Dr. Brickroad prescribes video LPs!

I've been playing around with some video Let's Plays recently. They get made a lot quicker than the standard screenshot kind, so I don't want to make a new thread for each one; I'll just stick them all here. You can see all of them (plus some other random stuff) at my Youtube channel.

I've split the long ones into playlists, so just cue up the first video in the playlist and you should be able to watch the entire thing in one sitting.

(I used to maintain a list of my LPs in this post, for some embarrassingly broad definition of "maintain", but I kept forgetting to update it. Instead, visit the playlist page of my YouTube channel.)

I blame eirikr for this madness; his stupid Ring Man challenge is what prompted me to get the recording rig set up, and from there it wasn't a great leap of logic to plug in a microphone.

If you know some cats what might like this stuff, please spread them around! I like comments!

I just watched the Rescue Rangers one, it was terrific!

I really like this format and it's probably something I would do if my own computer wasn't so shitty. Metroid seems like it would be a good choice...

Though, you should put your money where your mouth is and do Super Metroid at some point. You could probably easily do a 1:30 run, leaving some room for error because of the speed.

If I were to do a Let's Play, it would be in this format.

I'm actually on the list for Half-Life. I should do one where I see how far I can get in the game without dying.

It will be entertaining because I will scream like a girl every time I see anything remotely hostile.

We're Doctor Brickroad's Lonely Hearts Club Band, we hope you will enjoy the show. Doctor Brickroad's Lonely Hearts Club Band, sit back and let the evening go.

Sorry, I didn't have anything to actually say. Just felt like posting and that's what came to mind, glad to see more VLPs though.

I liked watching the Mega Man ones even if they only show me how terrible I am at that game. Good job on these and I hope you plan on doing more of them again.

I really liked the Mega Man 3 and the Chip and Dales ones, I haven't gotten around to watching the Crystalis one. May I suggest Ducktales or Little Nemo for the next one?

Brick, these are amazing.

I typed this post at 150% speed in your honor.

I dig. But I miss the interactive nature of let's play ... Perhaps a method where you have the normal thread, but your posts are just the youtube links, but we can still chatter between updates and give you advice/orders .

Still, very well done.

Nice work on Rescue Rangers. Video seems to work better for action games and platformers, can't really imagine a screenshot LP for those.

Also, I love Crystalis. I've never beaten it because I always ended up overwriting my save somewhere near the end. So I guess I finally get to see the last segments. Thanks, haha.

I'm glad you guys are digging on these. I'll field some questions now...

Brother I could do a 1:30 Super Metroid run standing on my head in a pool of Jell-O. Might be tricky at super-speed, though... zSNES doesn't let you set the speed by percentage, only by dicking with the frameskip option, and my tests with ActRaiser ended pretty pathetically.

It's not like the internet needs another Super Metroid video, but yeah, I guess I have talked myself up on that particular game.

You may indeed, I'm always open to suggestions, but keep in mind these super-speed videos are for games I've been demolishing since childhood. I've played Rescue Rangers probably 500 times, and Duck Tales maybe three or four times.

To put things into perspective, I totally tore up MM3 but when I tried MM4 I simply could not pull it out. The mad skills have a limit. =(

Hmm... nature of the beast I'm afraid. I'll see if I can think of something that would work along these lines. The thing is the videos have to be recorded in ten minute blocks, and obviously I play for longer than ten minutes at a time. So one play session is usually good for four or five updates. Got anything in mind that might lend itself well to viewer participation? Anything interactive would have to be done through Youtube comments; I'm a little skittish about ever linking back to Talking Time from Youtube, as you all probably understand. =)

Those were freaking awesome.

Could you go back and do the Rescue Rangers levels you skipped in a Rescue Rangers 150% Gaiden or something?

My completionist impulses want to see those stages.

From Crystalis part three:

Oh, it is.

I watched the first hour of the Crystalis ones. I honestly have no idea how you were able to keep it interesting even while doing nothing.

That's what I mean, twice speed. I was once able to do a 1:15 game, and those particular runs are a dime a dozen online. But, if it's not technically feasible, the internet will just have to cry and man up.

I'd watch a Super Metroid run just for the commentary. How does Brick feel about that quivering mound of fish eggs before the Plasma Beam room? Does he take kindly to Etecoons? These are the questions I want answered.

I feel like the Sonic 2006 LP was this close to coming to tears. That's sort of what happens when you get a bunch of guys together, determined to finish an awful game in one sitting. It was the 20-hour trainwreck that kept on giving.

I'm a little over half-way through the Mega Man series, and I'm freaking loving it. Good work.

I guess if it's more of a "master class" kind of thing, this is a good way to do it. Really works well for action games like this, where there aren't a lot of options anyhow. Anything we could help guide is probably slow paced enough to do a normal LP. Just let us know when you start another series so we can follow it from the start!

That poor bastard.

Fantastic.

What encoding program/codecs have you been using?
Really, there's only so much you can do as long as you're using Youtube. You could always try other fine video hosts. Like Viddler!
Also: Viddler doesn't limit videos to 10 minutes. I'm not sure what the limit is, but I'm pretty sure I've seen at least 30-40 minute videos before.

One question: do you want me to link to them in the archive with the others, or keep them in a separate list/thread (maybe here?)? Great work, by the way.

Though I know absolutely nothing else about it, Daily Motion appears to have more suitable video quality. Home of the video segments of one of my favorite LPs, La Pucelle: Tactics.

Hey Brick, awesome let's play.

One tip, though, in Crystalis you don't need to charge Crystalis or use the warrior ring, once you're in the final boss room every swing throws out that big energy blast.

See also: La-Mulana Hell Temple.

The whole thing is fun to watch, but Deceased Crab descends into madness in Hell Temple. If one were to stare into Cthulhu's face without some sort of dimensional barrier, I imagine that's the sort of madness they'd face.

The video quality is just fine as long as you click "Watch in high quality."

Maybe just a link to this topic that says "Brickroad's ridiculous video stuff"? If other people start making VLPs you could just add a section for them or... I dunno. Follow your heart.

I settled on ffdshow for video and MP3 for audio, which makes for nice compact .avi files for my personal archives.

I kind of like having them all in one place and, honestly, the ten-minute chunks are fine. Personally, sitting down to watch a 30-40 minute video is a daunting commitment, but if it's several ten minute videos I know I can walk away at any time and find my place later.

I've watched that! All 80-some videos of it! Then the crazy bastard went and played it AGAIN like a year later for some god forsaken reason. La Mulana looks like a cool game, but boy howdy I'm glad I never have to play it.

Hey Brick! The boyfriend and I wanted to say your videos are awesome! We also decided that though we enjoyed your most recent Crystalis series muchly, we considered the more scripted humor of the Mega Man 3 Let's Play to be an overall stronger entertainment experience. Just in case you wanted that kind of input. We'll keep watching whatever you do next however you do it, I'm sure. Keep being awesome, dammit!

Thanks for the input, I'll definitely keep it in mind.

I think both have their strengths and I'm learning what they are; scripted narration is better for games I know inside and out (so I can really point out everything cool in the game), but live narration is better for games I'm playing for the first time or the first time in years so we get all that "crap I'm lost" "how do I beat this fucker" "AARGH THIS GAME MAKES ME WANT TO DIE" flavor.

I'm tempted to try something like this for Rondo of Blood sometime.

I've been thinking of trying it with Shoot the Bullet. The video would be called "Let's Fail: Mr. Bungle Bungles Up Shoot the Bullet." The whole thing would be me yelling various permutations of "F**k!" every five seconds.