How The Last of Us Remastered Enhances Multiplayer

73 12
How The Last of Us Remastered Enhances Multiplayer

The Last of Us Remastered launches next week in North America. We’ll be revealing some upcoming DLC and streaming a basic introduction to the multiplayer mode, Factions, live later this week over on our Twitch channel. We plan to show off the new features for PS4 as well as give our primer for those not familiar with the mode on Thursday, July 24th at 11:30 AM Pacific and 5:30 PM Pacific.

If you can’t watch the Twitch stream, we asked Erin Daly, Lead Multiplayer Designer, and Quentin Cobb, Game Designer, a couple of questions about Factions multiplayer mode in the game. If you’re new to the world of Factions, this is a great primer. If you’re a hardened survivor with a clan that never diminishes, read on to hear about some exciting developments we were able to make in The Last of Us Remastered.

The Last of Us Remastered Multiplayer
Q: Why is the multiplayer mode called Factions?

Quentin Cobb: We wanted the online multiplayer to focus on the larger story of the player representing a faction (Fireflies or Hunters) and rebuilding their own clan in that faction. This grounds the online matches in a world where each player is fighting for the survival of their clan and therefore gives each match more weight and importance.

Erin Daly: The name Factions came from what we call the “metagame.” Instead of just earning XP and ranking up like most multiplayer games, when you start multiplayer you are put in charge of a small group of survivors trying to stay alive and grow their numbers. To make progress you must ally yourself with one of the major factions from the single player game — the Hunters, a rag-tag group of brutal killers, or the Fireflies, a more well-equipped resistance group that is still trying to find a cure for the infection.

As you progress, events will occur that put your survivors at risk and require you to complete missions during your multiplayer matches to keep them alive. You must survive for 12 weeks with either the Hunters or Fireflies to beat the metagame.

Q: What was the inspiration for Factions multiplayer?

Quentin Cobb: The inspiration really came from the combat encounters of the single-player campaign. We wanted to mirror the slow pace and high lethality of those encounters while keeping a very similar crafting and scavenging system. We did this by making every weapon very lethal, placing crafting items inside of item caches located in strategic parts of the map, having the player appear on the radar while sprinting, and keeping ammo very scarce.

This would lead to the players sneaking around the map, trying to get to item caches and picking the moment to attack very carefully and making their shots count. We also added a down state which would allow players to revive teammates. All of these factors put an emphasis on stealth and teamwork which many shooters don’t achieve. This created a very unique experience which we feel makes our multiplayer special.

Erin Daly: As Quentin mentioned the inspiration really came from trying to capture the slower pace, stealth, lethality, and consequence of combat in single player, something that is really challenging to do in a live multiplayer environment. In most multiplayer shooters these days players sprint around at high speeds and spray bullets at anything that moves. To capture the feeling of combat in single player we had to slow the game down a lot, while still keeping the controls and player movement feeling responsive.

By making the game fairly lethal, but giving players a higher level of awareness of their enemies, we were able to create some very tactical combat, especially when combined with the variety of craftable items like molotovs, nail bombs, and smoke bombs. In general, players playing overly aggressively will usually find themselves at a disadvantage in The Last of Us. In the end it’s a game where your tactical decision-making matters more than your aiming reflexes.

We also needed to add some of our own unique elements to multiplayer that didn’t exist in single player. For this we built a new loadout system with a variety of survival skills, added some new guns, and added an in-game store where players can use parts they earn in combat to purchase additional ammo, weapon upgrades, and armor. Combined with the crafting system it offers a lot of on-the-fly tactical choices. Another big addition was the revive system — when players take enough damage they go into a down state and can crawl around slowly while bleeding out. With only four players on each team it means every life matters and sticking with your team and keeping them alive is a very big part of the game. It also adds a lot of consequence to death, something we also wanted to capture from single player. Taking out one enemy is a big deal, as is losing one of your own team.

We’ve read a lot of feedback from players that they feel the MP game captured the feel of single player very well, which is something we’re really happy with.

The Last of Us Remastered Multiplayer
Q: How big is PS3 multiplayer community and how has it been?

Erin Daly: We have around 9,000 concurrent players at peak and the community has been very active. The community gives us a lot of feedback on our forums that we use to help balance and tweak Factions.

Q: Any cool or funny community stories from people playing Factions?

Quentin Cobb: I would say the “Batman Shiv” is a cool story. People like to drop down from above an enemy and quickly turn around and shiv an enemy. This has become a very stylish way to shiv someone and I wish we could have gotten in some kind of stat to track when a player successfully pulls off a “Batman Shiv” to award them extra points!

Q: What are the new features for Factions in The Last of Us Remastered?

Erin Daly: Well, first off we are running the game at 1080p and targeting 60 fps. The power of PS4 and some of our talented engineers were able to significantly improve the load times.

Quentin Cobb: On the gameplay side we made some important tweaks. The DLC map Trophies now require five downs or executions and deaths don’t matter. We added eighteen new tips for new players.

If you’re a new player you’ll start with 9 loadout points instead of 8. You’ll reach the max of 13 loadout points sooner as a result. All fifteen of our maps are in each playlist so the player pool will be consolidated. This means faster matchmaking and that you will have a greater variety of maps in each playlist! There’s a lot of great new stuff.

Q: What’s your absolute favorite new feature in Factions in the Remastered edition?

Quentin Cobb: Playing with the higher fps is by far my favorite feature. This improves gameplay dramatically and makes shooting much more precise. I find that gameplay in general is much more responsive and accurate.

Erin Daly: Yeah, agreed. Playing Factions running with higher fps is awesome. Everything feels much tighter and more precise, especially when it comes to gunplay. Players are really going to like it.

Q: What are you looking forward to most in the Remastered version?

Quentin Cobb: I’m looking forward to playing Interrogation (my favorite game type) on all the new maps and recording and streaming my matches!

Erin Daly: Yeah, I’m excited to see what our community records and shares. We’ve seen some amazing content and look forward to watching what else get put out there.

Q: I love getting Trophies. Will I be able to collect any new Trophies in the Remastered edition for Factions?

Quentin Cobb: Remastered will include all DLC Trophies along with the original game Trophies. No new Trophies were added but 8 of them were changed to be easier to earn.

Q: Will my The Last of Us Season Pass DLC content carry over?

Erin Daly: Yes, any weapons, survival skills, head items you have purchased on PS3 will carry over. You just need to go into your download list on PS4 and re-download them.

Q: Will we be seeing anymore DLC for Factions?

Erin Daly: Remember those head items some of our more eagle eye forums members caught a glimpse of? We made it work and those will be coming out.

Quentin Cobb: Well… yes, we’re also currently hard at work finishing up some cool new DLC for Factions. We’ll talk about it more after The Last of Us Remastered launches on July 29th.

Comments are closed.

73 Comments

12 Author Replies

  • [cont. from comment #50]

    Just thought you folks at Naughty Dog should know that not every gamer enjoys it, although many devs seem to imply we all do. Also, it should NEVER be mandatory for gameplay progression in any games that are not 100% multiplayer-based to begin with. By the way, this isn’t a knock against Naughty Dog or anyone else, it’s just me personally — just a personal preference for decades. I’ve also nothing against gamers who do enjoy MP — glad it works for those of you who do. Hope that’s quite clear before anyone decides to send me the usual hate comments or PMs.

    I’m VERY much looking forward to the arrival of my PS4 copy next week… and I’ll still give the MP a try, because I always give it a fair chance. But forgive me if it fails to change my mind like so many others before it.

    Wishing everyone at Naughty Dog much success with the game, and my personal thanks for bringing us this PS4 remaster.

    Cheers…!

  • Well… I tried to help out by posting a link to how you can get TLOU Remastered cheaper, but I guess Sony wants to moderate the comment all day.

    Cool.

  • The only thing that could dissuade me from picking up the remaster is the multiplayer trophies. Keep the multiplayer modes in–they’re a ton of fun, but working on those trophies was painful and stressful. I’d rather not live through that ordeal again, so I may pass up on the game just to avoid that.

    I’m a trophy completionist, so just “ignoring the trophies/platinum” isn’t really an option I want to consider for something that costs me money.

    I don’t expect the game to lose its multiplayer trophies, but if it did, then I’d pre order it right now.

  • i really wanted to play this game on day 1, but since there’s no upgrade disscount i will have to wait for it to be on sale. i have to get the platinum on PS3 anyway and a huge backlog of games waiting to be played anyway. congrats for the re-release ND, looking forward to get the PS4 version at some point

  • DONUT CHARACTER DLC. I’ll buy every character

  • @55 avanfreak23 – do you have a physical ps3 copy of TLOU?

    See my comment #50.

  • Hey eric I have not buy the guns, survival, skills, and the new map dlcs. Because I sold my Ps3 in 4/29/14. So does that mean I can’t buy the guns and the other stuff? That’s my question.

  • Are we going to see new game modes? I’m a huge Factions fan (since launch- can’t wait for Remastered!). But a mode where its a normal Supply Raid, but the twist is that there are runners/clickers in the match that attack anyone. Would be very awesome to see this! Either attack the clickers or use your tools to lead attack or distract the enemies!

  • Has the multiplayer received graphical upgrades like the single player has, or is the resolution and frame rate the only difference? I’ll be buying it regardless, of course, I’m just curious!

  • The best way to “enhance” the game is to not include the tacked-on multiplayer mode at all. I’m very excited to play through this amazing game again, but just as a year ago when it came out on PS3, I have less than zero interest in the tacked-on multiplayer that doesn’t need to exist at all.

  • I wish there was an option to just buy the multiplayer portion of the game for PS4 at a discount.

    Factions is probably the funnest multiplayer experience and the only reason I’m picking up Remastered. I don’t really care for the single player.

  • This is by far the best multiplayer I’ve played in a video game. Absolutely looking forward to playing it on PS4 (after I get the Destiny/PS4 bundle) with new customization items (samurai helmet + bow = AWESOME) and new maps!

  • The MP sucks strong in this game. The next DLC better brings co-op.

  • Ah, so good to see multiplayer shoehorned into what should have been a single player only game.

    All just so you can gouge us for a few skins and map packs.

    Nothing says “cynical” like seeing publishers trying to nickel and dime us every chance they get.

  • I hope this new DLC comes to PS3 or things will get messed up….plus if its the head items leaked….you guys better release that on PS3 as well.

    “No new Trophies were added but 8 of them were changed to be easier to earn.”

    This is some straight up bulls***….I already know which are those 8 trophies….the 8 trophies for Abandoned and Reclaimed territories pack right?…….thats lame….really lame ND.

    So now sheeps who already have the PS3 version and will buy the PS4 version will be able to get 2 plats on TLoU?…….what a damn shame.

  • Will the new items will be free for the season pass holders? (i own the season pass on ps3 ver.)

  • “Q: Will my The Last of Us Season Pass DLC content carry over?

    Erin Daly: Yes, any weapons, survival skills, head items you have purchased on PS3 will carry over. You just need to go into your download list on PS4 and re-download them.”

    where in the world do I find this? all I find are things I downloaded for the PS4 in the past, nothing that was ever purchased via PS3. the in game is telling me I need to buy all the guns I already had on PS3.

  • HAHAHAH Erin said go re-download the season pass to the ps4 from your download list on the ps4 lol lol hahahha. I cant even access my account information on ps4 due to PSN maintenance-Its keeps saying “PLEASE WAIT” for hours on end.. I went and accessed the download list on the SEN website and guess what. You can’t redownload the ps3 season pass to the ps4 because it only gives you an option to down to the PS3, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah lol. Erin put up a detailed description step by step of how to redownload the ps3 season pass to the ps4, i bet you wont even read this cause you guys are done answering questions all the way up top. Fix this crap with the ps3 season pass transfer.

  • do mp stats carry over to ps4?

  • How do you Change your faction after you allready picked..? A friend of my just chose one on my ps4 and I didn’t want to be them.. help plzzz

  • This mp is brilliant. Looking for more parties on my factions thou. Please send my an invite psn: sumosiems

  • Just finished the story for the 2nd time (Ps3 first time) the entire process of the game is a piece of art and is something I will remember for years to come. It really hit home. I’ve played MP on the Ps3 and had a thrill of a ride but after reading the interview I’m overeager to get onto Remastered Factions.

    Great job Naughty Dog. Long time fan. I’ve the tattoos for Crash B. Ill be adding some TLOS memories to it.

    R.

  • I haven’t been able to read all the comments to see if my question was answered but with remastered I noticed that not all of the DLC is included such as the enforcer and skills. However I can access all the weapons in the preselected loadouts just fine which includes the stuff I can’t access. When I try to purchase the enforcer I get an error message. Anyone know what’s up with that?

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields