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[Schmendrick]

Nah

 

[DeepSpace5D]

Each game Naughty Dog releases is more impressive than the last, so he’s alright in my book.

 

[poppabk]

Uncharted 3 had many more issues with the plot but people love glazing that game because Druckmann didn’t work on it.

I'm on PC so only have access to 4.

 

[PeteBull]

Last of Us 2 has incredible gameplay. It is easily the best playing 3rd person action game ever made.

Woman has incredible cuchie, but she is a stripper, and a hoe, u wont marry her, same way if story driven game like tlou2 has incredible gameplay, which i dont deny, even then many of us, customers, arent willing to buy/play it coz of many other terrible characteristics, that instantly disqualify said game.

 

[hinch7]

Uncharted 3 had many more issues with the plot but people love glazing that game because Druckmann didn’t work on it.

This was also the generation that ND had produced not one, but four games in one gen. Three Uncharted's and The Last of Us. Thats one game every 2-3 years.

We only got two games last generation and not even a new one (yet) for this gen. This generation we got TLOU 1 and 2 remasters and a cancelled online TLOU title. Intergalactic will be another two years away.

That and the guy can barely get a game out without causing some sort of controversy.

 

[Shtof]

I mean setting out to make the gameplay of Uncharted 4 is like setting out to make smelly farts. Sure, it can be executed masterfully, but it doesn't make it pleasant. It had the most mind-numbingly boring and shallow gameplay I've ever seen from a studio of that caliber.

Mention some games in the same genre that does a better job at it. You can’t.

 

[HogIsland]

That and the guy can barely get a game out without causing some sort of controversy.

druckmann isn't causing controversy. babies triggered by lesbianism cause controversy.

 

[Jigsaah]

TLOU2 was a good game. TLOU1 was a good game.

I don't have a strong opinion about Druckmann himself...I just wanna play good games. Despite the controversy, the gameplay has never been in question. So I'm neutral.

 

[thefool]

A nutjob who wrote milquetoast scripts for games.

 

[Hookshot]

He joined after I'd already stopping playing their games, not a fan of his fetishes.

 

[ssringo]

I don't think highly of Naughty Dog (never have) so it follows suit that I feel the same about him.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

He did great.

But this guy needs fo fail hard to get back to earth, because he's beyond the sky, maybe even the galaxy.
That's what happening when you succeed for too long: you are out of reality, and your ego grow up about to blow.

I currently hate him and any form of politics.

 

[Melfice7]

Considering his original ideas for TLoU were all terrible and thankfully were scrapped and later seeing how TLoU 2 turned out, completely dividing the fanbase, seems like hes a bad writer but a good director.

Overall i think he's done more damage than good for Naughty Dog

 

[nial]

When this guy started getting attention from Sony, all the other presidents left, Evan Wells, Christophe Balestra, Bruce Straley... even their main programmer Christian Gyrling left the studio recently... I wonder why...

Bruce Straley was never a president of ND and he left during Evan Wells' tenure.
BTW, Evan isn't even working in the industry anymore, is that also Neil's fault?

 

[nial]

So I assume looking at the numbers he did a great job so far. But other than that, there can be a huge negative that still isn't seen in these numbers: the wokeness that made him retire Nathan Drake and replace him with non-white masculine females and stop the Uncharted franchise, one of their two biggest assets.

You must literally be the only person in the world bothered by this. Nate's story was done, it's NOT Uncharted 5, but rather a standalone expansion of U4.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Some other people deserve more credit than he does

What are you talking about?

Why don’t we credit people working with Kojima or Miyazaki then? These dudes alone can’t make their games.

Your argument is just a hate against Neil. Neil has never taken credit for others work

 

[T4keD0wN]

I wish he did what he does best and so obviously wants to do instead, tv shows. Leave the game making to someone who wants to make games.

 

[Chakan]

I hope Intergalactic fails to meet expectations and Sony fires Druckmann's ass. He's destroying Naughty Dog.

 

[Gaiff]

What are you talking about?

Why don’t we credit people working with Kojima or Miyazaki then? These dudes alone can’t make their games.

Your argument is just a hate against Neil. Neil has never taken credit for others work

No one deserves more credit than Kojima or Miyazaki for what they did. Amy Henning and Bruce Straley could easily be argued to be more instrumental to Naughty Dog's success than Druckmann has been.

My problem is that Neil is being given (and taking) far too much credit for what ND achieved when he's like the third most important person. Miyazaki, Kojima, Sid Meier, Todd Howard, or Miaymoto are all unquestionably number 1.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

What you see as "mature" I only see as malicious, disruptive, and completely fantasy-based ideologies mixed with a good dose of fetishes, all driven by ill-intent agendas.

And when you say "adult".. Part II target audience wasn't really well adjusted adults. Quite the opposite actually, as from what I've seen the most hardcore fans of that game narrative are easily impressed brainwashed teenagers, or broken and downright mentally ill people.

Ah so it’s politics to you. Moving on, I’m just enjoying my hobby over here

 

[Scrawnton]

Naughty Dog is the next BioWare, just in a different part of their life cycle. TLoU Pt. 2 is their Mass Effect 3 and their Inquisition, highly divisive games that were still a sales success; but the writing is on the wall with their next slate of games. Intergalactic's initial reactions look to it being their Andromada / Veilguard and Factions would've been their Anthem. We've seen studios go down this road before and Naughty Dog, Neil in particular, is so egotistical that he thinks he can do it correctly whereas no one else could.

So my opinion of him is he's delusional if he thinks he can succeed in doing what the market has clearly rejected. If the game releases with the agenda that he clearly supports and pushes and is a money sink; all the layoffs that will follow should be directly tied to him and his ego.

 

[WoJ]

My opinion is more negative than positive, he's made some great games but I could go without his blatant political activism within his games.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

No one deserves more credit than Kojima or Miyazaki for what they did. Amy Henning and Bruce Straley could easily be argued to be more instrumental to Naughty Dog's success than Druckmann has been.

How do you know? Did you work at ANY of these teams? You’re just a speculating outsider

Kojima and Miyazaki both go nowhere without their talented devs working with them, just like Neil. The situation is no different.

 

[InterMusketeer]

Never been a huge ND fan. Crash was okay. I skipped their PS2 games entirely. On PS3 I enjoyed their Uncharted games. The second one was the best. I'm not wild about those games but they're fun adventures. TLoU was good too. I played a lot of the multiplayer.

I stopped caring since before U4 came out. Never played that game, but it seemed to have a very different vibe to it. When they announced TLoU2 I was disappointed, because I felt that game didn't need a sequel. I feel justified in feeling that way, seeing how Part 2 ended up. Haven't been interested in anything they've done since.

So as Druckmann got more influence in the company, their games' appeal took a nosedive for me. Not sure how much of that can be attributed to him.

 

[yurinka]

You must literally be the only person in the world bothered by this. Nate's story was done, it's NOT Uncharted 5, but rather a standalone expansion of U4.

I didn't say that Lost Legacy (well chosen subtittle) was Uncharted 5.

And to say Nate's story is done is like to say Mario's story is done or Link's story is done, or Lara Crot's story is done, etc.

They can easily bring him back if they want for Uncharted 5: the daughter or Sully dissapears or gets into trouble when investigating something (as could be Atlantis in the south of Spain) and he goes -maybe with Elena too- to find her/him.

They end having a lot of fun during that adventure with the daughter and Sully, maybe the adventure even helped to fix some family issue, and decide to go back for more adventures after it leaving it open for more Uncharted games.

 

[nial]

I didn't say that Lost Legacy (well chosen subtittle) was Uncharted 5.

Then if you're fully aware of this, why are you complaining that Nate was replaced if you know that his story already ended and ND never made a true follow-up to Uncharted 4?

 

[Gaiff]

How do you know? Did you work at ANY of these teams?

Yes.

You’re just a speculating outsider

No.

Kojima and Miyazaki both go nowhere without their talented devs working with them, just like Neil. The situation is no different.

Yes, it's completely different. The masterminds behind Souls games and MGS are Myazaki and Kojima. The mastermind behind Uncharted or TLOU isn't Druckmann. It was Hennig and Bruce Straley with Druckmann being third.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Yes.

No.

Yes, it's completely different. The masterminds behind Souls games and MGS are Myazaki and Kojima. The mastermind behind Uncharted or TLOU isn't Druckmann. It was Henning and Bruce Straley with Druckmann being third.

Nope. The mastermind behind all these games is their collective team and the leaders are there to inspire and drive a vision.

Neil took a disaster with UC4 and salvaged it into GOTY. Neil was responsible for creating their most important IP ever.

But yeah let’s try and diminish his impacts when you know nothing more than headline articles

 

[Gaiff]

Nope. The mastermind behind all these games is their collective team and the leaders are there to inspire and drive a vision.

Gotta love the hypocrisy.

Neil took a disaster with UC4 and salvaged it into GOTY. Neil was responsible for creating their most important IP ever.

Lol, so the masterminds were the entire teams, but all of a sudden, it was Neil who salvaged the game and created the most important IP ever.

But yeah let’s try and diminish his impacts when you know nothing more than headline articles

Not trying to diminish his impact. I'm not just a delusional and dishonest poster like you are. You credit Neil with salvaging Uncharted and creating their most important IP, but when it comes to Miyazaki or Kojima who didn't have copilots or someone above them like Straley or Hennig, it was the entire team. Get the hell out with this nonsense.

 

[yurinka]

Then if you're fully aware of this, why are you complaining that Nate was replaced if you know that his story already ended and ND never made a true follow-up to Uncharted 4?

Because I know that the story of most games end, but if games/IPs are successful devs always can find some excuse to make a sequel.

I complain because they have an issue with white male protagonists (even said it publicly) because of gender and skin color issues and because they chosen to retire Nate and replace him with these females in the spinoff, plus some wanted to stop working on Uncharted for that reason.

And I -like many other fans- want more Uncharted and specifically with Nate as protagonist because Uncharted doesn't make sense without him. Like a Mario doesn't make sense without him, a Zelda game doesn't make sense without Link and Zelda, Tomb Raider doesn't make sense without Lara Croft or Metroid doesn't make sense without Samus.

Yes, it's completely different. The masterminds behind Souls games and MGS are Myazaki and Kojima. The mastermind behind Uncharted or TLOU isn't Druckmann. It was Hennig and Bruce Straley with Druckmann being third.

As I remember TLOU's original story and concept comes from a project Neil had before working in gaming and was studying cinema or something like that.

Neil, Bruce, Miyazaki and Kojima are very important for their projects, in the same way that many other people are in the teams. If Uncharted or TLOU (same goes with From or Kojima's team) still would have these creative minds but wouldn't have the amazing artists, animators, coders, producers, musicians, audio designers, actors, game designers, writers, testers, etc. and instead they had untalented devs who would have made crap or average stuff their games wouldn't have been that good, popular and successful at all.

The director/creative director/writer only do their part of the job, which is a small -even if important- part of the total work needed to make a game, particularly a AAA game where hundreds or thousands of people are involved.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Gotta love the hypocrisy.

Lol, so the masterminds were the entire teams, but all of a sudden, it was Neil who salvaged the game and created the most important IP ever.

Not trying to diminish his impact. I'm not just a delusional and dishonest poster like you are. You credit Neil with salvaging Uncharted and creating their most important IP, but when it comes to Miyazaki or Kojima who didn't have copilots or someone above them like Straley or Hennig, it was the entire team. Get the hell out with this nonsense.

You’re absolutely delusional and dishonest, I am putting them all on the same level and not crowning anyone just because they happen to be Japanese

“they didn’t have copilots” yes they did! Their entire teams. You’re looking way too much into titles. What you’re admitting to is that Japanese devs have a weird infatuation with their leaders whereas in the west they don’t turn them into some diety

 

[Loxus]

Honestly, and all jokes aside.
Can somebody please tell me what's woke about TLOU2 and Neil Druckmann?

Or are people just finding ways to hate on both of them?

I live in the Caribbean, so my outlook of woke is probably different.
We only occasionally talk about the LBGTQ push, though.

In fact, I never heard anyone call a game woke over here. Only on GAF and Twitter.

I try to understand what woke is, but I still don't get it. Is it a culture thing?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Uncharted 2 was and still is their best "game game."

 

[Gaiff]

“they didn’t have copilots” yes they did! Their entire teams. You’re looking way too much into titles.

No, their team is their crew, not the copilots. Simply look at their credits. Miyazaki gets sole directorial credit for Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls III, and Bloodborne. Kojima gets sole directorial credit for MGS, MGS2 and MGS3. Neil Druckmann hasn't gone a single lone directorial credit. Furthermore, he was the junior and less experienced team member when Hennig and Straley were still around.

Giving Neil Druckmann the same amount of credit as Kojima for MGS or Miyazaki for Dark Souls is laughable.

 

[nial]

I complain because they have an issue with white male protagonists (even said it publicly) because of gender and skin color issues and because they chosen to retire Nate and replace him with these females in the spinoff, plus some wanted to stop working on Uncharted for that reason.

And I -like many other fans- want more Uncharted and specifically with Nate as protagonist because Uncharted doesn't make sense without him. Like a Mario doesn't make sense without him, a Zelda game doesn't make sense without Link and Zelda, Tomb Raider doesn't make sense without Lara Croft or Metroid doesn't make sense without Samus.

I want a source on bolded, lol.
Your point makes no sense, they did not retire Nate because TLL isn't anything more than a side story game.

Also, I think the fact that TLL is better regarded than U1 and U3 kinda proves you wrong in that, it's literally no different from a new Mario game featuring Wario or Yoshi, or Echoes of Wisdom where you only play as Zelda.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

No, their team is their crew, not the copilots. Simply look at their credits. Miyazaki gets sole directorial credit for Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls III, and Bloodborne. Kojima gets sole directorial credit for MGS, MGS2 and MGS3. Neil Druckmann hasn't gone a single lone directorial credit. Furthermore, he was the junior and less experienced team member when Hennig and Straley were still around.

Giving Neil Druckmann the same amount of credit as Kojima for MGS or Miyazaki for Dark Souls is laughable.

You’re reading into titles as though nobody other than Miyazaki or Kojima had major impacts on the direction of their games

Neil basically created (with his team) one of the most successful IPs in gaming and TV, how is he not? His new games have done better than most Miyazaki titles and most Kojima games

 

[fart town usa]

Druckman doesn't have an original thought in his head.

The grief porn trope was already played out by the time TLOU 1 arrived but the world has been in constant crisis for the past 2+ decades so grief porn it is. TLOU is The Walking Dead, that's all it is.

Intergalactic looks the same, grabbing ideas from other IPs and putting some Leftist-modern lecturing into it. Nothing original. It's also a few years too late. Audiences have shown they are growing tired of these stale approaches to story telling.

That's just Neil though.

I have no doubt that Intergalactic will be an impressive game from the technical side of things.

 

[Gaiff]

You’re reading into titles as though nobody other than Miyazaki or Kojima had major impacts on the direction of their games

Not saying that. I'm saying the director is the most important member. Same way we credit films to directors and the lead actors. Doesn't mean everyone else did nothing.

Neil basically created (with his team) one of the most successful IPs in gaming and TV, how is he not?

Because TLOU and Uncharted had seniors with more experience than him at the helm and he didn't take the lead until TLOU II.

His new games have done better than most Miyazaki titles and most Kojima games

And Elden Ring has done better than every Druckmann game. MGS is also far more groundbreaking than any Druckmann game. He isn't on their level. Stop with that shit.

 

[Woggleman]

The funny thing is that Neil was the story writer on TLOU and Bruce Straley was in charge of the gameplay which was major step up in 2 with him not involved. Bruce had nothing to do with the story.

 

[Gaiff]

The funny thing is that Neil was the story writer on TLOU and Bruce Straley was in charge of the gameplay which was major step up in 2 with him not involved. Bruce had nothing to do with the story.

This makes no sense. He made the blueprint and Part II is a continuation of that, yet you're talking as if his departure made the game better when his involvement is what allowed Part I to be the way it is and Part II to build upon it.

Because Druckmann sure as shit couldn't have come up with that gameplay on his own.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Last of Us 2 has incredible gameplay. It is easily the best playing 3rd person action game ever made.

Druckmann has nothing to do with TLOU2 excellent gameplay. The game had another director that fully took care of that. Druckmann was too busy directing actors.

 

[shoegaze]

I feel warmth in my heart seeing him starting to grey out.

 

[Certinty]

Last of Us 2 has incredible gameplay. It is easily the best playing 3rd person action game ever made.

Isn't this the issue though, it seems literally everything good about The Last of Us Part II has nothing to do with him.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

I would say neutral, because naughty dog's games do nothing for me, the most fun I had playing a naughty dog game was playin crash bandicoot in uncharted 4.
However it seems that the studio was already well regarded before whoever this druckman is started taking the spotlight; so probably more negative than neutral.

 

[HogIsland]

Isn't this the issue though, it seems literally everything good about The Last of Us Part II has nothing to do with him.

You really have no idea. And if he only did the story, the story is fucking excellent. If he only directed actor's performances, the actor's performances are a generation ahead of anything else we've seen in a game.

It's funny how many people are taking the line that you have to look at the whole team when discussing the parts of the game you like, but when discussing the parts you're triggered by and need safe space from, it's just this one guy.

I'm fine with either line, but there's no version where Druckmann isn't a giant in videogames.

 

[DJ12]

Aside from uncharted remakes I haven't brought a naughty Dog game since uncharted 4 and the spin off. Not out of any protest just last of us doesn't appeal

 

[R3TRO]

So far so good but the new reveal wasn’t great.

 

[Neofire]

Mostly positive, just because he is spearheading one pile of poop doesn't mean he's been bad for the company.

If that's the case there are quite a few developer heads that should be thrown under the bus for their duds they released.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Uncharted 3 had many more issues with the plot but people love glazing that game because Druckmann didn’t work on it.

Uncharted 3 is my favorite in the franchise. Uncharted 2 is a set piece extravaganza but the plot is lame. Uncharted 3's plot is amazing even if the game overdoes cover shooting segments. Many locations are picturesque instead of third world. Uncharted 4 is crap. Wayward brother plot sucks and open world segments are some of the dullest in the franchise. It seems like springboard for other shitty characters getting the spotlight to replace the protagonist.

 

[yurinka]

I want a source on bolded, lol.

There is a particular old conference I don't find now, where Druckmann did clearly talk about wanting to move away from white male, heterosexual protagonists and also mentioned the idea of not liking Drake being a 'mass murderer', but now I don't find it.

Here you have some other related sources of other related statements, even if some not as clear:

Druckmann in 2014 (around 3:00), when presenting an award for her: "For me, Anita (Sarkeesian)'s work was highly influential on my approach for writing The Last of Us, greatly improving the story":


Druckmann (2016): "When you make a game, you have these different pillars that you're trying to balance. It's graphics, it's gameplay, it's story and you're trying not to let any one pillar overwhelm the other. You're trying to just keep all of this stuff in your mind like, how does it all work together? Recently, I realized that there's this other pillar of diversity. That's just as important as any one of these other pillars. I've kind of empowered people on the team that have made this their top priority, one of which is someone I have to give a lot of credit to, is Ashley Swidowski, our lead concept character artist, which in film terms would be our costume designer. She is constantly challenging me and pushing for diversity in our cast. Can this be a person of color? Can this be a woman? I see myself as a pretty progressive person and yet my default is a white, straight, christian male. That's interesting because I'm Jewish and yet that's the norm for me right now. It's a challenge and it requires energy to deviate from that. Therefore it's important to empower people on the team that are going to push for this pillar."
https://laist.com/shows/the-frame/a...manns-creative-process?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Druckmann (2016): "When I’m introducing and describing a new character to our lead character concept artist, constantly she will ask, ‘What if it was a girl?’” Druckmann said, when asked how his interest in the work of Feminist Frequency affected the recent PlayStation 4 game. "
https://www.polygon.com/2016/5/23/11748426/uncharted-4-neil-druckmann-interview-women-characters

Ashley -Concept Artist in Left Behind and Lead Concept Artist in Uncharted 4, Lost Legacy and TLOU2, who knows if Intergalactic too- left ND in 2022 and went to Bad Robot Games (JJ Abrams company who made Silent Hill: Ascension) and around a year and a half ago moved to That's No Moon, an independent AAA studio with AAA veterans who has Michael Mumbauer (Sony PlayStation Visual Arts, the one behind the TLOUP1 remake) and Smilegate investment and are working in a AAA 3rd person action adventure.