Watched a play through of a game and now I don't feel like playing it

[Weasel Fierce]

I was watching the very good Eye of the Beholder playthroughs by JemyM in preparation for trying to beat the games myself.
But after completing the videos I realized I had no interest at all in doing it myself anymore.

Does this happen to any of you?

[gimbal]

In fact... I often watch longplays BECAUSE I don't want to play the game myself There is a fine line between liking a game and wanting to play it (again).

Case in point: I played Legend of Kyrandia again. I played Legend of Kyrandia 3 again. And then I started to play Legend of Kyrandia 2 again... but switched to just watching a longplay instead. I severely dislike the puzzle design of that game, even though the characters are fun and it has some good jokes. Fun to watch, not fun to play.

Lands of Lore 2 (and 3). At the time I was really impressed with those games. Nowadays you have to be forgiving because there is some questionable (voice)acting in it and the blend of video footage and 3D graphics never really worked well. And the combat system is a button masher, basically. But still, lots to find and explore in them, even the first cave of LOL2 is filled to the brim with secrets to hunt. But... it takes hours upon hours to complete them, they're so impressively huge. I can't. I just can't.

[TCD]

If I watch a playthrough video, I won't play the game So I don't watch many gameplay videos anymore. Used to watch a lot of 'Let's Play' type of videos and then noticed that it just makes me skip playing that game.

[jotd]

When I watch a movie, then in the end I don't want to watch the movie

I use longplays only partially, to see the ending, or how to succeed in a given level, or just how to start. some games can be so illogical at times (Zool level 2.2...).

Or also to see if I didn't miss any secrets.

Or to see if the longplayer has missed a secret so I can lambast him in YT comments

[Weasel Fierce]

Hah, thats fair guys

[rothers]

I watch playthroughs to experience the game all the time. Mostly I think I'd not enjoy them but I did enjoy watching them.

The only Amiga games I tend to play these days are the ones which stand up and are still fun in 2022.

Qwak (I wish it had an ending and didn't just crash) & Wizkid I play through about once every 4 years.

Most other games I now find slow and boring and it's wild I loved them back in the day.

[Aardvark]

Originally Posted by Weasel Fierce

I was watching the very good Eye of the Beholder playthroughs by JemyM in preparation for trying to beat the games myself.
But after completing the videos I realized I had no interest at all in doing it myself anymore.

EOB1 is pretty short and easy for a dungeon crawler, but these days i wouldn't want to play one without automapper, luckily CFou managed to implement automapper in his EOB AGA versions.

[malko]

I usually do not watch long play/play through as I prefer to discover a game by myself. The only reason I may not follow this rule is if I get stuck for a long moment without clue to progress. But even then I pass the long play to reach the specific point that interest me (and do not watch the rest).
When I have completed a game I may then watch it to, like jotd, check if secrets have been missed.

[Anubis]

I usually don't have issues watching someone play game or longplay / playthrough. Couple of times those actually made me get the game and try it myself. (for example Retro's playthrough of Project X and Robocop 2 arcade (still could not manage to make it on one coin, while he can ) Recently I watched a lot of videos regarding Dyson Sphere Program, including speed runs and learned quite a bit about the game from those videos.

Sometimes I would watch Twitch.tv and then replay the same game I saw someone else playing, which reminds me, I need to get Red Card for NGC (Turtlewax85 was playing it and looks like fun version of soccer to try )

[ImmortalA1000]

I only watch longplays to check out the coding/graphics/audio for the entire game quickly. If it passes the 'console quality' test then I give it a go myself.

Longplays don't really help you half the time if you want to know how to play a game. Some do, they have explanations (Wizardry and Back to the Future on C64 longplays have pop-up messages edited over the gameplay footage IIRC).

[drHirudo]

I create longplays, but don't watch longplays, because every game I start playing has already several longplays on YouTube.

If I go to check the longplays, it is because I am stuck or the game version I play is somehow broken, so I have to check and find a better (fully working) version.

[ImmortalA1000]

If a game looked like it was done really well I would stick it on the SD card and play it on a real C64 but often that doesn't happen. I would do the same with any other format if I can play it on real hardware with a Euromax Zipstik but limited to just Amstrad or C64 right now. Still have to sort out a Gotek in an external drive casing to write out some real disks on my A1000.

[EctoOne]

I normally watch playthroughs of games I either don't want to play or already have played but maybe not finished.
Can't say if there ever was a case where watching a playthrough discouraged me to play a game I wanted to play someday.

But thanks for the tip with the EoB playthrough, I'm watching it right now. I was thinking of playing it again, as far as I remember I have never beaten the first game. I think I've seen at least the MindFlayers back in the day, but those weird elephant looking things on the same level I don't recognize at all. Same with the whole last level, the golems are totally new to me. But I somehow remembered the death of Xanathar. Was there a scene of that in the second game? Because I have finished that, and I have just started to watch the playthrough of it. And I'm actually really excited to see the third game, I've never seen anything of that.

[Predseda]

I only watch longplays if I am stuck somewhere for too long.

[dreamkatcha]

They're perfect for re-living point-and-click adventure games without all the frustration and guesswork. Think of it as watching the movie adaptation that never happened.

[gimbal]

Yes although I must say I've been having fun replaying some of them. It's been long enough that I have forgotten a lot about them, but because I've been there before I can usually poke through moon logic quicker.

[lordofchaos]

This has become somewhat of a modern phenomenon.. I like to watch people playing games I've completed myself or have no intention of playing.. It can also be fun seeing how people tackle things differently.

[Karlos]

I just watched a playthrough of Ganymed on shit game time and I definitely don't want to play that, lol.

[Arne]

When it comes to modern PC games where I'm really just more curious about the story, scenes and graphics... in the past I might've been tempted to buy a spectacle game, but not now.

However, when it comes to the type of games I'm most interested in playing (and actually buy), then let's-plays are more likely to either augment my playing experience (e.g. Dwarf Fortress), or be dreadfully boring (certain mouse / strategy titles like Master of Orion, Utopia, Frontier). It's difficult & laborious to narrate these games. Exposing decision thought process here is kinda key.

Because I'm only superficially interested in other types of games I'd rather watch a let's-play. Nowadays I'm not likely to play any of the joystick titles on the Amiga, with maybe 5-10 exceptions... like Volfied which I played through just yesterday.

[dreamkatcha]

What do we prefer, longplays with commentary or without? I think it can add a lot of value, but so few people are able to do it in a way that's both entertaining and informative. Often you see the face of the player and they're just making noises from time to time so may as well not be there.

Xyphoe is a great example from the opposite end of the spectrum. Not scripted, yet with a rough plan and the knowledge and personality to back it up. Shame he just focuses on Amstrad games.