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archbrix 2 days ago
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pikashoe said:
Manlytears said:

I believe their cancelled GaaS project really took a heavy toll on their production pace; at the very least, it set Intergalactic back by about three years.

As for the gameplay and writing, I disagree. I think the story in The Last of Us Part II is excellent—innovative and bold. Yes, it’s divisive, but it’s a powerful story with moments that pack a real punch. The gameplay doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, because it doesn't need to... they simply refined the experience and created something that fits the game's themes. I like it, though I admit it isn't absolutely mind-blowing.

And regarding the reliance on sequels... The Last of Us only has two main games and the DLC covering Ellie's childhood. It’s not like they’re churning out [Insert Name Here] 9 or The Grand Odyssey or The Adventures of Joel, for +30 years and counting. (lol)

They worked on Crash, moved on to Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us, and now Intergalactic—a new title with a completely different theme! Respectfully, I don't think your claim holds water.

All being considered...I believe that, despite the delays caused by the cancelled project, Naughty Dog still holds a top-tier spot among the world's best studios.

The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part II—that’s an enviable track record.

In my book, they’ve earned enough goodwill to go over six years without releasing a new game; their situation is understandable, and it doesn't negatively impact their reputation.

I'm not sure why you are only mentioning Naughty Dog, when your original comment was about playstation as a whole. Sony has relied a lot more heavily on pretty bland sequels this gen. Gow Ragnarok, spider man 2, horizon forbidden west, ghost of yotei. These are all mostly ok games, but it does feel a lot more iterative and safe than what they were doing ps3/ps4 games.

I could write a thesis on the issues with the last of us part 2. Which is unfortunate the game had a lot of potential and a lot of the ideas could have worked. But unfortunately the game ended up feeling overstuffed and many aspects felt under developed or rushed. Also the story has such a painful over reliance on contrived writing and coincidence to keep the plot going, to a level that just becomes comical at time. Like when Ellie drops a map with the hideouts location circled on the ground in the aquarium, a moment that made me facepalm with how clunky it was, like something from a cheap B movie. The game is littered we these kinds of issues. I guess it comes down to how easily a person can ignore this type of writing.

The story at it's core isn't really anything special, just a basic cycle of revenge story that shows things from the perspective of the other character. If you've read many books, watched much TV, or seen some of the great films this really isn't anything particularly mind blowing. I'm glad you enjoy the game. But for me it unfortunately missed the mark on so many occasions.

Yeah, The Last of Us 2's story was terrible in my opinion.  It read like bad fan fiction.  A shame too, since I hold the first game in very high regards in that area.

As far as Sony being the maestro when it comes to these daring, unconventional things with stories and gameplay, I've seen the exact opposite criticism when it comes to Wolverine, being way too by-the-numbers especially where the gameplay is concerned.  Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2 are also good examples of this.  Not that that's necessarily a bad thing; the Uncharted games are quite iterative of each other and I love that.  Plenty of Nintendo's games also follow a similar pattern. Sometimes, if it's not broke, don't fix it is the proper mantra but the point being that nobody is exempt from complacency, not even Sony.

Regarding Intergalactic, we just haven't seen anything yet to judge whether or not the game itself will be good, but based on the little we have seen it's just not interesting to me at all.  It's a bit disheartening that the first new ND game we get after so long would be something I'm not looking forward to.