Yeah, they seem to exist for the sake of it. The sci-fi element died when they botched the climax of Desmond's story in 3 (which in hindsight, was not even that great a story before then anyway), and yet they keep it alive because I don't know.
At least it seems that way. I jumped off after 4, but every time I look into it, the sci-fi stuff seems to barely even exist anymore. It just seems like an excuse for a premise rather than even a part of an actual story anymore.
The castle on the right looks like the medieval english style, so my guess is it's Viking invasions of England around the 9th century time. That's when they were most common.:
Alfred the great was king of England (or 'Wessex' at the beginning of his rule) from 871-899.
I genuinely guessed the country and the century based on a single image. Admit it, that's pretty damn impressive!
I mean, yeah, it was a good guess...but, you said it yourself: that was when Vikings were the most common, and Ubisoft aren't exactly known for being the kings of creativity. I think it was the only logical path they had available to them.
@Dezzy@CanisWolfred I don't know if anyone of you have watched Vikings (the series)? But it's literally the same plot. For a moment I thought it was based on the show. Both are based on real historic events, but even the characters give me the same vibe, the main protagonist, and the the king as well. Even though in the TV show it's king Ecgberht, the grandfather of king Alfred, so it takes place a bit later.
And what's up with the modern haircuts for vikings? Seems like Ubisoft had been watching Vikings if you ask me.
@Octane Probably. I mean, I don't watch TV shows and literally did not even know there was a Vikings historical drama until the new Assassin's Creed was revealed, but I could see them trying to capitalize on its popularity. Might also explain why we finally got a Vinland Saga anime, now that I think about it.
I don't actually watch any TV shows, post Game of Thrones disaster finale.
Anyway so various media sources are reporting that the Naught Dog leak was due to hacking, and not an employee. Yong Yea did a good job of covering it.
Given the massive incentive to cover it up if it was an angry employee, I still don't fully buy it, but there you go:
Man, seeing the drama around this game is getting ridiculous. It's just a video game.
@Dezzy I dunno, given everything that has been said, I think it's pretty clear at this point, and YongYea sums it up pretty well. Whatever they do and say at this point, the tinfoil hats will always reject it and say it's a cover up, or fake news, or whatever.
The only information is coming from people affiliated with Naughty Dog though, so why should we automatically trust it?
If the truth is literally that a member of staff hated what they'd done with the story and characters, and disliked how his concerns were shut down within the studio, so he leaked it.....do you think they would ever be willing to admit that? I sure don't.
Again, I'm not saying that's necessarily any more likely. I just don't know at all.
@Dezzy Those insiders YongYea cited weren't affiliated with ND. And neither is Jason Schreier, in fact, he reported on crunch culture at ND in the first place. He has no stakes in this.
I don't believe the disgruntled employee story, because there's no evidence for it at all, just speculation. However, even if an employee didn't like the game he was making, so what? The answer is to leak everything online? Kinda pathetic if you ask me. If you're working at Nintendo, and you don't like the way the next Mario game is shaping up, you're not going to leak it all online, are you? You either swallow it and help finish the game, or you quit and look for another job if it bothers you that much.
Yes but I don't regard official statements from corporations as evidence either. So both sides are speculation in my mind. Also, Schreir's reports are based on what ND staff have said to him.
The idea that someone would leak it online would be much more based on the idea that their criticisms inside the company were treated very badly (not just that they hated the game). The 2 pieces of evidence for that are 1) Neil Druckmann admitted in the past that he fired someone because they didn't like changes that were made to Uncharted 4 because he considered the criticism "sexist" (apparently it was a criticism of how they'd made Nadine into an untouchable super-soldier, which frankly was a good criticism)
2) Druckmann's first response to the blowback to the leaks was to post a meme calling everyone bigots and homophobes, which he then deleted.
When you know what the leaks actually are, it seems incredibly plausible to me that someone within the company hated the story but whenever they raised issues about it, they were just called homophobic and bigoted (given that the characters involved seem to be largely LGBT). That is absolutely the sort of thing which would build up the resentment necessarily to make someone leak a game.
The idea that someone would leak it online would be much more based on the idea that their criticisms inside the company were treated very badly (not just that they hated the game). The 2 pieces of evidence for that are 1) Neil Druckmann admitted in the past that he fired someone because they didn't like changes that were made to Uncharted 4 because he considered the criticism "sexist" (apparently it was a criticism of how they'd made Nadine into an untouchable super-soldier, which frankly was a good criticism)
Yet this doesn't provide evidence that any recent employee was fired for similar reasons, nor does it explain how they got ahold of so much footage and/or was allowed to keep full on cutscenes after leaving the company. Sure, maybe management didn't respect their opinions, but disgruntled employees are hardly an anomally. We've seen reports and leaks to the press made specifically by employees who aren't happy with their boss and the choices they've made countless times over the years, but very rarely do they result in pre-released footage going public. Normally there's a ton of red tape to prevent this very situation. Most employees can't even talk about their work environment without worrying about massive repurcussions, it actually doesn't seem likely that things would've gotten this far. Even if they were disgruntled, you have people like Jason Schrier that people would've been more likely to go to, who would've been a much better choice to leak information - they have a history reporting on Naughty Dog's treatment of their workers, and even without him, there's other websites who make it a point to denounce crunch culture and champion the rights of game developers. It's too juicy a story to pass up if that was the case, so I'm not sure why anyone, even in a fit of range, would see it preferrable to leak such information. They'd also be prime suspects in the search, so they'd have to know they won't get away with it, and since they're hurting their peers in addition to the management, it's unlikely that anyone would protect them.
2) Druckmann's first response to the blowback to the leaks was to post a meme calling everyone bigots and homophobes, which he then deleted.
When you know what the leaks actually are, it seems incredibly plausible to me that someone within the company hated the story but whenever they raised issues about it, they were just called homophobic and bigoted (given that the characters involved seem to be largely LGBT). That is absolutely the sort of thing which would build up the resentment necessarily to make someone leak a game.
Except he was responding to kneejerk reactions of the leaks, which did often criticize the game for being too woke. I don't even follow The Last of Us II and I've seen countless examples as it is. That doesn't mean he preempted the criticism, and even if he did...have you seen the internet in the past 10 years? It's something of a cross between a powder keg and a minefield, especially with the sensitive topics the game is covering. Those sort of responses would've had have been on his mind while working on the game because he knows some people were never going to accept the choices made, regardless of context. It turns out that's just the sort of s*** you gotta deal with when you're an artist, regardless of the medium.
All I'm saying is that such evidence doesn't point towards disgruntled employees, or a difference in opinion from within the company. He has every right to be angry, so nothing is out of the ordinary.
Besides, what do you really think sounds more likely: someone who has access to extensive footage of the game (meaning it's unlikely to be a low-level employee, unless a gametester saved the footage to their home computer somehow) nuking their own career while making deliberate attempts to sabotage the hard work they and their peers put into a game...or someone who clearly had malicious intent in the first place digging around in Naughty Dog's files and getting ahold of footage that they can then distribute in a way that maximizes the damage to said company?
Sure, it could be a concerned fan, or even a frustrated employee who gained said footage through hacking, and knew where to look through insider information, but I don't think there's enough pieces in the puzzle to say that a disgruntled employee was involved. Sure, it might be an appealing narrative, but life is usually not that pretty. More often than not, the simplest answer - or rather, the one that requires the least amount of assumptions - is the correct one.
I missed your idea about how it happened, @CanisWolfred .... I get what you're saying about it seems unlikely an employee would have that much footage to leak & all the rest
Even if they were disgruntled, you have people like Jason Schrier that people would've been more likely to go to, who would've been a much better choice to leak information - they have a history reporting on Naughty Dog's treatment of their workers,
Schrier only ever reports on things that align with his personal ideology. The reason he reports on issues like crunch is because he's trying to help create game developer unions. Which is why I don't trust his reporting on crunch issues. He has an incentive to exaggerate and leave out certain details which go off-narrative.
He would not only not report something like this, he'd be one of the people joining in with Druckmann and calling everyone who disliked it a bigot. As you can see with the Gawker union, part of the whole point of some unions is to push political activism. That's what the entire furore at Kotaku/Deaspin is about. They cared about their activism more than they did about the actual working conditions (the thing a union would normally claim to be interested in).
Except he was responding to kneejerk reactions of the leaks, which did often criticize the game for being too woke. I don't even follow The Last of Us II and I've seen countless examples as it is.
Yes, the story decisions they've made are certainly being interpreted through a kind of political-framing. But those story decisions are not themselves political things at all. So the fact that Druckmann responded in that way, did rub me the wrong way.
It's very similar to how people complained about Rey in Star Wars being a Mary Sue were accused of sexism. That's just not a legitimate response to the criticism. It's an attempt to deflect instead.
In fairness, if people don't want to be accused of being transphobic, then they shouldn't act viciously transphobic. And the reaction to Abby online has been PROFOUNDLY transphobic.
Critical response to the game more broadly has been pretty toxic since that one E3 presentation with the kiss (GIRLS KISSING GIRLS?! clutches pearls).
I do have to wonder how vicious the reaction to TLOU Part II's exploitation film-style plot would be if it wasn't flavored with bigotry.
Regarding the leak, I've heard various people online speculate strongly one direction or the other. I'll freely admit I'm not knowledgable enough on what it'd take to steal this kind of information remotely to do the same, though. I'm not inclined to trust anyone at this point, however. Especially not corporate entities who have every incentive to lie and save face.
Currently Playing: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (NS2); Corpse Factory (PC)
It's important to actually note the numerical differences in these different responses, because I think you're misrepresenting things quite a bit.
That "kiss trailer" you're referring to has 95% upvotes. The number of "toxic" people who simply don't want any lesbian character is tiny. The kissing was even the main focus of the trailer. The same was true with the Left Behind DLC for the first game. The amount of negativity, in proportionate terms, was absolutely tiny. The only reason anyone heard anything about it is because progressive activists deliberately went looking for it.
The recent reaction to the leaks however, has lead to them getting 70% downvotes on their "going gold" announcement video. That's obviously a massive increase in negativity. You can't explain that with just "bigotry". That doesn't explain why someone like Angry Joe, a completely apolitical channel, has a video ranting about the how much he hates the story, and 1 million people have watched it, and it has 95% upvotes. He doesn't even mention lesbians and transgender anything (except noting that someone else mentioned it).
Well, if nothing else, this is certainly the most interest I've ever had in The Last of Us II. I mean, I'm actually talking about it, something I never would've considered doing before all this. It went from being an iterative sequel to a critical darling that was destined for stardom, to something where even fans of the original aren't sure whether or not they'll actually enjoy it. At least the discussion won't be the predictable circle-jerking like I've seen far too many times with major releases over the years, including the first TLoU.
Controversy almost always ends up being helpful for whatever is provoking it. Almost always. It keeps your product in the public eye, generates interest from people who might otherwise have written it off, and, in general, mega-fans will still purchase the thing in question, regardless of how much they threaten to boycott it.
@Dezzy "Progressive activists" (lol) don't need to point the stuff out right now: transphobic memes and angry rhetoric have been flooding various websites (especially social media sites like twitter) since the leaks came out. I'm sure it's a LOT of what ND's people see when they log onto twitter. Between that and the generalized frustration of randos online trying to torch public interest in the project you've been pouring your heart and soul into for years because some out-of-context clips were leaked online, are you really surprised Druckmann reacted the way he did?
And anyway, it doesn't matter if bigotry motivates the majority of a backlash. I'm sure it doesn't. It almost never does. But trolls and bigots are great at co-opting outrage and controversy for their own purposes.
Criticism of Reye was based on her role in TFA after people got a chance to see it. "Criticism" of TLOU Part II is based on 1% of the total experience being judged out of its proper narrative context by fans who apparently have a massive entitlement complex when it comes to the property.
Currently Playing: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (NS2); Corpse Factory (PC)
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