The Last of Us - it's the time of the season

otm, plus the fact that just recently they have massively restructured their japan studio and are killing their online stores, the sort of moves a struggling company would pull, not the biggest brand name in home consoles with 3 out of 4 100M+ sold systems in past generations

i mean, technically playstation is as good as dead in japan but everywhere else they're clearly doing fine so why scrape the bottom of this particular barrel?

Also weird because there is a Last of Us TV show coming out, which is already, if you think about it, basically the game getting remade with the best graphics possible. I guess there are concerns the remake might change the story, too, which could be valid (because I am sure the show will feature some changes) but (don't spoil it for me) I assume the sequel already bakes in a lot of the story from the first game.

last of us 3 should just be a new Pikmin game. The last pikmin - unless you can do something about it!

The production for the PS4 remaster was reportedly very difficult and painful, but I imagine a lot of the reason was because of the differing architectures, which might not apply going from 4 to 5.

That said, waste of time or no I'd probably play the new version. But them, I'm like a decade late to the game (literally and figuratively).

remake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_cPTeiGMxA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRKIWQUucj0

I think that Last of Us is a masterpiece. I loved every second, and can't wait to play the sequel. But the idea of a remake of a remaster of an older title ... I mean, I get it, they want to tie it to the show. But $70 for a game millions have bought and played before, many at least twice? For better graphics but the same story, etc? The game should really be no more than, I dunno, $50, or $20 for those that already own the game.

I suspect it'll be $25 by Black Friday (nearly four months from release). If not, it'll eventuall get down to a price point where I'll buy it a third time

Hmm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Ebc_OFeug

It does make me kind of want to replay this remake before playing Part II (for the first time). For sure at the least I will add it to my "snag when it's $20 or less" PS5 list.

Also this:

https://kotaku.com/the-last-of-us-hbo-max-tv-series-show-trailer-first-1849439621

I'm going to skip the show and wait for them to remake it in 5 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBRRDpQ0yc0

In five years they are just going to remake the show, with better graphics.

In five weeks you'll make that joke again.

it's good casting at least

I'm going to make the same joke at least once per cycle.

i just want somebody to make a limited series of Super Mega Baseball 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3DTWBVJBpo

i'd like to know if this is a snarky Dunkey or a serious Dunkey before i watch

serious

ok, solid

Show is supposed to be great. If I'm going to get caught up in that world again, I think I'm officially starting "Last of Us Part 2" for the first time. Wish me luck! Hope I fare better than John Carpenter.

I'd be surprised if season 1 covers more than Part 1! But I'm also not going to tell someone not to play Part 2.

I just meant that I will be in the LoU mindset, though I did hear that S1 might at least nod to elements of Part 2, or set stuff up. Not that I would notice if I didn't play it first.

So, the show has only THREE episodes left, and I'm going to guess it'll break down like this:

7: Left Behind DLC -- alternating the mall stuff and the flashbacks with Riley, and ending with Ellie sewing up Joel.
8: David
9: SLC/Giraffes

I guess with so few left, there's not a whole lot of wiggle room for weird detours.

Exactly what I figured. And imo it's not enough. All those detours haven't given Joel and Ellie much time together, especially since two of the three likely episodes left mostly focus on them apart. The show is going from Joel literally on the cusp of leaving her to the way it all ends, which seems pretty ... rushed.

Depends if Ep9 is going to have the whole Giraffe backstory detour like Ep3.

captured in Africa,
Sent to the Zoo,
outbreak,
post outbreak shenanigans/bartering with monkeys etc,
meet Joel & Ellie.

Isn't that the plot of "Madagascar"

Maybe they'll reveal that the outbreak started with the giraffes, and all the Last of Us 2 haters will explode with renewed rage.

Although I don't think that the pacing has been compressed for the rest of the season, I do think that Joel going from "you're better off with Tommy" to "Giddy-up, kiddo" felt abrupt without the intervening montage of the three of them traveling back to Jackson that let us see him reconsider.

I get that that whole detour was to show that Joel is starting to feel older and less secure about himself but yeah, it didn't really work quite right for me. Also being an absolute dick to his beloved brother when he said he was married and expecting

I *definitely* think this season should have been episode longer, knowing what's left for it to show. But I suppose one advantage of the show over the game is that Bella and Pedro are actors, not animated, which can let them do some pretty heavy lifting with just a wince or a smile in the way the game (however exemplary the animation) can't quite compare.

While I am impressed at how well they have compressed the game, this episode felt particularly rushed.

Quick perusal of YT shows compilations of all the game's cutscenes take about 3-5 hours (HLTB lists 15 hours to beat the main story) -- so while the runtime doesn't suggest that dramatic content is being cut, maybe the transition from gameplay to just viewing is where things feel wonky for you?

But of course there's more to the game's story than the cut scenes. For example, the stuff with Bill, hanging upside is gameplay, but that whole scene is still part of the narrative. I was skimming a cutscene compilation the other day, and there's a lot of not strictly cut scene that's not included, like the shooting of Marlene. I guess that's not a cutscene, but it's pretty important! Also, of course, just the general gameplay itself develops (the) character(s).

But, like, I find it shocking that the Bill and Frank episode (which is not important, however good) gets over 80 minutes, but this most recent one (which is also ultimately maybe not important, but is dramatically impactful to the connection between Ellie and Joel) gets less an hour. And the next episode is reportedly the shortest one of the season!

And here I was thinking that my Steam Deck was going to replace PS consoles: https://kotaku.com/last-of-us-pc-port-glitch-iron-galaxy-building-shaders-1850278718

3D glitch nightmare fuel... surprised there hasn't yet been a AA game that does these things intentionally. Or maybe there is?

Is this for real? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ftc8vMnakAA6U43?format=jpg&name=large

A new patch for the PS5 version of The Last of Us Part I is now available, including new @HBO t-shirt cosmetics for Ellie, as well as improvements and fixes to combat, accessibility, audio, and more.

Read the full patch notes here: https://t.co/YGzDjEWHM6 pic.twitter.com/CLRTN5wsKu

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) April 11, 2023

So I guess just cosmetic novelties. Pretty tacky, regardless.

as well as improvements and fixes to combat, accessibility, audio, and more.

Yeah, that's the rest of it.

Pretty good summary of the formal shortcomings of the HBO show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Hs8_DzU3M

TLOU stuff starts at 13:05.

interesting, it's a real testament to this story and its evolution that people are still discovering, discussing and debating it.

gonna hard disagree Josh. the story is pulp trash that we’ve seen a million times. it’s about zombies for christ sake. what made it different was the execution. the acting in particular is tremendous. the co-op mechanic, also not new, actually worked instead of being annoying. the gameplay loops were very satisfying and the difficulty was pitched just right. etc

pulp trash? hmm.

I do see what you mean, but the characters are what ultimately sets it apart, imo, and the characters are the sum of writing and performance, which ultimately adds up to story. The gameplay and all those other important details, I think that's what helps it achieve more than just good story, for sure. But, like, its big inspiration was The Road, which is also pretty familiar stuff, but far from pulp trash, because of it execution. Again, imo.

I don't think Tracer was slamming the game, just noting that the plot itself is rote.

I think the specific callout from the video I linked I wanted to mention was the gulf between the playable action vs. set-piece adaptation. The Capitol Building clicker section is still way scarier in the game than it'll ever be for me just watching it on the show because I can actually fail that section, but something that's easier to overlook is the supply economy, inventory management, etc., i.e. basic gameplay elements that are uncinematic but go a long way to establishing the game's mood.

Yeah, I think I got that, but the video basically enforced that the same story has now been told essentially four different times, each using more or less the exact same framework with their own set of pros and cons. I agree that losing the gameplay is the biggest con, the question becomes how much does it fundamentally change that framework. I agree that it changes it a lot, and I agree with the video, in that the show lost something that the game uniquely provided, despite being overwhelmingly similar otherwise.

mourning the emotional wallop of crafting after hbo had finished sucking all the usable material out of the powerful cutscenes about fatherhood is exactly what millennial gamers had coming to them the moment they signed that infernal pact with roger ebert imo, a learning experience