Let's Play / Master Classes Archive

EDIT: Please head over to the new thread for details.

what's a master class?

It's Talking Time's name for Let's Play (I think...). It popped up in TheSL's DQ thread, and no one seemed to mind it, so I went with it.

Man, seeing it in print like this, I find Master Class to be pretty lame. I think I actually prefer Playing Time.

Ditto. Also not all games have enough strategy for it be the focus, so the name is limiting.

Wow, there's already fifteen scheduled? And only one happens at a time?

It looks like two will happen at a time, and Brick's already done with his.

Well, twelve people expressed interest in doing one. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll all actually go through with it. Personally, I think they should go one at a time, to keep from stepping on anyone else's toes. If we have three going on at the same time, I don't know if I'd feel like keeping up with all of them.

Anyway, if people don't like the name this can be the place to discuss what to change it to! Maybe our benevolent overlord wouldn't mind changing the topic title to reflect whatever we decide on.

I think two at a time could work, if they can be scheduled appropriately. Part of why Brickroad's FF1 thread was so awesome was how he was able to update twice (or more) per day, but not all of us have the time to maintain such a schedule. Realistically, I'd probably be able to churn out two updates a week (I could probably push it to four with the New Game + feature, which preserves all your accrued Praise and whatever upgrades you bought with it, but that's no way to play a LP-style thread. ) For cases like that, it'd probably be OK to have another thread running parallel to it.

I would love to get in on this in the future. I'd say the only game I know well enough that I could do this would be Ocarina of Time or the original Mega Man X. I don't have the time now due to school, but come summertime it's certainly a possibility. I also don't know how I'd make screen caps if I did OoT, but that's one I'd love to do. I have a Master Quest playthrough that I never finished, so I could either start that game over or play the original OoT, which I know like the back of my hand.

Edit: WAIT. I just had an idea. I've beaten KOTOR twice, and while I don't know it as well as OoT, I do know it pretty damn well and I could easily take screen caps of it (since I have it for PC). Put me down for either KOTOR or (a screen-cap-less) OoT playthrough.

Done and done.

Personally, I wouldn't mind having two threads parallel, since it would speed things up enough that people on queue won't grow bored waiting for their turn (it might also help ease the pressure off the backs of anyone playing longer, more involved games, since they wouldn't have to worry about the next guy in line).

Honestly, the whole "scheduling" thing seems to suck half the fun out of it. And I wouldn't be surprised if enthusiasm-to-do-this-right-now dies off when someone's "turn" comes up however many months down the road.

Problem is, if there are too many going on at once, then enthusiasm dies even faster because no one will be able to keep up, which makes it a bit of a catch-22 in that sense. I agree that the schedule will probably end up turning some people off, so maybe we should go with who's most prepared next and go from there?

I wanna do another. I can't decide between FF5, FFT, Star Ocean 2, or SaGa Frontier though. Or maybe I should just finish FFL2, heh...

I'm somewhat interested in doing a SaGa Frontier II Let's Play. But I was under the impression that one of Parish's goals is to eventually go through all the SaGa games for the Fun Club. I'm not sure if I'd want to do it if that was the case.

I'll do Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

Next question, should I do it in Spanish?

If Parish gives you the go ahead, I'd love to see this. Then again, I think I might be the only person in the world who would love to see this.

By the way, when this is all said and done several months from now, we should all collect our posts and put them together somewhere. It'd be like an issue of Gamespite, only way longer and more ridiculous.

"Let's Positive Playing!"

Well, I'd say the Fun Club and Let's Plays have different purposes, and aren't mutually exclusive! I hope people might want to play Metroid II after they see it! A Let's Play could encourage a Fun Club in a weird way. (a friend is kind of down on Let's Plays because some people treat them as a substitute for actually playing a game, which is true to some extent, heck, I've done it reading aboue an adventure game or two, but I think they can get people excited for a game all the same)

I definitely agree that they serve different purposes, but I guess I just figured people might not feel like participating in the Fun Club if they've already read the Let's Play.

On the other hand, Brick's FF1 LP seemed to have the complete opposite effect, so maybe I'm totally wrong.

I could follow as many of these at once as people care to write, but then not everyone lives on Talking Time like I do.

The subject really doesn't matter to me. I think I would love to read any Let's Play provided the author is passionate about his game and knows it pretty well.

I don't even necessarily think they have to be focused on RPGs. If someone wanted to spend a weekend banging out a kickass Let's Play for, say, Mega Man 2 I think everyone would be all about that.

If we must have a schedule, maybe we can take a page from Fun Club: have one mega-epic Let's Play (say, an RPG) alongside a series of shorter ones, two at a time. Turnaround on the short ones will be quick enough that everyone can have a turn.

I will say this, if you haven't done one of these before IT IS A LOT MORE WORK THAN YOU ARE EXPECTING. It's easy to say "yeah man I can sit down and bang out Chrono Trigger in a weekend" and another thing entirely to break the game down to its component parts and show it off. I'd hate to see people start these and get burned out and not finish them, especially Red Hedgehog's Bard's Tale because holy christ I want to see that one so bad. =)

I really like this idea.

My other main concern about doing a SaGa Frontier II Let's Play, though, is that I don't think I could make it funny. All the Let's Play threads I've ever read were pretty funny, so I don't know if a relatively serious LP would work.

I'd say a good LP usually is either funny and/or insightful, but I've certainly seen serious, straight playthrough LPs. I'm not saying it's recommended, but it's possible and has been done. :P

Put me down for Deadly Rooms of Death. I haven't decided which DROD I'm going to do, between the one I worked on and the earlier one that I'm better at. I'll leave that decision for the thread.

This is kinda what I was thinking. Chrono Trigger is probably the game I've played the most and know the most about, so it would be the one I'd do if I decided to. But it is a different thing to take screen-caps, think of witty or interesting comments, and break down some of the technical parts. Hell, I don't think I really know much of the technical type parts of the game, I just know how to easily make my way through an already easy game. I guess I could start it months before my turn came up to make sure I can come up with enough good screen-cap comments, but I'd much rather make it more interactive thing, like having input on the character names, or which sidequest to do first.

I'm definitely looking forwards to Locit's.

I'd claim a Sonic game for myself, but I'm not really the sort of person who could do a lets play.

Sign me up for Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn.

so i tried playing civ again last night just to see if this would work, and i don't think it can, given the format. it would be a ridiculous amount of work for not so much pay off. lots of static screens and such.

Doing a Space Quest series run, at least up till the 3rd as I have the games memorized up to there. I could do a King's Quest run through the 6th game as well. Sounds like a lot but the earlier games in both series can be beaten in one sitting, often less than an hour....

Anyone want to see that?

i love any sierra game that features quest in the title.

I could see doing Vagrant Story or Valkyrie Profile (the first one, the second wouldn't work so well). They're both relatively short RPGs that are somewhat well known, but a lot of people haven't gotten through them because of quirky/frustrating elements. Either has room for audience participation challenges/choices (party selection in VP changes the dynamic, same for weapon selection in VS). I've played them both to death, too.