HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
Holy shit I updated the thread! Here's the breakdown. First, I added Blain's, Pata's, and Xtarath's updates as requested. Second, the Making section has been hidden into a spoiler tag because not everyone needs to see it right away. Third, I rewrote the introduction of the thread. To save you guys the trouble of clicking to check it out, here it be:
Welcome to the PA Forum Lets Play index! To cut down on chatter, here is what this thread is for:
Getting forumer LP's added to the list, old or new, and updating as needed
To make my life easier, provide me the full game name, URL, format, status, and forum author
Discussing LPs from other sources on the web
Asking for technical help or feedback on test videos / post formats (for screenshot LPs)
Providing feedback and information about resources for making an LP
Declaring yourself available for co-commentary availability
And here is what this thread is NOT for:
Discussing any of the LPs in our list; they have their own threads for a reason
Side-stepping talking shit about a forumer's LP or a forumer outside their thread
Asking what LP you should do next
Recruiting help for your LP (at that point, you should just make your thread anyhow)
**I will also remind people to keep in mind the rules of our forum.**
The last thing I did was officially note that 3 months after launch is the soonest anyone should do an LP of a game (it used to say 3 to 6 months).
Edit - I didn't add any of the talking programs people discussed, to my failing. I'll catch that in a future update.
Edit Edit - I forgot to compile the list of people who want to make themselves available for commentary. I'll also do that in a future update. Don't let the list limit you though, people on this forum know other people on the forum that probably wouldn't volunteer for everyone (as in, ask your friends). Also, I'll only add people who ask to be added; if someone is pulled into commentating on a video, I'm not adding them just because they did it.
Henroid on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
Tiny bit of updating; I spaced out the list so that there's a break every 5 entries, and it makes it more readable (in my opinion). Also, I quickly whipped this up at the top.
The last thing I did was officially note that 3 months after launch is the soonest anyone should do an LP of a game (it used to say 3 to 6 months).
I am now tempted to do a Katamari Forever LP, since I just got 100% complete on it and need an excuse to keep playing it. Which would mean doing the Cowbear stage again. And that stupid 10,000°C one done entirely in sepia until you collect stuff, failing you instantly the second you drop to 0°C because a pizza delivery guy punted you into a river with his moped.
...I shall have to give this some thought.
BlitzAce1981 on
PSN ID - BlitzAce1981 FFXIV - Raiden Solitaire (Sargatanas)
Since I've nearly finished Chain of Memories (I estimate that it'll only take me 5 updates to get through the rest of the game, and that includes the post game content), I decided to write up two mock updates (and an OP) for the next (SS)LP I intend to do. Just tell me what ya think of 'em, what you'd say needs changing etc.
Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997 for the Sony Playstation and is a cult hit to some, and a godawful piece of shit that shouldn't be made to others (it really seperated the fans of the series because of this). I, however, fall in neither camp; I find it a genuinely fun game to play, and find the OST to be highly enjoyable, but I prefer many other games in the main series over it.
Regardless, I'm sure we all know something about the game - even if it is that, yes, Aeris dies - so I won't spend too long going on about it. Instead, I'll tell you just how I intend to set this apart from the other LPs out there. First and foremost, I will warn you now that !!!there will be spoilers for Crisis Core!!!, from the very next paragraph (however, that spoiler is something that's like the "Aeris dies" situation; you should already know it). This is unavoidable, as I'm using that game as the basis for which this is done. Now, I'm not expecting you to have beaten Crisis Core to understand my LP, as I'll merely be making passing remarks to it, and I'll actually be retconning some parts - again, this is unavoidable due to the way I'm doing this. I'll be taking a few liberties with the game script, in a sense, however I won't be completely forsaking it to write my own dialogue (all the time). I'll rewrite some things to make more sense, and I'll certainly hang a lampshade on the more rampant translation errors - but I won't point out the more famous ones - but beyond that, don't expect me to constantly lampoon the game as I won't be able to keep it up for the 2 discs (technically 3, but disc 3 is nothing more than side quests and the final dungeon which is very light on plot other than the ending).
You could call this a rewrite of sorts. By nature, this will be treading dreadfully close to being fanfiction, if not outright being a fixfic of sorts, however I'm not truly changing anything dramatic. Instead, I'm giving you a deeper insight into the mind of the hero of the game that started Square's first ever major cash-cow mini-series. Together, let's dive into the mind of he whom led the tale that caused retcons within retcons. Let's understand what truly made him tick, as we voyage into the beginning of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation. Let's Play: Final Fantasy VII.
~~
The Characters
Cloud Strife
Cloud Strife, is an ex-SOLDIER which means he was working for the tyrannical company/government ShinRa at one point, and he weilds the custom-made zweihander, Buster Sword, which used to belong to a great SOLDIER First Class. Despite the fact that the sword is taller than him, he is able to weild it with ease due to his mako infusion... even to the point of being able to lift it above his head with one hand.
Despite working for ShinRa in the past, he has grown to hate them due to army killing his best friend in cold blood. He has since joined the group AVALANCHE and was their best fighter from the beginning.
Barret Wallace
Barret Wallace is the current leader of AVALANCHE and appears to be a drunken bastard. Being the first character to throw swears out like they're nothing, he appears to have an attitude problem. He is also adept at the use of firearms and so should be accustomed to providing cover for others.
At first glance, he appears to be a common ecoterrorist as he seems to merely hate ShinRa for slowly killing the planet, but his hatred runs far deeper than it first appears...
~~
Day 2, Entry 1, SOLDIER: Cloud
My First Mission
My name is Cloud Strife and I'm a SOLDIER first class. Or at least I used to be. I wasn't fired, and I didn't quit but during one of my earliest missions something went wrong and I was reported as having died in action. Once ShinRa, the company which I worked for, found out I was still alive they sent the army after me since I was considered a threat. They never managed to take me out, but I did lose a friend to them... but he was unable to help himself as something happened to him which stopped him from being able to fight back. Before they got to him though, I was able to stop the madman named Genesis who was something of a legendary SOLDIER member until he went AWOL.
Before long, I found an old friend in Sector 7 and she introduced me to this group called AVALANCHE. Nice group, but something doesn't seem right to me. Regardless, today was my first mission with them so I tried to put on a good show. As I used to be in SOLDIER, I was told to handle all the combat aspects whilst someone called Jesse handled the intel.
We arrived at the Sector 8 Mako Reactor before long, and we dove straight in. Biggs and Wedge, the others who came with me, Jesse and AVALANCHE's leader, took out the local guards who happened to have 2 Potions on them, which is a decent alcoholic beverage that causes a minor increase in activity due to having some unusual ingredients. Not many people know what goes in these things, and there's a good reason for that. It's all to do with profits for ShinRa. It always is.
As my luck would have it, before I could enter two more guards tried to jump me. I promptly took them out with my trusty Zweihander - the Buster Sword - which was given to me a while ago by my good friend, and mentor, Angeal.
Just by the entrance, Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse were waiting for me and the leader.
...Cloud. My name is Cloud. I told you that when I first joined. Remember, Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse?
I'd like to say something inferring that these three are all incompetent at their jobs as I had only joined yesterday, but they do technically outrank me and it would be problematic if they saw this journal. I do need this job, as much as it pains me to admit it.
Straight after I gave them my name, he turned up, and the other three ran on ahead.
Ex-SOLDIER, huh? Don't trust ya! I'm Barret. Barret Wallace. You don't trust me, but you'll give me your name anyway... sir?
As much as it pained me to say it, and I could cut him in two with ease, he was my superior and so procedure must still be followed.
Have you been drinking this morning? And that didn't answer the question. Jes shut up and get to work.
The Mako Reactor. It'd been a while since I've been in one; I hoped they'd all look the same. I found that to be a problem during my time in SOLDIER but now I realise how beneficial it was. I spent far too much time doing menial jobs in caves that all looked identical.,,
Straight away, I found myself in a dilemma of sorts. On my way here, I got ambushed by a guard hound and took it out in one. During that short time, I found myself seperated from Barret and the other three. I had to blindly guess which way was the right way, but I managed to catch up swiftly anyway.
Unfortunately, I ran into Barret almost immediately.
Yo! Y'ever been in a mako reactor before. Once. I don't wish to talk about it though. The planet is full of mako; people use it everyday in Midgar. It's the life blood of the planet, but those goddamn leeches at ShinRa keep draining it with these fucking weird machines. "These fucking weird machines" are what keep this city powered. Without them, people wouldn't be able to live here. That's it! From now on, you're with me.
I reluctantly let him team up with me for the remainder of the mission, as the decision was his to make, but since I've had advanced combat training, due to my time as a SOLDIER, and he was proficient with the use of firearms (since his right hand is an actual gun itself) I requested he used that which he was more suited to do and lay down cover fire from the back.
Not far from where we started though, I found a Phoenix Down. These things are far too easy to get a hold of lately, which doesn't seem right since they're supposed to be made from the feathers of an actual Phoenix, and there's barely any of those left alive. I can't help but feel that most of these are actually fake.
Inside the lift, on its way down, Barret decides to reinforce the impression I'd been getting - that AVALANCHE is a group of mediocre-at-best eco-terrorists.
Like I care. I just want to get this job over with. ... Frankly, I don't give a shit about your aspirations; I just want to get this over with as quickly as possible to avoid the Roboguards. The Guardian Eyes model will tear you limb from limb in mere seconds. T-the planet's dying, Cloud. *sigh*
Not much else really happened during this portion of the journey. Jesse ran ahead somewhere, and I still don't know what she got up to, but I did find a Potion she went straight past just lying on the floor.
Before the next room, I told Barret it would be best to prepare ourselves for anything that may go wrong. The regular ShinRa grunts may have been nothing, but I expected there to be some form of guardian up ahead...
~~
Day 1, Entry 2, SOLDIER: Cloud
A Remnant of the Weapons Testing
In hindsight, I probably should have healed up before continuing further. I managed to make it with no real problems, but it was still a bit more of a bugger than I'd have liked.
During my last trip to a Mako Reactor, I remember something about a fight and then it's all a blur. I'm sure a friend who was there remembers it better than me, but I don't want to pressure her about it since it probably has bad memories for her.
As standard SOLDIER issue, all recruits are given basic materia for training purposes. This is likely due to the overwhelming fact that without being given the ability to cast spells, a lot of missions would be seemingly impossible. I used to have a lot of overpowered materia but due to lacking enough gil to live alone in Midgar for a short while I ended up selling it all, mostly on the black market. I only ended up keeping two pieces for myself in case of emergencies.
I'm still pretty sure Barret was intoxicated during this mission, but I could be wrong.
Doesn't that s- Jus' set the bomb already. Why don't you do it? Cus I gotta make sure you don't pull nothing. That doesn't explain anything. Are you sure you're not drunk? Plant the fuckin' bomb. ...Fine.
I think Barret may have started messing with my head somehow since my subconcious was trying to tell me something that w- I think I've been hanging around with Barret for a bit too long now.
Anyway, Barret looked at me funny and I was pretty sure he was going to go on a tirade (of sorts) so I planted the bomb and wanted to get out of there quickly.
Ta-da. Now, can we get out of here before anything goes wrong and robosecurity turns up. Somethin's comin' ...Bugger.
Fortunately, the security was a little lax on the reactor for some reason so we only had to take out a Guard Scorpion. Being a robot, it's easy to short circuit the thing with a quick jolt of electricity but there wasn't any easy to access other than through the Bolt materia I had with me.
As it turns out, Barret can fire pure, unleaded shrapnel from his arm whenever he gets his "shit kicked in" for some reason. He calls it his "Big Shot" and whatever it was, it was enough to finish the Guard Scorpion off.
Once we'd beaten it, Barret decided he liked the look of its cannon so he broke it off and considered it part of the spoils of the mission.
Defeating the Robosecurity triggered the bombs detonation sequence, somehow, and we only had 10 minutes to get out before the bomb would explode.
Unfortunately, when Jesse was doing whatever it was she went to do, she caught her leg in the girder. I chivalrously helped her free so she'd live and we got the hell out of dodge soon thereafter.
As Jesse neglected to mention, the bomb also had a proximity mechanism meaning once we got out of the reactor, the thing decided to blow up anyway taking out most, if not all, of the nearby population of the sector with it.
Apparantly, Wedge runs incredibly slow compared to everyone other than Biggs and he got caught by the explosion and was set alight slightly. Biggs was less lucky, as he got caught in the explosion and... yeah.
As if the loss of a comrade wasn't bad enough, I lost my favouritest pub in the whole wide world too. It feels as if today kept getting worse and worse. Although, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining.
I guess my silver lining was in the form of a free potion lying under exposed electric cables and just next to a local drunk. Grabbing it could have had ironically lethal consequences.
My bad day just kept getting worse though, as in the very next street I got ambushed by even more ShinRa grunts who aren't even that challenging at my skill level. Unfortunately, mid-fight I heard what sounded like a train and I made a run for it...
Jumping off a bridge onto a moving train was probably a really dumb idea since I screwed up. Well, I landed on the train but I then hit a low bridge and fell off, and had to walk through an exceptionally long winded tunnel to reach where it was headed. I'm sure on an alternative reality, I'd have made it just fine and I could have made it into the train to get my money. But no such luck and today just keeps getting worse... and it wasn't even over yet...
And maybe I should've checked the list of LPs done here before writing this, as I was unaware that Adus has done this game as well, but what's done is done etc. (and the way I'm doing it is pretty different to the way he did it anyway so it probably doesn't matter).
Dragonatrix on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
Nothing wrong with LP'ing a game someone else here has. It's silly at face value, but if you outdo their efforts, well, what can I say!
Question that I still need answered by you guys - Do you want a list added to the OP for those who want to make themselves available for commentary purposes or no? If such a list is desired, I won't list out our contact info on the various mediums; I'll leave that for everyone else to pass around privately.
Henroid on
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PaperLuigi44My amazement is at maximum capacity.Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
He may already have been mentioned in this thread, but I just started watching Sir Ron Lionheart to see what all the fuss was about.
My thoughts:
THIS IS FANTASTIC!
PaperLuigi44 on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Your style may appease those who may have thought I was too harsh in my version, despite the fact that I do love the game. I just can't really tell if you're trying to be serious or if you're making fun of it. If you're making Cloud savvy enough to where he's aware of everyone's stupidity, then it's going to be hard not making the whole thing a parody, because a lot of stupid things are said and done, and Cloud is no exception.
The integration of Crisis Core elements could interest some, though not me personally. I really dislike everything about the Compilation. Nonetheless, you have my blessing to continue if that helps. I probably would not read it, not out of spite or anything, just since I check my own LP like every month to make sure the shots are still up, I'm sort of tired of looking at FFVII screenshots.
I do have to point out that not checking the list beforehand is kind of silly. I mean, that's one of the reasons it exists.
I do have to point out that not checking the list beforehand is kind of silly. I mean, that's one of the reasons it exists.
I would say that's a fringe benefit of why the list exists; I mostly want to archive what people have done so it isn't lost. It's tempting to start a site to save the actual posts made for each LP but that's something I can't fathom right now given my real life responsibilities / situation.
Also, teensy-little-update to the OP; SirRonLionHeart has a place in our recommended elsewhere list, and I've got a link to Skype's site (not that it's needed I guess since, y'know, Google it!) at the bottom.
Uhhh. Mind adding my own crappy Lets Play, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.
Abandoned at the last level after trying over 12 times to get it recorded, and edited. Always went wrong.
Video
Dead Thread: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?p=8905959
Now that I look back on it, I feel I should finish it. But its too late. :<
It's tempting to start a site to save the actual posts made for each LP but that's something I can't fathom right now given my real life responsibilities / situation.
That would be nice but likely expensive. I'd gladly do it if I had the financial ability... This thread is good enough for now, though.
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
All I'll say for now is I have given considerable thought toward some things as of late, but won't discuss them until I'm actually in a position to act on them. :winky:
It's tempting to start a site to save the actual posts made for each LP but that's something I can't fathom right now given my real life responsibilities / situation.
That would be nice but likely expensive. I'd gladly do it if I had the financial ability... This thread is good enough for now, though.
I have a server but not that much disk. I would store screenshots but videos are probably right out.
I guess the real question is how does the SA archive work? Do they run donations or is it out the goodness of the dude's heart?
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited January 2010
Re: Dragonatrix- personally, I think you might want to consider a game that hasn't been both played and LPed frequently. Make it worth the time and effort, find a gem people don't know about.
Better still if it's something people can contribute to.
cj iwakura on
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PaperLuigi44My amazement is at maximum capacity.Registered Userregular
It's tempting to start a site to save the actual posts made for each LP but that's something I can't fathom right now given my real life responsibilities / situation.
That would be nice but likely expensive. I'd gladly do it if I had the financial ability... This thread is good enough for now, though.
I have a server but not that much disk. I would store screenshots but videos are probably right out.
I guess the real question is how does the SA archive work? Do they run donations or is it out the goodness of the dude's heart?
It's donations, isn't it? I know that running the servers became more expensive for them recently, and they were considering intergrating ads to keep it running, although I don't know what became of that.
PaperLuigi44 on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
Not sure how they run it financially. I think they store images on the site, and videos are simply linked to at their original sources across all sorts of hosts - even Google video.
In all honesty, backing up LP's starts with the people making them. My Diablo and EO LP's are stored on my drive. Aside from the images, I have the posts saved across text documents, BBCode and all. If we lose a thread due to pruning, if there's a strong demand I'm sure the thread could be recreated with copy pasting those saved content posts (though, not posting them all at once).
I'm actually a little wary of the idea of having an off-site archive like SA does it, even though it's highly attractive. I get the impression SA likes for their ideas to be their ideas and I don't want to jump on emulating it.
Let's Play was basically their idea. Hasn't stopped other people from going at it. At worst they'll just say what they always say which is "anything that isn't from SA sucks." People have worked hard on some of these LPs. Archiving things like that is more common sense than copying an idea.
Speaking of copying ideas, reminder to people who voiced interest in doing commentary for GTA4, the goal is this Friday at 5pm est. A little preview!:
Nothing wrong with LP'ing a game someone else here has. It's silly at face value, but if you outdo their efforts, well, what can I say!
Question that I still need answered by you guys - Do you want a list added to the OP for those who want to make themselves available for commentary purposes or no? If such a list is desired, I won't list out our contact info on the various mediums; I'll leave that for everyone else to pass around privately.
I'm happy for anyone to do a Let's Play of Crysis, considering mine didn't get finished and had no commentary so probably wasn't the most interesting to watch..
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
I apologize if people got missed. There ended up being more interest than I expected. No one was left out of the planning on purpose. It was an oversight on my part.
I'm undecided on how I plan to continue though. I'd like to accommodate more people, but at the same time I'll be honest and say I don't want too many at once or to completely change the entire group each session as if I were a viewer, I'd prefer at least some consistency. So I guess what I'm saying is, I hope no one takes it personally if I can't get to them. Though after all, it's also my hope that other people try their hand at group LPs as well, and I doubt this'll be my last. Ideally everyone will get a chance to contribute to something eventually, even if they don't make LPs themselves.
The first video was fairly entertaining to be sure, but it sorta lacked the 'streucture' that makes LPs generally entertaining; that is to say, some type of narrative where the person playing the game (whether they are voice recording at the time or later) talks about what they are doing, what they think of what's happening on the screen, and all that.
Of course, it was the first video so it may just take some time to get a rythm going, especially since the beginning of GTAIV is kinda slow. I'm definitely going to keep watching.
KZX's Dirge of Cerberus LP is finished (and has been for a while). He just hadn't posted the videos here, for whatever reason.
Dragonatrix on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
I'll get around to doing another update to the list soon. My goal is to go through that list someone had saved on a site and add the contents to the list. The other goal is to work on the formatting of the list some more, if possible, to make it easier on myself to manage updates (not necessarily for browsing).
I uploaded a test video of the first part of Batman: Arkham Asylum. I'm working on making the Blip.tv player better looking (and I think I know how) but other than that everything is basically how I want it. Take a look (download the source video off Viddler for the best quality video) and tell me what you think.
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
Eh, I don't mind. though, Trus, are you going to make a thread for it or no? If you're not, I ask that you make a playlist on those sites and link 'em (if possible, if not your LP link will forever be the first video).
Posts
The last thing I did was officially note that 3 months after launch is the soonest anyone should do an LP of a game (it used to say 3 to 6 months).
Edit - I didn't add any of the talking programs people discussed, to my failing. I'll catch that in a future update.
Edit Edit - I forgot to compile the list of people who want to make themselves available for commentary. I'll also do that in a future update. Don't let the list limit you though, people on this forum know other people on the forum that probably wouldn't volunteer for everyone (as in, ask your friends). Also, I'll only add people who ask to be added; if someone is pulled into commentating on a video, I'm not adding them just because they did it.
Regardless, that's a fancy banner.
It's a joke I made to myself about how I was mostly editing formatting stuff in the thread, ignore it. <_<
As for the banner, it's more of simple. You should see what I was trying to work into it originally.
I am now tempted to do a Katamari Forever LP, since I just got 100% complete on it and need an excuse to keep playing it. Which would mean doing the Cowbear stage again. And that stupid 10,000°C one done entirely in sepia until you collect stuff, failing you instantly the second you drop to 0°C because a pizza delivery guy punted you into a river with his moped.
...I shall have to give this some thought.
Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997 for the Sony Playstation and is a cult hit to some, and a godawful piece of shit that shouldn't be made to others (it really seperated the fans of the series because of this). I, however, fall in neither camp; I find it a genuinely fun game to play, and find the OST to be highly enjoyable, but I prefer many other games in the main series over it.
Regardless, I'm sure we all know something about the game - even if it is that, yes, Aeris dies - so I won't spend too long going on about it. Instead, I'll tell you just how I intend to set this apart from the other LPs out there. First and foremost, I will warn you now that !!!there will be spoilers for Crisis Core!!!, from the very next paragraph (however, that spoiler is something that's like the "Aeris dies" situation; you should already know it). This is unavoidable, as I'm using that game as the basis for which this is done. Now, I'm not expecting you to have beaten Crisis Core to understand my LP, as I'll merely be making passing remarks to it, and I'll actually be retconning some parts - again, this is unavoidable due to the way I'm doing this. I'll be taking a few liberties with the game script, in a sense, however I won't be completely forsaking it to write my own dialogue (all the time). I'll rewrite some things to make more sense, and I'll certainly hang a lampshade on the more rampant translation errors - but I won't point out the more famous ones - but beyond that, don't expect me to constantly lampoon the game as I won't be able to keep it up for the 2 discs (technically 3, but disc 3 is nothing more than side quests and the final dungeon which is very light on plot other than the ending).
You could call this a rewrite of sorts. By nature, this will be treading dreadfully close to being fanfiction, if not outright being a fixfic of sorts, however I'm not truly changing anything dramatic. Instead, I'm giving you a deeper insight into the mind of the hero of the game that started Square's first ever major cash-cow mini-series. Together, let's dive into the mind of he whom led the tale that caused retcons within retcons. Let's understand what truly made him tick, as we voyage into the beginning of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation. Let's Play: Final Fantasy VII.
~~
The Characters
Cloud Strife, is an ex-SOLDIER which means he was working for the tyrannical company/government ShinRa at one point, and he weilds the custom-made zweihander, Buster Sword, which used to belong to a great SOLDIER First Class. Despite the fact that the sword is taller than him, he is able to weild it with ease due to his mako infusion... even to the point of being able to lift it above his head with one hand.
Despite working for ShinRa in the past, he has grown to hate them due to army killing his best friend in cold blood. He has since joined the group AVALANCHE and was their best fighter from the beginning.
Barret Wallace is the current leader of AVALANCHE and appears to be a drunken bastard. Being the first character to throw swears out like they're nothing, he appears to have an attitude problem. He is also adept at the use of firearms and so should be accustomed to providing cover for others.
At first glance, he appears to be a common ecoterrorist as he seems to merely hate ShinRa for slowly killing the planet, but his hatred runs far deeper than it first appears...
~~
Day 2, Entry 1, SOLDIER: Cloud
My First Mission
My name is Cloud Strife and I'm a SOLDIER first class. Or at least I used to be. I wasn't fired, and I didn't quit but during one of my earliest missions something went wrong and I was reported as having died in action. Once ShinRa, the company which I worked for, found out I was still alive they sent the army after me since I was considered a threat. They never managed to take me out, but I did lose a friend to them... but he was unable to help himself as something happened to him which stopped him from being able to fight back. Before they got to him though, I was able to stop the madman named Genesis who was something of a legendary SOLDIER member until he went AWOL.
Before long, I found an old friend in Sector 7 and she introduced me to this group called AVALANCHE. Nice group, but something doesn't seem right to me. Regardless, today was my first mission with them so I tried to put on a good show. As I used to be in SOLDIER, I was told to handle all the combat aspects whilst someone called Jesse handled the intel.
We arrived at the Sector 8 Mako Reactor before long, and we dove straight in. Biggs and Wedge, the others who came with me, Jesse and AVALANCHE's leader, took out the local guards who happened to have 2 Potions on them, which is a decent alcoholic beverage that causes a minor increase in activity due to having some unusual ingredients. Not many people know what goes in these things, and there's a good reason for that. It's all to do with profits for ShinRa. It always is.
As my luck would have it, before I could enter two more guards tried to jump me. I promptly took them out with my trusty Zweihander - the Buster Sword - which was given to me a while ago by my good friend, and mentor, Angeal.
Just by the entrance, Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse were waiting for me and the leader.
I'd like to say something inferring that these three are all incompetent at their jobs as I had only joined yesterday, but they do technically outrank me and it would be problematic if they saw this journal. I do need this job, as much as it pains me to admit it.
Straight after I gave them my name, he turned up, and the other three ran on ahead.
As much as it pained me to say it, and I could cut him in two with ease, he was my superior and so procedure must still be followed.
The Mako Reactor. It'd been a while since I've been in one; I hoped they'd all look the same. I found that to be a problem during my time in SOLDIER but now I realise how beneficial it was. I spent far too much time doing menial jobs in caves that all looked identical.,,
Straight away, I found myself in a dilemma of sorts. On my way here, I got ambushed by a guard hound and took it out in one. During that short time, I found myself seperated from Barret and the other three. I had to blindly guess which way was the right way, but I managed to catch up swiftly anyway.
Unfortunately, I ran into Barret almost immediately.
I reluctantly let him team up with me for the remainder of the mission, as the decision was his to make, but since I've had advanced combat training, due to my time as a SOLDIER, and he was proficient with the use of firearms (since his right hand is an actual gun itself) I requested he used that which he was more suited to do and lay down cover fire from the back.
Not far from where we started though, I found a Phoenix Down. These things are far too easy to get a hold of lately, which doesn't seem right since they're supposed to be made from the feathers of an actual Phoenix, and there's barely any of those left alive. I can't help but feel that most of these are actually fake.
Inside the lift, on its way down, Barret decides to reinforce the impression I'd been getting - that AVALANCHE is a group of mediocre-at-best eco-terrorists.
Not much else really happened during this portion of the journey. Jesse ran ahead somewhere, and I still don't know what she got up to, but I did find a Potion she went straight past just lying on the floor.
Before the next room, I told Barret it would be best to prepare ourselves for anything that may go wrong. The regular ShinRa grunts may have been nothing, but I expected there to be some form of guardian up ahead...
~~
Day 1, Entry 2, SOLDIER: Cloud
A Remnant of the Weapons Testing
In hindsight, I probably should have healed up before continuing further. I managed to make it with no real problems, but it was still a bit more of a bugger than I'd have liked.
During my last trip to a Mako Reactor, I remember something about a fight and then it's all a blur. I'm sure a friend who was there remembers it better than me, but I don't want to pressure her about it since it probably has bad memories for her.
As standard SOLDIER issue, all recruits are given basic materia for training purposes. This is likely due to the overwhelming fact that without being given the ability to cast spells, a lot of missions would be seemingly impossible. I used to have a lot of overpowered materia but due to lacking enough gil to live alone in Midgar for a short while I ended up selling it all, mostly on the black market. I only ended up keeping two pieces for myself in case of emergencies.
I'm still pretty sure Barret was intoxicated during this mission, but I could be wrong.
I think Barret may have started messing with my head somehow since my subconcious was trying to tell me something that w- I think I've been hanging around with Barret for a bit too long now.
Anyway, Barret looked at me funny and I was pretty sure he was going to go on a tirade (of sorts) so I planted the bomb and wanted to get out of there quickly.
Fortunately, the security was a little lax on the reactor for some reason so we only had to take out a Guard Scorpion. Being a robot, it's easy to short circuit the thing with a quick jolt of electricity but there wasn't any easy to access other than through the Bolt materia I had with me.
As it turns out, Barret can fire pure, unleaded shrapnel from his arm whenever he gets his "shit kicked in" for some reason. He calls it his "Big Shot" and whatever it was, it was enough to finish the Guard Scorpion off.
Once we'd beaten it, Barret decided he liked the look of its cannon so he broke it off and considered it part of the spoils of the mission.
Defeating the Robosecurity triggered the bombs detonation sequence, somehow, and we only had 10 minutes to get out before the bomb would explode.
Unfortunately, when Jesse was doing whatever it was she went to do, she caught her leg in the girder. I chivalrously helped her free so she'd live and we got the hell out of dodge soon thereafter.
As Jesse neglected to mention, the bomb also had a proximity mechanism meaning once we got out of the reactor, the thing decided to blow up anyway taking out most, if not all, of the nearby population of the sector with it.
Apparantly, Wedge runs incredibly slow compared to everyone other than Biggs and he got caught by the explosion and was set alight slightly. Biggs was less lucky, as he got caught in the explosion and... yeah.
As if the loss of a comrade wasn't bad enough, I lost my favouritest pub in the whole wide world too. It feels as if today kept getting worse and worse. Although, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining.
I guess my silver lining was in the form of a free potion lying under exposed electric cables and just next to a local drunk. Grabbing it could have had ironically lethal consequences.
My bad day just kept getting worse though, as in the very next street I got ambushed by even more ShinRa grunts who aren't even that challenging at my skill level. Unfortunately, mid-fight I heard what sounded like a train and I made a run for it...
Jumping off a bridge onto a moving train was probably a really dumb idea since I screwed up. Well, I landed on the train but I then hit a low bridge and fell off, and had to walk through an exceptionally long winded tunnel to reach where it was headed. I'm sure on an alternative reality, I'd have made it just fine and I could have made it into the train to get my money. But no such luck and today just keeps getting worse... and it wasn't even over yet...
And maybe I should've checked the list of LPs done here before writing this, as I was unaware that Adus has done this game as well, but what's done is done etc. (and the way I'm doing it is pretty different to the way he did it anyway so it probably doesn't matter).
Question that I still need answered by you guys - Do you want a list added to the OP for those who want to make themselves available for commentary purposes or no? If such a list is desired, I won't list out our contact info on the various mediums; I'll leave that for everyone else to pass around privately.
My thoughts:
Oh shit, I don't have his profile linked to in the OP I think. ULTRA, OMEGA!
The integration of Crisis Core elements could interest some, though not me personally. I really dislike everything about the Compilation. Nonetheless, you have my blessing to continue if that helps. I probably would not read it, not out of spite or anything, just since I check my own LP like every month to make sure the shots are still up, I'm sort of tired of looking at FFVII screenshots.
I do have to point out that not checking the list beforehand is kind of silly. I mean, that's one of the reasons it exists.
I would say that's a fringe benefit of why the list exists; I mostly want to archive what people have done so it isn't lost. It's tempting to start a site to save the actual posts made for each LP but that's something I can't fathom right now given my real life responsibilities / situation.
Also, teensy-little-update to the OP; SirRonLionHeart has a place in our recommended elsewhere list, and I've got a link to Skype's site (not that it's needed I guess since, y'know, Google it!) at the bottom.
Abandoned at the last level after trying over 12 times to get it recorded, and edited. Always went wrong.
Video
Dead Thread: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?p=8905959
Now that I look back on it, I feel I should finish it. But its too late. :<
That would be nice but likely expensive. I'd gladly do it if I had the financial ability... This thread is good enough for now, though.
I have a server but not that much disk. I would store screenshots but videos are probably right out.
I guess the real question is how does the SA archive work? Do they run donations or is it out the goodness of the dude's heart?
SE++ Forum Battle Archive
Better still if it's something people can contribute to.
It's donations, isn't it? I know that running the servers became more expensive for them recently, and they were considering intergrating ads to keep it running, although I don't know what became of that.
In all honesty, backing up LP's starts with the people making them. My Diablo and EO LP's are stored on my drive. Aside from the images, I have the posts saved across text documents, BBCode and all. If we lose a thread due to pruning, if there's a strong demand I'm sure the thread could be recreated with copy pasting those saved content posts (though, not posting them all at once).
I'm actually a little wary of the idea of having an off-site archive like SA does it, even though it's highly attractive. I get the impression SA likes for their ideas to be their ideas and I don't want to jump on emulating it.
Edit - typo'd
Speaking of copying ideas, reminder to people who voiced interest in doing commentary for GTA4, the goal is this Friday at 5pm est. A little preview!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v3lU-D1-vY
I'm happy for anyone to do a Let's Play of Crysis, considering mine didn't get finished and had no commentary so probably wasn't the most interesting to watch..
Handmade Jewelry by me on EtsyGames for sale
Me on Twitch!
I also did a test run of recording mm8-9 to finish out the old "megathread" might be a good way to celebrate the 10th game in the series.
It was great fun and I'm totally looking forward to the next session and of course further group LPs in the future.
I've gotta get around to watching everyone's LPs here, as I intended.
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Uh, I'll try to get in next time, I just totally forgot that this was today.
Adus,Henroid and me.
Be cool if you joined us next time.
I'm undecided on how I plan to continue though. I'd like to accommodate more people, but at the same time I'll be honest and say I don't want too many at once or to completely change the entire group each session as if I were a viewer, I'd prefer at least some consistency. So I guess what I'm saying is, I hope no one takes it personally if I can't get to them. Though after all, it's also my hope that other people try their hand at group LPs as well, and I doubt this'll be my last. Ideally everyone will get a chance to contribute to something eventually, even if they don't make LPs themselves.
Of course, it was the first video so it may just take some time to get a rythm going, especially since the beginning of GTAIV is kinda slow. I'm definitely going to keep watching.
Blip.TV/Viddler
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