The Last of Us Part II

[DisturbedSwan]

19 hours in and I finally started Day 2 earlier! ?

 

I think this game could end up taking me 50 hours to finish at this rate ?

 

After going through some really intense moments yesterday at the end of Day 1 I’ve had some nice downtime to relax and explore my surroundings. 
 

Then there was a scene in between Days 1 and 2 that absolutely floored me

Spoiler

Just how fucking good was that museum bit! Holy fucking shit, it was magical taking my time exploring every inch of that museum and hearing the banter between Joel and Ellie. What a fucking incredible game this is.

 

That bit in the space capsule too was incredibly touching, Joel really loved her ?.

 

It also made me miss that banter and camaraderie in the present day. There’s a little bit of that with Dina but not to the same extent there was with Joel in the first game and now Ellie’s on her own so there’s no banter or camaraderie to be had at all, I really miss that. It’s probably the harshness of the world but a bit of Ellie’s nativity and quickly personality that I loved in TLOU1 is missing here and she just comes off a bit aloof at times, you can’t blame her considering all she’s been through but yeah. 

 

[bellow]

I realized today that if you do a ranged stealth kill on dog handlers, their dogs just mope around, whimpering. Or, as I like to call it, praying for death.

[Maf]

 

It took 13 hours straight but I literally played from the start of day 2 right up to near the end. I think I did well actually. There were 286 collectibles all in all and I bet I missed less than 10 of them on my first playthrough. Maybe there were some I thought I got but didn’t, but that was around how many I know I didn’t get first time. Some of them are sneaky, yo.

 

However because I didn’t have chapter select I just had to play through pretty much the whole thing and get all of them just to be sure. And of course one of the very few things I missed was 30 minutes away from the end.

 

But I did it, I found every. Last. One of them (Cards, coins and post-its).
 

*deep sigh*

 

Night, night Playstation, we both need a break. That was a lot of murder ?

[DANGERMAN]

Yeah this game doesn't want to end ?

 

I'm still enjoying it but the bit I'm on now seems to be a bit stingy with the ammo. Most of the game I've never really been short, here it feels like I need to stealth rather than make liberal use of the shotgun 

[Maryokutai]

I made it to the point I got spoiled yesterday. Was surprisingly early in the game which obviously is a good thing since everything that follows is now completely unspoiled for me.

 

Not going to say much about the game yet because in all honesty I haven't really played a lot so far. I've only walked around and pressed Triangle a bunch of times. So far it doesn't bother me but it'll be interesting to see how the pacing's going to be moving forward.

 

What I'd like to point out though is how ridiculously good this looks. If it weren't for the character models with the weird glassy eyes or Dina just being a walking Uncanny Valley doll I'd say this is pretty much a next-gen game on current-gen hardware. How light falls on and is reflected by foliage is seriously impressive.

[one-armed dwarf]

 

The only way this is possible is by memorising AI routines but it is still very fucking cool

[Maf]

If you are not in the second half of the game you should not read this and you will know if you are, and if you are and haven’t finished it there’s no additional spoilers so if you want to read this you can safely 

 

 

Spoiler

I think this is another game that falls in the vein of a Halo 2 or Metal Gear Solid 2 but I’m unsure about whether it does it better than those games or worse than those games. On the one hand the ambition to set a character up as an enemy and then recontextualise them is really ballsy and for my money completely works. At the beginning I hated Abby, legitimately, more than any other video game antagonist ever. And by the end I didn’t. So on that level it works. However the way they go about doing it I think is really long winded and as much as I think what they tried was successful, when getting in to the weeds of her life, relationships and mind set I just didn’t really care that much. And the whole mission she goes on. Jeez. Just feels so out of place. 
 

I think what hurts it as well is the point they choose to start that journey is on a super big cliff hanger so the whole time I just wanted to get back to that. 
 

Obviously it’s different from Halo 2 or MGS2 in significant ways but in terms of a bait and switch about who you are playing as I think  TLoU2 still falls in that column. Even if the reasons they do it are hugely different. 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

As long as Chapter Select is accessible to me I should be able to get the Plat without too many issues but I can’t look at the full list until I finish the game. I’m going to make some manual saves toward the end. 

[Maf]

As long as you have chapter select I don’t think it’s possible to miss anything. It’s pretty easy as well, I think I just went about it in the most time consuming way.

[DANGERMAN]

I finished this yesterday and I can see why reviewers were bemoaning the embargo, a lot of the important parts of the game are tied in to spoilers, things it does well, things it doesn't, and the the problems with the characters.

 

I will say though I really enjoyed it. I ended up liking the first game once I got in to the 2nd half of it, but I wasn't exactly hyped at the prospect of playing through a sequel. Partly because I didn't think Last of Us needed a sequel but it's also a hard work game, it can be a bit of a chore and has long periods of stress. It's not exactly Vanquish

 

This is just a much better playing game than the first one in my opinion. You can make the case the first game is the better experience overall, I think I prefer this, It's a more sprawling, less focused story, for some that's worse, it can be argued to have less meaning, certainly I'm not sure ND land all of it. Revenge is bad, it just creates more anger, it's unfulfilling, it's not the deepest story, but then neither was the first.

 

I did have a problem with the length, less so how long it takes to complete the game in and of itself, more that it starts to give you an ending then snatches it away. I understand why games and films do that, Aliens is an example of it working really well, but it can also just make what's coming feel like a drag, make you roll your eyes even if the content is actually good. Which is where I'll put the rest in spoilers

 

Spoiler

Abby, I'll get to her as a character in a bit, but the problem with her section is you "get it" really quickly. By the time you have your first fight as her at the game's midpoint you understand what they're doing. Abby isn't a monster, Abby isn't nasty or vindictive, she's exactly like Ellie, which granted does make her a monster, nasty and vindictive, but you see that it's justified. To her Joel is the bad guy and the monster

 

Which is fine, that takes 5 minutes, the next hour or so feels like labouring the point. Every time it started another section with her I rolled my eyes and muttered. It's not helped that she's a borderline supersoldier in this world yet the game starts you off at the beginning of the skill tree again, no weapons, limited materials, and basic skills. 

I actually ended up enjoying Abby's story a lot, it becomes it own thing for a while and it's pretty good once it does. 

 

I do have an issue with Abby. I've complained before about modern media making all characters the same. the first game received praise in a big part because the characters were well developed. Joel was deeply unhappy, Ellie boisterous and rebellious. Even in this game there's a clear anger running through Ellie, she's flawed. By contrast Owen has exact same personality as Abby's dad. Manny should be an arsehole, he's a womanising soldier, but no, he's banterific same as all of Abby's friends, there's next to no rough edges on any of them.

 

This is especially pronounced with Abby. She's charming and likeable as a kid, a bit tom-boy ish, which is fine, that's at least something. The death of her father haunts her enough she treks across the country as an adult and beats a man to death even though he's just saved her life. Her friends are all there with her watching, justified they may be but they're clearly hardened by the world, angry and violent enough than none of them leave that room let alone stop it.

 

These people are at war with the scars. They're under constant threat of death, they can't leave their base without being attacked, even ignoring the infected. Abby and Manny at least are soldiers. Abby is seriously committed to training and working out, she's huge. I'm not sure I buy that a hench soldier in the middle of a warzone is going to be likeable and charming. I'm not saying they'd necessarily be bad, but I think you can definitely tell Naughty Dog made the Uncharted games

 

The end is really drawn out and feels a bit pointless. Well, maybe not pointless, it labours the point that all Ellie got for her revenge was to lose more. She's more damaged physically and has lost the idyllic life she'd built for herself. That isn't a bad end for the series, but you have a long spell of downtime then a whole new area to get through, it's at least 10 hours after the game could have ended

 

[Maf]

Spoiler

Totally agree that with Abby’s story you get it too quickly. My problem with it is it never really got me to care or like Abby or anybody on her side. At the beginning of the game I think I hated Abby more than any video game antagonist ever. By the time it’s revealed who Abby is and why she did what she did it completely diffused the game’s conflict for me. So on some level it works. But I think the intended reaction is to get the player to feel sympathy or at least empathy for both sides and it never took me that far. Soon as they tried to get me to start caring about Abby I stopped caring about everything. It’s why by the time they started doing the island stuff I had totally tuned out and felt like I was playing a different game altogether. 
 

The ending is what I was saying earlier where it starts getting super pretentious as well. It’s really well done and I have to appreciate the craft but there are too many moments that linger on really obvious intentions and themes like it’s clever when, it’s not dumb, it’s just not as smart as it thinks it is. 
 

The other big problem for me and why I think the story was so easy to pop a hole in and let the air out was even on Ellie’s side not much interesting happens. Joel’s death is a great, gut wrenching kick off. Yet it becomes hard to point to anything else story wise that really happens that’s big and dramatic until returning to Ellie. So when the only big, motivating factor was to kill Abby and ND makes a play to get Abby likeable it took the wind out of it and I kind of stopped caring about all of it. 
 

The only other thing that was really hard in the game and made me squeamish was the boss fight with Ellie when you’re trying to kill her. I know people like to bemoan QTE’s but I hated tapping square trying to strangle her. It made me feel really ill. It’s a fantastic moment in a way but yikes was it gross. 

 

[DANGERMAN]

the different game point is one I've been thinking about too

 

Spoiler

Given that ND clearly have the budget and freedom to do whatever they want, I'd have liked them to release Abby's story (post murdering Joel) to be released as a standalone game under a different name prior to Last of Us 2. That way she would be a character in her own right that we've invested in, rather than someone you know isn't the main character

 

[bellow]

I've just reached the part you 

Spoiler

have to get to by boat.

I stopped there because that's some spooky shit. I want to play that when the sun goes down, for the full effect.?

[Hendo]

Finished it yesterday. Agree with Ben.

Too long, they make their points and then keep going. I think I preferred the first game for story.

 

I will say, though, top marks to ND for pissing off the incels. “Oh, you were upset that Ellie is gay? Let’s see what we can do about that....”

Genius, keep it up.

[Jimboxy]

32 minutes ago, Hendo said:

I will say, though, top marks to ND for pissing off the incels. “Oh, you were upset that Ellie is gay? Let’s see what we can do about that....”

Genius, keep it up.

 

No, no @Hendo, you've got it all wrong, they're not homophobic, they have a problem with the "writing" which is apparently "terrible" and the "story" which is also "terrible". Definitely not homophobic (and certainly not transphobic).

[one-armed dwarf]

They are also terribly concerned about crunch, definitely not using credible worker mistreatment allegations as a trojan horse to shepherd in their alt-right agenda, noooo

[bellow]

Who are the 'incels?'

 

I might add I've been avoiding everything about this game on YouTube. I am aware of some controversy about the story. I think it's great, personally. Especially

Spoiler

when you start to play as the 'baddie.'

 

[bellow]

8 minutes ago, Nag said:

the game almost turns in to a survival horror experience

 

Are you kidding? I've been surviving horrifically for 15 hours already.

[DisturbedSwan]

For me I’m 28 hours in and I really never want it to end, I’m still not too far into it though from what I can gather. I may change my mind if it goes on a bit too much towards the end who knows. I never would’ve believed you if you told me this game would take me 40-50 hours to finish - the longest ND game was U4 at what 22 hours? - But here we are. I always play games in short 3-4 hour bursts so the runtime maybe hasn’t affected me as much as folks who hammered it.
 

I just reached Day 3 this afternoon and cried for the first time.
 

Spoiler

I’m struggling killing the WLF at times. I know I shouldn’t as they seem like cunts but for me to Scars seem far the worse evil and the WLF seem the equivalent of the Jackson guys but in Seattle. Overhearing a conversation between two it sounds like the Scars have captured most of the West Coast and the WLF aren’t a big group compared to them. Emerging out the water and killing that woman playing Hotline Miami ruthlessly just affected me a bit as well, she seemed just like Ellie, content with her lot in life playing a game and then getting ruthlessly murdered, I don’t think I like who Ellie is becoming. 
 

The bit with Nora too, the woman was unarmed and Ellie just ruthlessly tortures her to get the information on where Abby is. Just brutal and something that didn’t sit well with me. After she gets back to the Theatre you can see it has affected her deeply.

 

Then it hits you with a huge sucker punch. A flashback to the Hospital from TLOU1 with Ellie investigating what really happened and Joel finally coming clean on what happened all those years ago and Ellie bursting into tears. The acting and the emotion in that scene is one of the best I’ve ever experienced not only in games but in the spectrum of entertainment. Just so incredibly powerful, it utterly floored me and I shed tears because of it.

 

I went to the loo afterwards in a daze, not even thinking about what was happening, utterly shell shocked about what I just witnessed. What a game man, what a fucking game. The writing in this game and quality of acting is just unsurpassed in this medium.

 

I’ve touched on this before I know but every single time I play it it has been like that. Just unbelievable tension, I’ve not really known anything else like it or felt anything like it since maybe Outlast 2 maybe. It is just relentless. 

The part before the Hospital

Spoiler

 

in the newspaper offices, convention centre and offices was just absolutely sublime. The new stalkers are just really intense, so damn clever and can come at you from anywhere, feels like you’re actively being hunted by a pack of raptors or something, fucking amazing. The AI in this game is ridiculous.
 

The first encounter with the Scars was fucking amazing too, this game truly has some of the best stealth action gameplay I’ve experienced for years. I don’t remember being so amazed by Stealth gameplay since MGS3 or something. It’s just crazy how seamless it is, how intense it is and how clever the AI is. I got an extra kick out of this part as it was the bit from the E3 2018 walkthrough.

 

What a game.

[one-armed dwarf]

Man you are really slow at this lol

 

I had to take a break from this. Actually the last time I played it was on the (terrible) stream I linked above where I really was biting off more than I can chew. Also the game is just too unrelenting for me right now and I need something else.

 

I think so far what this game lacks for me is a few more moments of warmth like the Left Behind DLC has. There was that museum bit but it doesn't even need to be that elaborate. It's just the cruelty of everything that's happening makes me not feel good about playing sometimes. The bullet exit wounds and crushed heads stuff can be repugnant. It's a great playing game and it does give PS2 MGS vibes but I really don't need that all the darkness rn, it's not interesting enough by itself to have my mood affected by stuff like that