Upcoming The Last Of Us Part II Documentary Explores Crunch, Story Leaks, And That Scene

3 responses to “Upcoming The Last Of Us Part II Documentary Explores Crunch, Story Leaks, And That Scene”

1. 

   Tim8wilson

   January 16, 2024 at 10:54 am

   Can someone explain the logic of remastering a game from three years ago? Regardless of what you think of such a divisive game, I can’t imagine this being a commercial success, or the remastering adding much. I have to scratch my head at this.

   Reply
   1. 

      David Smith

      January 16, 2024 at 11:12 am

      Part of it is purely financial — TLOU is a known quantity and will move units consistently over time, particularly once the TV show drops its second season and people move to replay TLOU2. It’s easy to write it off as pure greed, and that certainly has a part to play, but there’s another angle here as well.

      TLOU is Sony’s most valuable property. It’s synonymous with the PlayStation brand the way Halo is linked to Xbox. Further, the two games act as bookends to one another. Sony got a remaster of TLOU 1 out on the PS4 so it could be a bookend for TLOU2 when the time came and keep both games playable on the same hardware. By getting remasters of TLOU 1 and 2 out together on the PS5, Sony lets these load bearing pillars of its library spin on for another hardware generation. You can argue that the PS4 versions work just fine on PS5, and you’re right — but do they look like PS5 games? Not quite, and now they do. It’s an attempt to force a sense of timelessness, and while I don’t know that I agree with the approach, I can see the ‘why’ of it.

      I feel confident we’ll do this dance again on the PS6 in the future. Part of Naughty Dog’s remit will be updating these games for new platforms for the rest of time.

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   2. 

      Craig

      January 16, 2024 at 11:18 am

      Just taking advantage of updated hardware, really.

      The Last of Us: Part II was pretty cutting edge at the time of its release, considering the PS4 was at the time, six to seven years old (the PS4 launched in 2013, where as The Last of Us: Part II launched in 2020). The Last of Us: Part II was certainly pushing the PS4 to its absolute limit.

      With the PS5 remaster, players are getting:

      – 60 frames per second (FPS) with 4K resolution game play
      – Improved loading times (PS4 Pro is approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds, PS5 is 45 seconds)
      – Haptic feedback and adaptive triggers on the controllers
      – Some graphical improvements (improved texture resolution, improved lighting and shadows)

      There are additional bonuses as well, including:

      – A new roguelike survival mode
      – ‘Lost levels’ (three new levels/areas that were cancelled in the original game, but bought back in the remaster)
      – Further accessibility options
      – Additional costumes/skins for characters
      – Optional background commentary from creators/developers

      If you have the PS4 version of the game, unfortunately you cannot get the PS5 version as a free upgrade, but you can at least get the PS5 version for a heavily discounted price… this is similar to what Naughty Dog did with the PS5 version of Uncharted 4: Among Thieves with Uncharted: Lost Legacy. The upgrade discount price is $20 AUD, where as regular retail full price is $79.95 (from EB Games).

      So, is the PS5 remaster worth it? I guess that depends on whether or not you liked The Last of Us: Part II, and if you would like to play it again (but at a higher, better quality).

      Hope this helps.

      Reply