Me and my wife hated the ending to LoU so we're both very excited for this. Of course with being named "part 2" I'm sure they're now planning a trilogy.
Neil said Ellie is the main playable character (obvious, she is the focus of the trailer), and that the theme of the game is "hate". So obviously some shit happens that doesn't involve Joel dying to send her on some sort of revenge rampage. I wouldn't be surprised to see Joel die in the first half of the game, though. Dude has definitely had a nice story arc, and it will probably end with him sacrificing himself for Ellie in some way, breaking his code of "survival above all else".
God damn it, I really wanted a sequel to this game, so that's great, but I really wanted it to focus on a new cast. I feel like leaving it up to the player on Ellie and Joel's ultimate fate is a way better idea than continuing their story. That being said, I LOVED the first game, so I'm not going to miss this regardless of my thoughts on how it should have gone. I just hope they don't make it more like uncharted, and try to keep it as similar to the first game as they possibly can.
Played The Last of Us this year, and really liked it. It somehow managed to sidestep the ridiculous degree of hype I'd witnessed around it. Definitely down to see where their journey takes them next.
It's funny, I found myself comparing it a bit to The Walking Dead season 1 (probably because this year I started a playthrough of that again but with my sister this time). Where TWD is very much a game I wanted to completely shed its cast and storylines in season 2, with TLoU I like them not trying to take us to another part of this world, as if that would matter to us at all. Makes sense to stick with Ellie and Joel, especially the way that game ends IMO.
A big reason why the Last of Us works is because of the ambiguity, happy they continued to go in that direction instead of some bizarre happy future where murdering doesn't make you a horrible person. Ellie is simply following in her father's footsteps.
@geirr: Did you dislike it because you really wanted to know what happened next? It might be my favourite ending to a video game ever.
Yep. It had a good ambiguous ending. And the story actually felt done then when the credits started rolling.
In regards to the relationship between Joel and Ellie it didn't leave everything neatly tied up. Which I liked. It makes you wonder where they go from here. Now another question is if you want to see where they go from here?
I would have been perfectly happy if Naughty Dog had just left it alone and moved on to something new. But since they are making it I'm obviously curious to see what they do. At least I like that they call it Part II.
Before this press even I was firmly of the opinion that the PS4 might be the worst good console to ever exist. Here's hoping Sony finally pick up the pace and release games for the damned thing as the PS4 has been gathering dust since Uncharted 4.
@paulmako: the uncertainty of the ending is what made it so great. Now that that's going to go away it kind of makes it less impactful. Reminds me of what the walking dead season 2 did with continuing the story with Clem. To this day I still haven't played season 2 because season 1 ended great and told the story it wanted to tell. I have no real desire to return to either worlf with the same characters
I can understand the appeal of a good self contained story. I actually disliked the way Stranger Things ended because the sequel set-up at the end felt very tacked on to what was otherwise a story I was happy with the ending to. For me though, having a second The Last of Us is slightly different because I enjoyed the gameplay and world of the game and haven't really played anything like it since. I guess it's personal preference with how much mileage you get of the mechanics and if that can sustain you over another story!
I enjoyed the combat of the first game a lot, it was very visceral and a little unique.
This. The gameplay was so damn tense, especially if you played it without the 'assasin's vision/batman detective mode/listening mode/see enemies through walls'-shit.
The game really shined when you were thrown in a more or less open area (like the hotel or the little village at the end). If they evolve the gameplay a bit more then this could be really good! The only thing I'm mildly scared of is that they would make Ellie into a new Lara Croft.
Neil said Ellie is the main playable character (obvious, she is the focus of the trailer), and that the theme of the game is "hate". So obviously some shit happens that doesn't involve Joel dying to send her on some sort of revenge rampage. I wouldn't be surprised to see Joel die in the first half of the game, though. Dude has definitely had a nice story arc, and it will probably end with him sacrificing himself for Ellie in some way, breaking his code of "survival above all else".
My bet is that the game opens and Joel is already dead. He's a vague shadowy figure in the trailer/teaser, and I think the player will play as Joel in Ellie's flashbacks to discover what happened to him, and how he died.
Fingers crossed for an even easier easy mode like Uncharted 4 where I don't have to consider the gameplay that I don't like and can just experience the story.
I played Last of Us on easy and it was still annoying how many damn enemies you had to shoot.
I'm surprised so many people are getting hung up on this being a direct sequel. The continuation of that narrative doesn't somehow negate the excellent storytelling in the first one nor does it cheapen the ending in any way. We all experienced it when the game was out, we were affected by it one way or another and then several years have gone by. As much as I enjoyed the ballsiness of the ambiguity presented at the end of The Last of Us, enough time has gone by that I'm now ready to find out how those writers decided to resolve it and why those characters are like 10 (?)years later.
When you strip that game of those two characters you have a run-of-the-mill post apocalyptic zombie setting that does little to differentiate itself from similar games. It would make little sense in starting a brand new narrative in a sequel and detaching yourself from the one thing that made that game great - cause it certainly wasn't the gameplay.
Neil said Ellie is the main playable character (obvious, she is the focus of the trailer), and that the theme of the game is "hate". So obviously some shit happens that doesn't involve Joel dying to send her on some sort of revenge rampage. I wouldn't be surprised to see Joel die in the first half of the game, though. Dude has definitely had a nice story arc, and it will probably end with him sacrificing himself for Ellie in some way, breaking his code of "survival above all else".
Maybe Joel is dead and it's his "ghost" following her around, but really it's just manifestation of her guilty conscious. Or maybe i'm just guessing out my bum, but if I am correct I will for sure bump this thread back to life when the game finally comes out, because I'm that kind of guy.
I'm surprised so many people are getting hung up on this being a direct sequel. The continuation of that narrative doesn't somehow negate the excellent storytelling in the first one nor does it cheapen the ending in any way. We all experienced it when the game was out, we were affected by it one way or another and then several years have gone by. As much as I enjoyed the ballsiness of the ambiguity presented at the end of The Last of Us, enough time has gone by that I'm now ready to find out how those writers decided to resolve it and why those characters are like 10 (?)years later.
When you strip that game of those two characters you have a run-of-the-mill post apocalyptic zombie setting that does little to differentiate itself from similar games. It would make little sense in starting a brand new narrative in a sequel and detaching yourself from the one thing that made that game great - cause it certainly wasn't the gameplay.
So long Neil Druckmann's writing there's no reason to assume that TLOU 2 would be a run of the mill zombie game without Ellie and Joel. He'd be writing new characters in new stories that could blow us away just as much. But yeah, it makes sense to continue their's.
Also do a lot of people think TLOU had weak gameplay? I thought it was pretty fantastic.
I'm surprised so many people are getting hung up on this being a direct sequel. The continuation of that narrative doesn't somehow negate the excellent storytelling in the first one nor does it cheapen the ending in any way. We all experienced it when the game was out, we were affected by it one way or another and then several years have gone by. As much as I enjoyed the ballsiness of the ambiguity presented at the end of The Last of Us, enough time has gone by that I'm now ready to find out how those writers decided to resolve it and why those characters are like 10 (?)years later.
When you strip that game of those two characters you have a run-of-the-mill post apocalyptic zombie setting that does little to differentiate itself from similar games. It would make little sense in starting a brand new narrative in a sequel and detaching yourself from the one thing that made that game great - cause it certainly wasn't the gameplay.
So long Neil Druckmann's writing there's no reason to assume that TLOU 2 would be a run of the mill zombie game without Ellie and Joel. He'd be writing new characters in new stories that could blow us away just as much. But yeah, it makes sense to continue their's.
Also do a lot of people think TLOU had weak gameplay? I thought it was pretty fantastic.
I think the the point being made here, and it's one I made earlier in the thread, is that the characters are the appeal of the Last of Us. I don't question Naughty Dog's ability to tell another good story in the that universe starring different characters, but I don't see the value in that. The thing that made The Last of Us great were those two characters. The setting isn't anything special, so if you're not going to use those characters, why bother making another game in that setting when you could do something entirely new?
Joel needs to come clean on his deathbed in the dark second act.
The twist is, in the trailer Joel has already told her, and Ellie's "I'm going to kill them all" refers to the "doctors" who were going to cut into her brain, even though all their other attempts at finding a cure just killed people, and there was no certainty of them finding a cure after killing Ellie.
I'm looking forward to dipping back into this horrible world, though I'm hoping there's a little more to it than a revenge story fueled by "hate," as that's a tale older than time. What made the first game's DLC so wonderful was its exploration of friendship and love. The core gameplay was there, but it wasn't all about murdering fools.
Also do a lot of people think TLOU had weak gameplay? I thought it was pretty fantastic.
I've always been puzzled by this as well and I've seen it a lot on GB forums (I think some of the GB crew also claimed it was somehow bad). I don't personally think it was the greatest thing ever, but when I read comments where people say that they their experience with the game was almost completely ruined because the gameplay was terrible, I'm pretty sure that they are just bad at playing vidya games.
I'm surprised so many people are getting hung up on this being a direct sequel. The continuation of that narrative doesn't somehow negate the excellent storytelling in the first one nor does it cheapen the ending in any way. We all experienced it when the game was out, we were affected by it one way or another and then several years have gone by. As much as I enjoyed the ballsiness of the ambiguity presented at the end of The Last of Us, enough time has gone by that I'm now ready to find out how those writers decided to resolve it and why those characters are like 10 (?)years later.
When you strip that game of those two characters you have a run-of-the-mill post apocalyptic zombie setting that does little to differentiate itself from similar games. It would make little sense in starting a brand new narrative in a sequel and detaching yourself from the one thing that made that game great - cause it certainly wasn't the gameplay.
So long Neil Druckmann's writing there's no reason to assume that TLOU 2 would be a run of the mill zombie game without Ellie and Joel. He'd be writing new characters in new stories that could blow us away just as much. But yeah, it makes sense to continue their's.
Also do a lot of people think TLOU had weak gameplay? I thought it was pretty fantastic.
I think the the point being made here, and it's one I made earlier in the thread, is that the characters are the appeal of the Last of Us. I don't question Naughty Dog's ability to tell another good story in the that universe starring different characters, but I don't see the value in that. The thing that made The Last of Us great were those two characters. The setting isn't anything special, so if you're not going to use those characters, why bother making another game in that setting when you could do something entirely new?
Yes that was my point exactly. Nothing about the world of The Last of Us is all that unique or spectacular. A dilapidated America post-epidemic where humanity is struggling to sew the fabric of society back together. This has been told various times already in different ways to varying degrees of success. The Last of Us didn't even explore that side of the narrative really, it was laser focused on the relationship of these two characters coming to grips with each other and the world around them. I would be entirely less interested if they made another one of those games with brand new protagonists - personally I love the idea of seeing Ellie grown up, a little older and a little wiser.
As for the gameplay, I thought it was serviceable for the story but nothing more. The stealth was extremely barebones and one-hit-kill enemies are just bad in my opinion. Some people liked it, I personally didn't, but I also play a lot of stealth games so what they offered here wasn't very interesting to me. That and the rest of the game was finding a box for Ellie to climb on.
Although I think that the first game ended perfectly, I trust Naughty Dog to tell another enthralling story.
I think that is about where I am at too. I remember thinking Uncharted 3 ended just fine and didn't need another game, and then they come along with UC4 and made me do a complete turn around and go ohhhhhh, it DID need another game. So even if I thought The Last of Us ended just fine, I think I can trust Naughty Dog enough to know what they're doing if they want to keep it going.
Also do a lot of people think TLOU had weak gameplay? I thought it was pretty fantastic.
I've always been puzzled by this as well and I've seen it a lot on GB forums (I think some of the GB crew also claimed it was somehow bad). I don't personally think it was the greatest thing ever, but when I read comments where people say that they their experience with the game was almost completely ruined because the gameplay was terrible, I'm pretty sure that they are just bad at playing vidya games.
I wonder if people knew it would be a mostly stealth game going into it, like maybe it coming off the heals of the Uncharted series made people think it would be a thrill ride. Just a thought, but in any case I enjoy the gameplay as well. I actually think it is one of the best zombie games out there in terms of how it really makes you feel like they are a threat.
I'm expected the Uncharted 4 downgrade at this point. I don't love that term but Uncharted 4's first in engine footage at 60fps never quite matched the final result at 30fps. We'll see though. Those guys are engine wizards.
I like how Ellie kinda looks like a scumbag now (don't mean that to sound negative). The mechanic shirt/tattoos/overall disheveled appearance is a good visual progression for that character. I can already tell this game is going to be dark as hell.
After the last line of the trailer being "I'm gonna find and kill every last one of them" I totally expected the title reveal to be "The Last of Them" with TLoU Part II being the undertitle.
Gaming is almost all sequels, sadly. At least they numbered it correctly. All the devs always simply add a number to the title, without using the appropriate wording. The Godfather II, for example, makes no sense. It sounds immature. The Godfather, Part II is much better.
I've never played The Last of Us. I had a PS3, but that version was apparently dreadful. I can probably add these (and a PS4) to my list of maybes. Still not sure, though.
I don't understand anyone who said that the game play was poor. It was some of the best stealth game play I've ever experienced. And playing it on the hardest difficulty was a really fun challenge.
Different opinion ya know. It happens. It's an argument me and @meierthered have every time we talk about this game. Personally I won't call the gameplay poor. Serviceable but flawed is really the only way I can describe it. It just didn't match the same level of polish as the writing or graphics.
I don't understand anyone who said that the game play was poor. It was some of the best stealth game play I've ever experienced. And playing it on the hardest difficulty was a really fun challenge.
Different opinion ya know. It happens. It's an argument me and @meierthered have every time we talk about this game. Personally I won't call the gameplay poor. Serviceable but flawed is really the only way I can describe it. It just didn't match the same level of polish as the writing or graphics.
As I did not like the gaming part of The Last of Us I`m excited of what it is to come of the series, the story of the first one is amazing, and this one will be too right guys, right?
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