Ex-Nintendo Boss Reggie Fils-Aimé Interviews Neil Druckmann on The Last of Us 2

I always respect and love naughty dog's works and i am big fan of Uncharted franchise and the first last of us.

BUT

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@HellOfaHunter I disagree.
I like when creative minds challenge us through any kind of medium, being it books, movies or games.
TLoU2 had me thinking for quite a while after finishing it. It’s a very difficult to swallow game and that’s what I liked.
It was the creative directors vision and I accept it as that and try to process it as that.
Most of the times games are just about gameplay and having fun. It’s good if on other occasions we get something else that challenges our perspective towards things.

You either do what the community wants or you stick to your own vision. These are 2 ways to go in game development.

If TLoU2 was the first game in the series, I bet it would have been received very differently.

@tatsumi I respect your point of view. if all of us have the same taste of games genre we will just see duplicated games.

the game however for me the best thing happened in this generation technically and graphics wise.

@JapaneseSonic but i felt so empty since the first chapter and at the end didn't get my redemption.
he could make the killing in later part of the game not from the start.
however i loved every flashback on the game and the way showing the story from both sides.

due to respect of the team hardwork on this game i gave it 8 out of 10.

@get2sammyb yea sure i am sorry.

There are parts of TLOU2 I absolutely hated, story-wise. What happens with Joel. Playing as Abby and being forced to beat the snot out of Ellie.

But they said the game was about hate. And what better way to get that feeling across than to make you, y'know, feel it. For me, not liking those parts, feeling that annoyance/anger, was very, very intentional on the part of ND. It's certainly a risky approach, as we've seen... but credit to them for having the sheer balls to take that risk.

In 40+ years of gaming, there have been plenty of games I've 'loved' and plenty of games I've 'hated', but there have been very few games which have prompted genuine emotional reactions.

So even though I hated those parts, I love the game over all.

I'm 16 hours in the game, while I think the first game story is better, because I like the first game themes (love) more than the second game (hate), the gameplay is better here, just crafted my first exploding arrow, can't wait to try it on enemies lol.

This game is quite gory, I was suprised when I found out human enemy can be blown up half by ellie bomb, and if you shoot enemies in the face sometimes there's a bit of brain in the head. Reminded me of activision soldier of fortunes fps series.

Also pitting enemies against each others never get old. Never 😂

Reggie should join Sony, he is so cool!

@Kidfried why the hate?
i fully respect the other opinions and i didn't say something offend any person in this lovely website or other places.

everyone has the right to show his point of view with respect.
for me the game is not only story and i said i gave it 8/10.

back to the topic..
when great character such as Reggie play games as us also Kojima show his hype to cyberpunk we feel united and closer to the developer more than any time before.

His body was ready for The Last of Us 2. Yeah, I had to say it.

@shonenjump86 I don't think anyone's body is actually ready for The Last of Us Part 2. You may THINK it's ready, but then everything becomes a crumpled mess! LOL!

I like Reggie, so i will probably check this out once i am done with the game.

I dont know how so many have been able to complete it so quickly 😅 i am 20 hours in, and just reached the aquarium with Ellie. What a game.

@HellOfaHunter
I just found it a bit odd that the guy who spit on him was apparently Druckmann's self-insert.

@Xaessya That is not true. Please don't spread ridiculous, baseless rumours such as that around here.

@LiamCroft I say "apparently" because I wasn't sure.
But interesting to bring up.

I find the writing of tlou2 a cut above were most games land.

Like a certain character is a broken person so full of hate that they themselves are irredeemable at this point.

When one fights monsters one must be careful one does not become one themselves, comes to mind.

I wonder if Neil will find it in himself to go back into this world again. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to explore such dark and divisive topics using characters that the PS nation grew to love. As for me, I hope we get Part III that will finally offer us some definite closure because Part II seems open-ended to me.
Aa for the topic, it is cool that Nintendo ex-brass is into PS

@gollumb82 I obviously dont know how it ends yet - but i get the feeling we may see a part 3 in the future - once the furore has well and truly died down. I think for everyone's sake, a brand new ip will be coming next though.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Reggie faces as article images, Push Square. Reggie's Nintendo years have been a riot over at Nintendo Life. Guy oozes charisma.

@Rob_230
Hey there Rob I'm good either way. I am a simple man- I see Naughty Dog on it, I buy it I'd be down for a completely new IP, as well. I have the urge to replay TLoU2 right away but I'll wait for PS5 (hoping for a patch for 4K/30 or maybe 1440p/60 at least and a quiet console to play it on). Cheers

Interesting. I wonder how much truth is to that. Being a Nintendo guy for so long and then enjoying a game about hate, heck why not.

I like to think it went down something like this:

N: "'Fun' is not a word I would use to describe this game."

R: "If it's not fun, why bother?"

N: "Because of shock value and subverting expectations for the sake of it, of course! I mean, those are two things that get the job done and help elevate your product to the level of high art, right?
And noone criticizing us will be taken seriously, because 'professional reviewers' will ***** on this game and give it 10 just to try and appear as the sophisticated, educated crowd, and, most importantly, to have their opinion ringing in their comfortable echo chamber. Also, I mean, give this game a bad score and we'll see if you get to review the next one, amirite?
And to top it all off, the real genius move: you know how we openly lied in our promo material, what with Abby not being mentioned, telling the press only Ellie's gonna be playable, modifying cutscenes and showing mostly flashbacks in order to shoehorn Joel in and make him look older so that people would think he, you know, would actually do something in this game instead of being a dumb out-of-character joker who can't wait to be ambushed and brutalized? You've seen that, right?
How about we make the game all about a lesbian girl and throw in a character who has transitioned to being a boy for good measure, even though their sexuality and identity has little to no weight outside of poorly disguised tokenism?
Bear with me here: if people rightly get up in arms after being lied to and manipulated, and complain about the terrible writing quality of this game, all we'll have to do is call them "bigots", "homophobes", and/or "transphobes", and they'll forever be chastized by the internet, because obviously you can't dislike something that the internet has deemed perfect, even though it takes very little knowledge of basic storytelling to realize its blatant flaws, otherwise you're just an angry hater and won't be taken seriously while all the internet ***** will be treated as 'the ones who get it"!
IT'S THE PERFECT CRIME!"

@tatsumi "If TLoU2 was the first game in the series, I bet it would have been received very differently."
Of course, but unfortunately context is not something you can simply ignore. If it had, say, Manny and Susan instead of Joel and Ellie it would've been received differently, of course, bu then again, it wouldn't have been TLOU. You can't split the two things here.

@Scollurio So just because the guy has been a "Nintendo guy" for so long means he can't like dark themed games (or it is weird if he does).... that is just some straight BS there.

Basically, if some likes Nintendo games (because he/she grew with them), but also likes games like this, that means that person must be abnormal (or better yet he/she must be a liar)... c'mon.

@clvr I think you need to take a long look at yourself if you really believe what you wrote.

@darksoul77 I think you need to take a long look at yourself if my opinion affects you so much you have to imply something has to be wrong with me.
If you disagree, fine, just don't have the pretense that everyone should follow the internet hive-mind/echo chamber.
See, that's exactly what I was talking about: if I criticize this apparent second coming of Christ, I'm a madman that should not be taken seriously, because ND made an excellent job advertising this game and riding on the coattails of the leaks.

We've reached a point now where critical analysis and confronting opinions is basically impossible, everyone has to be on the same page as the majority or they get insulted, chastized, whatever (not that this is the case, mind you).

I personally hate this, and it's why I'm moving away from traditional reviews, which nowadays are ads more than actively useful thinkpieces, and more towards actually competent content creators on YT like Adam Millard, Mark Brown, Upper Echelon, Skill Up, etc..

It's easy to tell that their opinions are way more genuine and nuanced than basically any written review you'll find around the internet, and their understanding of how a game should work transpires.

That said, I'm not saying traditional reviews don't have a place, because these more in-depth analysis are obviously more time-consuming and not everyone has the will or time to watch them, but they're certainly way more balanced and objective in the assessment of how a game works and whether it succeeds in what it wants to do or not.

@Medic_Alert exactly. By the way it's a certainly a good game in general, but I'm already a bit tired of hearing everyone wax lyrical about the story when it really takes very little education on the basics of storytelling to realize it's pretty hollow the way it is. It's even more of a shame that it could've worked better in and of itself if only the already existing parts were shuffled around and restructured a bit, that is a real shame.
That said, if you like it I'm glad for you, as I certainly would rather like it than not! Disappointment is not a good feeling 😅

Also, the marketing part is not opinion, that much is fact. It's not my opinion that the pre-release material and interviews were highly misleading, and various outlets let it be known that Sony explicitly told them to only talk about the first half of the game (minus the first couple of hours), basically forcing them to review half the game and having scores that only reflect that.
There's nothing wrong with a divisive piece of media, but if it's divisive I don't think it can warrant perfect scores.
Divisive means it's purposefully not for everyone, so how can that be "perfect"?
I don't recall GOT S8 getting 10/10's for example...but hey, that's just my opinion on 10/10's.

@rpg2000 I didn't mean anyone's a liar or he can't like violent games. I just wondered how much credibility it is to him ACTUALLY liking/playing it or if he just lending is pal Neil a hand, marketingwise. That's what I was wondering.

So going by clvr if someone puts a gay character in something it's a token gesture.

If you studied film or art history you'd know that everything today is ripping of other historical works right back to prehistoric drawings in a cave.

No the story isn't original but if you can point out one professional review that says 'best story ever' which you've said they have a few times im eager to read that review.

@clvr Ah I see they found another one to hate upon besides me because I didn't like TLOU II unimpressive story!

That aside I find the timing of Reggie coming out as a TLOU II fan curious.

@Medic_Alert well, I wouldn't want it spoiled, but certainly I wouldn't wanna go into a game with the expectations set up by the marketing material and then realize that it was misleading and the story I'm about to play is nothing like what they made it out to be in the trailers. Other than that, I obviously like surprises as much as the next guy 😃

By the way thanks for being level-headed and taking the time to assess my opinion fairly, instead of strawmanning me like that @darksoul77 guy who doesn't even tag me while doing it. It's sad that I have to commend you for behaving like a good person, but that's the times we live in unfortunately 😅

@darksoul77 try harder next time, dude, that's a really pathetic way of trying to discredit my opinion by distorting my words and attacking me instead of giving a well thought-out counterpoint. You should learn from Medic_Alert, my friend (?).

I've said that these characters specifically feel like tokens, because you could've swapped them for basically anyone else and nothing substantial would change in the story. Their sexuality is not that relevant to the story, that's all.
That's something you cannot say for Cap'n Holt (Brooklyn 99), the first example that came to mind: he cannot be anyone else but a black, gay man.

I've never even used the word originality, you're doing and undoing everything yourself. Again, try to stay relevant if you wanna offer a serious reply. I don't see a single valid or relevant point in your post.

@Scollurio heh, I already know the ND defence force would jump at my throat, that's the risk of thinking with your own head on the internet these days 😉

@clvr Unfortunately, everywhere else as well.

@clvr you said I have dis credited your opinion when you ranted and raved like a lunatic about everyone's else's opinion who liked the game.

Also you said people were saying this and I will quote you on this 'the second coming' and I asked you to show me a professional review were they say this or closest to this in 'best game ever' which you have chosen not to.

You say they characters feel like tokens because they needed not be gay. Okay then why is this an issue for you whether there gay straight or whatever. Are you saying that they should only put a gay character in if it's because the plot demands it?

Because if it doesn't that makes it a token?

@darksoul77 dude, get a freaking grip. You're either very dense or very belligerant, pick your poison.
Let's go point by point, so that mybe you understand how it works this time:

"raved like a lunatic about everyone's else's opinion who liked the game."
I wrote an imaginary, over exaggerated conversation to drive my point home while expressing it in a humorous manner.
Let's add irony to the list of things you don't grasp.

"asked you to show me a professional review were they say this or closest to this in 'best game ever' which you have chosen not to."
95 on Metacritic and tens of perfect "professional" scores are not self-explanatory enough? PS itself described it as one of the best games of the generation and put it at the top spot of their single player games list.
And that's just one example.

"Because if it doesn't that makes it a token?"
Yes, that's the exact definition of token 😂
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TokenMinority

God are you thick, but thanks for the laugh nonetheless ✌🏻

@clvr whatever dude you have serious issues and your true colours are here for all to see!

@darksoul77 heh, at least I can inform my opinions based on actual thought processes, agreeable or not.
You, on the other hand, only seem capable of dragging down people you disagree with, without ever offering valid points or reasons other than personal attacks.
I gave you the opportunity to counter my argument in order to have a civil conversation, but no, you just kept misreprenting my views and never offering anything substantial.
But ok, I'm the one with problems! It's clearly exemplified by the fact that I had the same conversation with @Medic_Alert, isn't it? I must be a madman to discuss politely with him just because he respectfully disagreed and didn't tey to strawman, distort, or insult me!
Yep, I'm definitely the problem here.

Still not buying it.

Sorry not sorry.

What's with all the articles shilling the game, like did you guys get a new car from Sony paying you. It's not a great game, FF7R is WAY better than this, and you feel it's inferior? What a joke.

so reggie is begging for sponsor money now? wow, that is a very bad look for a millionaire.

@1_W1NG3D_4NG3L oh right, that was poorly worded on my part, my bad!
I get so wrapped up in where I want to go next with these walls of text that I forget to double check what I write lol

I'll reword it to make it clear!
Thanks for pointing it out and for taking the time to understand my points, whether you agree or not 😃

@kyleforrester87 This^^ Why can't we have a game where gay romance isn't shoved in our faces or made as a stupid plot cause "OOO GAYS NEED TO BE NOTICED AND NOT DISRESPECTED, LOOK WE'RE DOING IT!" I don't need that in my games. Just put in the game without it being so forced or to send a message. They did this with Bill in the TLOU1 and was done well.

@kyleforrester87 I've watched all of the cutscenes of TLOU2 and I really disliked how a certain scene where it had to do with the "Gay representation." It just felt like the scene was so out of place when it comes to TLOU and the devs didn't care for subtlety. I won't spoil it if you care about playing it.

@Medic_Alert I've completed the game, where was the trans character?? Abby was definitely female, what did I miss, and what plot point did it explain?

@Medic_Alert thank you

@1_W1NG3D_4NG3L ahahahahah sorry for messing with your head, mate 😅😂

By the way I totally agree, I wanted to like this game (well, I haven't played it yet so I probably will enjoy the gameplay, but certainly not the story) because of what you said: I like being pulled from my comfort zone, and that's exactly why I love BoJack Horseman, After Life, FLCL, Paranoia Agent, The Tatami Galaxy, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Zelda Majora's Mask, Hellblade....and probably a lot of other stuff that doesn't occur to me right now.

I just found TLOU P2 very forced and contrived in its way of trying exactly that, that's all, but I'm glad that you like it: as I said to another person I don't like being disappointed in it because I saw great potential in it.

Thanks for this respectful exchange, mate, and have a good one 😃

@Nepp67 totally agree, that's the kind of "tokenism" shoved down our throats I was referring to previously.

@1_W1NG3D_4NG3L absolutely, my friend! One day I'll get back the PS4 my brother and I bought together from him lol
Then I'll be able to play this one, as well as Ghost, which has me really pumped!
And if he doesn't let me take it back, well, I guess I'll wait for the holidays and the launch of the PS5 to buy another one for peanuts lol

Stay safe 😃