you guys need to read the full article

"And that's because he'd rather talk about story. And not just any old story, but one Druckmann wants to "change the f***ing industry" with - "because we feel like storytelling is so poor right now". Aside from the all too few likes of Valve, Irrational and Rockstar, it's hard to disagree.

He continues: "We try so hard at Naughty Dog to push things and then games come out that are fun and exciting and get visceral things right, but to read in reviews that they have an amazing story is disheartening to us because we work so hard at it."

Take the majority of games with a post-apocalyptic setting. "In any other medium it's all about the characters. [We want you to] care so when horrible things happen you feel something. That's what Naughty Dog can bring to the genre and really own it: every decision we make is about the characters and their relationship".

That explains the choice of composer, two-time Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla, whose credits include Brokeback Mountain and Babel. "With this music we're trying to get emotion - we're not going for horror," says Druckmann.

"We approached this genre because we felt no-one is getting to the heart of it. [The Last of Us] tells you something about the human condition - that's what you want to do as a storyteller."

With that in mind, imagine the shockwaves that reverberated around the Naughty Dog office when they saw that Dead Island trailer.

"We saw it and we thought, wait a minute, someone else is doing this - it's really moving, there's this family that's been torn apart," says Druckmann. But, as we now know, it bore little relation to the finished article.

"You saw the game and it wasn't that," he adds. "I'm not saying whether it was a good or bad game, but it wasn't that. And we feel our trailer is very representative of what we're going for." Not least because the footage is all in-engine.

With a bloody corpse, a brutal murder, a bullet to the face and a knife to the back of an infected human in the trailer alone, The Last of Us is set to be Naughty Dog's most violent game yet. But Druckmann insists it will not be "gratuitous - the monsters are not the focus. It's the relationship between Joel and Ellie."

So if not a horror game, what is it? "This is going to sound corny and it might not appeal to gamers, but I would say it's a love story," he says. "It's not a romantic love story, it's a love story about a father-daughter-like relationship."


People are interpreting this in a way far from what ND is saying.

Poor choice of words, yes, but I agree with the overall idea. Game reviewers don't give nearly enough attention to story. As far as many are concerned, as long as the story is "good enough," it's on par with the story found every other game. This categorization of stories into either "good" or "bad" must be frustrating to studios who do spend considerable time and effort to craft their stories and perfect their storytelling.

SpartenOmega117 said: I see you jacked this thread from GAf?

What part of "I came across this on Gaf" did you not get?

Nsanity said: SpartenOmega117 said: I see you jacked this thread from GAf? Whart part of "I came acorss this on Gaf" did you not get?

haha my bad I didn't read the full OP. I just saw the title and remembered it on GAF. Im gonna go shoot myself in the foot now

SpartenOmega117 said: you guys need to read the full article "And that's because he'd rather talk about story. And not just any old story, but one Druckmann wants to "change the f***ing industry" with - "because we feel like storytelling is so poor right now". Aside from the all too few likes of Valve, Irrational and Rockstar, it's hard to disagree. He continues: "We try so hard at Naughty Dog to push things and then games come out that are fun and exciting and get visceral things right, but to read in reviews that they have an amazing story is disheartening to us because we work so hard at it." Take the majority of games with a post-apocalyptic setting. "In any other medium it's all about the characters. [We want you to] care so when horrible things happen you feel something. That's what Naughty Dog can bring to the genre and really own it: every decision we make is about the characters and their relationship". That explains the choice of composer, two-time Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla, whose credits include Brokeback Mountain and Babel. "With this music we're trying to get emotion - we're not going for horror," says Druckmann. "We approached this genre because we felt no-one is getting to the heart of it. [The Last of Us] tells you something about the human condition - that's what you want to do as a storyteller." With that in mind, imagine the shockwaves that reverberated around the Naughty Dog office when they saw that Dead Island trailer. "We saw it and we thought, wait a minute, someone else is doing this - it's really moving, there's this family that's been torn apart," says Druckmann. But, as we now know, it bore little relation to the finished article. "You saw the game and it wasn't that," he adds. "I'm not saying whether it was a good or bad game, but it wasn't that. And we feel our trailer is very representative of what we're going for." Not least because the footage is all in-engine. With a bloody corpse, a brutal murder, a bullet to the face and a knife to the back of an infected human in the trailer alone, The Last of Us is set to be Naughty Dog's most violent game yet. But Druckmann insists it will not be "gratuitous - the monsters are not the focus. It's the relationship between Joel and Ellie." So if not a horror game, what is it? "This is going to sound corny and it might not appeal to gamers, but I would say it's a love story," he says. "It's not a romantic love story, it's a love story about a father-daughter-like relationship." People are interpreting this in a way far from what ND is saying.

Thank you for doing what the OP would not. Selectively taking quotes out of context is highly misleading. The meaning behind their words changes with the context. 

This undoubtedly makes by far the most sense, gramatically and logically.

"And that's because he'd rather talk about story. And not just any old story, but one Druckmann wants to "change the f***ing industry" with - "because we feel like storytelling is so poor right now". Aside from the all too few likes of Valve, Irrational and Rockstar, it's hard to disagree.

He continues: "We try so hard at Naughty Dog to push things and then [the] games come out that are fun and exciting and get visceral things right, but to read in reviews that they have [DONT] an amazing story is disheartening to us because we work so hard at it."

 

They wouldnt just jump to saying the storytelling in games is so poor all of a sudden to say they are disheartened that there are games with amazing stories.

EDIT: Everything seems to be telling me that this is a typo.

Normally i'd call on a translational error, though that would be hard to do here, unless the guy was just trying to set up a double negative or something that went over poorly

taken out of context...and old news
they said these things at the very beginning as well when TLOU was revealed..they are by no means referring to all games. Heck they make sure to let everyone know what other games they are playing and enjoying all the time..for example right before the xmas break for the UC3 team..they all mentioned the games they were gonna play on their website..and the games ranged from zelda to gears iirc

teigaga said: I absolutely agree with him. Video game stories are generally of a horrible standard and have a far way to go. It doesn't help, when overly kind reviewers praise a narrative purely because it manages to make sense lol. I haven't played uncharted 3 but uncharted 2 story was decent, but it was told brilliantly. More games need to step up to the standard!

It's a Video game though. Silly ppl tend to want to compare Video game stories to movies and books, media focused on just that.. telling stories. for Video games the stories we get are fine for this type of media so it is ok that reviewers are pass lesser quality stories compared to Uncharted. Stories in Video game should aim to be one thing... entertaining... regardless of mood... this oscar worthy/ 5 Star book stuff doesn't belong here. Video games are not the right media for that, its annoying to see ND pioneering this type of behavior.

Xxain said: teigaga said: I absolutely agree with him. Video game stories are generally of a horrible standard and have a far way to go. It doesn't help, when overly kind reviewers praise a narrative purely because it manages to make sense lol. I haven't played uncharted 3 but uncharted 2 story was decent, but it was told brilliantly. More games need to step up to the standard! It's a Video game though. Silly ppl tend to want to compare Video game stories to movies and books, media focused on just that.. telling stories. for Video games the stories we get are fine for this type of media so it is ok that reviewers are pass lesser quality stories compared to Uncharted. Stories in Video game should aim to be one thing... entertaining... regardless of mood... this oscar worthy/ 5 Star book stuff doesn't belong here. Video games are not the right media for that, its annoying to see ND pioneering this type of behavior.

isn't that a really narrow way of thinking? if the stories are mediocre why settle for it? why not point it out? A great story will only enhance the experience. Not all games would require this..for example Vanquish..despite the saw that coming from miles away story ..it was enjoyable..but if it had a better story it would have been a masterpeice. Cheap and simple entertainment from books and movies/tv shows exist too but it doesn't mean those industries as a whole should accept that to be 'acceptable' norm. So I completely disagree with you with your statement, tho I agree it all comes down to personal preference and what a gamer would desire from this hobby

And... they just had to slip over a banana and make a retarded statement somewhere didn't they. :/

It's not like the Uncharted games are masterpieces of story telling, so whoever the guy was that said that, is an idiot.

In other words:

More time trying to make TLoU awesome, less time making dumb statements.