The Last of Us Was Written From The Middle; Druckmann Resisted Troy Baker's Take on Joel at First

Neil Druckmann shared some details on writing the script of The Last of Us and casting Joel's character with Troy Baker.

[Mostafeto]

That is a really interesting way to write one of the best stories in video game history.

[cfc83]

A story which they 'borrowed' from a book.

[ravinash]

many good stories are "borrowed" or "inspired" from other media.

It doesn't change how well the game was written.

[Edito]

You and many other industry pros can do the same but instead he did it brilliantly... So your frustrated attempt do downplay his great work wont work...

[Alexious]

Inspiration is a crucial part of the creative process. As long as it doesn't steer into plagiarism, I don't see the problem

[medman]

It's very different from The Road...and it's not as if The Road is the first book to do post apocalyptic/catastrophe survival. Everything borrows from everything...there are very few new ideas left in media that haven't been touched by someone else.

[OhMyGandhi]

@cfc83

Dude. One quick look at your comment history can allow one to deduce that your an xbox apologist, on a tirade against anything pertaining Sony, and that's really unfortunate.
For one, I'd recommend you actually play the game, and read "The Road".
Besides basic themes and visual storytelling, I don't get a Road vibe from Last of Us anymore then any other post apocalyptic book/movie that's been produced. I will say that the influences are far reaching, and the best part of inspiration, hell, even pure adaptation is that it's surprisingly easy to screw up.

Watch "Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us" and tell me that it was simply "borrowed from a book".
For the same reason that Uncharted may be inspired by classic adventure movies and pulp fiction of the 40's and 50's, Last of Us was a game that reveled in subversion. That is ultimately what makes Naughty Dog such an impressive company.

And guess what? I have both an Xbox One and a PS4. But I refuse to down play a game that gave a very pleasant middle finger to other developers and publishers within the game industry, showing off the idea that single player gaming is far from dead, and that the well of videogame narrative has not run dry.

Play the game if you haven't already, take off the tin foil hat, and understand that it's okay to have a dissenting opinion if you have the means to back it up with something constructive.

[ccgr]

Haven't played this series yet, ti's on my bucket list though

[kaiserfranz]

I hope Troy and Joel are in The Last of Us 2, it wouldn't feel the same otherwise

[The_Sage]

I would rather see a completely different story, if the do another game in that universe. I think the story of Joel and Ellie ended in the best way possible. I do love both characters, which leads me to wish that well enough is left alone.

[Chris_Wray]

This style of writing and adapting to Troy's take on Joel certainly worked for TLoU.
I don't doubt that writing a full story beforejand also works in some games too, though this type and the mixture in mechanics seems to have demanded the approach.

[Goldby]

it can work, but i've found in experience, that if you create the story first, you may somewhat limit your game if you stick straight to the script, halfway through dev, a programmer might figure out something that can add alot of features or a nice set piece but if the story is already written and the director doesnt like to stray, that work wont be added it.

as he put it, very organic to build the story as your building the game.

[ArchangelMike]

The writing and the pacing of the whole script was brilliant in TLOU. I don't think I've played a game yet that so gripped me from a story perspective. Bioshock Infinite came close, but apart from that, not many more.

[Next_gen_2015]

TLOU is a masterpiece and im still playing its MP till this day. Nothing quite like it tbh

[Alexious]

True. If there was a persistent open world with factions though, it would be perfect, I'd play that game non-stop!

[NotEvenMyFinalForm]

On the first paragraphs he pretty much confirms why video game stories suck. It's because they are an afterthought. They only start writing the story during the production right after they have come up with gameplay ideas.

[opinionated]

That's why game writing is difficult. It's easy to write a good story but then gameplay becomes an afterthought like his games. The pacing slows down to a crawl to support the narrative.

@phuc below
Fair enough. I agree somewhat.

[PhucSeeker]

I thought the gameplay of TLOU goes quite well with the story. The same can be said for Uncharted 1-2-3 which has crazy shooting and a crazy adventure story. But the dimmer tone of Uncharted 4 really doesn't match the over-the-top-shooting.

[opinionated]

He should write movies. His pacing doesn't work with games.

[DragonDDark]

How did it work then?

[opinionated]

It didn't game wise. People praise the story not the gameplay. You can get better stories in movies and books if you don't care about gameplay.

[IIFloodyII]

What? The Last of Us has excellent pacing, Uncharted 4 sure you can arguably not so much, but outside of the post prologue Boston bit, what was bad about the pacing in TLoU? Winter onwards it's one of the best-paced games ever, up there with Uncharted 2, and RE4.

[opinionated]

Wasn't a fan. It was really really slow. I think uncharted 2, dead space and re4 blows it out of the water. To be fair I think tlou is his best game even though I found it boring. U4 was ruined with his creative process.

[trouble_bubble]

Movies ebb and flow just like games. Not all movies are slow paced either and not all games need to be fast. Fast doesn't automatically equate to better. Michael Bay fans and people with attention deficit disorder seem to have the most problem with this. Fortunately there's medication for at least one of those problems.

[opinionated]

No they don't. Game writing is an entirely different beast. All games don't need to be fast, I agree. I gave dead space as an example. Great pacing for a slow methodical game. It's pacing didn't take away from its gameplay though, that's the difference. With Druckmanns games the gameplay takes a back seat to narrative and cinematics and are much slower than dead space or re4. Playing his games feels like he would do away with gameplay if he could, it seems like a burden to him. Staged fist fights and whatnot. I think TLOU is his best game because it's a new IP. They should have never gave him the keys uncharted though. They turned a fast paced game into the slow paced cinematic snoozer. I get that people love it, I personally just don't.

[Hardiman]

Well the results speak for themselves. What ever their process is it works to great effect.

[Apocalypze]

Hopefully BETHESDA learns how to pace the conversations and the writtings in future fallout games!