Amechra's Let's Play Hub

[Amechra]

So, umm... hello everyone! I kinda died for a moment there - or, well, I had something like 80 pages to prepare for grad school. Same difference, right?

Anyway, I actually had some videos go up over the last few months, but I didn't really have the wherewithal to post about them here. Better late than never, right?

So...

The Big Game: Lenna's Inception

Lenna's Inception is a top-down action adventure in the spirit of the classic 2D Legend of Zelda games. We play as Lenna Martha, a schoolteacher that has to take over from not!Link due to his untimely demise in the tutorial. It's going to be one of those days.

Part 1 (30:07)
Part 2 (29:43)
Part 3 (32:02)
Part 4 (36:55)
Part 5 (30:28)
Part 6 (32:00)

Shorter Games

I also threw together some one-shots over the last few months, in a pretty scattershot way. Some of the games might be familiar - some might not be. And two of them are complete runs of their respective games - fancy!

Let's Kvetch Over Tetris (21:09)
Let's One-Shot Super Mario Land (54:21)
Let's Look At Castlevania Legends (28:41)
Let's Play KAIMA! A Christmas Present, For You! (44:09)

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Anyway, that's five hours and forty minutes of content for your viewing displeasure. I know that no-one watches my stuff, but now you can actively ignore my existence rather than passively doing so.

[Amechra]

So, here's a video with a question (6:23) — it's about going back to a Monday and Thursday schedule. I'd really appreciate it if anyone who watches it comments either here or on the video with some kind of answer.

[Amechra]

Here's Part 7 (32:32). At this point, I had basically just taken a several month hiatus from playing the game, so I've essentially forgotten everything I had planned. Don't worry, though - we do get things done.

[Amechra]

Part 8: The Bit Where My Laptop Decided To Be Naughty (34:54)

We completed quite a few things today. And then, well... just look at the title.

[Amechra]

I've changed the name of the thread because I'm Let's Playing a second game, and it doesn't make sense to have two threads.

Anyway, we're starting Alundra today (Part 1 - 37:05). Sure, it doesn't have polygons (despite my promises), but what it does have is some classic puzzling/dungeon-crawli-

DANG IT, I'M PLAYING ANOTHER ZELDALIKE!

[Amechra]

Sorry I'm a bit late today, but something came up.

Anyway, today on Lenna's Inception (part 9 - 33:03), it's the Paige and Martha show. It's pretty adorable, honestly.

[Amechra]

Oh man, I'm just running really late this week, huh?

Anyway, more Alundra (Part 2 - 43:02). We faced down the first dungeon and the first boss today. I'm also going to have to pay attention in the future - there was quite a long sequence where I screwed myself out of saving.

[Amechra]

We're on the penultimate day of Lenna's Inception (Part 10 - 33:09) — we're mostly just clearing up some loose ends and tackling the final dungeon. Unlike the rest of the dungeons, the Palace is not randomized and actually has an overarching puzzle, so look forward to that.

[SerTabris]

Oh, Lenna's Inception! I played that a while back myself and liked it quite a bit. I'm happy to see more people looking at it (though I think you started before I did) and sharing it. And

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when I saw the name you chose, I had to wonder if that was an intentional coincidence with the book Paige wrote. I know you didn't mention it when you got the book, but I might have missed it elsewhere. Also, I'm not sure if this is an older version, but in the one I have you don't need to have all 16 books to recruit Paige, only 8 (which I'm glad for because I like having her there).

[Amechra]

Oh, Lenna's Inception! I played that a while back myself and liked it quite a bit. I'm happy to see more people looking at it (though I think you started before I did) and sharing it. And

Spoiler

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when I saw the name you chose, I had to wonder if that was an intentional coincidence with the book Paige wrote. I know you didn't mention it when you got the book, but I might have missed it elsewhere. Also, I'm not sure if this is an older version, but in the one I have you don't need to have all 16 books to recruit Paige, only 8 (which I'm glad for because I like having her there).

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The name was very intentional - I played through the game once before recording it, and I thought that it would be kinda funny. As far as I know, the version I'm playing needs all 16 books, but I wouldn't quote me on that.

[Amechra]

Honestly, it's somewhat appropriate that I'm a little late today with the Alundra video (Part 3 - 33:02). This video is pretty quiet and low-energy because I wasn't feeling too great when I recorded it - but hey, we got set up for the next dungeon and did some exploration... so hey, it wasn't a complete miss.

[Amechra]

So, here it is: the last part of our Lenna's Inception run (Final Part - 31:18). I share my thoughts about the game in the video, but let's just say that we got the ending we got, and I'm not planning on replaying it to get a different one any time soon.

[Amechra]

It's Alundra time! (Part 4 - 1:01:31)

Yes, the video is over an hour long, thanks to including an entire dungeon. While I could have stopped the episode earlier (and might in the future), I also feel like breaking in the middle of a dungeon is kinda lame. I am willing to hear counter-arguments, though.

[Amechra]

Given that Lenna's Inception is done and dusted, I needed a new game for Mondays. And in the end, I decided to play Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a Gameboy Color game based off of an obscure series of British children's books that you've probably never heard of. I think they made a movie at some point?

In all seriousness, though, the Gameboy Color Harry Potter games were kinda bizarre, in that they were licensed JRPGs. I really loved the first one, though, and so you, dear viewer, get to come along with me down memory lane. It's a shame that there were only four Harry Potter books, though.

Part 1 - 40:32

[Amechra]

Well, I'm a little late for today - which isn't surprising, given how much trouble this video gave me to record. (Part 5 - 48:41).

But yeah - we mostly just cleared out a dungeon and did a little bit of extra plot stuff today.

[Amechra]

More Harry Potter! (Part 2 - 43:38).

In this episode, I make some... questionable... decisions. Also, we learn more about why Hagrid shouldn't have responsibility for children. I don't know why Harry likes that guy, honestly.

[Amechra]

Thursday is time for Alundra, and I'm actually on time this time! (Part 6 - 50:40)

Today we have an absurd amount of emotional whiplash, as we tackle our third dream.

[Amechra]

Some more Harry Potter. (Part 3 - 45:06)

Today we've learned that Hogwarts has a pest problem and problems with their onboarding. It is, quite frankly, embarrassing for such a prestigious institution.

[Amechra]

Allow me to tell you about a company named Working Designs.

Working Designs was a video game localization company back in the 90s that specialized in importing more obscure games. They're the reason that the West even got games like Popful Mail, the Lunar Series, and Alundra.

Working Designs was also infamous for filling their scripts with rapidly-dated references and terrible jokes. More damning is the fact that they also broke games — one of the worst cases was when they added an XP cost to saving your game in Lunar 2. And, unfortunately, they also managed to break Alundra. In an attempt to rebalance some later bosses (by dropping their HP and increasing their damage) they "accidentally" gave every enemy in the game increased damage and at least 50% more HP.

Now, that's not the only reason that I have two videos for you today (Part 7a - 1:00:26 | Part 7b - 52:54), but it's a contributing factor for why it felt like my soul died while playing through that dungeon. So much so that these two videos will have to tide you over on Alundra for a little while — I'm going to be tossing up something short next Thursday to give myself a little break.

In better news, though, I found an Un-Worked Designs patch for the game, which restores the monster difficulty back to what it was in the original Japanese version of the game. Hopefully this will reduce my suffering going forwards.

[Amechra]

Hello everyone! Today, I have the honor of presenting a Snapetacular episode of Harry Potter! (Part 4 - 47:00)

Marvel as he sneers at children!
Gasp as he demonstrates considerable negligence vis-a-vis the safety of said children! (To be fair, the child in question is Neville.)
Cheer as he unavoidably takes away house points screw you snape i was saving those demonstrates a desire for punctuality!

[Amechra]

I decided to take a break from Alundra (the 1-2 people who have been watching that LP know why) to play a bit of Celeste! (Video - 21:54)

No, not that Celeste. Do I look like I play good games?

EDIT: Oops, I hit post a little too early...

[Amechra]

Back on the Harry Potter train! (Part 5 - 1:05:36)

I like to think that, in this version of the Harry Potter story, Hufflepuff are the house that generally wins the house cup. It turns out that being nice and friendly pays off.

[Amechra]

OK, so we're hopping back on the Alundra train starting today (Part 8 - 51:08)

It's interesting how much of a change making the enemies take 1-2 hits less to kill makes. While the dungeon we're tackling today is somewhat challenging, it wasn't frustrating in the same way that the last one was. Barring any weird difficulty spikes or problems with the patch, we should be good to go.

[Amechra]

What's this? Some Harry Potter post-commentary? (Part 6 - 41:37)

So yeah. I was being silly and scrapped my "live" commentary. Oops! Oh well, at least I could watch it back and record a new track.

I don't think I'll be doing that again. :p

As for what's actually in the video... A TROLL! ON THE FIRST FLOOR! I thought you might want to know.

[Amechra]

Alundra! (Part 10 - 35:05)

We finish up the Coastal Cave, stare at some pretty flashing lights, and hear some rumors that the plot is, in fact, thickening.

[Amechra]

A very grind-y episode of Harry Potter today (Part 7 - 53:57)

Our trouble with the troll last time convinced me that Harry needed a bit more oomph. So after recovering our Christmas present (those of you who are familiar with Harry Potter should know what it is), I then spent an inordinate amount of time fighting monsters in what amounts to a broom closet.

More importantly, though, we've gotten the doom spell at this point. Keep an eye out for me using it later.

[Amechra]

Holy superjumps, speed-ups, and werewolves, Batman, it's Alundra! (Part 10 - 1:09:16)

Long story short, the dream we're tackling this time around is very long, and it's making me reconsider how I'm handling this series. Again. Alundra, why do you hurt me this way?

[Amechra]

Well, due to working on the final project for one of my courses, I kinda forgot to post here. Oops!

But you know what I didn't forget? A little bit of Harry Potter, where we help Hagrid break the law (Part 8 — 31:18). That rascally Hagrid — what will he do next?

Oh, yeah, and some more Alundra. Down in the lizard cave. With the lizards. (Part 11 — 45:07).

[Amechra]

We're entering the home stretch for Harry Potter, everyone (Part 9 - 45:40). We'll be finishing up next week, and then we're moving on to something else.

But more importantly... before replaying this game, I had forgotten a lot about the first Harry Potter book. Most specifically... I remember the centaurs as being more helpful? I don't know why.

[Amechra]

More Alundra! This time around, we finish up the Reptile Lair, with a short break for a shopping trip (Part 12 | 47:34).