BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

My ultimate feeling is that it has a lot to do with the internal tructure of ND itself and the way the studio allows top down creative decision making to interface with Sony corporate's wish for AAA material. Druckmann is not a fan of Factions, he sees it as a thing that does not fit his vision of TLOU being respectable/prestige 'award-winning' dramtic material, hence the move to separate Factions from 2LOU and the pt 1 remake. It could've been added at any time with a smaller scope, instead Factions was siloed off again and again for more than half a decade and given the behind the scenes mission to continually increase scope and ambition, to become a huge live service phenomenon or an ambitious story-like experience that would justify a prestige entry price. Now the closest we will ever get to seeing what might've been is No Return mode, a concession prize for cancelling Factions II, and Druckmann gets to pretend like 2LOU being the first Naughty Dog game to ship without multiplayer since 2009 is actually a return to the studio's roots or some bullshit like that. They've continually been actively removing or passively allowing removal of multiplayer content from remasters of ND titles since 2015 when Hennig was forced out. It's revisionist first and foremost. It's also extremely bad leadership, and the culmination of half a decade's worth of gently caress You to the fans who came up with them. So yeah, speaking as someone who's first PlayStation game was a Naughty Dog title in 1996, and who was there Day 1 playing UC2 and its fantastic multiplayer in 2009, there's a lot to be bitter about after the last 5 years. I encourage everyone to keep this utter shitshow front and center in their mind the next time ND announces a 'culturally defining' single-player title.

Aipsh posted:

This has also reminded me I don't like any Naughty Dog games except TLOU lol. To be fair they have only like 3 franchises

Aipsh posted:

This has also reminded me I don't like any Naughty Dog games except TLOU lol. To be fair they have only like 3 franchises

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

fridge corn posted:

I don't even like TLOU, I only liked Factions, at least I did until everyone got way better at it than me. But I was really looking forward to Factions 2 to try to jump back into it

VideoGames posted:

I get this. It is a real shame as I have not really seen a multiplayer game work as well as factions does to try and balance games between teams. It is kind of wild how it knows to drop stuff and respawn stuff when it does and make matches feel tense.

I struggled to keep up with everyone as well. They are just so great at it and I never felt like I was improving so I kind of took a backseat to it, which I feel bad about, but going around feeling like deadweight is not fun.

I know no one here would get upset about that or think I am deadweight, but the games when I would go 0 downs, 0 executes, 6 deaths and have no parts would just make me grimace.

I was hoping for a 2 so I could start fresh as well - and even play in my own time but when I tried that there were so many people who had done nothing but play that my scores were even worse against random folks.

VideoGames posted:

I was hoping for a 2 so I could start fresh as well

Aipsh posted:

It’d be worth doing some good old fashioned research to find another game we’d all actually like, and isn’t costly (and potentially holds bigger groups). Doesn’t have to be forced or be a total replacement of Tlousday.

But it is a little grim out there. There are some classics but most aren’t on console and lack that tactical quality.

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

Uncharted...eh, you had to be there. Sure those games just look like schlock nowadays (I'd argue that they actually come off worse in isolation as pure singleplayer story experiences minus the multi as they eventually did with Nathan Drake Collection and Legacy of Thieves Collection, partially because the multiplayer added humorous context and helped flesh out the experience on a technical level) ...there was nothing like UC2 at the time. In 2009 it was unreal to have a PS3 game check so many boxes at the same time, and the UC3 multi got even more ambitious in some ways.


edit; That said, even Jak X Combat Racing fuckin owned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L4bld_YfG8

AndrewP posted:

Nobody was asking them to make a loving live service game, we just wanted a new Factions. Jesus Christ that’s disappointing

AndrewP posted:

Nobody was asking them to make a loving live service game, we just wanted a new Factions. Jesus Christ that’s disappointing

Happy Noodle Boy posted:

Yeah the whole live service thing is confusing me. Who wanted that? People just wanted an update to their cool little side multiplayer thing

Ulio posted:

Is there a multiplayer only game that receives no support? Also how come Valheim has 5 developers and they manage to push out content. It's absolutely ridiculous to think that ND couldn't have a skeleton crew releasing small patches/updates on it or Sony outsourcing to a multiplayer studio.

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

They couldn't spare a single loving dime to patch issues in Factions after 2016, should tell you who was calling the shots on this poo poo because despite people at the studio being passionate about the mode (ie Vinit Agarwal) the community always got the loving shaft on balance fixes and level glitches while updates were STILL being put out for the single player in 2020.

The line about "we're so bummed we had to make this hard decision" being written in the collective studio letter voice is absolute bullshit. I'd like to hear from actual people who were developing the multi on what they think of this shitshow, because there is simply no evidence that the outcome has been the product of anything but leadership apathy. Every hour that goes by I get more pissed about this. Absolutely gently caress the executive leadership at that studio. Same with Bungie's entire c-suite.

fridge corn posted:

I don't even like TLOU, I only liked Factions, at least I did until everyone got way better at it than me. But I was really looking forward to Factions 2 to try to jump back into it

VideoGames posted:

I struggled to keep up with everyone as well. They are just so great at it and I never felt like I was improving so I kind of took a backseat to it, which I feel bad about, but going around feeling like deadweight is not fun.

CAR CRASH CRACKERS posted:

Come back! Me and Beeps are still terrible, I swear

acksplode posted:

I've been playing rough lately too. A freakishly good Irish player has been showing up regularly but he's hell on everyone. Our constant heaping of verbal abuse upon him after getting snap rifle headshotted has strengthened the group's bond through shared catharsis.

veni veni veni posted:

Most annoying op weapon in gaming history. Not even pubbies dare use it, lest ye be shamed. Seedge tho...

veni veni veni posted:

hosed around in No Return a bit. Seems fun but not mind blowing. I am 90% sure these areas were at one point Factions maps, because they really seem designed just like them. It honestly stings a bit, like "hey we never gave you what we promised but here's some slop pieced together from the remains. I dunno. And the fact that they feel like factions maps is also sort of the problem. I thought you were actually going to be able to progress through areas from the game in a more gameified way, but it's just little arenas that feel like multiplayer maps with waves of enemies. That said, it scratches that Resident Evil Mercenaries itch enough that I'll get my $10 worth for sure.

I also briefly played the main game in performance mode (fidelity is still 30fps lol) and It looks great but, so did the PS4 game. I see no discernable difference tbh. I dunno maybe fidelity is better but I couldn't tell you the difference from the PS4>PS5 patch from a couple of years ago if you put a gun to my head. at least in performance . The haptics are a nice addition to finally have though, and it seems like they did a good job with them. Honeslty if I replay the whole game that'll be the big selling point to me. I was wondering how they'd actually improve on TLOU2s visuals and the answer was they didn't. It's not really a surprise or even a dissapointment. Really glad they actually put some new content in cause I don't think this would be worth $10 otherwise.

Also, man. After playing a ton of TLOU 1 online lately TLOU2 feels glacial. You move sooo much slower, the camera is slower. It's not worse but different I guess. I feel like I'm walking in mud all the time.