The Last of Us

I thought both Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy had good gameplay/story balance with them as well.

They did, but something happened during TLOU part II that changed.

And for all of Kojima's faults, there's no indication as of yet that he crunched any of the staff that worked under him, Big Ego or not. Any crunch that might have happened was probably enforced by Konami, not him.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Aug 20th 2021 at 12:41:55 PM

Given how he was forcibly kept separate from his team for the last year of V's development I'd say that's a safe bet. I also never heard of Kojima threatening (or really any bad things about his actual work, besides him being a bit of a perfectionist at times and throwing away a dozen completed musical themes because he didn't think they were just right) to quit development so I have no idea what FOFD is talking about.

I don't really know much about Druckmann's reputation as a development though. I know the voice actors who worked with him hold a positive opinion of him, but not so much how the rest of the team does.

Edited by Shaoken on Aug 21st 2021 at 4:12:53 AM

Probably all the crunch attrition. I remember when reading about it when the game released something like nearly 70% of non-lead designers left between the Uncharted 4 and T Lo U 2 and that their reputation for crunch is so bad a former employee mentioned in an interview that they struggled to hire on freelance animators to work with them, instead they had to get film animators. Also that they had multiple hospitalizations of people working on it.

(In addition to the "big name" departures)

... I don't think TLOU is the one with the balance of detail and grounded cinema problem. If anything TLOU 2 is what I wanted Phantom Pain to be.

I said that Kojima is a troll, jeopardizes development of his games, and has threatened to quit development or, more accurately, to quit the series. Which to my knowledge he has done all three. On top of having a big ego.

I won't argue that TLOU wasn't built in a toxic work environment.

Edited by FOFD on Aug 21st 2021 at 4:30:11 AM

Metal Gear Solid 4 might be known for its endless cutscenes. But it still managed to have fun with it self, and you could pilot a fucking Metal Gear Ray, so it still feels more gamey then Recent Naughty Dog has been.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Aug 21st 2021 at 4:36:05 AM

-shakes fist vainly at screen cursing your name-

You’re going to have to elaborate on your points because they’re not really true. He kept saying that each Metal Gear would be his last one and he would hand it over to his team to run, that’s not quitting. I’ve never heard him jeopardising development on his projects given how he’s released all but the very first one he worked on. And I can’t say I’ve heard of him having a big ego since a key part of his process is taking advice from his team, not actioned ideas he thought were good because he knew they wouldn’t be good business wise, and is well known for letting actors improvise and just do their thing (something Druckmann also allows his voice actors to do).

Granted when people accuse game developers of having huge egos I compare them to David Cage who famously hates it and resists when voice actors improvise or do scenes differently , said the take away from his games being successful is that people are smart because they buy his games, and has actually been taken to court (albeit because his studio was sued) over working conditions and conduct, so it’s a bit easier to look better.

First look at HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us with Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie.

Bump.

Someone leaked it earlier today, so PlayStation is in full "oh screw it, let's just show it off already!"

The Last of Us Part 1 for PS5 (and PC) is happening for real!

Good for Playstation 5 owners I guess.

All 12 of them.

I said this in the PS 5 thread already, but this is not the first game I'd like a remake especially since it got a remaster not too long ago.

EDIT: I forgot the remaster came out in 2014, so ignore the "not too long ago" statement.

Edited by omega2900 on Jun 9th 2022 at 8:48:03 AM

They’re going to keep milking this cash cow until it shrivels up and keels over, aren’t they?

Anybody remember how we almost got a new Jak and Daxter before Naughty Dog opted to make TLOU?

Given how much overexposure TLOU is getting now, I would do a flip for a new Jak and Daxter to be the next real new project from Naughty Dog. There was honestly nothing wrong with those new Daxter concept arts we saw in that Naughty Dog artbook. (Okay, maybe tweak the face a little, but beyond that, solid work.)

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Jun 9th 2022 at 11:00:47 AM

I just finished the second game. It was… fine. The presentation is excellent and the gameplay is very well done but the poorly executed story and lackluster characters really drag the game down. Also the first game does not need a remake, it was near perfect as is and was still visually stunning. The price being $70 is inexcusable, especially since the first game’s remaster is playable on PS 5 and is like $10 physically. The remake’s visuals make everyone look much less expressive and removes a lot of the charm from the first game’s visuals from the comparisons I’ve seen. Not even being on PC or having the (near identical) gameplay from Part 2 is enough to convince me that it needed to exist.

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on Jun 16th 2022 at 12:38:53 PM

Saw a tweet that TLOU 2 sold 10 million in two years, so took a look at sale charts for the Play Station 4 and that puts it at 6th-8th best seller for the console. It's tied with Horizon and the remaster of the original, and behind (in order) God of War, Minecraft, Uncharted 4, Spider-Man and Witcher 3.

Yes, The Last of Us 2 is a critical failure(ish) but a success from a financial perspective.

I took a look at the metacritic score, it's got a 93 for critics and 5.7 for user score. Hard to tell how much is legitimate, how much is review bombing, and how much is from bigoted views (a quick look at the top negative reviews in the list have the usual sexist/homophobic/etc. dogwhistles and sometimes overtness to it). It'd be interesting to see a world where the game didn't get leaked early how that would have affected the reception to it.

It’s hard to consider the game a critical failure when it’s the most awarded game of all time (though the severe dissonance between critics and audiences is proof that critics aren’t very credible). I’s say that it probably isn’t entirely review bombing. The game is simply extremely polarizing. I personally think the game is… fine. A 7/10 at best.

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on Jun 19th 2022 at 3:48:55 PM

I'm sort of against this PS 5 remake.

• feels like a waste of time
• feels like them saying that Part 2 wasn't good enough and Ellie wasn't interesting enough for a follow-up by going back to give us another shot at Joel
• constantly remaking things with the mentality of "no longer being constrained by technology" implies nothing we ever make now is good as is or perfect - and I don't like the idea that classic films and games just weren't good enough. Aging well or poorly is an overrated concept. Nobody looks at The Godfather and thinks we could make that movie narratively better in 2022 - we absolutely could make it look better and maybe more culturally relevant, but nobody seriously sits down and says there should be a 2025 remake just because the filming technology/techniques back then are antiquated. No significant group of people have asked for a Scarface remake, a Star Wars remake, or a Back to the Future remake.
  • Metal Gear Solid got Twin Snakes, Final Fantasy 7 got REMAKE and those were fine because they hit the right threshold of time/graphical and technical improvements, but The Last of Us like Resident Evil 4 was nowhere near old enough to warrant full remakes.
  • remasters are ok (Demon's Souls) but mainly exist so I can play them without digging up my PS 3
  • remakes are quickly becoming the newest trend of video game culture, like tie-in games and release DLC and loot boxes

That said

• The developers released a pretty interesting mini-documentary
• they seem passionate about it
• nothing I can complain about will convince them work on Part 3 instead or change its development
• seeing the AI-pathing/coding is pretty neat
• Dead Space, Twin Snakes, and Final Fantasy have established a precedent for likable video game remakes

Edited by FOFD on Jul 25th 2022 at 6:06:37 AM

That is a good point. Last of us 1 could had used a remaster or even an HD update but a remake? The game is not really that old enough to warrant one.

It’s been nearly a decade.

Yeah, sure, but it was one of the most popular games of its time and most importantly the gameplay is perfectly fine. It's not like Pokemon Red and Blue into Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green where the original games were a glitchy unbalanced mess.

I’m not one to judge people who are excited for this remake or are gonna pick it up, I bought 3D All Stars and got Skyward Sword HD day one despite having it on Wii, but I seriously have no idea how people are defending this game being $70 despite being a remaster of a game that doesn’t need one and already has a remaster on PS 4 that still works on PS 5. The graphical changes aren’t really any better than the original. Yeah it’s more technically impressive but the original game still looks great visually and doesn’t need an overhaul. In some ways it looks worse because the characters look much less expressive and more generic. They also didn’t change the gameplay beyond improving the AI. But what should really be getting people in an uproar is that they removed the factions multiplayer so they can sell it back to you later for $70. This remaster (I don’t really count it as a remake because it’s pretty much the original game just with shinier graphics and few improvements) cuts substantial amounts of content while adding practically nothing and is being sold for $70. Sony fans should feel insulted by this blatant cash grab. It being on PC is nice but since the PS 4 remaster (which can easily be found for like $10) already runs at 60 fps, the only huge benefit to being on PC is mouse aiming, which isn’t worth spending $70. Also Bloodborne doesn’t get a PC port or even a 60 FPS patch on PS 5 yet The Last of Us gets this treatment. Yes I am bitter about that. I want to play Bloodborne in 60 FPS on my PC. I don’t want a remake.

Writing On Games' is a fantastic commentator, but I'll save you 10 minutes because this kind of ticks me off.

Basically, they got the game for free and its a great, visually upgraded game. Writing On Games isn't being paid by Naughty Dog and is trying to convince you that the visual/technical upgrades are worth the full price.

But we all know its not. I am genuinely plussed that Youtube essayists are going to make money doing videos on how this ridiculous remake "is worth it."

Yeah, its worth it if you get video games for free. I'm already unable to get a Playstation 5 in my area. I won't be spending money on a remake of a game I played years ago.

On a less bitter note this video starts a discussion on "how photorealistic do we want/need our video games to be?"

Edited by FOFD on Aug 31st 2022 at 12:27:25 PM