Hey guys, so a few months ago I gave away a bunch of free steam keys because I bought a Humble Bundle for two games and didn't want the other six or whatever to go to waste.  In that thread I mentioned, completely unrelated to me giving away steam keys, that I was finalizing a YouTube gaming review channel.  Well, after a few months it's finally all rolling.  So welcome to The Golden Bolt!

I checked with a mod to make sure that this thread would comply with forum rules, so if there's any issue with rules please let me know so I can adjust it.  This week we're looking at the baby of the PS2 Holy Trinity, Sly Cooper.  How does the first Sly game hold up almost 16 years after launch?  Pretty well, actually!  

Anyway, I don't know what to say other than that and introducing the video itself, so here it is. (link)

Now, for the part of the thread I can actually think of words for.  I mentioned in the video that community is a big part of what I want this channel to be.  My current plan is to play one community-suggested game about every five or so reviews (after the initial settling-in period, as I have a couple "suggested" reviews I have to do because I lost a bet).  Any ideas you guys have are sincerely welcomed, and encouraged.  There's no malintent or underlying reason behind the channel, there's no monetizing (I'm morally opposed to monetization unless the viewership literally tells a channel to monetize and that monetization becomes the best way to give the community what it deserves) or anything, just me having fun making videos and hopefully you guys having fun watching them.

Lastly, some mea culpa.  There are a couple issues with the video, I know.  YouTube desynced it very slightly, which I'll have to work on fixing for the next videos, and there are some rookie mistakes I made such as recording both audio and video in multiple batches.  I've got some fixes on mixing and lighting and such coming for the next video hopefully, so most of it should come down to formatting the video slightly better (admittedly I just wanted to get the damn thing out at this point - I knew it wouldn't be up to snuff with later videos no matter what so now and average is better than later and slightly more average).  Anyway, point is, feel free to critique, I know the main areas for improvement, but you guys might tell me something new so I want to hear it!

Your intro makes me cringe.

Anyway, I don't have the time nor the interest to watch the whole video, but I'll sub since I'm sure you'll be doing a lot more good stuff. Plus, I've had your YT page bookmarked for a long time since you advertised your channel here.

Havent watched yet but saw this pop up in my Sub feed and was all "who the fuck is this guy"

I'm going to give you some advice, and I mean this with the absolute best of intentions.

Cut.

Your.

Intro.

It's way too long. Like 23 seconds too long. I get it. You worked hard on it. You're probably proud of it. Cut it. Make it 3 seconds absolute max. You do not need near 30 seconds of intro to introduce yourself or your channel. You know that last bit you used? The black screen with just your logo and nothing else? Use that. Seriously, its fine.

If your audience isn't completely engaged within the first 15 seconds of your video, they will not stick around to watch the rest of it. Overlong intro's will guarantee that will never happen. Again, I say this will the best of intentions. You're a part of VGC, which means I want you to succeed. Cut the intro.

I'll keep that in mind, but as somebody active within the YouTube gaming community I have to point out a large swath of channels that run a similar length of intro. The length of the intro is currently going to vary depending on the game at hand and other factors, with this one probably the absolute longest it'd ever be due to the New Challenger bit I did, which isn't going to be a thing after this. 

Like I said, nothing is static within the channel outside of the concept of the format itself - there will be cold opens when they work, the intro will be shorter to fit a shorter review, et alia.