Starting Let's Play. Would like some constructive criticism.

[InsaneFeels]

Hey guys!

A few friends and I are in the process of a Let's Play of Katawa Shoujo. The main person reading has studied voice acting and improv, so hopefully the end product is well read. Along with some funny side commentary, I'm hoping the series become very fun to watch.

I'm aware that there have probably been many posts like these over the years, so instead of simply asking to watch, I'd like some input.

What is the strongest element of the playthrough? What is the weakest? What would you recommend we add/remove to improve the experience?

Here's a link to the first episode:



I personally think episodes 9-11 provides the best first impression of the series, so if you don't want to make a huge commitment, I'd recommend those. I'll provide the link to episode 9 below:



If you took the time to look at this, thank you very much for your time. Here's hoping for a nice discussion.

[Zarys]

CHOOSE HANAKO

[Potato]

KS-specific criticism: NO NO NO DO NOT DO THIS STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

Certain things are just not meant to be LP'd. KS is one of them. Just don't.

General criticism: That said, though many of your voices are still awful (not really a spoiler ahead) (Studied voice acting, did he? Great. Now study "voices that aren't annoying". Misha, in particular, is grating. I do like the take on Yuuko though. Though, as a rule, I am categorically against any voice-acting of Katawa Shoujo as it ruins a good chunk of the experience by depriving players/viewers of the freedom to impose their own voice choices on the cast), you are less obnoxious than the usual KS LPer by orders of magnitude and bits of it were at least amusing. (I like the joke plane.)

In short, quit LP'ing Katawa Shoujo immediately but feel free to continue LP'ing something else. You're not entertaining enough to subscribe to but you are entertaining enough to watch sometimes (or put on as background chatter) in the absence of new interesting uploads from my subs.

At most, I can say that you're like a lite version of GameGrumps or Two Best Friends Play which is reasonably good feedback all things considered.

At the mid-ground, I can say "Thank you for not being one of those twats who uploads fifteen solid minutes of repeated fail-deaths in Super Meat Boy where the only commentary is resigned grunting and muttering and cursing."

At the least, I can say "At least you're not Markiplier or that nuisance from Sweden."

[metalangel]

I laughed a lot during the Iwanako scene (I'm still alive down here!), only thing I'd say is improve your pronunciation of some of the words and names. Doing the stupid voices is part of the general silly atmosphere you've got going throughout. Good fun

[CoffeeDrive]

KS-specific criticism: NO NO NO DO NOT DO THIS STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

In general KS isnt a game to lets play, playing the game yourself and not knowing whats going to happen is the only way to really experience it.

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, I'll try to make this the most constructive I can: Don't make a Let's Play of Katawa Shoujo!

And because I want to be constructive I'll tell you why:

There's aboslutely no reason to do such a thing. A Let's Play is a nice thing to
a) have a look at a game to decide whether it is worth your money or
b) when you have decided a game is not worth your money but you want to have a look at it anyway.

Katawa Shoujo doesn't cost any money! Heck the bandwidth for downloading it is only a fraction of all the youtube videos of a Let's Play.

And when you download it and read it yourself you get the benefit of not having to listen to that irritating and juvenile voiceover. Honestly you and your friend(s?) joking and giggling while Hisao is having his heart attack is killing every bit of immersion and atmosphere 4LS worked so hard to put in there. I don't even want to know what you did to romantic scenes or - heaven forbid - the H-scenes.

And why are you reading the text out loud to your watchers in the first place? Assume they can't read? It's right there on the screen in front of them. I can sort of understand why some Let's Players do this in some games when the script is too small to read on the video, but that's clearly not an issue here.

Finally, if someone installs the VN and reads it himself, they can continue at their own pace and don't have to wait for you to get the voice right or finish doing jokes that don't have anything to do with the VN. It was easily legible without even toggling full screen.

So every aspect of watching KS as a Let's Play is an inferior experience to reading it yourself.

[d2r]

Off-topic for a bit; literally the only time I'd be interested in a KS scene reading is if it was something bizarre and off-the-wall that would either be fucking hysterical (e.g. Gilbert Gottfried) or creep the hell out of everyone (e.g. reading it in the voice of The Many from System Shock).

[Oddball]

Off-topic for a bit; literally the only time I'd be interested in a KS scene reading is if it was something bizarre and off-the-wall that would either be fucking hysterical (e.g. Gilbert Gottfried) or creep the hell out of everyone (e.g. reading it in the voice of The Many from System Shock).

To clarify this, this does not mean do a Let's Play with funny voices or creepy voices.

[d2r]

To clarify this, this does not mean do a Let's Play with funny voices or creepy voices.

Agreed. Nobody should do a Let's Play of KS.

Except Gilbert Gottfried.

[Oddball]

Agreed. Nobody should do a Let's Play of KS.

Except Gilbert Gottfried.

I'd have a larger list than that. Morgan freeman, Sly Stallone, Bobcat Goldthwait, Ben Stein ... the list goes on, but I'm willing to bet that nobody I'd want to listen to do this is a person that would actually want to do so.

[d2r]

Agreed. Nobody should do a Let's Play of KS.

Except Gilbert Gottfried.

I'd have a larger list than that. Morgan freeman, Sly Stallone, Bobcat Goldthwait, Ben Stein ... the list goes on, but I'm willing to bet that nobody I'd want to listen to do this is a person that would actually want to do so.

OK, point.

The problem with a Let's Play of a VN is that unless you are the kind of person who can read a story out loud and do it finely, entertainingly, and well (i.e. a professional audiobook narrator or something like that), then it's a bad idea.

To be more constructive - if you want to improve your storytelling abilities, I'd start by not attempting to exaggerate the characters' voices. Giving characters a distinct voice should only be done if you can do it without it grating; for instance, if you just speak in a high-pitched tone for Misha and Emi, you will piss everyone off really quickly. Speak naturally.

[Oscar Wildecat]

Agreed. Nobody should do a Let's Play of KS.

Except Gilbert Gottfried.

Kinda like Kenji doing KS Instafeels?

[Potato]

Agreed. Nobody should do a Let's Play of KS.

Except Gilbert Gottfried.

Kinda like Kenji doing KS Instafeels?

Oh look, it's the average KS Let's Play...

[d2r]

Agreed. Nobody should do a Let's Play of KS.

Except Gilbert Gottfried.

Kinda like Kenji doing KS Instafeels?

> Open video

> "Welcome-"

> Close video

Never again.

[Forever_ambivalent]

Agreed. Nobody should do a Let's Play of KS.

Except Gilbert Gottfried.

Kinda like Kenji doing KS Instafeels?

> Open video

> "Welcome-"

> Close video

Never again.

I forced myself to watch a minute of it.
I later got a headache
Just god no. It was godawful. It killed instafeels for me.
Never again.