The Last of Us Part 2 - Now updated for PS5 for at 60fps

[JohnnyNolan]

I absolutely adored TLoU, so I'm delighted to hear that this is in development. I'm another who ranks the original as one the my favourite games.

[Pob]

9 minutes ago, angel said:

 

That Ellie will want to take revenge on them? That much is clear from the trailer.

Yeah but why does she want to take revenge on them?

[angel]

13 minutes ago, Pob said:

Yeah but why does she want to take revenge on them?

 

I think she won't appreciate how they acted with joel, and he's not going to tell the story from their perspective, it'll be weighted to his point of view. Also, maybe they've started doing something else since their base was stormed, maybe a new leader is using the firefly name as a cover for being basically organised criminals.

[PaB]

The sole purpose of the firefly symbol was to send people nuts at the beginning of the trailer. I wouldn't read anything into it at all. As for Ellie wanting to kill every last one of them, again she could be talking about a group we don't know about yet.....

 

 

.....But its probably the fireflies.

 

[angel]

4 minutes ago, Captain LeChuck said:

How? Those dead people in that house could be anyone, the firefly symbol on the sign is, to me, an obvious red herring. 

 

I disagree, ND play these things straight. Joel isnt a ghost, it was just a dramatic entrance and symbolises he's not the protagonist now. Similarly, a Firefly sign outside of an outpost now full of dead Firefiles and Elle talking about killing all of the Fireflies is exactly that.

[angel]

4 minutes ago, PeteBrant said:

The sole purpose of the firefly symbol was to send people nuts at the beginning of the trailer. I wouldn't read anything into it at all. As for Ellie wanting to kill every last one of them, again she could be talking about a group we don't know about yet.....

 

 

.....But its probably the fireflies.

 

 

That's just trailer choreography, handy for shock value at the start, but it's the FF symbol on a sign outside a house full of dead FFs.

 

The revelations and twists aren't here in this trailer, there arent any huge secret codes to decipher here, ND don't do that. This is just the teaser, the setup...the nuance and twists will come down the line in the main game. Right now it's just TLOU pt 2, Ellie taking over as the protagonist, Joel now in the back seat, and she's hunting Fireflies. No more than that.

[barkbat]

Having seen the PSX talk it's clear from what Troy Baker says that it's Joel in the trailer, not Tommy. I think launch trailers like this are incredibly carefully staged and loaded with meanings, and it IS a pretty big deal we don't see Joel's face.

 

There were a few other nuggets in the talk - Ashley Johnson was very cagey around the reasons for Ellie's hand shaking and use of music - this are clearly key themes in the new story - and it was interesting that Troy Baker brought up the scene in the first where Ellie tells Joel that everyone has left her except him.

 

I know this is going to get a bad reaction here, but I think the trailer is visually telling us very literal things. We start on a dark forest - traditionally a place of lurking evil. Evil is emerging. The firefly symbol is on a stop sign - ie. the mission here is to STOP the fireflies. Joel in the trailer foregrounded by a bloodied right hand - he is Ellie's right-hand man and now he is dead. He appears during the music - Ellie uses the guitar to feel close to Joel. Her hand shakes because she has had a mental breakdown. I think Joel is not a ghost now, but a hallucination of a girl struggling with mental illness and who is hanging on through a fantasized relationship with the one man who never left her. And then fireflies return and ruin her idol and guardian and she has nothing left but hatred.

[HarryBizzle]

19 minutes ago, Captain LeChuck said:

How? Those dead people in that house could be anyone, the firefly symbol on the sign is, to me, an obvious red herring. 

 

Exactly. There were Firefly signs plastered all over the first game, including in the city. Having their sign on a stop sign nearby doesn't make it a Firefly house.

[Down by Law]

The game's really hard on survival and you have to be very mindful of what you craft as supplies are so limited. Enemy encounters are really tough and even fistfights are deadly. It's an awesome experience that take a lot of skill to complete. It's very much a videogame in that sense.

 

---

 

 

regarding TLOU2, my bet is that Joel will be playable near the start and end up getting horrifically murdered at some point by either hunters or fireflies. That's Ellies revenge motivation right there.

[mogawoods]

25 minutes ago, sir shrew said:

 

The combat and stealth system in TLOU is far superior to it's peers. You accuse it of being passively cinematic - TLOU absolutely doesn't rely on cut scenes to deliver it's story. Some of the most cinematic set pieces occur whilst the player is in control. The pacing is far more intelligent than any other game I've played - it's not afraid to give the player downtime. It's on par with Resi Evil 4.

 

Did you seriously just slam TLOU whilst proposing Dark Souls as the greatest game of all-time? Puh-lease. 

 

No no, of course not. I didn't mean to suggest any of those games were the greatest of all time. I was thinking of examples of how gradually learning and eventually mastering a game's mechanics can be rewarding in a way that is unique to gaming (as opposed to enjoying a cinematic story or thrilling action sequence, which is not).

 

[angel]

8 minutes ago, HarryBizzle said:

 

Exactly. There were Firefly signs plastered all over the first game, including in the city. Having their sign on a stop sign nearby doesn't make it a Firefly house.

 

Shes sitting playing a found guitar in a house marked with a firefly symbol full of people they've just killed and talks about killing all the fireflies. I bet you a peak freens assorted cracker selection that this was a firefly house.

[angel]

6 minutes ago, Down by Law said:

The game's really hard on survival and you have to be very mindful of what you craft as supplies are so limited. Enemy encounters are really tough and even fistfights are deadly. It's an awesome experience that take a lot of skill to complete. It's very much a videogame in that sense.

 

---

 

 

regarding TLOU2, my bet is that Joel will be playable near the start and end up getting horrifically murdered at some point by either hunters or fireflies. That's Ellies revenge motivation right there.

 

I think Joel and Ellie survive the whole of TLOU2, saying this here now.

[angel]

Just now, sir shrew said:

 

Cool, cool.

 

I think TLOU fits with the above perfectly. It had a sandbox approach to combat. Stealth that actually worked and was enjoyable.

 

 

 

as long as you ignore Ellie wandering into clear sight of the enemies, but I could accept them doing it for gameplay terms..it just looked silly.

[PaB]

6 minutes ago, ann coulter said:

 

No no, of course not. I didn't mean to suggest any of those games were the greatest of all time. I was thinking of examples of how gradually learning and eventually mastering a game's mechanics can be rewarding in a way that is unique to gaming (as opposed to enjoying a cinematic story or thrilling action sequence, which is not).

 

To be fair, the act of playing a videogame, regardless of mechanics, is pretty unique to videogames. There are 101 elements to games and to just pick out mastering a skill as unique reward in gaming is not true. It's no different, in terms of the feeling you get to, say, mastering a particularly difficult guitar solo, or skateboarding trick.

 

 

An Achievement is an achievement. It's not unique to any one single medium

[HarryBizzle]

5 minutes ago, angel said:

 

Shes sitting playing a found guitar in a house marked with a firefly symbol full of people they've just killed and talks about killing all the fireflies. I bet you a peak freens assorted cracker selection that this was a firefly house.

 

She doesn't talk about killing all the fireflies, she says she's going to kill all of "them."

[angel]

Yeah, the fireflies.  She says it in a firefly base surrounded by dead fireflies. Who else?

 

That's just naturalistic dialogue. She'd not say "I have decided to kill all of the fireflies". Joel knows who she means, so do we.

[mogawoods]

2 minutes ago, PeteBrant said:

To be fair, the act of playing a videogame, regardless of mechanics, is pretty unique to videogames. There are 101 elements to games and to just pick out mastering a skill as unique reward in gaming is not true. It's no different, in terms of the feeling you get to, say, mastering a particularly difficult guitar solo, or skateboarding trick.

 

I think as a consumable form of entertainment/art, it is pretty unique, actually. Almost every other form is passive, unless you're creating/performing it.

[JoeK]

1 minute ago, angel said:

Yeah, the fireflies.  She says it in a firefly base surrounded by dead fireflies. Who else?

 

I think it could be the case that she's entered the firefly home, discovered the dead body and is now fucking about with the guitar and getting pretty angry and wanting to kill the folk who did it.

[PaB]

5 minutes ago, ann coulter said:

 

I think as a consumable form of entertainment/art, it is pretty unique, actually. Almost every other form is passive, unless you're creating/performing it.

You miss my point, Yes videogames are unique. Mastering a skill is not. The element of Dark Souls et al in beating a boss etc, is simply mastering a skill; once you know how to do it, you get the sense of achievement and subsequently you can do it regularly.

 

You commented that learning an mastering games mechanics give a reward unique to gaming. This is not unique to videogames. There are several ways in which videogames are unique, but  a sense of achievement is not one of them.

[angel]

4 minutes ago, JoeK said:

 

I think it could be the case that she's entered the firefly home, discovered the dead body and is now fucking about with the guitar and getting pretty angry and wanting to kill the folk who did it.

 

Feasible, but I just can't see her being a fan of the Fireflies, I still think she's going after them.

[mogawoods]

12 minutes ago, PeteBrant said:

You miss my point, Yes videogames are unique. Mastering a skill is not. The element of Dark Souls et al in beating a boss etc, is simply mastering a skill; once you know how to do it, you get the sense of achievement and subsequently you can do it regularly.

 

You commented that learning an mastering games mechanics give a reward unique to gaming. This is not unique to videogames. There are several ways in which videogames are unique, but  a sense of achievement is not one of them.

 

I thought it was fairly clear I was discussing the interactive merits of gaming compared to other media, specifically film. Not too surprisingly, I do understand it's possible to get a sense of achievement from activities outside of the consumption of entertainment and art forms. I imagine, for example, a far greater sense of achievement is to be had from climbing Everest or researching a new dementia treatment than from severing Lagiacrus's tail. I'm not entirely sure why you're pointing this out though, no.

[PaB]

6 minutes ago, ann coulter said:

. I'm not entirely sure why you're pointing this out though, no.

Because

I was thinking of examples of how gradually learning and eventually mastering a game's mechanics can be rewarding in a way that is unique to gaming

 

it isn't unique

 

 

[HarryBizzle]

30 minutes ago, angel said:

Yeah, the fireflies.  She says it in a firefly base surrounded by dead fireflies. Who else?

 

It doesn't look like a firefly base to me. It just looks like an abandoned house, the setting of a violent confrontation between whoever those people are and Ellie. Same as in the first game - you came across countless houses like that. 

 

Nothing in that house makes me think anyone has been actually living there, and from the first game, every house or location someone inhabits for a period of time, they defend/build something around. 

 

 

You could be right though. 

 

 

Also why does Ellie have a tattoo now? Tattoos are gross. 

[mogawoods]

2 minutes ago, PeteBrant said:

Because

 

 

 

it isn't unique

 

 

 

Oh right. So you were just being pedantic. If you sincerely thought I was implying that a sense of active achievement in life was only possible when playing a video game, rather than in comparison to consuming other art forms, I apologise for my inarticulacy.

[PaB]

44 minutes ago, ann coulter said:

 

. If you sincerely thought I was implying that a sense of active achievement in life was only possible when playing a video game, rather than in comparison to consuming other art forms, I apologise for my inarticulacy.

That tends to be what "unique" means, yeah.

[Radish]

Couple of interesting things that I don't think have been posted here yet:

 

Quote

The trailer seen today was filmed a year and a half ago, but was written at least two years ago. Sony and Naughty Dog have been sitting on it for a long time, debating about when's the best time to show it. Many wanted to reveal it at E3 for as much publicity as possible, but Druckmann wanted to reveal it at PlayStation Experience because he knows this is where the most hardcore fans are and he wanted to give them a nice treat.

 

Quote

Halley's my kickass co-writer. Can't wait to share more of the story with y'all. Spoiler alert: it's intense. #TheLastOfUsPartII

 

Halley Gross wrote 4 episodes of Westworld. I believe the trailer being filmed a year and a half ago was mentioned during a panel at PSX. 

[Liamness]

8 hours ago, ann coulter said:

Between set pieces, you mean? That's true, I hadn't thought much about the dialogue between them as you play, which is something the Uncharteds do well too, but again, it's cinema. An actual script, written by a scriptwriter, performed by actors. Unless you mean something else.

 

Hmm. I'm not sure what you want from it? The conversations are great and I would argue that they way they're woven into gameplay makes then quite distinct from cinema? Films may well make use of dialogue and captured animations in much the same way that TLoU does but what makes it different here is the way they're woven in with environmental storytelling and the game mechanics themselves. It couldn't be further from being a collection of cinematics sewn end to end.

[barkbat]

6 hours ago, HarryBizzle said:

Also why does Ellie have a tattoo now? Tattoos are gross. 

It covers her healed infected wound that marks her out as 'the one' - shows her trying to make a normal life beyond that identity.

[Talk Show Host]

1 minute ago, barkbat said:

It covers her healed infected wound that marks her out as 'the one' - shows her trying to make a normal life beyond that identity.

 

Get some rep for this fine post.

[barkbat]

6 hours ago, Down by Law said:

Regarding TLOU2, my bet is that Joel will be playable near the start and end up getting horrifically murdered at some point by either hunters or fireflies. That's Ellies revenge motivation right there.

That would echo with the first game wonderfully, what with Sarah being the intial playable character, and then her sudden murder mentally destroying the 'real' playable character Joel.