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Neil Druckmann on TLOU Part 3: "I think there's more story to tell."

FunkMiller

Gold Member
That's the whole reason they told the story. Discomfort and revenge/vendetta/hatred, nobody wins in the end.

Playing it through for the second time is much more fun, because I’m ignoring the non stop, endless, heavy handed, unrealistic, misery porn that the whole game wallows in. It’s ‘everything is awful’ cynicism is something I’d expect more from edgelord teenage boys, to be honest.
 

Nautilus

Banned
Super realistic?

Nate & his friends wreck a bunch of foreign cities, kill a ridiculous amount of people and then simply retire as if nothing happened. In reality he'd be hunted by all sorts of mercenaries, law enforcement agencies and god knows who else. Each guy that he killed has friends and loved ones. Tens of thousands of people would want Nate dead.
For a videogame, sure. I thought I was clear on that.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
I loved both games, even though I prefer if number 2 would of been a completely different story.

Tbh there isn’t much story to tell, well not between Ellie and Abbey. They both had there chances to kill the other and both choose not to. Cant revisit that story.

Id rather they do some different characters, or another part of the world. Or even a game about Joel just after the outbreak. Loads of Spin offs like Miles Morales and Uncharted Lost Legacy size could be done set in TLOU universe. Full sized sequels too

But maybe TLOU3 will be about some group in the country that can also make the cure with Ellie’s blood and its all about that Again.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
HBO didn't buy up the adaptation rights just for two seasons. Even if there isn't more story to tell, Druckmann's on HBO's clock now: they'll be telling more story whether it exists or not. So, TLOU3 is a done deal, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're penciling out concepts for TLOU4 as well.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Playing it through for the second time is much more fun, because I’m ignoring the non stop, endless, heavy handed, unrealistic, misery porn that the whole game wallows in. It’s ‘everything is awful’ cynicism is something I’d expect more from edgelord teenage boys, to be honest.
I mean, everything is awful in a dystopian world where man's ugly nature comes out when there's no comfort or order. Again, that was the point. Even TWD revolves around that motif.

I think that's what made that "hug" segment by Fia in Elden Ring feel so comforting in a way. Just a simple moment of a silent hug in such a dreadful world. That human touch that has been proven to boost endorphin levels.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
My favorite part was Ellie leaving that hoe for some cross country exploring, hopefully she gets a bad bitch in the next game. Some eye candy.

Age her up ten years, give her some more tats, maybe a motorbike, make the game open world, and you -

days gone sony GIF


…ahh.
 
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Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
You are comparing a Manga to a video game. You can have so much more context and nuance without worrying about gameplay scenarios for pacing on the end user, etc.. I can pull out a narrative book series and compare it to almost any narrative game and show the shortcomings in contrast.
I am comparing two stories. It isn't like TLOU2 does anything that can only be done in its medium here. It is a story that can be told in any medium with no issue (Which is why the show looks just as good as the game without skipping a beat). If you want me to use a different comparison, then use Warhammer 40K as an example. Does everything that Berserk does as well, just in a Sci-Fi setting and can be seen in games, shows, and books.

I beat the game once and never bothered to go back to it for the easy Platinum, because the story was so depressing and dreadful. The gameplay was great, but not enough for me to want to replay that story again. At least they accomplished what they set out to do, being that the story was not "fun" for me. And that's okay, there are a lot of oppressive slow burns from movies to shows that I enjoyed as well, and enjoyed only once.
I did the platinum only because I had nothing else to do at the time and it took me an extra half playthrough. I can't agree on the gameplay as I felt it was very generic and ultimately shallow. It never took advantage of any of its systems (though the first also didn't, it was only in the MP where the gameplay shined to any degree), but I also didn't think the story was all that dark or "depressing/dreadful". I just found it utterly drab and boring to the point I actively fell asleep during "pivotal" moments, such as the Aquarium scene with Preggers. It was heavily generic with how it tried to tell its story with nothing really new or interesting. It used old, tired tactics to try and trick the player into caring about people that they never gave you a reason to care about. Why should I care about these people I am killing? Because they say their names as they die? Because one person played on a vita like I do? Because one person is pregnant? This could work if we were given an entire game or more to learn and understand these characters, but we weren't.

Imagine a TLOU2 that was just from Abby's point of view during the events of and shortly after the first game. We start with her as a child, see her grow up and ultimately the loss of her father. We grow connections as we help the WLF and meet new friends that become a second family. All the while we train and investigate what happened to our father only to finally learn in the end moments of the story who killed him. With the final level being to track him down and take him out, leading to a cliffhanger where Ellie bursts through the door like we see in the original game. That way in the third entry where we see these people die, we see them taken out, we actually have *something* to connect with. Instead of the nothing we had here.

It truly felt like it was a story written by someone who has no idea how to tell or structure a story. Really makes me question just how much of the first game was because of Bruce Straley.

Then there are the Souls games that tackle that oppressive atmosphere on a different level, probably easy to stomach since it's in a dark fantasy setting and not the real world.
It helps that Souls games take advantage of its medium to tell its narrative. You can't tell any soulsbourne story via a movie, show, or book. It is entirely dependent on it being a video game. It is why I am cautiously optimistic about the Factions content. It sounds like it is taking the world of Last of Us while delivering an experience that can only be told through the medium of games. Assuming they don't somehow fuck it up by making so much of it MTX driven. I am hoping they aren't as stupid as, say, 343.

But honestly that is my biggest issue with the games (and many modern Sony first party releases). They try so hard to emulate TV and Movies and fail to capitalize on the medium itself. I do hope that, if the rumors and hints for Factions is correct and done well - it will set the groundwork for how they will do storytelling in more first party games in the future.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I am comparing two stories. It isn't like TLOU2 does anything that can only be done in its medium here. It is a story that can be told in any medium with no issue (Which is why the show looks just as good as the game without skipping a beat). If you want me to use a different comparison, then use Warhammer 40K as an example. Does everything that Berserk does as well, just in a Sci-Fi setting and can be seen in games, shows, and books.


I did the platinum only because I had nothing else to do at the time and it took me an extra half playthrough. I can't agree on the gameplay as I felt it was very generic and ultimately shallow. It never took advantage of any of its systems (though the first also didn't, it was only in the MP where the gameplay shined to any degree), but I also didn't think the story was all that dark or "depressing/dreadful". I just found it utterly drab and boring to the point I actively fell asleep during "pivotal" moments, such as the Aquarium scene with Preggers. It was heavily generic with how it tried to tell its story with nothing really new or interesting. It used old, tired tactics to try and trick the player into caring about people that they never gave you a reason to care about. Why should I care about these people I am killing? Because they say their names as they die? Because one person played on a vita like I do? Because one person is pregnant? This could work if we were given an entire game or more to learn and understand these characters, but we weren't.

Imagine a TLOU2 that was just from Abby's point of view during the events of and shortly after the first game. We start with her as a child, see her grow up and ultimately the loss of her father. We grow connections as we help the WLF and meet new friends that become a second family. All the while we train and investigate what happened to our father only to finally learn in the end moments of the story who killed him. With the final level being to track him down and take him out, leading to a cliffhanger where Ellie bursts through the door like we see in the original game. That way in the third entry where we see these people die, we see them taken out, we actually have *something* to connect with. Instead of the nothing we had here.

It truly felt like it was a story written by someone who has no idea how to tell or structure a story. Really makes me question just how much of the first game was because of Bruce Straley.


It helps that Souls games take advantage of its medium to tell its narrative. You can't tell any soulsbourne story via a movie, show, or book. It is entirely dependent on it being a video game. It is why I am cautiously optimistic about the Factions content. It sounds like it is taking the world of Last of Us while delivering an experience that can only be told through the medium of games. Assuming they don't somehow fuck it up by making so much of it MTX driven. I am hoping they aren't as stupid as, say, 343.

But honestly that is my biggest issue with the games (and many modern Sony first party releases). They try so hard to emulate TV and Movies and fail to capitalize on the medium itself. I do hope that, if the rumors and hints for Factions is correct and done well - it will set the groundwork for how they will do storytelling in more first party games in the future.
I personally think you can take the criticisms and apply it to almost any film/game in general. And some will stick out more than others based on your genre tastes, etc.. Especially with caring about side characters without a backstory on them, or originality or not. Which is probably why they are adapting beyond the game, so more stories can be told.

It's not Shakespeare, but it's also not the bottom of the barrel by any means.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
I personally think you can take the criticisms and apply it to almost any film/game in general. And some will stick out more than others based on your genre tastes, etc.. Especially with caring about side characters without a backstory on them, or originality or not. Which is probably why they are adapting beyond the game, so more stories can be told.

It's not Shakespeare, but it's also not the bottom of the barrel by any means.

But Shakespeare is trash! XD

Jokes aside, I do agree with you. It doesn't help that the game was beyond hyped and you see people here still hyping it up as the greatest story in gaming, let alone during its launch where everywhere you looked it was being claimed as such by social and mainstream medium outlets. Only to actually end up playing it and... getting something completely different. Rather sours the whole experience.

Either way, I do hope the MP game is as good as it sounds. The concept of exploring wide open areas, crafting weapons, stealthing your way through regions with simple controls, but having unpredictable players instead of easily abuseable AI? That can create a lot of unique personal stories and narratives if we can also create our own characters and have a more simple/generic story that we can imprint onto.
 
Well, I tend to agree. They shouldn’t have made a sequel. The ending to part 1 was ambiguously brilliant.

But they did, and they’ve left more than enough hanging for a third part with Ellie’s redemption.

1st = love
2nd = hate
3rd = forgiveness
no, they shouldn't have. at least not with ellie & joel...

last of us: redemption - 'now packed with even more emotional manipulation per serving!'...

you might like this one: 'our love/hate relationship with forgiveness'...
 

CLW

Member
How about Forza?
I don’t own an Xbox so really can’t comment other than to say I’d throw racing games like that into the sports genre which have been cranking out barely changed updates every year since most people here weren’t even born yet
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
Imagine a TLOU2 that was just from Abby's point of view during the events of and shortly after the first game. We start with her as a child, see her grow up and ultimately the loss of her father. We grow connections as we help the WLF and meet new friends that become a second family. All the while we train and investigate what happened to our father only to finally learn in the end moments of the story who killed him. With the final level being to track him down and take him out, leading to a cliffhanger where Ellie bursts through the door like we see in the original game. That way in the third entry where we see these people die, we see them taken out, we actually have *something* to connect with. Instead of the nothing we had here.

It truly felt like it was a story written by someone who has no idea how to tell or structure a story. Really makes me question just how much of the first game was because of Bruce Straley.

I remain baffled that they couldn’t be bothered to have us spend any time with Abby, before they had her murder the character everybody loved... but then try to build that empathy after she’d already committed such a heinous act. What the hell were they thinking?

Strikes me that Druckman thinks he can do what he likes, and his talent with always bring people along, no matter what he does. This is clearly not the case.
 

Neff

Member
IIRC Druckmann had the storyline for 3 mapped out a while back, but worded like this it's a promising hint that the series will continue.

Bitch killed pregnant women and all sorts.

In fairness Ellie didn't know she was pregnant when she killed her and was horrified when she found out. She's still a fucking nut job though.

What the hell were they thinking?

Writers' flex. Druckmann set himself a big challenge- to make Abby sympathetic after 'demonizing' her to the fullest. IMO he succeeded.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Last I heard she was busy writing for that Forspoken game.

I thought she was doing the star wars game for EA or Ubisoft or someone?

I can't wait for it. ...if its not cancelled by the hennig curse

It's actually for Disney isn't it?
 
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EDMIX

Member
IIRC Druckmann had the storyline for 3 mapped out a while back, but worded like this it's a promising hint that the series will continue.



In fairness Ellie didn't know she was pregnant when she killed her and was horrified when she found out. She's still a fucking nut job though.



Writers' flex. Druckmann set himself a big challenge- to make Abby sympathetic after 'demonizing' her to the fullest. IMO he succeeded.

Agreed.

He likely had this story known for decades and is just rolling out what he's planned for some time. Even looking at Part 1, so many things are foreshadowed that I knew it would have another game long before I even beat part 1 when it first came out.

At first I actually thought Joel would die at the ending of the game and when he lived and lied about all that, I had a feeling that would just be the story in Part 2 and I thought Marlene was going to come to kill joel or something and then when he shot her, I was like....ok her family doe lol

I just had that feeling that someone he killed was just return to do him in based on Bill's words and based on Joel's own words of not being able to out run your past etc. So I 100% knew why Abby was killing him, merely didn't now who he killed that she knew, when it happened etc. At first I thought it was people from that camp where he save Ellie from the pedo guy lol Then later I felt it was from the Hospital ending, but regardless its clear he had a plan with how he wanted that story to turn out with many parts.



I hated Abby in the start of it not know who she was, but having an idea that it was based on what Joel did in part 1. I spent a chunk of that game like "FUCK WLF" and killing people in the WORST ways lol Blowing knee caps out, shooting people in the throat, really making them suffer. I partly did this based on how Ellie was feeling, like "yea fuck em", so when you find out Abby's story, you realize why Ellie lied about what got Joel killed to Jesse, you realize why she lied to Dina and you realize that Abby's actions are just and that maybe...I would have did Joel in WORSE if it was my father.


I've never been on a emotional roller coaster like that in any game and he succeeded 10 fold in getting that emotional reaction. I love that you are kept in the dark about Abby and it merely lets the HATE FLOW so you can better understand the other side when you are on it.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
IIRC Druckmann had the storyline for 3 mapped out a while back, but worded like this it's a promising hint that the series will continue.



In fairness Ellie didn't know she was pregnant when she killed her and was horrified when she found out. She's still a fucking nut job though.



Writers' flex. Druckmann set himself a big challenge- to make Abby sympathetic after 'demonizing' her to the fullest. IMO he succeeded.

Joel didn't know those Dr's were someone's dad....doesn't mean shit. Ellie was so blind by rage she was worse than Joel ever was.
Agreed.

He likely had this story known for decades and is just rolling out what he's planned for some time. Even looking at Part 1, so many things are foreshadowed that I knew it would have another game long before I even beat part 1 when it first came out.

At first I actually thought Joel would die at the ending of the game and when he lived and lied about all that, I had a feeling that would just be the story in Part 2 and I thought Marlene was going to come to kill joel or something and then when he shot her, I was like....ok her family doe lol

I just had that feeling that someone he killed was just return to do him in based on Bill's words and based on Joel's own words of not being able to out run your past etc. So I 100% knew why Abby was killing him, merely didn't now who he killed that she knew, when it happened etc. At first I thought it was people from that camp where he save Ellie from the pedo guy lol Then later I felt it was from the Hospital ending, but regardless its clear he had a plan with how he wanted that story to turn out with many parts.



I hated Abby in the start of it not know who she was, but having an idea that it was based on what Joel did in part 1. I spent a chunk of that game like "FUCK WLF" and killing people in the WORST ways lol Blowing knee caps out, shooting people in the throat, really making them suffer. I partly did this based on how Ellie was feeling, like "yea fuck em", so when you find out Abby's story, you realize why Ellie lied about what got Joel killed to Jesse, you realize why she lied to Dina and you realize that Abby's actions are just and that maybe...I would have did Joel in WORSE if it was my father.


I've never been on a emotional roller coaster like that in any game and he succeeded 10 fold in getting that emotional reaction. I love that you are kept in the dark about Abby and it merely lets the HATE FLOW so you can better understand the other side when you are on it.

Do you feel Ellie deserves to die? cos I do. She's an awful person.

They all deserve to die tbh. Just have them all realise they are shit people and top themselves.
 

Neff

Member
I spent a chunk of that game like "FUCK WLF"

I feel like the WLF is a better reason to dislike Abby than murdering Joel, simply because she's part of a very morally dubious outfit who've spent the last fifteen hours or so trying to kill you, the player. And I was impressed by the way the game was able to humanize them after showing their cold-bloodedness in the first half. They're no angels, but you could see that they had an agenda and a fairly successful and prosperous method rather than simply being another collection of opportunistic, sadistic warlords in the TLoU universe.

Ellie was so blind by rage she was worse than Joel ever was.

Ellie never willingly joined The Hunters, so there's that.
 
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EDMIX

Member
Joel didn't know those Dr's were someone's dad....doesn't mean shit. Ellie was so blind by rage she was worse than Joel ever was.


Do you feel Ellie deserves to die? cos I do. She's an awful person.

They all deserve to die tbh. Just have them all realise they are shit people and top themselves.

No, I agree she is an awful person though, but thats what I love about the game.

It doesn't try to force this "I'm da good guy" type thing and allows the character to make obvious mistakes. She is a teen turning into a young adult. Impulsive, emotional and all the comes along with it. So a part of me loves that they dared to make such a story with such an imperfect person, flaws and all.

So Joel disregarding those people had families is fucked up too, but Ellie took his selfish behavior and mimicked it well. Worse? Maybe, but I see them as 2 peas on a pod. He did what he thought was right, in a horrible way, she did what she thought was just in an awful way and maybe its much worse considering she already knew that


he lied and knew exactly why someone would come hunting him.
Its why she lies to Jesse and Dina about why he was killed, she wanted the blind rage, she new if she told them what Joel did, they'd question why they are even going on such a mission if the person's actions might be just in their minds. Its an awful thing to drag people into this by lying about WHY he was killed, but its one of the things I fucking LOVE about the game.
That is how humans behave, they lie, they are not always honest and I love the flaws the characters have in the IP. When Ellie leaves Dina and JJ in the farm, it sealed it for me that they did a fucking great job with those characters.


I wanted her to stay and live a peaceful life, but I'm not Ellie and neither are you, were are merely watching a character self destruct and its that ride that make the game something magical and different then anything else before it.


Neff Neff Absolutely agreed.

Even I can see that, if put in such a situation...for all we know, support WLF and stay with them considering they have farm, a safe place for my family and when it comes down to it, I want to live. It turns into a tribal "US vs THEM" ideology and I want to come out on the winning side.

So how I'd see it if I was part of WLF, win by any means, apologize later and rebuild the world and live to be able to tell the story.

its not for me to say how their journey should or shouldn't be in uncertain times, but they are the "villains" in Part 2 (if we can really call them that) that have this win by any means mind set. But in such times, what choice do they have?

The fact that they had a whole ass stadium, farms, livestock, security. They did enough to prove they were on to some right track of something anyway and I can see how someone would want to side with them.
 
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Aenima

Member
You can tell countless stories in TLOU post apocalyptic word, just not with the remaining characters that we know. I dont give a shit about anything more the remaining characters have to tell. I would be interested in a TLOU3 outside murica. Lets see how the "virus" afected the world with a brand new group of characters.
 

Puscifer

Member
Whatever they do, I really hope they WILL NOT listen to people on-line.
The most talkative are masses who didn't even finish it or don't have their own opinion on it.
People are wrong and in order for creativity and bold story telling to work, they really should not listen to the masses.
If ND listened, we would have a clone of tlou1 game. With same story, same happy-go-lucky Joel adventures... and now, we have, even if polarizing, extremely good game that takes chances and tries some different stuff. Almost like no other AAA game does.
The only other game that tried new stuff in AAA space is Death Stranding and people also whined.

Shut up people or we will al age playing only fifa and call of duty ffs
Bro I sat through that entire shit storm and loved every odd second if it. Super violent, fun and have played again lol
 

ProtoByte

Member
Writers' flex. Druckmann set himself a big challenge- to make Abby sympathetic after 'demonizing' her to the fullest. IMO he succeeded.
From someone who likes TLOU2, I gotta disagree that he succeeded.

Abby's motivation is not all that deep or interesting, particularly in a world where you have to imagine this shit happens all the time. She doesn't seem to care at all about the vaccine, why Joel did what he did, the world at large, or anything but herself. It would work better if she actually displayed regret and guilt for what she did to Joel instead of just mild dissatisfaction.

This extends to her relationship with Yara and Lev. There's really no solid reason as to why she decides to devote herself to them. Joel's devotion to Ellie was born out of two deeply routed things: His devotion to Tess and the instinctual fatherhood that he'd lost since Sarah died. With Abby, it's more of a "I feel like it" thing.

There's a lot to praise about TLOU2, but its solid basis for why things happen past the halfway point isn't one of them. I think people ought to give Druckmann (whom I don't think is the only one to blame for whatever narrative issues the game has) for taking a risk, given how much they wax poetic about not wanting "safe" things. But the key about risks is that they don't always work out for the better.
 

ByWatterson

Member
My reactions in order:

1. They're miking it!
2. Ellie's story is over!
3. Is Abby's story over?
4. They'll probably use some characters they introduce in Factions.
5. I do really love TLOU...
6.
ExiQCYyWQAIhx8m.jpg
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Let me play Tommy . Man loses everything and goes in a serial rampage to get Abby.

At no point do I play anyone else unless maybe it’s Ellie for a small window.

JusticeForJoel

Otherwise completely new character, and not an apex predator giga chad steroid bitch shaped like a fridge.
 

tommib

Member
Good. Keep the momentum and make it much better, the same way Part II was much better than Part I. I was never a fan of Part I until I finished Part II. But I like my dark shit and Part II was bleak and desperate as a motherfucker. Loved that.
 
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