I think something weird is happening in the subway in the 2008 survival horror game, Nanashi no Game. Screenshot from an LP by the always excellent iconoclast187.

Play #7: Let’s Play as an adaptation?

Back in Play #4, I mentioned the idea of watching YouTube’s Let’s Play as a curated linear experience, but I didn’t think much yet about the value of the commenter. It’s not because I dislike commentor or something, but because I thought they would distract me from getting absorbed into the game. Upon watching the Let’s Play series of Siren (by supergreatfriend) and Mizzurna Falls (by iconoclast187), not only have I come to appreciate the value of well-informed commentary, but doing so also gives me a few thoughts on the peculiarity of translating video game’s interactivity into linear format.

Part of the reasons I chose to watch Siren and Mizzurna Falls over playing them by myself was because these games are notorious for their difficulty. For Siren, the difficulty comes from the amount of bizarre hidden objectives and strict stealth missions. Meanwhile, solving the mystery in Mizzurna Falls requires players to know exactly where and when each event will occur if they want to get there in time to gather clues. In a sense, these difficulties encourage players to slowly figure things out across multiple playthroughs, but for someone who is not into that kind of game design, watching Let's Play was a better choice for me. At first, I planned to watch a no commentary or a blind playthrough, but out of curiosity I figured why not watch a playthrough by a skilled player instead? Turned out, that was an amazing decision.

What I’m most impressed about the commentary in these videos is that it walks a fine balance in pointing out obscure mechanics or story details that most players will miss, but not overdoing it to the point of ruining viewer’s surprise. For example, because both games can be dense to follow with their multiple plotlines going on, both commentators often explain various minor connections between characters, but they never deliberately give away direct answers to the mystery. Unlike a blind playthrough whose appeal is the commentator's reaction then, these Let’s Play videos focus more on showcasing the in and out of the game; the commentators act more like a tour guide to the viewers. This comparison applies the most to Siren's case: supergreatfriend often mentions various external media around the game, such as the game’s official website and its sequels, to give the audience an overview of the series’ history. Honestly, I don’t think I would appreciate these games as much if I played by myself; I wouldn’t notice all the fine details in these games, nor do I have the skills to enjoy their gameplay.

Such struggle also makes me realize that engaging with video games requires more skills from consumers than other mediums such as books or movies. For someone who has played video games since childhood, playing games has become a second nature to me, but for many people, it is definitely not. Razbuten’s What Games Are Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games video, for example, really shows the amount of skills required to properly engage with a video game. In the same way that such skill requirement is important to some video game’s identity such as Dark Soul, that difficulty can inadvertently alienate a lot of people from truly appreciating video games also. Watching a Let’s Play, especially ones accompanied by well-informed commentary, can allow viewers to appreciate the art of video game design even if they themselves don’t have the necessary skill to play it by themselves. Nothing can replace the experience of playing the game by yourself, of course, but Let’s Play does offer an alternative experience, one that, I think, bears resemblance to experiencing a work through an adaptation.

In a way, watching a Let’s Play video reminds me of watching a TV adaption of a book. The comparison is odd, indeed, but I do think there are some merits to it. At the end of the day, most Let’s Play videos are not pure, unedited footage; they were recorded, cut, and edited into a specifically curated experience first before they get published online. The videos thus remain containing elements of the original work (the gameplay footage), but also offer a new experience in mind (such as entertainment). For example, turning Siren and Mizzurna Falls into a linear video format does rob their interactive gameplay away, but in exchange, the commentary accompanying these Let’s Play series do teach the viewer about the game series’ artistic values in a way that playing the game by myself does not. To put it another way, Let’s Play series is half-original, half-not.

I suppose the biggest question I want to raise in this post is this: how are these “adaptations” different from common adaptations like movie or TV Show adaptations, outside of the biggest difference being that Let’s Play videos are made by hobbyists? Of course, these kinds of “adaptations” created by hobbyists do not undergo the review processes nor have that “professional feel” that official adaptations would have. Likewise, if I go by Oxford Reference’s definition of adaptation—”the process of making a work of art upon the basis of elements provided by an earlier work in a different, usually literary, medium”—then most Let’s Play videos probably won’t fit since they lean more toward entertaining and/or educational (documentary, perhaps?). Nevertheless, there is no denying that a lot of thoughts, and artistic sense even, get put into the process of turning raw gameplay footage into accessible videos, not to mention making commentary is an art in itself. Furthermore, it is significant that this presentation style has a strong public demand too. Despite being able to play the games by themselves, many people willingly choose to watch a Let’s Play instead precisely because they prefer that kind of experience; this was what I did with Spirit Hunter: NG. I wonder if the bigger question I have here is that what if watching Let’s Play is not an inferior experience compared to playing, but an equally alternative experience in itself? Isn't this sort of experience the reason people are drawn to adaptation?

P/S: The most surprising thing about Let’s Play for me is that before the video format even became popular, text Let’s Play was already been a thing; Let’s Play Archive features a gigantic collection of these Let’s Play if you want to check it out. The act of translating a visual medium into a text medium with numerous screenshots is so fascinating. Not only do the commentators have to adapt a lot of visual and audio features into text format (such as dialogue boxes), but they also have to be selective about chosen screenshots; no one likes “reading” a wall of endless screenshots. It sure takes a lot of skills to make Let's Play, whether in text or in video.

Huh, really interesting! Probably the strangest conditions for an easter egg ever, how did anyone manage to discover this?? If you have 11 items in your inventory at 1 hour 11 minutes of gameplay, then you save and reset and a new item just appears in your inventory out of nowhere.

What's your favorite kind of LP's ? I like the chill ones between pals , my favorite being SuperMega and Oney Plays , (oney may get a little touchy with a lot of subjects but its clearly as in jest) .

It depends on my mood!

Sometimes, I like to kick back and watch lore-heavy videos, like iconoclast187′s horror or EpicNameBro’s Dark Souls walkthroughs. Other times, I’m looking for suspense, so I’ll sit down and watch a Nuzlocke, from any of the PokeTubers I listed (and others). Then other times, I just want a good laugh, so I head over to Northernlion or the Best Friends Zaibatsu.

If I had to pick one, though, I’d say I probably lean more towards buddy comedy. Multi-person LPs and streams with a lot of good banter never fail to entertain me.

WWTQ 085 - Surviving Horror with Niggurath

Hello! We're late! But as a special treat to make up for it we have prolific LP creator Iconoclast187, AKA Niggurath, joining Faust for an interview about the many games he's played all for the viewing free on YouTube. While there are some modern AAA titles in his list you can also find the obscure, strange, and disturbing and those are the focus of this week's show, along with a little Let's Play history before it became the big sea of noise it is now. Enjoy! download via Blogger http://ift.tt/2x26vKI

so im trying to watch a sh downpour lp, and like i LIKE this lper's stuff but uh

was there copyright fuckery goin on w getting it uploaded? whenever the soundtrack kicks in and he's not commentating on the game it's just dead silent its SO weird

Screenshots from Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse via iconoclast187.

Screenshots from Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse via iconoclast187.

Screenshots from Fatal Frame III: The Tormented via iconoclast187.

A few interesting images from 9: The Last Resort (1996). It’s a strange game, featuring the voices of Jim Belushi, Cher, Christopher Reeve, Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Heche, Joe Perry and Steven Tyler. The executive producer was Robert DeNiro (?!) 

Despite the groovy graphics, it’s not a very good game. I could only handle it via the dulcet tones and amusing observations of one of my favorite LPers, iconoclast187.

iconoclast187 in his Let's Play Echo Night, a 1998 title by From Software. Huh. That developer sounds familiar...

So with that, we are off to hopefully rescue someone properly this time, rather than uh..... letting them DIE.

iconoclast187 tries to keep his chin up in his Let's Play Michigan: Report from Hell.

iconoclast187 really ratchets up the tension in his Let's Play Michigan: Report from Hell.

...really, though...... shotgun. Nothing but shotgun.

iconoclast187 in his Let's Play Silent Hill: Downpour

But, yeah, it just goes into normal Lovecraftian ideas of otherworldly creatures, time travel and things that would normally cause a person to go completely insane. Thank god they're just words, right? Nothing to be worried about.

Comments from iconoclast187, upon reading one of the documents in his Let's Play Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.