The Art of the Shocker? Reponsibilities, Violence, Games, Trailers, and Marketing *TLOU2 Spawn*

[Scott_Arm]

I like that Eurogamer article. Even accepting that there may be some context missing for the scenes they showed, why the hell would they choose that particular scene? I mean, The Last Of Us one looked dark, gritty and violent, but at least the trailers for that game gave me some hints for an overarching message. I would actually really like to play the Last of Us, but this sequel gives me bad vibes.

I can almost imagine a bunch of executives sitting in a board room high-fiving each other over how ADULT their game is. Yah, we did it, so fucking adult! YAH! Games aren't for kids. I'm a MAN. I'm FORTY. Meanwhile I'm watching the trailer we ended up with, and I'm thinking about playing Spiderman, or Mario Odyssey.

Whoever put together the show maybe should have given the studios a bit of guidance, so that the tone of the show might fit together in some cohesive way.

 

[ultragpu]

Everyone's trying to break new ground by shocking the audience. It's passed into bad taste now, watching the most horrific acts in graphic detail. The aim should be to tell a story. You don't need gratuitous sex and violence to achieve that. All you achieve in the long run is a mass desensitisation, where nothing shocks. I can watch any amount of torture and gore whatnot without the slightest emotional response, the complete opposite of what the media is going for because they've overdone it.

I'm somewhat sided with those saying 'same old same old zombie story', although having not watched any of the popular zombie nonsense, nor having played TLoU 1 yet, there could be scope for playing a zombie survival game. But I'm sick of the whole dark, gritty culture we have now and would probably prefer something more entertaining and fun.

Article seems related. Gotta run so can't read it.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...sts-we-need-a-new-way-to-show-difficult-games

If all these violence were left with a group of amateurs then I would be worried too, having played TLOU and knowing ND's story telling I'm fully confident in their ability to utilize the so called gratuitous sex and violence to appropriately complement the story to suit their vision. I think we're in a transition period with video games thanks to technology and what not, people are able to reach new heights in animation and graphics in order to achieve their vision that much closer. We really should treat games like movies now in terms of nuanced expressions, details and all layers of human psychology. So everything in the game world has to keep up, it'll only get "nastier" from this point on. I think the end game no pun for ND is to reach absolute movie quality in an interactive game on all fronts. It's really not about over the top violence, rather it's the natural progression of things and it's ok to not liking it. Long have I foreseen this day to happen tho, people would think everything is too real, too personal in a particular genre, despite the most painstakingly crafted delivery from the developers. Video game has evolved guys, but then again you can always go back to Mario .

 

[MrFox]

I like that Eurogamer article. Even accepting that there may be some context missing for the scenes they showed, why the hell would they choose that particular scene? I mean, The Last Of Us one looked dark, gritty and violent, but at least the trailers for that game gave me some hints for an overarching message. I would actually really like to play the Last of Us, but this sequel gives me bad vibes.

I can almost imagine a bunch of executives sitting in a board room high-fiving each other over how ADULT their game is. Yah, we did it, so fucking adult! YAH! Games aren't for kids. I'm a MAN. I'm FORTY. Meanwhile I'm watching the trailer we ended up with, and I'm thinking about playing Spiderman, or Mario Odyssey.

Whoever put together the show maybe should have given the studios a bit of guidance, so that the tone of the show might fit together in some cohesive way.

This post is my face palm of the year.

Elaborate opinion about the trailer of a sequel to a game you didn't play which is known to have subtle and complex themes.

The trailer introduced three foundational elements about how a society develops, without being too obvious about it. I got exactly what I wanted without spoilers. Reminiscent of the latest madmax which some people didn't understand. Context is implied if you pay attention to details, and at least finished the first game.

 

[mpg1]

This post is my face palm of the year.

Elaborate opinion about the trailer of a sequel to a game you didn't play which is known to have subtle and complex themes.

The trailer introduced three foundational elements about how a society develops, without being too obvious about it. I got exactly what I wanted without spoilers. Reminiscent of the latest madmax which some people didn't understand. Context is implied if you pay attention to details, and at least finished the first game.

A significant portion of the people playing these games probably aren't picking up on subtle themes.

My take is they showed this scene to appeal to 'The Walking Dead' crowd which is a massive audience.

 

[MrFox]

A significant portion of the people playing these games probably aren't picking up on subtle themes.

My take is they showed this scene to appeal to 'The Walking Dead' crowd which has a massive audience.

Diffferent demographics between console brands.

 

[Scott_Arm]

This post is my face palm of the year.

Elaborate opinion about the trailer of a sequel to a game you didn't play which is known to have subtle and complex themes.

The trailer introduced three foundational elements about how a society develops, without being too obvious about it. I got exactly what I wanted without spoilers. Reminiscent of the latest madmax which some people didn't understand. Context is implied if you pay attention to details, and at least finished the first game.

Diffferent demographics between console brands.

So many Luddites that just don't understand the greatness of this shitty trailer.

 

[MrFox]

So many trolls posting noise.

 

[Scott_Arm]

So many trolls posting noise.

Everyone's trying to break new ground by shocking the audience. It's passed into bad taste now, watching the most horrific acts in graphic detail. The aim should be to tell a story. You don't need gratuitous sex and violence to achieve that. All you achieve in the long run is a mass desensitisation, where nothing shocks. I can watch any amount of torture and gore whatnot without the slightest emotional response, the complete opposite of what the media is going for because they've overdone it.

I'm somewhat sided with those saying 'same old same old zombie story', although having not watched any of the popular zombie nonsense, nor having played TLoU 1 yet, there could be scope for playing a zombie survival game. But I'm sick of the whole dark, gritty culture we have now and would probably prefer something more entertaining and fun.

Article seems related. Gotta run so can't read it.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...sts-we-need-a-new-way-to-show-difficult-games

 

[MrFox]

If you have questions specific to tlou theme development you should ask those who played the game. Disagreeing is baseless from your point of view.

 

[Scott_Arm]

If you have questions specific to tlou theme development you should ask those who played the game. Disagreeing is baseless from your point of view.

From my point of view, the trailer looks like cheap graphic violence. This advertisement for the game (yes, it is an advertisement), should be pulling me in, which it fails at. If the only way you can understand the trailer is fan service, then that's not my fault, it's a failure as an advertisement. To me, this looks like a scene that could easily be lifted straight out of numerous apocalypse movies.

If I'm wrong, explain it to me.

 

[MrFox]

I did give my opinion, you just refused my answer.

In the specifics, I would need to start with tlou ending. You can dislike the trailer as much as you want, but if you claim the themes are not there, you are wrong.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I did give my opinion, you just refused my answer.

I mean specifics. What were the thematic elements introduced in the trailer and how do they relate to the graphic depiction of a woman having her arm shattered with a hammer? What exactly is the subtext the scene is supposed to be relating to me?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

When Naughty Dog wants to bring the medium forward then such dramatic and exciting scenes should be realized in an interactive way. By playing five minutes long movies in video games one can not achieve that in my opinion.

Again, you're making the assumption this is the game. Plenty of first trailers don't show gameplay - it's later videos that show the game in action as you'll be playing it.

With such pre rendered cinematic trailers like the one from AC: Origins it is clear that they are not part of the game.

That doesn't mean in-engine stuff isn't just a cinematic for promo purposes. As I say, this could be a complex QTE scene with loads of options for all we know, just with the IO hints removed to keep it cinematic. Or it's a five minute cut-scene. Or it's a custom-made scene in-engine to showcase the engine but not an actual part of the game, instead using assets for a promo cinematic. Really shouldn't be making assumptions about gameplay from a reveal trailer.

 

[Nesh]

From my point of view, the trailer looks like cheap graphic violence. This advertisement for the game (yes, it is an advertisement), should be pulling me in, which it fails at. If the only way you can understand the trailer is fan service, then that's not my fault, it's a failure as an advertisement. To me, this looks like a scene that could easily be lifted straight out of numerous apocalypse movies.

If I'm wrong, explain it to me.

I finished TLOU. Loved it. But some themes are better not to become way too explicit for their own good. Sometimes its better to keep limits to the way they are expressed. Letting the themes suggest themselves can work better.
Like you, I also feel that they showed more violence than they needed. TLOU made its themes clear without having to be too graphic. Being more poetic and using symbols is a better art expression than being 100% raw.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I finished TLOU. Loved it. But some themes are better not to become way too explicit for their own good. Sometimes its better to keep limits to the way they are expressed. Letting the themes suggest themselves can work better.
Like you, I also feel that they showed more violence than they needed. TLOU made its themes clear without having to be too graphic. Being more poetic and using symbols is a better art expression than being 100% raw.

I want to play TLOU. Last gen I bought every console, but had already traded in my PS3 by the time it came out. Now I'm trying to be more financially responsible. Just haven't had an opportunity to get my hands on a PS4 to play it.

 

[London Geezer]

Once again, you just can't please everyone.

 

[MrFox]

I mean specifics. What were the thematic elements introduced in the trailer and how do they relate to the graphic depiction of a woman having her arm shattered with a hammer? What exactly is the subtext the scene is supposed to be relating to me?

It's up to each viewer to interpret.

I see strong religious themes, in the context of anthropology instead of spirituality. We see the beginning of organized group structures which started after the last of us is gone. (tee hee)

It's using an overload of religious references and metaphors. (including "clip her wings" which is about competitive survival against rival groups, punishment, control, power, order, and justified with religious and racist meaning). How the group structure and power influence the repression of innate empathy.

All of this will have counter-themes and struggles in the main characters. Which is also in the trailer.

 

[iroboto]

It does seem like we might be debating 2 separate things here.

In defence of TLOU2 I think we are all okay with it being dark and gruesome and adult. I mean we are adults and we can read the cover of the box on what to expect.

Then there is the trailer which is handled by the marketing team.

When this was released at 9am with no warning, it comes across as a bit "tone deaf". As if everyone would be cheering this, we don't know what to expect from the trailer but the trailer is open for everyone to watch. It's not just for the players of the game.

I don't think anyone here blames TLOU it's true that the content is there in the original. The trailer is pretty wtf, as in, did this need to be the trailer? What other ideas did they have that could have been PG but gave us insight into the world ?

Coupled with the selection of child abuse for Detroit, I'm left in a bit of a state of confusion; I mean people suffer PTSD from watching this stuff, no warnings is not cool. We all want to see the game, is this the content "Sony" approved to "market" the game to us? Are we expected to applause the violence and the violence against children and have that sell us on the title ?

Weird ethical choices I need to make while watching a trailer to see if I want to buy it, I say weird because I've not yet bought into the idea of wanting to watch or make ethical choices.

 

[MrFox]

Do you think "12 years a slave" applauds slavery because it depicts slavery? Same thing for tlou.

I can't speak for zombie games, I fucking hate zombie games and never finished one.

 

[iroboto]

Do you think "12 years a slave" applauds slavery because it depicts slavery? Same thing for tlou.

I can't speak for zombie games, I fucking hate zombie games and never finished one.

No.
But the marketing for the movie didn't show the depiction of the roughness of slavery. When you decide to see it, you will see and expect it.
There's a big difference between a trailer used to market the film (telling me what i need to know to pay for a movie ticket), and paying the watch the movie (i already know what to expect I'm ready to pay for it)