The Last of Us 2

[Gilly?]

This was posted on the 'The Last of Us' page on Bookface about 3 hours ago.

A few days ago it was let loose that it was in development, now this pops up... I'm currently nursing a bit of an erectile twitch at the possibility of this.

 

[Leewilson]

I've just got a sudden urge to replay the first.

I think this could well be the most anticipated game sequel ever.

 

[Rammy]

Sequel to highly successful game shocker!

EDIT: I borrowed the first off a mate 6 months ago. I've only play about 2 hours so far...

 

[Jockney]

Naughty Dog need to take a collective pause on this one cos the original was definitely one of the better experiences I had in the last gen (tho fallouts and dark souls aside, i found the last gen a little underwhelming), but it was also pretty safe fare and felt more like a by the numbers third person cover-shooter taped on to a cinematic drama, rather than an interesting video game narrative in its own right.

First suggestion is leave Joel and Ellie alone and focus on new characters.

 

[JJ1532]

I'd agree with your summation Jockney but you could flip it around. You could argue that the gameplay was enhanced by the cinematic drama. I know that I felt a good deal of the tension with the Ellie portions of the game because of those cutscenes. You really did get a good sense of the 2 characters growing dependance on each other and the lonely desperation that came with Ellie's section.

I also found the game play pretty decent in it's own right. Especially with the crafting of weapons and gadgets. Maybe it isn't ground breaking, but I think even without the cinematic scenes, you'd still have a pretty decent video game. I mean, the craftsmanship that went into it is superb, such as the little nuances like Ellie stealing the toy only when you look away, or her making sassy comments when you stand still for a long period.

I do fully agree that they should leave the relationship between them alone. I think a good idea would be a prequel which covers the years from the initial outbreak to where we find Joel in The Last of Us. You know, have him traverse America whilst the country is falling apart. Show his really screwed up and twisted side, trying to get over the death of his daughter etc. I think that would work.

 

[Leewilson]

I would like a bit more variety of enemies in this one. You kind of knew the 4-5 concoptions that were going to come after you in this.

I agree with the above though that Joel and Ellie should be left alone. In an outbreak like that, find a new location, new characters and new reasons for dependence and survival.

 

[Gilly?]

I'd like to reprise the role of them to be honest. I'd like to see Ellie find out Joel lied to her and she runs off like a cretin then spends the game realising they need each other and then spend time trying to find their way back to each other to make sure they survive.

 

[Jockney]

I'd agree with your summation Jockney but you could flip it around. You could argue that the gameplay was enhanced by the cinematic drama. I know that I felt a good deal of the tension with the Ellie portions of the game because of those cutscenes. You really did get a good sense of the 2 characters growing dependance on each other and the lonely desperation that came with Ellie's section.

Nothing against cutscenes in principle, but environmental storytelling is almost an intrinsic part of post-apocalyptic video game settings and a lot of that felt sort of begrudging in certain sections of the original. I understand that the story was more about the characters than the world, but equally so much presented was artifice: the appearance of a world you could explore, but much of it almost feeling on-rails. I'm not against linearity in games at all, but I think TLOU often failed to find a happy medium between explorative gameplay and set-piece driven story, trying to please everyone but inadvertently watering down the experience.

Then again I have been playing Dark Souls and Bloodborne again recently -- games that let you explore everything you can see in their skybox -- so these are less pointed criticisms that spoiled my experience and more disappointed observations made with the benefit of hindsight.

I also found the game play pretty decent in it's own right. Especially with the crafting of weapons and gadgets. Maybe it isn't ground breaking, but I think even without the cinematic scenes, you'd still have a pretty decent video game. I mean, the craftsmanship that went into it is superb, such as the little nuances like Ellie stealing the toy only when you look away, or her making sassy comments when you stand still for a long period.

I think the selling point was always Joel and Ellie, but then so much of that was incidental to the actual game: try watching the cut-scene super edit movie on youtube, it has much the same effect as actually playing it from start to finish.

The gameplay is effective but not particularly inspired. Stealth mechanics, cover-shooting, third-person over the shoulder perspective and crafting systems are the bread and butter of modern triple A design and have been ever since RE4 and Gears of War. I also wasn't entirely sold on the idea of having Ellie as an ever-present companion, especially as she doesn't affect the gameplay in many meaningful ways, but mostly because the enemy AI can't detect her: which means she isn't really there, so why should I care about her in-between cut-scenes?

I do fully agree that they should leave the relationship between them alone. I think a good idea would be a prequel which covers the years from the initial outbreak to where we find Joel in The Last of Us. You know, have him traverse America whilst the country is falling apart. Show his really screwed up and twisted side, trying to get over the death of his daughter etc. I think that would work.

I think that sounds potentially interesting, but then I think that would be difficult to do after seeing Joel's arc in TLOU. He's a broken, almost kind of pathetic character by the end of the first game. Watching him go from single dad with a dead kid to grizzly, merciless bandit in a prequel could undercut a lot of his characterisation in the original, and I'm not sure how much I'd be able to invest in prequel Joel knowing that he becomes more vulnerable, or at least shows more vulnerability, and by extension becomes more interesting as a character, later on in the series.

 

[Jockney]

I'd like to reprise the role of them to be honest. I'd like to see Ellie find out Joel lied to her and she runs off like a cretin then spends the game realising they need each other and then spend time trying to find their way back to each other to make sure they survive.

You want a character to act like a cretin...?

 

[Gilly?]

You want a character to act like a cretin...?

I don't know why I said cretin to be honest. It was the first word that popped into my head.

 

[Eski Boi]

I think Joel needs to be left behind, he's took Ellie as far as he can.

Really interesting to see what Naughty Dog does with TLOU 2

 

[ZianfrancoGoal]

corridor simulator 2

 

[RavenBish]

New characters please. I liked the open ending.

However, I'd guess it's unlikely purely for the fact Ellie is the great hope for civilisation and is fairly integral...unless there's others like her.

 

[SaddlerJonny]

I feel like Last of Us is a franchise that would be better without a sequel or a spin off. They created a wonderful game with 2 memorable characters in a decent narrative... now leave it and do something else.

But if they do a sequel do it with brand new characters in a different place.