The Last of Us Part II (Part Deux?) reveal trailer

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,568
4,371
118
The Playstation Experience just ended, and the final trailer was the reveal ofThe Last of Us part II.


We all kinda knew it was coming, seeing as TLoU was a huge hit, and with Naughty Dog having laid Uncharted to rest (apart from the story DLC, which was also just revealed) this is their only sure-fire franchise.

I'm also sure most people expected Ellie and probably Joel to return. For as much as people have claimed this universe could have other stories to tell, it's these two characters that formed the heart of the game. And they're likely never going to find an onscreen duo with as much chemistry.

It seems my most optimistic predictions have come true, in that we're probably going to control an older Ellie, with Joel likely as the companion character. It would be a catastrophic mistake should we play as Joel again with Ellie tagging along. Joel's story is after all done, while Ellie's still has places to go.

Be that as it may, I'm filled more with a sense of 'Oh dear, how are they gonna mess this up?' than I am with 'Wow, I can't wait to see what happens next.' So yeah... anxious.
 

tippy2k2

Beloved Tyrant
Legacy
Mar 15, 2008
14,316
1,492
118
I've made it no secret that The Last of Us was my favorite game of last generation (possibly my favorite game period).

That being said, I'm not so sure about this. Last of Us was a pretty self-contained story that doesn't seem like it really needs more added to it. We loved, we laughed, we cried; all of the emotions you can have.

Now with that being said, I'm cautiously optimistic anyway. With many other studios, I'd turn that into cautious pessimism but Naughty Dog has proven itself plenty to me that if there is another story to be told, they can handle it. I'm not sure where the story is going to go (that trailer didn't exactly give us a ton of story information; Fireflies or a Firefly-like entity pissed off Ellie?) but I'll trust in Naughty Dog here. Although now I guess I gotta get me a PS4...
 

Fappy

\[T]/
Jan 4, 2010
12,010
0
41
Country
United States
I like the theory that Joel is dead and this was a figment of Ellie's imagination in the trailer. She could be out to avenge him.
 

Fox12

AccursedT- see you space cowboy
Jun 6, 2013
4,828
0
0
Hoo boy, I hope they don't mess this up. The last few games I played were a massive let down. Mass Effect 3, Dark Souls 3, and now FF15. Please don't screw this up Naughty Dog.
 

SlumlordThanatos

Lord Inquisitor
Aug 25, 2014
724
0
0
Fox12 said:
Hoo boy, I hope they don't mess this up. The last few games I played were a massive let down. Mass Effect 3, Dark Souls 3, and now FF15. Please don't screw this up Naughty Dog.
This might be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off-topic, but how was DS3 a letdown?

I've already put more time into that game than 1, 2, and Bloodborne combined.

OT: I'm gonna go at this with a wait-and-see attitude. Naughty Dog has been putting out nothing but solid gold recently, so I'm interested to see where this goes. That being said, I've mentioned before that The Last Of Us was pretty much perfect the way it is. A sequel would only take away from the original no matter how good it is.

Some stories don't need sequels, and The Last Of Us was one of them.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,568
4,371
118
Fappy said:
I like the theory that Joel is dead and this was a figment of Ellie's imagination in the trailer. She could be out to avenge him.
That'd actually be pretty interesting. Because it seems Ellie just killed a bunch of humans in that house, and then there's the Firefly logo at the start. Maybe the surviving Fireflies from Saint Mary's tracked Joel down to Tommy's settlement a few year later, killed him, and now Ellie's out for revenge. But then that would indicate she doesn't know what he did. And one of the great things about the ending of the first game is that it leaves it kind of vague whether Ellie believes Joel or not.

It's also worth noting that you never see Joel's face in this trailer. You only see him from the back and hear his voice.

Also notice how they incorperated a bit of Tess in Ellie's new design.
nomotog said:
So the big question, do we play as Ellie now?
Considering Ellie is a fan favourite, she's now seemingly an adult, and we've already played as Joel, it'd be stupid of Naughty Dog if we didn't get to. I found Ellie one of the weaker characters in the first game, because we never got to peak inside her head. By making her the protagonist we might finally be able to.
 

bartholen_v1legacy

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
Jan 24, 2009
3,056
0
0
SlumlordThanatos said:
Fox12 said:
Hoo boy, I hope they don't mess this up. The last few games I played were a massive let down. Mass Effect 3, Dark Souls 3, and now FF15. Please don't screw this up Naughty Dog.
This might be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off-topic, but how was DS3 a letdown?
Overreliance on callbacks and references to DS1 instead of having original lore, the most linear structure in the entire series, dull visual design, gameplay tweaks screw over previously viable builds and make each character feel exactly the same, unbalanced mechanics (estoc and dark sword, ahem) while removing some where DS2 did better (powerstancing, rolling speed), and an absence of challenge for seasoned players. And an insultingly short DLC that fixed none of the aforementioned problems to boot.

OT: The most aggressively unnecessary sequel in gaming history since Bioshock 2? Perhaps. But at least this way the first game can still stand completely on its own if the second turns out to be a pile of shit. Though since we're talking about a sequel to one of the most acclaimed games of all time, saying that entails the necessary asterisk of being shit only when compared to its predecessor. In general I'm absolutely certain the game will turn out at least good.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

Bound to escape
Legacy
Jul 15, 2013
4,953
6
13
I hope they do continue the good work, am interested in whether there'll be new monster designs as some can be quite horrific with the whole fungal body mutations. Coincidentally just redownloaded the first game before seeing this today due to a random craving. There is also some Uncharted 4 story DLC involving a particular person at the end of the fourth game, right about here;

 

SlumlordThanatos

Lord Inquisitor
Aug 25, 2014
724
0
0
bartholen said:
SlumlordThanatos said:
Fox12 said:
Hoo boy, I hope they don't mess this up. The last few games I played were a massive let down. Mass Effect 3, Dark Souls 3, and now FF15. Please don't screw this up Naughty Dog.
This might be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off-topic, but how was DS3 a letdown?
snip
I'll cut Ashes of Andariel some slack; it focused more on the PvP aspect of the game anyway, and the final boss fight was epic.

Speaking of which, I don't have Playstation Plus, so I play offline. I never liked the online aspect anyway; I just wanna be left alone to punch dragons in peace without being ganked by xX_ShadowSlaya420_Xx every time I walk through Farron Keep.

None of the Souls games have managed to quite capture the magic of the original, but I think I just like it because it's laid out like Demon's Souls.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,568
4,371
118
Xsjadoblayde said:
There is also some Uncharted 4 story DLC involving a particular person at the end of the fourth game, right about here;

That was actually a bigger surprise to me. Not that it was coming -- because I had heard of story DLC being in the making -- but who it's starring. I figured they might do Sam and Sully or whatever. I never thought they'd bring Chloe back. And I'm rather intrigued to watch her partner up with Nadine, seeing as one of them had a fling with Drake while the other tried to kill him. Should make for some entertaining banter at least.
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
13,769
5
43


Oh. Hell. Fucking. Yes.

And that right there was the exact moment Sony guaranteed themselves a PS4 sale.

...

Naughty Dog, I have faith, but, Christ almighty, if you fuck this up... I will find you. I will find where you sleep. Then I shall type longwinded and thoroughly unflattering comments on the internet. I mean it.
 

Fox12

AccursedT- see you space cowboy
Jun 6, 2013
4,828
0
0
SlumlordThanatos said:
Fox12 said:
Hoo boy, I hope they don't mess this up. The last few games I played were a massive let down. Mass Effect 3, Dark Souls 3, and now FF15. Please don't screw this up Naughty Dog.
This might be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off-topic, but how was DS3 a letdown?

I've already put more time into that game than 1, 2, and Bloodborne combined.

OT: I'm gonna go at this with a wait-and-see attitude. Naughty Dog has been putting out nothing but solid gold recently, so I'm interested to see where this goes. That being said, I've mentioned before that The Last Of Us was pretty much perfect the way it is. A sequel would only take away from the original no matter how good it is.

Some stories don't need sequels, and The Last Of Us was one of them.
Well, if you really want my two cents...

The plot: The plot largely repeated what had already been done in previous games. This would be less of an issue in other games, but in a game that centers around the end of the world, it's a major negative. How many times can we repeat that trope in a series? And it's not just the central conflict, it's everything. Instead of leveling up and saving at a bonfire, we have to level up with yet another bonfire maiden. We have yet another crestfallen warrior. And yet another Caterina knight. And another Patches. This is cute in a series like Final Fantasy, where you have a Cid in every title , but it's gotten to the point where most of the game feels like a flimsier repeat of old titles. There's just too much fanservice, and a lot of it doesn't actually make sense.

The lore: this is tied to story, I suppose. The third game contradicted a lot of information in the first game. Why was Gwyndolin in this game when I killed him in DS1? Yes, he was an optional fight, but in a game where player choice and exploration is so important, I don't understand why they would do this. The same holds true for your decision in the final game. You can argue that this is normal for video games, but Dark Souls is a little different. The themes of choice are more important in that game. However, at least you can hand wave those decisions by saying their optional. Why was Ornstein found dead in the Dragon area, for instance? We killed him in Anor Londo along with Smaugh. That wasn't optional, it was required. I've heard theories that O&S were just illusions created by Geynevere, but I haven't seen any evidence to support this. Furthermore, it's contradicted by DS3 itself. DS3 says that Smough stayed behind, and was the last protector of Anor Londo. So was Ornstein an illusion, and Smough was real? And if that's the case, then why did we get Ornsteins soul in DS1? We wouldn't have gotten that if he was an illusion. Remember, Gwynevere was an illusion, and if you kill her, you don't get a soul. Furthermore, her illusion was broken by a single attack. This tells me that Gwyndolin can't create illusions that can fight. If he could, he would summon them during his boss encounter. And that's just one contradiction. The game is absolutely filled with them. What this means is that DS1 and DS3 can't both be canon, unless you start creating some convoluted theories about multiple timelines. And that's the problem. The fandom shouldn't have to create theories to justify the creators mistakes. Vague story telling is one thing, but DS3 three is flat out contradictory. In that regard, it's actually worse then two.

The World Design: Dark Souls and Bloodborne featured wonderful, interlocked world design. Everything was carefully interconnected. Areas were often built on top of one another. DS3 was extremely linear by comparison, and it felt lazily put together. There were also bonfires every two feet. Bonfires were carefully placed in DS1, so that you had to complete an area before looping back in a shortcut you opened up. DS3 had very little of that at all. They try to remedy this by creating a central hub you have to return to, like the Nexus, but it just feels lazy. Backtracking in DS1 felt so good because everything was interconnected like a puzzle. Individual areas were okay, but not great, but there was almost no choice in terms of where you went next. Frankly, it felt phoned in.

The game play: The game play wasn't bad, but it lacked diversity. Poise was ruined in this game, so that a character wearing Havel armor could get easily staggered by an estoc, or even bare handed weapon. Worse still, you can't even upgrade your armor. Bows are mostly terrible. Magic, Faith, and Pyromancy were nerfed into irrelevance, and you barely even get any of their move sets until mid to late game. This means that you're basically stuck with medium strength and dexterity builds, which are basically two sides of the same coin. I understand that there were balance issues in DS1, but the response should be to adjust it, not essentially throw it out. DS1, by comparison, had tons of game play variety.

To say that DS3 was a disappointment is a massive understatement. I'm tempted to say it's almost worse then two.

OT: I feel like there's still room to grow with The Last of Us. I would just hate to see the story get milked with numerous sequels. I won't pretend I'm not interested.
 

Sniper Team 4

New member
Apr 28, 2010
5,433
0
0
Sold. I'm ready to get back into this world.

I'm going with the theory that the Fireflies tracked Joel and Ellie down at Tommy's, and they went in guns blazing. Destroyed the entire camp, killing pretty much everyone there. You know, basically burning Ellie's home to the ground. Because last time they tried to do things the 'nice' way, they lost not only the cure, but a lot of good men, as well as the brain surgeon--someone who is probably not easy to replace now.
So yeah, now it doesn't matter what Joel did. Ellie is going to burn the Fireflies to ash.
 

Extra-Ordinary

Elite Member
Mar 17, 2010
2,065
0
41
Throw me in with the cautiously optimistic crowd.
I don't think I'm gonna find this out until I play it, but they have to be making this game because they want to, not because they have to, know what I mean?

And I really hope this isn't a revenge story. I'm cool with it being an aspect but I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen enough revenge stories.

 
Jan 19, 2016
692
0
0
TLoU is probably my favourite game ever, but I have mixed feelings about this. The original was so perfect, and so complete as a single experience, that I'm not sure if continuing Joel and Ellie's story is something I want. The way TLoU ended, it didn't need any more than that. Personally, I was hoping for a new story with new characters, or with supporting characters from TLoU. But, in spite of all that, I'm in. I'm so fucking in.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,568
4,371
118
So cool to see Chloe back. Being the most interesting npc of UC2 imo, she deserves a proper sendoff (if that's really the case).

And yeah, TLoU2 will be interesting as well, but I'm actually more interested in the UC4 DLC.
 

Hawki

Elite Member
Legacy
Mar 4, 2014
9,651
2,173
118
Country
Australia
Gender
Male
bartholen said:
OT: The most aggressively unnecessary sequel in gaming history since Bioshock 2?
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and Halo 4 maybe?