The Last of Us Part II – June 19, 2020

[AJ_Radio]

11 hours ago, Paleblood said:

To be honest I just flat out gave up trying to argue with people over the internet. I can't have a conversation even if non of my opinions are shared by the other party but ever since I tried to talk to said peeps, this started to feel like an extremly rare condition. Continually so.

 

We as a species seem to be too dumb to connect without bashing our heads in.

 

Fixed it for you.

 

This is essentially why I left Facebook and Twitter. Reddit may be next on my chopping block.

 

This is what happens when society mostly communicates via social media. I barely talk to anybody in person, and I mean that literally. We hold each other to a like or dislike, we cling to our opinions as if they were sacred words uttered in the Bible at church.

 

Our generation never learned to communicate well outside of the internet. I have to wonder if all these accusations and mud flinging at Neil would still happen if social media wasn't as prevalent as it is today. The way he is handling people is a good example of what you should not do, yet the braindead masses continue to egg him on. Enough is enough.

 

In a way I respect Sean Murray for hiding himself away from the pitchfork mob on social media when his product (No Man's Sky) was greatly criticized because a lot of promised content was left out. Fast forward to now, the game has gone through substantial changes. I played a little bit of it myself and I will agree that it's a much better game than it was when it released in 2016. Yet people just couldn't let go and bitched at Sean until he was forced to stay out of Twitter for a while.

 

Developers have done much this past decade to have me lose a lot of respect for them. But I think much of blame should be thrown at the publishers. In the old days, developers not only developed video games, they were seen as leaders and people to help guide others (game testers, artists, etc) into making a project. Look at id Software. John Carmack and John Romero were essentially the creative geniuses and designers of that company. They made a game (DOOM) that revolutionized the gaming industry, from a couple of guys that were passionate about their work.

 

Nowadays stuff like Assassins Creed Valhalla is basically worked on by at least a couple thousand people. Designers and gaming developers have some say on the project, but they're no longer the heads of the projects. Publishers dictate a lot of what goes on behind the scenes. Budgets are exponentially larger and those are going to see another substantial increase once the PlayStation 5 rolls around. It's no longer about the passion or the creative direction. It's about milking an already successful formula to make money. That's all Ubisoft gives a shit about.

 

Should this crying and bitching affect The Last of Us Part II sales, then at least I can say people voted with their wallets.

 

It's a fucking video game, it was meant for entertainment. Yet people continue to shell money out for EA, Activision and Ubisoft without asking a single fucking question. Those same people turn right around and bitch straight at Neil Druckmann until he's crying in a little corner in a fetal position.

 

Sad, just fucking sad.

[ziggypossum]

 

[Ghost]

Quote

Leading up to launch, we’re releasing a brand new series of videos breaking down key aspects of the game. Each video will feature interviews with members of our team as we discuss the design, technology, and ideas that have shaped the development of our game over the last six years. 

 

We’re kicking things off by taking a closer look at the story in The Last of Us Part II, including some of the core themes we’re exploring, a glimpse into Ellie and Joel’s life in Jackson, and how we’re broadening the world and cast of characters. Don’t worry, we’re keeping all episodes spoiler-free and there will be so much more for you to dig into on June 19th! Check it out:

 

"From here on out, we’ll be releasing new videos every week for the next three weeks. Here’s what to expect and when":

• May 13^th: Inside the Story
• May 20^th: Inside the Gameplay
• May 27^th: Inside the Details
• June 3^rd: Inside the World

Playstation Blog

Edited May 13, 2020 by Ghost

[EcoShifter]

Quote

 

 

 

 

"An inside the story video. This ought to be interesting and touch a bit on another layer of the story (the game might have), right?" No. The information shared here is much of the same of what's been said before. And again, this isn't an interesting story at all. For a game structured around the cycle of violence (as Neil has stated many times now), why couldn't Naughty Dog incorporate a karma or morality system, instead of making yet aaanother heavily scripted linear-character(not story)-driven game with the same singular layout that every player will experience. A cycle of violence story is at its full potential under a plot-driven story. The formulaic and safe design of their games has gotten stale. ?

 

But still—can't wait! (Such a beautiful cover that emphasizes the exhilarating experience people will have with the game.)

Memorable quotes from our beloved protagonist, during the excellent story of an assured masterpiece of a game and sequel:

"I'm gonna find, and i'm going to kill, every last one of them."
"You can't stop this."

"I have to finish it."

 

Commonly advertised quotes.
 

Edited May 13, 2020 by EcoShifter

[ziggypossum]

 

[Cal]

Damn that PS4 is gorgeous! Could do without the words on it but the tattoo on top is nice. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Cerulean

[Undead Wolf]

Did they really need to slap "The Last of Us Part II" on everything? I get the console itself, but the controller and external hard drive are pretty ugly-looking with that text. They would look way better without it. Also, it seems a bit weird to release a limited edition console this close to the end of the generation, but I've never been one to care for these themed consoles anyway.

[MilanYildirim]

Huh, now that Sony realized TLOU 2 won't be a hit as much as 1st game, they release that gorgeous looking console. Well, A for an effort.
I can understand those who want that game to be ruined, not everyone enjoys SJW propagandas. I am not saying, l hope it will be shit but if it turn out to be shit, l'll be happy. Keep your ideas to yourself. This is entertainment. I want to entertain myself while l am playing not to expose your pov on things.

[Dauersack]

Having a console skin simply does not have the same prestige anymore after that console skin for Fallout76, and the fact that they lazily printed the name of the game over everything, controller included, without any creativity really does not help either. Scratching a former main characters tattoo into it might look alright but its not really a great effort to stand out from normal consoles.

 

I am still conflicted whether I want the game to fail spectacularly or not. I don't doubt it will sell reasonably well even with all the bad publicity, theres enough sheep who avoid any of the spoilers and rely on blind trust, and even more casuals who do not care enough to look into it in any way and just buy it, so the damage will probably be more long term if the game sucks. Part of me that loved the first game even wants it to still be good, but the other part really wishes Naughty Dog to suffer a devastating blow to their reputation and finances after all the shit they have done recently. Never even mind bullshit propaganda, defiling of a great license, lazy writing or blatant disrespect to many fans, the whole censoring and striking youtube channels down is much more despicable, and what they did with the trailer after the leaks pretty much borders on false marketing.

[bmg_ps]

Is anyone aware of the price of the external HD?
I might buy the controller but still curious about it

[MidnightDragon]

51 minutes ago, bmg_ps said:

Is anyone aware of the price of the external HD?
I might buy the controller but still curious about it

US price is $89.99. EU blog didn’t give a price.

[abhinandhan22]

1 hour ago, Nighcisama said:

Having a console skin simply does not have the same prestige anymore after that console skin for Fallout76, and the fact that they lazily printed the name of the game over everything, controller included, without any creativity really does not help either. Scratching a former main characters tattoo into it might look alright but its not really a great effort to stand out from normal consoles.

 

I am still conflicted whether I want the game to fail spectacularly or not. I don't doubt it will sell reasonably well even with all the bad publicity, theres enough sheep who avoid any of the spoilers and rely on blind trust, and even more casuals who do not care enough to look into it in any way and just buy it, so the damage will probably be more long term if the game sucks. Part of me that loved the first game even wants it to still be good, but the other part really wishes Naughty Dog to suffer a devastating blow to their reputation and finances after all the shit they have done recently. Never even mind bullshit propaganda, defiling of a great license, lazy writing or blatant disrespect to many fans, the whole censoring and striking youtube channels down is much more despicable, and what they did with the trailer after the leaks pretty much borders on false marketing.

Lmao you do you but don't call the rest of us who are avoiding spoilers sheep. Just cuz u don't want to take risks in your gaming doesn't automatically make the rest of us idiots. Its beyond trust here, I simply want to experience the game as intended by the devs and I don't mind spending the 60 to do so regardless if I like it or not. 

[Dauersack]

15 minutes ago, abhinandhan22 said:

Lmao you do you but don't call the rest of us who are avoiding spoilers sheep. Just cuz u don't want to take risks in your gaming doesn't automatically make the rest of us idiots. Its beyond trust here, I simply want to experience the game as intended by the devs and I don't mind spending the 60 to do so regardless if I like it or not. 

You are a minority then. Most people do not buy games they know are risky, not full price at least, spending 60€ for a game you might really not like is wasted money for most people. These people buy the game because they expect it to be great, they base that on nothing but "the first game was great" and "its Naughty Dog", while ignoring that so many people really didn't like what they were seeing with the leaks. People can spend their money however they want, but they are sheep to me, and you are obviously someone who does not put any value on his money, which is ok as well, its just not my approach and I doubt too many people are into that.

[abhinandhan22]

5 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

You are a minority then. Most people do not buy games they know are risky, not full price at least, spending 60€ for a game you might really not like is wasted money for most people. These people buy the game because they expect it to be great, they base that on nothing but "the first game was great" and "its Naughty Dog", while ignoring that so many people really didn't like what they were seeing with the leaks. People can spend their money however they want, but they are sheep to me, and you are obviously someone who does not put any value on his money, which is ok as well, its just not my approach and I doubt too many people are into that.

I don't disagree with anything you are really saying other than if said person had such concerns, they should just wait for reviews from a multitude of sources on day 1. If the leaks are objectively bad like you and lots of others claim it to be then they can make their purchasing decisions after looking at reviews. I just don't trust any reviews other than myself at this point and I know my personal tastes quite well so I would prefer experiencing anything myself. In fact the times I have "wasted" money on games are all from believing reviews that called certain games excellent. Anyways my friend who got spoiled and is a huge tlou fan was extremely disappointed but is still going to be playing it regardless to see if the execution would change his mind.

[Dauersack]

45 minutes ago, abhinandhan22 said:

I don't disagree with anything you are really saying other than if said person had such concerns, they should just wait for reviews from a multitude of sources on day 1. If the leaks are objectively bad like you and lots of others claim it to be then they can make their purchasing decisions after looking at reviews. I just don't trust any reviews other than myself at this point and I know my personal tastes quite well so I would prefer experiencing anything myself. In fact the times I have "wasted" money on games are all from believing reviews that called certain games excellent. Anyways my friend who got spoiled and is a huge tlou fan was extremely disappointed but is still going to be playing it regardless to see if the execution would change his mind.

I agree, they should wait for reviews, but they won't, they disregard all the people who were unhappy with the leaks and buy it day 1 anyway, possibly having a bad experience after paying full price, THEN they will start complaining, which is why I label them as sheep because they do not really think, they just do. Not trusting any review is fine, the number of credible sources for reviews is rather low nowadays, even less of them will share your tastes in games, I have bought a few games myself over the years because I trusted shill reviews, but I also bought games that had a questionable reputation and found out why.

I for one am more hyped for the reactions to the game than the game itself at this point, because it is either a monumental shitstorm or a very positive reaction if they managed to make it work somehow, there seems to be next to no chance for anything in between. The trench war among the games community is almost guaranteed because quite a few people already made up their mind about the game being great or shit, regardless of how the game will actually be after release, and regardless whether they even have seen any of the leaks or not.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Nighcisama

[abhinandhan22]

8 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

I agree, they should wait for reviews, but they won't, they disregard all the people who were unhappy with the leaks and buy it day 1 anyway, possibly having a bad experience after paying full price, THEN they will start complaining, which is why I label them as sheep because they do not really think, they just do. Not trusting any review is fine, the number of credible sources for reviews is rather low nowadays, even less of them will share your tastes in games, I have bought a few games myself over the years because I trusted shill reviews, but I also bought games that had a questionable reputation and found out why.

I for one am more hyped for the reactions to the game than the game itself at this point, because it is either a monumental shitstorm or a very positive reaction if they managed to make it work somehow, there seems to be next to no chance for anything in between. The trench war among the games community is almost guaranteed because quite a few people already made up their mind about the game being great or shit, regardless of how the game will actually be after release, and regardless whether they even have seen any of the leaks or not.

I don't know if I would necessarily call them shill reviews though. There are definitely shills in the industry but at the end of the day, opinions can also be different. I definitely agree with you that I am more hyped for the day 1 reactions/ reviews from both the industry and friends who I know personally since I can't play the game till July 3rd due to exams. 

[AJ_Radio]

22 hours ago, MilanYildirim said:

Huh, now that Sony realized TLOU 2 won't be a hit as much as 1st game, they release that gorgeous looking console. Well, A for an effort.
I can understand those who want that game to be ruined, not everyone enjoys SJW propagandas. I am not saying, l hope it will be shit but if it turn out to be shit, l'll be happy. Keep your ideas to yourself. This is entertainment. I want to entertain myself while l am playing not to expose your pov on things.

 

The big problem was thousands of fans out there were riding on this game for years since they absolutely adored and loved the original The Last of Us. Me personally, never could understand the sheer hype and anticipation that game received back in 2013. I'm completely fed up with zombies and the apocalypse story... whether it be fan fiction, video games, movies, television, even written novels. It's been done to death. Plenty of media has done these kinds of stories to great success in the past. I just couldn't see what was so great about the first game.

 

Speaking of which, I have at least three to five games with zombies and horror infused in them from my backlog, so I won't be short of that.

 

To end my rambling, many of these fans saw the leak the moment it was released on the internet and immediately decided NOT to buy the game. They let that crap get to their heads and then decided to attack Naughty Dog. The way I see that company, it's not as great as it used to be. But there was no reason to just attack them viciously like they did on Twitter. They tried to back Neil himself into a corner. Is that what kids nowadays are doing?

 

I swear this generation of gamers is the most crybaby, self entitled, arrogant bunch of people I've ever had the displeasure of seeing.

[EcoShifter]

 

[MidnightDragon]

8 minutes ago, talespagni said:

Things are heating up in the comments section in the US PS Blog:

 

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2020/05/13/introducing-inside-the-last-of-us-part-ii-video-series/

 

I find this comment by Hulkrock interesting (I don't know if it will be deleted, so I'll put it in spoilers here):

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

@itz_Hitman Those two things aren’t even remotely connected. You said it yourself, “You have to create what your passionate about otherwise you’re just a fake sell out.” The fact of the matter Itz_Hitman is that Naughty Dog is a sellout. They injected politics and political beliefs into their video games. They’re a sellout to a specific small minority that do not support their video games and never have been. So, miss me with that nonsense of oppressing the creators and wanting them to conform to what fans want. Nah, that is not at all what I said first of all if you read my comment, so I do not know how you drew that false conclusion.

The fact of the matter being is that Naughty Dog has sold out. They value pushing an agenda rather than pushing a solid story. Whenever art (a.k.a. the story) takes second place to a message or weighing heavily to any viewpoint, it doesn’t become art, it becomes propaganda. That is a matter of fact.

And everything that has been said and built around this game has been pointing towards that one notion or concept Itz_Hitman. Neil Druckman has talked about it multiple times even in this video that dropped being the “most divisive”. Why is a video game about a apocalyptic world becoming more and more divisive? Not only to mention that some of the story subject matter was not always reflective of everyone within the company itself. So, this isn’t just divisive in terms of story of, “Oh, Joel shouldn’t have taken Ellie from the Hospital to cure her vs. Oh, Joel had every right.” That’s good divisive because it has to deal with the story. However, with everything that has gone into this game, they should’ve thrown this baby out with the bathwater as the expression is. Because as Neil Druckman has shown over the years he rather throw politics and a one-sided viewpoint into his games, rather than creating content that focuses only on the story. If he wants to inject some of that into his games that’s fine. We let the little stuff slide with Last of Us (with Ellie) and Uncharted 4 (with Nadine). However, to go this far out of the deep end is some nonsense. And I’m not here for it.

 

 

 

 

Yea, at least half the comments on Facebook reference the leaks...one thing in particular.

 

If they had made a Tsushima PS4 Pro instead and it looked cool, I would’ve gotten it even though PS5 is coming. Oh, well.

Edited May 20, 2020 by MidnightDragon

[AJ_Radio]

Naughty Dog coming over and trying to remove YouTube videos that criticize the game is bad enough. Neil himself hasn't been too professional with his handling on angry keyboard warriors.

 

Everybody going over and taking a shit at Naughty Dog in the comments is just making everything worse. You're both guilty, both sides. Seeing such a triggered reaction on Sony offering a special The Last of Us Part II PS4 Pro, external harddrive and PS4 controller..... you couldn't get any more fucking pathetic than that.

[DividedByMankind]

I am still going for release buy. But i am really dissapointed not in the leaker but in naughty dog.

[ziggypossum]

The Last of Us Part II review embargo is dropping on 12 June 2020

 

The exact times you'll be able to read our The Last of Us 2 review on June 12 are 12:01am PT / 3:01am ET / 8:01am BST. 

 

https://www.gamesradar.com/heres-when-you-can-read-our-review-of-the-last-of-us-2/

[Carol]

Hopefully, we will be seeing something about the trophy list soon!

[ziggypossum]

The Last of Us Part 2 Is Reportedly Banned In Middle East, Here’s Why

https://twistedvoxel.com/the-last-of-us-part-2-banned-middle-east/

[ziggypossum]