survivor 2!

This seems to have gone over fairly well, so unless anyone has anymore suggestions, I'll be making some small fixes and launching the thread later today.

# ? Jul 25, 2012 20:03

Mezurya: Dec 31, 2011; That's how I do!

UnknownMercenary posted:

How's this? I just quickly cropped the website logos so it can probably look better.

I'll look into doing more noise reduction, but I'm already applying it to my recordings through Audacity.

Yeah, I was planning to explain the ranking up and the collectibles etc in the free roam videos, since that's the area of the game it mainly affects. I should also clarify that the game has a very silly karma system (much like many games that have it) where you can do all sorts of nasty things like plant evidence and extort local businesses so long as you take the time to merely shoot suspects in the kneecaps instead of aiming for headshots. The karma rating only appears to change incidental dialogue while you're free-roaming, and we'll be commentating over that. Since the only other thing it affects is the ending, I was thinking of letting a thread vote decide unless the thread gets little activity.

I think it looks great, and I think the thread is good to go once you find a good mic setting

# ? Jul 25, 2012 20:06

Lustful Man Hugs: Jul 18, 2010

Garnavis posted:

Let's Play...

Episodes

About the Game
Jedi Power Battles was a tie-in to Star Wars: Episode I. As the name implies, it's all about being a Jedi and beating up robots in sort of an arcade beat-em-up style. While it sounds like a great idea, there were some issues with the execution, particularly when it comes to the controls. You can see in the video, however, that in spite of its glaring issues, it's still kinda not very good. But you get a lightsaber, and they don't fart around with any of that "Jedi are peacekeepers" poo poo.

About the LP
I don't know about you, the viewers, but when Star Wars: Episode I came out, I was exactly in the target age range and I thought it was awesome. At that age, I also had terrible judgment, so when Jedi Power Battles came out, it seemed like the best game ever. So when Donnor suggested that we do a Let's Play of this treasure, I was pretty excited. (note: I'm pretty sure I still have terrible judgment)

Donnor will be our tour guide to the world of ridiculous jumping puzzles and protracted blaster deflection battles. SegFault and I will be alternating in the player 2 slot, mainly serving the purpose of getting lost and confused and generally being a problem for Donnor.

The commentary starts out a bit stilted, but once everybody starts talking and playing off of each other it improves dramatically.

Other than that, I found no problem with it.

# ? Jul 25, 2012 20:28

Speedball: Apr 15, 2008

Cake Attack posted:

This seems to have gone over fairly well, so unless anyone has anymore suggestions, I'll be making some small fixes and launching the thread later today.

Seems pretty good to me. But.. don't even put Tico up to a vote! Just give us a sample of the horror of Female Tico's dialogue to let everyone know we do not want to have that for the rest of the game!

# ? Jul 25, 2012 20:32

Kaboom Dragoon: May 7, 2010; The greatest of feasts

Speedball posted:

Seems pretty good to me. But.. don't even put Tico up to a vote! Just give us a sample of the horror of Female Tico's dialogue to let everyone know we do not want to have that for the rest of the game!

She looks kinda like a Mothman bunnygirl. Is she a Mothman bunnygirl?

# ? Jul 25, 2012 20:46

McDragon: Sep 11, 2007

Kaboom Dragoon posted:

She looks kinda like a Mothman bunnygirl. Is she a Mothman bunnygirl?

She's a blight on the game. Other Tico's great though.

# ? Jul 25, 2012 21:19

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Speedball posted:

Seems pretty good to me. But.. don't even put Tico up to a vote! Just give us a sample of the horror of Female Tico's dialogue to let everyone know we do not want to have that for the rest of the game!

Of course you mean pick female Tico and never turn back by this, because it's an ATLUS game and if you're not showing off things which are manifestations of their hatred for you the LP is a failure.

Also female Tico is possibly the most accurate rendition of how a real english speaker sounds in text in any video game ever. :colbert:

Also real men do Unkillable on a fresh file. I mean it'll already be easy because you're not doing it blind so you should at least make it a slight challenge.

Feinne fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Jul 25, 2012

# ? Jul 25, 2012 22:55

Cake Attack: Mar 26, 2010

Feinne posted:

Also real men do Unkillable on a fresh file. I mean it'll already be easy because you're not doing it blind so you should at least make it a slight challenge.

I'll consider it, but I'm a wuss and don't want to burn out on the LP because I made things harder on myself then I had too.

# ? Jul 25, 2012 23:28

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Cake Attack posted:

I'll consider it, but I'm a wuss and don't want to burn out on the LP because I made things harder on myself then I had too.

If you don't do it I'll probably go through and explain all the little tricks and strategies for going about it after the harder battles, since there are things that wouldn't be a problem at all if you could just sacrifice someone and then rez them that are real bitches when that's not an option.

# ? Jul 25, 2012 23:32

Cake Attack: Mar 26, 2010

Feinne posted:

If you don't do it I'll probably go through and explain all the little tricks and strategies for going about it after the harder battles, since there are things that wouldn't be a problem at all if you could just sacrifice someone and then rez them that are real bitches when that's not an option.

That'd be pretty great actually. I'll definitely try for it, but like I said, I don't want to burn out, so I'll give up on it if it's a little too much. I'm pretty good at the game, but not perfect :shobon:

# ? Jul 25, 2012 23:37

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Cake Attack posted:

That'd be pretty great actually. I'll definitely try for it, but like I said, I don't want to burn out, so I'll give up on it if it's a little too much. I'm pretty good at the game, but not perfect

Yeah, I found out quite a lot about the game doing Kingmaker Unkillable blind. There are definitely some maps that are extremely unforgiving, and some things that you normally wouldn't have to worry about instead force you to change your entire strategy around.

# ? Jul 25, 2012 23:44

Speedball: Apr 15, 2008

Feinne posted:

Yeah, I found out quite a lot about the game doing Kingmaker Unkillable blind. There are definitely some maps that are extremely unforgiving, and some things that you normally wouldn't have to worry about instead force you to change your entire strategy around.

EDIT: Might be tricky to do all that in one go, even for demonstration purposes. But knock yourself out if you want to do an ironman run!

Speedball fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Jul 26, 2012

# ? Jul 26, 2012 00:22

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Speedball posted:

That a difficulty setting thing or one of the endgame titles? Might be tricky to do all that in one go, even for demonstration purposes.

Kingmaker is the name of the award you get for one of the ending paths, and Unkillable is what you get when you go through an entire run without ever having a party be defeated.

I was just busting his balls that he should do Unkillable on a fresh file, I wouldn't blame him one bit if he didn't want to do it. I'll still explain where difficulties arise and how you can overcome them in the actual thread as the situations come up because damned if someone shouldn't benefit from me being crazy.

Feinne fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Jul 26, 2012

# ? Jul 26, 2012 00:28

Cake Attack: Mar 26, 2010

Thread's up!

Thanks to anyone who gave me advice on how to improve my test post.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 00:35

Lord Gorchnik: Jul 20, 2012

Alright here's the newbie question for the night. As Tax Refund and Mega 64 pointed out. It's great to capture your stills using AvsPmod because you can capture screenshots instantly as so not to miss any specific action. I've been messing around a lot tonight and been trying to figure out what I can do to make my images look just a tad better.

First, here are two screenshots. The 1st is if I just capture a still using my homebrew on the PSP. The 2nd is using the screen capture option from AvsPmod once I've recorded my game play. While differences are slight, it's enough to irk me which means it's probably enough to irk my readers. I could do both and capture video first AND then go back and replay my update and take stills with the homebrew but doing double work for every scene in an 80 hour RPG is a little....hrmm. Unless everyone else DOES do it this way and I am missing something?

I've been reading tutorials and trying different things all night but I just can't quite seem to get out what I want from it. Maybe just a bit more sharpness? Any advice from others who capture with this on the DS and PSPs?

Do note that this is a 2004 game ported onto the PSP which already stretches out and blurs the graphics that look much better on its original PC version. Maybe there just isn't too much more you can do. That's why I wanted to ask though. Cheers!

# ? Jul 26, 2012 02:35

Admiral H. Curtiss: May 11, 2010; I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.

How are you recording the video?

# ? Jul 26, 2012 02:40

Lord Gorchnik: Jul 20, 2012

Admiral H. Curtiss posted:

How are you recording the video?

Through customfirmware with Remotejoylite to get it on my PC. I then use Camtasia to record what Remotejoylite sees.

Lord Gorchnik fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Jul 26, 2012

# ? Jul 26, 2012 03:07

Mico: Jan 29, 2011; A billion dollars.

Lord Gorchnik posted:

Through Customfirmware with Remotejoylite to get it on my PC. I then Camtasia to record what Remotejoylite sees.

Hm, how are you exporting the camtasia file? Does it look any clearer in the preview window vs the recording?

# ? Jul 26, 2012 03:08

Admiral H. Curtiss: May 11, 2010; I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.

Yeah, how does it look in the RJL window before recording? It should look better than that screenshot. Are you recording with a lossy codec, perhaps? You should use a lossless one such as Lagarith.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 03:12

Lord Gorchnik: Jul 20, 2012

Mico posted:

Hm, how are you exporting the camtasia file? Does it look any clearer in the preview window vs the recording?

When I'm done I export both an .avi and .mp4 just so I have two different versions to work with and/or one to fall back on. As far as I can tell when I'm done editing the it definitely looks a little clearer/sharper than the original recording did. Its just once I start taking screenshots with AvsP it gets a bit blurry.

Admiral H. Curtiss posted:

Yeah, how does it look in the RJL window before recording? It should look better than that screenshot. Are you recording with a lossy codec, perhaps? You should use a lossless one such as Lagarith.

Yeah it looks great in Remotejoylite. I then record it, make any changes I need, export it as both an .avi and .mp4 and then load that up into AvsPmod.

Lord Gorchnik fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Jul 26, 2012

# ? Jul 26, 2012 03:15

Admiral H. Curtiss: May 11, 2010; I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.

Well if it still looks great in RJL than something in your Camtasia part of the workflow is the problem, though since I've not used that program I couldn't tell you what.

If you can't get it to work with Camtasia you might want to look for alternatives. (Like Hypercam 2, as silly as that may sound; it's a good program since it went Freeware.)

# ? Jul 26, 2012 03:24

Mico: Jan 29, 2011; A billion dollars.

Could you load up the script in something else like virtualdub, or mpc, and screenshot that for comparision?

Also post the script avspmod generates in case it's doing something funky.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 03:26

UnknownMercenary: Nov 1, 2011; I LIKE IT
WAY WAY TOO LOUD

Mezurya posted:

I think it looks great, and I think the thread is good to go once you find a good mic setting

Thanks. If there are no other objections then I'll put the thread up soon.

e: how's "It ain't your turn to give a gently caress. Watch us play True Crime New York City"?

UnknownMercenary fucked around with this message at 13:04 on Jul 26, 2012

# ? Jul 26, 2012 11:52

Ramos: Jul 3, 2012

Ramos fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Aug 27, 2012

# ? Jul 26, 2012 19:35

Brainamp: Sep 4, 2011; More Zen than Zenyatta

Ramos posted:

Let's Not Play Oblivion's Main Quest

Umm...I'm not sure what the others will say, but I'd give this a big no. Mainly just cause it was boring and I can't really see how this will go anywhere.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 19:42

Mega64: May 23, 2008; I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.

Ramos posted:

Let's Not Play Oblivion's Main Quest

Test Update

I would definitely follow this LP.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 19:46

discworld is all I read: Apr 7, 2009; DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Ramos posted:

Let's Not Play Oblivion's Main Quest

Why are you writing this out like some type of poem? Or were the lines just extremely short and you felt the need to make line break after each line? Also your screenshots could stand to be smaller and the almost fan fiction narrative really wasn't working.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 19:52

Lance Streetman: Feb 20, 2011; A parfait is a dessert, but it is also the French word for perfect.

Ramos posted:

Let's Not Play Oblivion's Main Quest

So I've been hiding under a rock, what is Oblivion?

Oblivion is the fourth official entry in the Elder Scrolls series. The series largely focuses on a western RPG style of gameplay, lots of freedom for the player and little in the way of required stuff to do. It's characterized by how utterly generic it is mixed it with an annoying main quest, a terrible plot main character named Martin, and the ludicrous number of mods for it.

So other people have done Elder Scrolls games, what's your gimmick?

Well, for one, I won't ever touch the main quest of Oblivion unless it's necessary to reach something else in the game that isn't the main quest. Other than that, armed with my atrocious sense of humor, thousands of mods, and several official plugins such as the Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles, we'll just be doing a lot of exploring around the game. I'll mostly be using screenshots for the LP but I may stray into occasional videos.

Oh, oh! Can you use these mods?

Just post them in the topic and I'll look at them. I make no guarantee I'll show off your mod. Mods I do show off I will link to at the end of a post.

Hey, you made this ridiculously obvious mistake.

Yeah, this is my first LP so I'm bound to make a good handful of mistakes. If you have any suggestions or advice, go ahead and mention it in the thread.

So kick back and enjoy the ~~ride~~ burning crash.

Test Update

Make the screenshots smaller and I am all for this.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 19:54

Declan MacManus: Sep 1, 2011; damn i'm really in this bitch

Ramos posted:

Let's Not Play Oblivion's Main Quest

I was already to ask you how you were going to make this interesting, but you definitely covered that :allears:

My next question would be, does this have a definite endpoint or are you just going to dick around in Oblivion until you get bored?

# ? Jul 26, 2012 20:52

Lord Booga: Sep 23, 2007; Huh?; Grimey Drawer

A random-monkey-cheese Oblivion thread? Well, certainly never seen one of THOSE before. Except that one was funny.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 21:00

Ramos: Jul 3, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Why are you writing this out like some type of poem? Or were the lines just extremely short and you felt the need to make line break after each line? Also your screenshots could stand to be smaller and the almost fan fiction narrative really wasn't working.

Did the poem thing mostly because I was in the mood for it. Tone and format may vary ever so slightly between updates to keep things fresh. Generally, just expect experimentation and some stuff to not work.

Declan MacManus posted:

I was already to ask you how you were going to make this interesting, but you definitely covered that

My next question would be, does this have a definite endpoint or are you just going to dick around in Oblivion until you get bored?

I'll try to end it on a high point as opposed to just randomly ending like the Freelance Astronauts' LP, namely on one of the better quest mods.

Lord Booga posted:

A random-monkey-cheese Oblivion thread? Well, certainly never seen one of THOSE before. Except that one was funny.

Yeah, no competition, the Freelance Astronauts are far funnier than me, but they also left a large chunk of Oblivion unseen and even less so of the mods, so I'll be hoping to pick up from there.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 21:37

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

About to record an LP of a GBC game and it wants a four letter name for the save file. I thought I'd let someone in here decide. First response to this post will be the name (Hopefully people will be kind on this front)

# ? Jul 26, 2012 21:47

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

The name of your file will be Blue.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 21:51

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Feinne posted:

The name of your file will be Blue.

And so it shall be.

Noblesse Oblige.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 21:51

discworld is all I read: Apr 7, 2009; DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Ramos posted:

Did the poem thing mostly because I was in the mood for it. Tone and format may vary ever so slightly between updates to keep things fresh. Generally, just expect experimentation and some stuff to not work.

I'll try to end it on a high point as opposed to just randomly ending like the Freelance Astronauts' LP, namely on one of the better quest mods.

Yeah, no competition, the Freelance Astronauts are far funnier than me, but they also left a large chunk of Oblivion unseen and even less so of the mods, so I'll be hoping to pick up from there.

Well there is a very dangerous line to travel in regards to fanfiction to show off mods. Your writing and ideas will pretty much be the support for it to work and I can't really tell if the ending to this was just a punchline or the start of a greater story, and really the poetry wasn't really clicking. Eh, but really like I already said, and Lance Streetman said, people would probably be fine with your making the images a bit smaller.

discworld is all I read fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Jul 26, 2012

# ? Jul 26, 2012 22:06

Mega64: May 23, 2008; I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.

Niggurath posted:

Well there is a very dangerous line to travel in regards to fanfiction to show off mods. Your writing and ideas will pretty much be the support for it to work and I can't really tell if the ending to this was just a punchline or the start of a greater story, and really the poetry wasn't really clicking. Eh, but really like I already said, and Mega said, people would probably be fine with your making the images a bit smaller.

I wasn't a big fan of the poetry at first, but the pictures and the the absurdity of the story enhanced it enough to make it tolerable. Still, I wouldn't recommend making all your updates poetry (but keep doing everything else you're doing).

And I didn't say anything about the screenshots, but it wouldn't hurt to knock them down a bit, as everyone else said. It'd be nice for viewers with lower resolutions, as once you post them on the forums they could start breaking tables.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 22:40

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 11, 2024 21:28

Ramos: Jul 3, 2012

I take it an image of this size would be more acceptable then? Though in that case, I'll definitely need to look into upping the font size. (And yes, custom made races will be yet another thing shown off.)

Thanks for all the input, guys.

# ? Jul 26, 2012 23:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > The Let's Play Sandcastle [Let's Play Discussion / Test Posts. Interest Check = Ban]

«‹›592 »