The NPC Reviews: Pirates of Darkwater


Television


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I know I mentioned its coming a while ago so here it is:

The NPC Reviews: Pirates of Darkwater

The NPC and Ted take to alien seas with the Hanna-Barbara classic Pirates of Darkwater. Trinket of the past or lost treasure to be found again?

Here


What a great review! I need to check out more of your stuff, now! :)


Tacticslion wrote:
What a great review! I need to check out more of your stuff, now! :)

Thanks! That makes my night. :)


I'm glad it did! :)

I've now checked out your earliest stuff (including what looks to be an abandoned concept of "Ask Omniseer" (which might have been the first thing you made?), and... it's pretty good.

I have to say, I love the clean language (especially when compared to other reviewers), and you have a great sense of humor.

Comparing just the Pirates of Darkwater review with your earlier ones, you've definitively improved, and that's actually really good.

I strongly appreciated your more thorough, less goofy-only review of (for example) Dungeons & Dragons - it helped me both appreciate the good elements of the movie and genuinely understand (better) why it wasn't good (I enjoyed Spoony's and the Nostalgia Critics, but yours was a better review of the movie, I think, even as theirs was entertaining).

Anyway, looking at the Cortex RPG and Louie the Rune Soldier, those were really well done too! (Though the Cortex review felt a little scattered and hard to follow at times.) I'm definitely going to go through your archives, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest!


God I loved this show. So ahead of its time. A sincere thanks for reminding me of its existence again.

This should start my usual cycle:
1) Watch the entire run.
2) Rail against the world for it never getting its conclusion.
3) Determine that I must either run or play in an RPG wrapping the damn thing up.
4) Make some half-hearted plans towards goal #3, then fail to make it happen.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

To Viscount K: Glad I could help. :) Also, I think the Lady behind piratesdarkwater.net mentioned a petition to get it finished.

To Tacticslion: Thank you. I'm glad its good and that I have improved... and that you like my sense of humor.

Yeah Ask Omenseer was an early attempt at something but I kind of lost traction on it. It was the first of the silly entertainment stuff that I did.

Yeah, I don't curse in real life and I thought I could turn that into something amusing for my videos. I just don't have that level of vitriol common to many reviewers and at first that made me a bit insecure because its the internet and hatred is the most common denominator. But yeah a review you can show to your kinds *Thumbs up*

I figured the D&D movie needed a gamer's look at it. Wait, Spoony did a review of it? I thought only NC and that other guy who's TGWTG name escapes me, but he goes by the amazing atheist, did a go over of the movie. I'm saving D&D: Curse of the Dragon God for a special occasion.

The Cortex review was my first RPG review. It suffered from two things. First, we went off a bullet point list rather than a more written out script (Yeah never doing that again). Secendly I hadn't really hammered out my own format yet. I was cribbing notes from someone else while trying to not look like I was cribbing notes.

Although if you're going through all of my archives you'll come across my community college video production videos. Those i'll be masochistically curious to get feedback on.

Anywho, i'm glad you like them and I hope you keep watching. My next video will be a new segment called Errata and FAQ. It's going to be a Q&A/story telling kind of thing. Less scripted but hopefully enjoyable and interesting. My next review is going to be a board game that i'm sure James Jacobs loves.

Man that was longer than I thought it was going to be.


Viscount K wrote:

God I loved this show. So ahead of its time. A sincere thanks for reminding me of its existence again.

This should start my usual cycle:
1) Watch the entire run.
2) Rail against the world for it never getting its conclusion.
3) Determine that I must either run or play in an RPG wrapping the damn thing up.
4) Make some half-hearted plans towards goal #3, then fail to make it happen.

This sounds like a really solid life plan!

(Agreed that the show was great, and having fun never finishing the story... sounds familiar. :/)

The NPC wrote:
To Viscount K: Glad I could help. :) Also, I think the Lady behind piratesdarkwater.net mentioned a petition to get it finished.

Sign me up!

The NPC wrote:
To Tacticslion: Thank you. I'm glad its good and that I have improved... and that you like my sense of humor.

What's not to like? :D

The NPC wrote:
Yeah Ask Omenseer was an early attempt at something but I kind of lost traction on it. It was the first of the silly entertainment stuff that I did.

Cool. :)

The NPC wrote:
Yeah, I don't curse in real life and I thought I could turn that into something amusing for my videos. I just don't have that level of vitriol common to many reviewers and at first that made me a bit insecure because its the internet and hatred is the most common denominator. But yeah a review you can show to your kinds *Thumbs up*

Absolutely! It's really hard to find any sort of entertainment that can play while I do stuff at home (I'm a stay-at-home Dad with a toddler). The only other reviewer like that I know include Linkara (who I've stopped watching for a while because... I don't have time for comics any more :(), and other than him, the closest is Lotus Prince (but he has enough "No-no" words, that I still can't while my son's around), so I really appreciate your show and cleanliness!

The NPC wrote:
I figured the D&D movie needed a gamer's look at it. Wait, Spoony did a review of it? I thought only NC and that other guy who's TGWTG name escapes me, but he goes by the amazing atheist, did a go over of the movie. I'm saving D&D: Curse of the Dragon God for a special occasion.

Behold the power of SPOONY TEXT REVIEW (before he did videos). I don't think he's done a video. I don't believe I've seen the other guy's review that you mention. I can't wait to see CotDG!

Also... apparently there's a third one... :O

The NPC wrote:
The Cortex review was my first RPG review. It suffered from two things. First, we went off a bullet point list rather than a more written out script (Yeah never doing that again). Secendly I hadn't really hammered out my own format yet. I was cribbing notes from someone else while trying to not look like I was cribbing notes.

I could tell something was up... but it still wasn't awful (there are awful reviews out there). Regardless, you don't have to explain yourself to me, because I've certainly done my share of "firsts" that weren't nearly as good as later products. I mean, seriously, just look at pretty much every single TGWTG user... they've all changed and refined their styles over time (though whether you prefer the old or new styles of a given reviewer is entirely a matter of personal preference). From what I've seen so far, however, you've improved a lot, and the old ones simply weren't bad to begin with. :)

One more thing - although this is pretty strictly hardware - is that you'll want to eventually even out your sound (or whatever the technical term is for making your sitting down portions and dub-over portions more similar and getting rid of the microphone hiss). Currently it's a bit uneven, which I'm pretty positive is purely due to the nature of your microphone instead of sound editing on your part. (You've definitely improved since earlier ones, though as the the Pirates of Darkwater video, it's still a bit of an issue.)

THAT SAID: don't take that as a criticism of you or your videos. It's more of a "Hey, here's a thing you can work on to make your stuff even better when you finally maybe sort of ever get money, which may or may not ever happen." type of suggestion. :)

The NPC wrote:
Although if you're going through all of my archives you'll come across my community college video production videos. Those i'll be masochistically curious to get feedback on.

I'm on it! ... eventually! ... probably. (Usually when I "determine to do something!" it never goes anywhere, so I'm hedging just so I don't make a promise I can't keep.)

The NPC wrote:
Anywho, i'm glad you like them and I hope you keep watching. My next video will be a new segment called Errata and FAQ. It's going to be a Q&A/story telling kind of thing. Less scripted but hopefully enjoyable and interesting. My next review is going to be a board game that i'm sure James Jacobs loves.

I'm very interested in seeing it!

The NPC wrote:
Man that was longer than I thought it was going to be.

Said me after most every post I've ever made. :D

But really, I am pretty much an instant super-fan of your show. Clean language, great source material to review, a fun sense of humor, and (ever improving) good editing. I've pretty much immediately ranked you now with my other three top favorite reviewers (Spoony, Linkara, and Lotus Prince).

Completely Off-Topic Aside: I actually watch the Nostalgia Critic and the things Doug makes and even Bennett the Sage (who is pretty fun) and pretty much any other reviewer more than Linkara vidoes because, frankly, it tends toward being more relevant to my life. Which makes me sad. Not because I don't like Linkara - he's one of my top favorites -, but because the others are just more relevant to my current interests and life. Ah well. Someday, Linkara. Someday I'll go on a make-up-for-it-all binge and catch up! But not today! Today... I delve into NPC-territory!


A critique!

I don't know if it's just the way Google Chrome interacts with it, or what, but I'm not really able to see your full videos without making them full screen: it consistently gets "cut off" - I see about 9/11 of the screen on average, at a strangely specific guesstimate; however the exact amount varies and so, sometimes, I can't even select the "full screen" option. It may be something with my browser (Google Chrome, currently), or it may be something with the site. Any suggestions? I'm still loving the videos.

(I'm up to Vampire Favorites, though there doesn't seem to be a distinction between the four videos so far. EDIT: Nevermind! All three videos are secretly the same video! :D)


That's some high praise and I thank you. My goal for this year was to be more active in my review/video making and I hope to improve as well. Particularly in sound.

I think that is a embedding issue on my website. Sometimes it embeds fine other times there's a cut off. I thought I had those fixed. No distinction? What do you mean?


The NPC wrote:
That's some high praise and I thank you. My goal for this year was to be more active in my review/video making and I hope to improve as well. Particularly in sound.

Well-earned praise! And you're welcome!

The NPC wrote:
My goal for this year was to be more active in my review/video making and I hope to improve as well. Particularly in sound.

That's a good, strong goal.

A quick scan makes it seem like you make a new video every one to four months on average? My supposition is that either school or work (or some other facet of Real Life (tm)) gets in your way of making them more regularly. If it's work, have you at all dropped your stuff on the That Guy with the Glasses forums, because you might get some traction there. Do you have a YouTube Channel (I'm uncertain how they'd take the review process)? Because that might be another source of increased viewership/revenue. That might also free you up (in turn) to increase your schedule.

I want to encourage you if you want to pursue this, because you have real potential, however: don't let it consume you! Spoony went through a hard couple of years (as you may know), and the reviewing thing was just a burden. Instead: keep it fun! :)

The NPC wrote:
I think that is a embedding issue on my website. Sometimes it embeds fine other times there's a cut off. I thought I had those fixed.

Yeah... computers can be tricky that way!

The NPC wrote:
No distinction? What do you mean?

By no distinction, I mean:

Video Link One (this has, by your site's counter, been viewed 51 times)

Video Link Two (this has, by your site's counter, been viewed 224 times)

And Video Link Three (this has, by your site's counter, been viewed 220 times)

They're secretly all the same video! It seems it was posted three times (upon closer inspection, all three were on April 1st, 2012, the first a 6:19 AM, the second at 6:20 AM, and the third at 6:21 AM). Looks like your website pulled an April Fools prank on everyone! :)

Also, I now must own a copy of Part-Time gods (and the Wet Bar skit was hilarious - I was thinking the sodas you were using looked like they would taste awful together and was ready to be proven wrong... nope! I was right, which surprised me!). You've also re-inspired me to continue working on my own huge revision of the d20-compatible divine rank system (which is probably tremendously different from Part-Time Gods, despite them both being at least marginally d20-based).

By the way, I enjoyed the throw-away self-depreciating gag about the Cortex Role Playing review. (In Big Eyes Small Mouth, was it? I'm not entirely sure.)

Your review of Conan the Adventurer surprised me... I'd thought of it as nothing more than a bad knock-off, but you've caused me to reconsider. Instinct was... interesting. It was bizarre, and I didn't quite understand all that was going on, but it was quite an interesting experience to watch. Your Con questions were humorous.

I've not yet seen The Hobbit review (or The Dragon Age Role Playing Game), nor looked at Pilot Sketches or Early and Artsy archives, so I can't comment on those. It likely won't happen until after Monday as well, since I'm going to be out of town tomorrow.

Anyway, God bless you! :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Work in my old job did interfere and another part was my innate procrastination which I have been working to overcome with some success. If I could do this as my paying job I think I would like that but for now its a hobby. I enjoy entertaining people.

Technology has a weird relationship with me, the one thing that seems to work consistently is video editing software.

I did not notice that on the time markers. Weird thing that.

I just wish I still had the wet bar to have that being a recurring skit. The drink was grenadine, limeade, and either ginger ale or ice tea I can't remember. Is that the divine rank system from Deities and Demigods? Good to see i'm having a positive impact.

It was the BESM review.

I hope you enjoy the hobbit and and Dragon Age RPG.

Thank you and you as well :)


I am now caught up on the NPC reviews!

The Hobbit was... surprisingly short (both review and show). I'd honestly not heard of the one you reviewed. While I have a substantially larger amount of nerdrage at pretty much the everything that you showed us than you do, the review was well done. (EDIT: To clarify, the shortness of the review wasn't a bad thing, and was rather nifty... it was just really surprising.)

The Dragon Age game was interesting. I like the idea of it, but I'm not sure I'm down with the execution. Based off of some of the things you were saying, I'm actually surprised that it got as high a score as it did. Nonetheless, it was a well done review and, yes, you're definitely improving.

Next up are the Pilots and Sketches!
(Eventually.)


Thanks! Feedback taken and being pondered... I'm not sure if I should laugh evilly here or not.


Evil Laughs are entirely acceptable. :)


Now I am wondering if I should leave out the our of 5 system and use a nay, play, or play with caveat approach hmm...

Question Tacticslion: Your offspring, male or female?

...What? Oh right! Mwahahaha!


Hahah! (Hm, perhaps I shall have to brush up on my own...)

I don't know - the "x out of five" system is neat because it gives you a gradient approach, but I'd be all over the latter system too.

In either event, there's a certain amount of personal taste, so there's always going to be a person's potential to differ in opinion or be surprised by a reviewer's ultimate conclusion.

You know, I wrote this, then I disagreed with it, but when I was going to delete it I changed my mind and thought it was accurate... meh, I'm just being wishy-washy, I guess. I may not agree with this tomorrow or even three seconds from now.:
The three-fold approach might be great, but if you go with that, I'd actually suggest either a four-fold approach (making something even more exciting than "play"), or if you go with the three-fold perhaps making "play with caveat" something that's a little more tempered (not because caveat's a bad word, but for some reason it comes off as too negative).

Also, my toddler is my little boy! He's great!
(Also sick and teething today at the same time... alas.)


*Further laughter*

I'll ponder a bit and see what happens when I dip (Once again?) into the indie scene with my next rpg review. At least wishy-washy people are clean!

Who needs a gym when you have a toddler? I was curious because I have a girl show in mind for a review... and no it's not My Little Pony. :)

Tacticslion: He's great!
Audience: How great is he?


Tacticslion: Let me tell you how great he is!

(And little girl shows are cool, too... now that I know they don't have cooties.)
:D


Tacticslion wrote:

Tacticslion: Let me tell you how great he is!

(And little girl shows are cool, too... now that I know they don't have cooties.)
:D

:)


The Adventure's Over was really funny, and I honestly didn't see it coming (though I actually couldn't hear most of what was said until the house).

I have to admit, I didn't really understand what was going on in Hungry Like the Okami, outside of the obvious (if anything): a hungry girl was speaking Japanese while Hungry Like the Wolf ("Okami" being Japanese for "Wolf") played in the background. It seemed like the smug guy had some sort of plot, but I'm not really sure what, exactly, it was (he drove around and... eventually gave her food?). Still, it was fun to hear the song, and an amusing pun. :)

Next is Early and Artsy!
(... at some point.)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

It was a 99 ways to tell a story project. We were given a set of lines and a few props and we had to include the props and only use those lines. The idea was she was hungry and he was taunting her by driving by all those restaurants. After the credits he went and ate but did get her anything. An amusing thing. After I turned it in my friend who played the smug guy was at work at a grocery store and this girl goes through his line and while doing this she takes out her sunglasses and asks him if she looks good in those shades. It turns out my professor used my video as an example for his highschool class.

As for the Adventure's over. I liked that one. I eventually wrote a script where the story progresses after that the world changes. I hope to make it in the some time in the not to distant future. I even have most of the original actors interested.


That's really sweet! It's actually an interesting (and amusing) story to go with it.

I've seen Love's Sword (I've been lacking as much free time this week), and it's a very interesting story. I was curious if it at all tied into the Instinct video, canonically, considering the guy with the mask-and-chain, and the vaguely similar world setting involving guys in trench coats with swords and strange and freaky imagery/rites. Alternatively, it could be a limited prop-budget (as in "none") and everyone living in the same general area generating a similar style of dress. That's a thing that could cause that too. :)

In any event: nifty video! I loved the music, and the "tale" told of a man who was consistently rejected in love and battled (from what I can tell) evil while continuing his search for the former (and feeling lonely) is really well done.

Also: HOLY SNAP! I'm Not Leaving is really beautiful! It's funny in part because they're clearly not actors (and he seems entirely fine throughout), but that doesn't stop it from being both cute and very sweet... and, I think, enhances it in this case.

In any event, that's literally all I've been able to watch, so... more later!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Yes they do tie together. I had the limited props yes but I decided to make it work for me. Another tie in is "The keeper's Words." The fellow from instinct with the long hair is the central focus in that one.

You pretty much got Love's Sword.

I'm not leaving tends to get an emotional response. Always be careful when showing your videos to groups of elder women.

Also, I posted the first Errata and FAQ video. There should be a link in the Gamer Talk section.


Ahhh... I have finally found the evil pun master... I should have known to look you up under The NPC, instead I kept searching "Omenseer" to try and find you. Sigh.

Also @ Hungry Like the Ookami... it simply made me want food.


Klairyn wrote:

Ahhh... I have finally found the evil pun master... I should have known to look you up under The NPC, instead I kept searching "Omenseer" to try and find you. Sigh.

Also @ Hungry Like the Ookami... it simply made me want food.

Heheh! I love The NPCs videos, and wish that he had more time to make more. Check all of them out, when you have the time!


Tacticslion wrote:
Klairyn wrote:

Ahhh... I have finally found the evil pun master... I should have known to look you up under The NPC, instead I kept searching "Omenseer" to try and find you. Sigh.

Also @ Hungry Like the Ookami... it simply made me want food.

Heheh! I love The NPCs videos, and wish that he had more time to make more. Check all of them out, when you have the time!

Already have, had to do a bit of catching up yesterday, but I finished up easily enough despite YouTube taking forever to buffer.

@Pun Master, would like to see more development with Tim. In his introduction episode he simply scared you, but then in the next one he was just there and while there was confusion as to how he became so "normal" I would have liked to see a little build up to that point... like Tim being creepy and The NPC carefully convincing him to take etiquette classes or something.

Would also like to see more of Tim's diary... and possible after effects of reading it. If you want, call me and we can bounce ideas if you're interested?

Community / Forums / Gamer Life / Entertainment / Television / The NPC Reviews: Pirates of Darkwater All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Television