Amph Gaming The Last of Us

On the one hand, I'm not going to screw my nose up at a new Naughty Dog game. If nothing else it's bound to be a polished title that pushes the tech forward. Yet, on the other hand, Ellie and Joel's story already had a satisfying arc and conclusion. To echo @Darth-Lando's post from two years ago, I can't help but get this cynical feeling that Part 2 only exists because someone at Sony rolled a dumpster truck full of cash up to the Naughty Dog offices.

Also, hearing the developers saying things like how the game's narrative theme is "hatred" doesn't inspire much confidence. The first game was a story about loss and humanity, with a nuance to the writing not seen in most video games. Focusing on 'hatred' just feels like a backwards step, given the fact that dozens of games focus on hatred. It's a theme that sells well with angst-ridden teens who want a safe place to let their anger out upon the world. But then it's not like the first game was a shining beacon of originality, given that it uses the typical zombie-apocalypse story line to drive its plot forward.

So yeah, I'm really unsure about this. It could end up being great, and I'll be keeping a close eye on it. I just can't really say I'm that excited for it either, and I say that as someone who loves the first game.

 

I am definitely excited for the game. I would go along with your guys line of thinking of being skeptical as to why this game even needs to exist if this weren't an apocalyptic story they were telling. There are tons of stories that can be told in universes like this and they are only touching the surface of in the development of this world they have created.

It looks promising that they kept Joel and Ellie together for several years. The fact that she is playing guitar as well as she does in the trailer (she didn't know how to play guitar in the first game and Joel was going to promise to teach her) shows that her and Joel have at the very least stayed relatively close through all these years.

My main fear was simply that Ellie would go on a hissy fit because Joel lied to her and go on your typical teenage tantrum. However this trailer indicates that she didn't turn her back on Joel after the first game ended.

 

I'm not surprised there's another Last of Us, with the leaks and slips and hints. And with Uncharted finished (well, the main Nate story at least, given they also announced that standalone today too), might as well go back to their other major current series. The graphics look beautiful, but that's no surprise. And Uncharted 4 already had tons of Last of Us influences (given they had the same director).

I am a bit worried as I think the original game ended on a very... appropriate note, it fit the tone of the story exactly. Most likely this is due to Sony wanting another big hit, and considering Naughty Dog's regular skill, I expect another excellent game, but still a bit worried. I'm curious why they called it Part II, rather than simply Last of Us II. Hope that doesn't imply a Part III or something. Not to mention who Ellie is referring to in the trailer- probably not simply the zombies, but probably a more specific group.

 

Maybe something to do with the Fireflies? We saw their symbol on that sign.

I just hope TLOU 2 ends up as good as Uncharted 2.

 

I think that maybe since TLOU Ellie and Joel have been living peacefully with Tommy's community until one day raiders come and kill everyone apart from Ellie who ends up being the only survivor while Joel is out on a supply run or something. Thus begins a tale of Ellie seeking vengeance against the people who killed everyone she'd come to love while Joel feels the guilt over the fact that the disaster could have been avoided had he simply let Ellie die in the previous game.

 

That very well could be. However I do hope they are with some form of a group in this game. They already did the thing where Ellie and Joel went around the cities and jungles all by themselves killing everything in site. If they are going to kill everything in site again I want it to be under slightly different context.

 

Going to have to jump in and be one of the "excited, but worried" crowd. Love TLOU and happy to see more of that world, but where can they go from here without screwing up the story due to simply wanting that extra cash from a sequel?

 

Personally I'd say I'm more worried about Uncharted and it's change of main character than "Can TLOU Part II keep the magic from the first?"

 

Uncharted isn't changing main character, Chloe is just the lead in this DLC.

 

Just needs another Giraffe scene and any issues will be forgiven I'm sure.

 

Let's face it though you can sort of tell they're testing the waters for an uncharted 5.......

 

Can't wait for the sequel!

 

Those feelers were being put out there the moment they retconned previous games to give Nathan Drake an older brother. The attempt to make Colin Thomas a Nathan Drake surrogate is even more blatant in the final game. There are subtle things, like giving young Colin the same outfit young Drake had in Uncharted 3. Then there are the blindingly obvious, such as giving Colin the same encyclopedic knowledge of historic artefacts as Nathan and having him go off into the sunset with Sullivan on a new adventure at the end of the game.

Perhaps the announcement of a Last of Us sequel that Naughty Dog swore was never going to exist has got my sense of cynicism tingling, but I honestly think that the team behind Uncharted 4 had been mandated to secure the franchise's future and that was the source of the creative differences that caused Amy Hennig, the director of all the previous titles, to quit Naughty Dog, along with several other higher ranking members of creative staff. Alan Tudyk was also signed onto the project to appear as a major character, and did work on the game (If an interview with Nolan North is to be believed the cast had been working for a whole 8 months before it was entirely scrapped and started from scratch). Yet he dropped out of it, citing the different direction the project was taking, and how they had made "weird changes" to the story.

It's these kinds of shady and vague changes of direction that are giving Naughty Dogs' current output the unmistakable whiff of corporate decision making.

 

I'm not gonna pretend like I know more than the folks at Naughty Dog and say Joel and Ellie's story should've ended after the first game. If they feel the need to continue that story, then by all means, shut up and take my money. As they proved with TLOU, new IP from them is just as capable of becoming a hit as a sequel to an established franchise, and Sony knows that. I'm sure they would've been happy to roll up a dumptruck full of cash to their doorstep regardless of what game they wanted to work on next.

Thought the trailer for Part II was great. Initially, when Joel was walking in with the gun in his hand, I thought he was gonna be the villain in this game after a fallout with Ellie over the events of the first game. Happy to see they're still on good terms, for now at least.

 

Had the same initial thoughts, Reynar_Tedros.

 

I have a lot of faith in Naughty Dog at this point, so I'm not worried. There were lots of concerns when Uncharted 4 was announced that it would ruin everything, but it ended up being a masterpiece IMO.

 

I couldn't find a thread about this game (and don't have the patience to go through over 360 pages to find one), so I thought I might create this. A Mod could feel free to merge this post into the old thread if there is one.

I just beat the game over the weekend for the first time. Started playing the Left Behind for a little bit. I thought it would be an immediate follow-up story; but instead was sort of a prequel. I really like the characters in the game, and am looking forward to the sequel that's in the works.

 

Here you go: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-last-of-us.50012979/

 

Ah ok. Mods, please merge this thread with the original one when you get the chance!

 

Well this is still a standalone thread so I'll just continue it until the mods can merge it with the old one. I just beat the "Left Behind" spinoff game. It was a short game, but obviously filled in some gaps from the main game and gave a really good background story (kind of a prequel) to Ellie's life before she was on the run with Joel. It was pretty good, but I was a little disappointed in the ending. It presented a kind of vague outcome. I'll leave it in spoilers in case there are those interested in the game but haven't played it yet.

Spoiler

The final CGI clip shows Ellie and Riley agreeing to just wait it out together; after having both been bitten by the infected. I was actually expecting to fight and eventually kill Riley after she turns and Ellie remains alone. Assuming you've already completed the main game, you know that Riley is dead

Nonetheless, I'm really looking forward to the sequel. Personally, I'd like to see Ellie go it alone; though Joel should still have a significant role in the game.

 

Well then....

 

That looks fantastic. I wonder who Laura Bailey's character is.

 

Cool trailer. Also cool that it looks like they are going to bring in more characters for this game.

 

Word is going around that she is playing Ellie's mom Anna.

https://twitter.com/Naughty_Dog/status/925058760120320002

 

That would be my guess too. Maybe they've got some type of flashback storyline going on in the game, which would be pretty cool.