Do Let's Players Dream of Polygon Sheep? Let's Play LSD: Dream Emulator

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Do Let's Players Dream of Polygon Sheep? Let's Play LSD: Dream Emulator

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

Latest Upload: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (10)

LSD (also known as LSD: Dream Emulator) is a surrealistic exploration video game developed and published by Asmik Ace Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation on October 22, 1998. The game is based on a dream journal that Hiroko Nishikawa, an artist at Asmik Ace Entertainment, had been keeping for a decade. It is one of three products released in conjunction with the journal, with the other two being a music album, called LSD and Remixes and the journal itself, published as Lovely Sweet Dream.

What kind of LP is this?

~~This is a subtitled LP. I feel this works for a game as abstract as LSD and nobody wants my heavy accent distracting from the surreal exploration.~~
~~This is a live commentary LP. I feel subtitles would distract from the visuals and a live reaction would make the journey more earnest. Plus, you get to hear my heavy accent.~~
This is a post-commentary speedrun LP. I feel that there's a hidden skill-based aspect to LSD that doesn't get too much attention, and I'd like this LP to introduce that side of LSD to a wider audience.
~~This is a presentational Let's Play. I feel that it's hard to get LSD's point across, so I've opted into a new form of Let's Play to give the game's innovative nature the showcase it deserves.~~
This is an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) Let's Play. I feel that mere narration does not do LSD justice. It's not about the context, it's about the emotion that's conveyed, and ASMR does that best.
~~This is a subtitled LP. I feel this works for a game as abstract as LSD and nobody wants my heavy accent distracting from the surreal exploration.~~
This is a multi-LP. I feel like with the time pressure of the digital age and the need to consume as much media as possible within a short amount of time, the only proper way to do Let's Plays now is to condense several into one.
~~This is a post-commentary LP. I feel like an analytical and well-thought-out commentary helps supplement the abstract nature of LSD.~~
This is a facecam LP. I feel like a lot of communication is lost without the non-verbal factor, and as LSD is a very emotional game, I want the viewer to understand my own emotions while playing it better.
This is a Choose Your Own Adventure Let's Play, or CYOALP for short. It is impossible to fully grasp the beauty of LSD by being an observer. I believe you need to actually play the game to realize its intricacies and deep plot. This is why in this Let's Play, YOU choose the outcome.

How long is this game?

It's as long and short as you want it to be. Each "day" lasts between 5 and 11 minutes. There are many dreams and some random factors that can alter them (like different textures). We probably won't encounter all of them, but there will be a point where we're officially done with the LP.

What are you playing on?

Emulated on ePSXe.

How often will you update this LP?

No set schedule.

:siren:

SPOILER POLICY :siren:

Don't post areas we haven't seen yet.

Episode list:
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (1)
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (2)
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (3)
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (4)
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (5)
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (6)
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (8)
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (9)
LSD Dream Emulator - State of the LP
LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (10)

RealSovietBear fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Nov 9, 2016

# ¿ Sep 11, 2016 15:45

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 15:17

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

UPDATE HISTORY:

Part 01 (01)

RealSovietBear posted:

Hey folks. As you're all probably aware, the initial video got a dislike on YouTube. I was actually contacted by the person who did this and they made a very good case as to why the LP isn't working. Taking this feedback to heart, I've decided to restart the Let's Play. It's now a live commentary LP, in order to do the game justice.

I'll keep the previous video in the original post, as an example of how not to do an LP and for the few people who liked it.

Part 01 (02)

RealSovietBear posted:

Hey folks. As you're probably aware, the restart wasn't too popular with viewers. Since this game deserves better, I've decided to change how I'm tackling this game and give it the Let's Play it deserves. That's why we're restarting it as a skill-based speedrun LP.

Speedrunning LSD is a daunting feat, which is why I got the two leading speedrunners on the scene, TorpidTypist and Lolo De Puzlo to share some strats in this introductory episode. Hope you enjoy it!

Part 01 (03)

RealSovietBear posted:

I've taken all the feedback so far into account and realized that I've been going about this Let's Play the wrong way. Therefor, we're restarting it hopefully one last time to present it in a way that lets everyone enjoy its unique charm. I hope you enjoy it!

Part 01 (04)

RealSovietBear posted:

Hey folks, this LP just doesn't seem to be working. It took me the last few days to figure out how to do this properly, so I've realized that LSD isn't about the context of it, it's about the emotional wavelength you ride as you journey through it. To simulate this, I've hired a professional audiobook reader to do an ASMR let's play by reading some of the best works of literature. I hope he's the voice this project has been sorely lacking.

Part 01 (05)

RealSovietBear posted:

Hey all, I saw that the original subtitled format had the best feedback so far, so I decided it might be best to use that as a basis. However, there were several technical issues with the original video, which I've thankfully solved, so you should all be able to enjoy this fresh attempt. Of course, due to the updated recording tech, it's best to consider this the actual first episode. Part 02 is already in the works, so look forward to that!

Part 01 (06)

RealSovietBear posted:

Hey all. I think I've finally got it properly now. I did a lot of research on social media consumption and realized that all online content is competing with each other, regardless of genre or medium. People are naturally drawn to getting the most content out of a short span of time, so I have decided to do a multi-LP. This will let viewers consume four times the content in the same span of time, leading to maximum enjoyment of Good Content (this is a term used among social media experts for content that is good). Please let me know what you think. I'm already half-way through producing Part 02 using this format!

Part 01 (08)

RealSovietBear posted:

I had to scrap the WIP episode, because the render just kept getting messed up. Since I lost like 20 hours of work, I'm going for something less time consuming until I can fix the other video. I know post-commentary might seem like a mundane form, but hey, there's a reason it's used by all the top Let's Players. It's simple and effective.

Part 01 (09)

RealSovietBear posted:

Hey all, after reading up on some suggestions from this thread and doing my own research, I've realized that the biggest issue with the Let's Play was the lack of emotion. LSD is a very emotional game and when it comes to emotional communication, studies show that 55% of it is non-verbal. That means that when you read my subtitles, you are only getting 7% of my emotions, and while I'm narrating, only 38%. This is probably why the story of LSD is not coming across as it should. So I have installed a camera in the corner of the video that will relay my non-verbal emotions fully, leading to 100% emotional communication.

State of the LP

RealSovietBear posted:

Hey all.

I am going to be honest, and say that despite my best efforts, this Let's Play has been a mess. Especially the last attempt. After a month of work, I am unable to produce more than one episode. I am really sorry I disappointed everyone looking forward to this game being properly let's played. We have a solution detailed in the video above. I guess I'll see you all in November, after my pilgrimage ends. I will be updating the status of my journey to enlightenment on Twitter @MDKII, as it's the most popular social media platform among Japanese game developers. Wish me luck.

Part 01 (10)

RealSovietBear posted:

Hello everyone. After my two week pilgrimage to Japan, I finally understood what this Let's Play was missing. The deep design of LSD stems from the philosophy of "Asobu", or "to play". It is the core upon which all great Japanese games are built upon, and why Western games often feel like they are "missing something" by comparison. That is why doing a Let's Play of LSD is so hard; we're not "Let's Playing"... I'm playing, you're watching. It's a "Let's Watching" and by losing the interactivity, LSD Dream Emulator just falls flat.

I have found the perfect way to rectify this, however. Here I present to you LSD: Dream Emulator - A Choose Your Own Adventure Let's Play. Now, with the interactivity deeply ingrained in the actual Let's Play, I believe there is no way anyone will misunderstand the beauty of this work. This is my Magnum Opus. This is the pinnacle of my Let's Play skills. The Let's Play is finally done. Please enjoy it.

Will you find all the endings?
Will you save the World of Dreams?
Will you uncover all the secrets of this Let's Play?

Let's Save Dreams

-----------------------------------------

PLOT ANALYSIS:

EclecticTastes posted:

Hey, hate to be "that guy", but when you were walking in the desert, you met a tortoise. You flipped the tortoise over on its back, and it couldn't recover, not without your help. But you weren't helping. Why is that?

RealSovietBear posted:

So I was hoping I wouldn't need to explain this, because it's spoiler territory, but if I don't explain it, people are gonna hold it over my head the entire LP and make me out to be some monster. (I've already gotten enough DMs on Twitter over it that I needed to set them to mutuals only.) Anyway, be warned, major plot spoilers ahead:

So you have the choice to fight Buddha or run away, but running away locks you into ending E of LSD, which would make us skip a lot of content and also get a major downer ending (remember, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him"). That means we're meant to fight him and stop him, but our fight will always destroy Wonder City*. As Wonder City spans the entire continent, it actually turns the entire continent into the Great Wasteland (or Wasteland City in the German localization). If you've ever played Magic: the Gathering, you probably know of the City of Ravnica. Ravnica was actually inspired by Wonder City, as Wonder City itself is an amalgam of several hundred types of environments. As such, it's an urban environment with lots of wildlife as well. Ironic, isn't it? Now, the ecology of Wonder City is such that it has a very rigid food chain and when that food chain is disrupted, chaos ensues. If you take away the rabbits, the wolves will dine on humans and similar weird catastrophes.

Now, Wonder City may have been turned into the Great Wasteland, but it didn't completely destroy everything. After you've destroyed Wonder City, you probably won't encounter anything in-game for the next several months as you try and reach a new point of intractables. This is generally considered by many to be the low-point of LSD, as it switches from a survival horror into a sandbox survival game, forcing you to learn new mechanics and adding a brutal difficulty. It's often quoted that this was meant to subvert the arbitrary vehicle sections that were a massive trend back then, by adding a new genre that was even more at odds with the base game. Sadly, as seen by games like Jak and Daxter 3, the lesson didn't stick. (It actually wouldn't be until El Shaddai that vehicle sections were put to rest. Ironically, it wasn't because El Shaddai's was so bad, but because it was the first good one.) So after you've wandered the Great Wasteland and survived it (remember, you have to do this in one life), you finally get to see another actual living thing. That was the tortoise we encountered. This is meant to be a joyous moment for the player, as he realizes that not all life has perished and that there still might be hope for man. However, due to the previously-mentioned messed up ecology, the tortoise is not meant to be alive. The only reason the tortoise is alive was because the falcons that prey on it are now extinct. But the thing that tortoise prey one, which is are pigs, are also gone. If you remember the item description of the Kitsune Shrine ring, you can already see where this is going (like I said, LSD is one of those annoying Souls-like games).

So, if you flip the tortoise, it'll stay where it is and die. That's what I'm sure you think. But no, the tortoise survives regardless. What changes is that you get Ending A-2 rather than Ending A-1. They are actually completely the same, except for one extra line of dialog. When you fight the final boss (which is something I won't spoil), he will use the line "But you yourself are no stranger to true cruelty." when giving us his speech. That is actually in reference to us hoping to kill the tortoise in the worst imaginable way. So the fight goes the same as in the A-1 path, but it completely changes the frame of it all. The entire struggle of trying to save the World from <YOU KNOW WHO> for hours on end, but in the end, he was the one trying to save the World from YOU. I think it's a powerful statement and while many online communities like to parrot how A-1 ending is the canon ending, I like A-2 better. It shows the true power games have as a medium to make the player take part in telling the story. No other medium does this. Books are a story by one person preaching events to you. Movies are a story by a bunch of people preaching events to you. Music also preaches to you. But games don't do that garbage. In games, you take the controller and you decide what happens, but the best-crafted games make you make these choices without even knowing it, and then BAM, they hit you with it in the gut (this is why Nier is the best game of all time by the way). When I played LSD the first time, I actually got so sick of the grinding in the Wasteland section that I just vented on the turtle. After beating the game, that line struck me so hard. I realized that I wasn't being the kind of person I wanted to be, so I forced myself to do better each day. It took a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it, because I've finally become a good enough person to Let's Play games. There is no movie or book or song that can inspire people to do something like that. That's why this run is an A-2 run.

Oh and how do we know the turtle survives regardless of what you do? If you look at the audience in the encore credits, you'll see a silhouette that is obviously the turtle you encountered. I'm sure you'd think that could be any turtle, but no, Flippy (the community name for the turtle) has a forehead made out of 9 polygons, while all other tortoise models in the game have 10.

Anyway, I hope that clears everything up.

------------------------------------------------------

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE:

EclecticTastes posted:

That said all the video captions were in Japanese, and I'm not good enough at kanji to read them, so maybe RSB could post a translation?

RealSovietBear posted:

Of course, no problem. This is probably the most accurate translation of the script I could find:

Бог се драги на Србе разљути за њихова смртна сагрешења. Наши цари закон погазише, почеше се крвнички гонити, један другом вадит очи живе; забацише владу и државу, за правило лудост изабраше. Невјерне им слуге постадоше и царском се крвљу окупаше. Великаши, проклете им душе, на комате раздробише царство, српске силе грдно сатријеше; великаши, траг им се утро, распре сјеме посијаше грко, те с њим племе српско отроваше; великаши, грдне кукавице, постадоше рода издајице. О проклета косовска вечеро, куд та срећа да грдне главаре све потрова и траг им утрије; сам да Милош оста на сриједи са његова оба побратима, те би Србин данас Србом био! Бранковићу, погано кољено, тако ли се служи отачаству, тако ли се цијени поштење? О Милоше, ко ти не завиди? Ти си жертва благородног чувства, воинствени гениј свемогући, гром стравични те круне раздраба! Величаство витешке ти душе надмашује бесмртне подвиге дивне Спарте и великог Рима; сва витештва њина блистателна твоја горда мишца помрачује. Шта Леонид оће и Сцевола кад Обилић стане на поприште? Ова мишца једнијем ударом престол сруши а тартар уздрма. Паде Милош, чудо витезовах, жертвом на трон бича свијетскога. Гордо лежи велики војвода под кључевма крви благородне, ка малопред што гордо иђаше, страсном мишљу прсих надутијех, кроз дивјачне тмуше азијатске, гутајућ их ватреним очима; ка малопред што гордо иђаше к светом гробу бесмртног живота, презирући људско ништавило и плетење безумне скупштине. Бог се драги на Србе разљути: седмоглава изиде аждаја и сатрије Српство свеколико, клеветнике грдне и клевету. На развале царства јуначкога засја света Милошева правда, окруни се слава вјековјечно Милошева оба побратима и лијепе ките Југовићах. Српској капи свуд име погибе. Постадоше лафи ратарима, истурчи се плахи и лакоми - млијеко их српско разгубало! Што утече испод сабље турске, што на вјеру праву не похули, што се не хће у ланце везати, то се збјежа у ове планине да гинемо и крв проливамо, да јуначки аманет чувамо, дивно име и свету свободу. Све су наше главе изабране! Момци дивни, исто ка звијезде; што су досад ове горе дале, сви падали у крваве борбе, пали за чест, име и свободу. И наше су утирали сузе вјешти звуци дивнијех гусалах. Просте наше жертве свеколике кад је наша тврда постојбина силе турске несита гробница. Што је ово ево неко доба те су наше горе умучале, не разлежу ратнијем клицима? Почину ни рђа на оружје, остаде ни земља без главарах. Некршћу се форе усмрђеше... Уједно су овце и курјаци, здружио се Турчин с Црногорцем, оџа риче на равном Цетињу! Смрад ухвати лафа у кљусама, затрије се име црногорско, не остаде крста од три прста!

I know it's a bit inconvenient that it's in Serbian, but it's really impossible to translate it in English and maintain the spirit of the original. Both Serbian and Japanese have a lot in common, being very melodic and phonetic languages. But since Japanese is actually impossible to learn unless you are from Japan, it's much easier for everyone to learn Serbian if you want to understand this specific part of the game better (and trust me, it's worth it).

RealSovietBear fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Nov 10, 2016

# ¿ Sep 11, 2016 15:46

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

Carbon dioxide posted:

Do you unlock lucid dreaming at some point?

Kind of. If you survive long enough, you can revisit old dreams.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2016 19:39

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

New video: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (1)

Hey folks. As you're all probably aware, the initial video got a dislike on YouTube. I was actually contacted by the person who did this and they made a very good case as to why the LP isn't working. Taking this feedback to heart, I've decided to restart the Let's Play. It's now a live commentary LP, in order to do the game justice.

I'll keep the previous video in the original post, as an example of how not to do an LP and for the few people who liked it.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2016 17:57

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

New video: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (2)

Hey folks. As you're probably aware, the restart wasn't too popular with viewers. Since this game deserves better, I've decided to change how I'm tackling this game and give it the Let's Play it deserves. That's why we're restarting it as a skill-based speedrun LP.

Speedrunning LSD is a daunting feat, which is why I got the two leading speedrunners on the scene, TorpidTypist and Lolo De Puzlo to share some strats in this introductory episode. Hope you enjoy it!

# ¿ Sep 15, 2016 18:32

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

EclecticTastes posted:

With all the technical issues you're experiencing, I'm just not sure a speedrun LP is the right way for you to go, sorry.

I was confused by how you knew there were technical issues and then I noticed I uploaded the wrong video... Sigh. Thank you for the feedback, I'm taking it all into account.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2016 06:44

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

New Video: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (3)

I've taken all the feedback so far into account and realized that I've been going about this Let's Play the wrong way. Therefor, we're restarting it hopefully one last time to present it in a way that lets everyone enjoy its unique charm. I hope you enjoy it!

# ¿ Sep 16, 2016 23:06

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

Whybird posted:

Ah. It looks like I didn't explain myself very well. What I meant was that we absolutely don't want to do a text run of this game. I'm sorry if that didn't come across in my earlier post.

drat it, that completely changes the feedback I based the latest episode on

# ¿ Sep 17, 2016 23:35

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

Gloomy Rube posted:

Edit: Just out of curiosity, what happened to day 2? You skipped from 1 to 3 in the first two videos.

There might be a few day skips if the footage doesn't work, since a lot of zones repeat themselves, and I'm trying to show off as many different things as possible. I'll try to avoid as much as I can of it though.

All very good suggestions in this thread. Thank you all for the detailed feedback, I take it all into account.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2016 09:23

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

Latest Upload: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (4)

Hey folks, this LP just doesn't seem to be working. It took me the last few days to figure out how to do this properly, so I've realized that LSD isn't about the context of it, it's about the emotional wavelength you ride as you journey through it. To simulate this, I've hired a professional audiobook reader to do an ASMR let's play by reading some of the best works of literature. I hope he's the voice this project has been sorely lacking.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2016 17:49

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

EclecticTastes posted:

Finally, something we actually want. Though, and I detest nitpicking like this, the video cut out at the 3:45 mark, just a black screen until the end. Not sure what happened there. The classic literature was still quite relaxing, despite the lack of gameplay. That said, you might need to try again, so you get an upload with fewer technical issues.

Yeah I don't understand this. I've been getting weird encoding errors with this LP either during video editing or after YouTube processes it. I experimented a bit last night and found a way to record this LP while avoiding any editing issues. Although I might need to make it officially a Part 01, just so I don't have conflicting styles in one LP.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2016 23:04

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

New Video: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (5)

Hey all, I saw that the original subtitled format had the best feedback so far, so I decided it might be best to use that as a basis. However, there were several technical issues with the original video, which I've thankfully solved, so you should all be able to enjoy this fresh attempt. Of course, due to the updated recording tech, it's best to consider this the actual first episode. Part 02 is already in the works, so look forward to that!

# ¿ Sep 22, 2016 17:57

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

EclecticTastes posted:

Hey, hate to be "that guy", but when you were walking in the desert, you met a tortoise. You flipped the tortoise over on its back, and it couldn't recover, not without your help. But you weren't helping. Why is that?

So I was hoping I wouldn't need to explain this, because it's spoiler territory, but if I don't explain it, people are gonna hold it over my head the entire LP and make me out to be some monster. (I've already gotten enough DMs on Twitter over it that I needed to set them to mutuals only.) Anyway, be warned, major plot spoilers ahead:

So you have the choice to fight Buddha or run away, but running away locks you into ending E of LSD, which would make us skip a lot of content and also get a major downer ending (remember, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him"). That means we're meant to fight him and stop him, but our fight will always destroy Wonder City*. As Wonder City spans the entire continent, it actually turns the entire continent into the Great Wasteland (or Wasteland City in the German localization). If you've ever played Magic: the Gathering, you probably know of the City of Ravnica. Ravnica was actually inspired by Wonder City, as Wonder City itself is an amalgam of several hundred types of environments. As such, it's an urban environment with lots of wildlife as well. Ironic, isn't it? Now, the ecology of Wonder City is such that it has a very rigid food chain and when that food chain is disrupted, chaos ensues. If you take away the rabbits, the wolves will dine on humans and similar weird catastrophes.

Now, Wonder City may have been turned into the Great Wasteland, but it didn't completely destroy everything. After you've destroyed Wonder City, you probably won't encounter anything in-game for the next several months as you try and reach a new point of intractables. This is generally considered by many to be the low-point of LSD, as it switches from a survival horror into a sandbox survival game, forcing you to learn new mechanics and adding a brutal difficulty. It's often quoted that this was meant to subvert the arbitrary vehicle sections that were a massive trend back then, by adding a new genre that was even more at odds with the base game. Sadly, as seen by games like Jak and Daxter 3, the lesson didn't stick. (It actually wouldn't be until El Shaddai that vehicle sections were put to rest. Ironically, it wasn't because El Shaddai's was so bad, but because it was the first good one.) So after you've wandered the Great Wasteland and survived it (remember, you have to do this in one life), you finally get to see another actual living thing. That was the tortoise we encountered. This is meant to be a joyous moment for the player, as he realizes that not all life has perished and that there still might be hope for man. However, due to the previously-mentioned messed up ecology, the tortoise is not meant to be alive. The only reason the tortoise is alive was because the falcons that prey on it are now extinct. But the thing that tortoise prey one, which is are pigs, are also gone. If you remember the item description of the Kitsune Shrine ring, you can already see where this is going (like I said, LSD is one of those annoying Souls-like games).

So, if you flip the tortoise, it'll stay where it is and die. That's what I'm sure you think. But no, the tortoise survives regardless. What changes is that you get Ending A-2 rather than Ending A-1. They are actually completely the same, except for one extra line of dialog. When you fight the final boss (which is something I won't spoil), he will use the line "But you yourself are no stranger to true cruelty." when giving us his speech. That is actually in reference to us hoping to kill the tortoise in the worst imaginable way. So the fight goes the same as in the A-1 path, but it completely changes the frame of it all. The entire struggle of trying to save the World from <YOU KNOW WHO> for hours on end, but in the end, he was the one trying to save the World from YOU. I think it's a powerful statement and while many online communities like to parrot how A-1 ending is the canon ending, I like A-2 better. It shows the true power games have as a medium to make the player take part in telling the story. No other medium does this. Books are a story by one person preaching events to you. Movies are a story by a bunch of people preaching events to you. Music also preaches to you. But games don't do that garbage. In games, you take the controller and you decide what happens, but the best-crafted games make you make these choices without even knowing it, and then BAM, they hit you with it in the gut (this is why Nier is the best game of all time by the way). When I played LSD the first time, I actually got so sick of the grinding in the Wasteland section that I just vented on the turtle. After beating the game, that line struck me so hard. I realized that I wasn't being the kind of person I wanted to be, so I forced myself to do better each day. It took a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it, because I've finally become a good enough person to Let's Play games. There is no movie or book or song that can inspire people to do something like that. That's why this run is an A-2 run.

Oh and how do we know the turtle survives regardless of what you do? If you look at the audience in the encore credits, you'll see a silhouette that is obviously the turtle you encountered. I'm sure you'd think that could be any turtle, but no, Flippy (the community name for the turtle) has a forehead made out of 9 polygons, while all other tortoise models in the game have 10.

Anyway, I hope that clears everything up.

RealSovietBear fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Sep 23, 2016

# ¿ Sep 23, 2016 18:35

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

New Video: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (6)

Hey all. I think I've finally got it properly now. I did a lot of research on social media consumption and realized that all online content is competing with each other, regardless of genre or medium. People are naturally drawn to getting the most content out of a short span of time, so I have decided to do a multi-LP. This will let viewers consume four times the content in the same span of time, leading to maximum enjoyment of Good Content (this is a term used among social media experts for content that is good). Please let me know what you think. I'm already half-way through producing Part 02 using this format!

# ¿ Oct 1, 2016 21:12

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

EagerSleeper posted:

I no longer know my true self.

LSD is a very deep and touching game and this reaction is normal.

Gloomy Rube posted:

I feel bad for the queen of Kanji Castle

It's one of the saddest parts of the LSD Lore, in my opinion. From the start, she was cursed by her own hubris. It's ironic, really.

StarkRavingMad posted:

I think you've finally nailed it.

Carbon dioxide posted:

You say that, but I don't think the first introduction episode of an LP is a good indicator of whether it will work or not.

Perhaps we need to see a few alternate versions of episode 2 before we can decide.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2016 16:25

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

EclecticTastes posted:

You're right, I got confused, the same day I'd purchased a copy of Blinx the Time Sweeper from a toothless old man at a yard sale in front of a house I'd never seen before that was gone the next day. It had supposedly belonged to a boy who was serial killed by a man who got a blood transfusion from Ted Bundy's hairdresser. I should have known something was up when I noticed that the iconic character of Blinx was replaced with Slender Man in the first level and the only music was Lavender Town from Pokemon, except played backwards. Well, long story short, I just had to call Microsoft and they traded me a clean disc, easy-peasy, turns out they're really interested in acquiring copies of games with those kinds of defects.

That said all the video captions were in Japanese, and I'm not good enough at kanji to read them, so maybe RSB could post a translation?

Of course, no problem. This is probably the most accurate translation of the script I could find:

Бог се драги на Србе разљути за њихова смртна сагрешења. Наши цари закон погазише, почеше се крвнички гонити, један другом вадит очи живе; забацише владу и државу, за правило лудост изабраше. Невјерне им слуге постадоше и царском се крвљу окупаше. Великаши, проклете им душе, на комате раздробише царство, српске силе грдно сатријеше; великаши, траг им се утро, распре сјеме посијаше грко, те с њим племе српско отроваше; великаши, грдне кукавице, постадоше рода издајице. О проклета косовска вечеро, куд та срећа да грдне главаре све потрова и траг им утрије; сам да Милош оста на сриједи са његова оба побратима, те би Србин данас Србом био! Бранковићу, погано кољено, тако ли се служи отачаству, тако ли се цијени поштење? О Милоше, ко ти не завиди? Ти си жертва благородног чувства, воинствени гениј свемогући, гром стравични те круне раздраба! Величаство витешке ти душе надмашује бесмртне подвиге дивне Спарте и великог Рима; сва витештва њина блистателна твоја горда мишца помрачује. Шта Леонид оће и Сцевола кад Обилић стане на поприште? Ова мишца једнијем ударом престол сруши а тартар уздрма. Паде Милош, чудо витезовах, жертвом на трон бича свијетскога. Гордо лежи велики војвода под кључевма крви благородне, ка малопред што гордо иђаше, страсном мишљу прсих надутијех, кроз дивјачне тмуше азијатске, гутајућ их ватреним очима; ка малопред што гордо иђаше к светом гробу бесмртног живота, презирући људско ништавило и плетење безумне скупштине. Бог се драги на Србе разљути: седмоглава изиде аждаја и сатрије Српство свеколико, клеветнике грдне и клевету. На развале царства јуначкога засја света Милошева правда, окруни се слава вјековјечно Милошева оба побратима и лијепе ките Југовићах. Српској капи свуд име погибе. Постадоше лафи ратарима, истурчи се плахи и лакоми - млијеко их српско разгубало! Што утече испод сабље турске, што на вјеру праву не похули, што се не хће у ланце везати, то се збјежа у ове планине да гинемо и крв проливамо, да јуначки аманет чувамо, дивно име и свету свободу. Све су наше главе изабране! Момци дивни, исто ка звијезде; што су досад ове горе дале, сви падали у крваве борбе, пали за чест, име и свободу. И наше су утирали сузе вјешти звуци дивнијех гусалах. Просте наше жертве свеколике кад је наша тврда постојбина силе турске несита гробница. Што је ово ево неко доба те су наше горе умучале, не разлежу ратнијем клицима? Почину ни рђа на оружје, остаде ни земља без главарах. Некршћу се форе усмрђеше... Уједно су овце и курјаци, здружио се Турчин с Црногорцем, оџа риче на равном Цетињу! Смрад ухвати лафа у кљусама, затрије се име црногорско, не остаде крста од три прста!

I know it's a bit inconvenient that it's in Serbian, but it's really impossible to translate it in English and maintain the spirit of the original. Both Serbian and Japanese have a lot in common, being very melodic and phonetic languages. But since Japanese is actually impossible to learn unless you are from Japan, it's much easier for everyone to learn Serbian if you want to understand this specific part of the game better (and trust me, it's worth it).

# ¿ Oct 3, 2016 23:09

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

New Video: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (8)

I had to scrap the WIP episode, because the render just kept getting messed up. Since I lost like 20 hours of work, I'm going for something less time consuming until I can fix the other video. I know post-commentary might seem like a mundane form, but hey, there's a reason it's used by all the top Let's Players. It's simple and effective.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2016 23:30

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

EclecticTastes posted:

Hey, I never like having to do this, but there was an issue with the commentary. There wasn't any. No voice, no subtitles, nothing, just a still image of the Queen of Kanji for four-plus minutes. The LP Curse is loving ruthless this time around, you have my deepest sympathies, but I think you may need to go back to square one.

Oh my god, I swear Twitch's video hosting can't come soon enough. I am just so done with YouTube processing messing up my uploads. The local file is completely fine.

I am so sorry this keeps happening, everyone. I'm at my wits' end at this point.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2016 12:54

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

New Video: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (9)

Hey all, after reading up on some suggestions from this thread and doing my own research, I've realized that the biggest issue with the Let's Play was the lack of emotion. LSD is a very emotional game and when it comes to emotional communication, studies show that 55% of it is non-verbal. That means that when you read my subtitles, you are only getting 7% of my emotions, and while I'm narrating, only 38%. This is probably why the story of LSD is not coming across as it should. So I have installed a camera in the corner of the video that will relay my non-verbal emotions fully, leading to 100% emotional communication.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2016 11:45

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

UPDATE: LSD Dream Emulator - State of the LP

Hey all.

I am going to be honest, and say that despite my best efforts, this Let's Play has been a mess. Especially the last attempt. After a month of work, I am unable to produce more than one episode. I am really sorry I disappointed everyone looking forward to this game being properly let's played. We have a solution detailed in the video above. I guess I'll see you all in November, after my pilgrimage ends. I will be updating the status of my journey to enlightenment on Twitter @MDKII, as it's the most popular social media platform among Japanese game developers. Wish me luck.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 00:14

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

FINAL UPDATE: LSD Dream Emulator - Part 01 (10)

Hello everyone. After my two week pilgrimage to Japan, I finally understood what this Let's Play was missing. The deep design of LSD stems from the philosophy of "Asobu", or "to play". It is the core upon which all great Japanese games are built upon, and why Western games often feel like they are "missing something" by comparison. That is why doing a Let's Play of LSD is so hard; we're not "Let's Playing"... I'm playing, you're watching. It's a "Let's Watching" and by losing the interactivity, LSD Dream Emulator just falls flat.

I have found the perfect way to rectify this, however. Here I present to you LSD: Dream Emulator - A Choose Your Own Adventure Let's Play. Now, with the interactivity deeply ingrained in the actual Let's Play, I believe there is no way anyone will misunderstand the beauty of this work. This is my Magnum Opus. This is the pinnacle of my Let's Play skills. The Let's Play is finally done. Please enjoy it.

Will you find all the endings?
Will you save the World of Dreams?
Will you uncover all the secrets of this Let's Play?

Let's Save Dreams

# ¿ Nov 9, 2016 00:37

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

EclecticTastes posted:

That was incredible, and I, for one, thank you for putting all this work into a truly excellent, if brief, LP.

Thank you!

EclecticTastes posted:

However, and you know I don't like doing this, mere hours after your upload, all of my nightmares became manifest and now threaten the entire world. Might be an unrelated issue, but just thought you should know. Not that it does anything to undermine that raw quality of this masterpiece, that's definitely the one worth keeping.

Your problem is similar to what the protagonist of LSD, Hiroko went through. As you remember from the original post, LSD is based on a dream journal spanning 10 years, which means it is based on true events. Her own nightmares spiraled out of control and threatened to destroy all imagination and progress of humanity as we know it. However, she realized that even if it takes years, even if there are failings, even if things seem hopeless, as long as you remember that the World is full of friends cheering for you, you can overcome any nightmare manifestation, any enemy that tries to use hate to justify noble goals. Do not give up, because remember, "If we refuse to fight evil when we can, it will challenge us when we can no longer fight back." I am sure we will overcome this nightmare, because Love Stops Damnation.

EclecticTastes posted:

(But seriously, goddamn, this was a hell of a trip, and I'm glad to have been a part of the thread.)

Thank you all for contributing to the thread. It made this weird experiment worth it.

RealSovietBear fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Nov 22, 2016

# ¿ Nov 9, 2016 19:29

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

Lacedaemonius posted:

It's a real shame this LP hasn't got more attention, it's about the only one I've seen (or can imagine) that can really match the game.

Thanks! I'm used to not getting much traction with my LPs, so it's fine. I'm glad that people who did watch it enjoyed it.

Now you can tell your non-forum friends to watch it too, because it's on the LP Archive!

# ¿ Nov 22, 2016 18:35

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 15:17

RealSovietBear: Aug 14, 2013; Bears from Space

Hello everyone.

I was hoping 2017 would be a good year, but on the first night of the first day of the first month of this year, I dreamed that I got an angry e-mail criticizing me for not showcasing all LSD had to offer. It was a very disconcerting dream. According to Japanese lore and tradition, if I do not act upon requests in the first dream of the year, I am sentenced to 365 days of discomfort. Being a big believer of Japanese lore and tradition, I take these things seriously.

This is why, on Friday the 13th (January) at 11:59PM Local/5:50PM EST/10:59GMT I will be streaming some LSD: Dream Emulator to showcase things that this LP failed to deliver upon. You can watch it live here: https://www.twitch.tv/RealSovietBear

I will be answering any questions you may have pertaining the LP, LSD and general life advice in the chat.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2017 23:18

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Do Let's Players Dream of Polygon Sheep? Let's Play LSD: Dream Emulator