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The Last of Us - Multiplayer trailer

In essense... EVERYONE has the ability ... so i have trouble seeing it as completely broken and it in no way deserves to be called a Wall Hack.

It doesn't matter what people call it, the point is that is changes what has has the potential to be a very tense experience by removing some of the element of surprise and danger. Just because "everyone has it" doesn't make the feature a good one, or healthy for the experience. Instead of silhouetting players behind solid objects, they could've just as easily made "listen mode" a kind of sonar ping system which would in turn provide the player with a subtle hint if someone is in the general area. Maybe a rumble on the controller or a slight screen vignetting if you were facing the right direction. The way this have it right now looks much too effective regardless of how long it lasts or the range.
 
Having more information doesn't make a situation less tense. Does chess become less tense because you have perfect information? This is what I'm trying to get at.
 
If the single player game looks nearly as bad as this YouTube video of multiplayer I'll be disappointed....
 
Just to be clear, Listen Mode only works on sprinting enemies, correct?

No, in the trailer at the end you can clearly see one dude highlight 4 other dudes while everyone is standing still.

If the single player game looks nearly as bad as this YouTube video of multiplayer I'll be disappointed....

I'm not even sure how to respond to that. Why would the SP be anything like the MP apart from a few gameplay elements? Even at that the way the gameplay works in both is different. SP is more about exploring and listening to the story.
 
Just to be clear, Listen Mode only works on sprinting enemies, correct?
According to Naughty Dog's multiplayer lead, yes
So, what we do with the radar is: players show up on the radar when they're sprinting. That was a really big change we put in early on so that we could just slow the pace of the game down and force players to try and creep around a little more. And we put a range limit on that so if you're really far away from the battle you can still sprint just to get into the conflict, get closer to your teammates.
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/t...g-breaks-down-the-last-of-us-multiplayer.aspx

edit: actually I'm not sure if there is a difference between Listen Mode and Radar visibility. Later they mention a "marking" ability that could still show up in Listen mode.
 
My way of balancing Listen Mode

-Only shows vague shadows, more a patch showing where the sound is emanating from than a silhouette
-Does not show which weapon/weapon type enemy is holding
-Have to be completely still when using it
-Have to holster weapon to use it, weapon takes 2 seconds to unholster
-Only detects enemies within 10/15 metres
-Only detects enemies who are at max jogging speed, or sprinting
-Also detects enemies firing weapons
-Cannot see teammates through walls for 15 seconds after use


Basically, nerf the shit out of it.



Also, I'd rather teammates appeared as vague blips on the radar than their outlines appearing through walls


@FancyCorndog, hopefully body armour makes you slow as fuck, and only protects the torso
 
If the single player game looks nearly as bad as this YouTube video of multiplayer I'll be disappointed....

Don't worry. I've played the demo and it really does look good. SOME of the textures in the environment could've been better but that's mostly on the big things like the outside of buildings. The characters and their animations are great. Especially when you choke someone out.
 
Isn't radar like a minimap? where sprinting guys show up cos they're making noise same for shooting? Listen mode is seeing that big glow around people through walls
Yeah, the editor's note in the previous question tripped me up. They list the different radars in the interview and it seems like they're saying after you spot someone they appear in Listen Mode. That's how I'm reading it from here.
 
Having more information doesn't make a situation less tense. Does chess become less tense because you have perfect information? This is what I'm trying to get at.

The "mental game" part of TLoU will be miniscule in comparison to actual chess. Having information on the level of "seeing you're enemy through parts of the map" is a much, MUCH bigger piece of the pie than guessing what you're opponent might do next in a chess match. It might not remove ALL the tension, but it will often boil the game down to strictly: "Kill or die." The cat & mouse dynamic is dumbed down, the stealth is dumbed down, the atmosphere is different, the mindset of players is different, etc. In addition to the radar, it's there basically to gives players a safety net, and a feeling of comfort. You're probably never completely in the dark, you probably never have to devote your full attention to the surroundings, you probably never have to make calculated blind risks. It reduces the panic and potential mistakes that a more "pure" experience might provide.

Imagine how tense the game would be with an ultra minimalist HUD. No enemy markers, teammates only highlighted when in your line of sight, no radar, friendly fire on, no perks, etc. That seems more fitting to the mood The Last of Us is trying to establish. Unfortunately it's not as "friendly" as radars, and listen mode, and perks.
 
they should really make the guns a scarcity in this MP mode...
like maybe they spawn in random points of the map and only 1-2 guns available
and the rest need to craft their weapons
 
So, what I'm taking from this is that people are upset that TLoU MP isn't a cardboard cutout of other MP, and is actually crafting an MP that works within the context of the universe (and that universes gameplay mechanics), with more than enough room to grow and evolve once the community gets their hands on it and can start offering feedback?

I don't understand the cynicism. Thwn again, I'm getting TLoU because of the single player. I didn't even expect it to have multiplayer at all. I'm not an MP player, truthfully, but I thought that trailer was really intriguing, and I'll actually give it a go.

After I beat the single player. TLoU is a single player game at heart. That's been its primary focus for the years it's been in development. MP junkies have, quite literally, a plethora of choice out their (yet they still only stick with a precious few). Strong single player experiences are becoming few and far between outside of RPGs. I was sold on TLoU at "Naughty Dog is making a survival horror game."

With that said, I hope the MP is fun, but I'll withhold judgment until I actually play it.

Another game that looked weak in video previews? Demon's Souls.

Just saying.

Interestingly enough, Demon's also had unconvential MP that was woven into the narrative and context of the world incredibly well (moreso than Dark Souls, which I also love).
 
Agreed. I don't play many multiplayer games, but the Uncharted MP really 'clicked' with me. It was a ton of fun, and I prefer them over most other MP games. I think ND can make some interesting/fun multiplayer, but it just doesn't look like they put in a lot of time on this specific multiplayer (at least compared to Uncharted 2 and 3). And yes, yes, I know it's more about the singleplayer (it is for me, too), but just saying... If you're gonna make a multiplayer mode, don't half-ass it (and yes, it's probably too soon for me to say that since I haven't played lol; but no co-op is a big deal for me).

Yea no coop to me is almost inexcusable. To me, it'd be the go to mode after the single player in this game.
 
In Uncharted 2 MP, there was an ability called "Situational Awareness".

Everyone hated that game breaking bullshit.

This game gives it to EVERYONE.

Good job ND.
 
Are you comparing situational LISTENING which is in the game or any game for that matter, but can be varied depending on sound system to a full on wallhack where you get a perfect view of the people behind walls in a COMPETITIVE MULTIPLAYER GAME? No, just no - There is simply no logical or acceptable explanation for this shit.


Durrr you can only use it when absolutely still and enemies light up if they are movingcreating sound. I'd like to see them implement a variable effectiveness based on the environmental sounds like wind and such. It's the same way that the threat ring in mgs4 is a visual cue to help emulate our situational awareness that can't be conveyed solely with a screen and a sound system.
 
In Uncharted 2 MP, there was an ability called "Situational Awareness".

Everyone hated that game breaking bullshit.

This game gives it to EVERYONE.

Good job ND.

The radar is for everyone. LM is only for those who play as scouts.

I hate nearly everything about this mp to do with boosters and the grossest fucking HUD I've seen in a long time, but we should at least try to keep criticism accurate (given the information available to us).
 
The "mental game" part of TLoU will be miniscule in comparison to actual chess. Having information on the level of "seeing you're enemy through parts of the map" is a much, MUCH bigger piece of the pie than guessing what you're opponent might do next in a chess match. It might not remove ALL the tension, but it will often boil the game down to strictly: "Kill or die." The cat & mouse dynamic is dumbed down, the stealth is dumbed down, the atmosphere is different, the mindset of players is different, etc. In addition to the radar, it's there basically to gives players a safety net, and a feeling of comfort. You're probably never completely in the dark, you probably never have to devote your full attention to the surroundings, you probably never have to make calculated blind risks. It reduces the panic and potential mistakes that a more "pure" experience might provide.

Imagine how tense the game would be with an ultra minimalist HUD. No enemy markers, teammates only highlighted when in your line of sight, no radar, friendly fire on, no perks, etc. That seems more fitting to the mood The Last of Us is trying to establish. Unfortunately it's not as "friendly" as radars, and listen mode, and perks.

Imagine you're in a room. You're standing in front of a wall. There's a door to your left and a door to your right, both ten feet away and both leading to the other side of the wall. If you ping with Listen Mode, you know there's an enemy on the other side of the wall. They may or may not know that you're there, and that you know that they're there. If you move, you can't use Listen Mode. If you five or so feet away from the wall, you're out of his Listen range, but he's also out of your range.

You need to kill the person on the other side of the wall. You don't know what weapons they have, what traps they may have set, and what methods they may use to misdirect your Listen Mode. And the resource you're there for is on his side of the wall.

How is that not tense?
 
Imagine you're in a room. You're standing in front of a wall. There's a door to your left and a door to your right, both ten feet away and both leading to the other side of the wall. If you ping with Listen Mode, you know there's an enemy on the other side of the wall. They may or may not know that you're there, and that you know that they're there. If you move, you can't use Listen Mode. If you five or so feet away from the wall, you're out of his Listen range, but he's also out of your range.

You need to kill the person on the other side of the wall. You don't know what weapons they have, what traps they may have set, and what methods they may use to misdirect your Listen Mode. And the resource you're there for is on his side of the wall.

How is that not tense?

Oh so you can use distraction items to screw up listen mode?
 
I haven't read, are their duplicate classes in this? Two scouts on one team etc.

You can probably pick whatever you want. There are a few different classes... I think only some classes can wear armor. And scouts iirc have weaker weapons / no armor.

They just need to add a HC mode that's vanilla without all the outlines on the HUD/radar, obtrusive playernames (only needed for friendlies!) and enable friendly fire.

I'd personally like the guns to be more limited and more powerful, but I'm not going to complain if they deliver on the other stuff. The other stuff is easy, it's just turning shit off. That is not hard to do.

Asking them to rebalance the game or add random weapons pickups, or infected to maps... that requires real effort.

Turing a bunch of crap off and allowing a stripped down mode (that actually reflects the tone of SP btw) is not some serious hardship. It should be very easy for these guys, and I believe it should have been there day one.

This is what is really bothering me, because I believe it's a realistic expectation. It's obvious. For a team that is delivering only two variants of basic TDM, and that's it, HC is one of those things you can add for people and not take a bunch of extra time/money, and add some more options to the playlist.

You can not tell me these devs are at all surprised to hear people don't like wallhacks or want a stripped down experience. Hardcore mode is one of the most requested MP modes in the industry if TDM is already present.

Imagine you're in a room. You're standing in front of a wall. There's a door to your left and a door to your right, both ten feet away and both leading to the other side of the wall. If you ping with Listen Mode, you know there's an enemy on the other side of the wall. They may or may not know that you're there, and that you know that they're there. If you move, you can't use Listen Mode. If you five or so feet away from the wall, you're out of his Listen range, but he's also out of your range.

You need to kill the person on the other side of the wall. You don't know what weapons they have, what traps they may have set, and what methods they may use to misdirect your Listen Mode. And the resource you're there for is on his side of the wall.

How is that not tense?

Neat. What's that have to do with this game? Because what you describe is just made up in your head and doesn't actually exist. You're putting all these arbitrary parameters on things that conform to your view of what would make a "tense" experience, and using that as a baseline to mount a defense for game mechanics that, here in reality, play by different rules.
 
Sorry, I made an assumption. No one here answered my earlier question about the details of Listen Mode.

Edit: Everyone here is trashing it based off of negative experiences it other games. So I was defending it based on positive experiences in other games.
 
Imagine you're in a room. You're standing in front of a wall. There's a door to your left and a door to your right, both ten feet away and both leading to the other side of the wall. If you ping with Listen Mode, you know there's an enemy on the other side of the wall. They may or may not know that you're there, and that you know that they're there. If you move, you can't use Listen Mode. If you five or so feet away from the wall, you're out of his Listen range, but he's also out of your range.

You need to kill the person on the other side of the wall. You don't know what weapons they have, what traps they may have set, and what methods they may use to misdirect your Listen Mode. And the resource you're there for is on his side of the wall.

How is that not tense?

I didn't say there's no tension using Listen Mode, just that the tension is probably going to be basic. The situation you're describing is a standard multiplayer scenario for nearly every big console multiplayer shooter not named Gears of War. Information overload. You see your enemies through walls and on radar, you see your teammates through walls and on radar, offensive perks, defensive perks, weapon perks, etc. It's been done time and time again. It's nothing new. What I had hoped to see from The Last of Us PvP was something more raw, more intense, more physical, less focus on standard multiplayer ideas and shooting. Something that would mimic the bursts of intensity and survival nature of the singleplayer footage we've seen, but against real people. Something that would keep your senses heightened due to lack of HUD information. The previews and footage don't show me that.
 
Sorry, I made an assumption. No one here answered my earlier question about the details of Listen Mode.

Edit: Everyone here is trashing it based off of negative experiences it other games. So I was defending it based on positive experiences in other games.

LM isn't the end of the world. It might even be perfectly balanced. The game might even be incredibly fun. It really might be.

But LM is just offensive to many of us, it just is. It especially is, in this game, and in this setting.

What is so frigging hard about adding a stripped down mode that actually pays homage to the tone of SP? If it's fun, people will play it. If we are all wrong, people won't. But what does it hurt being there?

If one of these MP previews had the sentence "There's also a more stripped down, no booster mode without radar etc" I don't think you'd be seeing 90% of this negativity. But it's not there.
 
Edit: Everyone here is trashing it based off of negative experiences it other games. So I was defending it based on positive experiences in other games.

You're defending it based on FAMILIAR experiences from other games. That's my issue. I didn't want this to be familiar.
 
It's just that a stripped down, low to zero HUD experience is about as novel to me as what's been shown in the preview. We've had multiplayer modes and mods of that kind of stuff in other games as well.
 
Really curious if there is going to be a perk that eliminates your presence in listen mode...and if it would even turn out to be that usefull to veteran players.
I keep seeing it as such a small tool... 1 on 4 when your backed against a wall and are being criticality slow and deliberate. Yah use it then...but positioning and in fights and actively hunting... I dunno. I get a weird vibe that works me like mgo did ... Like it may have flaws but could be crazy addicting. Just a bummer its 4 on 4 if that was the case...

And the more we talk about everything else...the more leaving out a co op or horde mode seems clinically insane.
 
It's just that a stripped down, low to zero HUD experience is about as novel to me as what's been shown in the preview. We've had multiplayer modes and mods of that kind of stuff in other games as well.

But what you don't have, anywhere else, is a game that plays like TLoU. Why does it (the mode) have to be novel?

(I'd argue it actually is novel when you combine the unique mechanics of the last of us and a less is more MP design -- since you cannot play this anywhere else)
 
But what you don't have, anywhere else, is a game that plays like TLoU. Why does it (the mode) have to be novel?

(I'd argue it actually is novel when you combine the unique mechanics of the last of us and a less is more MP design -- since you cannot play this anywhere else)

True, but you also don't have a game that plays like TLoU with a multiplayer like what was previewed.

Yeah, you're right. It's definitely an expectation mismatch.
 
True, but you also don't have a game that plays like TLoU with a multiplayer like what was previewed.

Yeah, you're right. It's definitely an expectation mismatch.

Seems like it could be easily solved.

Really curious if there is going to be a perk that eliminates your presence in listen mode...and if it would even turn out to be that usefull to veteran players.
I keep seeing it as such a small tool... 1 on 4 when your backed against a wall and are being criticality slow and deliberate. Yah use it then...but positioning and in fights and actively hunting... I dunno. I get a weird vibe that works me like mgo did ... Like it may have flaws but could be crazy addicting. Just a bummer its 4 on 4 if that was the case...

And the more we talk about everything else...the more leaving out a co op or horde mode seems clinically insane.

Yes there is a perk to counter LM. If you have it equipped and you only crouch walk (iirc) you are invisible to the wallhacking noobs.
 
How would you guys feel about a very small, very quick QTE that lets you escape stealth kills and end up face-to-face with the would-be killer? I'm talking a QTE so difficult, only 1 in 10 players could succeed at it even a third of the time. Like, having to press 2 dualshock buttons in half a second, with the only unused buttons being R2, L2, Start and Select.


Personally, I think it'd be great
 
I dont see a problem with the wall hack feature, why are people obsessed with that? I guess i dont videogame much to understand ..
Is it because of the realism thing?

I remember in uncharted there were perks that allow you to poof out of danger, become spiders and stuff... But wall hacks bother you?
 
This MP could be amazing if it all comes together properly. It looks like the sort of gruesome and graphic experience that Gears 1 used to provide.

The crafting elements look very engaging, and like I said.. dat gore.

I'm so glad I have this one paid off already.
 
How would you guys feel about a very small, very quick QTE that lets you escape stealth kills and end up face-to-face with the would-be killer? I'm talking a QTE so difficult, only 1 in 10 players could succeed at it even a third of the time. Like, having to press 2 dualshock buttons in half a second, with the only unused buttons being R2, L2, Start and Select.


Personally, I think it'd be great

I haven't seen it in a written preview yet.. but going by the stuff in the multiplayer leak that was posted a couple days ago... pressing triangle is (unconfirmed) a melee counter.

Not exactly what you're talking about... but who knows maybe there are still some mechanics that haven't been mentioned since they aren't glaringly obvious.
 
I dont see a problem with the wall hack feature, why are people obsessed with that? I guess i dont videogame much to understand ..
Is it because of the realism thing?

I remember in uncharted there were perks that allow you to poof out of danger, become spiders and stuff... But wall hacks bother you?

Its bad in most games.

It seems pretty terrible in this game.
 
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