The Last of Us

[jms493]

No 2012 launch for The Last of Us, confirms Yoshida

This is why E3 pissed me off sometimes.....so great we will see this game again at the 2013 E3?

[Twigg4075]

Oh, people actually thought that this game was coming out this year? ND has always separated their games by at least two years. Uncharted 3 came out in November 2011.

[Swarley]

Oh, people actually thought that this game was coming out this year? ND has always separated their games by at least two years. Uncharted 3 came out in November 2011.

Yeah but this is also the first time they've had 2 separate dev teams working. These aren't the same guys who made UC3.

[Villain]

Looks like a Day 1 purchase for me.

[Handleit_44]

Yeah but this is also the first time they've had 2 separate dev teams working. These aren't the same guys who made UC3.

Yeah, they started working on this after they finished production on Uncharted 2.

[BigBucs]

This is why E3 pissed me off sometimes.....so great we will see this game again at the 2013 E3?

Looks like this shit is going the way of I Am Alive. :bitch:

[Handleit_44]

More impressions from an extended look:


The Verge

Straley explains that enemies will work together and, in a world of diminishing resources, they're busy scavenging the same items you are. If they discover a bandage in a drawer, it won't be there for you to discover. It will be on his body though. "You can see the investment we've put into our AI," Straley notes.

"We want every NPC to feel like a real person, like they're gonna protect their friends," the game's lead programmer told Polygon after the demonstration. "You hold a gun to their friends' head, they care about their friend they're gonna try to keep him alive. That's the kind of thing we're headed for."

And despite an enormously cinematic presentation, don't mistake presentation for "scripted" action scenes. The hotel set we saw wasn't necessarily an "open world," the impression I was left with after watching this second play through was that there are many ways to proceed through various locations, with your actions directly changing how enemy characters will respond.

"If I showed a shotgun, that would be completely different than if I showed something else," Straley says. For instance, in the demo we watched, a character ran from Joel because he had a gun, but if he hadn't been armed, it's more likely a hand-to-hand fight would have ensued.

"This is all systemic," Straley explained, drawing a contrast between the heavily scripted interactivity of the Uncharted series and what Naughty Dog is trying to accomplish with The Last of Us.

It's difficult to fully understand a game in a short gameplay demonstration, but if Naughty Dog's goal was to convince the cynical gamers of the world that The Last of Us was different than its excellent, albeit heavily scripted, Uncharted series, it succeeded. "Definitely we are moving away from more scripted. We wanted to give the player more choice, especially with combat," a Naughty Dog developer told us after the demo. "We showed you two examples here of totally different ways to play and there are thousands of different ways to play those sections."

VG247

The full length demonstration was less action packed during this particular battle, but no less awesome, with the developers taking a stealthier approach. A combination of silent takedowns and distracting the enemies with a well timed glass bottle throw. It’s reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid – stealth and a guns-blazing approach seem equally valid.

The demo extended beyond this, with Joel and Ellie sneaking past and making their way further into the hotel. As Joel heals up with a bandage found in a bathroom drawer, Ellie stumbles across a pair of bodies in a blood soaked bath. They’ve been there a while, with visible signs of decay.

It’s moments like these that really stood out during the demonstration. Pieces of the environment which spark dialogue between the two protagonists, revealing backstory on the world and insight into the characters and their relationship. ”Took the easy way out, huh?” Ellie asks. Joel’s response that “it ain’t easy, trust me it ain’t easy” betrays just enough to give us a glimpse of his past. Suddenly he’s a little more interesting and we’re eager to discover more about him. If only to satisfy the many questions this single line of dialogue has spawned.

There’s another great example of this near the start of the twenty-minute presentation. Ellie asks about a movie poster for ‘Dawn of the Wolf’ and Joel says that he’s seen it, that it’s a “stupid teen movie”.

“Who dragged you to see it, though?” Joel sighs. “I dunno”.

Destructoid

On that next floor, Joel finds bandages in a bathroom and uses them to tend to his wounds. In the press conference presentation, he used similar bandages and a bottle of booze to create a Molotov fire bomb instead. This shows that the player is free to choose how they use their findings, and that items found can be used offensively or defensively.

In The Last of Us, the AI was crafted so that the humans in this world react based on what weapons you expose. They read your defenses like a poker hand and react appropriately. Group behavior in the AI has it so that all enemies are aware of each other, and they'll work together to take you down. For instance, if they find a body, they'll work together to investigate and find out who killed this person. All of this work helps to provide an experience where it will seem like you're up against other humans stuck in the same world, trying to survive.

Ellie's movement and behavior is controlled by AI that adapts to player choice and performance. There are rule sets that look for how challenges play out as you play as Joel. So, if Joel engages enemies offensively, Ellie will follow. If Joel chooses stealth, Ellie will try to follow, with her motivations falling right in line with the player's. The game will track things like inventory, tendencies and other triggers to change Ellie's behavior dynamically, meaning that if Joel needs help, Ellie will probably try to help out. The goal was to make her feel like another human in the same situation, and you'll see her grow over the course of the game.

What's exciting is that all of this comes together to make for a game that plays out differently every single time. In this demo, for example, Joel and Ellie could have taken another path toward their goal, with different items and obstacles for them to deal with. And even on the same path, with different actions, Ellie's reactions would also change, making for a different experience. The AI would have enemies also reacting differently, perhaps moving differently, or changing their tactics.

[Handleit_44]

 

[Swarley]

[July 4 1776]

I love my 360 but damn this game looks good. Cant Wait

[BigBucs]

Makes 0 sense for it to be getting this kind of pub when the shit isnt coming out for another year. Fuck this.

[padman59]

Makes 0 sense for it to be getting this kind of pub when the shit isnt coming out for another year. Fuck this.

At least we've seen some gameplay to backup the hype as opposed to other games in recent years.

[BigBucs]

I agree but why have it on talk shows right now when the game isnt coming out for another year? That typically happens when the game is set to release soon.

[Twigg4075]

I'm with Bucs. It's what thing to release screen shots or show some gameplay on a website like Game Trailers, but to go on a big talk show and show the game when it's so far out. What if you have thousands of people that barely know what a PS3 is and they see that game and are convinced they need it? They go to their Best Buy the next day and find out it doesn't come out for a year? Do you really think they're going to be that hyped a year from now?

[Handleit_44]