The Last Of Us Part II

[Tw1ster]

Having an absolute blast with this game. It’s unsettling, intense, and I’m loving the story. Was a little concerned after the first big scene but I love it so far just as much as the first one.

 

[Gnova]

I have a real problem with this game!

I've finished my plat run and survivor run.
Now whenever I go to play another games the graphics look shit and if it has cover/stealth mechanics in it they suck.

TLOU2 has spoiled me.

 

[Nizdizzle]

I watched the game start to finish via Streamers playing it, and I've got to say I really enjoyed the story. So dark and desperate the entire time. A lot of the times I thought the game would end and it kept going. The difficulty seemed really good as well.

 

[guinness]

The story has been fine, loop B is plugging in more story backfill, but so many tropes, however the pacing and battles happen like clockwork, it's getting repetitive. Go through some buildings, fight A, go through some other buildings, fight B, jump scare/QTE, cutscene or flashback, wash & repeat.

Did go though a series of building last night that felt like walking through some of the buildings at the Wing Luke museum, really felt familiar and sort of creepy for me.

 

[stan the caddy]

I'll be the first person to shit all over "woke" culture or whatever you want to call it but it was an amazing game. There were times while playing I was skeptical but they pulled it off in the end.

This is coming from someone who thinks the first game was great but still a little overrated. Don't let the bad reviews steer you away. It's a must play.

 

[Shareefruck]

The story of the first one was never going to be left alone as a singular statement because they made sure to shoehorn in an awful ending for the sole purpose of being able to make sequels. In hindsight it seems like the series was compromised from the start in that sense. Given how blatant they pulled the same thing in Part 2 I'd be surprised if that wasn't the plan all along. Making a new IP in the AAA space costs too much money and requires ideas that I'm not sure ND has at this point.

Missed this reply, and not sure what you mean by this part. I thought the ending was the only saving grace of the first game, personally, and it works better as a final, nail-in-the-coffin, open-ended ending than as a cliffhanger.

I do agree that most things that are better off left alone are rarely ever going to be left alone because money usually wins out. But that reality doesn't make the sentiment any less worth expressing.

 

[Kcb12345]

Actress who voices Abby is getting death threats...man people are so stupid

 

[JoVel]

Actress who voices Abby is getting death threats...man people are so stupid

It's quite sad that I can say that I saw it coming.

 

[The Head Crusher]

Actress who voices Abby is getting death threats...man people are so stupid

It's quite sad that I can say that I saw it coming.

Laura Bailey is an amazing actress. People who are so invested that they feel the need to threaten an actor because of the actions of their character are not true fans.

 

[JoVel]

Laura Bailey is an amazing actress. People who are so invested that they feel the need to threaten an actor because of the actions of their character are not true fans.

I mean... if people can't distinguish between video game characters and their actors then I think not being 'true fans' is the least of their concerns.

 

[Papa Francouz]

What the f***? I just saw the threats she received. Even if you don't like the game, you don't go around threatening an actress and her infant child. That is never okay. Some people really need to get a life.

EDIT: Hold up, one of the people who sent her a death threat is actually a big fan of the game? They apologized on her Twitter feed. That person needs serious mental health help, like, yesterday.

 

[guinness]

What the f***? I just saw the threats she received. Even if you don't like the game, you don't go around threatening an actress and her infant child. That is never okay. Some people really need to get a life.

EDIT: Hold up, one of the people who sent her a death threat is actually a big fan of the game? They apologized on her Twitter feed. That person needs serious mental health help, like, yesterday.

It's the internet - it's like one of the greatest things, and also one of the worst, but social media causes some people to lose all sense of reality.

It's just a game - it's all fake.

As for the game, I lost interest before the end (the rat king part didn't help), I no longer cared about what was happening, and I wasn't surprised it just.kept.going when I read the spoilers. I can see why people are disappointed with the ending, but I can also see what the writers tried to do.

The angst against this game overall just reminded me how toxic gaming culture can be. Someone could probably write a game about gaming culture, and people would be upset about that, even though it would all be based on true events.

 

[Shareefruck]

It's the internet - it's like one of the greatest things, and also one of the worst, but social media causes some people to lose all sense of reality.

It's just a game - it's all fake.

As for the game, I lost interest before the end (the rat king part didn't help), I no longer cared about what was happening, and I wasn't surprised it just.kept.going when I read the spoilers. I can see why people are disappointed with the ending, but I can also see what the writers tried to do.

The angst against this game overall just reminded me how toxic gaming culture can be. Someone could probably write a game about gaming culture, and people would be upset about that, even though it would all be based on true events.

That's actually a pretty amusing idea (if done well-- could also be a one-sided heavy-handed mess), but it would also be kind of suicide on their part.

There's not enough satire about gaming culture in general, even though it's really really prevalent right now.

 

[Pilky01]

Why does it seem like its always the same people doing voice acting in big games?

Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker seem to be in literally everything.

Surely there are plenty of other great voice actors out there.

 

[guinness]

Why does it seem like its always the same people doing voice acting in big games?

Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker seem to be in literally everything.

Surely there are plenty of other great voice actors out there.

Same could be said about cartoons, which I still find terribly ironic, as I can't remember if it was Billy West or Maurice LaMarche that complained about Hollywood actors voicing in big animated movies, and yet, it always seems to be one of LaMarche, John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny, Tress McNeele, or Tara Strong in every series.

 

[Papa Francouz]

It's the internet - it's like one of the greatest things, and also one of the worst, but social media causes some people to lose all sense of reality.

It's just a game - it's all fake.

As for the game, I lost interest before the end (the rat king part didn't help), I no longer cared about what was happening, and I wasn't surprised it just.kept.going when I read the spoilers. I can see why people are disappointed with the ending, but I can also see what the writers tried to do.

The angst against this game overall just reminded me how toxic gaming culture can be. Someone could probably write a game about gaming culture, and people would be upset about that, even though it would all be based on true events.

Yeah, true. Reading all of these reports of death threats really makes me think social media is a net negative on society and should just be done away with entirely. That will never go over well with anyone, though.

That's a bummer the game didn't keep your interest through to the end. It sounds like the pacing problems are affecting a large amount of people, especially with the game seeming to never end. I watched a playthrough of the game over the last week or so and I can also see what they were trying to do, but they structured the narrative so unbelievably poorly that I'm shocked there are people who thought the story was told well. I mean, a flashback within a flashback - are you kidding me?

Your last point is a great idea and I would totally play a game that revolves around gaming culture just to see the shitstorm that would come out of it.

 

[guinness]

Yeah, true. Reading all of these reports of death threats really makes me think social media is a net negative on society and should just be done away with entirely. That will never go over well with anyone, though.

That's a bummer the game didn't keep your interest through to the end. It sounds like the pacing problems are affecting a large amount of people, especially with the game seeming to never end. I watched a playthrough of the game over the last week or so and I can also see what they were trying to do, but they structured the narrative so unbelievably poorly that I'm shocked there are people who thought the story was told well. I mean, a flashback within a flashback - are you kidding me?

Your last point is a great idea and I would totally play a game that revolves around gaming culture just to see the shitstorm that would come out of it.

I'm going to go back at some point, and try and beat it, but I'm honestly terrible at parts of this series, and may just leave it at Abby getting pummeled, so I don't go and break my controller getting frustrated at an instadeath and loading screens.

I still think the game was good...to a point, and then the pacing couldn't let the game get over the hump...and I hadn't even gotten to the end, the whole point, and it's a super linear game on top of that. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it jumped the shark for me,

Spoiler

when Jesse and Ellie split up, and she went for the boat.

I could deal with the suspension of disbelief and absolute dumb luck before that, but that stuck out.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Why does it seem like its always the same people doing voice acting in big games?

Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker seem to be in literally everything.

Surely there are plenty of other great voice actors out there.

To be fair, they are very good at their jobs.

 

[Papa Francouz]

I'm going to go back at some point, and try and beat it, but I'm honestly terrible at parts of this series, and may just leave it at Abby getting pummeled, so I don't go and break my controller getting frustrated at an instadeath and loading screens.

I still think the game was good...to a point, and then the pacing couldn't let the game get over the hump...and I hadn't even gotten to the end, the whole point, and it's a super linear game on top of that. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it jumped the shark for me,

Spoiler

when Jesse and Ellie split up, and she went for the boat.

I could deal with the suspension of disbelief and absolute dumb luck before that, but that stuck out.

From what I've read, the presentation of the game was good, people liked the gameplay (which I hold reservations about), they liked the graphics, the exploration was cool, but the story didn't go over well for a lot of people. I think that with a story like this where the audience needs to be invested in the plot and the characters for the game to land, it can be linear up to a point, but there needs to be some sort of player agency in how the conflict is resolved for players to feel the catharsis they crave after an emotional journey. Otherwise, you're just forcing a player to play through a story they don't want to experience or they don't care about, and that's part of why this game is so divisive.

For me, personally, there were a lot of jump the shark moments throughout the narrative that I couldn't look past, including the one you listed. I think if the script went through more rounds of critiques, had more people involved with writing it, and had more eyes on it before production began then the game's story wouldn't be riddled with these unbelievable moments that have been mentioned throughout this thread and there wouldn't be so many people calling out "plot armor" following big moments in the story. Then again, I'm of the opinion that AAA game developers should focus on gameplay over anything else in their games, so what do I know?

Ultimately, the general consensus I've heard from people who have played TLOU2 is that it works fine as a standalone game, but as a sequel to a game that a lot of people consider to be one of the best games ever, it falls pretty short of the mark for a large portion of the fanbase, especially in the writing department. I never considered TLOU to do anything all that well besides building the relationship between Joel and Ellie and have somewhat realistic dialogue, so I was never the target audience for the sequel anyway.

 

[Papa Francouz]

On an unrelated note, can we please, please, PLEASE get rid of QTEs during cutscenes? It's the lamest justification a dev company can use to be able to claim it has "immersive gameplay."

 

[aleshemsky83]

On an unrelated note, can we please, please, PLEASE get rid of QTEs during cutscenes? It's the lamest justification a dev company can use to be able to claim it has "immersive gameplay."

This is the one thing I use accessibility options in games for. I always set these to either play by itself or to only require you to hold the button instead of tap

 

[Papa Francouz]

This is the one thing I use accessibility options in games for. I always set these to either play by itself or to only require you to hold the button instead of tap

I've never looked into how to neutralize them, so that's good to know that a method exists. Thanks for the heads-up. I've always just sucked it up and pressed the button but immediately lost interest in what was happening on screen since I knew my "actions" weren't going to let me "fail," or have any input on the outcome of the cutscene anyway.

 

[PeteWorrell]

I think that if someone took the plot of this game and would have made a movie instead of a game; they would be seen as the next Uwe Boll. Somehow because it is a game, standards are different and it is supposed to be this groundbreaking experience. If this is hyped as a masterpiece because it has movie qualities, then compare it to actual movies instead of other games that have minimalist stories on purpose like Mario or Dark Souls. I mean, does someone really think that The Last of Us Part II is at the level of something like The Godfather or Citizen Kane? A reviewer compared this to Schindler's List so we never know.

 

[stan the caddy]

The game flat out deserves a Razzie at times but at the end of the day it's a game and not a movie. It had sections that were a million times better than the original.

Spoiler

The decision to make you play as Abby was ridiculous but the part when you go down into the hospital basement was as good as anything I've played. The last portion when you go through the Rattler house was great too. I also liked the guitar stuff and how Ellie was writing a song. It was a nice little touch but they kinda screwed that up in the end.

The bad - They were so desperate to make you sympathize with Abby and her father. The zebra stuff was so cheesy. You can't expect people who killed her dad with a flamethrower in the first game to all of a sudden give two shits about him. Then after all that time spent trying to make you like her they have her bite off Ellie's two little fingers so that she can no longer play the guitar. Razzie./SPOILER]

 

[Shareefruck]

I think that if someone took the plot of this game and would have made a movie instead of a game; they would be seen as the next Uwe Boll. Somehow because it is a game, standards are different and it is supposed to be this groundbreaking experience. If this is hyped as a masterpiece because it has movie qualities, then compare it to actual movies instead of other games that have minimalist stories on purpose like Mario or Dark Souls. I mean, does someone really think that The Last of Us Part II is at the level of something like The Godfather or Citizen Kane? A reviewer compared this to Schindler's List so we never know.

Yep. It's why David Cage's story games are well received and isn't relentlessly mocked, despite the fact that his storytelling sensibilities are comparable to Tommy Wiseau.