A long-ass time ago, I believe in the late 1990s, there was an ad for either a magazine or a website, I can't remember for sure, that reviewed video games, and claimed that theirs was the best source for Girls (included a picture of Lara Croft, since people still cared about Tomb Raider then), Guns (a necessity for the survival of the video game industry), and Games (obvious). Guns won't feature too heavily into today's entry, but two other things will.
Part One
Longplays. What's a longplay?
It's essentially a Let's Play of a video game, but with no commentary, and it's not a speedrun either. Longplays show everything that can be done in a game in a single video. True to their name, they are long, sometimes several hours long. I've known about longplays for a little bit since Retsupurae rips on longplays of Sega CD games (how 'bout that riff of Earnest Evans, guys? Fuckin' hilarious! I love games of the early 90s), but I've never actually tried to watch any until now.
For example, do any of you remember the Amiga game Another World, AKA Out Of This World? I never played it, even though there was an SNES port. (my loss, I know.) But I saw the longplay, and I can understand its importance in game history. That's what's great about longplays; even if it's a game on a system you can't run, or can't emulate on your computer, you could still experience it in video form. Heck, you don't even have to go through the frustration of playing the game and dying a thousand times to see the ending! I can see myself old, and unable to play games properly anymore, but still watching longplays of favorite games of mine to relive them.
The easiest place to watch longplays is here. Aside from Another World, I also watched a little bit of the cult classic Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, both the PC-Engine original, and the PSP remake. I'd like to actually play that someday, but it's nice to be able to compare it to other Castlevanias for now.
Now, not every game in the world has been longplayed yet. I already checked; I can't find any Touhou ones out there, nor any visual novels either. But you can watch the classic LucasArts adventure games of the 1990s on that channel. Ah yeah. The video game artform will never die now!
Part Two
Guess what I started playing again? Little Busters.
I completed the routes for Kud and Mio, but their routes were boring, and really burned me out, for two months straight according to the save games timestamps. Well, in spite of that, I completed the Yuiko route earlier today, well, okay, I meant the Kurugaya route, since she hates being called Yuiko.
It's the best route yet.
It didn't play out anything like a typical Key story. It subverted me completely, and I loved it for it! Of course, those "fans" on VNDB acted like hers was the worst, said the ending sucked. That's horseshit. I like Kurugaya now more than ever, and I'm more psyched for LB more than ever! I just gotta do the Common route, then wait for the final patch, then I can see the true route of the game! But gawd, why are otakus so damn hard to please with endings? I know I've complained about that before, but mark my words; I'm gonna get back at them in a youtube video eventually, on this very subject. It is inevitable.
Anyways, Little Busters, uh, you know, I'm on the fence regarding Rin. (Rin Natsume, not Rin Tohsaka.) Now . . . I can't decide if I find her Moderately Cute, or Insanely Cute. I'm on the fence with her. If I finish the game 100%, maybe I'll know for sure then.
Oh, speaking of visual novels, aside from Umineko, and aside from Key's own Rewrite, did you know there's one other VN out there that I want to try out? You wanna know what it is?
Ever Forever: A Fairy Tale of the Two.
There is an official translation int he works, so I'm curious to see what will unfold. As for LB, I should have the Common Route finished later this week. Until then, I leave you a quote from my favorite character from LB:
"KINNIKU KINNIKU!"
LATE EDIT: Oh man, you have to see my reaction to the "common route". Just hit the "newer post" button to find it! Oh god; my reaction is exactly like a scene from LB itself!
