Sony The Last of Us Part II OT - Best Served Cold, update: the story behind the game's realistic facial animations (PlayStation Blog)

[SimpleG]

I will also say that terms like enjoyable, fun, good time are so interchangeable that it can be hard to discern what someone actually means when they say it.

[ShreddieMercury]

Since we're sort of on the topic of Cormac McCarthy, I'll say that Blood Meridian is the most thematically rich story that I've experienced in any medium.  I've read it three times, each one revealing different things and new meanings.  There is a quality to the prose in that novel that makes it feel biblical, like it came from somewhere else and had to be translated.  It's hard to explain but it seems to say so much while being relatively sparse and concise.

 

Naughty Dog obviously responds to McCarthy's work, since TLOU is heavily inspired by The Road.  I would love to see something else approach the themes of Blood Meridian in the same way, but I don't believe that they are possible to translate, especially in games.  Still, the more I've read about The Last of Us II, the more excited I am by what it's attempting to do, even though I was lukewarm on the first game.  I have serious reservations about how extreme violence is depicted in an interactive setting, but it seems from reviews like this is the culmination of ND's work up to this point.  Even if it's impossible to transpose Blood Meridian, I'll be damned if I don't show up to see someone try.

[SimpleG]

5 hours ago, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

Since we're sort of on the topic of Cormac McCarthy, I'll say that Blood Meridian is the most thematically rich story that I've experienced in any medium.  I've read it three times, each one revealing different things and new meanings.  There is a quality to the prose in that novel that makes it feel biblical, like it came from somewhere else and had to be translated.  It's hard to explain but it seems to say so much while being relatively sparse and concise.

 

Naughty Dog obviously responds to McCarthy's work, since TLOU is heavily inspired by The Road.  I would love to see something else approach the themes of Blood Meridian in the same way, but I don't believe that they are possible to translate, especially in games.  Still, the more I've read about The Last of Us II, the more excited I am by what it's attempting to do, even though I was lukewarm on the first game.  I have serious reservations about how extreme violence is depicted in an interactive setting, but it seems from reviews like this is the culmination of ND's work up to this point.  Even if it's impossible to transpose Blood Meridian, I'll be damned if I don't show up to see someone try.

Heres a good interview with some experts about making it into a movie and the challenges

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/blood-meridian-movie

[Keyser_Soze]

11 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Agreed - I've seen Mandy, Schindler's List, Enter the Void, and more multiple times.

 

You sick fuck!

 

Actually those aren't that bad.

 

If you said: I've seen A Serbian Film, Irreversible, Philosophy of a Knife, and more multiple times. Then I'd have to question your sanity/

 

(You probably already have though)

[Remarkableriots]

5 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

You sick fuck!

 

Actually those aren't that bad.

 

If you said: I've seen A Serbian Film, Irreversible, Philosophy of a Knife, and more multiple times. Then I'd have to question your sanity/

 

(You probably already have though)

A Serbian Film was hard to watch.

[ShreddieMercury]

8 hours ago, SimpleG said:

Heres a good interview with some experts about making it into a movie and the challenges

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/blood-meridian-movie

That's an excellent piece, thank you!  They mention the violence in the book as a primary reason for thinking it's "unfilmable", but to me it's not so much that as it is a lack of any through line in the story.  No Country works so well because the book almost reads like a screenplay.  Blood Meridian has very little plot, and is filled with long philosophical conversations and descriptions of minute geographical details.  The piece makes the point that if someone was to adapt it, they would have to take significant liberties, but then they would likely be sacrificing what makes it special in the first place.

[SimpleG]

1 hour ago, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

They mention the violence in the book as a primary reason for thinking it's "unfilmable", but to me it's not so much that as it is a lack of any through line in the story

It keeps being perceived as a cinematic problem — what to do with these visuals of violence — but I see it much more as a writing problem. Because if you strip down the book and look at it, you have a protagonist who only shows up occasionally; I mean, beyond the first couple of chapters, he disappears for the bulk of the book. Then it’s just a group of men riding into different villages either getting drunk or butchering people and moving on to a different village. At times, a tease of a plot will show up — chasing down some Native American leader or vengeance against some particular group. But that will melt away, and the group will ride on to some other place and start committing indiscriminate violence. 

[ShreddieMercury]

1 hour ago, SimpleG said:

It keeps being perceived as a cinematic problem — what to do with these visuals of violence — but I see it much more as a writing problem. Because if you strip down the book and look at it, you have a protagonist who only shows up occasionally; I mean, beyond the first couple of chapters, he disappears for the bulk of the book. Then it’s just a group of men riding into different villages either getting drunk or butchering people and moving on to a different village. At times, a tease of a plot will show up — chasing down some Native American leader or vengeance against some particular group. But that will melt away, and the group will ride on to some other place and start committing indiscriminate violence. 

Right, I know they brought up the same problem, but my point is that I don't think you can turn it into something cinematically palatable while retaining the essence of what makes the book so great.  The authors in this piece argue that it's possible, but it would have to deviate from the novel or do its own thing.  I would love for somebody like Terrence Malick to try, but the book seems to be antithetical to his views about nature and existence.

[Greatoneshere]

On 6/14/2020 at 3:51 AM, Keyser_Soze said:

You sick fuck!

 

Actually those aren't that bad.

 

If you said: I've seen A Serbian Film, Irreversible, Philosophy of a Knife, and more multiple times. Then I'd have to question your sanity/

 

(You probably already have though)

 

I have seen those films, and except for Irreversible, no, I have not seen them more than once. A Serbian Film isn't worth it the first time.  

 

On 6/14/2020 at 12:42 PM, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

Right, I know they brought up the same problem, but my point is that I don't think you can turn it into something cinematically palatable while retaining the essence of what makes the book so great.  The authors in this piece argue that it's possible, but it would have to deviate from the novel or do its own thing.  I would love for somebody like Terrence Malick to try, but the book seems to be antithetical to his views about nature and existence.

 

I completely agree with you about Blood Meridian, and I doubt Terrence Malick would ever do it (though he would be perfect for it), but he did do Badlands (his first film) which was about killers on the run so you never know.

 

Cormac McCarthy has been adapted numerous times, and most turned out really well. No Country for Old Men, The Road, and The Sunset Limited (adapted by McCarthy from his own play) are all excellent. I know I'm in the minority but I think The Counselor (the director's cut) is actually really good, just highly misunderstood (though McCarthy wrote the screenplay directly - it wasn't based on any of his novels or plays so I'm not sure if it counts as a McCarthy adaptation). The only out-and-out bad/poor adaptations are All the Pretty Horses and Child of God. I think Blood Meridian is adaptable, but extremely difficult - you'd definitely need a Malick or a Denis Villeneueve or Alejandro Jodorowsky or Nicolas Winding Refn to pull it off.

[Brian]

Schreier and Druckman having a twitter spat over those tweets 

 

[ShreddieMercury]

1 hour ago, Greatoneshere said:

Cormac McCarthy has been adapted numerous times, and most turned out really well. No Country for Old Men, The Road, and The Sunset Limited (adapted by McCarthy from his own play) are all excellent. I know I'm in the minority but I think The Counselor (the director's cut) is actually really good, just highly misunderstood (though McCarthy wrote the screenplay directly - it wasn't based on any of his novels or plays so I'm not sure if it counts as a McCarthy adaptation). The only out-and-out bad/poor adaptations are All the Pretty Horses and Child of God. I think Blood Meridian is adaptable, but extremely difficult - you'd definitely need a Malick or a Denis Villeneueve or Alejandro Jodorowsky or Nicolas Winding Refn to pull it off.

Upvoted for The Counselor!  The director's cut is indeed fantastic.  Refn is actually a really good choice as well, I hadn't thought of him. 

[Greatoneshere]

3 hours ago, ShreddieMercuryRising said:

Upvoted for The Counselor!  The director's cut is indeed fantastic.  Refn is actually a really good choice as well, I hadn't thought of him. 

 

It was after watching his TV series Too Old To Die Young that I could easily see him doing McCarthy well. Though Drive and Only God Forgives hint at it too I think. Nice to see another fan of The Counselor!

[Dodger]

I haven’t used my ps4 in awhile and now my controller won’t charge. It’ll turn the system on then immediately dies. But I have the urge to play this and ff7r so I figured I’d just grab a new controller. 
 

walmart didn’t have any sold out at bestbuy.com and they are $70+ on Amazon. Walmart.com but free shipping won’t get here til next week and expedited shipping is like $25. What a pain in the ass.

 

oddly enough for

How  much the switch Is selling they had 6 pro controllers in stock and I picked one up at Walmart.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

7 minutes ago, Dodger said:

I haven’t used my ps4 in awhile and now my controller won’t charge. It’ll turn the system on then immediately dies. But I have the urge to play this and ff7r so I figured I’d just grab a new controller. 
 

walmart didn’t have any sold out at bestbuy.com and they are $70+ on Amazon. Walmart.com but free shipping won’t get here til next week and expedited shipping is like $25. What a pain in the ass.

 

oddly enough for

How  much the switch Is selling they had 6 pro controllers in stock and I picked one up at Walmart.

Went to Walmart last week and there was absolutely no hardware to be found for any of the systems. I don't even think we saw any controllers. It was nuts.

[Dodger]

43 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Went to Walmart last week and there was absolutely no hardware to be found for any of the systems. I don't even think we saw any controllers. It was nuts.

The hardware is all gone too, even X1’s

[best3444]

14 minutes ago, Dodger said:

The hardware is all gone too, even X1’s

 

That's exactly what she said lol 

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Dodger said:

I haven’t used my ps4 in awhile and now my controller won’t charge. It’ll turn the system on then immediately dies. But I have the urge to play this and ff7r so I figured I’d just grab a new controller.

 

Just buy a long USB cable like normal people.

[Brian]

Removed the link due to knockoff potential 

 

Maybe local GameStops will have stock. Checked mine and it does. 

[SimpleG]

2 minutes ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

Amazon - $59.99 bud

 

Last time I bought one off that link it was a knock off, just FYI

[Brian]

3 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Last time I bought one off that link it was a knock off, just FYI

Oh then never mind. I make a note of it. 

[SimpleG]

5 minutes ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

Oh then never mind. I make a note of it. 

I am sure not everyone will get a counterfeit but just know it can happen.

[AbsolutSurgen]

6 hours ago, Dodger said:

I haven’t used my ps4 in awhile and now my controller won’t charge. It’ll turn the system on then immediately dies. But I have the urge to play this and ff7r so I figured I’d just grab a new controller. 
 

walmart didn’t have any sold out at bestbuy.com and they are $70+ on Amazon. Walmart.com but free shipping won’t get here til next week and expedited shipping is like $25. What a pain in the ass.

 

oddly enough for

How  much the switch Is selling they had 6 pro controllers in stock and I picked one up at Walmart.

There are places that sell replacement batteries --  I think you can get it delivered for under $20.

[Bloodporne]

I'm definitely picking this up when I finish TLoU. I haven't had much time to play recently so I'm still on the Winter chapter but the gameplay really clicked with me and while the balance of encounters to story still bothers me a fair bit, I'm glad I stuck through the boring opening. This might be the slowest video game I've ever played in terms of just opening up the gameplay but it is worth the investment once it does. I'm in combat arenas now that I feel like should've happened like two/three hours in in terms of complexity. 

 

I haven't really read the reviews but I hope the frequency and or 'openness' is something they've addressed in regards to the obvious combat arena to cutscene to collecting supplies to combat arena, repeat, structure. I did see some people mention it's being compared to MGSV in some capacity in terms of gameplay and...

 

[Mercury33]

3 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

I'm definitely picking this up when I finish TLoU. I haven't had much time to play recently so I'm still on the Winter chapter but the gameplay really clicked with me and while the balance of encounters to story still bothers me a fair bit, I'm glad I stuck through the boring opening. This might be the slowest video game I've ever played in terms of just opening up the gameplay but it is worth the investment once it does. I'm in combat arenas now that I feel like should've happened like two/three hours in in terms of complexity. 

 

I haven't really read the reviews but I hope the frequency and or 'openness' is something they've addressed in regards to the obvious combat arena to cutscene to collecting supplies to combat arena, repeat, structure. I did see some people mention it's being compared to MGSV in some capacity in terms of gameplay and...

 

I had to take a week off from the game after I finished “Winter” shit was intense. 

[Bloodporne]

18 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

I had to take a week off from the game after I finished “Winter” shit was intense. 

I just played through that Ellie snowstorm segment last night and they've been ramping up the oppressive atmosphere an impressive degree. A little thing I loved about it was that moment when actual logic works in-game. I wondered whether the snowstorm would obscure my sprinting noise and decided to try it and sure enough, you can sprint up on dudes and stab them out in the open. 

 

In general, Fall and Winter have been incredibly atmospheric. The skyboxes are also gorgeous and I love a good skybox.

[ShreddieMercury]

Overall, I think the story in the TLoU is not nearly as deep or satisfying as many make it out to be.  That said, the ending is really, really good.  I'm excited to see how the second game evolves what was laid out by the first game's conclusion.

[Bloodporne]

Wonder if the sequel takes places over an extended period of time as well? That's been my favorite story-telling aspect about the first one so far.

[Dodger]

Well it's either get a new battery or don't play it for awhile as Gamestop near me doesn't have any controllers. I've tried 3 different usb cords 2 of them bought brand new thinking it might be a cord problem but the damn thing just won't charge.  Looked at Amazon and to get a controller here by Thursday is going to be $84. 

 

This sucks, everything just lined up to have a perfect weekend playing this as my company just announced Juneteenth is now a company holiday. Could have had a 3 day weekend to play the shit out of this. Oh well. First world problems and all of that. I'll still have my Switch coming this week so I'll just have to game out on that all weekend instead. 

[Dodger]

I'm a weak man with no impulse control and just bought a third party controller for $40. 

[ShreddieMercury]

1 hour ago, Bloodporne said:

Wonder if the sequel takes places over an extended period of time as well? That's been my favorite story-telling aspect about the first one so far.

I agree, I really liked the seasonal structure.

[Firewithin]

waiting for my CE shipping confirmation

[Mercury33]

4 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

Wonder if the sequel takes places over an extended period of time as well? That's been my favorite story-telling aspect about the first one so far.

When you get to the giraffe that’s when I felt I just couldn’t go on any more and just wanted to live with the giraffe haha. That’s not really spoiling anything but when you get there you’ll know what I mean. 

[Bloodporne]

3 hours ago, Mercury33 said:

When you get to the giraffe that’s when I felt I just couldn’t go on any more and just wanted to live with the giraffe haha. That’s not really spoiling anything but when you get there you’ll know what I mean. 

Okay, I got there earlier and I can't deny it, that really got me after the heavy bleakness of the last chapter. THAT really was beautifully done.

[SoberChef]

Really hope I get this immediately on Friday from Amazon!

[Keyser_Soze]

9 hours ago, Dodger said:

I've tried 3 different usb cords 2 of them bought brand new thinking it might be a cord problem but the damn thing just won't charge.

 

So the controller can't be used even while plugged in?