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

Finished it and then took 4 days to digest it I couldn't stop thinking about it, 1st game that's done that to me. I enjoyed it mostly and and think its really good game and story made sense to me, its brutal and dark and some parts I found uncomfortable and others like that flashback had me laughing and smiling. Laughable but I felt really bad when I stopped throwing the ball for Bear and left him in cage, do have to say the detail and the way the dogs act is so well done. Even if the story had been poor I think with quality of the visuals, animations, sound and just lengths they went with even little details that some people may never see this game would get min 5/10, for me though think I would give it an 8-9/10.

Now on a 2nd play though and and after watching a video highlighting some of the crazy details in this game I'm taking extra notice of everything. The footprints in dusty floor and then seeing if you crawl on it wipes the dust away, a small thing but still.

@InvaderJim I threw the ball over the fence. I can't be the only one, right?

@Octane Yes I've seen other people doing that as well, some did it to see how he reacted differently to being left with the ball.

I R FINISHED

@JohnnyShoulder It went on forever, didn't it?

@Octane I thought there was going to be a 5 hour post credit scene.

I'm well behind everyone with this one. I've literally just killed the Vita woman and I've been playing for over 16 hours. I think I might set a record for time taken to complete the game. I don't mind, I'm loving it so far. I enjoy finding locked doors as it means figuring out how to get round them.
Much has been said about the visuals but playing my last few sessions through a headset, the sound is outstanding. The amount it adds to the tension in some areas is immense.
Also loved the moment where you get grabbed while using the workbench. It reminded me of the time the Murfree brothers walked into my 'safespace' camp in RDR2, a great way to unsettle you when you have got accustomed to being immune at that point.
The spoiler tags probably aren't needed but best to play it safe just in case someone hasn't experienced that bit yet.

@BearsEatBeets I just reached the 40 hours mark but I think I'm very close to the end now.
I play on Hard without any HUD; that makes me play very cautiously but also makes exploration way more interesting. The maps and the IA have improved a lot and I feel sorry for those who breezed through the game on the easiest difficulties just for the story...

@BearsEatBeets Yeah loved those moments, and the game is indeed very good played headphones. I liked how the game auto changed the sound settings when I switched the between headphones and my soundbar.

@andreoni79 My complete save file is 49 hours 5 mins. See if you guys can 'beat' that lol. I plan to get a few of the easily obtainable trophies, but I doubt I will be playing through the game again to get to get ones like obtain all upgrades and upgrade all weapons fully.

It took me just under 30 hours to finish the game and now I'm back up to day 3 on survivor+, the biggest difference is the hearing of the infected is so much better. I'm probably only going to play up to getting all the upgrades and then pop in and out for the last collectibles. It has been interesting replaying and knowing whats happening in the background as I'm exploring and setting up traps for things I know are going to happen and trying new tactics in general.

@BearsEatBeets I put a proximity bomb outside the locked door near that workbench and turned round to a pile of body parts

@carlos82 How is survivor+? I did my first playthrough on hard, and halfway through on hard+ and it feels noticably tougher.
I've just done the shambler in the arcarde, it it took two molotovs, a trap mine, and multiple shotgun blasts. And I'm sure there weren't that many other infected appearing the first time.
It definitely sets the mood better playing on the harder difficulties. The first game was the same.

@carlos82 Nice. It's cool that works too. I can imagine some games would have that 'event' still happen as it was scripted but I think it's testament to their mechanics that you can prevent it.

@phil_j I'll be honest and say I didn't notice any difference for a while but I'm better equipped and more experienced then I was first time round. The first time I had any trouble was the area in Hillcrest near the tattoo parlour as there were noticeably more Wolves and if spotted they don't mess about in finishing you off. The first shamblers were tricky as well as their hearing is so much better and I kept getting caught approaching the door to put a trap down. Thankfully they don't seem to have more health and it feels like a fair challenge instead of everything just been bullet sponges

I will say I've enjoyed it even more on this difficulty as it forces me to use a variety of tactics and use distractions a lot more

@BearsEatBeets yeah I was pleasantly surprised it works, its a shame we never get the chance to play with the fancy rope mechanics in a combat environment and use it to set traps, like a very adult Home Alone game 😂

I played it on Moderate but completed it around the 36/37 hour mark. A lot of that time was spent looking resources but also sneaking around and waiting for the moment to strike.

Sometimes things went to plan and other times.... they didn't.

🤦

Brilliant game, really interesting story and concepts. The score and sound design adds so much to the atmosphere and helps build the tension during the majority of encounters with the Infected but also human enemies in particular the Seraphites.

Ok, I finished it.
In one word: DEVASTATING

I've just accidentally overwritten my autosave halfway though new game plus with an old save. As good as the game is, I don't fancy playing through it all yet again just to sweep up collectables and max out the skills and weapons for trophies. I'll return some other time for this platinum.

@ApostateMage Yeah I almost did that, but a warning came up to do a manual save of the completed game file. So I did that and am just using chapter select to get the last few collectables I missed.

@ApostateMage yeah they've messed up how selecting chapters work, your overall save file is always keeping track of everything you've collected so I don't see why you can't always just select which chapter to play after you've beat the game.

One other thing I'd like to see on new game + is being able to play without the flashback scenes. They're important first time round to flesh out the characters but by now we already know and it just takes you out of the action for too long

@JohnnyShoulder @carlos82 I thought it would be like Uncharted with a sepaerate save file for all collectables, that's why I loaded old saves for a few missed cards and coins. It's strange they way they've done it.