Wow, wasn't expecting such a response, but I'd just like to say that although I found the violence more disturbing than the norm for me, I do agree with a lot of you after thinking about it a bit more. It's nice, in a way, to see this game seeking to illicit such a raw emotion from you and make you feel like the situation is real and inescapable.

I was disturbed that they took an interesting-looking survival game and turned it into Uncharted 4.

I liked it because it gave the actions a "weightier" feeling?  I guess?

It didn't disappoint me because I'm so sick of hand-to-hand today. It's so goddamn lame. Even the gunfighting is lame. Oh, so you missed a couple shots? Don't worry, you've got like 900, and even a different gun, so you're okay! It's getting old. I'm getting bored with games no. It's so predictable. The Last Of Us looks fucking exciting. If it was any other game, there would have been 40 people running out of that elevator, all shooting wildly and screaming something in Russian. You would have had to shoot them via turret and everyone would be screaming about a nuke. The whole fight would have taken place in about ten seconds and someone would have commended you for a medal, or said something like "URAH MARINES".
 
In this fight, you have very limited ammo and have to not only protect another person entirely, who thank the artificial intelligence gods doesn't act like a bulletsponge. You actually need to watch yourself or you'll die, because health doesn't regenerate. It gets visceral and exciting almost instantly. You are actually DOING something. It's so great.

@CrossTheAtlantic: That's the biggest expectation I have of the game. They got the bare-bones intensity right, it seems, but it'll be interesting to see if Naughty Dog explores how the man and the girl deals with his and her situation. Not exactly the studio's strong-point -- more action than drama -- but I hope we get something out of it than some throwaway scene 3/4th into the game before the finale.

No matter how old or tough I am, or if the world ever ends up like it does it The Last of Us, I don't think I would be totally "okay" with witnessing a dude's head being blown off from point-blank, even if it was necessary.

I wasn't creeped out by a last of us. But I was a little bit after the watch dogs demo. That part with the couple in the car? Where the women was shot dead and the guy was trying to wake her up? I mean, I always felt gta and saints row got away with the violence by making the world a bit goofy. This seems like a real realistic take and that might be uncomfortable in a open world game.

It reminded me of the Heavy Rain "I'm a Father Too" scene. I dig it!

I thought it was particularly affecting. But that's what was good about it. It wasn't just pull this trigger, pull that trigger, and the guy is dead.

Violence shouldn't feel flippant. It should be disturbing to blast someone with a shotgun. I think your reaction is a credit to the game.

Nope, it just looks like a more violent Uncharted.

I wasn't particularly disturbed by the violence, and felt that it looked very kinetic, gritty, and awesome. The one place in which it puzzled me however, was the justification for it. Granted I don't know anything about the games plot or events leading up to this particular moment, but it seemed to me like a bunch of dudes where simply trying to survive and look for supplies together, when all of a sudden a 13 year old girl with a knife and a guy wielding a magnum, burst in and started killing them.

It was pretty disturbing, which is awesome! This and that one part in the Watch Dogs demo really tugged on my heartstrings.

Yeah, the demo legitimately fucked me up a little.

I'm way in to things that make me uncomfortable violence-wise though. Makes me want to buy a PS3.

I'm guessing this game might turn out to be another manhunt. All hyped up for violence and gore and gets sales because of that but the game is shit.

Nope. But to your credit, that's what they were working toward.

Its the first time a game has grabbed my attention on an emotional level when it comes to melee. Usually it's more of a kind of "Man that kill animation was badass" kind of attention grabbing, but this was very much a "Fucking hell man" kind of showing, that I couldn't look away from at any point. That feeling alone just makes me want to get my hands on it.

I was so absorbed just watching the demo, imagine how much more intense it's gonna be when you're the one in control, holding the shotgun, deciding whether to pull the trigger (hoping those kind of decisions are given).

I liked everything I saw and if they keep that same kind of desperate vibe throughout the game I'll be a happy gamer.

@Korwin: For my money, the finger scene had nothing on the "shoot another father" scene. That was the real brutality in Heavy Rain.

I was one of the people applauding (at my screen) when he shot that dudes face off. Very nice.

It's about survival!

That is what they are aiming for, so they have achieved their goal

@Oldirtybearon said:

@Korwin: For my money, the finger scene had nothing on the "shoot another father" scene. That was the real brutality in Heavy Rain.

I forgot about that until now, Damn, that was hard.

Didn't feel awkward with it at all, though dudes were totally trying to kill him they so deserved it!Only really felt semi awkward with Tom raider and even with that not so much.

And there wasn't any violence that bad in it compared to what we already play, the only difference was the reactions and expressions being more noticeable than other games.

I personally would not have shot that dude in the face at the end of their demo. That just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth and I was not left cheering or applauding. It's just so, as others have said, grotesque.

@Zella said:

I think it's completely reasonable for you to feel that way about the violence. I am really excited for it because of how realistic and human it looks, and isn't just mindless killing. If the tone of the e3 demo stays throughout the game it seems there will be genuine moments where you the player question whether or not to kill someone and the morality involved in it. I have also loved every game Naughty Dog has put out since Crash so maybe I'm a little bias.

Exactly. Anyone that feels absolutely nothing and just say "It's a video game, no," has issues. When you apply realistic faces and voices and give them a personality, you should feel something.

The more people I can choke, throw off of buildings, set on fire, hit with bricks, decapitate, boil, freeze, mutilate, spindle, and gunshot to the face in videogames, the less likely I am to do any of those things to you.

You should be happy about that. I COULD SNAP AT ANY TIME.

@Funman: It did look rather like they were just living their lives and a pair of psychopaths entered their house and started picking them off one by one. Like a bad horror movie...

That said, I still want to play the thing.

I was more disturbed the by the audience cheering whenever someone was violently killed at the E3 press conference.

When he shot the guy's face off, I don't think the reaction they were going for was "Fuck yeah! That was awesome!"

@Zella said:

I think it's completely reasonable for you to feel that way about the violence. I am really excited for it because of how realistic and human it looks, and isn't just mindless killing. If the tone of the e3 demo stays throughout the game it seems there will be genuine moments where you the player question whether or not to kill someone and the morality involved in it. I have also loved every game Naughty Dog has put out since Crash so maybe I'm a little bias.

Exactly. Anyone that feels absolutely nothing and just say "It's a video game, no," has issues. When you apply realistic faces and voices and give them a personality, you should feel something.

I think it's great that the violence disturbed you. I wish more game violence had the impact and weight that The Last of Us seems to have. We shoot so many faceless pixels every day in games that it's nice to have a game where the shooting means something.

@CL60 said:

@wewantsthering

@Zella said:

I think it's completely reasonable for you to feel that way about the violence. I am really excited for it because of how realistic and human it looks, and isn't just mindless killing. If the tone of the e3 demo stays throughout the game it seems there will be genuine moments where you the player question whether or not to kill someone and the morality involved in it. I have also loved every game Naughty Dog has put out since Crash so maybe I'm a little bias.

Exactly. Anyone that feels absolutely nothing and just say "It's a video game, no," has issues. When you apply realistic faces and voices and give them a personality, you should feel something.

No, it's a video game, it's not real. I don't have issues because I don't feel disturbed when I see polygons get killed.

If it's just a collection of polygons, why bother playing it? Because...it's more than that. It's all facsimiles of real life or exploration into interesting things that can't happen in real life. In the end, it's the reflection of reality that makes it compelling. What makes Naughty Dog games is how real their characters feel. It's same in the way that Pixar can make you care about robots that don't talk or toys that come alive.

I'm put off by how much pain and suffering they're inflicting on Joel. I mean, isn't it a little weird that they have this dark rugged guy and they're constantly beating him up, how they make him hurt and leave him grunting and writhing in pain, for our amusement? If you just heard it being played it would sound like pornography. But it's all based around brutalizing an adult man, basically like torture porn. They're clearly putting him in this situation so we can watch him get hurt and be entertained by it, and I think we should really judge it harshly on those grounds.

@Brodehouse said:

I'm put off by how much pain and suffering they're inflicting on Joel. I mean, isn't it a little weird that they have this dark rugged guy and they're constantly beating him up, how they make him hurt and leave him grunting and writhing in pain, for our amusement? If you just heard it being played it would sound like pornography. But it's all based around brutalizing an adult man, basically like torture porn. They're clearly putting him in this situation so we can watch him get hurt and be entertained by it, and I think we should really judge it harshly on those grounds.

Well thank goodness he used those extra parts to make his robot friends.

@Brodehouse said:

I'm put off by how much pain and suffering they're inflicting on Joel. I mean, isn't it a little weird that they have this dark rugged guy and they're constantly beating him up, how they make him hurt and leave him grunting and writhing in pain, for our amusement? If you just heard it being played it would sound like pornography. But it's all based around brutalizing an adult man, basically like torture porn. They're clearly putting him in this situation so we can watch him get hurt and be entertained by it, and I think we should really judge it harshly on those grounds.

Same stuff leveled at the new Tomb Raider, which goes even further with threats of rape. People seem to be turned on by her moaning in pain and want it be toned down, which is kind of hypocritical like how conservative politicians balk at homosexuals and yet engage in those acts behind closed doors.

@AssInAss said:

@Brodehouse said:

I'm put off by how much pain and suffering they're inflicting on Joel. I mean, isn't it a little weird that they have this dark rugged guy and they're constantly beating him up, how they make him hurt and leave him grunting and writhing in pain, for our amusement? If you just heard it being played it would sound like pornography. But it's all based around brutalizing an adult man, basically like torture porn. They're clearly putting him in this situation so we can watch him get hurt and be entertained by it, and I think we should really judge it harshly on those grounds.

Same stuff leveled at the new Tomb Raider, which goes even further with threats of rape. People seem to be turned on by her moaning in pain and want it be toned down, which is kind of hypocritical like how conservative politicians balk at homosexuals and yet engage in those acts behind closed doors.

I know, I'm being satirical. I don't think there's anything wrong with Tomb Raider, or Last of Us. I actually like a game to really put the protagonist through hell. What made John McClane awesome wasn't wasting all those fools, it was hacking his feet to shreds running across that glass. It was how badly he got the shit kicked out of him and kept going. Everyone's favorite character part of Arkham Asylum was Batman's suit and face getting shredded throughout that game, that final "I'll never let you win" and breaking his own arm in order to win. I think it's really too bad that some people want to use an awesome character trait (the Determinator) as a way to get into a gender politics fight.

I think this apparent (seemingly male-only) inability to differentiate between mortal agony and sexual climax is super fucking scary.

I'm only disturbed by the news not video game gore, people eat peoples faces these days I hear bathsalt is all the rage.

@Brodehouse said:

@AssInAss said:

@Brodehouse said:

I'm put off by how much pain and suffering they're inflicting on Joel. I mean, isn't it a little weird that they have this dark rugged guy and they're constantly beating him up, how they make him hurt and leave him grunting and writhing in pain, for our amusement? If you just heard it being played it would sound like pornography. But it's all based around brutalizing an adult man, basically like torture porn. They're clearly putting him in this situation so we can watch him get hurt and be entertained by it, and I think we should really judge it harshly on those grounds.

Same stuff leveled at the new Tomb Raider, which goes even further with threats of rape. People seem to be turned on by her moaning in pain and want it be toned down, which is kind of hypocritical like how conservative politicians balk at homosexuals and yet engage in those acts behind closed doors.

I know, I'm being satirical. I don't think there's anything wrong with Tomb Raider, or Last of Us. I actually like a game to really put the protagonist through hell. What made John McClane awesome wasn't wasting all those fools, it was hacking his feet to shreds running across that glass. It was how badly he got the shit kicked out of him and kept going. Everyone's favorite character part of Arkham Asylum was Batman's suit and face getting shredded throughout that game, that final "I'll never let you win" and breaking his own arm in order to win. I think it's really too bad that some people want to use an awesome character trait (the Determinator) as a way to get into a gender politics fight.

I think this apparent (seemingly male-only) inability to differentiate between mortal agony and sexual climax is super fucking scary.

Exactly. Although it seems people are bringing that up against Tomb Raider as an actual criticism, which is just daft.

I think the very telling element to the Stage demo was the crowds reaction cheering happily as the brutal scene unfolded. It seems like the violence in that game holds weight and has somewhat of a serious tone. But, the cheering for brutality seemed like something out of the mindless crowds of Rome. Also, the fact that a bunch of journalists cheered the same way when they got free stuff, something seems cheap about it.

@Paliv said:

I think the very telling element to the Stage demo was the crowds reaction cheering happily as the brutal scene unfolded. It seems like the violence in that game holds weight and has somewhat of a serious tone. But, the cheering for brutality seemed like something out of the mindless crowds of Rome. Also, the fact that a bunch of journalists cheered the same way when they got free stuff, something seems cheap about it.

I agree. The violence still felt a bit jarring to me. Not the portrayal, but the amount of fighting. The first half made the game look like a cool avoid-and-explore game, but the latter half just looked like a cover-based shooter. It just did not fit together for me. It's just a demo, so, who knows what it'll be like in the game, but while I was really excited about the first half, the second just turned me off. If they had killed or knocked out just the first guy and then found a way to hide or get away, leading to a chase sequence, now that would have been awesome. I don't care for more cover-based shooting. The same goes for Tomb Raider.

Yes, for a family-friendly videogame aimed at young children it certainly is violent. 

Nope.  Video Games are nothing but a bunch of ones and zeros, they don't represent anything else.

I think, while very violent, it is the tone they are going for. They want to show you just what these people have to go through in this world to survive. They don't want to play it down because if they did that it wouldn't feel the same. Naughty Dog has gotten really good at making you care about characters and if they hit this just right we will feel for the characters in this new game. It's a fine line but I think Naughty Dog has hit it very well, at least from the demo that was shown.

@Dagbiker said:

Was this the same demo I saw, were a few seconds earlier that guy was going to shoot you and your daughter?

That's not his daughter...

I love gore in video games not in real life Max Payne 3 has some phenomenal gore I love it :).

@MonetaryDread said:

Nope. Video Games are nothing but a bunch of ones and zeros, they don't represent anything else.

Books are nothing but letters, they don't represent anything else.

That was their point. They make it realistic and everything feels so real. You can play that demo without killing anyone but i am sure if you were in that situation you would fire a round. Thinking Walking Dead kind of scenarios.

@DerBonk: I just watched the Gamespot live demo, and the creavtive director said they were runing the same demo behind closed doors but instead of confronting the group they stealthed around them and went up to the above floor. They wanted to show the most action-y way of dealing with them to the mainstream.

No problems with the violence, it seemed fitting if not a bit over the top as always with media. Then again that can be fun.

@kpaadet said:

@DerBonk: I just watched the Gamespot live demo, and the creavtive director said they were runing the same demo behind closed doors but instead of confronting the group they stealthed around them and went up to the above floor. They wanted to show the most action-y way of dealing with them to the mainstream.

Thanks! That sounds much more interesting. Still kinda sad that they feel that gamers would react negatively to people not getting shot in the face. I just hope that they had God mode on or will tweak the damage the player can take. It just looked way too much like the guy was some uber-super soldier Spartan-Cog. In any case, I was hoping that there was the option to evade the combat, thanks for confirming that.

@luchadeer797 said:

The intimacy of its violence, the honest emotion of a man pleading for his life, and the main guy choking that man out it was all sorta fucked.

Choking him out? It was just a sleeper hold. It was like the least violent thing in the whole encounter. Everybody else got fucked up or killed, while that guy would just wake up a little later with a sore neck and maybe a headache.