Silent Let's Plays?

[Ryemanni]

So, I've recently pondered if it would be possible to make "Silent Let's play" -videos. By that I mean no talking, only the game's own sounds and some text-based commentary written by the player.
I know it has been done by some people in the past. I've watched some Don't Starve videos with only text commentary for example.
I came up with this idea because I'd like to try and make some let's play/longplay hybrid videos of Lix with a few subtitles telling my thoughs of each level.

What do you guys think about this idea? How could it be improved? Would it be fun to watch a video like that?
I'm listening to any suggestions you guys might have.

[IchoTolot]

Silent Let's plays are called Walkthroughs I think.

But yes you can try it out, hell I even do this when I'm uploading my replay solutions to level packs and I've been doing this for years now

If you want to express your thoughts about levels I would certainly encourage you to ditch subtitles and pick up your microphone instead. Text covers up the action, the viewer needs to read rather than watch....
If you are unsecure about your voice or anything, there's ne need to be.
So if you want to tell the viewers something it's better to use your voice rather than text. If you just want to show stuff, the game audio can be enough.

[Proxima]

Definitely, such videos can be interesting. I've made a long series of gameplay videos of the Repton series, for example, and Part 1 of Repton 2 is by far my most popular video.

I'd say the key difference between this and Let's Plays is that for a Let's Play, you want to show, and let the viewer overhear, your solving process; each level takes up more time on video and the viewer can try to solve it themselves and feel good if they reach key insights before you. For a longplay, you would just show the solution and comment on the level in hindsight. The chief advantage is that going through a long pack this way takes up a lot less of the viewer's time

[Strato Incendus]

Yes, IchoTolot was also the first one I thought of when you mentioned this idea, Raymanni .

This style of videos is certainly great for just quickly looking up the solution of the level I got stuck upon; however, when I think of "watching a Let's Play", to me the player's personality is a huge part of the experience. Too each his own, of course, but if someone just plays the game silently, I usually tune out quickly, because then I'd rather go ahead and play myself .

[Ryemanni]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I agree that text commentary can be quite different from talking. One can feel a lot more invested in the video if they are hearing the player's thinking process, like Proxima mentioned.

I need to ponder a bit more about this. I surely would like to talk, but it can be a bit hard to get used to it if you are alone. Streaming would be another option because then you could interact with the audience on a whole new level.

Also, I need a better mic.

[BBP]

I've done it a couple of times actually...  had great responses too! It's great because you can optimize your material. It's just that Youtube's Annotations are a pain in the neck.

[mobius]

from your time playing Lix, I thought your mic seemed pretty okay to me; I could hear you easily.

When I started making videos and streaming it felt very awkward; but you get used to it. Also you must get used to hearing/editing your own voice. I know from friends and cousins who sing they've said they literally had to 'learn to like their own voice' to improve their singing. That's different obviously but it's similar principle. 

[Ryemanni]

from your time playing Lix, I thought your mic seemed pretty okay to me; I could hear you easily.

That's good to hear, but in every recording test I've done with Audacity or OBS my voice is really silent and has a lot of background noise.
I'm going to buy a table mic anyway because wearing headphones for a while hurts my neck.

I've done it a couple of times actually...  had great responses too! It's great because you can optimize your material. It's just that Youtube's Annotations are a pain in the neck.

You can make better text annotations with even Windows Movie maker.

[BBP]

Oh please not Windows Movie Maker... that gave me such trouble when I made a compilation video...

[Ryemanni]

Oh please not Windows Movie Maker... that gave me such trouble when I made a compilation video...

It really has improved over the years. It's also a good option if you only need to cut your videos.

[BBP]

It still tends to cut off ends of video segments. Though it doesn't jam as much as it did back when I made my first film.

[nin10doadict]

I'm pretty sure the annotation feature has been removed from YouTube entirely, so you can't add or edit them anymore. So if you want text commentary on your video, you'll have to add it some other way.

[BBP]

You're correct, thanks for letting me know!

Anyway... textless is great. I love using it to add information that may not be interesting to the casual viewer, like technical issues or side info. Though I can imagine that in, say, horror games, voices do have added value.