Video games to watch on Youtube?

[Rhoderic]

I’m not much of a video gamer (anymore), but I still appreciate video games as a medium of storytelling and world-crafting. So occasionally nowadays I watch “playthroughs” and similar videos of games on Youtube. I don’t much follow the “gaming scene” anymore, though, so most good video games pass me by unnoticed.

Having recently been made aware of the game Inside, I watched several playthroughs of it and found it extremely inspirational. The grotesqueness at the end is a bit much to stomach, but other than that it’s an excellent visual and aural journey through an eerie and strange, yet compellingly familiar-seeming, world of industrial sprawl and inscrutable scientific facilities. I’ll try to remember to watch parts of it again next time I get around to modelling sci-fi industrial terrain.

A game I was rather obsessed with watching playthroughs of a few years ago is The Last of Us. Yeah, I know, the storyline is “emotionally manipulative” or whatever the detractors want to call it to make themselves sound big as they knock down something other people love. But love it I did. Since then I’ve noticed that TLoU seems to have made some ripples in miniature gaming. Games like Across the Dead Earth seem to be intentionally drawing inspiration from it, and of course Hasslefree have made “not” versions of the protagonists.

Other games I’ve watched on Youtube include the first Deadspace game and half of the second one (but the gory in-your-face horror theme wasn’t my cup of tea) and most of BioShock Infinite (which was quite cool, even if some of the classic video game tropes were a bit tacky, like the various “superhero” skills the player character would pick up over the course of the game).

These days I try to draw all the miniature modelling/gaming inspiration I can whenever I engage with other storytelling mediums (video games, films, TV shows, comics, etc) and I suppose that’s part of what I’m looking for here; Video games that are inspirational to a miniature gamer. For instance, No Man’s Sky (which I’ve yet to watch, though I suppose there’s no such thing as “playthroughs” for that game) interests me as a reference source of sorts for alien flora and fauna, much like Inside interested me for the weird industrial milieus.

Any tips?

[Thuseld]

A playthrough of the Mass Effect trilogy might be up your street. I loved playing those games and the story of them sucked me right in. The ending of the 3rd one was controversial, but the hours and hours up until that are a wild ride.

The story of the Starcraft 2 trilogy is great, but it is an RTS game so the missions might not be your taste, although they might speak to a miniature gamer like yourself. I find a lot of inspiration from Starcraft.

I need to leave work and go home to cook dinner, but I will add more later tonight.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Mike]

The Last of Us = The Best Game Ever.

[Angel Barracks]

I will check out Inside, thanks.

I am not sure how it would work as a watching experience, but my sci-fi world was kind of shaped quite a bit by the feel of the Borderlands games.

And Gears Of War is a classic.

[Rhoderic]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I haven’t played or seen any of them, although the titles at least are familiar to me.

Keep in mind that Inside is a somewhat “artsy” game from an indie studio, so maybe not 100% mainstream, especially once you get toward the end. But I heard about it because people (“artsy” people, mind) have been saying it might just be the best game of the year. The same studio made Limbo which, I hear, is supposed to be very similar and also very good.

[PatG]

Totally the wrong generation for this, though my daughters watch for entertainment. I usually only watch World of Tanks Blitz videos and then for instruction only. The idea of watching a play through before playing the game strikes me as wrong.

Now get off my lawn! 😉

[Rhoderic]

PatG wrote:

The idea of watching a play through before playing the game strikes me as wrong. Now get off my lawn!

I completely get that. The thing is I don’t play the games at all. I don’t have any consoles of the latest few generations at all (or a television for that matter) and although I was a computer geek at one time, my last few computers have all been cheap, small, relatively low-performance laptops (netbooks and the like), with which I am quite content. I’d have to re-organise my budget, in terms of both money and time, to be a “proper” console/computer gamer again, and that would likely entail giving up this hobby, which I won’t do. But like many people of my generation, I do still recognise video games as a “legitimate” medium alongside movies, books, etc, and I think there are some wonderful things being made in that medium these days. It’s the stories, settings and visual experiences that interest me, not so much the mechanics of playing itself, plus I was always bad at action-oriented games (too much of a nervous nelly). So Youtube playthroughs are a useful resource for me.

Oh, and this is my lawn now! I reject the laws of your old world order! 

[Thuseld]

How do you feel about eSports? There are games I will watch but not for the story. I watch them as I would watch a football or rugby match. Starcraft 2 is good for that, as are League of Legends, DOTA 2 and World of Tanks.

Other games I would watch for the story are Diablo 3, and I want to reiterate the Mass effect games. They tell such a wonderful story in such an enthralling universe.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Rhoderic]

Well, I have friends who are into eSports – it seems to be a fairly big deal here in Sweden, in certain circles. Our public service broadcasting company (our equivalent of the BBC) has even streamed coverage of some of the bigger international events on their website, complete with their own team of commentators, and I’ve watched a bit of it once or twice. It was rather intriguing in a quirky sort of way to be honest, but it helped that (being public service) they had very beginner-friendly commentary. I won’t probably ever be a hardcore fan. But I won’t knock other people’s taste in sports – I’ve followed sumo wrestling for nearly two decades now.

I’ve already begun watching a playthrough of Mass Effect, actually 

At any rate, more suggestions are always welcome if anyone has them, including fantasy games and other non-sci-fi themes.

[Mike]

ooooh The Division.
Most excellent game.

 

You Tube Trailer

NSFW

 

 

 

[Rhoderic]

It’s taken me a while to find a playthrough/walkthrough of the first Mass Effect game that’s to my tastes (no inane commentary, and no impatient blazing through all the non-action segments like it isn’t the deep, rich RPG it’s supposed to be), but now that I’ve found a largely satisfactory one, I’m really starting to dig this story and gameworld. It’s very stereotypically “videogamey” in terms of aesthetics and plot development, but that’s not a problem. If anything it’s a nice change of scenery (if one doesn’t overindulge) from the stylistic and plot-structural orthodoxies of most sci-fi TV shows and movies. I’m a bit apprehensive about how the third game is going to end (having picked up a loose fact or two about the story concept of Mass Effect Andromeda, I have my suspicions), but to paraphrase Thuseld, it’s a fun ride so far. It’s also dawning on me that this series of games has probably had quite a bit of influence on sci-fi miniatures released in the past decade (and terrain pieces – I’m sure I’ve seen some of those crates as commercially available resin pieces somewhere), and I have a newfound enthusiasm for wargaming sleek and shiny space opera style settings right now.

On the off chance that it’s of interest to anyone, the best playthrough I’ve found (for now) is THIS one, using a custom “Femshep”. There might still be better ones out there (Youtube is rife with them) but all the other ones I’ve tried watching so far are IMO worse, due either to commentary or frustrating styles of gameplay. The only major downside is that the player seems to have all the best equipment from the start of the game (presumably what happens when you’ve already finished the game once before, unless maybe he/she used some sort of cheat). It doesn’t affect the story, but it means one doesn’t get to see the player character and her team progress gradually through all the different armours and weapons.

[Thuseld]

How is this person playing it? My first attempt at playing Mass Effect was as a sniper and ended very quickly. I found myself stuck in a cave somewhere and basically decided I hated the game. But then I played Mass Effect 2 and immediately went back and began the first one again, then played the second one as my character from the first (a biotic shotgun wielding badass).

I love the aesthetic of the universe and would play mine like that, but I also want to have Firefly-esque wild west planets.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Rhoderic]

Thuseld wrote:

How is this person playing it? My first attempt at playing Mass Effect was as a sniper and ended very quickly. I found myself stuck in a cave somewhere and basically decided I hated the game. But then I played Mass Effect 2 and immediately went back and began the first one again, then played the second one as my character from the first (a biotic shotgun wielding badass).

A soldier, I think. I do feel a hankering to just play the game myself so I can experience it in a more first-hand way, but it would entail purchases that would impinge on my hobby budget, so I probably won’t. Maybe later…

Thuseld wrote:

I love the aesthetic of the universe and would play mine like that, but I also want to have Firefly-esque wild west planets.

I decided long ago that I can’t just game one type of sci-fi setting. So I buy sci-fi figures of all sorts and accept that some of them don’t get to be in the same game unless I’m throwing stylistic integrity out the window. Terrain building can be tricky (trying to strike a golden mean to suit every variety of sci-fi), but it’s the life I’ve chosen 

[Thuseld]

I just watched the Eden Prime encounter. It makes me want to get my gaming rig working and install this again. But time and money are also a factor for me.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Rhoderic]

I suppose that by choosing to watch this playthrough, I’m committing as much time into it as it would take to just play the game myself. But still, if I had a console or a gaming rig, I’d feel compelled to spend even more time with it, playing more games to get my money’s worth. That’s something I’m spared watching Youtube playthroughs. So far I’ve watched maybe 1-2 a year, although I may increase that pace for a period to come as I want to see the whole Mass Effect trilogy and a few of the other games mentioned in this thread (Borderlands looks intriguing in its weirdness, and the Starcraft universe has been on my radar for a while).

One thing to keep in mind about playthrough/walkthrough videos is that one must find videos that suit one’s own style. I’m of a meticulous personality when it comes to exploring RPG gameworlds, so I nearly get an ulcer when a player just runs past rooms and NPCs so as to quickly reach the next action segment. Other people may find “my” style yawn-inducing, and prefer the more impatient, action-hungry style (like THIS playthrough, which is the first one I started to watch, and which incidentally also demonstrates good use of a sniper-style player character). Likewise, some people may not share my disdain of player commentary, or they may even find it entertaining to listen to the player chatting with himself/herself all through the game (although some of these players frankly have troglodyte attitudes). It can take a bit of trial and error to find the “right” playthrough.

Ultimately, playthrough/walkthrough videos are far, far from perfect. Games are ideally meant to be played, not watched, and many (most?) people probably find all gameplay videos frustrating to watch regardless of play style. But they have some “soft value” advantages going for them, if one is inclined to put any stock in those values. I hope that, as video games keep gaining ground as a “legitimate medium”, playthrough videos also gain ground, because not everyone can commit to being a gamer themselves but it’s a shame to completely miss out on a whole medium.

[Rhoderic]

So, having been made wise to Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak thanks to another TWW thread, I’ve been watching a playthrough of that over the weekend. I have to say, it’s a great-looking game. The storyline is also enjoyable, but I especially find the game inspirational for its “techy” sci-fi aesthetic (you know, that “modern classic” Homeworld vibe that turned a lot of heads when the first game of the series was released back in ’99), and for the realistic desert environments. The latter are quite monotonous (there isn’t even any plant life), but intentionally so and to good effect. It goes to prove one of my own convictions when it comes to world building: That sometimes, to make a setting more interesting, you have to exclude more stuff, not include more of it. Exclusions are limitations, limitations are borders, borders are contours, contours are shapes. A setting that excludes stuff is a setting that has a distinct shape. Deserts of Kharak is commitedly and exclusively a “desert game”, and all the more atmospheric for it. To me as a terrain-building enthusiast, each battlefield is like a separate, subtly different study in eremology, geology and aeolian processes. It’s clear someone put a lot of work into studying and emulating all the intricacies of real Earth (and probably Mars) deserts when they developed this game.

I’ve also been watching gameplay of No Man’s Sky, albeit very casually with a lot of skipping forward past the parts that don’t interest me. I can kind of see why this game turned out to be so anticlimactic for most of the video gaming community (or so I hear). It is monotonous, and I mean that in an entirely negative sense this time. I’m watching it for one reason only, namely to get concrete inspiration for alien flora and fauna for miniature gaming purposes. In that sense it’s interesting enough (assuming, again, that one skips past all the boring bits, like the space travel and the trading), though I’ll probably have had my fill of it soon. The plants and animals haven’t begun to look terribly repetitive just yet, but I’m sure they will soon enough. It’s all very outlandish and probably (I hazard to guess) not believable from a xenobiologist’s point of view, for better or worse.

I also mean to get back to Mass Effect, and to give the Borderlands and Starcraft games some of my attention.

I’m still also looking for more suggestions for games to watch. Sci-fi, fantasy, historical, whatever. Anything that’s inspirational to a wargamer, or even just anything with a good storyline that “must” be experienced.

[Mike]

Rhoderic wrote:

Sci-fi, fantasy, historical, whatever. Anything that’s inspirational to a wargamer, or even just anything with a good storyline that “must” be experienced.

The Last of Us – Best video game Eva. Average shooter, but most excellent story.
Gears of War – Start at the first and play your way through.

[Rhoderic]

Mike wrote:

Rhoderic wrote:

Sci-fi, fantasy, historical, whatever. Anything that’s inspirational to a wargamer, or even just anything with a good storyline that “must” be experienced.

The Last of Us – Best video game Eva. Average shooter, but most excellent story. Gears of War – Start at the first and play your way through.

We’ve been over TLOU already . Excellent story, I agree. The trailer for the sequel has me very nervous. There’s speculation in the fan community that Joel has died and in the trailer we’re just seeing his “ghost” as imagined by Ellie. I’m not emotionally equipped to handle that .

I’ll put Gears of War on the list. It’s yet more sci-fi, but I don’t mind. Still, some fantasy and historical stuff would be fun as well.

Having kept watching No Man’s Sky, I’m starting to have mixed feelings about it now. It does have plenty of shortcomings and drawbacks, but I’m getting a slight hankering to play it myself just to get to explore all those alien landscapes in my own steady pace, studying every new piece of flora, fauna and unusual geology up close for miniature wargaming inspiration. If I owned a PS4 or a gaming rig already, I’d probably buy NMS at this point. But as it is, I can’t afford the outlay.

[Mike]

Rhoderic wrote:

I’ll put Gears of War on the list. It’s yet more sci-fi, but I don’t mind. Still, some fantasy and historical stuff would be fun as well.

It has the best bromance of gaming eva, and the story is kind of OK too.

 

Rhoderic wrote:

There’s speculation in the fan community that Joel has died and in the trailer we’re just seeing his “ghost” as imagined by Ellie. I’m not emotionally equipped to handle that

 

Nooooo… can’t be coping with that either.

[Thuseld]

I refuse to play The Last of Us. Mainly because I did not have a console at the time, but also because having watched the first 2 hours on YouTube I decided I didn’t want that emotional trauma in my life.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Rhoderic]

I hope I won’t annoy the rest of the TWW community keeping this thread alive with updates on what I’ve been catching up on. I’ve watched (with a lot of forward-skipping) a playthrough of the first Starcraft game and its expansion. Even though the gameplay strikes me as excruciatingly rote in the long run (rather like what I remember of playing Warcraft and Warcraft 2 back in the day) and I don’t care for the abstraction nor some of the concessions of realism (units being different scales, military forces having to gather hocus-pocus resources as part of front-line warfare, etc), the story is interesting enough and I must admit to having a strange fascination with the Starcraft universe in regard to theme, mood and aesthetic. It’s also just made me realise the 15mm Hydra Miniatures Akarr that I already own are obviously meant to be imitations of Protoss (how in the name of Adun did I miss that fact earlier??). I’ve now gotten started with Starcraft 2 and it’s looking much cooler so far.

Meanwhile I’ve been getting a hankering for some fantasy to break the relative monotony of sci-fi, and for some reason I felt drawn to the Castlevania series specifically. I’ve started from the very beginning (the primitive old NES games) but fortunately those early games didn’t take very long to watch through and some of the bitpop music is very catchy. (Castlevania 2 still wasn’t worth the time, but ah well). I aim to get at least as far as Symphony of the Night, where it seems to me the Castlevania aesthetic really starts to come into its own with the delectably Yoshitaka Amano-esque visual style of Ayami Kojima. I rather do enjoy that uniquely Japanese interpretation of western-style dark fantasy (even if it is nowadays considered somewhat passé due to having become strongly associated with turn-of-the-millennium goth subculture, but I digress).

Another fantasy game that I really need to check out is Journey. From screenshots, it looks astonishingly inspirational.

 

Thuseld wrote:

I refuse to play The Last of Us. Mainly because I did not have a console at the time, but also because having watched the first 2 hours on YouTube I decided I didn’t want that emotional trauma in my life.

Funnily, TLOU is almost the only zombie (or pseudo-zombie as the case may be) apocalypse story that my body hasn’t rejected. It’s rough going at times when the story takes some anguish-inducing dark turns, but ultimately I find it to be a more beautiful and humanistic saga than anything else I’ve ever watched, read or played in the post-apoc genre.

Still, I may not be able to handle watching or playing TLOU 2. Some things are just too sacred to mess around with 

[Mike]

When playing the game, upon completion it unlocks a mini game set before Ellie gets infected, have you watched that?

[Rhoderic]

Mike wrote:

When playing the game, upon completion it unlocks a mini game set before Ellie gets infected, have you watched that?

To my shame, not yet. The Left Behind DLC hadn’t been released yet when I watched the original walkthroughs. I have read the American Dreams comic that helps set the scene for Left Behind, though.

Are you aware of the TLOU easter egg in Uncharted 4? It seems to be a very significant hint about what’s been going on with Ellie since the end of TLOU, and what TLOU 2 may be about.

Which reminds me, I am interested in the Uncharted games as well.

[Mike]

Rhoderic wrote:

Which reminds me, I am interested in the Uncharted games as well.

I don’t play them but Samantha does.

[Thuseld]

I have two new entries: Xcom Enemy Unknown and Xcom 2. I can’t say there is an overarching storyline that is amazing: aliens invading the planet/aliens have set up a puppet human government, but I cannot stop watching.

It is a turn based squad level (4-6 soldiers) tactical game. There is also a base management aspect, researching to improve stuff, looking after the panic levels of the world. It is like watching tabletop Wargames at times, and you end up getting attached to the soldiers. It is really sad when they die, great when they sage the day, and just generally is enjoyable. I watch Christopher Odd’s let’s play.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Michael Campbell]

If you’re looking for something different in a game viewing experience, I would point you to playthroughs of one of my favorite games of all time: Brutal Legend. if you’re unfamiliar with it (and that’s no surprise, it’s kind of a cult game) Imagine an old-school fantasy hacky-slashy adventure, but with all the imagery drawn from 1980’s heavy Metal album covers…

[Ivan Sorensen]

If you don’t mind the aged graphics, I would suggest watching through a play of the original Unreal.

it had a strange, ethereal atmosphere that really hasn’t been seen much since.
I always wanted something like it in a tabletop gaming set up.

[Author]

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