The Last of Us Part II

[Dex]

Only a few more hours until she drops for lowly plebs like myself without early access. Can't wait to be depressed.

 

[ZeroZeroSeven]

Bought the first game twice (PS3 then remastered version for PS4).  Pre-ordered through Best Buy, but since I’m currently on vacay with the fam, I won’t be able to pick it up until Saturday.

[Dex]

41 minutes ago, ZeroZeroSeven said:

Bought the first game twice (PS3 then remastered version for PS4).  Pre-ordered through Best Buy, but since I’m currently on vacay with the fam, I won’t be able to pick it up until Saturday.

Rest in pepperoni. :(

[KSpan]

Lots of negativity swirling out there so I'm just going to try to enjoy it for whatever it is. Huge shadow cast by the brilliant story in the first TLoU and it just seems unlikely that this one will recapture all of the magic.

[TheBlue]

This is the Last Jedi of video games apparently. Either you love it or hate it. Alot of anti-SJW toxicity surrounding the game. Some of the critics are valid and others are just rooted in some bigotry. I wasnt upset about the ending as alot were. Or some of the cliff hangers during the game. 

[Dex]

On 6/20/2020 at 3:40 AM, TheBlue said:

This is the Last Jedi of video games apparently. Either you love it or hate it. Alot of anti-SJW toxicity surrounding the game. Some of the critics are valid and others are just rooted in some bigotry. I wasnt upset about the ending as alot were. Or some of the cliff hangers during the game. 

Just finished. I commend Naughty Dog for pushing the envelope and trying something different. You can only tell the same story one way so many times. Game is certainly polarizing and heartbreaking. But I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

[CarolinaSock]

Felt hamfisted story wise. Characters doing just really stupid or uncharacteristic things to force you into situations that should have been avoided or not nearly as escalated as they became. So many times my character was lunged at or attacked while being in a position of clear advantage just to force me to kill someone that could have otherwise lived, like they had suddenly lost all sense of self preservation that had kept them alive in the apocalypse. Made worse by the fact that every single encounter has only one outcome.

I didn't feel any empathy for a certain character no matter how hard they tried to force it down my throat. Outside of one person it was pretty clear that neither her or her friends had any remorse and in fact most of them wanted to do even worse things. Suffering consequences then after the fact having regrets doesn't really count as remorse in my view. You're upset about the consequences, not your actual actions. Maybe I'm just over on rails games that have every single outcome predetermined. I play games to have fun, and a lot of this game wasn't fun.

[TheBlue]

15 hours ago, Dex said:

Just finished. I commend Naughty Dog for pushing the envelope and trying something different. You can only tell the same story one way so many times. Game is certainly polarizing and heartbreaking. But I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Yeah I mean with the way the first game ended I think it was logical for this story to have some consequences from that choice. It wouldn’t be realistic for this game to just continue a feel good story between Joel and Ellie. That’s not what the apocalypse would be about. The world is harsh. This game reflects that. 
 

I bet a lot of people just wanted to keep playing as Joel and never having to deal with Joel’s selfish actions. 

[CarolinaSock]

6 hours ago, TheBlue said:

Yeah I mean with the way the first game ended I think it was logical for this story to have some consequences from that choice. It wouldn’t be realistic for this game to just continue a feel good story between Joel and Ellie. That’s not what the apocalypse would be about. The world is harsh. This game reflects that. 
 

I bet a lot of people just wanted to keep playing as Joel and never having to deal with Joel’s selfish actions. 

For me at least it had nothing to do with Joel dying. I think a lot of people expected Joel to have his past come back to bite him. The way it was handled and then expecting sympathy in the 2nd half of the game was stupid. I've only seen a handful of people that actually like the 2nd half. Most I've seen let themselves get killed several times on purpose while I've seen a few that just rushed through it as fast as possible because they just wanted it over with.  You can tell a different story, but it has to be one people want to hear. I think they are going to piss off a lot of tlou fans and many people are going to be very hesitant to buy another one if they make it especially after intentionally deceiving people with the marketing.

[TheBlue]

1 hour ago, CarolinaSock said:

The way it was handled and then expecting sympathy in the 2nd half of the game was stupid.

I dont think they were expecting sympathy. More so just showing different perspectives. Joel made an objectively selfish decision. Show the consequences of that decision HAD to happen for any stakes to remain in this story.

1 hour ago, CarolinaSock said:

 You can tell a different story, but it has to be one people want to hear.

this is actually 100% incorrect. As a story teller you tell a story that makes YOU happy. Trying to make a story just for the fans never works. See Rise of Skywalker. That was made as purely fan service and the story was hollow and weak. If its divisive than its divisive. You cant make everyone happy. 

 

1 hour ago, CarolinaSock said:

I think they are going to piss off a lot of tlou fans and many people are going to be very hesitant to buy another one if they make it especially after intentionally deceiving people with the marketing.

Probably piss off alot of gamer incel gamers sure. But they really need to stop bitching about different trailers. Marvel does the same type of marketing on trailers to combat spoilers/leaks. The game was leaked heavily before alot of the trailers dropped. 

[Dex]

4 hours ago, TheBlue said:

I dont think they were expecting sympathy. More so just showing different perspectives. Joel made an objectively selfish decision. Show the consequences of that decision HAD to happen for any stakes to remain in this story.

this is actually 100% incorrect. As a story teller you tell a story that makes YOU happy. Trying to make a story just for the fans never works. See Rise of Skywalker. That was made as purely fan service and the story was hollow and weak. If its divisive than its divisive. You cant make everyone happy. 

 

Probably piss off alot of gamer incel gamers sure. But they really need to stop bitching about different trailers. Marvel does the same type of marketing on trailers to combat spoilers/leaks. The game was leaked heavily before alot of the trailers dropped. 

Hideo Kojima literally bamboozled an entire planet with the release of Metal Gear Solid 2 and the bait and switch with Raiden/Snake.

[TheBlue]

13 hours ago, Dex said:

Hideo Kojima literally bamboozled an entire planet with the release of Metal Gear Solid 2 and the bait and switch with Raiden/Snake.

Yeah mgs 2 has a lot of parallels here. Switching from a beloved character to a new one. A lot of people hating mgs2 even though it’s a good game. 

[KSpan]

I'm only a few hours in and parts of this game are very, very intense. Doom Eternal was the last game I played and the odds are crazy stacked against you but at least you know if you keep moving you can fight your way out... not so much here. Maybe I'm just old and not good at games anymore.

That said it has been a joy to relive the "chuck a bottle/brick, count to 5, chuck a Molotov, watch them all burn" strategy. Never gets old.

[ZeroZeroSeven]

I felt like the game could’ve used better pacing.  Switching 60% through and then playing as Abby, was deflating.  I felt like I was just starting over.  

The flashbacks for both Ellie and Abby were pretty neat.

The part that really left me scratching my head was Ellie Seattle Day 1 when Dina shoots the guy from the rooftop/glass windows.  The WLF soldier had Ellie dead to rights after watching her kill his partner and he just freezes.  Yeah I know there was a dead body seen after it all played out, but that scene really left me puzzled.