General Web Series Thread (YouTubers, LPs, Vloggers Etc)

[Hobo]

I interviewed Lisa from The Room.

[TKz]

I saw Spoony did a new review of Final Fantasy XIII. I thought I'd check it out as his FF review was the thing that got me into the whole youtube culture thing in the first place. It started out promising, then he started picking holes in stupid stuff. WHY DOES THIS ROBOT MAKE GRR NOISES. WHY DOES IT HAVE THIS STYLIZED WEAPON AND NOT A LASER GUN?!

It's a fucking Final Fantasy game. There's plenty to complain about already, why spend time pointing out unrealistic parts of the game in a FINAL FANTASY GAME.

Aaaand now he's complaining about Save Points and Treasure Chests ruining his immersion. I'm out.

[LittleDaniel]

Hobo, use your internet reviewer powers to make NChick make a new video already!

[Skummy]

I saw Spoony did a new review of Final Fantasy XIII. I thought I'd check it out as his FF review was the thing that got me into the whole youtube culture thing in the first place. It started out promising, then he started picking holes in stupid stuff. WHY DOES THIS ROBOT MAKE GRR NOISES. WHY DOES IT HAVE THIS STYLIZED WEAPON AND NOT A LASER GUN?!

It's a fucking Final Fantasy game. There's plenty to complain about already, why spend time pointing out unrealistic parts of the game in a FINAL FANTASY GAME.

Aaaand now he's complaining about Save Points and Treasure Chests ruining his immersion. I'm out.

I've not watched the latest instalment, but I've been enjoying his XIII review. I don't think there's anything wrong with him picking up on the problems with conventions of the genre; there's a lot of humour in pointing out logical flaws in things we just take for granted. Treasure chests and save points are weird.

Yeah, he nitpicks too much, but I don't really see it as a dealbreaker. He's got a very definite idea of what an RPG "should" be, and how it should function according to its own internal logic. Final Fantasy XIII falls short in a lot of those areas, and I find it to be a bit much more interesting, and potentially thought-provoking, discussion than "it's too linear! This bit goes on for too long!", which is the main criticism of XIII everywhere else.

[TKz]

It falls short for me in a lot of ways. At one point he complains about Lightning taking on a giant warmech by herself, comparing her to Solid Snake needing at least a few stinger missiles to take down a Metal Gear. That's my problem with it, Final Fantasy as a whole has never taken itself that seriously when it comes to the gameplay elements. Sure, you can complain that the enemy types are fucking weird and why are there swords when everyone has a gun. But take that sort of fun stuff away from it and the game loses half of it's charm. I want ridiculous Metal Behemoths that stand on two legs midway through the battle for NO REASON and this suddenly heals them in my Final Fantasy. Stuff like that is part of what I love about this series. If you're going to complain about that, you have to complain about series staples like Cactuars, Tonberrys and Chocobo's, which're some of my favorite recurring elements of the game.

I think there's a discussion to be had about gameplay elements that can ruin immersion in video games. But it's silly to try and apply that thought process to RPG's, because as a whole, they're completely illogical. Turn based battle systems, treasure chests, save points, weird enemies and so on are weird, but that's what I want in my Final Fantasy game. And I'm pretty sure those things are parts of what a lot of other people love about the series too.

I guess I just don't agree with his idea of what an RPG "should" be. And I didn't really enjoy Final Fantasy XIII at all.

It also kind of bugs me that he's like LOL IT GETS WORSE GUYS FFXIII-2! When I'd probably say XIII-2 is the best Final Fantasy game since X or X-2. (which, again, I find to be a genuinely good game.) It's essentially FFXIII if they fixed damn near everything that was wrong about it.

[Skummy]

But take that sort of fun stuff away from it and the game loses half of it's charm. I want ridiculous Metal Behemoths that stand on two legs midway through the battle for NO REASON and this suddenly heals them in my Final Fantasy. Stuff like that is part of what I love about this series. If you're going to complain about that, you have to complain about series staples like Cactuars, Tonberrys and Chocobo's, which're some of my favorite recurring elements of the game.

See, I disagree with this. We're accepting that this takes place in a "fantasy" world, so I don't see how the series regular creatures; Moogles, Cactuars, Tonberrys, Chocobos and so on, can be seen as the same issue as "this creature acts in a way that doesn't make sense". You establish that Cactuars exist in this world. That's not an issue. No one's saying "Final Fantasy games shouldn't feature any magic or fantasy elements".

And stuff like how monsters behave in battle I think is just lazy development - ultimately, almost any "monster" in an RPG is effectively an animal that exists in that RPG's world, and its behaviour should reflect that. Just explain why something works, or why a monster behaves in a certain way, rather than just "it's cured itself now". Hell, even "it did it by magic" is an adequate explanation considering we have established that magic exists in this universe.

I think there's a discussion to be had about gameplay elements that can ruin immersion in video games. But it's silly to try and apply that thought process to RPG's, because as a whole, they're completely illogical. Turn based battle systems, treasure chests, save points, weird enemies and so on are weird, but that's what I want in my Final Fantasy game. And I'm pretty sure those things are parts of what a lot of other people love about the series too.

Again, "weird enemies" don't fall into the same category, for me, as treasure chests and save points. "Weird enemies" can be very easily justified as being the fauna of the world the games take place in - this world has dragons and cactus people and sentient demon houses? Okay, that's fine. Even treasure chests, in most games, are a bit silly, but you can at least justify their existence. The problem isn't that Final Fantasy XIII includes treasure chests - a staple part of the RPG genre - but that the "treasure chests" it includes are these weird ill-defined sphere things that are clearly only there as a gameplay mechanic. There's no attempt to make it seem like these are items of any practical purpose in the world the game takes place in, and that is an immersion issue.

[TKz]

I can agree with that, but I don't really see an easy fix for that. Would a box in the middle of nowhere really break immersion any less? It's been an immersion issue in every game to ever feature them. Why did someone randomly leave an treasure chest here? Why does it have a pair of leather chaps in it? Why do these protect me more?

Eh, I mean none of this stuff bothers me is why I couldn't get on with the review. Obviously that's different for each person, but I've never really been one to worry about immersion in my RPG's. At the end of the day, you usually spend so much time in a menu organizing stat boosts that I don't really fret these sort of things ruining my immersion.

I did appreciate him "taking it all back" when it came to FFVIII. As a guy that's defended that game for years, it was refreshing to see someone that's not had much positive to say about it come around on it a little, even if the only reason for it is "well, it's not Final Fantasy XIII".

[Hobo]

Hobo, use your internet reviewer powers to make NChick make a new video already!

I'll try to contact her using that secret internet reviewer hive mind power, but she never returns my calls

Been watching a lot of her back catalogue recently and never noticed how many episodes she sings in: Little Mermaid (that one contains some super-Lupa autotuning,), Newsies, The Chipmunk crossover with Doug, Les Miserables, Moulin Rouge.

And I remembered this wonderful missing the point TGWTG Secrets post about her Reality Bites video.

However, I am filming a new video tonight! Literary History Month will end slightly over a month after it began!

[Skummy]

WHY WAS THAT WOLF I JUST KILLED CARRYING FIFTY GOLD COINS FUCK THIS GAME

[Hobo]

Hobo, use your internet reviewer powers to make NChick make a new video already!

I totally did.

[Hobo]

Literary History Month ends with me reading James Joyce's dirty letters!

[Hobo]

Kyle Kallgren is back with a Between The Lines on Honey Boo Boo!

In other news, Film Brain's really obvious sharp in takes of breath are slightly distracting. I don't know if he has a new microphone or if he's trying to speak super fast but I am actually worried by that breathing cause I've managed to hurt myself trying to speak too fast on recording VO.

[Hobo]

And a new epsiode of The Obscure's Memory Lane

[Hobo]

http://blip.tv/renegadecut/21-that-one-movie-6586712

Renegade Cut -That One Movie.

Featuring: The Cinema Snob, Welshy, Foldable Human Being, Count Jackula and The Unemployed Historian.

[Hobo]

Welshy has handed in his notice to TGWTG and is seemingly withdrawing from the Internet as a whole.

[ROC]

Blip just installed a system where they have a freeze frame message for 90 seconds on AdBlock. Problem is, I'd rather have a giant 90 second ad than spreading the ad breaks around one or two spots. But I like the people and I feel awful that I probs took some revenue, so whatever, turned off the AdBlock.

[Hobo]

Yeah, that's been literally all I've been hearing about for a week.

Blip has been fiddling with ad settings for a while, which actually caused ads not to be showing up for a while on some people's videos

I make pittance off of my videos but I'll take what revenue I can get.

[Hobo]

My and my collaborator's Favorite and Least Favorite moments of year one of Unemployed Historian

[Hobo]

We tried the limited edition Tayto Cheese and Onion Crisp Chocolate

[King Ellis]

The problem I have with AdBlock is that ads are never consistent. I wouldn't mind if it was just 'Here's a 15 second clip' or 'Here's an ad but you can skip it'. From site to site you can go from 30 second ads to something stupid like 'arrange these puzzle pieces correctly'. Then you have 30 second ads for like a 45 second video. Plus you have to sit through them all again anyway if the video runs into a problem or if you accidentally click away or something.

Plus, I realise that it's not really viable because it's sort of encouraging people to be fraudulent with the ads and this info is probably readily avaible, but I'd like to know exactly how people are getting paid if I do watch the ad. If I skip it, do they get nothing? Same for if I watch it all the way through but don't actually click through to it? Stuff like that.