The Last of Us

Retr0gamer

It wasn't anything clever, just a single insulting word.

Potential-Monke

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It wasn't anything clever, just a single insulting word.

Ah a bit of a letdown so... Guess i need to stick to AH to get the good stuff! :pac:

CiDeRmAn

Actually, given the quality of the acting in Uncharted, The Last Of Us could be the first decent single player survival horror of this gen.
I enjoyed Left for Dead and it's sequel but, as we know, the single player is simply a training ground for the real deal online.
The Dead Rising series never floated my boat, never felt deep enough and had some game stopping bosses early on, especially that clown in the original game.
Again, we have all been lied to in trailers.
Also, I found the Uncharted titles to be unparalleled in terms of spectacle but at times there was a definite disconnect between the wonderful things Drake was doing and the handful of button presses you were inputting.
Dead Space is my current gen standard bearer for the genre, and it's as derivative as they come, but like 28 Days Later, it successfully takes tropes and re-engineers them into something enthralling.
Lets hope Naughty Dog do the same here.



Oh, not a troll!
I did announce I was taking the piss a bit at the end of the previous post, here, of mine...

Retr0gamer

Uncharted has some witty and well written dialogue and good acting but for me they haven't proven that they can write anything with emotion in it which is what a survival horror game needs to stand out. The writing in uncharted couldn't stop Nathan seeming like a sociopathic murderer sometimes so I'm not filled with confidence and they seem to be going for the Enslaved girl with 'I'm so fragile' saucer eyes as a cheap way to illicit emotional attachment. I'd like to see more in that area and hopefully my fears are proven wrong.

CiDeRmAn

Yeah, for a master of the wisecracks he sure did butcher an awful lot of russians, slavs, africans, asians, if you were an ethnic minority or a mercenary making some money for Christmas, you see Nathan coming you should drop gun and run!

So, what's the best model for this sort of game, particularly the femme in distress thang?
Could it be Resi 4? Ico? At least the Left 4 Dead female leads kicked ass, as does Chell in the Portal titles.
Are they more likely to be lazy and go the Shadows of Rome route, have stealth missions for the ladies and action scenes for the blokes?

Retr0gamer

I'd like them to be brave a write a strong female character for the girl. There's so few of them in gaming but usually when there is one they end up being my favourite character. I'd like to see a Lost Vikings dynamic with both characters having strenghts and weaknesses and complimenting each other but a little less contrived since that formula has been done to death. Some of the survival elements from the SOS Final Escape or Raw Danger games would really make this game stand out. I really don't want them going down the Ico route, excorting another weak female. It worked in Ico, it won't work in this.

WolfForager

Well if the trailer is to be believed, the girl takes out a knife as naturally as i'd take out a pen for an exam. Then begins to casually search a corpse and later on precedes to stab an infected quite violently.

Somehow i doubt she'll be a weak character.

Retr0gamer

WolfForager wrote: »

Well if the trailer is to be believed, the girl takes out a knife as naturally as i'd take out a pen for an exam. Then begins to casually search a corpse and later on precedes to stab an infected quite violently.

Somehow i doubt she'll be a weak character.

True that. Still it remains to be seen if they can write her well. She could still end up like Nathan Drake with the violent outbursts totally at odds with docile, emotional personality outside of the action sections. I think this is the game where uncharted's writer will have to prove himself.

Zero-Cool

Well didn't it look like she was born into that world as she said Nathan Joel told her that there were lots of people walking around but she can only imagine it or something? If she was born after the initial infection, i'm guessing she's used to doing whats needed for survival. Wonder if Joel will break out the old 'I think it's time to repopulate the world' line :pac:

Retr0gamer

sheehy83 wrote: »

Wonder if Joel will break out the old 'I think it's time to repopulate the world' line :pac:

I was thinking that they would do that but I'm not sure if they are brave enough to visit that territory. I'd be impressed if they did and handled it well.

WolfForager

"New videogame promotes paedophilia"

Yep, would go down well alright.

Retr0gamer

WolfForager wrote: »

"New videogame promotes paedophilia"

Yep, would go down well alright.

It's been done before. Panzer Dragoon Orta had elements of it. Haunting Ground got very disturbing at the end

you were basically running away from the ghost of your grandad who was trying to rape you

. Rule of Rose dealt with the issues of child abuse and paedophilia as well. Funnily enough those 3 games are some of the best written videogames around.

If it's handled tastfully it will work well. The added bonus would be the Daily Mail free advertising

J. Marston

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's been done before. Panzer Dragoon Orta had elements of it. Haunting Ground got very disturbing at the end

you were basically running away from the ghost of your grandad who was trying to rape you

. Rule of Rose dealt with the issues of child abuse and paedophilia as well. Funnily enough those 3 games are some of the best written videogames around.

If it's handled tastfully it will work well. The added bonus would be the Daily Mail free advertising

I think Alice: Madness Returns had a character,

Bumby, who pimped out kids.

That was a bit twisted. But it's been done in videogames, I just hope it isn't done in this one.

CiDeRmAn

Rule of Rose got itself banned in the UK and Ireland for it's trouble, and someone forgot to add a decent fighting mechanic, but then, I suppose you are not supposed to be Kratos from the get-go...
I must fire my copy up again... Just as soon as Dark Souls lets me go and play something else...

WolfForager

There's a big difference between Japanese and game seen as Indy by the general public in comparison to a AAA western tittle though. Sony will more than likely be pushing this as their 2012 blockbuster.

Retr0gamer

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Rule of Rose got itself banned in the UK and Ireland for it's trouble, and someone forgot to add a decent fighting mechanic, but then, I suppose you are not supposed to be Kratos from the get-go...
I must fire my copy up again... Just as soon as Dark Souls lets me go and play something else...

It actually wasn't banned at all. the publisher just refused to release it. The game was rated as 15's for release. It also wasn't for the paedophilia it was to do with sexuality between children or some other such nonsense, the BBFC even came out and said that this wasn't in the game at all. The publisher just decided to refused to release it in the UK so it wouldn't court anymore unwanted bad press and it therefore never got distributed in Irealnd.

Retr0gamer

WolfForager wrote: »

There's a big difference between Japanese and game seen as Indy by the general public in comparison to a AAA western tittle though. Sony will more than likely be pushing this as their 2012 blockbuster.

Rule of Rose was a big Sony backed title that gave them cold feet about releasing it in the West

I'd really like to see them explore some darker themes. I'll be very disappointed if they play it safe but as you said it's being pushed as a blockbuster so more than likely will play it safe.

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd really like to see them explore some darker themes..

There you have it folks, Retr0 wants more games about sexy kids

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It actually wasn't banned at all. the publisher just refused to release it. The game was rated as 15's for release. It also wasn't for the paedophilia it was to do with sexuality between children or some other such nonsense, the BBFC even came out and said that this wasn't in the game at all. The publisher just decided to refused to release it in the UK so it wouldn't court anymore unwanted bad press and it therefore never got distributed in Irealnd.

My bad...

I had to order my copy from France and so the manual, while lovely, is all in, well, french.
On a brighter note the game itself is the finished PAL version and so is all in english.
Only makes it slightly easier to understand.
Amazing to look at, there really haven't been such chances taken in this console generation at all.
Even though I reckon the 360 is this gens PS2 the 360 has had few risks taken in development, compared to the PS2.
I mean not just with Rule of Rose and the like, there was the experimental SCAR racing title featuring Alfa Romeo cars amongst others, games willing to take a chance on the atypical.
No, I suppose, given the cost of development, they have plumbed for the safe options again and again.
And the likes of the 360 doesn't even have a home territories Japanese dev base to produce things of interest, beyond some pretty good conversions of shooter classics by Cave and others.

Retr0gamer

The PS3 doesn't have much Japanese development either. the West has taken over on the consoles.

richymcdermott

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The PS3 doesn't have much Japanese development either. the West has taken over on the consoles.

Agreed , nintendo bout all thats left...

But japanesse gaming is dead im afraid or they just moved on to handheld and mobile market

gizmo

Lies! We still have a bunch of Japanese titles to look forward to in 2012.

Platinum - Anarchy Reigns, MGR:Revengeance
Team Ninja - Ninja Gaiden 3
Level 5 - Ni no Kuni
Capcom - Asura's Wrath and Dragon's Dogma
Yakuza Studio - Binary Domain
Grasshopper Manufacture - Lollipop Chainsaw
Team Ico - The Last Guardian

Retr0gamer

Out of those:

Ninja Gaiden 3 looks terrible
Ni No Kuni was a big flop in japan
Asura's Wrath is actually Cyberconnect2, a fantastic developer but one struggling to get funds. Capcom have gone down the ****ter.

Platinum and Level 5 are the only ones that are doing well and Level 5 are predominately handheld based.

Hopefully we see some more home console development when they move to Vita.

gizmo

Oh, I was more commenting on the actual games coming out rather than the health of the studios.

Shush you about NG3, I haven't seen any videos of a tacked on multiplayer mode. No sir, not a one.

As for Ni No Kuni, all I saw was the great Famitsu review but never any sales figures. I'm kinda surprised given that it looks so mind boggling beautiful and has the Studio Ghibli brand alongside it.

With regard to Capcom, I genuinely don't understand the hate for them that I've seen bandied around.

Oh oh oh, and Devils Third from Itagaki-helmed Valhalla Studios. Probably more excited about that than NG3 due to the aforementioned sun-glasses wearing designer.

Zero-Cool

The gaming liberty will have the first in game screen shots at 10pm

WolfForager

Brace yourself for in-game screens!

Helix

cant get excited about this game at all

danthefan

If it's a big long escort mission I'm definitely not buying it.

WolfForager

danthefan wrote: »

If it's a big long escort mission I'm definitely not buying it.

It's not.

mystic86

Looking at the first screenshot, Cincinnati is gonna be a location in the game...

Source/Reason: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3258/3248464857_2148d348d1_z.jpg?zz=1