The Last of Us Franchise - Because it's apparently a franchise now. This thread has been double-DMCA’d by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

[thesaunderschild]

Personally, I think The Last of Us is actually way better than most of the Resident Evil games put out since 2009. The same with The Evil Within 2 and most definitely Days Gone. This is because I really don't like Capcom's Call of Duty and Fortnite inspired, action oriented focus that they always employ in this day and age, because that's the primary reason that the games feel vastly soulless and downright bland...

I know RE7 (and soon to be the next sequel) are taken the series back to the horror side of things, but I'm just not overly fond of first person shooters, and I feel like the games I mentioned above got the concept of "Action Horror" mostly right. Well, I mean, RE7 is okay as a horror game, but I'd say you'll enjoy it more if you pretend it's not a RE sequel, which it honestly hardly feels like to me. But I'm fussy like that. I'm not really a major fan of that, 'I'm seeing the world from the character's eyes' perspective.

I know The Last of Us has a lot of action, like in lorry loads, but I think it's a game that does it right (as I said). Hell, even Left Behind (despite being DLC initially for the PS3 version) felt like its own game. With the RE franchise now, you feel like you're getting a meatless piece of chicken that's mostly just the bone, and some slop on the side (Resident Evil: Resistance). The absolute bare minimum. That's sad, because I never used to have a bad thing to say about RE back when I started with the series around 2000. Ever since RE4 though, the series has gotten so bad, and at times, it hardly feels like it should even be referred to as RE any longer. They're really just doing these remakes as a cash grab as well, and in my opinion, The Darkside Chronicles on the Wii has a better retelling of RE2's story than even what the 2019 remake boasts.

RE3 for example, felt severely lacking. Even more so than RE2 was. There was no real atmospheric tension. You just moved from A to B... and they used the same zombies from RE2 whilst removing other enemies, locations, and more. And yeah, I know the gameplay in The Last of Us is somewhat linear too, and you spend a lot of time picking up ladders and fetching pallets for Ellie to get across deep water, but the emphasis on telling a great story with the best presentation on offer, is what sets it apart from RE. In the RE games now, they just look and feel too rushed. Capcom probably just wants to release a lot of games now in a relatively short amount of time. It shows.

If I can be honest here... Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is kind of awesome, though.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

I wish I could rate this post late and dumb at the same time, for your shitty bait was days after the relevant topic and covered already.

I'm of the belief that you need those slight flashes of light, those things that show that for all of the grimderp, there is a hope or a way to take you from it. You need those little bits of lightness and nobility to contrast the horror around you.

The current crop of hacks seem to just be miserable morons who fail to get this basic idea.

you can rate the first post Late and this second post Dumb.

 

[CheezzyMach]

Much like comic books in the 90's, I think this is another resurgence of immature hacks conflating "realism" with "bleakness, violence, and gratuitous gore".

Atleast the grimdark 90s had sex appeal. This is like a shitty retread.

 

[verissimus]

Atleast the grimdark 90s had sex appeal. This is like a shitty retread.

Such as...(seriously I am curious)?

 

[PrincessHomura]

Personally, I think The Last of Us is actually way better than most of the Resident Evil games put out since 2009. The same with The Evil Within 2 and most definitely Days Gone. This is because I really don't like Capcom's Call of Duty and Fortnite inspired, action oriented focus that they always employ in this day and age, because that's the primary reason that the games feel vastly soulless and downright bland...

I know RE7 (and soon to be the next sequel) are taken the series back to the horror side of things, but I'm just not overly fond of first person shooters, and I feel like the games I mentioned above got the concept of "Action Horror" mostly right. Well, I mean, RE7 is okay as a horror game, but I'd say you'll enjoy it more if you pretend it's not a RE sequel, which it honestly hardly feels like to me. But I'm fussy like that. I'm not really a major fan of that, 'I'm seeing the world from the character's eyes' perspective.

I know The Last of Us has a lot of action, like in lorry loads, but I think it's a game that does it right (as I said). Hell, even Left Behind (despite being DLC initially for the PS3 version) felt like its own game. With the RE franchise now, you feel like you're getting a meatless piece of chicken that's mostly just the bone, and some slop on the side (Resident Evil: Resistance). The absolute bare minimum. That's sad, because I never used to have a bad thing to say about RE back when I started with the series around 2000. Ever since RE4 though, the series has gotten so bad, and at times, it hardly feels like it should even be referred to as RE any longer. They're really just doing these remakes as a cash grab as well, and in my opinion, The Darkside Chronicles on the Wii has a better retelling of RE2's story than even what the 2019 remake boasts.

RE3 for example, felt severely lacking. Even more so than RE2 was. There was no real atmospheric tension. You just moved from A to B... and they used the same zombies from RE2 whilst removing other enemies, locations, and more. And yeah, I know the gameplay in The Last of Us is somewhat linear too, and you spend a lot of time picking up ladders and fetching pallets for Ellie to get across deep water, but the emphasis on telling a great story with the best presentation on offer, is what sets it apart from RE. In the RE games now, they just look and feel too rushed. Capcom probably just wants to release a lot of games now in a relatively short amount of time. It shows.

If I can be honest here... Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is kind of awesome, though.

I know it's off-topic, but I rated agree mostly for your views on RE (I never played Last of Us so can't really have an opinion on it). I very much love Revelations 2 as well!

 

[Titos]

garth ennis presents: the last of us 2

Ennis would at least make it over the top to the point of hilarity like Crossed.

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

Personally, I think The Last of Us is actually way better than most of the Resident Evil games put out since 2009

The Resident Evil creators want their games to be B-movie survival horror not psychological drama survival horror. You are comparing apples to oranges. The RE creators want to entertain. Dreckman stated he doesn't even use the word fun for TLOU.

 

[ducktales4gameboy]

I wish we'd have gotten more RE games along the line of Code Veronica. That one always felt like the happy medium between Silent Hill and RE and did a great job straddling the line between psychological horror, Cronenberg body horror and absurd B movie plot.

 

[Fougaro]

"Lame female characters" i wonder if druckmann ever heard of samus aran.

Or Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers, Claire Redfield, Alexandra Rovias, Regina from Dino Crisis, horror games tend to have good female main characters

Or almost the entire female cast of King of Fighters.

Funny how back in the 90s when video game chicks were made to be eye candy had more depth and character.

Much like comic books in the 90's, I think this is another resurgence of immature hacks conflating "realism" with "bleakness, violence, and gratuitous gore".

While I'm not familiar with comic books, it is an undeniable fact that in video games we're dealing with an epidemic of hacks trying to be "mature" with results reaching levels of cringe and fart huffing pretentiousness you'd only see in European artfilms.

If you don't believe me, just remember the godforsaken DmC: Devil May Cry reboot where shallow and pretentious edginess was apparently better than a series of fun games with a powerful story about love and coming to terms with yourself.

The latest entry in God of War made it clear that the devs wanted to distance themselves from the old games for being immature and childish; in spite of the first three entries beautifully telling a classical Greek tragedy in form of video games, which in hindsight make Kratos' characterization in the latest game even more impactful.

Fucking hipsters man! Wanting desperately to be noticed by Hollywood-senpai or masking their own degenercy as "art", or both.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Or almost the entire female cast of King of Fighters.

Funny how back in the 90s when video game chicks were made to be eye candy had more depth and character.

While I'm not familiar with comic books, it is an undeniable fact that in video games we're dealing with an epidemic of hacks trying to be "mature" with results reaching levels of cringe and fart huffing pretentiousness you'd only see in European artfilms.

If you don't believe me, just remember the godforsaken DmC: Devil May Cry reboot where shallow and pretentious edginess was apparently better than a series of fun games with a powerful story about love and coming to terms with yourself.

The latest entry in God of War made it clear that the devs wanted to distance themselves from the old games for being immature and childish; in spite of the first three entries beautifully telling a classical Greek tragedy in form of video games, which in hindsight make Kratos' characterization in the latest game even more impactful.

Fucking hipsters man! Wanting desperately to be noticed by Hollywood-senpai or masking their own degenercy as "art", or both.

I wouldn't group God of War 2018 with anything like that.

That had legitimate thought put behind everything as far as gameplay went. It also still had the QTE fatalities. It also had way more stuff in the game to explore compared to previous entries.

People forget that the last GOW game before 2018 was Ascension and it was really bad. It was time to change the formula at that point.

 

[Fougaro]

I wouldn't group God of War 2018 with anything like that.

That had legitimate thought put behind everything as far as gameplay went. It also still had the QTE fatalities. It also had way more stuff in the game to explore compared to previous entries.

People forget that the last GOW game before 2018 was Ascension and it was really bad. It was time to change the formula at that point.

I'm not saying that the new God of War game is bad, far from it. I think it's pretty good. The devs trying to distance themselves from the old games takes away so much from Kratos' character as explained in the video I linked.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

While I'm not familiar with comic books, it is an undeniable fact that in video games we're dealing with an epidemic of hacks trying to be "mature" with results reaching levels of cringe and fart huffing pretentiousness you'd only see in European artfilms.

Well, I think it's because you can't start important conversations if you are making your game fun.

EDIT:

GamesRadar+ nicely hedging their bets with that quote. I suppose "wtf is this shit" will echo long after Joel's brains have been wiped off the 5 iron.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

Well, I think it's because you can't start important conversations if you are making your game fun.

EDIT:

View attachment 1352653

GamesRadar+ nicely hedging their bets with that quote. I suppose "wtf is this shit" will echo long after Joel's brains have been wiped off the 5 iron.

They aren't wrong; TLOU 2's wretched development cycle and leaks shine a spotlight on the poor treatment of game developers at these AAA studios. The fact that a developer got pissed enough to leak the entire story online indicates something of a watershed moment at Naughty Dog, that they don't care about the people working their asses off to try and finish the game. Not to mention, the story itself has been dissected by people who were watching this since the story leaked months in advance; once the game hits, the mainstream audience is going to be pissed.

 

[verissimus]

Well, I think it's because you can't start important conversations if you are making your game fun.

EDIT:

View attachment 1352653

GamesRadar+ nicely hedging their bets with that quote. I suppose "wtf is this shit" will echo long after Joel's brains have been wiped off the 5 iron.

The game has already been talked to death and it still hasn't come out. The only thing left to talk about is whether the leaks are true or not. If they are, who cares. If they're not or at least not completely, what does it matter? It's not like there was anything to this series anyway that you haven't seen in almost any other "zombie apocalypse" story.

 

[anti SJW]

One week until the review embargo is lifted. but I think all the reviews that come out then will be great, saying how wonderful the game is.

I want to see what real people think when it hits on the 19.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

One week until the review embargo is lifted. but I think all the reviews that come out then will be great, saying how wonderful the game is.

I want to see what real people think when it hits on the 19.

PC Format, back in the 1990s, did a spoof article where they said that games were going to be labelled on their reviews according to what PR inducements they were given, from free dinners, pub crawls with marketrons, "fact finding trips" to the developers' HQ, all the way up to sexual favours.

Now, with the budget and the cash behind Sony, imagine how much payola they've engaged in for this. And how much they would have to. Druckmann's probably right now barking out orders to legions of whores telling them that unless he hears that they've set every hack for Kotaku and Polygon and RPS's cock on fire, they'll all be out of a job.

But then again, we've seen this happen before, right?

>Something pushed by corporate PR machine gets mega brilliant professional reviews because they've paid for it
>User reviews are in the toilet
>Thinkpieces about "toxic fandom" and how -ists and -phobes review bombed it
>Creative accounting and mass-purchases or other massaging of sales figures
>greatsuccess.flac

This happened with The Last Jedi, Capt. Marvel, Doctor Who with Jodie Whittaker, The Ruse of Skywanker, Ghostbusters 2016, Game of Thrones series 8, Birds of Prey, Suicide Squad, and many other examples passim ad nauseam.

 

[Balr0g]

Was this mentioned before? A composer by the name of Anna Lynn-williams claimed that the new TLOU2 promotion used her cover version of the song True Faith. So what happened? The promotion video was pulled offline. Is nobody competent left to avoid this issues?

 

[Table Country]

Wth even is the appeal to this "grim dark" crap? Like really. At least in say something like say Twilight Princess, Lord of the Rings, or say Disney's the Hunchback of Notre Dame things can go from light-hearted gay revelry to dark every now and then, but with this kind of crap it's sort of the opposite. It's like the "light" are just pauses in between from the story getting "darker". I don't understand it.

This is actually one of the reasons I grew to detest GoT, because there wasn't any point of caring about the characters whether its because they got killed off or because the plot required some dumb "shock" value death/betrayal. That and making every third character a jaded cynical asshole.

I feel you. Even in something like Warhammer 40k, the inherent bleakness of the setting is counterbalanced by its absurd scale. It also helps that the writers allow unambiguously good guys to exist. They'll even allow them to win every now and then, despite the odds being stacked against them. Surprisingly uplifting for a setting about tyranny, technological regression, and eternal war.
That being said, I'm not sure if TLoU 2 counts as "grimdark". It's more like pretentious shallow edgy shit written by the weirdo scene kid who sits in the back of the class.

Was this mentioned before? A composer by the name of Anna Lynn-williams claimed that the new TLOU2 promotion used her cover version of the song True Faith. So what happened? The promotion video was pulled offline. Is nobody competent left to avoid this issues?

Apparently not. Druckmann seems to be opposed to the very idea of doing something with competence.

 

[verissimus]

Even in something like Warhammer 40k, the inherent bleakness of the setting is counterbalanced by its absurd scale.

I was wondering if anyone would bring that series up for that reason. Not being too familiar with it, my impression is just what you said. It's bleak but from I understand there's sort of a dark humor/charm to it and it's done in an epic scale to which to me seems like a sign to the audience to not take things too seriously. That I think is fine. Anything else is likely pretentious boring garbage.

 

[AnotherPleb]

Wth even is the appeal to this "grim dark" crap? Like really. At least in say something like say Twilight Princess, Lord of the Rings, or say Disney's the Hunchback of Notre Dame things can go from light-hearted gay revelry to dark every now and then, but with this kind of crap it's sort of the opposite. It's like the "light" are just pauses in between from the story getting "darker". I don't understand it.

This is actually one of the reasons I grew to detest GoT, because there wasn't any point of caring about the characters whether its because they got killed off or because the plot required some dumb "shock" value death/betrayal. That and making every third character a jaded cynical asshole.

The grimdark all around is more meant to demoralize people at this point. Why let people hope for a better future?