Looking for 'Machinima' like episodic series that role-play through games (not 'lets play' vids, but actually in-character)

[sterile_technique@lemmy.world]

Grew up watching things like Freeman's Mind, and Red vs Blue (their channel is locked behind some kind of 'join' thing... wtf...), WoW Machinimas... More recently I saw Neeb's Subnautica series and it's a pretty solid step up in quality compared to what I'm otherwise familiar with. I've burned through their content, and am seeking more! ...and the Subnautica stuff looks like Neeb's only content that follows this format - the rest of their channel is 'let's play' videos. Boo.

Anyway, nursing student here! ...it's melting my brain. I don't trust my time-management skills to actually fire up any games right now - the addiction is real, and I'll fuck up my grades; but the 'itch' is also real, so I'm trying to find something to give that gaming fix, but in little short bursts so I don't one-more-level my way out of the program.

Study up, give my brain a nice 10-20 min break, then get back to it.

Not really picky on the game or genre, just looking for something in-character. YouTube is absolutely STUFFED with videos of people just playing games, but hardly any focused on delivering an actual story. Or rather, I'm sure it's there, it's just lost in a sea of low quality slop. Could also be that I just don't know the right key search term ("machinima" doesn't seem to really be a thing anymore, and I'm not sure what else to call it).

Any recommendations on picking out the gems?

[misterneon@lemmy.world]

For historical purposes I'm obligated to inform you about G4's Portal.

Note: Quality is not guaranteed.

[tal@olio.cafe]

Red vs Blue (their channel is locked behind some kind of 'join' thing... wtf...),

I think that they went commercial at some point, stopped just being a for-fun project on YouTube, and I assume that that's what happened. Wikipedia doesn't have anything clearly indicating the transition, though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_vs._Blue

Although it is distributed serially over the internet, Red vs. Blue is also one of the first commercially released products made using machinima, as opposed to a product merely containing machinima. DVDs (and later Blu-rays) of every completed seasons are sold through Rooster Teeth's official website, as well as at several retailers in the United States, such as Target and Wal-Mart. Rooster Teeth claimed in 2017 that Red vs. Blue has sold more than 1 million DVDs of individual seasons and box sets.[76]

kagis more

Hmm.

https://old.reddit.com/r/RedvsBlue/comments/1ct84yj/rooster_teeth_shutdown_red_vs_blue_and_where_to/

With the final closure of the Rooster Teeth website, and RTs insistance on removing much of their content from YouTube, many may be wondering where you can watch that once popular web-series: Red vs. Blue.

I intend to keep this post as a repository, cataloguing public archives of RvB and RT content. There are of course still legal ways to acquire the show via YouTube, Amazon, Apple. However with that money no longer supporting RT, I can only recommend them on a convenience basis and instead offer some free alternatives.

The most comprehensive and accessible is: https://archiveofpimps.com/ which contains all of the main series and mini-series in both its original and remastered states. It appears to lack some PSAs but with tonnes of other RT content and a strong interface it’s currently the strongest contender.

Additionally, there is a Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NHnQK7-BgwaJiKJOYA7CkRQemKjTQ8Nd This also contains all of the main series and mini-series in both original and remastered formats. Individual episodes and movie edits, PSAs, Behind the Scenes, trailers and bonus material. For Red vs. Blue specifically this is the place to go.

*Our subreddit wiki also has a detailed watchlist order to help new viewers https://www.reddit.com/r/RedvsBlue/wiki/watch_order/

I urge people to maintain their own archives and if you are hosting your own public archives and wish to advertise them, let me know and I’ll add them to the post.

Thank you Rooster Teeth for 21 years of laughs. Let’s try and preserve their legacy. ️

That post was dated a year ago, so I assume that there was some change that happened around that point in time.

[felixwhynot@lemmy.world]

I very much enjoyed watching Yogscast which does Minecraft machinima

[mrgabr@ttrpg.network]

Full story Machinima style series are rare, but if you just want heavy editing and a somewhat coherent plot as opposed to nearly unedited gameplay, Alpharad and LarsBurrito might work. Alpharad heavily edits his videos and usually writes a script to go over the gameplay that does a good job pulling a story out of the footage. LarsBurrito does a similar style, but also often does themed playthroughs where he writes the script to flavor the playthrough to fit whatever character he's roleplaying as.

If you want actual story but are ok with significantly less editing, Mianite is a series I rewatch every once in a while in a similar way you describe. The scripted story doesn't really start picking up until a significant way through season 1, but there is still enough conflict between the different players to make it more than just a Let's Play.

[naiboftabr@infosec.pub]

There is a fantastic YouTube documentary about this:

On the Verge of Collapse - The Story of Rooster Teeth

Highly recommended if you were ever a fan of any of their work. They were ahead of their time in a lot of ways.

[naiboftabr@infosec.pub]

The Codex series is definitely worth watching.

You might also enjoy Arby 'n' the Chief - it's not exactly machinima but it certainly fits the culture. If you played Halo 2 or 3 during the peak days, it will be nostalgic.

[quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

Maybe someone knows what it is. I remember watching many years ago a series of videos of Rust that were narrated as if they were a nature documentary.

[kolanaki@pawb.social]

I really miss the G4/TechTV show "Portal."

It was machinima and live action, kinda in world lore but it used multiple MMORPGs for the in-game parts and had a sort of multiverse plot line where there were recurring characters that would appear in all the different game worlds and such.

It's hard to explain because it was really its own unique thing.

[maltasoron@sopuli.xyz]

VLDL make rally funny parodies of various games. They have some long running series with recurring characters.

[cepelinas@sopuli.xyz]

Hlvrai not quite in character but still rp personally I really liked it and can't wait for the sequel but It prob will arrive one week after half-life 3...

[sterile_technique@lemmy.world]

...now that you say that, I vaguely remember a coworker talking about a rust series a few years ago. There's only a few people that could have been - I'll pick the corresponding brains and get back to you if I find an answer.