Those who’ve been keeping up to date with my Let’s Play Saisei Project will know I’ve been at it for quite some time now. The main reason for taking so long is the advent of the Arranged Battle Scene, which has somehow evolved from a 20 second boss beatdown which could be made in 20 minutes to a full-length 15 minute video with a complete narrative which now takes me 20+ hours to make.
But now, I’m going to cut back a bit, and I’m just going to finish the damn game. Here’s my new plan and the the reasons why.
- Come November, I’ll have been playing the game for eight months straight. The problem is that I’ve really just bitten off way more than I can chew! If I was doing just AB’s or just the LP I’d probably be fine, but I’m getting worn out and I want to finish the game soon, before Original Generations 2, so I can enjoy playing that.
- I feel I’ve reached a new level of quality and production values in the last video that I simply can’t reproduce for every stage I play. Making Desperate Endgame was a challenge and it was fun because I was pushing new boundaries and developing new techniques. The end result was a video that was really enjoyable to watch over and over even as I was in the process of editing it.
- In the past I’ve made videos for the sake of making them (for example Stage 28’s video), and often the end product isn’t something I’m fully happy with and as a result doesn’t really get watched all that much. My greatest fear is now disappointing you guys with a half-assed effort on my part.
- Because I’ve taken so long, the hype for Saisei is gone. Simply put, it’s kinda depressing putting 20+ hours into a video that really doesn’t get watched as much as I wish it did. To those who have stuck around though, you guys are legendary.
So now, I’m going to focus on making the videos I want to make instead of feeling I have to do one for every single finale stage, which feels like a chore at times and I don’t want to deliver a crappy video for you guys to watch.
So here’s my plan.
I will finish this Let’s Play. Stage write ups will continue as usual.
The next video will be for Stage 58, the 00 Gundam finale. While I don’t want to over hype it, I will spend all my efforts to match Desperate Endgame in terms of epicness. This is the video I’ve been wanting to make since I started doing these Arranged Battle Scenes. I’ve had some really great ideas and it’s been killing me inside that I’ve had to wait this long to make the video, but I think I’ve now finally acquired all the tools and skills I need to make my vision real.
You may or may not get a Macross F finale this year. Owen if you’re reading this, I’m not putting pressure on you to get it done. Spend as much time as you need to make it as good as you can (If you’re still going ahead with it). Trust me, the regret of releasing something that you’re not happy with is something I’ve had to deal with many times, and I went the extra mile to perfect things in my latest video. That said, I’ll probably make my own version sometime next year.
Once my desire to destroy Ribbons Almark has been satisfied, I may be re-energized once again. Depending on how I’m feeling, there might be a video for Stage 59, just so the OG characters can settle their battles.
And finally, the grand epic finale. If you read my Hakai playthrough last year, you can expect something similar, but improved with everything I’ve learnt in the last 8 months.
As for the playthrough, once this run is completed I’m going take a nice loooooong break, play some Original Generations 2 and come back and translate some of dialogue.
Now onto Original Generations 2. I want to do something for the game, but at this stage I’m not sure what yet. Will there be volume controls or Custom BGMs? If yes, then “combo exhibitions” and Arranged Battles are doable and will be back, though I won’t have access to all the cheats which makes all the crazy shit in Saisei AB’s possible.
My question to the people who read this is, what kind of OGs2 content are you most interested in seeing?
– Arranged Battles and/or combo attack videos?
– A video LP of some kind with commentary? A no-upgrade run where you can lol at me raging at the game?
– A text based LP (similar to what I do now), but with the occasional boss kill video?
Help me decide dammit!
YJ
Mission… Accepted.
That was fast…I literally just pressed the post button lol
To be honest, after the Mazinger finale I was starting to think; ‘Is he really going to be able to keep this up for ALL the series finales?’. I’m not surprised that you’ve decided to cut back.
Doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed. It’s a real shame that those videos didn’t get more attention. Maybe if we had gotten them on TvTropes sooner…
Oh well, at least we still have the 00 endgame and the Grande Finale to look forward to. I hope you do manage to get the Macross F battle in there. Considering that they are both in the same mission and Ribbons and Grace pretty much pull a tag-team on you (Ribbons even use VF-27’s and Ghost-V9’s), it seems only natural to fight them together.
And of course, there’s the Finale. I recall a little while ago you mentioning that you wanted to use every mech in that one. Did you mean just the main character mechas? Or are you really going to use EVERY mech? All 109 of them (including battleships)?
If it’s the former, I understand. If it’s the latter… Good luck.
@Anthurak
I’ve decided to split the 00 and Macross Finales for now due to ideas that I want to do for 00 not working with Macross in the mix unfortunately. I may try do a combined version in the future, but combining GN pixie dust with pop idols may cause trippy hallucinations!
I’ve also got a post credit scene planned which I think you’ll enjoy 😛
As for the grand finale, I will probably stick with mains, my favourites, OG chars, or those with attacks which I can actually work with. Last year’s version I used about 25 units for the video, but that was really sloppy editing by today’s standards so I should be able to cram most mains in there.
And I wanna say thanks for your support. If only I could buy you guys a drink over the Interwebs 🙂
Honestly, I was happy when they were at the level of the Momento Mori or Azadistan battles.
I say do the AB’s for OGs2, but don’t go Full-Production like you’ve been doing for the past three or four videos unless the stage really, really calls for it. Like a dramatic reveal or the final destruction of a boss. The same goes for any ones you come back to later for this game.
I cant wait for the 00 finale video <3
@SAMAS
I think it’s the fact that I feel like “I’m running out of time” that’s getting to me. I am kind of a perfectionist by nature so if I had to hold back, I wouldn’t feel satisfied.
One of the main time sinks is my research into finding good music to use. By good I mean it fits the theme of the stage, and is long enough to have substantial action going on. Most anime/game tracks are usually around 2 minutes in length, rarely is that long enough to make anything interesting happen by itself.
Maybe it’s just the game/LP sitting there unfinished, as well as OGs2 coming out soon which is really bugging me. If I could spend a month+ casually working on each finale video I don’t think it’d be a problem.
But I guess for OGs2, I might go back to basics as you said as I try to find out what the game has to offer.
@KingPJ
I won’t let you down, I promise!
Hopefully we get a combined version of Macross F and 00 finales when you feel like it. It also helps that on the sides of the SR that their plots are not finished(Only Getter, Dancougar, and Godmars finish their plots in this game. GL and Tetsujin do not finish in this game.).
A tip to finish the game faster is on 56 to burn all your seishin in the first half since it gets refilled on the appearance of the bosses. Another tip on the Last Stage final boss is to use Basara since he does damage and lowers the final boss’ morale(He can even lower it below 100 thereby bypassing his spiritual fortitude.).
Well it does look like a lot of work. You’ve done very good so far and I understand how you feel that’s why I’ve been taking my time and BSing on finishing up the earlier stages on the wiki. Who knows, you might be finished before I finish a complete playthrough.
Really should get that stuff finished and do Wing TV early stages since they’re by far the easiest for new players while Code Geass stages are brutal if you’re doing SR points on a fresh game.
@Dick
There’s always time for me to come back and finish later. I feel like I need some closure right now heh.
I hear you. That’s why I did the final stages first, I wanted closure as well for Crowe, Esther, Kallen, Lelouch, Ryouma(Though he seems to be set up to play a huge part for the Gurren Lagann finale), Go, Kei, Gai, and the such. Also wanted to do the seeing off of ZEUTH since I doubt all of them will return for Z3 so that might be a final goodbye to some of the Z1 cast for the Z Saga. Can’t say the same for those that still have movies and plot left out there since they don’t really have closure yet.
Though I admit that I winged the winging a bit, it was so sappy in the IF Route compared to the bland Normal ending where no one was really happy but Esther since she gets to stay with Crowe regardless of either ending and all her bad stuff is sorted out(Unless you count dormant DM stuff).
By winging I mean ending. As you can see I’m tired but can’t sleep yet. Also, Hurricane Sandy is coming!
I vote for a no upgrade run because I’m sadistic like that.