Topic: The Last Of Us Part II - OT (No Spoilers)

@JohnnyShoulder I'm so relieved when she says something along the lines of ''well, I think that's it...'' after an encounter.

I'm about 16 hours in now and actually finding the pacing of the gameplay and story to be really good. So far it's avoided the fatigue I get in a lot of games where it's just killing wave after wave of enemies. They've mixed up action, exploration and the little story moments well.

That has happened a couple of times, but it's pretty well explained in the story and I've never felt like it was overdone, at least so far.

Some of the scenery in TLOU 2 is incredible.

Oh man this game is crazy, I've no idea what I'm going to experience when I pick up where I left it tonight. Will be thinking about it all day tomorrow during work.

I really like the little stories you get from reading the the notes and stuff. My favourite one so far is the one with Boris when his daughter gets killed by the WLF for spaying graffiti. None of the town backs him up when he wants revenge so he poisons them and locks them up in small car repair garage. The best bits is when you unlock the garage and all the infected come out and attack you! Brilliant.

let me just say that so far this game is the best i have ever played.

even if you find the story to be divisive,you can not deny that from a technical standpoint it is the master in it's class.

i have never felt so shocked at story moments in a game or movie before untill TLOU 2. i have never felt so sad when a game was near it's end untill TLOU2. it is a game i just don't want to have it end. and without giving anything away the game throws you a curveball around 75% through.

@KratosMD I hope this doesn’t dissuade devs from going for bold story decisions or to create more mature stories. By all accounts, the problem lies in the way Naughty Dog approach storytelling. It’s the same as Uncharted, they go for a Hollywood feel when games actually benefit from their unique nature. When you look at classic examples of storytelling in games such as Silent Hill 2, Spec Ops The Line, NieR Automata etc, they all use gameplay to further the narrative. I find Naughty Dog try too hard to create ‘playable Hollywood movies’ when they should be pushing themselves further to create games that reveal the story through the player’s own actions and experiences. They do seem to have improved this in recent years, with more incidental dialogue when exploring but I find too many games have a clear divide between ‘gameplay time’ and ‘cutscene time’. I will always prefer actual plot exposition while performing a task, like in Red Dead 2’s conversations, than in Death Stranding where you could play for 5 hours without engaging in the plot and then get an info dump sitting through a bunch of cutscenes. It remains to be seen what Naughty Dog’s next project will entail.

@KratosMD Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a game having a set story and I do think they should stick to their guns and deliver a story the writers truly believe in. There’s nothing worse than writers who’re stuck between what they want to deliver and what they think the fans will enjoy. That being said, it has been interesting to see the effect this game has had on the fans as an outsider. It all reminds me of what the creator of Spec Ops The Line said, that putting down the controller and turning off the game is a valid ending. When the game forces you into decisions that you, the player, do not believe in or want to partake in, perhaps it’s time to turn off the game? I’ve actually done that in one game, Life is Strange, because of the way the final choice is set up. Neither choice appealed to me therefore I decided not to choose and so quit the game at the end of the penultimate chapter. My ‘canon ending’ didn’t line up with the paths the writers decided on but I don’t see it as any less valid, I left the characters in a state that I wanted to (not a Chloe fan in case you hadn’t noticed). It’s like Undertale too, I beat the game with the True Pacifist ending and could never bring myself to go back and do a Genocide run because of the effect the characters had on me and the way the 4th wall is broken. If people have read TLOU2 spoilers and don’t like the direction it takes, they could always just not play it, thereby leaving their version of the characters’ fate intact.

If you miss the trap mine, apparently it appears again later. Anyone know where, though?

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy The Thing I Find Alot People Can't Seem To Grasp And Most Don't Want To Is That From Someone Else's Point Of View Their Favorite character Is The Bad Guy.

The game is rated Mature because of the violence, but in this case, "mature" should be related to the ability to understand reality in all its forms, besides its seeming nonsensical reasons. Something doesn't go the way you imagined it? It's time to understand why and to think at what you could do about it.
Ellie is an adult now and her trip is teaching her what it means to be one of them.

Technically it's an absolute marvel.

Narratively, it's like a $100m art house film or something. It's incredible. It will challenge you, and make you feel very uncomfortable.

I mean it's incredible really that Sony have allowed Naughty Dog to just freely follow their vision, if this was a hollywood movie, no way they would have got away with it. Hopefully the backlash doesn't lead to Sony reigning in their studios creativity, (this, Death Stranding, and GoW to an extent with the boy, are very left field choices.)

Yeah, not everyone is going to enjoy the plotline, but that's kind of the point.

@KratosMD My impression as well. All of what you said.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Getting the cure was never a sure bet. Far from it. It was a try at best. I wouldn't have let my daughter with them either.

It will be a sad day when a creator of any form of media has to change their vision to pander to the vocal minority. There are plenty of games that I don't like, but you don't see me demanding the developers to change the game to suit my personal tastes.

@phil_j
I'd be very surprised if Sony decides to do that, especially considering the game is selling incredibly well. Sony know very well how toxic social media can be and have form when it comes to ignoring that sort of behaviour.

Did people really expect decision choices in TLoU/TLoU2? It's like they've never played a Naughty Dog game or any action adventure game before. Strange complaint.

@KratosMD With "after having experienced certain story events" you mean after having watched leaked videos without having played the game, which is essential to understand and build the characters?

Different games. Detroit: Become Human was all about choices. That's pretty much the only thing you do in that game.

But I don't think a 'bad' ending is bad in itself. It's nice if a story has a good ending, but nearly every story has, so I really don't mind if one doesn't have a happy ending once in a while. That being sad, I've just reached day 3, so I think I'm 60-70% in, and I have yet to see anything that's upsetting, or I don't agree with.

I've just started Day 2 in Seattle. I'm so impressed with this game, it has lots of tense moments but there is definitely light amidst the darkness.

Oh and I have no problem killing dogs. I've been caught by one and it's not pleasant, very gruesome ending for Ellie. They're not exactly soppy Labradors or feisty Spaniels. They're not running up to you with a tennis ball in their mouths!

It's kill or be eaten, it's that simple. Eat lead pooch!

Also, I'm more of a cat lover anyway.

😉

Youtubers and live streamers are the contemporary version of scandalistic press: take a small or false fact and turn it into a media event, then make it grow bigger and bigger to catch people attention. When I look for a review I look for a detailed and objective examination on games' main elements, something similar to an essay (such a terrible word!).