Hi everyone
* From TLOU MP Forums...
Dismemberment is clearly visible in Survivors, where the head, arms and legs can be seen blown off for the entire round, and with extra blood! As a paying customer, you should be rightfully upset. You are NOT playing the same multiplayer as the U.S., and it is only fair that Naughty Dog at least make an official response.
I (PSN: Ramify) have private messaged the ND developers on these forums numerous times, the only response I received was from MacGruber310 who "cannot respond to this". He suggested I message Eric-ND, who has read my messages but continues to ignore them. If only IGN, or a major gaming site picked up the story.
I (PSN: Ramify) was also ignored during the July Q&A. I was the third reply. Maybe it was because I had three question marks, but to be fair, it all related to the same topic; censorship. See the thread below:
http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/Naughty-Dog-General-Discussion/UPDATED-WITH-ANSWERS-Q-amp-A-with-the-Naughty-Dog-Development/m-p/40853807#M5201
bent_toe has been actively seeking answers (kudos to him!) and got a response from Andy Barnes of Sony Computer Entertainment UK & Ireland who writes, "... there are often slight differences in different countries due to cultural acceptability or local laws etc. In terms of the European release, the version of The Last of Us is the same across the whole territory but there are slight differences with the US version." Andy unfortunately does not go into detail.
* My personal thoughts...
That's utterly disappointing. I can't believe they would such a thing, without a word of notice. I have EU version of the game, and I noticed that in MP you cannot dismember enemies, but I thought that was just due to technical inability to reproduce the same level of gore SP has. I'm glad that SP is uncut, but I can't stand that MP is dumbed down!!! It looses it's realism, and immersiveness. It's really, really disappointing, at least for me, and I wish that they release a patch which lets you toggle between gore modes. Now it has only "Gore ON and OFF", but they could implement something like "Gore - OFF, Low, Moderate & Extreme (Full)".
I don't understand why the rest of the Europe has to suffer, because Germany has these fu*ked up laws??? Would it be so hard to release a specific German version of the game, and let the rest of the Europe enjoy the vision developers had imagined? And why wasn't there any notice about this? If I had known that I was buying a censored product, I would have bought the game on the US PS Store, instead of the UK one. The more I think about this, the more I am disappointed in the game, unfortunately. This is so unfair, and unnecessary. Now I'm stuck with this half-assed EU version of the game, instead of enjoying the uncut US version!
Without the realistic dismemberment, and with this unnecessary censorship, the multi-player looks cluncky. It's even worse now, because I know there is a full, uncensored version of the game out there. I don't take kindly to paying for something unfinished or censored, and I am very displeased on that part right now.
I hope that in near future ND releases a patch that will sort things out, and allow the European players, who paid full price for this game, to enjoy the game in it's entirety.
* When I was asked to provide a good explanation why it makes us guys so mad to not see a guys head get blown off, I responded...
Here is my explanation...It looses it's realism, and immersiveness, and we cannnot enjoy the vision developers had imagined in it's entirety. Without the realistic dismemberment, and with this unnecessary censorship, the multi-player looks cluncky. And the game was advertised as 100% UNCUT, UNCENSORED & 18+ (MATURE), and it's not, and that's false advertising! If I had known that I was buying a censored product, I would have bought the uncensored version, but because there wasn't any notice about that, I bought the EU version, thinking I was getting a full product. I don't take kindly to paying for something unfinished, incomplete or censored. Now I'm stuck with this half-assed, censored & incomplete EU version of the game, instead of enjoying the full, uncut US version! The thing is, I wouldn't get upset, if there was a prior warning about the game being censored, because then I wouldn't buy the EU version. I like my games, movies and stuff like that complete and uncut.
Would you buy the censored version of the game, knowing there is a uncensored version? I'm not a kid anymore, and I hate when everything is dumbed down just to make it more mainstream, and acceptable for kids, and I hated that when I WAS a kid. The game was advertised as 18+, so there is no point in censoring it, if nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to play it. Sigh...
The REAL issue is FALSE ADVERTISING! The part where I said the censored MP feels cluncky, and that it looses it's realism, and immersiveness, is just my personal opinion and the way I feel. I can see you feel different about this issue, and I respect that. The whole issue is not me not wanting to feel like a kid, but me paying full price for a product that was dumbed down for kids, while the advertisment said 18+, mature, uncensored & 100% uncut.
You can't just take one law from a country, and apply it to other countries. Different countries have different laws, and laws of Germany, aren't international laws, and cannot be applied in
my country.
* On "not being a huge deal"...
It's not a huge deal for you, but it is for me, and many others. I am not a blood-thirsty hound, but I bought the game because it was advertised as a immersive, realistic, mature horror game. And I got a version of the game which has 4KiDs multiplayer, and there wasn't ANY notice about that! And "blowing peoples heads off and watching body parts flying" IS part of the gameplay, and as you said 100% of the people who stick with the multiplayer for a couple of months play for the gameplay. I like the multiplayer a lot, but I didn't get what I paid for, and the gameplay looks way better in uncensored version of the game.
* I have sent e-mails to both Kotaku & IGN. Now we wait and see if they will pick up the story or not.
* Naughty Dog AMA Reddit is happening on Wednesday July 31 at 3pm PT / 6pm ET / 00:00am CET (
http://www.naughtydog.com/site/post/ask_me_anything_with_naughty_dogs_the_last_of_us_directors/)
My question si ready for Naughty Dog AMA Reddit...
Hi,
First of all, I would like to congratulate you on The Last of Us. It's truly an amazing game. I bought it on "day one" from my UK PS Store, and I'm on my 2nd playthrough now, trying my best on Survivor difficulty. My question is...why was The Last of Us multiplayer censored in Europe/Australia without a word of notice, even though the game was advertised as 100% uncut, uncensored & 18+/Mature. Those were one of the main reasons I decided to buy the game. If I had known that I was buying a censored product, I would have bought the uncensored version from US PS Store. The thing is, I wouldn't be upset, if there was a prior warning about this. Any explanation why? Any chance of a future toggle via title update?
Please respond!
Thanks,
Rockshow2oo8