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Druckmann / Naughty Dog Derangement Syndrome - Colin Moriarty Commentary

Three

Member
sure...

in the original uncharted trilogy, nate drake was a goofy, pulpy cartoon character, as was the original indy (in the first movie, anyway), who he's loosely based on. were you ever really supposed to take anything going on (including the massive slaughter of enemies) seriously? i'd say no more than you'd take what goes on with tarzan of the apes or conan the barbarian seriously. they are fantasy adventures...

not so uncharted 4. nate, from the get-go, is very obviously now 'real', & is intended to be taken seriously. add in the obnoxious long-lost brother plot & the ludicrous ending where nate is supposedly coming clean with his daughter regarding the manner in which he & her mom 'earned their living' while mowing down anyone in their way, & uncharted was no longer the fantasy adventure it'd been. the dumb, lovable charm was replaced with warm, touching 'adult' family melodrama...

as for tlou2, it was tlou, but minus the phenomenal story & characters, & instead replacing it with endless amounts of hate, violence, obsession, & lovingly detailed viciousness. for me, the oppressiveness & relentless emotional button-pushing felt extremely manipulative, led absolutely nowhere, & eventually became just exhausting...

as for intergalactic, while i thought their choice of 'trailer' was a miserably lost opportunity, i'm willing to hold off judgment. if anyone at naughty dog still even knows how to write fantasy adventures, i'd likely be interested...
It was Uncharted 2 that did the whole Zoran Lazarević speech: "You think I am a monster. But you're no different from me, Drake. How many men have you killed? How many, just today?"

Uncharted 4 had the same pulpy character mass murdering that isn't meant to be taken seriously. The ending was meant to just be the heartwarming retirement that he promised Elena before he went back to the adventures and away from the boring life.

People started doing dumb bodycounts in Uncharted 4 a theives end due to that Uncharted 2 line and it was something like 1800 people killed in 4.
 
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mzIpcjb.png



These women rival the Z fighters from Dragon Ball Z.

One look at that, your mind can't help but say, "Druckmann likes getting pegged, huh?"
 
It was Uncharted 2 that did the whole Zoran Lazarević speech: "You think I am a monster. But you're no different from me, Drake. How many men have you killed? How many, just today?"

Uncharted 4 had the same pulpy character mass murdering that isn't meant to be taken seriously. The ending was meant to just be the heartwarming retirement that he promised Elena before he went back to the adventures and away from the boring life.

People started doing dumb bodycounts in Uncharted 4 a theives end due to that Uncharted 2 line and it was something like 1800 people killed in 4.
ah, zoran! now, there was a proper pulp villain...
 
sure...

in the original uncharted trilogy, nate drake was a goofy, pulpy cartoon character, as was the original indy (in the first movie, anyway), who he's loosely based on. were you ever really supposed to take anything going on (including the massive slaughter of enemies) seriously? i'd say no more than you'd take what goes on with tarzan of the apes or conan the barbarian seriously. they are fantasy adventures...

not so uncharted 4. nate, from the get-go, is very obviously now 'real', & is intended to be taken seriously. add in the obnoxious long-lost brother plot & the ludicrous ending where nate is supposedly coming clean with his daughter regarding the manner in which he & her mom 'earned their living' while mowing down anyone in their way, & uncharted was no longer the fantasy adventure it'd been. the dumb, lovable charm was replaced with warm, touching 'adult' family melodrama...

as for tlou2, it was tlou, but minus the phenomenal story & characters, & instead replacing it with endless amounts of hate, violence, obsession, & lovingly detailed viciousness. for me, the oppressiveness & relentless emotional button-pushing felt extremely manipulative, led absolutely nowhere, & eventually became just exhausting...

as for intergalactic, while i thought their choice of 'trailer' was a miserably lost opportunity, i'm willing to hold off judgment. if anyone at naughty dog still even knows how to write fantasy adventures, i'd likely be interested...
I like that you actually explained. The trolls review bombing TLOU 2 when it hadn’t even released for a day can’t say the same…
 
Context, in the 90s no women shaved their head in film or off. It was meant to be a shock. Today lots of extreme leftist women shave their head in some fashion.

Also Sony just released a major woke flop and wokism has filled a lot of big releases which makes people extra sensitive.
d0OV8Lp.png

foight the real enemy
 

simpatico

Member
Bought Uncharted 4 on Steam the other day. Played TLoU this year for the first time and it's in my top 5 of the year for sure. However, Uncharted 4 shits on it from a high perch. It's and it's not even TLoU's fault, the scope is just different. Feels like UC4 had 200 more people working on it. Just the polish, the perfection, the no stone unturned. Absolute chef's kiss of an action romp. If the rumors of Druck's contributions to UC4 are true (all the brother and flashback stuff) it does fuel the fire that he's sending ND down a sub optimal path. The studio was a corporate darling. Everything they made was perfectly attractive to all audiences and something you can use as a tent pole for an entertainment empire. UC4 was the grandest game ND or even Sony have ever made, and there's been no attempt to even follow it up. Last of Us is fine, but I wish it stayed what it originally was: a fun spin off to give devs and fans a break from treasure hunting.

I don't know what kind of scope they have planned for Intergalactic, but the trailer didn't give me the sense they were gunning for the king. I don't see anything that can be the premier franchise for an entire brand of console. Crash could. Jak could. Drake could.

On a side note: the graphical performance gain in industry wide post-UC4 visuals has been the worst return on investment in rendering history. That game still fucking shines with the best of them and I'm getting like 80fps maxed out native on a GTX 1080.
 
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RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
Discussing kill counts in an uncharted game is utterly stupid, it's a bloody video game FFS a third person action adventure game with phenomenal shooting characteristics so of course you're going to be mowing down endless waves of bad guys because... It's a video game
 
Feels that way sometimes. Only here it's becoming a natural hivemind vs a manufactured one due to many bans.
IMO that is not the case.

The reality, from my perspective, is the response is becoming louder because they have not been heard. Or rather they have been heard, but are being ignored and discarded. Thus the increasing volume over time until the market reflect that.

Era is not comparable to Neogaf in this way at all as far as I am concerned.
 

ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
IMO that is not the case.

The reality, from my perspective, is the response is becoming louder because they have not been heard. Or rather they have been heard, but are being ignored and discarded. Thus the increasing volume over time until the market reflect that.

Era is not comparable to Neogaf in this way at all as far as I am concerned.
Era had the same meltdowns over Harry Potter, where I think it was completely banned. They were also ignored.

People should stop feeling entitled. Not every game is for you, and that's ok. And if you loved ND, move on. I used to love RARE when it develop stuff for Nintendo, and I moved on when they were bought.
 
But, as the topic went on, he double and tripled down on the idea that Naughty Dog can do no wrong because their games are critically acclaimed and sell a lot of copies.

I didn’t hear him say that at all, he even said it’s possible intergalactic is a dud, but says it’s unlikely given their track record
 
Era had the same meltdowns over Harry Potter, where I think it was completely banned. They were also ignored.

People should stop feeling entitled. Not every game is for you, and that's ok. And if you loved ND, move on. I used to love RARE when it develop stuff for Nintendo, and I moved on when they were bought.
Is Neogaf banning discussion of games? 🤔 Oh, you mean the location with rampant censorship, mandated group think and doublespeak bans discussion? Is that surprising? What does that have to do with Neogaf again? It's not comparable outside of being a "gaming forum". May as well be the Moon.

This isn't about entitlement or expecting every game to be tailored to oneself. However, I have moved on. Doesn't mean I won't modify a tweet to make a joke when the situation presents itself.

People have serious concerns that aren't materializing from thin air - but reading some responses in here some may draw that conclusion. My point is merely that it is an erroneous one.
 

Chechack

Member
Eeeh i thought u dont believe Colin since his 400 million USD concord claim that u vow by your life that its crap and baseless?

Suddenly now you believe his words because it fits your narrative?

Eeeehhhh
 

Quixz

Member
I have a feeling Intergalactic will turn out to be a good game regardless of how "woke" ND is these days. Unlike other teams these guys actually know how to make games.
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
sure...

in the original uncharted trilogy, nate drake was a goofy, pulpy cartoon character, as was the original indy (in the first movie, anyway), who he's loosely based on. were you ever really supposed to take anything going on (including the massive slaughter of enemies) seriously? i'd say no more than you'd take what goes on with tarzan of the apes or conan the barbarian seriously. they are fantasy adventures...

not so uncharted 4. nate, from the get-go, is very obviously now 'real', & is intended to be taken seriously. add in the obnoxious long-lost brother plot & the ludicrous ending where nate is supposedly coming clean with his daughter regarding the manner in which he & her mom 'earned their living' while mowing down anyone in their way, & uncharted was no longer the fantasy adventure it'd been. the dumb, lovable charm was replaced with warm, touching 'adult' family melodrama...

as for tlou2, it was tlou, but minus the phenomenal story & characters, & instead replacing it with endless amounts of hate, violence, obsession, & lovingly detailed viciousness. for me, the oppressiveness & relentless emotional button-pushing felt extremely manipulative, led absolutely nowhere, & eventually became just exhausting...

as for intergalactic, while i thought their choice of 'trailer' was a miserably lost opportunity, i'm willing to hold off judgment. if anyone at naughty dog still even knows how to write fantasy adventures, i'd likely be interested...


I cringed at that scene. Like Rafe knows Nate doesn’t kill people "in cold blood", they added that part because they know he canonically killed hundreds of people, but suddenly, Nate is above putting a bullet in Nadine’s skull who wouldn’t hesitate to murder him?

It’s even funnier when Zoran Lazarevic in U2 acknowledges that Nate killed a shitton of people and asks him "how many men have you killed just today?" Nate killing mercenaries isn’t just a game thing, so this whole no-kill Batman bullshit thing he did in UC4 was fucking stupid.
 

WellSheet

Member
I agree with the sentiment that people can choose to support/like/not like/not support whatever they want for whatever reasons they want. Just like you can try and spur on a discussion about these things with whatever motive you want; regardless of all justifying reasons or logic, it’s everyone’s inherent right.

But, I think it’s NOT too much of an argument that Druckmann’s political and social message and prerogatives are fully on display.

The hilarity of the SS episode about this topic was, as Colin is so quick to lick his balls and say “He (Druckmann) is not Woke” because Colin has a bias and is obviously starstruck because a he considers them “friends”. (Qualifier - I’m a paying Patreon member since 2019, I love all LSM does) - Druckmann is obviously politically and social inclined and it shows in his characters, his writing and his themes; also, to give Druckmann some leniency, he has writiwrs like Haley Gross who are very vocally of the left.

A lot of us playing games are tired of feeling like we’ve been preached too and shown an aesthetic and worldview that only seems to trend in ONE direction. Especially in the last decade or so. I always find it funny when the gaslighting starts from people who get mad that now there’s pushback against these types of characters, stories, devs etc…they’ve gotten away with lambasting a certain group and mindset for so long largely un contested that now they’re seeing pushback and they hate it…

All that being said, it’s totally their right to create characters and messages they want too. They have the support from Sony and the pedigree in the industry- like others on here have said, will this game be the one that breaks their streak (commercially)?
 
The hilarity of the SS episode about this topic was, as Colin is so quick to lick his balls and say “He (Druckmann) is not Woke” because Colin has a bias and is obviously starstruck because a he considers them “friends”. (Qualifier - I’m a paying Patreon member since 2019, I love all LSM does) - Druckmann is obviously politically and social inclined and it shows in his characters, his writing and his themes; also, to give Druckmann some leniency, he has writiwrs like Haley Gross who are very vocally of the left.

Colin’s point is there’s a difference between being left leaning and “woke”, the latter being pandering without any deeper quality.
 

WellSheet

Member
Colin’s point is there’s a difference between being left leaning and “woke”, the latter being pandering without any deeper quality.
I don’t think that’s what Colin was saying- at least not explicitly enough for me to agree with your statement here.

But, I’m not really even debating your original post and statement; I’m obviously not a proponent of the “woke” stuff (i think thats such a useless term now) but, I also don’t think it’s an easy sell to look at Druckmann and his team’s recent output as anything but furthering what the “woke” agenda dissenters would say is WOKE and is pushing that ideology

Ellie is gay, Abby is hyper-physically masculine - more than any man in the game itself. Lev is Trans; Religious zealotry (IE the tired trope of religion is evil/bad) is purely bigotry; Men in the story are constantly treated like lesser than and thrown away; Nadine was a “Mary-sue” in UC4; the “rumor” that Nate and Elena were suppose to have a son, but that was changed to a daughter for the sake of elevating another female lead for the future of the series. (Again rumored!)

I recall some of the ND team proudly blasting straight white men and the “bigots” after TLOU2’s showcase of Ellie dancing and kissing Dina - again, fine to showcase that story; that love and relationship but it’s obvious it’s to further certain elements that are, whether we like it or not, political and social.

I also recall Haley Gross saying in Grounded doc (I believe) that she would intentionally try and push for Neil to gender-bend characters just “because”. So…that to me feels like it’s agenda based an not based on anything other then surface level stuff

Again, nothing wrong with these stories being told and showcased; but they are attached to certain trains if thought, politically and ideologically, and the group of people who are tired of being preached at by the mega-entertainment structures at large - IE Hollywood, media, gaming, music etc - are pushing back.
 
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Bought Uncharted 4 on Steam the other day. Played TLoU this year for the first time and it's in my top 5 of the year for sure. However, Uncharted 4 shits on it from a high perch. It's and it's not even TLoU's fault, the scope is just different. Feels like UC4 had 200 more people working on it. Just the polish, the perfection, the no stone unturned. Absolute chef's kiss of an action romp. If the rumors of Druck's contributions to UC4 are true (all the brother and flashback stuff) it does fuel the fire that he's sending ND down a sub optimal path. The studio was a corporate darling. Everything they made was perfectly attractive to all audiences and sometimes you can use a tent pole for an entertainment empire. UC4 was the grandest game ND or even Sony have ever made, and there's been no attempt to even follow it up. Last of Us is fine, but I wish it stayed what it originally was: a fun spin off to give devs and fans a break from treasure hunting.

I don't know what kind of scope they have planned for Intergalactic, but the trailer didn't give me the sense they were gunning for the king. I don't see anything that can be the premier franchise for an entire brand of console. Crash could. Jak could. Drake could.

On a side note: the graphical performance gain in industry wide post-UC4 visuals has been the worst return on investment in rendering history. That game still fucking shines with the best of them and I'm getting like 80fps maxed out native on a GTX 1080.
great take bud, i agree with mostly everything

I am nervous about the new ip but open to waiting longer for a bigger reveal. i found the enemy design incredibly bad but i am optimistic about the story and setting and have faith they will pull off something special again, lets let them cook, its finally something new from them in almost a decade
 
Again, nothing wrong with these stories being told and showcased; but they are attached to certain trains if thought, politically and ideologically, and the group of people who are tired of being preached at by the mega-entertainment structures at large - IE Hollywood, media, gaming, music etc - are pushing back.

I don’t think any of his games preach at you though, yes Ellie is a lesbian but the game just exposes her situation in life rather than saying “you’re a bigot if you don’t agree with this lifestyle choice”

The game also has great quality in terms of script and narrative direction, whereas being woke to me is explicitly pandering and preaching at the expense of quality
 

__SteakDeck__

Neo Member
Lol, Naughty Dog and Druckmann aren't something significant enough to cause "derangement syndrome".

They are just delivering an entertainment product with their visions. People of course are entitled to comment on how the feel about it.

Like it or not, people just need to vote with their wallet. There aren't that much to dissect.
lol This is a lie. There are many people in the entertainment industry that cause “derangement syndrome” In Wrestling there was John Cena and Roman Reigns derangement syndrome. In basketball there were people that hated everything and every move that Lebron James made. Just look at this forum. There are multiple people that have pages talking about Druckmann. In the gaming community, he makes certain people feel a certain way.
 

bighugeguns

Member
Please read the following in Cobra Commander's voice.

"Yeah man, The Road and Indiana Jones interactive gimmicky video game knockoffs really were the bleeding edge of creativity.

You're all about to witness the most brutal fraud check of a whole studio of highly paid AAA video game devs in history!"
 
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Yeah man, The Road and Indiana Jones interactive gimmicky video game knockoffs really were the bleeding edge of creativity.

Nobody claimed they were and they didn't need to be.

You should stop crying over people acknowledging excellent games though. Butthurt is a terrible look for you.

You're all about to witness the most brutal fraud check of a whole studio of highly paid AAA video game devs in history.

Lol, delusional is also a terrible look. Do better, Mr Senator.
 

Pedro Motta

Gold Member


I cringed at that scene. Like Rafe knows Nate doesn’t kill people "in cold blood", they added that part because they know he canonically killed hundreds of people, but suddenly, Nate is above putting a bullet in Nadine’s skull who wouldn’t hesitate to murder him?

It’s even funnier when Zoran Lazarevic in U2 acknowledges that Nate killed a shitton of people and asks him "how many men have you killed just today?" Nate killing mercenaries isn’t just a game thing, so this whole no-kill Batman bullshit thing he did in UC4 was fucking stupid.

It'a a fucking videogame, relax.
 

Cakeboxer

Member
What do folks think will happen? Like do you think you're going to change his mind and dictate his creative direction?
Nothing happens as long as Sony grants him nearly unlimited budget and marketing for his SP games. Those will sell many millions no matter what. Cut the budgets by 80% and watch him suddenly make games with normal and likabable characters.
 
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Astray

Member
Looking at this thread, I can confidently say that Druckmann derangement is absolutely real. and I'm not even close to a Druckmann fan.

Point of clarification. What this ND character displays is not "confidence." It is arrogance. People with genuine confidence do not feel the need to advertise how "above it all" they are or condescend to others. That is actually a sign of insecurity, not confidence.

Nathan Drake's character was very different. His wisecracks usually came when he was overwhelmed or getting his ass kicked. It was his way of trying to keep his spirits up in a bad situation. It wasn't arrogance.

Nathan Drake wasn't arrogant, and that's part of why he was likeable and relatable. This ND character is arrogant (or at least she appears so), and that's part of why she is not likeable or relatable. Very different personalities.
Acting like less than 2 mins with the character gives you any kind insight into her is honestly strange to me.

She might indeed turn out arrogant, she might turn out to be just confident, but we don't have anywhere near enough info to get either impression yet.
 

Durin

Member
Many of the AAA western companies are getting this treatment because they're more visible, and their output has been weaker in the last few years.

The level of anger is unfair, but I don't find it hard to find reasons to dislike Naughty Dog. I think they're an overrated company because their production values are so top-tier, their storytelling has moments, some set-pieces are great...but their core gameplay is usually just shallow mechanics, all over the place quality for encounter design, braindead puzzles/platforming and even outright time-wasters for expository dialog (every moving a ladder section Last of Us).

I also question their ability to even maintain their track record for the people that like their games, because each production we hear news they lose staff due to burnout, and eventually brain drain sets in.

Mostly though...the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet teaser was just a boring slog of some rock spiral in space, derivative high production value 80s sci-fi complete with a member berries old music track, and a generic laser sword this generic looking bounty hunter will use. Fumito Ueda's new game didn't even have dialog, and was more intriguing. Hopefully it ends up better as they show more.
 
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cormack12

Gold Member
No, it’s shaved because Fury 161 has a serious lice issue. Everyone’s head is shaved, not just Ripley’s.

Charles Dance’s character specifically tells Ripley to shave her head because of this.




Yeah TGO TGO linked it as well I think. Fair enough, I thought there was a line about cutting her hair so she didn't get shower raped, and she didn't have her hair shaved right away did she? It's not really relevant tbh, in fact it makes a stronger case that there is a plot reason for Ripley shaving her head, not just a fashion/cosmetic reason (though it was always short anyway - as was Vasquez).

The problem is that Internet culture has disproportionately pervaded all media because it's instant and tangible feedback that can be collated. Unfortunately the Internet is still like the digital tower of babel for maturity. We've collectively enabled a portion of the most dense and immature people to dominate a platform making it seem they are the dominant consumer voice. Most of this has its roots in reasonable adjustment - the reality is most players didn't really care about this stuff for a long time and adding some options so black people can customise avatars to look themselves in game Iis not unreasonable either. However, when it then became an obvious and political fueled ideology, pushback started.

I think it's also important to acknowledge that obviously DEI will still succeed in some games, because of the strength of the IP. There are precious few devs operating at that bleeding edge of everything, so it's easier to overlook these things. But it is a tolerance question. Just like we tolerated poor scripts in late 80s/early 90s action flicks or 'Arnoldisms'. They were just easy to ignore because it's not why we turned up. So sure SM3 and Intergalactic are not going to bomb by any metric and will obviously be realy successful. But they might not be as ubiquitous as they once were in people's libraries.

What's happening now is exactly what happens with the far left. We're fighting amongst ourselves over more nuanced outliers instead of focusing on the big unifiers. The truth is that ND are unlikely to release a game that is not at the cutting edge of visuals and animation. The character they have shown us so far looks rooted in media about 3 years ago and generally there are a lot of similarities between other media in the current zeitgeist which has become played out. There was no gameplay at all and thee are question marks about what a melee system from them may look like. Thee discussions will roll until we see more so better strap in.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Or people trying too hard to defend a game or developer. Even with actual data straight from the horses mouth. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/busin...anchise-has-sold-37-million-copies-in-9-years

Just going by facts not feelings.

To add, if TLOU 2 had legs and sold significantly more or reached another big milestone we would've seen some sort of update by now. Even if we count time of release for both games and how long a product has been on the market.

Misrepresenting sales data are not facts.

It's like how people on this forum continuously bring up Days Gone sales to prove Last of Us Part II underperformed at 10 million copies sold. We have seen the legs of Last of Us Part II. I posted how legs have improved ever since the 10 million sales announcement.

2020
November - US 8th - EU - 7th | Player tracker shows 7.2m million players

2021

April - EU - 12th
August - EU - 16th
October - EU - 11th
November - US - 16th - EU - 6th

2022
March - US - 15th - EU - 13th Last of Us Part II sold over 10 million copies | Leak data shows 9.93 million by the end of Feb
April - US - 14th - EU - 11th |
August - US - 10th - EU - 7th
September - US - 11th - EU - 15th | Last of Us Part I Release Date
November - US - 4th - EU - 4th | 12th GSD Europe
December - US - 7th - EU - 5th - JP - 15th

2023
January - US - 7th - EU - 7th | Last of Us Show TV Premiere
February - US - 1st - EU - 1st - JP - 9th | 18th NPD | 7th GSD Europe
March - US - 9th - EU - 10th | Season Finale
April - US - 1st - EU - 1st - JP - 15th | 5th GSD Europe
July - US - 12th - EU - 11th

95061-222-playstation-first-party-game-sales-revenues-leaked-bloodborne-at-7-5-million-as-of-2022-fu.webp


February 2022

Spider-Man - 3 years, 4 months, 25 days
God of War - 3 years, 9 months, 12 days
Gran Turismo Sport - 4 years, 3 months, 16 days
Horizon Zero Dawn - 4 years, 11 months, 5 days
Uncharted 4 - 5 years, 8 months, 23 days
The Last of Us Remastered - 7 years, 6 months, 4 days

Data would suggest The Last of Us Part II reached 15 million sales as of June 2023

That's 2 years, 11 months, and 24 days.


The Last of Us Part II is doing this without bundles to extend sales legs, something you're not factoring in regarding sales data.
 

WellSheet

Member
I don’t think any of his games preach at you though, yes Ellie is a lesbian but the game just exposes her situation in life rather than saying “you’re a bigot if you don’t agree with this lifestyle choice”

The game also has great quality in terms of script and narrative direction, whereas being woke to me is explicitly pandering and preaching at the expense of quality
I believe these type of topics, ones around religion or sex, political or social, are so wide ranging in what and what doesn’t appeal or offend someone that just by the very nature of these topics being there they could feel “preachy”.

I personally don’t feel necessarily preached at by the game, but I am one of many I’m sure who reads almost all the interviews and watches, documentaries or behind-the-scenes so that I can learn the creators mindset, and how they create what they create, and when you apply critical thinking and looking at, it from those perspectives, it’s clear to see that DRUCKMANN and the team of writers and Creative he has on board with him support a very specific worldview, and I won’t be the kind of person who lambast all of naughty dog or just Neil , but there is also no denying that they share a very certain political and social mindset. That mindset is propagated by people who create and support the work they do and it shows. So, for those people they may feel like they are being preached because all of those elements come together, and all of the elements to be clear I mean Ellie’s sexual orientation and Lev being Tran and all the stuff I mentioned above mixed with the clear political views….

For example, let’s hypothetically say we had a pretty vocal conservative or right leaning games, developer coming out and openly talking about the values of marriage and father and mother in the household. Typical Christian or Judeo Christian western ideologies and sharing those with the world and peppering their game with those types of characters and beliefs. I guarantee you we would have an uproar from people who didn’t want to see Judeo Christian values, even the least bit highlighted.

Not quite the same, but remember how they tried to treat the head of the Studio making kingdom come deliverance because of some of his views.

EDIT: I just remembered that in TLOU2 they did the really typical angry old white guy gets mad at lesbians kissing at the party. Sometimes you don’t have to beat somebody over the head with something in order to make it clear that you’re telling them what they’re supposed to think is right and wrong. I don’t think being nuanced and delivering a pretty clear political or social message means you aren’t trying to tell people what you believe they should think. If they do agree or change their opinions, that’s up to them ultimately.
 
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Bernardougf

Member
What do folks think will happen? Like do you think you're going to change his mind and dictate his creative direction? Don't like it, don't buy it. It's all good. I loved UC4 and TLOU was amazing. I thank them for those two gems. If the new game hits a tone with me I'll get it, if not I'll pass. There is plenty to play.
Yes .. everyone discussing this subjects here clearly thinks Cuckman is lurking the forum for our opinions and how to make his game better.. as any other devs should... whats the point of discussing anything on a gamign forum if not for the studios to pick up ideas and change their games?

Neogaf.. changing one game at a time with our threads.

S/
 
Looking at this thread, I can confidently say that Druckmann derangement is absolutely real. and I'm not even close to a Druckmann fan.


Acting like less than 2 mins with the character gives you any kind insight into her is honestly strange to me.

She might indeed turn out arrogant, she might turn out to be just confident, but we don't have anywhere near enough info to get either impression yet.

When a character is well-written, it takes 30 seconds to have an accurate impression. Example: Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction.

That's brilliant storytelling, light years ahead of whatever Druckmann dreams of himself.
 

PeteBull

Member
Era had the same meltdowns over Harry Potter, where I think it was completely banned. They were also ignored.

People should stop feeling entitled. Not every game is for you, and that's ok. And if you loved ND, move on. I used to love RARE when it develop stuff for Nintendo, and I moved on when they were bought.
Era demanded hogwarts to be canceled, and they banned all discusion about the game, and their users trying to innocently praise it.

Here on GAF even if u got many users expressing displeasure for the game/druckmann/main protag, no1 demanding banning the discusion about it,no1 is telling ppl to not play/buy/like it.

Its ok to not like stuff, its not ok to forbid other ppl from liking stuff, coz then that implies u got power over them or moral highground or some kind of authority.
Ppl like those are living in delulu land, which doesnt even surprise me, given other thigns they believe in :p
 

Astray

Member
When a character is well-written, it takes 30 seconds to have an accurate impression. Example: Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction.

That's brilliant storytelling, light years ahead of whatever Druckmann dreams of himself.
This is essay youtuber logic.. It's almost as if Mr. Wolf has more than an hour and a half afterwards to show you that he's a well-written character. Also there are countless works of fiction that start off "right" and then go downhill almost immediately or even at the very end, funny how we never ever see anyone tout the amazing intros of those too (because the vast majority of people wouldn't click on those videos).

You're free to not like what you saw (and I'm free to like it), but let's not act like there is anything literary or elevated or even correct about our opinions when we've seen so little of the material itself.
 

Kerotan

Member
It's the market readjusting itself. We'll see how much Druckmann's decision to go full steam ahead with "modern audiences" pays off in the long run.
The problem here is it's his last naughty dog game. So if Sony lose a few hundred million on this he's sailing off into the sun regardless. There will probably be 7/8 years between TLOUP2 and this launching. It can ruin a studio not having a hit over such a long time. Very big risk going full DEI.
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
Acting like less than 2 mins with the character gives you any kind insight into her is honestly strange to me.

Nothing strange about it. People make quick assessments of each other all the time, based on observation over a couple minutes. People emit a lot of information about themselves in a short period - in their behavior, their words, attitude, tone, and nonverbals. Some people are better at reading it than others, but everyone does it, at least unconsciously. It's why they say be careful about the first impression you create. People form impressions quickly, and those impressions stick.

In fact, it seems odd to suggest that people should not do that with the trailer. That is the purpose of the trailer - to introduce you to the character and give you a sense of her personality and style. This is not a random slice observation of someone on the street. This a cinematic presentation deliberately designed and crafted by ND to introduce us to this character. Of course people will make assessments about her.

She might indeed turn out arrogant, she might turn out to be just confident, but we don't have anywhere near enough info to get either impression yet.

You may not have enough info to form an impression, but I do, and so do others.

Of course, first impressions can be misleading. That is why I put the qualifier "or at least seems so" in my comment. She comes across arrogant in the trailer, but it is possible that once we know her full story, she will turn out to be a nuanced, sympathetic character rather than the smug cliche she seems to be. That would be nice.

For now, though, first impressions matter, and she made a bad one (at least on me and many others).
 
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This is essay youtuber logic.. It's almost as if Mr. Wolf has more than an hour and a half afterwards to show you that he's a well-written character. Also there are countless works of fiction that start off "right" and then go downhill almost immediately or even at the very end, funny how we never ever see anyone tout the amazing intros of those too (because the vast majority of people wouldn't click on those videos).

You're free to not like what you saw (and I'm free to like it), but let's not act like there is anything literary or elevated or even correct about our opinions when we've seen so little of the material itself.


It's not about time but narrative skills. When introducing a character to the audience, 1 minute is more than enough to make it interesting. We don't know anything about Jordan, the trailer wastes time in a lame conversation instead of giving us hints on her mission or why we should care about her.

IMO the trailer isn't bad or good. It relies on people being amazed at the new ND's work, regardless of its presentation. People focus on Jordan's looks because she doesn't give us anything else to talk about, other than Gen-Z cockiness, which doesn't help her cause.

There's also a conflict in tone. On one hand, you have eerie music by Trent and Reznor and a mysterious destination in the horizon, with a clearly serious/dark atmosphere. Then, you have the MC drinking like she was watching Fast and Furious 11 and Pet Shop Boys breaking the tone. Not the best choices as the first impression.
 

PeteBull

Member
What do folks think will happen? Like do you think you're going to change his mind and dictate his creative direction? Don't like it, don't buy it. It's all good. I loved UC4 and TLOU was amazing. I thank them for those two gems. If the new game hits a tone with me I'll get it, if not I'll pass. There is plenty to play.
We dont do anything, its in Druckmann's interest to sell us on his new game, so far he did terrible job ;)
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