Letters

Letters: Ocassionanally after playing a great game or product I will send the developer a letter of appreciation, often vocalizing a desire for a sequel and proposed improvements, here are the letters and responses.

Last Of Us.

From: Andre King

To: NaughtyDog

Subject: Last Of Us Fan Appreciaton and Feedback

Hello NaughtyDog, as a gamer I have played many titles, most games out there aren't that great, not due to a lack of technology but simply a loss of the necessary creativity, I know how hard it is to write a great script or play and I can only imagine what it takes to not only create a great story but also great game-play to go with it. There is no doubt that the team which created The Last of Us were true artists who put deep thought into their piece.

I also believe you have done something of a service to society as never before have I had such a deep respect for a female character as I do for Ellie, in my opinion her character was done perfectly with total respect for women. In other games where you play as female characters the character in question is almost always a re-skin of her male counterpart with no noticeable difference in the game-play, this is something that is done out of fear of the back-lash for making clear gender differences within the game-play for fear of offending women by making those character weaker. But you did however manage to create a very nice contrast between the game-play styles of Ellie and Jole, she is physically weaker but she's a 14 year old girl that is simply unavoidable, she also grew up in the apocalypse, was probably one of the best students in the academy - has incredible marksmanship and knows her way around a dagger, I don't believe I'll be the only one to say that I enjoyed playing Ellies character more than Joles, playing as Ellie I felt more challenged as it is much more difficult to survive without being able to carry a flame thrower and two riffles on your back.

The ending to your game was without a shadow of a doubt the best and deepest ending for any video game. I realize many people won't understand all the dimensions of that ending but I guarantee you that there are many people who understand. It was a disturbing ending, a completely justified realistic outcome in a disturbing world..at the same time the worst ending possible and yet exactly what the player wanted Jole to do.

This is the part where I ask you to make a sequel, because it simply must be done.

Suggestions

1) Open world.

You left so much to continue off of with Joles lie and his brothers settlement, I have no doubt that a sequel could be made with every bit as compelling a story. One thing that could be improved is the size of the game, and I realize that this suggestion may be pure fantasy but I think that the next game should be open world, the game already felt like it was open world almost the entire time, I believe that an open world narrative would be natural for this game. Ideally there should be a lot of space to travel in but that space is difficult to traverse due to the same reasons it was difficult to traverse in the linear format, bandits, military and infected all standing in the way, I have no doubt that if you were able to make an open world sequel and maintain the depth of the story then you would have a game on the same playing field and sales level as ME or TES.

2) Focus on Ellie, Ellie is poised to be the next Lara Croft, not in the sense of being totally objectified but in the sense of being the most prominent female character in gaming. Obviously she would be used in a sequel but I think that it would actually be the right move to make her the main character of the sequel, making her a little older but still young and having the same disadvantages from the last game but perhaps a few new advantages and tricks too.

3) Don't be afraid to kill characters off, not that you've shown any indication of being afraid of that but even though I think you should focus on Ellie for the sequel doesn't mean I'm not open to the idea of her and/or Jole and many others dying game of thrones style because that truly makes one appreciate and value the characters, to be honest I would have been 100% cool with the idea of Jole having died after taking that spike...that is after I wiped a tear from my eye.

4) Keep her straight, I loved the DLC but one thing that concerned me is that Ellie seemed to have been shown as a lesbian or at least as having some lesbian tendency. It is a bad idea to do this with her character, because she is already such a strong symbol of female power and achievement and making her gay conveys the message that women can only be this bad-ass if they emulate men, that girls cannot be strong. This character has been a strong representation of the power of the woman, femininity is a powerful force and one that is typically suppressed by society, that pure feminine aspect would bogged down if it was complicated with homosexuality.

5) Why don't automatic weapons do any significant damage? Probably the only concern with the game-play was that an assault rifle cannot do significant damage to enemies, I realize they were wearing Kevlar but it still shouldn't take a whole round to the face to kill a solider.

 P.S You can thank AngryJoe for me purchasing this game, he always gives honest reviews so I knew this game would be good.

Reply: Mailerdaemon noticed

Resent.

Lost Planet 3

From: Andre King

To: Moreinfo@sparkunlimited.com

Hey just your average consumer here wanting to put in my two cents. I just finished Lost Planet three a few hours ago, I thought it was worth my time to tell you about the experience as I doubt this game has ever gotten any of the praise it deserves.

I picked up the game some months ago, I was eager to try it out and it seemed interesting, I had played the first game but not the second. I was taken aback by the lack of gun touting war machines that had been the staple of the series, the relatively tame "rig" was a bit of a turn off at first but it made sense for the plot of the game. At first I was of the opinion that this game was mediocre but after a few hours of play I realized the art of this game.

I know your studio has been accredited for sub-par games, and maybe that's a reason why the reviews for this game were only decent but the truth is this was a great game, probably the best you guys have made and definitely the best in the series.

The story has to be one of the most compelling I had seen since the Mass Effect trilogy, it was one of those rare games that had me saying that this could be a movie. This game takes common clichés and then makes them not so clichéd, I was confident Braddock was a corporate stooge, but he turned out to be the genuine article. You have the classic Knight in shining armor meets Princess scenario...but you make the prince married and even though you can feel the attractions there nothing.. happens, which is surprisingly a fresh breath of air in an industry where you can dissect the plot in under thirty minutes.

You had a budget, but you still made a fairly vast open world game- your game worlds no Elder Scroll but it offers several hours of exploration that just gives you a sense of living in that world, being Jim Peyton for that time, planting and checking t-posts is a repetition but it's a welcome one because it's realistic.

The only further critique I have is that I felt very limited in my arsenal. I wanted to be able to mix an match weapons but a lot of weapon combinations aren't allowed which partly negated this games fairly rich arsenal of weapons available.

I sincerely hope you are contracted to create the next game, I liked how you set yourselves up for an easy sequel my only concern is that your bordering on negating the plot of the last games.

Don't forget in "modern" Lost Planet there are now real snow pirates at least a large portion of the Planet is terraformed.

This game was incredibly entertaining and gave a welcome less linear experience in the planet know as

Reply From: John Butrovich  Feb 25, 2014

Hi Andre,

Thanks for taking the time to write us.  Your experiences so the difficulty in making a new game with an existing genre.  Players expected more of either 1 or 2.  But 3 was an animal onto itself.  Glad you enjoyed it.  Hope we can bring more games to your liking.

Best regards,

John E.D.N III

Letter advising DCCU/CW intercross.

Sent to DC Entertainment via their feedback page.

Hi I'm Andre King, I've been a comic fan all my life and I had a few ideas to give your studio an edge over the MCU.

Here's the quick and short: You(DC entertainment) would benefit from making a deal with the CW to use their versions of The Arrow, Flash and associated characters in your cinematic universe. This should be done because these characters, as they are established in their T.V series, are already very popular and I can testify as a comics fan that viewers would love nothing more to see these characters on the big screen. Due to the CW the popularity of these two characters have skyrocketed, especially Arrow who beforehand was virtually unknown in the public eye, Grant Gustin does such a good job portraying The Flash that in my oppinion (and the oppinion of millions of other comics fans who if you(DC entertainment) were not aware as a demographic tend to be very unified in oppinion) that any other actor portraying him on the Silver Screen is actually a disapointment. And Finally the CW brings along with it not just these two characters but a plethora of other lessor heroes who would be able to bolster your Justice Leagues ranks without the trouble of having to worry about character development.