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Best Dev: Naughty Dog, Insomniac, or From?

Historical poll

  • Naughty Dog

    Votes: 109 40.5%
  • Insomniac

    Votes: 39 14.5%
  • From

    Votes: 121 45.0%

  • Total voters
    269
Wow there's not a lot of respect for Insomniac, huh? Well out of those three, I think they're the best due to consistency and keeping a generally high bar of quality. From, though, are a great choice although a lot of their games these days are starting to seem same-y.

I don't really understand the people who picked Naughty Dog; they at one point used to be Sony's marquee studio IMO but TLOU2 is just something of a cluster of a game. Fantastic animation work, terrible story and story structure, let alone pacing (way too many flashbacks, bad structure for flashback segments, etc.), some "questionable" imagery (as in, things that might play into certain stereotypes, with no clever commentary to go alongside it), and very little gameplay innovation outside of what, proning?

I know there are some people who will forever insist it was only "certain people" who disliked the game (those who had an agenda, mainly out of console warring), but I can still clearly remember multiple regular streamers playing the game, who loved the first one, and became apathetic towards the sequel the longer they played it and in some cases, not even interested enough to finish playing the game. There were definitely quite a few regular folks who didn't seem to enjoy the direction Part 2 took, I don't think their criticisms should be thrown away simply because you did have some agenda-pushers riding the controversies prior to release.

Now Naughty Dog's next two games are yet more TLOU-related things, the remake and TLOU2 Factions. Supposedly they're working on a new IP but we know literally nothing about it and probably won't for a year or so. And they're undoubtedly making an Uncharted sequel, as well. If the storytelling in those games continues the way Part 2 did, and gameplay innovations are slight at best, I honestly don't see how anyone can realistically consider them Sony's marquee studio going forward.

I feel like a few of their studios have been in that position over time; at first Polyphony was their marquee, then SSM (God of War series), then Naughty Dog, then Guerilla, Sucker Punch and Insomniac. I'd say right now it's between those three for the title, but I can see Guerilla back in the mix with Ragnarok. Point is, none of those names are Naughty Dog and that's the telling part for me.
 

Handel

Member
Don't care for ND, Insomniac is good but nothing truly special, and while I'm not the biggest Dark Souls fan, Bloodborne is the only masterpiece from any of these studios so it goes to From Software.
 

Husky

THE Prey 2 fanatic
It's a very tough call, but I'm gonna have to go with Remedy Entertainment. I like my story-focused action games, and Remedy's got the storytelling and the gameplay to surpass Naughty Dog every time. I absolutely adore The Last of Us though.
Insomniac did make Sunset Overdrive, so big points to them for that alone, top-notch gameplay experience. I haven't actually played a From game yet, unbelievable. I loved The Surge, surely Dark Souls will be right up my alley.
 

skit_data

Member
They all provide very different experiences, I really can’t make up my mind on which one I like best of From Software and Naughty Dog. Can’t choose one over the other really.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
Naughty Dog have the best animation in the industry potentially alongside R*

But for actual gameplay it's clear they follow the trends, they don't make them. They've always gone with the easiest and safest route. While the combat in TLOU PART II is an amazing step forward its still very much behind games that were doing that shit in the late 360/PS3 era.

Granted over a decade ago From Software were rated like a B or C tier studio. Not to discredit their games but they were niche as fuck, once Hidetaka Miyazaki became a prominent figure they've rose up in the ranks to the near top of the list. Some can argue all they make now is "Souls" games (lmfao if you think Sekiro is a Souls game when it's a rhythm game and about having patience. Defense is the greatest offence) but all they've done the last decade+ is influence games so much that their own brand of games have clones and other studios have literally copied them down to a T. They've made a GRAND inspiration on the entire industry and its trickled down into all kinds of games.

I mean there was that one Middle Eastern Uncharted clone but considering that one ex-Naughty Dog dev dead ass admitted they just saw the Gears of War cover system was hot and hastily put a cover system into Uncharted (Which is why the first games cover system is kinda poorly designed in certain areas but is better in the sequels) they aren't exactly making bold moves themselves.

Insomniac make solid titles but I don't have enough experience with them recently. I played Resistance 3 and that was really good until the late game, Ratchet and Clank remake was fine, Spider-Man was good but I'm not soylent for Peter Parker. I'd like to play the new Ratchet game but I'm not paying £60 for something I'll 100% once in my life time unless it's a rare OOP game that has zero chance of a remaster.

So... FromSoft>>>>ND>>Insomniac.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Naughty Gods with TLOU, Insomniac with Spiderman or From with Elden Ring?

Let the most important poll in gaming history begin.

Only one can prevail.

What a strangely limiting question. It's like we should universally agree that one of those three is the "best dev."

Personally, none of them is. There's plenty better like Asobo, The Indie Stone, Creative Assembly, Taleworlds, Square Enix (some of their studios), and more. And it isn't even particularly close.
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
From is one of the current best devs in the industry.

They kinda invented their own genre by making an action rpg with a very grounded set of rules, which revolutionized the gaming world not only by spawning lots of copies and derivatives, some of which are very good, but also because it (DeS) came out at a time when 95% of the games where casual shooters or dumbed down sequels, rekindling the passion for gaming for many people that were already tired of always playing the same shit.

Now onto the other two... meh. Insomniac makes fun games, but nothing special. ND are very good with graphics and making games feel like a movie (for the good and the bad) but when it comes to gameplay they are pretty simple TPS which aren't even the best in the genre.

The choice in the poll is pretty obvious to me.
 
I love how there are posts for all three saying, "it's X, the others aren't even in the same leauge".

Those are all three great developers making different types of games.

Two are exclusive studios, so you'll obviously see the same people you expect claiming the other one is so much better by default, even if they don't play From games.
 

Mozzarella

Member
While i do care for stories and writing in video games in general and story-telling is one thing that can keep me engaged with the game, i found Naughty Dog games to be not my cup of tea in that regard, Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us 1 are the only games that i was engaged with the stories, not to the extent of them making my favorites but they gave me good time. The others? not at all, especially Uncharted 2. That along with their decent yet basic gameplay system and level design doesnt make me want to consider them a top developer, they are among the top when it comes to presentation, since they push visuals and animations and character acting to the next level with their releases, but those things while i care about them, i need a good story alongside them, or at least a good level design or good gameplay, i dont find that in their games. Again its not awful, but i dont find it good or something special.

When looking at best Developer i would also take the other parts, such as how are the developers? are they nice people? good communication with the fans? how are the price models? the support staff? the PR? do i like this developer business and PR philosophy? things like that, not only Game Quality is a factor here. Also Innovation is important.

It will take me time to think about it, about my favorite developer.
However from this poll, its easily Fromsoft. They have created a great series for me that i enjoyed a lot, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and soon to come Elden Ring are all fantastic games, great gameplay with good lore and great level design, also i like their business models, they talk when they have something to show, they way how they dont give a fuck about public pressure and their DLCs are worth buying.

Vote: Fromsoft, by far.
 
I don’t think those are the only choices - Nintendo has great output (dunno if it’s a specific team), valve (when they make something), rockstar all could be added, dunno if I’d include insomniac yet

Feel like naughty dog and rockstar always release games with the best production values at least but the others excel in gameplay more consistently
 

Arun1910

Member
Naughty Dog hands down.

Sound, Art Direction, Animations, graphics. They've constantly nailed these things all the time imo. For me personally I also throw in storytelling. Not saying every story they tell is 100% great, but they're consistently engaging for me.

Insomniac is getting there with Spider-Man but they are not ND level in any department. That said, they consistently put out fun titles.
 

Keihart

Member
As a Dev, of that list, i would have to say Imsomniac, but mostly because as a whole, they are way more capable at everything compared to the others on that list.
Insomniac has made games in so many genres and all of them are somewhat fun in diferent ways while keeping top notch production values, they haven't necesarily made my favorite games as i higly prefer TLoU2 and Bloodborne to anything Imsomniac, but Imsomniac's output is way more frequent, varied and consistent in quality.
 

sainraja

Member
Uncharted is one of my favorite series and Nathan Drake is a fun character. Linear games with good characters and a motivating story have always been my favorite type of games — so people that try to use the story focus to say ND games have no gameplay are full of it :D (IMO). Having said this, I don't think I can pick — well I haven't played anything From has made so I can't judge them; so it's between Naughydog & insomniac and it's hard to choose one between them lol.

I got into FPS games due to Resistance so I have Insomniac to thank for that. I will say both are good in their own ways.
 

SuperGooey

Member
Capcom, Nintendo and From.

Imo, Insomniac and Naughty Dog are nothing but trend chasers who only stand out because they can afford to throw infinite money at their projects. In terms of level design and gameplay mechanics, they are behind the curve. All they have is graphics and cutscenes--something that doesn't really age well.
 
Guess this thread is for Sony fanboys and players.
I think it was set purposefully to get the triggered “anti”-wokes to vote for FromSoftware. Why even just include these 3 studios. So weird.

Anyways NaughtyDog is one of the best gaming studios out there.

As much as I like Ratchet and Spiderman, they are starting to feel samey and seem to be aimed at a general audienc.
 
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