• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Last of Us Part II Director doesn't understand relaunching critiscism.

Draugoth

Gold Member
tlou_part_2_remastered_60a85cc5860da9a1c526521809507cdddf356d2d-scaled_345a4619-9eb0-40b6-8aef-d83e57b21290-1440x810.jpg


Recently the director of The Last of Us Part II Remastered, Matthew Gallant, who is a veteran at Naughty Dog and was also the director of The Last of Us Part I, claims that the remaster is the best experience of the game:

I don’t understand some of the consternation about what The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered offers. It’s the best way to play The Last of Us Part 2, if you’re a new PlayStation owner and new to the franchise we want to get you the best experience with all the hardware features on a PS5 native version of the game. My sense is there’s an audience for this for whom the idea of a PS5 version is thrilling. I’m also speaking for myself, I’m excited we can bring this to the fans, and if it’s not for everyone, that’s fine.

Elsewhere in the interview, Matthew Gallant claims that the visual leap between the original sequel and the remaster is reminiscent of the transition between The Last of Us on PS3 and The Last of Us Remastered on PS4. Both games (TLOU 1 and TLOU 2) were released at the end of the consoles' life cycle.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
How about the fact that it’s the laziest "remaster" we’ve seen in years? The game looks identical to the PS4 version.

Should have called it a director’s cut and it would have been an easier pill to swallow. Never mind the fact that these guys claim improved textures and shadows but DF even with a 4x zoom can’t spot the differences.
 
Last edited:

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
He obviously gets it. He's just doing PR poorly.
  • Minimal upgrade
  • Not free
  • Game just came out
  • Another remaster just came out
  • There are more remasters than actual games at this point
  • Oversaturation of the IP
  • TV show adds to oversaturation
  • Aiming a product exclusively at new PS5 owners excludes existing owners who have played this before
  • "If it's not for everyone that's fine." The people that's it not for will probably criticize you though.
Personally, I think the big problem is marketing. They could have just called this a free patch and it would have much better optics. Then sell the DLC for $10 with the new mode and the costumes, and the commentary track, and the lost levels. That's worth $10. What they're blowing here is marketing and messaging and how they packaged this product.
 

Hugare

Member
TLOU Remastered came out one year after launch at $60, only offered better resolution/framerate/shadow quality and included the DLC, and yet you didnt see this kind of reaction back then

This one offers new game mode, better framerate/resolution/draw distance, Dualsense support for $10 and people are bitching

People won't let go about Part II story and no matter what ND does, they will still complain
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
TLOU Remastered came out one year after launch at $60, only offered better resolution/framerate/shadow quality and included the DLC, and yet you didnt see this kind of reaction back then

This one offers new game mode, better framerate/resolution/draw distance, Dualsense support for $10 and people are bitching

People won't let go about Part II story and no matter what ND does, they will still complain
There's no BC for PS3 games on PS4. Also that came out in 2014, but Uncharted 4 was announced in 2013. Currently we have nothing announced or shown about the future of ND, and Factions just got canceled. And standards for remasters change because of increased competition from other platform holders (Xbox) and other studios (CD Project Red, and many others) that do this better for free. You can't just say everything is the same as 10 years ago. Just the fact that this same IP is around for 10 years is a change.
 
Last edited:

Skifi28

Member
I could understand the criticism if the ps4 version was deliberately left at 30fps to compel users to pay money for that, but considering they patched that in for free one can just ignore this upgrade and enjoy the game as is. No, there aren't many visual upgrades, but the main drive for upgrading seems to be the extra content which could have been a 10€ dlc anyway. I imagine calling it "directors cut" instead of "remastered" would satisfy those complaining? Porting older games to new platforms has always been a thing and most times you had to pay the full price instead of upgrading for a small fee.

Either buy it if you like what's there or keep playing the existing version at 60fps, it's a win-win situation. I just don't see what the point of complaining over this is.
 
Last edited:

Hugare

Member
There's no BC for PS3 games on PS4. Also that came out in 2014, but Uncharted 4 was announced in 2013. Currently we have nothing announced or shown about the future of ND, and Factions just got canceled. And standards for remasters change because of increased competition from other platform holders (Xbox) and other studios (CD Project Red, and many others) that do this better for free. You can't just say everything is the same as 10 years ago. Just the fact that this same IP is around for 10 years is a change.
So because there's no BC for PS3 games on PS4 it was ok to release a remaster one year later at $60? I dont see your point here

Currently we have nothing announced or shown about the future of ND, and Factions just got canceled

That's Sony's fault, not ND. They've demanded that ND should focus on Factions, and they did. Blame Sony's idiotic GAAS push here.

And they have already announced that they are working on a new IP, they just havent showed it yet

And standards for remasters change because of increased competition from other platform holders (Xbox) and other studios (CD Project Red, and many others) that do this better for free.

Dont want to step into console wars territory, but Xbox kinda needs to offer more than the competition in some aspects for compensating being at 3rd place on the "console wars". I doubt that their actions wouldnt be different if their situation was also different.

And CDPR shit the bed with Cyberpunk on release date. They needed that good PR.

PS: ND has offered a free PS5 performance boost for the game that you can download right now, making the $10 upgrade even more optional for some people
 

scydrex

Member
I hoped that it would look better or a bigger improvement on graphics. IDK if i will buy it. Maybe to replay the game for a second time. Not sure yet.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
So because there's no BC for PS3 games on PS4 it was ok to release a remaster one year later at $60? I dont see your point here



That's Sony's fault, not ND. They've demanded that ND should focus on Factions, and they did. Blame Sony's idiotic GAAS push here.

And they have already announced that they are working on a new IP, they just havent showed it yet



Dont want to step into console wars territory, but Xbox kinda needs to offer more than the competition in some aspects for compensating being at 3rd place on the "console wars". I doubt that their actions wouldnt be different if their situation was also different.

And CDPR shit the bed with Cyberpunk on release date. They needed that good PR.

PS: ND has offered a free PS5 performance boost for the game that you can download right now, making the $10 upgrade even more optional for some people
My overall point is that consumer behavior has never been purely logical. It's a mixture of feelings and broad factors that all influence reaction. You can just stick your head in the sand and say you don't get the criticism, or you can try and understand it. Uncharted 4 being shown before a cash grab remaster improves general goodwill towards the studio and their brands. It being the 1st remaster instead of the 3rd increases goodwill. It not being available at all due to no BC increases the value of the remaster the 1st time. Lower standards across the board for BC, and free patches helped impressions at the time. Not having a canceled game a couple months before this helped good will the 1st time. Not feeling oversaturated helped goodwill last time. Those are just the ones I thought of off the top of my head. Pretend you're a marketing strategist and think about it. Or, don't. Even just this guy's messaging in this one interview is bad and reminds me of Mattrick saying that if you don't want to be online you can get a 360. You don't ever say this product isn't for exisiting fans. You explain that the new content was made just for them and they're gonna love it, and that the minor visual upgrades are a side thing to make it more welcoming for new fans of the show.
 

Madflavor

Member
Look, I didn't like TLOU2. In fact it pretty much killed my interest in replaying the series and any future entry. I'm glad some people liked it though. But lately what's been really repelling me from this franchise are the people involved in making it. They really do come off high on their own supply, like the success has gotten to their heads. Constant re-releases, director commentaries, Neil obviously trying to break into Hollywood. I'm not saying no dev should be proud of their success, but there is just something about these guys that rubs me the wrong way. They're not the only "Cinematic Gaming" dev in town, and there are other devs that rival them.

I would not be surprised at all if their future games fall short of their predecessors. I have no way of proving this obviously, but I can't shake the feeling that Naughty Dog might be losing sight of what made them great in the first place. All I've seen from these guys for the past two and half years is their never ending TLOU circlejerk with re-releases, a multipleplayer game that probably won't get made, and the show, which quite frankly was just okay and very overrated.
 
Last edited:

Strategize

Member
I mean, lets be completely honest here. If this wasn't TLOU, there wouldn't be much criticism, it's a $10 upgrade with new content included, objectively better value than 99% of remasters.

I don't buy the mindset that if it were simply called Directors Cut instead of Remastered the "criticism" would suddenly vanish. Anyone who believes that hasn't been paying attention to the conversation (generous term) surrounding this franchise since the Part II leaks, some people's brains have been permanently broken since that day, there's no coming back for them. Neil Druckmann could personally bless them with eternal youth and they'd still find a way to hate him.
Look, I didn't like TLOU2. In fact it pretty much killed my interest in replaying the series and any future entry. I'm glad some people liked it though. But lately what's been really repelling me from this franchise are the people involved in making it. They really do come off high on their own supply, like the success has gotten to their heads. Constant re-releases, director commentaries, Neil obviously trying to break into Hollywood. I'm not saying no dev should be proud of their success, but there is just something about these guys that rubs me the wrong way. They're not the only "Cinematic Gaming" dev in town, and there are other devs that rival them.
I'll tell you what that "something" is.
1324596542030_7713053.png
 
Last edited:

MiguelItUp

Member
I mean, the idea of remastering a game that isn't even that old is a bit silly, sure. But at least they went the upgrade route where it was a $10 upgrade for those that already owned the game, and were interested in purchasing this. I feel like if they didn't offer the $10 upgrade thing the negative criticism would be warranted. TLOU2 created quite a few stirs though, so of course folks were at the ready to give it a hard time again.
Should have been an update/patch to the regular game, which already had some basic ps5 improvements. It doesn’t justify its own SKU.
I honestly think they went that route to repackage it for a PC release much like they did the previous game.
 

Fabieter

Member
Maybe because it is sad cashgrab? And labelling it as a remaster is an insult to other remasters?

Especially since Sony Santa Monica gave players Valhalla DLC for free just last month...

I wouldn't expect everyone to give us high quality free shit like ssm did.

There are f2p games asking 20 to 40 bucks for a fucking skin. Everyone paying more than 5 bucks for a skin and hates on full game releases like that is insane.
 

Markio128

Gold Member
I have no issue with the remaster ND, but you need to stop being idioms (pun intended), throw the dog a bone and show us something new.
 

FrankWza

Gold Member
I don't buy the mindset that if it were simply called Directors Cut instead of Remastered the "criticism" would suddenly vanish.
When they do remakes, people call them remasters intentionally. Now they're calling a remaster something else. Same deal.

It's $10
 

Madflavor

Member
I mean, lets be completely honest here. If this wasn't TLOU, there wouldn't be much criticism, it's a $10 upgrade with new content included, objectively better value than 99% of remasters.

I don't buy the mindset that if it were simply called Directors Cut instead of Remastered the "criticism" would suddenly vanish. Anyone who believes that hasn't been paying attention to the conversation (generous term) surrounding this franchise since the Part II leaks, some people's brains have been permanently broken since that day, there's no coming back for them.

I'll tell you what that "something" is.
1324596542030_7713053.png

If that were true I wouldn't be able to count the amount of developers I blindly hate, because of one game they released that I hated. Capcom, Square Enix, Nintendo, CDProjektRed (during CP77 launch), just to name a few examples, have released games I hated and done things I hated. That doesn't mean I blindly hated everything they do, especially because they did go on to release some games that I loved. The only developers that have earned my blind hatred over the years are Konami and Activision Blizzard.
 

Hugare

Member
My overall point is that consumer behavior has never been purely logical. It's a mixture of feelings and broad factors that all influence reaction. You can just stick your head in the sand and say you don't get the criticism, or you can try and understand it. Uncharted 4 being shown before a cash grab remaster improves general goodwill towards the studio and their brands. It being the 1st remaster instead of the 3rd increases goodwill. It not being available at all due to no BC increases the value of the remaster the 1st time. Lower standards across the board for BC, and free patches helped impressions at the time. Not having a canceled game a couple months before this helped good will the 1st time. Not feeling oversaturated helped goodwill last time. Those are just the ones I thought of off the top of my head. Pretend you're a marketing strategist and think about it. Or, don't. Even just this guy's messaging in this one interview is bad and reminds me of Mattrick saying that if you don't want to be online you can get a 360. You don't ever say this product isn't for exisiting fans. You explain that the new content was made just for them and they're gonna love it, and that the minor visual upgrades are a side thing to make it more welcoming for new fans of the show.
I agree that he shit the bad with his statement. Just terrible.

But my post was directed to those "fans" complaining that the game "was released just 3 years ago", "cashgrab" and etc., and we didnt hear shit when Ghost of Tsushima DC was announced or Death Stranding DC, for example

We know what's the real deal here, and you hit the nail on the head. There's no logical reason behind this hate at all.

Bunch of people throwing rocks at ND (even on this thread) for Factions cancellation and not showing their new IP, when in reality ND is probablyt more pissed at Sony for making bad decisions than any of you may be
 
Last edited:
I also don't get it tbh.
30% of everyone that has a PS5 never had a PS4 so odds are they may not have played the PS4 version of TLOU2.

Judging from lots of posts here many people are either buying the WLF edition (which is sold out), the standard edition or doing the upgrade. Clearly there's a market for the game, like there was for the first remake, since that one went #1.
 

JoduanER2

Member
tlou_part_2_remastered_60a85cc5860da9a1c526521809507cdddf356d2d-scaled_345a4619-9eb0-40b6-8aef-d83e57b21290-1440x810.jpg


Recently the director of The Last of Us Part II Remastered, Matthew Gallant, who is a veteran at Naughty Dog and was also the director of The Last of Us Part I, claims that the remaster is the best experience of the game:



Elsewhere in the interview, Matthew Gallant claims that the visual leap between the original sequel and the remaster is reminiscent of the transition between The Last of Us on PS3 and The Last of Us Remastered on PS4. Both games (TLOU 1 and TLOU 2) were released at the end of the consoles' life cycle.

What????! Ive seen several comparison of TLOU2 remastered vs previous version and it looks exactly the same, like seriously you cant tell one from the other.
 
Last edited:

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
So because there's no BC for PS3 games on PS4 it was ok to release a remaster one year later at $60? I dont see your point here
No one paid $60 for TLOUR
And I got it for £34.99 at launch here in the UK so I'm sure across the pound it was cheaper than the $49.99 too
Let's just call this what it is, a last ditch effort with zero effort put in to get more sales out of TLOU2 as the sales are stagnant.
 

rkofan87

Gold Member
He obviously gets it. He's just doing PR poorly.
  • Minimal upgrade
  • Not free
  • Game just came out
  • Another remaster just came out
  • There are more remasters than actual games at this point
  • Oversaturation of the IP
  • TV show adds to oversaturation
  • Aiming a product exclusively at new PS5 owners excludes existing owners who have played this before
  • "If it's not for everyone that's fine." The people that's it not for will probably criticize you though.
Personally, I think the big problem is marketing. They could have just called this a free patch and it would have much better optics. Then sell the DLC for $10 with the new mode and the costumes, and the commentary track, and the lost levels. That's worth $10. What they're blowing here is marketing and messaging and how they packaged this product.
there is free patch out there on the ps4 game bc ps5.
 

rkofan87

Gold Member
I also don't get it tbh.
30% of everyone that has a PS5 never had a PS4 so odds are they may not have played the PS4 version of TLOU2.

Judging from lots of posts here many people are either buying the WLF edition (which is sold out), the standard edition or doing the upgrade. Clearly there's a market for the game, like there was for the first remake, since that one went #1.
the ps4 game is bc on ps5 with 60fps.
 

Blindy

Member
Better to get something than nothing at all but it is frustrating that a focus is put into trying to win newcomers and rather not take care or look out for people who bought & supported the game day 1. I say this as someone who played TLOU1 on PS3 and it was so undercooked that I lost nearly 2 hours of gameplay because of an autosave bug that ND had to instantly patch day 1.
 

dorkimoe

Member
Remastering a damn new game, no visual difference to justify the remaster and asking why people are making criticism.

No ideia. Why don't you remake TLOUSpart2 and see how this end?
Everytime I see remaster for this game I’m like “didn’t that just come out?” They started remastering when the game was still full price on the shelves. Insane
 
Top Bottom