/vr/ - Retro Games

They're dead, nobody does them anymore, few watch them all the way to the end, algorithm outright punishes them, most games are too long to be played to completion.

>>6052332
Most speedrunners are autists who turn into tranny autists or furry autists, so no, that made me stay far away from the speedrunning "community".

>>6052332
I despise commentated playthroughs. "Let's Plays" tend to be those and are usually narrated by airheaded normalfaggots on top of that, saying nothing of note or worth, so I skip those anytime I have the option for the *real* playthrough videos which (for whatever reason) are generally entitled "Walkthroughs" (despite text walkthroughs' main purpose being to educate, while video walkthroughs don't even have subtitles explaining what's going on).

In short, I hate Let's Plays but Walkthroughs are based. They are a godsend in this age of so many retarded no-taste nostalgiafaggots shilling their ancient garbage nobody played; it prevents all of us from wasting our time playing them when it becomes immediately obvious within the span of minutes here and there in a walkthrough that the game is worthless and forgotten for a reason---you can even skip through the video and locate specific criticisms to confront the nostalgiatard with when they get uppity and try to call you a pleb after you tell them to shut the fuck up.

Dog bless playthrough uploaders who keep their mouths closed.

>>6052360

>>6052332
I like them. They usually get me interested in playing the game.

>>6052332
Why would Virtual Reality have an opinion?

>>6052332
Sometimes I click through one if I'm in the mood to play a part of a game but it would be difficult to do so. If the video has commentary I immediately switch to another one.

>>6052332
>stop people from playing a game they otherwise might have

Why would they do that? LPs introduced me to Doom source ports and user levels back in 2007. ROM hacks too.

>>6052332
I could see watching an LP with no commentary for something like a walking simulator so you wouldn't have to "play" it yourself, but could still enjoy the story.

For commentary, I enjoy educational, well-narrated speedruns which go into depth on neat gameplay mechanics and quirks.

I like them for my own use because I can just open one and click around within it for glimpses of random game play and a sense of pace

People who watch LPs from beginning to end are... I don't even know. I realize now that these people exist but I can't imagine what such a person is like - although I do sometimes turn on playthroughs of multimedia adventure games just for the atmosphere

>>6053181
Faggot.

When I was younger I used to watch the fuck out of Tech TV. Was totally enamoured by it. If there had been a 'let's play' show on Tech TV or even G4 I would have been totally into it

I know a lot of people seem to hate this sort of thing now that youtube is infested with them and streaming is so prevalent, hut my 12 year old self would have loved them at the time

>>6052332
I don't think there's much value in the popular ones where some obnoxious dude is talking about his life and the game isn't the main focus. I dislike the people who worship e-celebs and I think these videos of some guy credit-feeding are a disservice to the game.

On the other hand I think it's great that there are some people who have mastered some video game and record a playthrough showcasing the strategies and tricks. I don't watch them unless I happen to be looking for information on a specific game, and I certainly don't follow the channel of whoever made the video, but it's nice to have a record of the way the game is meant to be played.

LPs by people who understand the game well can be nice, although those are pretty rare. Occasionally I don't care enough about a game to play it myself, but watching a longplay or LP can get me interested in it. I still vastly prefer trying out a game myself for the first impression. Also something like controls either can't be communicated well or are too much a matter of taste.

I take massive shits. Don't act like you know.

Let's Plays are shit and no one watches them anymore. Longplays however, are great and are best watched with no commentary. Shout out to World of Longplays on YouTube, smash that like button.

>>6053431
So you're saying you're someone who would actually watch someone else play all the way through games like Super Metroid rather than do it yourself and you're calling me a faggot.

>>6053680
I never said I would watch someone else play instead of playing myself. I can watch someone play an entire game and still play it myself.

>>6052332
I don't like Let's Plays beyond short, usually uncommented gameplay clips. There's too much "lag time" where the player is trying to figure out what to do or playing things safe or exploring a dead end he doesn't know is a dead end, and usually the commentary isn't interesting.

I enjoy uncommented speed runs from a technical perspective but usually don't watch them for entertainment, rather it's simply something like listening to a technically impressive performance in music -- you appreciate it for its technique and skill but it's not something you'd listen to for enjoyment.

I do watch RTS match replays with comments though just because I find the direct competition to be interesting enough for entertainment so long as the caster is good. Starcraft, Age of Empires, Company of Heroes, any of them are fine in my book. I also watch speedrun races on randomized retro games like Zelda 1/3, Metroid, Final Fantasy, anything I enjoy playing because it's interesting to watch as skilled players suss out their routes and push themselves to the limit to shave off more time than the other player. Some take too big of gambles and crash and burn, some pace themselves too slowly and get overtaken, and all the while there's an element of planning involved as your routes get recalculated on the fly based on how progression is unlocked. Information and planning becomes just as valuable as execution. Terrible commentary can ruin these races though, I hate nothing more than someone with a teenage male sounding voice telling people to call them female and attempting to act "girlish" on their microphone. Unfortunately, the channels I watch don't have dedicated casters so it's random who will be casting and who will be playing each day.

>>6052332
I think they're insanely useful if you need a clip from a video game for whatever reason, so I'm very thankful for the people who make them.

>>6053664
Just mute the sound, nigger-

>>6052332
They can be ok. Often I'll see one of a game I know and have played, and sometimes it can encourage kids to play an old game.
Once or twice it's gotten me to play a new game.

>>6052341
Did you post in the wrong thread?

>>6052961
Thank you.

>>6053680
I've played Super Metroid several dozen times, sometimes it's interesting to see someone else do it. It's not like I'm going to be playing it while I'm cooking dinner, my hands will be busy chopping and stirring. Hell, sometimes a guy can show me something I didn't know about a game.

Weren't you actually banned for being a faggot? Is that why you change up your namefagging?

>>6052332
If i have to choose to watch someone play, id rather watch someone whos good at it, than someone whos playing a game for the first time and will take 20hs to finish a 3h game.

>>6052332
LPers who go "doop de doop I don't really understand the game mechanics or puzzles guess how far ahead you'll have to skip to get to some progress" are garbage. LPers who plan optimal routes ahead of time and have a deep understanding of the game, and then explain these things to the viewer actually elevate the game.

Back in my day people actually PLAYED games, going to a friend's house to watch him slog through single player, spectating in arena fps matches or watching over the shoulders of someone playing a fighter at arcades to pick up on move inputs was something NOBODY EVER DID.

>>6052332
Two reasons I watch them:
1. The player is skilled and knows lots of tricks I can replicate.
2. The player is genuinely funny and also loves the game he's playing.
Anything else I find incredibly boring.

>>6052983
I don't get that mentality either.
Also sometimes I want to watch a pro playing something particularly challenging, I'm still playing Doom regularly in spite of watching someone plowing through Plutonia on Nightmare! difficulty, if anything I aspire to become better after seeing some serious pro plays.

>>6054848
>Playing through the same game dozens of times
>Then watching videos of other people playing the same game
How unsurprising that you're a frustrated and angry person

Is op talking about Long Plays or Let's Plays. If Let's Plays, then I wish this >>6052340.

But that shit hasn't really died, it's just been replaced by something even more annoying. What I find really annoying is when I'm looking for a video of a specific game, and it's nothing but let's plays or face cam commentaries...

>>6052332
I remember back before "Let's Plays" were a thing, I never really had an issue watching my friends play video games. Sadly, the internet LP community is mostly:
>"HEY YOUTUBE, WHAT'S UP? DIDDYMARTH89 HERE AND WE'RE BACK PLAYING MORE SUPER MARIO RPG, MAN I WONDER IF MARIO GETS HIGH EVERY TIME HE EATS A MUSHROOM, OH MAN HE MUST BE TRIPPIN' HAHAHAHAHHAHA!"
So yeah, fuck that. If I'm browsing the internet or working on something, I will usually throw up a longplay or speedrun without commentary to toss up on my second monitor.

The ONLY exception to this rule and the only "Let's Player" I follow on YouTube is HCBailly. This guy rules. He only really runs JRPGs, but he fucking does a great job of it. He hyper-analyzes every game, 100%, as if he were basically making his own player's guide. He shows off every aspect of every game, and even covers differences between different console versions or releases. He test runs every game at least a couple of times before recording so that he's not bungling around like an idiot, and he usually has two games updating on a daily basis, which really must be a lot of work. Dude has to just be playing games non-stop every day, and he genuinely loves it. Whenever I watch his videos, I always learn something new about games I have been playing for years, like how your jump damage levels up the more you use it in Mario RPG.

Part of why I love him so much, though, is that his personality and commentary are just genuinely nerdy. He's like an amalgamation of every fat autismo in D&D club that I ever knew. He's the kind of guy who would have had a sketchbook of original Final Fantasy bosses he came up with, complete with stats and spell lists. He's not making these videos to be popular; he's making them because he fucking loves the games, and even though he's not the best or most interesting commentator, I just appreciate his authenticity.

>>6053001
>For commentary, I enjoy educational, well-narrated speedruns which go into depth on neat gameplay mechanics and quirks.
Usually after I finish playing a game for the first time, I'll be interested in a speedrun to see how pros will break the game. I recently played Wild Arms and found only one decent speedrun from a guy named ChaosChannel or something, I think. I usually don't tolerate commentaries on games, but the dude was soft-spoken and easy to listen to, and he actually was constantly explaining what he was doing and talking about game mechanics instead of being an obnoxious cunt trying to make jokes or tell stories. I ended up watching the whole 10-hour run and it was pretty comfy.

>>6055101
>playing games

If you’re on the fence about whether the gameplay is appealing and you want to see it in action, then I’ll load up a Let’s Play for like 5 minutes to see how it really plays. I don’t know why someone would watch an entire Let’s Play from start to finish instead of just playing the game.

>>6055268
>I don’t know why someone would watch an entire Let’s Play from start to finish instead of just playing the game.

Once again, there is an option to watch an entire LP and still play the game. I agree though. If there is anyone who watches LPs instead of playing the game, they're weird.

>>6055268
If I'm browsing the internet or doing some kind of project at my computer desk, I'll put one up on my second monitor. Sometimes I'll watch one while I'm on the treadmill. Certain LP's or speedruns can actually be entertaining or educational, but ones without commentaries are best. Sometimes, there's just a game that I'd like to see that I have no interest in playing for myself, or maybe it's a game that I've already played and like enough that I'd just like to watch it again as background noise while I do something else. Or maybe I'll put up a remake or a different version of a game I've already played just to see the differences. There are lots of reasons to watch LPs or walkthroughs if you legitimately enjoy video games.

Of course, none of this changes the fact that I still regularly play video games myself. I'm not sure why you think watching LPs precludes that possibility.

>>6055274
>If there is anyone who watches LPs instead of playing the game, they're weird.
Maybe they just don't like playing games, but enjoy watching them, which, I admit would be weird, but I wouldn't defy them their right to be entertained. Or maybe they used to like playing games but developed cerebral palsy or some shit.

>>6055245
I had Wild Arms 2 as a kid, but never played the first. Would you recommend it?

>>6055296
It's a pretty bog-standard RPG, and it honestly feels a bit outdated to say it came out in 1997. It's not hard to see why FFVII totally eclipsed it. The graphics are very generic, as is the plot, and you only ever have the same 3 characters in your party for the entire duration of the game, so it gets a bit dry. That said, the game is pretty charming, and the music is decent with a few exceptionally great tracks. The real appeal is the whole wild west theme and general atmosphere, in my opinion. The overworld puzzle/tool gimmick is a bit Zelda-esque and keeps things interesting, although a lot of them are underutilized. Even though there are only three characters, and one of them is a mute, they're pretty charming in a cheesy '90s anime/RPG kind of way. My favorite thing was how it let you rename the spells to your liking, which gets pretty amusing.

I'm not sure I'd recommend it, unsolicited, but I've heard people say it's way better than the second one was, so if you want to play another steampunk/fantasy/sci-fi/western RPG, it's really one of your only options. There was a remake on the PS2 that made a bunch of the secondary characters into actual party members and seemed to deepen the gameplay, but I've not played it so I can't comment on it. Might be worth a look, though.

>>6055330
Much appreciated, and that's a very nice CRT.

>>6055354
No problemo, anon. And thanks!

>>6055101
Yes, obviously a fuckwit like you would take that away from my post, that is the entire gist of my statement.

>>6055282
>Maybe they just don't like playing games, but enjoy watching them
Depends on the game, depends on the situation, for example if I'm cooking I might put on that Twitch stream which plays old Doom .demo recordings, speedruns and regular runs going all the way back to 1993.
Sometimes it's a pro putting on an impressive display, sometimes it's someone doing a funny exploit, sometimes there's a .demo showing a map I haven't played before, and I'll note down the .wad name so I can go look it up later, because maybe it looked really good and I want to play it in its entirety for myself.
Maybe I'm in the middle making my own Doom content, and feel like putting on something appropriate in the background while I work on it.

I misread that replychain, ignore the second part.

>>6054864
>playing games
>with friends
>offline
ok boomer

>>6055434
Regardless, you're not wrong. There's a lot of joy and entertainment to be had in watching footage of video games online if you really like many different aspects of video games. Like you said, watching extremely skilled players, watching mods, exploits, or just for background noise while you do something else. None of this means that you don't still play video games for yourself on a regular basis.

In fact, I'm almost tempted to believe that the people who angrily shitpost over the concept of watching a video game stream or recording are just LARPing collectors and are desperately trying to cover up the fact that they don't actually play anything themselves.

>>6052332
>watching plebeian video LPs with yelling autists
>instead of savoring patrician screenshot LPs with high-brow commentary

>>6055496
>screenshot LPs with high-brow commentary
I stumbled across one of these last year and had no idea these were even a thing, and I was fairly amused at the concept. I had taken an extended break from playing Chrono Cross and couldn't remember where I was in the story, so I used one to scroll through to both find where I was and refresh my memory of the story without having to shuttle through a video. It was pretty convenient.

But I have to say, the commentary on literally all of these that I've seen was just as bad or worse than most video LPs. Autists are annoying when you ask them to do commentary on the fly, but they're literally a thousand times moreso when you give them time to write it down.

If i want to see a game on youtube...i dont want someone talk while doing so or fail at it.
Whoever watch lets plays is a cunt.

>>6054864
>going to a friend's house to watch him slog through single player ... was something NOBODY EVER DID.

My friends and I played single player games together all the time.

>>6055236
This. HCBailly is pretty based. I remember being surprised over learning that Mario RPG jump growth thing as well. He's such an obnoxious nerd, but like, he's the kind of guy I used to talk to about these games at my lunch table in middle school, so it doesn't bother me nearly as much as all the faggots who wanna be the next PewDiePie or whatever.

Longplays are the only acceptable form of video game video. STFU I came to look and listen to the game, not your obnoxious blathering.

>>6052332
>Isvaffel

Reason enough to let the whole country get raped by immigrants.

>>6055236
>HCBailly

Annoying obnoxious cunt.

>>6055419
Actually what I'm doing is just dismissing your opinion entirely as I have nothing in common with you, I haven't played through a single video game more than a dozen times since the 80s. Also, you're no kind of example for others of a healthy type of gamer.

>>6055716
This, followed up by an all night D&D session once enough people congregated. Golden memories. I actually think that attempts at replicating this experience is what caused the rise of Let's Plays and then their downfall happened when streaming platforms like Twitch did a better job of it.

>>6057506
Hi friend. You are a pathetic piece of shit and twitch is the fucking scum of the internet.

>>6057512
As I said I've never watched Let's Plays and I've also never watched Twitch. I would rather watch my sons play games and play for them but I can see where people looking for a similar experience to the ones I had in the 90s would be drawn to a platform like that.

>>6057519
I'm gonna take a huge shit right up your ass.

>>6057523
I really don't see how "space docking" as I was first told it was called is even logistically possible. We ruminated that perhaps if you froze the turds first but then later I convinced this girl who was having trouble using bananas to masturbate with that she should freeze them and she almost went into hypothermic shock. So it's probably similarly infeasible. Good times.

>>6057506
Thanks, go fuck yourself too you cantankerous and autistic attentionwhore.

>>6055459
>In fact, I'm almost tempted to believe that the people who angrily shitpost over the concept of watching a video game stream or recording are just LARPing collectors and are desperately trying to cover up the fact that they don't actually play anything themselves.
Plausible. Their reactions suggest a rather narrow (though not 100% unfounded) perspective.

>>6057519
Twitch is a dumpsterfire, and YouTube is its own garbage barge inferno, but that's kinda how it goes, broadcast television has many parallels, only I can adblock and not adhere to any broadcasting schedules.
Maybe one day there'll be better alternatives, because accessible internet, affordable cameras, and crowdfunding already allows small niche channels and content creators to sustain themselves without needing corporate sponsorship or state funding, and they can even grow.
Growing issues now is politically motivated censorship, and sheer ineptitude on Google's and Twitch's part, but maybe better ways can come in the future, if you fuck up long enough you're eventually going to get competition.

>>6057607
There's already tons of competition to YouTube and Twitch. It's just a matter of where the "sweet spot" of success is.

>>6057698
Issue is that they lack the sheer infrastructure of Google, in regards to video streaming, and none of them are really picking up enough steam.
You also have the issue of censorship used to restrict people for political reasons, which can go beyond just content hosts, and involve payment processors and even banks.

I haven't really checked out a lot of competitors to Twitch, because the content and people I'm looking for are seldom there (which is an issue with video hosting too).

>>6052332
The only good Let's plays are the old ones that are just subtitles, or do some sort of machinima, like one SMW one I remember having an annotation reading something like:
>Koopa: Take that Mario, you will never get to your waffles
>Mario: NOOO0O! NOTHING WILL STAND BEFORE ME AND MY WAFFLES
or some shit like that.

LPs are less of a threat to most /vr/ games. Generally they're only going to harm sales of games that are primarily driven by story/cutscenes, so only JRPGs are significantly harmed. Watching a 1CC of an arcade game is absolutely nothing like doing it yourself, and is more useful as a technique showcase for people who already own the game they're watching. Modern games suffer way more IMO.

>>6052332
>What's VR's opinion on LPs?
I used to hate them until I gave it a bit more thought. Now I still hate them but for completely different reasons.

When we were kids we'd ALWAYS all sit and watch someone else play. Hell even up through college, I remember the day Metal Gear Solid dropped. Our roommate bought it, and three of us skipped class just to sit there on the couch in awe while he played it, straight through.

My sister used to sit and watch me play Super Mario Bros. She never played them. (Except for 3, because I used to hand the controller off to her for the slot machine part. I could never get the timing right but she'd get 3 stars every time.)

Watching people play games isn't even unusual. We've been doing it for as long as there have been games. We've sat together and watch and talked and socialized over vidya.

... the hate comes from the fact that there is no socialization any more. Fake friends. People you'll never meet thousands of miles away are now your "friends." Your "friends" on Twitter and Faceberg. I see robots talking about e-dating like it's actually a thing. (No, that isn't your girlfriend, it's a fucking penpal.)

The whole world is available on voice chat in an instant, but everyone is a complete stranger.

>>6052332
I sometimes find them useful when I want to screenshot something from a game for discussion, without having to play the game to that point

all LPs with voiced commentary are cancer tho
and LPs with a video corner of the player are AIDS

>>6052332
Open door

>>6060610
This. No commentary 1CCs with in depth text descriptions are top tier.

>>6052332
LPs as in Lets Plays are bad, Longplays are kinda good because they don't have comments