The journey through time continues, I find my voice and also a webcam or facecam is being used more and more frequently, perhaps not always in the right way.
Let’s plays
The videos I uploaded to my YouTube channel from my first attempts at streaming as VODs were already included in the first part, as were some of my Let’s Plays. There are now quite a few more of the latter. (In principle, they are all VODs, I just use different names to make it a little easier to sort everything.)
Streaming had become too stressful for me, and then there were encounters with the usual idiots, and I just didn’t feel like doing it anymore. So, I tried my hand at pure Let’s Plays. Record, edit, upload.
Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics, 2013)
A new Tomb Raider game was released in 2013, and Tomb Raider was one of the first games I played on the PS1 back then. So the new edition was a must-have for me, and these videos actually show my first playthrough.
My verdict at the end of the last video was perhaps a little harsh. Yes, the last passage annoyed me immensely, and what annoyed me even more at the time, which you can’t tell from the recording, is that I was interrupted and thus completely thrown off my concentration. As you can see from the many attempts, I did finish the game, but unfortunately I was unable to regain my concentration.
Nevertheless, one thing remains: the puzzles are very good, but the shooter element of the game is simply a little too high compared to the original. Still, it’s a very good reboot of the series!
Darksiders (Vigil Games, 2010)
The first Darksiders is still the strongest part of the series, closely followed by the second part. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish the game in this Let’s Play, but I still had a lot of fun with this playthrough and actually finished it offline a few months later. Since another installment was announced this year (2025), I’ve been seriously considering replaying the first two installments. I found the third one very weak at the time; it lacked the mojo of the first two installments.
I could now go on about how good the game is, how brilliantly the story draws on the Christian myth of the Apocalypse, and of course how the upgrade system for Wars’ weapons is constantly being refined. But I won’t! Play the game, it’s worth it!
Final Fantasy X-X2 HD Remaster (Square Enix, 2013)
The Final Fantasy games have been an integral part of my video gaming experience for quite some time now. While many started with Final Fantasy VII, I started with Final Fantasy VIII, which has the same status in my world as Final Fantasy VII has in the rest of the world. However, there are also parts that took me a long time to finally click (Final Fantasy XII) and, unfortunately, some that just don’t appeal to me, which is perfectly OK. Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X2 fall into this category, although I persevered longer with X2 than with X.
Nevertheless, I tried my hand at a Let’s Play with six short videos, but unfortunately, that’s all I managed to produce. It was still exciting and interesting, no question about it. It just wasn’t really my thing!
Hot Springs Story (Kairosoft Games, 2010)
I recorded this session on my iPad, which was a wild idea, and I’m still thrilled that it all actually worked. If you’re into pixel graphics and simulations, you definitely shouldn’t pass up Kairosoft Games.
Along with The Room (2012), Hot Springs Story, and of course the other Kairosoft games, it is one of my favorite titles on the iPad. It simply has everything you need for relaxed gaming.
FEZ (Polytron Corporation, 2012)
FEZ blew me away back then! At first glance, it was an interesting platformer/puzzle platformer with beautiful graphics. I saw it for the first time in the film Indie Game The Movie (2012). What I didn’t really notice at the time, because I was so excited about the film, was one of the core mechanics of FEZ, namely that the world can rotate. This opened up completely new approaches, paths and possibilities for solving the puzzles. Fascinating!
Unfortunately, Phil Fish, the developer behind FEZ, is no longer active, and I would have loved to see what ideas he had for the planned second installment. I started playing on PC and later finished the game on PSVita. Unfortunately, this playlist is not a complete play through either (I explain why this happens so often in the disclaimer).
For me, Phil Fish is one of the tragic figures of the gaming industry, because even though he attracted negative attention after the release of FEZ with statements that he later put into context, the community was anything but positive towards him, and that’s putting it mildly. This had already begun during the development of the first part. Then he fell victim to a major event, which I won’t mention here, and that was the end of it. It’s very sad how it all turned out!
Persona 3 FES (Atlus, 2006)
The third installment in the Persona franchise marked a major turning point, as it laid the foundations for the future of Persona games using basic elements that had already been established in the previous installments.
I got into the series with Persona 4 Golden (Atlus, 2008), and then I got to know and love Persona 3 FES on the PlayStation 2.
At the time, I just wanted to see what the third part would be like as a Let’s Play, and it was really fun for a while. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for a complete play through, as the recordings also caused a lot of problems.
The Legend of Zelda – Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 2017)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a wild time, because the Switch was just around the corner and the game was planned for release on both consoles, the Wii U and the Switch. The Wii U had already been written off, because it never really caught on, even though I see it differently and have always considered the console to be a very good extension of the Wii. (But that’s a discussion for another time.)
Breath of the Wild cost me quite a few nerves back then, because at some point the console (Wii U) started crashing. Either way, it’s a miracle that it didn’t just melt away, because although Breath of the Wild was a game developed for the Wii U, it looked incredibly good and had almost no loading times (if you moved at the speed specified by the game), which demands a lot from a console.
Nevertheless, there were 10 episodes and the grand finale, during which I sweated twice as much, because on the one hand, the battle against Ganon required parrying, which I still haven’t mastered to this day, and on the other hand, I sent up a few silent prayers to the heavens that the console wouldn’t crash.
Thimbleweed Park (Terrible Toybox, 2017)
I simply cannot recommend this game enough, especially if you love the old LucasFilm Games point-and-click adventures. Because that was precisely the reason why Ron Gilbert ventured into such a project again. He and Gary Winnick simply wanted to see whether this type of game would still work today, in 2017. And yes, Thimbleweed Park worked damn well and still does today, almost 10 years later.
In this playlist, I played through Casual Mode, but I’m not sure anymore, though I think it was actually my first play through. Nevertheless, I’ve played the game over and over again since then, and it never gets boring.
Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe, 2016)
Do I really need to say anything more about Stardew Valley? It’s one of THE wholesome games of the last 10 years and always worth a visit, especially since the developer keeps releasing new updates without charging a single penny for them.
Firewatch (Campo Santo, 2016)
Firewatch still haunts me today, but not like a nightmare. Firewatch leaves an impression once you’ve played it, and I mean that in a completely neutral way. Nevertheless, I was thrilled by the game at the time because it somehow offers more and goes deeper than most other games.
In my opinion, the game still holds up today and simply has a very calm and beautiful story. If you see it and have a little spare cash, give it a chance. It’s definitely worth it!
Disclaimer
You may have noticed that I haven’t finished some games or completed them as Let’s Plays. There are various reasons for this.
In the case of Persona 3 FES, for example, I worried far too much about the quality of the videos. Unfortunately, my recording setup didn’t allow for better quality, and since this is the PS2 version played on a PS3, that caused further problems. On top of that, I wasn’t very familiar with this type of game at the time and quickly felt that my videos weren’t good enough. (Absolute nonsense, from today’s perspective!)
I lost interest in other games at some point. Perhaps I also played them because I no longer had precise schedules in mind at the time, when I could no longer relate to this whole Let’s Play thing the way I used to. This also had to do with the fact that my life was even more chaotic at the time than it is today, which is saying a lot.
The fact that I haven’t finished some games here and there, or have only done so later, has nothing to do with the quality of the games, but is simply due to circumstances beyond my control. So please don’t read too much into it.
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