"Favourites" Thread #5 - Naughty Dog (curated poll)

Lessgo!

  • Crash Bandicoot

  • Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

  • Crash Bandicoot Warped

  • Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

  • Jak II

  • Jak III

  • Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

  • TLOU / Remastered

  • TLOU Left Behind

  • Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

  • Uncharted The Lost Legacy

  • TLOU 2

  • Jak X Combat Racing

  • Crash Team Racing

Results are only viewable after voting.
Tschumi

Tschumi

Member
Hey again homies.

... The tale so far....

Voted best Assassin's Creed title: Assassin's Creed 2
Voted best Supergiant Games title: Hades*
Voted best Blizzard title: Diablo 2 + Expansion/Remaster
Voted best Rockstar title: Red Dead Redemption 2
Voted best Naughty Dog title: --
Voted best Valve title: --
Voted best FromSoftware title: --
Voted best Arkane Studios title: --
Voted best Bethesda Softworks title: --
Voted best Bioware title: --
Voted best Konami title: --
Voted best Id Software title: --

*won on average in a differently run poll

After my recent Rockstar thread wound up pretty quickly, my itch to get your opinions on this stuff is still present so I'm moving along to Naughty Dog.

images


This is pretty topical because of a wide range of much loved titles, genres and gameplay variations for us to weigh up.

I'm only going to mention the 4 key franchises in my poll: Crash Bandicoot, Jak&Daxter, Uncharted and TLOU. I will try to include their spin-offs, within reason, if any such reason need be applied.

As usual you can't see results, and can't change your vote, and we can see what you voted for, for fun :)

Note: Crash 4, Daxter and CTR nf et al weren't made by ND as far as I'm aware atm

... Coming soon: Valve
 
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Of all of those titles I've only played Crash Bandicoot: Warped. I voted for it only because I don't know enough about the test of the games since I have not played them.
 
IFireflyl said:
Of all of those titles I've only played Crash Bandicoot: Warped. I voted for it only because I don't know enough about the test of the games since I have not played them.
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Apparently it was the best PS1 game so it's probably a safe pick
 
The Last of Us Part II for me.

Best combat.
Best level design & variety.
Best boss fights.
Best AI.
Best animation.
Best story.
Best art direction.
Best music.
Best visual & audio fidelity.
Best controls, options, & UI.
 
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TLOU2 by a country mile. I always saw the Uncharted games as dumbifications of the original Tomb Raider formula with some Gears of War thrown in for the set pieces and the TLOU as a good but failed cinematic experience since their technology was still not up to scratch for their ambitions.

It all came together in TLOU2. A revolution in presentation, acting, stealth gameplay, melee combat and narrative punches. Also, the game is dark as hell which is always a bonus in my book.
 
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TLOU, part I

Stellar casting and voice over talent and direction. Beautiful world brimming with details based on research, pushing the PS3 to it's limits. Novel narrative twist on the tired post apocalyptic survival tale. Believable character drama informed by the setting in a symbiotic way, one never overshadowing the other. Brilliantly paced. Fantastic representation without tokenising or making a race/sexuality someone's entire character. Just a very pretty, mature, gritty game.

TLOU2 wasn't bad, and had more polish, but I feel like it just got the equation wrong. Too much salt in one place, too much sugar in another.
 
tommib said:
TLOU2 by a country mile. I always saw the Uncharted games as dumbifications of the original Tomb Raider formula with some Gears of War thrown in for the set pieces and the TLOU as a good but failed cinematic experience since their technology was still not up to scratch for their ambitions.

It all came together in TLOU2. A revolution in presentation, acting, stealth gameplay, melee combat and narrative punches. Also, the game is dark as hell which is always a bonus in my book.
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I've not played it because i want to finish TLOU 1 first and never find the motivation, but I'm really looking forward to it. Especially after this ...

I really love the light hearted feeling of those uncharted games, they feel like Indiana Jones movies with warm humour that go on forever... Like hot soup on a rainy Sunday lol... The gameplay isn't the hottest shit in the hood but yeah i just feel no guilt about being all in on Drake's story lol.. i picked Uncharted 4 in part because the starting level in the children's Home was so heart warming lol...
 
Tschumi said:
I've not played it because i want to finish TLOU 1 first and never find the motivation, but I'm really looking forward to it. Especially after this ...

I really love the light hearted feeling of those uncharted games, they feel like Indiana Jones movies with warm humour that go on forever... Like hot soup on a rainy Sunday lol... The gameplay isn't the hottest shit in the hood but yeah i just feel no guilt about being all in on Drake's story lol.. i picked Uncharted 4 in part because the starting level in the children's Home was so heart warming lol...
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From what you write, you're going to hate TLOU2. There's nothing light-hearted about it. It's pitch-black, ultra-violent, cynical and hopeless.
 
tommib said:
From what you write, you're going to hate TLOU2. There's nothing light-hearted about it. It's pitch-black, ultra-violent, cynical and hopeless.
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Its not hopeless, but yeah its a sad game.

Notice Ellie is wearing Dina's bracelet again in the epilogue. She stopped wearing it after Seattle.

Never had it with her in California. Yet how did she get it back from Dina in the epilogue?
And where are her guns in the epilogue? Why doesn't she react when seeing the empty farmhouse?

Most likely she has already been to Jackson and talked with Dina. A positive sign for Ellie's future.

Or perhaps after Seattle, and during everything in Cali, Ellie just kept Dina's bracelet hidden in her bag for later?
Unlikey, but her decision to start wearing it again would signal at a minimum she's thinking about Dina & JJ again.

Also, Druckmann & Gross revealed that the initial draft of the epilogue had Ellie picking up one of JJ's toys that had been left behind in the farm, but removed it since it made it too obvious she was going to see Dina at the end of the story. Another reason to hope for Ellie's future.

And, the menu screens make it clear that Abby made it to Catalina Island and reached the Fireflies. Another hopeful future hint at the end.
 
Surprised at the results but I agree. To me it is TLOU2. Hands down the best gameplay and combat ND has ever had in a game. It might be dark and depressing but actually playing it feels so good and it has some of the best AI I have seen.
 
Jak and Daxter are dyin' here lol
You've gotta hand it to ND, not many devs are known for recent efforts more than their original classics
 
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everything they ever made, except the Jak games, is trash...

Crash is a shitty 2D platformer where someone pulled the camera behind the character, Uncharted is Tomb Raider for people with cognitive disabilities and TLOU is pretentious Horror cliché #42 and everything is context sensitive

I rest my case...
 
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01011001 said:
everything they ever made, except the Jak games, is trash...

Crash is a shitty 2D platformer where someone pulled the camera behind the character, Uncharted is Tomb Raider for people with cognitive disabilities and TLOU is pretentious Horror cliché #42 and everything is context sensitive

I rest my case...
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Cracking Up Lol GIF
 
Between Uncharted 2 & 3 for me. Kept the light hearted style Naughty Dog are known for while also having serious moments. In general, the Uncharted franchise nailed the perfect sense of adventure.

I wish they'd go back to that style.
 
I've always thought Naughty Dog hadn't made a great game until Uncharted 1. From then through Uncharted 4 they were masters. I haven't played TLOU2.
 
YukiOnna said:
Between Uncharted 2 & 3 for me. Kept the light hearted style Naughty Dog are known for while also having serious moments. In general, the Uncharted franchise nailed the perfect sense of adventure.

I wish they'd go back to that style.
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"Sense of adventure", that's it. Technical tours de force, too
 
Tschumi said:
I've got an hd trilogy on my vita any time i want it, gooood vita, good vita *pat pat*
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I would say good Vita... if the ports weren't so bad. the games run at freaking (unstable) 20fps!
I think you can get it to 30fps on a modded Vita, but even that is half of the PS2 original
 
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01011001 said:
I would say good Vita... if the ports weren't so bad. the games run at freaking 20fps!
I think you can get it to 30fps on a modded Vita, but even that is half of the PS2 original
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I do play it overclocked yeah, it's enough for me :)

You're right though, r&c and sly are both better remasters
 
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Tschumi said:
I do play it overclocked yeah, it's enough for me :)

You're right though, r&c and sly are both better remasters
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it's crazy that the Ratchet collection was made by the same devs as the Jak collection... you'd think the Jak collection was made by the same guys who fucked up the God of War collection lol (given that those also run at ~20fps and also look worse than the PS2 originals at some spots)
 
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01011001 said:
it's crazy that the Ratchet collection was made by the same devs as the Jak collection... you'd think the Jak collection was made by the same guys who fucked up the God of War collection lol (given that those also run at ~20fps and also look worse than the PS2 originals at some spots)
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I didn't even play any god of war collections, i just play the psp titles in adrenaline with their small visual improvements.. i didn't really enjoy the og style GoW titles though. Sorry davidjaffe davidjaffe
 
Tschumi said:
Ah if it's a good story I'll like it :)
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Pt 2 doesn't have a good story. It's loaded with ridiculous plot holes, and some awful dialogue. It's their best technical achievement by a mile though.
Pt 1 is my favorite game by them though, because it also included my favorite multiplayer experience in Factions. Although Pt1 also has a couple major plot holes, but I actually liked all the characters... except David, that creep
 
I haven't played their Jak & Daxter games but I have played all the rest — I think, I first noticed them with Uncharted 1; I was looking for my next action/adventure fix after the Prince of Persia series and was convinced the new Assassins Creed game was going to be it and it was about a week from release I heard about Uncharted 1 and Gamestop was giving it away early so I grabbed it. Loved the series since then!

People hating on Naughtydog games are just stupid or have been sleeping through most of the past gaming experiences forgetting games that were linear focused; they existed before ND — ND just took them to the next level so we get stupid shallow comments on their games now. Shallow criticism is just shallow criticism. If you don't like their games, then go play the million of other open world sandbox type games.
 
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Its gotta be Uncharted 2.

If you asked me 2 years ago, I would have said TLOU. I never expected a sequel could retroactively alter my view of the first game. I guess this is what happens when a game is so story focused.
 
For me this is the easiest one, the choice is pretty easy when you consider what is Naughty Dog core purpose, it is to make Story-Driven Action/Adventure games.
Then the game with the best story and characters should win, in that case its easily The Last of Us (2013)
Uncharted is a game that i dislike a lot, it is more over the top than serious and the protagonist is Indiana Jones rip-off, while he is by far the best character in the franchise, he is still only decent to me, mainly because he is uninspired and comes off as obnoxious at some times, but the others are worse, for example i see Uncharted 2 here is the highest voted, this is one of the most overrated game imo, I rate this one 1/5. The gameplay got repetitive quick which is a major sin in this type of games, the puzzles were incredibly shallow but the main problem is as i said the writing, which is Naughty Dog main job. The writing was atrocious, the plot and the characters, the only highlight i had is the betrayal in turkey. The villain is one dimonsial and the ending was extremely stupid and insulting. Anyway, all Uncharted games are not good to me. 4>3>1>2.
The Last of Us 2 was improvement in gameplay but not much but it had excellent production values, but for Naughty Dog i check out stories, and it was a trainwreck.
The Last of Us 1 had mediocre gameplay but the story and characters were consistent and well made, its not a masterpiece as people claim, but i think its the best one in their studio and one of the good zombie games.
I'm generally not a fan of Naughty Dog though, but i played many of their games due to overhype, The Last of Us is the only one that i was "ok that was good" by the end of it, not as good as they said but at least i liked it, while the others i always question and wonder how the hell did this win a lot of awards and get so much acclaim.

By the way: I request feature threads

1- Fromsoft
2- Arkane
3- Bethesda
4- Bioware
5- Konami (this one is gonna be a banger)
 
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Mozzarella said:
For me this is the easiest one, the choice is pretty easy when you consider what is Naughty Dog core purpose, it is to make Story-Driven Action/Adventure games.
Then the game with the best story and characters should win, in that case its easily The Last of Us (2013)
Uncharted is a game that i dislike a lot, it is more over the top than serious and the protagonist is Indiana Jones rip-off, while he is by far the best character in the franchise, he is still only decent to me, mainly because he is uninspired and comes off as obnoxious at some times, but the others are worse, for example i see Uncharted 2 here is the highest voted, this is one of the most overrated game imo, I rate this one 1/5. The gameplay got repetitive quick which is a major sin in this type of games, the puzzles were incredibly shallow but the main problem is as i said the writing, which is Naughty Dog main job. The writing was atrocious, the plot and the characters, the only highlight i had is the betrayal in turkey. The villain is one dimonsial and the ending was extremely stupid and insulting. Anyway, all Uncharted games are not good to me. 4>3>1>2.
The Last of Us 2 was improvement in gameplay but not much but it had excellent production values, but for Naughty Dog i check out stories, and it was a trainwreck.
The Last of Us 1 had mediocre gameplay but the story and characters were consistent and well made, its not a masterpiece as people claim, but i think its the best one in their studio and one of the good zombie games.
I'm generally not a fan of Naughty Dog though, but i played many of their games due to overhype, The Last of Us is the only one that i was "ok that was good" by the end of it, not as good as they said but at least i liked it, while the others i always question and wonder how the hell did this win a lot of awards and get so much acclaim.

By the way: I request feature threads

1- Fromsoft
2- Arkane
3- Bethesda
4- Bioware
5- Konami (this one is gonna be a banger)
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Fucking love your requests, absolutely gonna do all of them.

Thanks for giving gold input on the games despite your struggles getting in to them, too
 
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