Cheez's Let's Plays (Returning to New Super Marisa Land)

[cheez8]

So, yeah. I do some LP stuff. Also changing to a generic thread title so that I can maybe have the same one for more than three updates in a row.

CURRENT FIRST POST PRIORITY: Stuff. But I'm lazy, so you can probably find what I'm currently working on in my latest post.

--OLDER FIRST POST STUFF--

Currently, I'm in the process of LP'ing Wario Land 4. I'm also doing a co-op LP of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga with one of my friends, Anime. The first week's worth of videos:

Wario Land LP

M&L Co-Op LP

If anybody's wondering, yes, I do already have a thread for my LP's, but those were camcorder LP's that were just plain horrible, in my opinion. I actually stopped uploading for a while because whenever I started to edit a video for those early LP's, I would sort of get disgusted with them and lose motivation. I actually ended up creating an entirely new YouTube account to start off on a blank slate:

http://www.youtube.com/user/cheez8Productions

One final thing: there IS another string of videos that I'm uploading to my new channel. However, I'm not going to be linking to them in this thread, as I ended up using a camera for them too, since there wasn't any other way I could record them. If you want to, you can watch them. I won't stop you, partly because I feel that the videos are amusing enough to make up for the lack of quality. But don't expect them to have very good quality.

Anyway, enjoy!

[cheez8]

New update with about half of this week's videos, all of which were uploaded between 12:30 and 3:00 this morning! Hooray for insomnia!

M&L Parts 4 & 5

Wario Land 4 Part 3

Also, a bit of a problem with the next WL4 video: It hasn't been recorded. Well, technically, it's been recorded four times, but each time the recording failed somehow. In fact, this happened for both of the next two levels. Should I just move on and upload what's next in line for that series, or should I wait until I get a successful recording there to upload any more WL4 videos? I'd like any input I can get on this, since it's mainly going to affect you guys more than it will affect me.

Silly me, expecting responses. I guess I'll continue with the next WL4 videos that I have, since the week is coming to a close.

[cheez8]

Rest of this week's videos, in the form of dominoes!

LP Wario Land 4 Part: 7a 7b

[cheez8]

Alright, since my other LP's are on hold, I had to do something, so why not start an LP of New Super Marisa Land? And while I'm at it, why not LP it blindly, and collect all of the red stars?

I can now think of several reasonable answers to those questions, but I started this, and darn it, I'm carrying through with it. Here are the first two parts:

Part 1: Where I know what I'm doing
Part 2a: Where I spend like ten minutes (off camera) on a single star
Part 2b: Where I have trouble fighting a little girl

Something of note: Somehow, the in-game volume completely cancelled out my voice (well, not completely, but it's still barely audible.) So I'm using annotations for the commentary as of now...until the end of World 2. With that much of the game using annotations, I might as well keep them for the entire run.

[cheez8]

Ugh.

You know why these updates are so infrequent?

It's those stupid annotations. They take forever to set up. I spent nearly an hour just now on part 4a, and that isn't even nine minutes long. Plus, it's a water stage, so there's nothing to talk about in the first place. That said, please forgive me in advance for using them to go on a small rant in said section.
Part 3: Where impatient gods make me suffer
Part 4a: Where I have nothing to talk about, and rant instead

No part 4b yet. Annotations take a long time, and I won't be doing them again today.

EDIT: ...actually, I'm doing them again right now. The combination of the knowledge that the next level won't be a nondescript water level, a somewhat OCD-like irritation with having a Part 4a but not a Part 4b, and a very relaxing dinner have persuaded me to go ahead and do them. I actually don't mind them too much yet. Sure, I'm only about a minute in to the video... but hey, that's a decent-sized chunk of real-world time that I managed to stay happy through.

[Bean]

I will get around to watching this, but I want to say I understand because I do know how frustrating posting annotations can be. Last year, I'd space them apart decently, so it wasn't an issue. This year, I'm barely able to get everything in that I want to talk about. Agh!

[cheez8]

Hey, I actually managed to do some more annotations tonight! Here's the rest of part 4.
Part 4b: Where I fall in a hole a lot

I will get around to watching this, but I want to say I understand because I do know how frustrating posting annotations can be. Last year, I'd space them apart decently, so it wasn't an issue. This year, I'm barely able to get everything in that I want to talk about. Agh!

Yeah, making annotations is really a lot more time-consuming than I realized. I know I made it seem like something worse than it is in the video (Oh no, I have to PAUSE THE VIDEO!!! What horrors) but it is still true that that one video's annotations took me nearly an hour, so it certainly is tedious. And water stages just really don't help, since you have to say something, but there's nothing to say.

[cheez8]

Alright, I've been away for a while. But I'm back! And it's time to pick up where I left off.

M&L:SS Part 6

...What? New Super Marisa Land?

...

I don't know what you're talking about.

[cheez8]

HA! YES! FINALLY!

Okay, so for some reason, The Big Board and Doodle Woods kept refusing to be recording, forcing me to put the Wario Land 4 series on hold until I managed to record them. And after six tries, I finally did it. And I think they're actually some of my more enjoyable WL4 videos so far, surprisingly! Anyway, here are the videos for those two stages:

Part 4: The Big Board

Part 5a: Doodle Woods

Part 5b: Escaping Doodle Woods (yes, this managed to take up enough time for its own video)

[cheez8]

I forgot to link the last eleven videos that I uploaded! That said, here are the most recent four, which make up a bit of filler since I'm having trouble with my other projects:

Let's Replay Touhou 12: UFO (Normal) (post-commentary included)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Post-script

Anyway, this is my first time doing post-commentary like this, so it's a bit different from the usual live commentary. As for the other videos that I would have linked, they're still there on my channel, so they shouldn't be too hard to find. I also ask you to give me challenges in the P.S. If you want more details, just watch the video and/or read its description, that should be enough.

(As for the trouble I mentioned earlier, I'm at the point in my M&L videos where I have to go searching through three completely full 500-GB hard drives to find two certain video files, one of which does not even have a name relevant to the video it contains, and I've hit another brick wall in WL4, although this one is in the actual game and not due to recording problems.)

So, yeah, that's it for this long-overdue update. If I keep having trouble with my other projects, you can expect another one of these soon, probably of PCB or IN. But that's later, not now.

[cheez8]

I thought I already linked this here, but apparently not. Anyway, here's part 12 of my Wario Land 4 LP: The Monsoon Jungle Trilogy!

Part 12a: First Impressions
Part 12b: The Middle Part
Part 12c: The Final Piece

Hooray, enough material to fill three videos! (Actually, if I hadn't sped up the final attempts and the recordings hadn't failed for the third, fourth, and fifth attempts, I could probably fill almost ten videos. But I decided that nobody really needed all that.)

Anyway, new stuff should hopefully be up soon, although due to me not having had access to all of the material that I need for the next M&L:SS video for a month or two, I think I'm going to switch over to my New Super Marisa Land playthrough for a bit. Hopefully I won't need to use any more annotations, but it will be a bumpy road for a bit while I play through a level that I've beaten already for about the fortieth time while getting used to the controls again...

[cheez8]

I'm back to LP'ing New Super Marisa Land! Yeah, I've run into a brick wall with my other LP's... but hey, at least you can hear my voice this time! Anyway, here's this video! Gotta say, though... I really hate that level. On my first take (the one from a few months ago without my voice) I probably entered it at least fifteen times, if not more, and then had to go through and edit all of that footage. Worse yet, since I game over'd on the next level without saving, all of my progress on that level was erased. I think I have a valid reason to be sick of that level by now.

Also, don't you just hate it when you get your Run and Mix buttons jumped up?

[gamercal]

One thing strikes me as odd with your videos. I only ever hear your video through my left earphone. I have no idea why, but it's really silly! And annoying actually, cause I always think my earphones are broken xP

Dunno what exactly you can do to fix that mind you, but I just thought I'd mention it!

[cheez8]

Yeah, I have no idea why that happens. That just started happening one day, and I really don't know what to do about it, since the other microphone that I can use probably won't have that problem, but is part of a headset, and I already have to turn my speakers up ridiculously loud as it is for the game audio to register with the handheld mic (which is the one I usually use.) I think if I did that with the headset, I'd make myself go deaf before the game audio would reach the mic at a decent level... But yeah, that is definitely unusual, and if I knew what was causing that problem in the first place, I would probably be doing something to fix it. But I don't know why, so...yeah.

Anyway, two rather short videos in this update! First I head back through Level 2-6, and die a lot, and really don't do a very good job overall, but seriously, I'm tired of this forest! I've already been through this place!

And then, I go through Eientei. Oddly enough, I made it through on my first try during my original take, but naturally I forgot to resume the recording before I entered so OH WELL!

Anyway, I know that these last few videos have been a bit lackluster, but don't worry, there's only a few more levels left of stuff that I've already seen, and after that my commentary just drastically improves. Stay tuned!

[cheez8]

Oh right, this thread.

The updates that you missed are this video, which contains the last of the levels that I've already been through, and this video, in which I find a brand new powerup in one of the new stages! That is really just timed perfectly to counterbalance the sense of repetition that I had been feeling in the last few videos.

Now then, for today's video. I make quite a bit of progress in this one, and even end up creating two paths to the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the same video.

Also, tomorrow's video will be shorter than usual since I ended up only playing part of the SDM in that recording session, and still have to record more, so I'll probably upload a little extra video that I recorded recently on a whim.

[cheez8]

Alright, everything's finally uploaded! Today's "little extra thing" turned out to be a lot bigger than I realized. Anyway, on to the links, I continue invading the Scarlet Devil Mansion in today's video. I also come across Patchouli robots... Those still make me laugh.

As for my extra...

Minecraaaft~ Talkin bout Minecraaaft~

Yeah, I've been playing some Minecraft recently, and when I decided to record the pigs playing around in the pond, I figured I might as well make a full-blown little extra thing out of it. Of course, I didn't expect it to be nearly half an hour long. Oh well. The first video isn't really much, but at least gives the second one a bit of context. The second video is the one where I go around to every place that I've explored in that world so far... and also nearly end up dying because I didn't get back to my house in time.

Anyway, I'm going to be recording more of NSML tonight, so hopefully I'll get a decent chunk of video to edit for the next few days. I probably will as long as I don't lose any menentem.

[cheez8]

First things first: Gamercal, you mentioned how the sound tends to only come through the left earphone in most of my videos and how it annoys you, so I decided to try to keep that from happening. I ended up using two recording programs at once for this last recording session, one for the game audio and one to record my voice through my headset mic so that I could use a mic that works without having to blast my ears off. Unfortunately, everything lagged like crazy and I ended up scrapping the entire recording session once I tried to fix it since the lag was so inconsistent. So, I went back to using my old, only-records-for-the-left-speaker-for-some-reason microphone... and it suddenly works properly!

...Problem solved!

So here's today's video, in which I finally get through the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I still find the Patchouli robots hilarious. Sure, they were in MegaMari too, but that time they were part of a huge, deadly library castle and were there to defend the place. This is an ordinary day and nobody expects there to be intruders, but they're there anyway.

[gamercal]

Indeed it is fixed!

So from what I gathered in the video, you're using two screen capture type programs (Camstudio and fraps) to record this now? Iiiiiiiisn't that a little, idk, excessive? I'm genuinely curious as to your setup now, since I'm not overly familiar with the programs in question. Cause I just use Blueberry Flash Recorder for the screen + PC speakers and Audacity for the mic input... I'm always curious to see what settings other people use

But if lag is an issue and you ARE using two screen capture type things, maybe that's why... or I could just be being stupid, idk.

[cheez8]

Actually, I'm still only using Camstudio. I've been using Camstudio for most of World 3, but the problem with that is that for some reason, I can't get it to record the in-game audio, so I have to have the speakers loud enough for whatever microphone I'm using to pick it up if I want the game audio. Now, I have two microphones: the one I've been using and a headset mic. The one I've been using has been creating the problem with not recording anything for the right speaker, but if I wanted to use the headset mic and use Camstudio to record the game audio, I'd have to nearly make myself go deaf since the source of the sound is right next to my ears in that situation. So I thought, hm, maybe I can just record my voice with that mic with Camstudio, and record the game audio with Fraps, ingenious! In short, it didn't work. It definitely did end up being excessive and with four different tracks to re-sync during editing (since the audio and video on each one ended up de-syncing differently), it just ended up being so over-complicated that I just scrapped those recordings and went back to using Camstudio and the broken mic.

Except for some reason, it suddenly fixed itself and works fine now. Really, I don't know how or why it fixed itself any more than I know how or why it broke in the first place, but either way, it works now. Sorry if I confused you, because while you are correct in that I tried to record using both Fraps and Camstudio, I didn't end up doing that for anything that I actually uploaded. I'm back to using the exact same setup, in fact, only this time it works.

But yeah, when I was using both programs, lag was a very big issue. I actually had to take a break from recording for a while because with everything going on, Fraps started freaking out and recording at about 8 fps.

[cheez8]

Today's video ran a bit long, what with all the death, so I broke it up into two parts. The first part contains me playing relatively well, and the second part does not. Freaking snowball.

[cheez8]

Sorry about there not being a video yesterday. Every so often, everything in my life decides to happen at once, and that's what's going to be happening to me for the next few days.

Anyway, in today's video, I come across level 4-4. Yeah... Not much more needs to be said there!

(Since everything's going to be happening at once for me for the next few days, I'll have less time to edit videos, and it just so happens that the next few videos will include death montages that will require a good bit of editing, so for a few days there will be no guarantees I'll be able to keep uploading daily. Just a heads up.)

[cheez8]

Well, I was inactive for a lot longer than I expected there! Luckily, things are starting to calm down in my life, so today I finally got around to uploading the next video. It only contains one level, but it's still enough to give me enough trouble for an entire video. I really hate autoscrolling stages in this game, they just move along way too slow. And then I die at the end.

[cheez8]

The end of World 4 is a good time for me to show off some of my incredible gaming skills! Skills like my quick decision making and incredible intelligence!

...Please don't yell at your computer too loudly during the second part, I promise I figure it out eventually.