TrynantManiac BrawlerRank 20.100 and full WildRegistered Userregular
edited November 2010
Rent I'm on episode 22 right now; once I finish the DLC LP's I'll be brutal as I can. I'm writing my criticisms on notepaper and everything! Honestly, however, I doubt I will say anything that you haven't figured out already.
Also you totally need to ream (i.e. critique) my shitty LP so I might actually learn something :?
EDIT: We Are the Champions, stop with the Alan Wake puns, for Alan's sake!
It is the BEST Collectors/Limited Edition Ive EVER seen. Loads of great behind the scenes stuff, a BAD ASS case that looks like a book, a LITERAL book that fleshes out a ton of back story and is a great read on its own, a REALLY GOOD soundtrack CD, an Avatar outfit, 2 Dashboard themes and a voucher for the 1st DLC episode, "The Signal", for FREE.
GO NOW. IT IS SO WORTH IT.
(Im going to post this in the Alan Wake thread as well, because some people who intend on playing it themselves may not check a Lets Play thread for fear of spoilers. Hope the cross post is ok...)
mxmarks on
PSN: mxmarks - WiiU: mxmarks - twitter: @ MikesPS4 - twitch.tv/mxmarks - "Yes, mxmarks is the King of Queens" - Unbreakable Vow
0
Options
RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
edited November 2010
It actually is the raddest collector's edition and totally worth getting
Rent on
0
Options
TrynantManiac BrawlerRank 20.100 and full WildRegistered Userregular
I keep on asking this in like [chat] and stuff so i mine as well ask it here-
those of you who have finished the lp, what's your post-mortem on it? what worked, what didn't (besides the audio- I'm well aware))? What do you think I should do in the future?
be ruthless please
Okay, so I finally finished watching the LP. If it's not clear when I state it, the complaints I have are all pretty much nitpicks or arguably not a bad thing.
I seriously thought more people would complain about my laugh
it is such an annoying laugh
it is the hurr durriest laugh ever
Quoted for truth. Although, I've heard worse And really, you can't really fix a bad laugh.
Second, Earwig Squad makes this LP good. I don't know about being "a blast," but he stops you from fumbling around when you talk and provides really good commentary (HE HAS SURPASSED YOU). When you rant you tend to do a lot more vocalized pauses ("you know" is a big one).
Have you considered pausing the video and editing out phone calls instead of leaving the room? I'd almost want to say adding special effects (e.g. fast-forwarding a repetitious sequence) could be beneficial, except really a game like Alan Wake doesn't need any crap like that with the exception of repeating areas you died in. Just keep this in mind for an LP of a less linear game.
You play Alan Wake well and that helps maintain the pace of the LP, and you seemed to be able to play well enough to be able to do something that you could make a specific comment on later ("sweet jumps"). Also you don't skip areas that could easily have been bypassed for the sake of showing stuff off, and that's kickass.
NEEDS MOAR NIGHTMARE MANUSCRIPTS
Your commentary is solid. It's funny and informative. Good, even. Your voices aren't grating and you are skilled in elocution (minus a few vocalized pauses here and there). Your jokes actually made me laugh and you did not skip ahead of the story. Theorizing about the narrative of Alan Wake is also a big plus when there's downtime in the game.
Problems I had were that sometimes you'd get waaaay too off-tangent. I mean, yeah, what can you say about lumberjacks that you hadn't said before, but something is off when it gets to the point that high-school anecdotes are thrown into the mix.
And again, Earwig Squad makes the commentary work (you said it yourself in the LP Archive thread how E.S.'s inexperience and your knowledge of the game balanced the commentary). How you managed to get a friend to co-opt into LP commentary in such a consistent manner boggles my mind, let alone a friend who can make good commentary.
You do cut out abruptly at the end of most of the episodes though. That's kinda annoying and honestly one of the most fixable complaints I can think of. That and turn off the friend-online notification that Xbox shoves in your face before playing with Live enabled.
You earn a merit badge for going HD, but I have to ask, what kind of player do you use to watch FLV files? I tried downloading your episodes several times and VLC was too laggy for me.
I can't comment on consistent updates because I ended up watching the whole thing after you finished, but kudos for putting your videos up so fast.
Overall, the LP was good, solid, above average, etc; but you could do a little better. And I know you're super aware of this, but ffs manually lower the audio so you don't automatically quiet Alan Wake when someone accidentally moves their mic.
RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
edited November 2010
They're actually not flv files, they're renamed mp4 files (because blip autoconverts any file that isn't flv into flv and their converter is shit and sucks)
anyways flv player would work, or you could just rename the extension to mp4
Rent on
0
Options
TrynantManiac BrawlerRank 20.100 and full WildRegistered Userregular
edited November 2010
Changing the extension from flv to mp4 worked wonderfully. HD win.
It is the BEST Collectors/Limited Edition Ive EVER seen. Loads of great behind the scenes stuff, a BAD ASS case that looks like a book, a LITERAL book that fleshes out a ton of back story and is a great read on its own, a REALLY GOOD soundtrack CD, an Avatar outfit, 2 Dashboard themes and a voucher for the 1st DLC episode, "The Signal", for FREE.
GO NOW. IT IS SO WORTH IT.
(Im going to post this in the Alan Wake thread as well, because some people who intend on playing it themselves may not check a Lets Play thread for fear of spoilers. Hope the cross post is ok...)
That's weird, because I was interested in getting it for a friend earlier and it was listed at $65.
Now it's sitting at $55. Was there a mistake or the sale didn't last very long?
Trynant what are you using to edit your vids because they have pretty excellent editing and I need something that can handle mp4s
Also in case you couldn't tell whenever I edited within video it'd desync The audio and I think it's my editing program so
I'm using Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD; considering you shelled out money for the HD PVR I'd recommend getting this because the software is only $45. The only issue is you'll have to mess around with finding codecs for everything (e.g. hunting down K-Lite codec pack). I'm actually converting the mp4's to wmv's though the the software that came with the HD PVR. HOWEVER apparently if you get an older version of quicktime the codec will work with Vegas and you can mess with mp4's or something. I'd recommend doing that, because converting files from one format to another takes longer than anything ever.
EDIT: This information may not be true. Still, Sony Vegas Movie Studio is good if you can get the codecs and shit working.
ed: hmm after digging I found this which seems to imply mp4s WILL work, just not certain mp4 types, and you can get a special converter program to do so
ed2: HEY SANTA(S) THIS WOULD MAKE A GREAT GIFT THAT I WOULD REALLY ENJOY GETTING
Rent on
0
Options
TrynantManiac BrawlerRank 20.100 and full WildRegistered Userregular
like I said I've been converting my files into wmv format which works fine with movie studio, but it takes half a day to do that so I'm looking for a better way
It's really obvious we're in coastal California, right? The worst part of the LP for me is the one at the beginning of The Writer where Rent ate Taco Bell. It's less for genuine LP reasons and more because you can get half decent Mexican here.
I think Trynant nailed most of the real problems. Rent tells me that all the tangents are an LP style choice- there's no denying that it's a double edged sword. On one hand we have more to talk about, and on the other hand there are awkward parts like when I kept bringing up that story about the kitten with the autoimmune disorder. Does anyone remember that? It was a long time ago. I think the pros outweigh the cons- or at least I want to say that because that's the way we've been doing it so far and I'd like to think we've been doing it right enough.
Edit: most of the burrito eatin' sounds were edited out in post because they were over the intro cutscene along with a "you're going to edit out those burrito eating sounds, right?" dialogue.
Earwig Squad on
0
Options
RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
edited November 2010
Also a burp, probably related to the burrito eating sounds
And I picked up taco bell because it was easy okay?! Jeez I didn't have time to go to say Taqueria Vallarta or something.
Earwig Squad: The meanest
Rent on
0
Options
TrynantManiac BrawlerRank 20.100 and full WildRegistered Userregular
edited November 2010
I should elaborate that when I say you go off tangent, I do know it is an LP-style choice. And it works for the most part. What I find bothering is sometimes I felt parts in the LP that could have been more entertaining if you were closer to being on-topic rather than off.
In short, it's okay go to off-tangent, but not okay to go off-cosine.
I wasn't so much being defensive as much as I was acknowledging that idea. But that's obvious. Everyone wins. Except for Rent and his fast food diet.
earwig squad: more like the MANNEST amiright? 8-):whistle:
But seriously, you should get Los Gallos sometime. It's pretty good for suburban dive food.
Edit: ALAN WAKE, everybody! Do they even make flashlights with beams you can focus like the ones in the game? I spend a lot of time walking through pitch dark redwood forests, so I've been thinking about flashlights a lot lately.
Posts
Also you totally need to ream (i.e. critique) my shitty LP so I might actually learn something :?
EDIT: We Are the Champions, stop with the Alan Wake puns, for Alan's sake!
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
That is ONE DOLLAR MORE than the REGULAR EDITION.
CLICK ME AND PURCHASE IT.
It is the BEST Collectors/Limited Edition Ive EVER seen. Loads of great behind the scenes stuff, a BAD ASS case that looks like a book, a LITERAL book that fleshes out a ton of back story and is a great read on its own, a REALLY GOOD soundtrack CD, an Avatar outfit, 2 Dashboard themes and a voucher for the 1st DLC episode, "The Signal", for FREE.
GO NOW. IT IS SO WORTH IT.
(Im going to post this in the Alan Wake thread as well, because some people who intend on playing it themselves may not check a Lets Play thread for fear of spoilers. Hope the cross post is ok...)
Okay, so I finally finished watching the LP. If it's not clear when I state it, the complaints I have are all pretty much nitpicks or arguably not a bad thing.
First off:
Quoted for truth. Although, I've heard worse
Second, Earwig Squad makes this LP good. I don't know about being "a blast," but he stops you from fumbling around when you talk and provides really good commentary (HE HAS SURPASSED YOU). When you rant you tend to do a lot more vocalized pauses ("you know" is a big one).
Have you considered pausing the video and editing out phone calls instead of leaving the room? I'd almost want to say adding special effects (e.g. fast-forwarding a repetitious sequence) could be beneficial, except really a game like Alan Wake doesn't need any crap like that with the exception of repeating areas you died in. Just keep this in mind for an LP of a less linear game.
You play Alan Wake well and that helps maintain the pace of the LP, and you seemed to be able to play well enough to be able to do something that you could make a specific comment on later ("sweet jumps"). Also you don't skip areas that could easily have been bypassed for the sake of showing stuff off, and that's kickass.
NEEDS MOAR NIGHTMARE MANUSCRIPTS
Your commentary is solid. It's funny and informative. Good, even. Your voices aren't grating and you are skilled in elocution (minus a few vocalized pauses here and there). Your jokes actually made me laugh and you did not skip ahead of the story. Theorizing about the narrative of Alan Wake is also a big plus when there's downtime in the game.
Problems I had were that sometimes you'd get waaaay too off-tangent. I mean, yeah, what can you say about lumberjacks that you hadn't said before, but something is off when it gets to the point that high-school anecdotes are thrown into the mix.
And again, Earwig Squad makes the commentary work (you said it yourself in the LP Archive thread how E.S.'s inexperience and your knowledge of the game balanced the commentary). How you managed to get a friend to co-opt into LP commentary in such a consistent manner boggles my mind, let alone a friend who can make good commentary.
You do cut out abruptly at the end of most of the episodes though. That's kinda annoying and honestly one of the most fixable complaints I can think of. That and turn off the friend-online notification that Xbox shoves in your face before playing with Live enabled.
You earn a merit badge for going HD, but I have to ask, what kind of player do you use to watch FLV files? I tried downloading your episodes several times and VLC was too laggy for me.
I can't comment on consistent updates because I ended up watching the whole thing after you finished, but kudos for putting your videos up so fast.
Overall, the LP was good, solid, above average, etc; but you could do a little better. And I know you're super aware of this, but ffs manually lower the audio so you don't automatically quiet Alan Wake when someone accidentally moves their mic.
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
anyways flv player would work, or you could just rename the extension to mp4
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
That's weird, because I was interested in getting it for a friend earlier and it was listed at $65.
Now it's sitting at $55. Was there a mistake or the sale didn't last very long?
That was a hell of a deal.
Also in case you couldn't tell whenever I edited within video it'd desync The audio and I think it's my editing program so
I'm using Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD; considering you shelled out money for the HD PVR I'd recommend getting this because the software is only $45. The only issue is you'll have to mess around with finding codecs for everything (e.g. hunting down K-Lite codec pack). I'm actually converting the mp4's to wmv's though the the software that came with the HD PVR. HOWEVER apparently if you get an older version of quicktime the codec will work with Vegas and you can mess with mp4's or something. I'd recommend doing that, because converting files from one format to another takes longer than anything ever.
EDIT: This information may not be true. Still, Sony Vegas Movie Studio is good if you can get the codecs and shit working.
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
and you mean this, right?
ed: hmm after digging I found this which seems to imply mp4s WILL work, just not certain mp4 types, and you can get a special converter program to do so
ed2: HEY SANTA(S) THIS WOULD MAKE A GREAT GIFT THAT I WOULD REALLY ENJOY GETTING
yep
like I said I've been converting my files into wmv format which works fine with movie studio, but it takes half a day to do that so I'm looking for a better way
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
I think Trynant nailed most of the real problems. Rent tells me that all the tangents are an LP style choice- there's no denying that it's a double edged sword. On one hand we have more to talk about, and on the other hand there are awkward parts like when I kept bringing up that story about the kitten with the autoimmune disorder. Does anyone remember that? It was a long time ago. I think the pros outweigh the cons- or at least I want to say that because that's the way we've been doing it so far and I'd like to think we've been doing it right enough.
Edit: most of the burrito eatin' sounds were edited out in post because they were over the intro cutscene along with a "you're going to edit out those burrito eating sounds, right?" dialogue.
And I picked up taco bell because it was easy okay?! Jeez I didn't have time to go to say Taqueria Vallarta or something.
Earwig Squad: The meanest
In short, it's okay go to off-tangent, but not okay to go off-cosine.
Aces Wild is a pretty stellar game.
Blog, Playing Rules; Let's Play Demon's Souls; My Backlog
earwig squad: more like the MANNEST amiright? 8-):whistle:
But seriously, you should get Los Gallos sometime. It's pretty good for suburban dive food.
Edit: ALAN WAKE, everybody! Do they even make flashlights with beams you can focus like the ones in the game? I spend a lot of time walking through pitch dark redwood forests, so I've been thinking about flashlights a lot lately.