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

[Secret Asshole]

I hate to say it, but I think a lot of you are being naive about transness in media.



I wish I could say you were right about "ciswashing," but I know you aren't. Here are the reasons why:

1. Clocking a trans person is a big no-no. This is a holdover from when the popular stance was "When a trans person gets reminded of their birth gender, they fall into suicidal dysphoria!" which evolved into "deadnaming a transperson is telling them to kill themselves." I'd even argue that this is where "being rude online is literal violence" came from. If ND really wanted to do this, his options are limited.
   • ND would have had to write a bigoted character who hates transwomen. In the prologue, ND makes it very clear that he doesn't think this type of character is worth writing about. (Ellie dismisses a sweet old man as a bigot even though he made her and her girlfriend "bigot sandwiches." This man is never seen again.)
   • ND would have had to somehow weasel Abby's HRT regimen into the narrative. Not only would this have derailed a game that already has a tenuous sense of pacing, it would have taken time that Naughty Dog's crunch schedule wouldn't allow. If there's any hope for a smoking gun, I'd expect it to turn up in the environment design. Any estrogen bottles lying around? Soylent?
2. Abby's model is flat out hideous. This is more important than people give it credit for. She isn't real. There is no reason for her to be ugly except that it evokes a certain feeling upon looking at her. In ND's self-aggrandizing little mind, I'm sure he wants you, as a player with eyes, to confront that feeling. He turned her into a bigotry litmus test. If you dare point out that she looks trans, you are bigoted. If you ignore the obvious, you are a Good Person. It's queer baiting, but nobody wins by talking about it. If they had any intention of confirming that she is trans, they wouldn't have had to make it so obvious. She never had to be ugly.

Just take a look at the Instagram bodybuilder Abby is supposedly modeled after:

Spoiler: her instagram

View attachment 1389715

Yes, she's muscular, and her attractiveness will obviously come down to taste, but she is by no means as hideous or unfeminine as Abby.

I want to believe that a smoking gun is hiding in some uncompleted datamine, but I won't hold my breath.

The only other way to determine ND's authorial intent is to look at whether or not the idea of transness is baked into any other parts of the game. I'm not going through the game with a fine-toothed comb, but I did find some evidence of exactly that:

View attachment 1389793

When Ellie infiltrates the Wolf den, she has to duck inside this bookstore. Not only is there a rainbow road leading to the door, there's an LGBT pride flag and a Trans flag (circled red) hung outside. It sure looks like someone hung them up recently. I think the center flag is an American flag, but it's in significantly worse repair than the the other two.

Spoiler: Inside

View attachment 1389792

Another Trans flag hangs on a bookshelf inside. It's definitely the same as the one outside.

Conclusively, this game uses the visual iconography of transness.

I hear you already: "It's set in Seattle, of course they have the flags!" I think the fact that the flags are looking brighter and in better shape than the American flag is extremely evocative, but sure. I see the point.

But when the idea of sex characteristic dysphoria pops up in notes, it's harder for me to dismiss.

Spoiler: boobs and dicks

View attachment 1389768

Sure, maybe we've all doodled a page that looks like this, but I'd like you to take in the imagery of a dick blasting off together with the imagery of dicks stretching, ballooning, becoming breasts, as well as the the words "Still no Scars four more hours on this shift fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk" The Scars in question are later revealed to be a rival group, but I posit that ND had a very different interpretation in mind when he decided that THIS should be the first mention of the Scars.

Lastly, the group Abby belongs to is a bunch of furry antifa awoos who took over a portion of Seattle from a government-sanctioned enforcement group. They literally call themselves "wolves." I think everyone who's visited the CHAZ/CHOP thread knows what the gender identity demographics of that group look like.

In short, ND has played us all and he'll be laughing all the way to the awards.

I mean, I already think Druckman is a faggot, but even if these things were intentional, I don't think it matters. They're still shields and they're still Druckman's personal fantasies. Its not meant for anyone but him.

People will say its propaganda, but propaganda has to be effective and convincing. This is universally loathed. Absolutely hated by a vast majority of people. Even the people its supposed to propagandize to. There are very few who actually like it and I'm not talking about contrarians who would die of AIDs if Trump developed the cure for AIDs or paid shill journalists whose jobs rely on them to pump out good reviews for trash. The people who like this for real, genuinely, are far and few between. Bastions of progressiveness hate it. So any tranny reference is either a shield or Druckman wanting to masturbate himself.

That's why its a vanity project. Its not even meant for other people as propaganda. It is meant for Neil Druckman, and Neil Druckman alone.

Also lol at gaming awards. A gaming award hasn't ever sold a single copy of a game on the planet. Who gives a fuck.

It depends how connected he is. He could bounce around to Bioware, Ubisoft, and others for a little while.

It doesn't matter. He might be paid to be there, but his career is over. He will NEVER make anything again. He will never have creative control again. I'm sure he has friends and places he can bounce around, but he will NEVER be in a position of authority. No one will allow him to do anything like this ever again. He'll be paid to sit at a desk and have his ideas go in a shredder. That's Druckman's future.

 

[Hee]

Honestly, the flashbacks involving Joel and Ellie (if there are any) are probably what's keeping this game from just getting a flat 0.

Tinfoil Hat Theory: Joel and Ellie's flashback scenes were supposed to be exposition to the starting incident that sets Ellie out on her quest for revenge, allegedly with Joel's help. Druckmann massaged the plot to be the rancid mess it is today, hence the long development time for a game that's the same as the first plus some graphical upgrades (inb4 you can crouch).

 

[Ginger Piglet]

It doesn't matter. He might be paid to be there, but his career is over. He will NEVER make anything again. He will never have creative control again. I'm sure he has friends and places he can bounce around, but he will NEVER be in a position of authority. No one will allow him to do anything like this ever again. He'll be paid to sit at a desk and have his ideas go in a shredder. That's Druckman's future.

Sadly, shit sometimes floats. There will be a portion of the access media who will think of TLOU2 as the masterpiece Drucko thinks it is. And he seems to have made a career out of failing upwards. They'll probably kick him upstairs to the board of directors, because as his defenestration of Amy Hennig shows, he's quite the corporate infighter.

While in a just world, he would be reduced to producing self-starring tranny pr0n, and then have another fifteen minutes of fame when he's reported as having booked himself into hospital with a suspicious yellow growth on his bellend that just turns out to be an undigested ear of sweetcorn, this world of ours is not a just one.

 

[Diabolical diabetic]

Honestly, the flashbacks involving Joel and Ellie (if there are any) are probably what's keeping this game from just getting a flat 0.

The flashback where Joel and Ellie visit a museum on her birthday is pretty good and hearth warming, but it's also almost completely disconnected from the rest of the game

 

[Ponderous Pillock]

Something I've been mulling lately is this depressing slide into nihilism in our media. We used to focus on what we had in common, and post apocalypse writing usually had a hopeful element. The idea that after a collapse we refocus on our humanity and build it all back up after the initial growing pains was taken for granted.
Can someone explain why the people in charge of these things prattle on about how righteous and enlightened they are, yet they put out nothing but propaganda basically blackpilling people on the idea of barely even surviving? For acting like they have the best interests of mankind at heart, it doesn't seem to affect the actual fruits of their labor. They say they're planting delicious apples, but every time the tree grows we get this shit, misshapen, turd-flavored, garbage. Then they say we're assholes and cavement for wanting sweet, crispy apples.

It's problematic to like, apples, you see. not all fruit is delicious, and it really hurts the feelings for those who grow crabapples, so we'll all force ourselves to play along and munch sour, hard, crabbles while complimenting how 'wonderful' 'amazing' and 'filling' they are.

Know one which did this well?

Horizon Zero Dawn. Ok, some people in here have whinged about "Oh, fucking any blend of people and it being more about the tribes" but that's near enough the only woke bit in the game.

Spoiler

The people amply represented by the nihilists is the Elon Musk standin, who fucks everything up, then does it further by then deleting the knowledge cache. Despite this, people still recreate civilisation and perhaps even some of its mistakes because Mr Ego couldn't fucking let his own idiocy go. Even then, its revealed he's been fooled by the super AI reseeding the earth as its likely spread out and hidden the data elsewhere, with Hades clearly knowing more than he was supposed.

The thing is realistically in any high sci-fi setting things like birth and mental defects should be almost eliminated. Hell IRL shit like Crisper is trying to do just that.

That means no Troons * No brain defects mean no GD hell potientally no gays at all if you want to kick THAT hornets' nest *, no cripples * No birth defects and even if it happens after birth cybernetic limbs that are almost identical to the real thing will fix it and it'll be like going to the doctor for a minor infection *, no autistic spazs.

The only way having those make sense is if you go the Gundam Seed route and have it become a moral quandary between natural birth and science and these fuckers won't do that because it often goes hand with religion which these fedora tippers hate.

And you already mentioned fantasy where an actual sex change is just a tonic away.

You can even halfway house it like cybernetics, and other slightly clunky tech that does the role of the disability stuff.

 

[CheezzyMach]

Late, but I absolutely love how Pewds keeps calling Abby "Debbie".

Just the thought of this monstrous, hulking she-beast being named that has just sent my sides into orbit.

"I hate Debbie."

"We're going to kill Debbie."

"We better being wearing this watch when we kill Debbie."

Abby will be the most hated character since Starfucker in ME3.

I can't wait for Cuckman to have a mental breakdown like Casey Hudson did when the public shat on his "masterpiece".

 

[Clem Fandango]

I don't get the reference.

Smash Brandi's Cooch = Crash Bandicoot

 

[derpherp2]

Ellie enters synagogue alone.

PewDiePie: "Did we just leave Dina? Good."

Dina appears.

PewDiePie: "Dammit."

Maybe there's still hope for this swedish faggot.

 

[Dysnomia]

You should relate to a character based off of their behavior, not how they look. This is my problem with the progressive shit.
The refusal to connect with anything that doesn't match their "aesthetic" is .

By that logic, I couldn't relate to the average protagonist because they tend to be different race than I am. What a load of bullshit.

They expect everyone else to play as virtue signalling characters though. The article does a side by side between Abby and Tifa Lockheart. Tifa has a fleshed out backstory, a reason to fight that isn't based around blind rage, and is a conventually attractive character. She isn't murdering every SOLDIER in sight until she finds Sephiroth. Zangan would be so ashamed if she used his teachings for that. Meanwhile, Abby is a rampaging roidbeest who only cares about herself. And maybe her pet shota.

Abby being fug isn't the real issue. She sucks as good representation. A serial killing rage monster is not the hill you want to stake diversity on.

Everything isn't about them darn gamergators. Women have negative opinions on Abby too. But just like with Fembusters our voices do not exist because that would tank the chosen narrative that ciscum straight males hate Abby solely because they can't fap to her.

I have no problem with more diverse character creation. But what does this have to do with Abby? You can't change her appearance. If you could then most players would probably make her more attractive and feminine. Like it or not, humans have a general standard for beauty. Not everyone would choose Tifa over Abby. But Tifa wins the evolutionary race because men are wired to want to make babies with her.

 

[Titos]

Didn't see if this had been posted yet but apparently this was the line at the midnight launch in Sweden. Maybe that guy comparing it to Schindlers List was right, except in a more meta context, the only thing missing is the trains.

 

[Big Meaty Claws]

They expect everyone else to play as virtue signalling characters though. The article does a side by side between Abby and Tifa Lockheart. Tifa has a fleshed out backstory, a reason to fight that isn't based around blind rage, and is a conventually attractive character. She isn't murdering every SOLDIER in sight until she finds Sephiroth. Zangan would be so ashamed if she used his teachings for that. Meanwhile, Abby is a rampaging roidbeest who only cares about herself. And maybe her pet shota.

Abby being fug isn't the real issue. She sucks as good representation. A serial killing rage monster is not the hill you want to stake diversity on.

Everything isn't about them darn gamergators. Women have negative opinions on Abby too. But just like with Fembusters our voices do not exist because that would tank the chosen narrative that ciscum straight males hate Abby solely because they can't fap to her.

I have no problem with more diverse character creation. But what does this have to do with Abby? You can't change her appearance. If you could then most players would probably make her more attractive and feminine. Like it or not, humans have a general standard for beauty. Not everyone would choose Tifa over Abby. But Tifa wins the evolutionary race because men are wired to want to make babies with her.

I'm just disgusted on how much of a coldhearted brute she is. Yes I know, she is out for revenge, and that is bad, but she has no hesitation at all for the horrible shit she does. She might as well be a Sociopath on a murder spree than a person out for revenge.

 

[Frosted Snowflakes]

Already Metacritic is taking down negative reviews and the score is still low.

 

[TwoDollarPeePeePooPoo]

Didn't see if this had been posted yet but apparently this was the line at the midnight launch in Sweden. Maybe that guy comparing it to Schindlers List was right, except in a more meta context, the only thing missing is the trains.
View attachment 1390079

The tranny sex was probably the main selling point for Swedes.

 

[Groundbreaking-maize]

The tranny sex was probably the main selling point for Swedes.

Between white people? You clearly don't know swedes my man.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

Didn't see if this had been posted yet but apparently this was the line at the midnight launch in Sweden. Maybe that guy comparing it to Schindlers List was right, except in a more meta context, the only thing missing is the trains.
View attachment 1390079

Imagine waiting in line only to be sorely disappointed later.

Rest in pepperoni.

 

[Rei is shit]

"So far I gotta say the story feels a bit.... like a... written by a.... I'll keep it to myself for now. Everything is so great about the game looks good and feels good, but then its like this is the story. uhhhh. I need to stop mopping about it maybe it gets better"

Pewdiepie 4 hrs into the game

 

[MeltyTW]

They expect everyone else to play as virtue signalling characters though. The article does a side by side between Abby and Tifa Lockheart. Tifa has a fleshed out backstory, a reason to fight that isn't based around blind rage, and is a conventually attractive character. She isn't murdering every SOLDIER in sight until she finds Sephiroth. Zangan would be so ashamed if she used his teachings for that. Meanwhile, Abby is a rampaging roidbeest who only cares about herself. And maybe her pet shota.

Abby being fug isn't the real issue. She sucks as good representation. A serial killing rage monster is not the hill you want to stake diversity on.

Everything isn't about them darn gamergators. Women have negative opinions on Abby too. But just like with Fembusters our voices do not exist because that would tank the chosen narrative that ciscum straight males hate Abby solely because they can't fap to her.

I have no problem with more diverse character creation. But what does this have to do with Abby? You can't change her appearance. If you could then most players would probably make her more attractive and feminine. Like it or not, humans have a general standard for beauty. Not everyone would choose Tifa over Abby. But Tifa wins the evolutionary race because men are wired to want to make babies with her.

well that and people in general can look at tifa with something other than the growing need to vomit

"So far I gotta say the story feels a bit.... like a... written by a.... I'll keep it to myself for now. Everything is so great about the game looks good and feels good, but then its like this is the story. uhhhh. I need to stop mopping about it maybe it gets better"

Pewdiepie 4 hrs into the game

he sounds more genuinely defeated and broken then the characters

 

[Llama king]

It's a triple A game it'll sell well just like the others It'll also be forgotten just like the others

 

[Balr0g]

"So far I gotta say the story feels a bit.... like a... written by a.... I'll keep it to myself for now. Everything is so great about the game looks good and feels good, but then its like this is the story. uhhhh. I need to stop mopping about it maybe it gets better"

Pewdiepie 4 hrs into the game

Someone should tip him saying "it does only go downwarda"

 

[GaddafyTheLooneyDuck]

I feel like the revenge bullshit could actually have worked if both parties went through with it and it showed them both suffering from the consequences. Like instead of Abby using her tranny tard strength to bash a hole in one through Joel’s head she could’ve instead lured Joel to an area swarming with infected and shove him into the horde so he can be slowly devoured while having his last stand and trying in vain to fight them all off, maybe have Abby watch the scene and have her expression change from a sadistic smile to a more melancholy look before she leaves. Ellie naturally gets pissed and begins attacking Tranny Kong any chance she can get and fucking her up a little more each time before she gets away, which starts to add to the mental toll Abby already feels from watching Joel die. Eventually the final fight happens and Ellie finally manages to slay Shemale Strong in front of lil Asian troon and finally returns home only to find that she still feels shitty cause even with Abby dead Joel is still gone. After a while of living alone little troon finally sneaks into her house with a gun and threatens to kill Ellie for revenge, but Ellie just calmly talks to them and explains why it’s a bad idea and apologizes before resigning herself to whatever’s about to happen as little orphan tranny is holding a gun with a conflicted look on their face. Screen suddenly cuts to black, loud twanging acoustic guitar plays as credits roll, people have something to ponder about for the sequel, Cuckman continues to look like the unholy spawn of Shia LaBeouf and PewdiePie.


It’s still a cliché mess, but at the very least it’s more of a story than what we got.

I make comparisons a bit too often, but Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger did it well with the "revenge or forgiveness?" trope. Silas spends most of his life hunting down three cocksuckers who hanged him (unsuccessfully) and his brothers, gunning down a lot of men just to get to their necks, even if majority of said men deserved it, kills two and finds the third one many years later, only to see that now the bloke he was after is just a soft old man serving booze in a saloon. You then can make Silas either spare the bastard and move on or murder him and remain a cold blooded man. That moment actually makes you think which choice is the right one. A bloody arcade western game did it better than Schmuckmann's "deep dramatic masterpiece".