LP Beach

This is a bit of an experiment, but, well... sometimes doing a full LP with thread isn't worth the .

That's where this thread comes in. If you're doing a casual LP or otherwise just messing around... why not put your stuff in here? People can see it, hang out, and chill!

Sonic Adventure and Adventure 2, while jank and haven't aged well, are generally liked among Sonic fans. This is the point where people really start to split: Sonic Heroes. While many fans who played it think of it fondly, it's a game where the awkward controls and camera, excess of unwanted characters, and sheer lack of polish really start to hit home. Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06 are more infamous disasters, but Heroes is where the hedgehog first lost his footing over that cliff.

This LP is broken down and cleaned up from casual livestreams I did on my Twitch as thanks for my Patreon patrons. Joining me on co-commentary is Mugiwara Yoshi/MugiStraw and JigglyJacob, returning from our previous Sonic streams.

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Team Sonic

Part 1: Team Sonic Destroy History

Part 2: Team Sonic Start a Blackout

Part 3: Team Sonic Are Too Young For This Prison

Part 4: Team Sonic Grind It

Part 5: Team Sonic Have Frog Nightmares for Weeks

Part 6: Team Sonic Take Two Days and Are Massively Truncated

Part 7: Team Sonic Hate Flying and Die

Extra: Parts 6-7 Outtakes


Team Dark

Part 8: Team Dark Cleanse the Palate

Part 9: Team Dark Play in Traffic

Part 10: Team Dark Lose it All at the Bingo Hall

Part 11: Team Dark Ruin Franklin

Part 12: Team Dark Date the Frog

Part 13: Team Dark Hit the Nadir

Part 14: Team Dark Fly Left Too Much and Die


Team Rose

Part 15: Team Rose Condescend

Part 16: Team Rose Slap the Belly

Part 17: Team Rose Die Mercifully Quickly


Team Chaotix

Part 18: Team Chaotix Crab it Up

Part 19: Team Chaotix Get Blacklisted from All Casinos

Part 20: Team Chaotix Crush Their Forties

Part 21: Team Chaotix Die For Vector's Sins


Last Story

Part 22 END: Team Last Story + Post Game Hangout


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Fanart

(By BrennaOkazaki)









(By KariTheEspeon)

Part 2: Team Sonic Start a Blackout

This was recorded before Halloween so the discussion is out of date. I did get around to streaming Jenny LeClue too, and it's still in-progress.

Part 3: Team Sonic Are Too Young For This Prison

A potent metaphor for gambling addiction.

Part 4: Team Sonic Grind It

I'm starting to think this game is a pain in my ass.

Sonic Heroes is objectively...kind of terrible. But I love it anyway because it was basically my childhood and there are occasional glimmers of competence.

Egg Albatross is incredibly obnoxious, yes, with finicky hitboxes and awkward projectiles. Definitely the worst level in the game. As for the rails...I dunno, I thought the constant use of Tails was kind of overkill and in fact led to a couple of deaths instead of preventing them. And while the next couple of levels are kind of underwhelming, I'm a big fan of everything that comes after those in terms of aesthetic.

Part 5: Team Sonic Have Frog Nightmares for Weeks

What is there to say in favor of Froggy?

Part 6: Team Sonic Take Two Days and Are Massively Truncated

Every LPer needs a break from Sonic.

Part 7: Team Sonic Hate Flying and Die

Let's celebrate their deaths by moving on to a better team and do all this horseshit a second time.

Double update today: some outtakes from parts 6-7 that I know some people would still want to see, and finally moving on to a new team with characters I like!

Extra: Parts 6-7 Outtakes


Team Dark

Part 8: Team Dark Cleanse the Palate


Plus another great piece of fanart from BrennaOkazaki showing what will happen to me once I'm finally done with this game.

Part 9: Team Dark Play in Traffic

How much you enjoy this part depends on how much you want to see a not-particularly-interesting level a second time.

Part 10: Team Dark Lose it All at the Bingo Hall

Shadow also wants to be a drunk idiot shouting at Patton Oswalt.

Part 11: Team Dark Ruin Franklin

I can only apologize for this part.

Part 12: Team Dark Date the Frog

My friends are weirdos.

Part 13: Team Dark Hit the Nadir

Oh, but don't worry, the last chunk of Team Dark levels suck too.

Also I forgot to share Brenna's frogwife fanart:

Part 14: Team Dark Fly Left Too Much and Die

This was a nightmare, but next time: an unexpected ray of sunshine!

Team Rose

Part 15: Team Rose Condescend

Finally, a length that seems reasonable! I still fuck it up though.

Part 16: Team Rose Slap the Belly

Everything's coming up Amy

Another great piece of fanart from Brenna!

Part 17: Team Rose Die Mercifully Quickly

It's a shame to see the weird girl go, but Team Chaotix is still less agonizing than the first two teams.

Team Chaotix

Part 18: Team Chaotix Crab it Up

They don't make a great second impression

New fanart by KariTheEspeon on Twitter! Very intense art representations of a couple of our stranger character tirades

I've spent most of my life having a bit of an aversion to RPG's. With a few exceptions, namely Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses, they were never really my thing. Now, one could say I've very much caught the JRPG bug. I've already done a full stream LP of the Crimson Flower route in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and I've since started playing games such as Fire Emblem: Awakening, Final Fantasy VII, Valkyria Chronicles, and Xenoblade Chronicles in my spare time, and the list of several-dozen-hour JRPG's I want to try is ever expanding.

My next step on my latest addiction is a game I've been wanting to play for ages after hearing such massive acclaim about it: Persona 5 Royal. I am completely unfamiliar with Persona, but the way this game oozes style at absolutely every opportunity really drew me in. Plus, the inclusion of P5's protagonist Joker in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which itself was packed with style and carefully crafted fanservice to the game, pushed my interest over the edge.

Other than a 2 hour play session I had to familiarize myself with the game's basic mechanic, I'm going into this casual stream let's play with no prior knowledge of the game or its plot. Luckily, I'm joined by MugiwaraYoshi/Mugistraw, who considers Persona 5 one of his favorite games, as well as Thornbrain who joined me through my Fire Emblem journey, and is only somewhat familiar with the game. I hope you'll join me as I experience this supposed masterpiece for the first time!

[Part 1 - Waking Up]

[Part 2 - Vulgar McBoy]

Part 19: Team Chaotix Get Blacklisted from All Casinos

This is a long one since I couldn't find a good stopping point that wasn't right between two connected levels.
Also it was accidentally set to go up at midnight instead of noon, woops

Another piece by Kari

[Part 2 - Vulgar McBoy]

What happens when the emperor, quite literally, has no clothes?

Part 20: Team Chaotix Crush Their Forties

Seems Espio's not the only one that goes invisible.

Part 21: Team Chaotix Die For Vector's Sins

Last of the team levels, and it's still not anywhere near the slog the first two teams were, but I'll be so glad to wrap this one up on Saturday.

Last Story

Part 22 END: Team Last Story + Post Game Hangout


That does it for Sonic Heroes! Shadow the Hedgehog is up next, but that will be a more standard, non-casual LP, so look out for its thread sometime in March.
In the meantime, Jacob and I also edited together a Best Of for our older Sonic 06 LP, to be premiered later today at 3PM Pacific. Come join us and laugh with the disaster that started this Sonic LP train in the first place.

DKC Unveiled was released in December 2020 by emptysys and it is yet another* full-scale conversion hack of DKC2. Like DKC2: The Lost Levels before it, Unveiled is clearly aiming for the Kaizo-lite style of difficulty, but unlike Lost Levels it actually seems to be decently designed...or at least good enough that V0oid actually ran it at AGDQ2021, if that's worth anything to you. FPzero and I have played the first world and a couple levels of the second, but after that we're flying blind so it should be a good time (FP has the editor if we need it, as usual). I definitely can't wait to spend the next five years attempting to finish whatever godawful creations are waiting in the Lost World.

*_{I say "another" as if there aren't like, 6 DKC hacks total and I've played all of them}

Updates

Part 1: Bountiful Traps

Urban Yeti! is a North American-exclusive action game released in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance by Cave + Barn Studios. Sold directly through mail and online orders through the developers, the game puts the player in the shoes of the titular Urban Yeti, a creature living in hiding amongst the humans of a bustling city, desperate for love and belonging. One day, while out on a stroll, he hears the call of a single female yeti, his chance to turn things around in life. Urban Yeti will do whatever it takes to prove he’s a suitable mate, and it’ll take all his cunning if he wants to find the girl of his dreams.

Cave + Barn was an odd developer, mostly known for their work on licensed titles. Their major original project before this, an FMV title called Duelin’ Firemen!, would never see the light of day, but displayed their interests as a game company in creating experimental and unconventional interactive experiences. Urban Yeti! would be the only original title the studio would release, but it spoke to their philosophy through its odd humor and eclectic gameplay. Urban Yeti!’s early GTA-style open world is really a hub for conflicting AIs to cause havoc while you navigate into awkward but charming minigames, which all help to push its strange story forward. The focus is definitely on its humor rather than truly coherent gameplay, but it finds a balance where the actual game is competent enough to enjoy.

I, ChorpSaway, and my friends TheJayOfSpade, Taoc and FutureFriend will be taking a journey through Urban Yeti! to marvel at what it is: a game unrestrained by things like marketability, that really speaks to a developer’s sense of expression.

If you’d like to know more about this game, I encourage you to check out this review from Bad Game Hall of Fame, which also does a deep dive into the history of Cave + Barn Studios and their other projects!

FINAL UPDATE TIME!



Just as quickly as we started our journey, it's time to seal the deal! Our proficiency at the yeti discus tournament has caught the eye of a single female yeti, but it'll take more than physical prowess to prove ourselves a worthy mate. First we have to brave the dangers of public transport to reach the suburbs, and make ourselves presentable once we get there. Then, it's time to prove we can match the female yeti's entrepreneurial skills, as we get introduced to her home business! Will the Urban Yeti be able to prove himself a suitable mate, or will love die here in the middle of the neighborhood?

Thanks for watching!

Let's Check Out Quarterback Attack with Mike Ditka

Madden may be the king of digital football, but in the early days of video games there was another personality who wanted to take him throne. Mike Ditka had a series of video games based around his likeness that may not have ever taken off in the same way that Madden did, but pushed for a more complicated and in-depth sports simulator. While not quite as advanced, Quarterback Attack is no less innovative, putting the player directly in the helmet of a new star quarterback and seeing if he can survive one big game of live-action FMV football madness! The amount of footage is staggering and helps to alleviate some of early FMV gaming's biggest shortcomings, while also being highly entertaining and responsive. Let's see if we have what it takes to stay in the big leagues as we dodge the defense, complete some passes, and try to keep Mike and the rest of the team happy with our performance!