About a trailer not providing context: is that not literally the essence of a trailer?

[Memento]

I found the criticism of "lack of context" REALLY absurd when talking about a trailer.

A trailer is supposed to tease elements of the game. The story, characters, mood or even mechanics. And it is done devoid of any context so it wont spoil the game. The elements shown in the trailer needs to be just enough to spark curiosity and speculation. Especially in the case of a narrative driven game, it is absolutely important that the trailer is made in a way it wont spoil the final experience.

I mean, that is the whole point of a trailer. You will not get what is happening on it until you play the game.

 

[Minako]

The point of a trailer is to get people interested in buying a game and any trailer that doesn't do that is a failure in that regard.

 

[reptilescorpio]

I agree the point of a trailer is to evoke what the full release will be like. Some people prefer trailers differently though, as we've seen trailers change over the years. Look at the trend of having micro trailers at the start of movie trailers these days.

 

[Lego Killer Moth]

The point of a trailer is to convince someone to buy your game. If a company thinks the best possible way to advertise their game is basically a random torture porn scene where the viewer has no clue who the people are (you're obviously bringing this up because of TLOU2), they might need to rethink some things.

 

[Raijinto]

The point of a trailer is to get people interested in buying a game and any trailer that doesn't do that is a failure in that regard.

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Yup. This is obviously about The Last of Us 2 considering the timing and the OP so I have to agree that if I hadn't played the first TLOU or other ND games my interest in the game would be at 0 based off of that trailer.

Sorry OP, it was garbage and a waste of time.

 

[Memento]

The point of a trailer is to get people interested in buying a game and any trailer that doesn't do that is a failure in that regard.

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Well yes, but I am talking about the recent discussions following TLOU2 new trailer where people claim as a negative that it is devoid of context.

Of course a trailer is supposed to make people interested in the product. It is a marketing tool after all. In that sense TLOU2 trailer has absolutely done its job by the way, considering it has already surpassed 2 million views and it is all over the media, so yeah... that was not my point.

 

[Currygan]

Disagree,. When it comes to videogames I'd rather watch something that gives at least a glimpse about how the gameplay's going to be. These context-less teasers are completely useless

 

[Memento]

Yup. This is obviously about The Last of Us 2 considering the timing and the OP so I have to agree that if I hadn't played the first TLOU or other ND games my interest in the game would be at 0 based off of that trailer.

Sorry OP, it was garbage and a waste of time.

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You realize you are in the minority though right?

Like... really. The response is overwhelming positive from the general public and even from ERA.

But again, that is not my point. I made the thread to talk specifically about the context subject.

 

[ASleepingMonkey]

Lack of context can work if what they show is interesting without the context or at least intriguing because you want to know more about it. Not sure what you're referring to in particular but the new Last of Us 2 trailer isn't particularly interesting me. I don't care much about these people they introduced us to, I don't know who or what the enemy faction wants, and it doesn't tell me anything new about the world of The Last of Us. We already knew it was savage, dark, and grizzly filled with loads of desperate people that know its survival of the fittest. We also learn nothing new about the story or the gameplay, l what's the point? Pretty disappointed since we probably won't get anything until E3 (per Patrick Klepeck saying most PSX stuff was at PGW and PSX will be sort of lesser).

 

[Molemitts]

A trailer can establish the premise of a story. The Last of Us 2 trailer didn't do that it just had some people fighting each other. You can show more than a bunch of people we don't know or care about fighting each other for whatever reason we haven't seen, without spoiling much of anything.

 

[Lego Killer Moth]

Disagree,. When it comes to videogames I'd rather watch something that gives at least a glimpse about how the gameplay's going to be. These context-less teasers are completely useless

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Or even if they're going to not show gameplay, they can at least show story beats from the beginning of the game that set up the rest of the narrative so you have an idea where the game's going to take you. The TLOU2 didn't help viewers understand what they're getting from story or gameplay.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Yup. This is obviously about The Last of Us 2 considering the timing and the OP so I have to agree that if I hadn't played the first TLOU or other ND games my interest in the game would be at 0 based off of that trailer.

Sorry OP, it was garbage and a waste of time.

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What you're a describing is a situation in which story-driven games that span across multiple games have to find a way to make every single trailer like an entry point to the series. That's just not realistic. That TLoU trailer, if you've followed the series and know the background, is very interesting. There are already a bunch of videos out there of people putting together pieces.

 

[Radrigal]

I agree. I hate that in most movies nowadays whole plot points are shown in the trailer.

Say what you want about Kojima, but I think thats what makes the Death Stranding trailers great. We have a vague idea of what the hell is even happening, but the trailer asks more questions than it provides answers.

 

[Allseeingeye]

The point of a trailer is to convince someone to buy your game. If a company thinks the best possible way to advertise their game is basically a random torture porn scene where the viewer has no clue who the people are (you're obviously bringing this up because of TLOU2), they might need to rethink some things.

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LMAo, Torture Porn? Random? it was a damn age restricted show man, why do people keep ignoring this? And no it's not close to torture porn, the hyperbole is not helping.

 

[Raijinto]

You realize you are in the minority though right?

Like... really. The response is overwhelming positive from the general public and even from ERA.

But again, that is not my point. I made the thread to talk specifically about the context subject.

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You're coming off as kinda really defensive and deflecting here. Of course I know I'm in the minority in the grand scheme of things, it's a Naughty Dog game. I'd hate to see the trailer where disappointment was by far the popular consensus. You don't need to point out that fact, it makes it look like you're insecure about your favourite game company being criticised.

Naughty Dog made a poor trailer for a video game in my opinion. It was lacking in gameplay entirely, far too OTT in its portrayal of violence for a trailer and did not explain why I should care about the people being tortured.

You're just going to have to live with that I'm afraid.

 

[julia crawford]

I mean we all know this is about the TLOU2 trailer, right? Point about that was that shocking content is gratuitous when shown without prior context or pacing, often it's said that strong scenes have to be "earned", which is just another way to say that for a strong scene to have its proper impact it needs to exist in relation to something else. If it doesn't, it's just vain indulgence.

 

[Nakenorm]

Some people prefer trailers differently though, as we've seen trailers change over the years. Look at the trend of having micro trailers at the start of movie trailers these days.

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It's not even only for movie trailers anymore. The PGW spidey trailer does it as well.

 

[BassForever]

Sure a trailer without context of when something takes place in a game is great see the amount of people who thought new donk city was an early game world in Mario Odyssey. Heck some trailers go a step beyond and use random unconnected scenes to magic edit a fake narrative to throw people off (see last jedi).

 

[Deleted member 249]

Effective storytelling necessarily needs context, lack of context leads to poor storytelling. A trailer is meant to be a microcosm of storytelling that will get people invested and interested in the real thing- it lacking context means the trailer failed at its job.

 

[Mezoly]

I see what ND tried to do, but I feel that was not effective. It's the second trailer of the game, if it was the first and then it was revealed that this is The Last of Us 2 then people would go crazy with speculations. By the Second trailer of a game, I want gameplay not more secrets or misdirection about what game this is and who the main characters are. This is coming from someone who considers the Last of Us a master piece and the best PS3 game.

 

[ASleepingMonkey]

Disagree,. When it comes to videogames I'd rather watch something that gives at least a glimpse about how the gameplay's going to be. These context-less teasers are completely useless

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I felt the first teaser was pretty good for a teaser. It TEASED a story and showed that there will be a time jump of a few years as well as the evolution of Ellie and possibly the death of Joel? That said the new trailer is weak as hell.

 

[Allseeingeye]

Effective storytelling necessarily needs context, lack of context leads to poor storytelling. A trailer is meant to be a microcosm of storytelling that will get people invested and interested in the real thing- it lacking context means the trailer failed at its job.

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Yeah but it doesn't lack context. There is also the first trailer for the game.

 

[ASleepingMonkey]

I agree. I hate that in most movies nowadays whole plot points are shown in the trailer.

Say what you want about Kojima, but I think thats what makes the Death Stranding trailers great. We have a vague idea of what the hell is even happening, but the trailer asks more questions than it provides answers.

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I hate movie trailers too and even avoid trailers for games like Wolfenstein II, AC, CoD, and so on. But with a game like this that's years off, it would be nice if what they did show wasn't like... pointless.

 

[Timothy]

How about...

We just don't have incredibly violent trailers that don't tell us we are going to watch incredibly violent actions?

That really would have solved the problem.

 

[Nakenorm]

I just feel these discussions are going around in one big circle.

 

[Moza]

Yup. This is obviously about The Last of Us 2 considering the timing and the OP so I have to agree that if I hadn't played the first TLOU or other ND games my interest in the game would be at 0 based off of that trailer.

Sorry OP, it was garbage and a waste of time.

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It's almost like it was intentional that this specific trailer was shown at a much smaller gaming conference that is far more directed to a hardcore gaming audience and not shown at the E3 that just passed which would've made more mainstream news. Also the fact that this wasn't used to announce TLoU2 but as a follow up to the major reveal trailer that was first shown last year.

The point in terms of trailers are made to sell a game are obvious, but there is many ways to 'sell' something. One is to generate discussion about it through controversial means, whether it be violence, sex or touchy subject matter. Let's not act like there is some overwhelmingly negative reaction to this trailer, there isn't, just check youtube views and approval ratings and so on, however the attention it has generated far outweighs many other trailers shown at the Sony show, some arguably better. For eg, the Detroit trailer was amazing, many would say better than TLoU2 trailer, yet it has a fraction of the attention. I thought the Ghost of Tsushima trailer was superb and so did many others, but not as many people talking about it either. Could nearly be said for any trailer. Even the people that dislike this trailer will be throwing their money at TLoU2 and the tiny fraction that don't are by far outweighed by the new audience it brings because of the controversy and attention it is getting.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

The first E3 2012 gameplay showcase of TLOU was filled with context (even if it might have been slightly misleading in the long run).

The first PSX teaser of TLOU2 was dripping with implied context.

This second trailer from PGW didn't seem to do the same. It was not nearly as effective in raising my interest in the game or the new characters they introduced.

I don't see how anyone can argue that trailers are inherently supposed to not show context.

 

[Deleted member 249]

Yeah but it doesn't lack context. There is also the first trailer for the game.

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I'm not even talking about TLOU2's trailer anymore. I'm responding to a question about storytelling techniques with my response to said question about storytelling techniques.

 

[Allseeingeye]

The first E3 2012 gameplay showcase of TLOU was filled with context (even if it might have been slightly misleading in the long run).

The first PSX teaser of TLOU2 was dripping with implied context.

This second trailer from PGW didn't seem to do the same. It was not nearly as effective in raising my interest in the game or the new characters they introduced.

I don't see how anyone can argue that trailers are inherently supposed to not show context.

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They don't have to either...plus it was the third trailer, and there was plenty on motive/context in this trailer imo.

 

[modoversus]

If it's a trailer to a sequel, then the context is everything we know about the previous game. Same with movies that are sequels or are part of "cinematic universes". So teaser is not just some random image or sequence necessarily.

 

[Nakenorm]

I hate movie trailers too and even avoid trailers for games like Wolfenstein II, AC, CoD, and so on. But with a game like this that's years off, it would be nice if what they did show wasn't like... pointless.

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But it's clearly not pointless. There is context in the trailer and it teases a lot of stuff if you're keep attention. It has the fanbase posting a ton of speculation and theories.

 

[ASleepingMonkey]

How about...

We just don't have incredibly violent trailers that don't tell us we are going to watch incredibly violent actions?

That really would have solved the problem.

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The violence is brutal for a reason, it's The Last of Us. I know some people find it uncomfortable but that's the world this game is set in. It's survival of the fittest and that means getting down and very dirty to stay alive. The trailer could have been way better though.

 

[Allseeingeye]

How about...

We just don't have incredibly violent trailers that don't tell us we are going to watch incredibly violent actions?

That really would have solved the problem.

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Sigh...they did, and the entire show was 18+ age restricted...Someone needs to sticky this.

 

[Timothy]

Also by the way in the wider context I think games don't need to show us excessive violence.

I've been watching E3 and all the conference's for over a decade now and even I'm just like "Really, the best thing you've got for me is beheading somebody in a CGI cutscene?"

 

[orthodoxy1095]

They don't have to either...plus it was the third trailer, and there was plenty on motive/context in this trailer imo.

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And that's your opinion, and you're welcome to it.

Doesn't mean it's the gospel truth.

 

[Zedelima]

For me, a good trailer is one that make me interested in the movie/game/product.
If it doesn't have context but shows a cool thing that captures my attention, thats great

 

[Raijinto]

They don't have to either...plus it was the third trailer, and there was plenty on motive/context in this trailer imo.

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There's been 3 trailer for this game? I have only seen the reveal trailer and the most recent one, where is the other one?

 

[Allseeingeye]

Also by the way in the wider context I think games don't need to show us excessive violence.

I've been watching E3 and all the conference's for over a decade now and even I'm just like "Really, the best thing you've got for me is beheading somebody in a CGI cutscene?"

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I agree, but this is the third TLOU trailer the first two were not violent at all, in fact were the opposite...

 

[StoveOven]

The point about the Last of Us trailer isn't that trailers need context but that the moment shown in the trailer needs context to be effective. Feel free to disagree with that fact, but the problem that I and others have with the trailer is that without context (and when placed into the greater context of an ad campaign), the moment doesn't hit hard emotionally and is actually off-putting. That's not a judgement on the game or even the scene but on the decision to use that scene as a trailer.

 

[Allseeingeye]

And that's your opinion, and you're welcome to it.

Doesn't mean it's the gospel truth.

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Well DUH, does that even need to be stated? It is implied anything a person types is their own opinion, it really should not need to be stated .

The point about the Last of Us trailer isn't that trailers need context but that the moment shown in the trailer needs context to be effective. Feel free to disagree with that fact, but the problem that I and others have with the trailer is that without context (and when placed into the greater context of an ad campaign), the moment doesn't hit hard emotionally and is actually off-putting. That's not a judgement on the game or even the scene but on the decision to use that scene as a trailer.

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Everyone understands this, people are saying there was context and motive though, and I agree with that.

 

[reptilescorpio]

It's very important to remember the TLoU2 trailer from the other day isn't a launch trailer or even a gameplay trailer. It's an early production teaser setting the mood, nothing more. It isn't selling the game, it's giving more context to the project which is still a long, long way from release.

If this was the launch or final trailer then yeah, I'd call it a miss.

 

[MaskedNdi]

I don't have particularly strong opinions about the TLOU2 trailer, but I don't think showing lengthy, out of context story scenes is a great way to advertise a game. It can diminish the impact of a scene when you see it in the game, and story content can be dull to watch when it lacks context. I prefer cinematic trailers that are more about atmosphere than story, like the Ghost of Tsushima trailer or the original teaser for TLOU2.

 

[Timothy]

Sigh...they did, and the entire show was 18+ age restricted...Someone needs to sticky this.

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No. I watched the trailer posted on the YouTube account and the content warning is barely nothing. The industry needs a big red Red Band type of content warning like in R18 trailers for cinema.

 

[ASleepingMonkey]

But it's clearly not pointless. There is context in the trailer and it teases a lot of stuff if you're keep attention. It has the fanbase posting a ton of speculation and theories.

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The only thing I gathered from it was we won't just be playing as Ellie and that there's some other groups other than the Fireflies, possibly religious based. Maybe I should watch a breakdown but I've watched the trailer four times and just feel like it was "eh". I don't think that's reflective of the overall game just feels annoying to wait a whole year for something and have it be underwhelming.

 

[5taquitos]

The point of a trailer is to convince someone to buy your game. If a company thinks the best possible way to advertise their game is basically a random torture porn scene where the viewer has no clue who the people are (you're obviously bringing this up because of TLOU2), they might need to rethink some things.

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The whole "torture porn" thing is completely overblown. The Walking Dead shows worse on a weekly basis, just with worse acting.

 

[Kinsei]

For a story trailer? Absolutely. If all you do is show a random scene from the game of characters I don't know getting tortured then I'm not going to care about the game. The only reason I care about TLOU2 right now is because of the name since that trailer sure as hell didn't sell me on the game.

 

[Allseeingeye]

No. I watched the trailer posted on the YouTube account and the content warning is barely nothing. The industry needs a big red Red Band type of content warning like in R18 trailers for cinema.

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The entire show was 18+, which by default everythign shown there was age restricted, plus a 18+ warning came up before the trailer. On top of this, TLOu was violent, very, more so then this scene....what did you expect?

 

[StoveOven]

Everyone understands this, people are saying there was context and motive though, and I agree with that.

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The OP of the thread we are in seems to not understand this considering their stance is "trailers don't need context". And I agree that this trailer does have some context, just that it doesn't work as a trailer.

 

[ASleepingMonkey]

No. I watched the trailer posted on the YouTube account and the content warning is barely nothing. The industry needs a big red Red Band type of content warning like in R18 trailers for cinema.

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Well... if you clicked on a trailer for The Last of Us 2... you should know what it's going to show. An M rated game which we already know tackles a dark subject matter.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Well DUH, does that even need to be stated? It is implied anything a person types is their own opinion, it really should not need to be stated .

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Exactly, so why did you say it as if it mattered?

Saying "there was plenty of context/motivation imo" without actually providing any depth isn't adding anything to the discussion. It's just "muh opinion-ing."