The Last of Us

• Combat in the game seems consist of hand to hand (or hand to neck, rather), firearms, and improvised melee weapons. It makes a lot of sense that melee combat will be prominent (forgetting that it’s a “zombie” game) as Naughty Dog has invested a lot of time and energy in an advanced combat system for Uncharted 3, including contexual moves using the environment and simultanious encounters with multiple enemies. (1:01, 1:50)
• Notice that the plank that Joel uses in his first fight, breaks at the second and third hit, which might mean that melee weapons have some sort of durability and are constantly improvised. (1:01)
• As TOMN92 noted in a different thread, from the looks of the scene at (1:34), stealth combat could be part of the game. Again, this also makes sense tech-wise, considering the AI development ND did for Uncharted 2, with different AI states.
• Ellie seems to be all giddy about finding just three bullets, hinting at a scarcity of ammo and probably other resources. (1:24)
• Something interesting to note: Why does the downed surviver at (1:24) keep spent casings/empty shells? I can’t think of any reason at the moment, but i know very little about firearms.
• With the noise of metropolitan life being gone, sound could play a bigger role for the AI. The sound of Joel cocking his revolver is what triggers the infected’s attack. (1:47)
• At (1:16), Joel says that he and Ellie will take care of the other survivor’s body. This could mean that the infected will follow the scents of dead bodies. A few seconds later, the infected do indeed storm into the room, but perhaps triggered by other senses.
• We can see Ellie coming to the rescue at (1:54), and as noted by Gamersmint.com, The official game page on Playstation’s website lists The Last of Us under “No Network Play”. With this being a Naughty Dog game, i presume the companion AI will be fantastic. Is there a possibility for co-op gameplay, or has Naughty Dog denied this? (see bottom bullet point)
• With the game belonging to the survival-genre, I would assume that there is a need to gather food. This could open up for the possibility of scavenging through abandoned houses, but also the need to hunt, and therefore the appearance of wildlife (as in I Am Legend).
• The background image of the official website depicts Joel with a gasmask hanging from his pants. Perhaps there will be some sort of airborne virus/parasite in some areas, or the inclusion of items like smoke grenades.
• This is a quite speculative, but seeing as the guy downstairs is still bleeding, and Joel is currently fighting the guy upstairs, I reckon that the guy just came from downstairs after beating up the bleeding guy (Ellie probably didn’t do it, sh came from further away, and is probably not powerful enough anyway, unless she has a gun) I’m thinking that we’ll probably witness other survivers attacking one another and going about their own things in general.

Story/setting-related:

(Potential Spoiler)

• Notice that the first guy Joel fights seems to be an ordinary human. This could mean that some of the remaining survivors have turned against each other to secure the scarce amount of resources.
• As mildoo124returns and yourworldonfire note in a different thread; since the trailer is mostly from Ellie’s point of view and she is the narrator, the game could be starring her as the main character. (See bottom bullet point)
• As a lot of people have noticed, Ellie apparently has not witnessed the time when people still roamed the city streets, which indicates that the epidemic has been raging for at least a dozen years.
• There is definitely a close relationship between Ellie and Joel, at (1:43) you can see her subtly nodding to Joel, when he gives her a questioning look about the revolver.
• They seem to be situated in a hotel. I don’t believe there is any significance attached to the room numbers (release date etc.)
• The cause of the “infection” is most definitely an epidemic, as can be seen on the box at (2:12), caused by a parasite.
• The medium by which the parasite spreads is unknown; right above those boxes at (2:12) are what I believe to be either water-dispensers, which could mean it spreads through tap water, or desinfection agent-dispensers, which could mean that it transmits by prolonged physical contact. As noted further above on this page, the Last of Us website features Joel with a gasmask, so the parasite could be transmitted by air at some point.
• On second thought, I doubt that Ellie will be the main character and I doubt there will be a co-op mode. The main reason for this is that melee combat seems to be an important aspect of the game, and Ellie does not seem anywhere near strong enough to be able to engage in melee combat with anyone, so the player will probably be left feeling very unempowered. In co-op mode this would mean very assymetrical gameplay (although it could work)

Thanks to The Last of Us forums for providing such interesting theories and details. You can see the announcement trailer below. The game’s scheduled to release in late 2012.

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The Last of Us - Sonys jüngst bei den VGAs angekündigter, von Naughty Dog entwickelter Exklusivtitel für die PS3 - sorgte in den letzten Tagen bereits für viele Schlagzeilen. Allerdings steckten hinter diesen meist eher wenig bis gar keine Informationen zu dem eigentlichen Inhalt des Spiels. Das ändert sich jetzt!

Die Kollegen von Vandal.net hatten in der vergangen Woche einen sehr beneidenswerten Job. Als eine der ersten überhaupt konnten sie sich selbst ein Bild des postapokalyptischen Szenarios machen, als sie zu Besuch bei Naughty Dog in Santa Monica waren. In ihrem Bericht finden sich dementsprechend viele neue Informationen, zu dem, was uns in 2012/13 erwarten wird. Die wichtigsten Punkte findet ihr anbei exklusiv übersetzt:

Die Story dreht sich um die Beziehung der beiden Hauptcharaktere, Ellie und Joie, wobei sich diese bereits etwas länger kennen und nicht, wie in vielen anderen Horror-Szenarien erst bei der Katastatrophe das erste Mal aufeinander treffen.
Sie, 14 Jahre jung, kennt keinen einzigen Platz in der neuen Welt, der nicht komplett zerstört worden ist, was wichtig für ihr Verhalten gegenüber ihm ist, einem 40-Jährigem, der keinesfalls in die Rolle des typischen Helden passt, sondern nur ein netter Kerl ist, der alles für sein Überleben in der extrem gefährlichen Welt tut.
Wie auch bei der Uncharted-Serie sind die Animationen sowie die Mimik und Gestik von Hand animiert.
Es soll eine reine Einzelspieler-Kampagne aus der Sicht von Joie werden.
Ohne zu viel zu verraten, darf gesagt werden, dass ihr Ellie das ein oder andere Mal beschützen und retten werdet müssen.
Die Erzählung soll dabei die Videospielindustrie einen Schritt weiter bringen, wenn nicht sogar revolutionieren, indem sie sehr ambitioniert und dennoch vorsichtig vorgeht.
Mark Richard Davies, der Chief Designer von Enslaved, arbeitet für das Projekt mit Naughty Dog zusammen.
Zur Zeit arbeitet nur das The Last of Us Team in den Studios. Das Uncharted 3 Team hat Urlaub.
Eigentlich sollte das Spiel bereits auf der E3 2010 präsentiert werden.
Um mehr Spannung und eine größere Intensität zu erzeugen, wird der Stil einer von Hand gehaltenen Kamera (Wackelkamera wie in vielen Horror-Filmen) nachgeahmt.
Ihre werdet im Spielverlauf auf andere Überlebende treffen, die aber, um ihr eigenes Leben zu schützen, gewillt sind euch notfalls zu attackieren.
Es soll weniger linear wie Uncharted werden und euch Platz zum Erkunden geben.
Zu entdecken gibt es u.a. verschiedene Tiere, überschwemmte Areale und verlassene Häuser.
Die Grafik ist, wie man bereits in dem in Echtzeit auf einer PlayStation 3 gerenderten Trailer sehen konnte, atemberaubend.

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Elvis schrieb:

"Abandoned cities reclaimed by nature. A population decimated by a modern plague. Survivors are killing each other for food, weapons; whatever they can get their hands on.

Joel, a brutal survivor, and Ellie, a brave young teenage girl who is wise beyond her years, must work together if they hope to survive their journey across the US."

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Hackedicht schrieb:

2013? Wer sagt denn, dass TLOU nicht ein Launchtitel für die PS4 wird? Von der Grafikqualität her könnte das glatt hinkommen...

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i already read a preview of it in the benelux OPM, was very interesting, definitely my most anticipated newcomer.. and i'm not even into survival horror, but what these guys are gonna do with it just makes me curious.. they're focussing more on the relationship between Joel and Ellie..

couple of highlights : why "zombies"?
Druckman : because no other zombie game does right to the genre.. they're like cheap B movies that go for superficial pleasure..
as examples he mentions movies like 28 days later and the walking dead, that focus on the characters and their mutual relationships..
A little bit like heavy rain? says the interviewer, but they don't think that's a good comparison either : "David Cage ment right, but approached things wrong", he forgot about gameplay and got caught up in quick time events.. They want to give the player more freedom for strategic choices.

Then OPM goes on about the trailer, which actually explains a lot : at some point you see Joel and Ellie getting ready for the confrontation, counting the footsteps to figure out how many there are (indication that sound is an important aspect too?), he cocks back the trigger in hope they won't hear it.. Joel is no superhero, he hates confrontations and is just as scared as Ellie.. At this point the creature goes for him and he tries to hold it back by grabbing its neck (they are highly infectious).

Then he goes on about the trailer and how it explains a lot : alternating between shooting and melee and the ammo is in short supply, so don't expect shootouts like in uncharted.. There will be situations where you have to help the other, but not in an obvious way : "I hate games where you have to brainlessly defend a NPC." Exploration will be a part of the experience too, for example you can choose to enter a coffeeshop or not to take the risk.. It won't be as lineair as uncharted but don't expect a free roamer either, it's too storydriven for that.. Then he goes on about how imagination is the strongest weapon of a good survival horror, you'll learn more about their past but don't expect them to explain everything from A to Z..

While uncharted is their biggest trump, it's also their biggest curse, and they're scared it will be compared to uncharted.. That's why they want both games to be different looking, and that seemed harder than expected.. They wanted to steer away from postapocalyptic cliches, the metropole in last of us had to be lush and green, but at the same time not too reminding of uncharted.. Which seemed harder than expected, in fact the first version of the game looked so much like uncharted that they started from nothing.. They use a new way of rendering and the lightning has been alterted.. The camerawork is rougher too, like as if it's filmed with a handycam.

The enemies are still as quick and nimble as in uncharted. The cordyceps (the fungus) has taken over their mind and body and is highly infectious, which is why Joel and Ellie immediately run after shooting one, but also because they don't want the shot to lure others.

I guess that's the most of it, sorry for the rough translation

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