Trailer came across as very American to me. I keep bringing up the walking dead, but that's what it felt like. Walking Dead and Game of Thrones are two of the most violent shows on tv and two of the most popular shows in the USA. America loves violence, especially American gamers.
The Art of the Shocker? Reponsibilities, Violence, Games, Trailers, and Marketing *TLOU2 Spawn*
- Thread starter iroboto
- Start date
Trailer came across as very American to me. I keep bringing up the walking dead, but that's what it felt like. Walking Dead and Game of Thrones are two of the most violent shows on tv and two of the most popular shows in the USA. America loves violence, especially American gamers.
I mean, it would be an interesting study to see the reactions if this trailler wasn't TLOU2, but a different game.
A lot of the defense of the trailer seems to stem from people associating the disapproval of the trailer with the disapproval of the game. The two aren't related.
TLOU2 is vast, and long and deep. You play the whole game and experience the whole game. It's a story about 2 people, that you know, their relationship and everything that is going to happen in their next part of their journey.
This scene, is nothing but a footnote in the game, it doesn't even contain the 2 main characters. Yet the trailer that is supposed to tell this deep interesting story about a father and a surrogate daughter, is marketed by the violence of completely separate and unknown characters. This trailer heavily relied on you knowing it was TLOU, and if by the end you didn't know they made sure you saw the title at the end; I would evaluate this as being a poorly made trailer since it fails to capture what the game is actually about. It's akin to using the short stories released for Blade Runner 2049 (to provide backstory) as a trailer for Blade Runner 2049. tldr; this should have been marketed as a short story for TLOU2.
A lot of the defense of the trailer seems to stem from people associating the disapproval of the trailer with the disapproval of the game. The two aren't related.
TLOU2 is vast, and long and deep. You play the whole game and experience the whole game. It's a story about 2 people, that you know, their relationship and everything that is going to happen in their next part of their journey.
This scene, is nothing but a footnote in the game, it doesn't even contain the 2 main characters. Yet the trailer that is supposed to tell this deep interesting story about a father and a surrogate daughter, is marketed by the violence of completely separate and unknown characters. This trailer heavily relied on you knowing it was TLOU, and if by the end you didn't know they made sure you saw the title at the end; I would evaluate this as being a poorly made trailer since it fails to capture what the game is actually about. It's akin to using the short stories released for Blade Runner 2049 (to provide backstory) as a trailer for Blade Runner 2049. tldr; this should have been marketed as a short story for TLOU2.
I would have picked a different cinematic approach;
I don't think I quite need something thrown in my face to get the point as far as nuance goes.
- As you see the hammer being lifted @ 2:36, switch the camera to the trees as the shadows are cast against them from the fire
- Extra 0.5-1 second delay before the first blow is made. Just hear the rain
- All you hear are the screams and shattering of bone as the hammer falls to punish her; emphasis on audio design there
- Switch back to the arrow to the
kneeneck.
I don't think I quite need something thrown in my face to get the point as far as nuance goes.
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The trailer wasn't even very visceral, yes it's a bleak setting with not nice things going on but it also introduces new characters and different factions. I'm loving the strong girl.
Also I loved the Last of Us gameplay so I'm happy to trust Naughty Dog when it comes to gameplay.
Also I loved the Last of Us gameplay so I'm happy to trust Naughty Dog when it comes to gameplay.
Tkumpathenurple
Veteran
I don't get the argument referencing the lack of gameplay shown in this trailer: TLOU had cutscenes, the sequel will do too, and they've used one cutscene to establish the tone of the world whilst showing off the graphics. This approach isn't new and, given that Days Gone has shown a fair amount of gameplay so far and both games share a similar premise, I think it's a wise move to limit all gameplay footage to the title likely to release first.
As for the violence: I don't see the issue. Fair enough if it's not for you and you'd rather play something lighter, but the world of TLOU was established in the first entry, and the tone, the brutality, and the horror of this trailer was appropriate to it.
This isn't the cinematic version of World War Z (I hear the book's quite different,) this is a cruel, bleak world where the worst of human nature dominates, and one of the few games with a genuinely interesting anti-hero, for whom you cheer in spite of his moral shortcomings. "...it's okay, I believe him."
If this was the trailer for the next Legend of Zelda, I'd share the disdain. But it isn't and I don't.
And just as I pass on romantic comedies because they bore me to tears and tire my eyes from rolling them so much - not to mention the fact that every character that you're supposed to care for is wildly immoral - people who feel the same about "gritty" content should do the same here.
That being said, I'm also tired of the more general move towards gritty and away from fantastical, but I feel Uncharted 4 is more representative of that. TLOU2 seems perfectly in-character.
As for the violence: I don't see the issue. Fair enough if it's not for you and you'd rather play something lighter, but the world of TLOU was established in the first entry, and the tone, the brutality, and the horror of this trailer was appropriate to it.
This isn't the cinematic version of World War Z (I hear the book's quite different,) this is a cruel, bleak world where the worst of human nature dominates, and one of the few games with a genuinely interesting anti-hero, for whom you cheer in spite of his moral shortcomings. "...it's okay, I believe him."
If this was the trailer for the next Legend of Zelda, I'd share the disdain. But it isn't and I don't.
And just as I pass on romantic comedies because they bore me to tears and tire my eyes from rolling them so much - not to mention the fact that every character that you're supposed to care for is wildly immoral - people who feel the same about "gritty" content should do the same here.
That being said, I'm also tired of the more general move towards gritty and away from fantastical, but I feel Uncharted 4 is more representative of that. TLOU2 seems perfectly in-character.
Yes. Every Uncharted got gritier and darker with every sequel. Completely unecessarely. Like the creators have this silly notion that they need to keep making the stakes higher, and that the only way to do that is make things more and more bleak. Nate was whining and complaining he was gonna die for 90% of U4. So much for pop-corn adventure...
For Last of Us, that stuff is more apropriate.
D
Deleted member 11852
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Not sure if you played the original The Last of Us, but this looks like more of the same. I don't disagree though as I've also become fatigued with The Walking Dead whereas it was a little fresher back in 2013 when the games released. But The appeal of The Last of Us for me was never the bleak setting or the violence, which was ever present, but the characters.
This does sound a bit shit because games are not movies but The Last of Us is a highlight of story telling for me. The games tells a better story with better fleshed-outstories than most of the movies I've ever seen. The simple experience of looting a location could be made so memorable just the some amazing scripts.