Update May 1, 2020: Sony has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that it has identified the primary individuals responsible for the leaks earlier this week, saying they were not affiliated with Sony Interactive Entertainment or Naughty Dog, as was rumored.
The publisher declined to comment further, saying that the information was currently subject to an ongoing investigation.
This is getting very bad....
I can’t believe that the amazing leadership over at ND has responded so poorly to the leaks. So out of character for them!!
It was just pandering cringe. I think my eyeballs rolled out of my head at that point. My (now ex)wife used to get mad when I'd ask her if she actually liked that kind of thing. Oh your soooo strong and soooo smart. Like they are talking to children. Its disrespectful and patronizing.Was there a lot of anger at the Endgame scene? I just thought people found it easy to make fun of because it came off as unnatural and a little goofy.
I broke down and looked at the high level story leaks for LOU2. Not enough details to comment on political or social aspects as they relate to this game but enough to know I think I'm going to hate the story.
Disconnected from the details and nuances of LoU2 storytelling, I do think it's cool that a lesbian women can be normalized as a main character. In the long run, representation does impact the general populations exposure and eventual acceptance of types of people they may not see in their every-day life. That said, I think the terms SJW and bigots are both over-used by people's who's agenda is more about themself than actually improving the ability of our society to communicate, get along and let people live as themselves. Anna Sarkeesian comes off as a narcissistic, sociopath who's actions hurt the causes she claims to help for her own selfish benefits. These types of people exist in both extremes and you don't have to choose either. So without delving into the details of LoU2, I caution people listening to those who may twist things to their own agendas without more context. Getting preachy turns characters into props while diminishing their presence. Casting stereotypes to other groups just forces people back into their bubbles. Stereotyping or casting Christians as hateful homophobes takes the same disease, mindset, or root cause of discrimination and applies it from another angle. I hope these are not the tacts that ND took.
However...all that may not matter as it relates to me playing LoU2. Without spoiling anything, I hate what I've read. Maybe some nuances will change my mind and I'm leaving the door slightly open. I played LoU for the first time 2 years ago and it became one of my favorite gaming experiences this generation. The relationship development between Joel and Ellie felt well earned and I loved this f***ed up take on a Daddy/Daughter road trip. Last of Us wasn't a bright story but it did have silver linings of hope, love and sacrifice...and everything built up logically.
We're now in this age of subverting expectations. It's like writers have realized the audience has gotten too good at picking up the details of where a story is going so in order to surprise the audience, they take wild turns that do not follow the rules of their story, characters or universe up to that point. This is what I believe LoU2 may be doing. It's the Last Jedi or final season of Game of Thrones. Surprises don't seem earned. Character decisions seems as earned as a WWE heel/face turn.
This is going to be the technical masterpiece of the gen. Probably the next step of blending movie and videogame. No doubt it will be something to marvel and something you'll remember. I'm just questioning if I want to remember LoU based on where it left off in the last game.
Yeah I have no problem with a lesbian lead in the game and honestly I don't think that's where most of the outrage is coming from, it's probably very little of it. I think most of it is the thing that makes most of us not like the story and that'swhich just seems like a dumb idea. We'll see once it's all in full context in our own homes and we can see it from start to finish, who knows? maybe they'll execute it so well it'll win some people over, if it doesn't and the game ends up flopping they may need to make some changes at Naughty Dog so this kind of thing doesn't continue.Joel being killed
I’m afraid if the rumours are true about how woke this game is, ND are finished. It seems to me that all the companies that go woke tend to double down on the wokeness. We can only hope that eventually the shareholders will insist heads will roll and new directors are put in place. I find this far left politics as divisive and repulsive as far right politics. Why are these companies so insistent on forcing their extreme politics on us?
I guess this might be true, but what was the point? Just to be d*cks?
Does it matter who physically leaked the info? Its like a shiny object to shift goalpost.
Unless ND can claim it was a hacker (Because hackers go around leak game info...), then the original source must have come from employee(s).
Anyway, I wanted to point out how horrible ND & many developers are exploiting workers to work long hours, by paying them less than market value, & withholding their pay as a form of after-release-bonus.
This prevent them from quitting.
In my previous jobs, I had work 70+ hours week (with no extra pay)as well as work overnight til morning. This is not sustainable & I can tell you. Worse, it doesn't improve productivity especially creative, intellectual work.
The longer you work, the more mistakes you make. Now you wonder why so many games shipped buggy?
Yeah I've read the plot and I believe nuances and details matter yet I struggle to think of any way this works out. What you mentioned is a big one but the when, how and other aspects surrounding it also bother me. Doesn't really feel anything close to any story I could've hoped for and sometimes the elements of surprise and subverting expectations aren't a good thing.
Taking control of the person who does it for half the game is not the story I'm interested in. I expected one of the main characters to die but the execution and follow up sounds terrible. It would've been like after Joffrey beheaded Ned Stark, you're forced to watch the rest of the show from his standpoint and feel sorry for him.
I'm almost thinking we should have a spoiler thread so we can all talk freely lol.
The only reason I'm sort of softening up is because the clips I saw which were very short made me feel sympathy for that character. Now how we get there matters and how much time was invested in telling the story properly will decide if it's something I can accept overall.
You know those terrible sonic the hedgehog fan fiction crap.... those people wrote the story for this based on the leaks.
Apparently Anita Sarkeesian helped with the story
Where's that coming from? or are you cracking a joke because of the seemingly obvious wokeness they were going for?