I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish the game. I don’t think I’m a quarter into the game and I already feel fatigue.
I won’t say the game’s bad in a conventional sense, just unsatisfying. Joel’s death is unsatisfying, Ellie and Dina’s relationship is unsatisfying, Abby’s character so far is unsatisfying. Gameplay is still solid but it doesn’t have the freshness and magic the first game brought, especially when you beat that game on grounded +
Tbh there isn't much story during Ellie's revenge quest. Just some subtle (-ish) characterization but that's it really. The story isn't paced like the first game, unfortunately. But the levels are really fun, so there's that.
it doesn’t have the freshness and magic the first game brought, especially when you beat that game on grounded +
dude are you playin… moreg the game on grounded (or did you beat the first game on grounded??) if so mega kudos to you. Never managed to do that.
And what point are you at? A quarter through is at the end of Day 1, I'd say. That's a long chapter.
The story seems to be getting better after Joel’s death. Ellie and Dina have decent chemistry.
I can appreciate the vision Naughty Dog had for the story even if the presentation is lacking, there’s just not enough innovation in the gameplay from the first one to keep me invested so far. It feels stale, and the flaws in gameplay and AI that were excusable in the first one are distracting now.
If it wasn’t 7 years in the making I’d probably be more forgiving.
Tbh there isn't much story during Ellie's revenge quest. Just some subtle (-ish) characterization but that's it really. The story isn't paced like the first game, unfortunately. But the levels are really fun, so there's that.
Tbh there isn't much story during Ellie's revenge quest. Just some subtle (-ish) characterization but that's it really. The story isn't paced like the first game, unfortunately. But the levels are really fun, so there's that.
just discovered this thread and im havin a hoot and a holler over all the tlou2 bickering. i still refuse to share my feelings on the game but i would like to mention that after playing the uncharted series for the first time this year, i went back and replayed the original last of us, a game i'm sure i've made abundantly clear how much i dislike.
but that in fact is not the case anymore because upon replaying it, i was taken by surprise at just how great it was. i definitely dont subscribe to the notion of it being flawless still, however it was a genuinely beautiful game with a really powerful, if not occasionally generic, story. i think the ending is easily the best naughty dog has ever done and the performances are all strong, even troy baker who i'm usually left completely indifferent by his work.
the music is also fantastic and i find myself listening to tracks like The Path (A New Beginning) quite often. really sad i spent so many years shitting on this one, but i'm willing to admit when i'm a dumb boy, and i was very dumb when it came to the last of us. it's very good and i'm glad i get to enjoy it with the rest of you. 8/10.
i also played the last of us 2. that sure was a video game with things in it. it was developed by naughty dog and directed by neil druckmann, and had a runtime of about 25 hours. yup. sure is a whole lot of not opinions im having about the last of us 2.
just discovered this thread and im havin a hoot and a holler over all the tlou2 bickering. i still refuse to share my feelings on the game b… moreut i would like to mention that after playing the uncharted series for the first time this year, i went back and replayed the original last of us, a game i'm sure i've made abundantly clear how much i dislike.
but that in fact is not the case anymore because upon replaying it, i was taken by surprise at just how great it was. i definitely dont subscribe to the notion of it being flawless still, however it was a genuinely beautiful game with a really powerful, if not occasionally generic, story. i think the ending is easily the best naughty dog has ever done and the performances are all strong, even troy baker who i'm usually left completely indifferent by his work.
the music is also fantastic and i find myself listening to tracks like The Path (A New Beginning) quite often. really sad i spent so man… [view original content]
the big secret is that im waiting for my 21st birthday in january so i can spill the beans about how i feel on the game all over the social media sites i frequent and then drink while i read the responses i get. should be an exceptionally fun time.
the big secret is that im waiting for my 21st birthday in january so i can spill the beans about how i feel on the game all over the social media sites i frequent and then drink while i read the responses i get. should be an exceptionally fun time.
So much for trying to keep the game's story under wraps this year. Did Sony really just make a trailer about the "you-must-not-mention-the-second-part-of-our-game-in-your-review"?? (And also the inciting incident that Naughty Dog fought tooth and nail to not reveal?) Holy cow.
Part of me's hoping this random decision to make a new trailer for TLOU2 means there's something on the horizon for it. Maybe a PS5 patch reveal at the Game Awards? Maybe Factions 2? Maybe a story DLC?
How am I supposed to take this shit seriously? It does nothing but make me think Naughty Dog is just not itself anymore. What I mean is that I still can't tell if they want me to love or hate Abby.
So much for trying to keep the game's story under wraps this year. Did Sony really just make a trailer about the "you-must-not-mention-the-s… moreecond-part-of-our-game-in-your-review"?? (And also the inciting incident that Naughty Dog fought tooth and nail to not reveal?) Holy cow.
(Spoiler)
Part of me's hoping this random decision to make a new trailer for TLOU2 means there's something on the horizon for it. Maybe a PS5 patch reveal at the Game Awards? Maybe Factions 2? Maybe a story DLC?
How am I supposed to take this shit seriously? It does nothing but make me think Naughty Dog is just not itself anymore. What I mean is that I still can't tell if they want me to love or hate Abby.
I don't know if there'll ever be a clear answer to that unless one of the writers confirms "yes, you should care".
Do what you want, you can still hate her. The interpretation is still all up to you.
The game has an odd way to show it if you ask me. Ellie is in the game for 15 hours and Abby's campaign is 10 hours long. They don't share the same screentime together. Playing as Abby in the middle of the game made me forget that Ellie also existed in the story for a few moments.
This is nothing like in the first game. The original was obviously about Joel right from the beginning and Neil can kiss my ass if he thinks that game was about Ellie, considering that she served as the deuteragonist 90% of the game and had only ONE chapter of playable campaign which didn't take 10 hours to complete. If that is the case, then why didn't he cram the Left Behind DLC with the original game together, just like how he did with TLOU2?
This also isn't like Resident Evil 2 Remake where you can choose to play as either Leon or Claire first, then play as the other one for the second run.
Neil can kiss my ass if he thinks that game was about Ellie
Does he think that?
I'd say that's kind of true. It's more so about Joel, but Ellie goes through a major loss of innocence and their cross-country trip really opens up her fairly sheltered life.
The game has an odd way to show it if you ask me. Ellie is in the game for 15 hours and Abby's campaign is 10 hours long. They don't share t… morehe same screentime together. Playing as Abby in the middle of the game made me forget that Ellie also existed in the story for a few moments.
This is nothing like in the first game. The original was obviously about Joel right from the beginning and Neil can kiss my ass if he thinks that game was about Ellie, considering that she served as the deuteragonist 90% of the game and had only ONE chapter of playable campaign which didn't take 10 hours to complete. If that is the case, then why didn't he cram the Left Behind DLC with the original game together, just like how he did with TLOU2?
This also isn't like Resident Evil 2 Remake where you can choose to play as either Leon or Claire first, then play as the other one for the second run.
I actually meant to say "This isn't like the first game where Joel and Ellie share the same amount of screentime together while in the second game, Ellie and Abby share each of their presence separately".
This is nothing like in the first game.
But... Should it be?
Neil can kiss my ass if he thinks that game was about Ellie
… more
Does he think that?
I'd say that's kind of true. It's more so about Joel, but Ellie goes through a major loss of innocence and their cross-country trip really opens up her fairly sheltered life.
This also isn't like Resident Evil 2 Remake where you can choose to play as either Leon or Claire first, then play as the other one for the second run.
What does the Resident Evil 2 Remake have to do with this?
The game has an odd way to show it if you ask me. Ellie is in the game for 15 hours and Abby's campaign is 10 hours long. They don't share t… morehe same screentime together. Playing as Abby in the middle of the game made me forget that Ellie also existed in the story for a few moments.
This is nothing like in the first game. The original was obviously about Joel right from the beginning and Neil can kiss my ass if he thinks that game was about Ellie, considering that she served as the deuteragonist 90% of the game and had only ONE chapter of playable campaign which didn't take 10 hours to complete. If that is the case, then why didn't he cram the Left Behind DLC with the original game together, just like how he did with TLOU2?
This also isn't like Resident Evil 2 Remake where you can choose to play as either Leon or Claire first, then play as the other one for the second run.
Of, the protagonist stuff if it wasn't obvious enough. If we were given an option to play as which character we wanted first, then it probably would have defined Ellie and Abby as the main protagonists but that's not the case because the game forces you to play the story in a certain order.
Said it before and I'll say it again, I did not feel like I was following the same story when playing as Abby because Ellie has no connections to her shenanigans whatsoever beside the death of her friends.
This also isn't like Resident Evil 2 Remake where you can choose to play as either Leon or Claire first, then play as the other one for the second run.
What does the Resident Evil 2 Remake have to do with this?
If we were given an option to play as which character we wanted first, then it probably would have defined Ellie and Abby as the main protagonists but that's not the case because the game forces you to play the story in a certain order.
Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Heavy Rain, GTA 5, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Detroit: Become Human, Until Dawn, A Plague Tale are all games with two or more main protagonists that railroad you into playing as specific characters in a specific order. Does that mean none of these games have any main protagonists?
I don't understand the comparison with RE2 at all. Even RE2, no matter how much I adore the game, doesn't do a good job of separating Leon and Claire's campaigns. They both go through pretty much the exact same series of events albeit with a few different beats and story changes sprinkled in. Having a choice between the two didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Said it before and I'll say it again, I did not feel like I was following the same story when playing as Abby because Ellie has no connections to her shenanigans whatsoever beside the death of her friends.
Because they both have their own separate narratives that are tangentially connected through a singular event. Neither of them go through the same story.
Of, the protagonist stuff if it wasn't obvious enough. If we were given an option to play as which character we wanted first, then it probab… morely would have defined Ellie and Abby as the main protagonists but that's not the case because the game forces you to play the story in a certain order.
Said it before and I'll say it again, I did not feel like I was following the same story when playing as Abby because Ellie has no connections to her shenanigans whatsoever beside the death of her friends.
EDIT: Okay, sorry if I come across too strong here, but I feel like we're getting into argument territory again regarding this game, and that never leads anywhere productive, based on past experiences.
the game forces you to play the story in a certain order.
Because the team behind this chose to tell the story in that specific way? This isn't Resident Evil, Naughty Dog usually tells their stories in a very linear way. Would the game's story and direction have improved if choices were added? Maybe! But that's not what the development led to and is frankly foolish to to expect from ND based on previous games, so it's no use bringing up 'what ifs', especially now.
You can talk about whatever game did whatever thing better than TLOU2, but you can't change what we have today.
So dude, I get that you don't like this game. But right now you're kinda getting a hate-boner for this game again, and I don't see this conversation going anywhere productive. Again.
We're 6 months out from release by now and we're just going over the same points! I broke this thread off from yours to help you move on, to let you turn a blind eye to those thread notifications and just chilllll.
This place definitely need a mute thread option.
So please, accept this game as non-canon or whatever will make you feel better, because I feel like we're going in circles. There's no use changing the past, let alone the actions of someone else at Naughty Dog.
Of, the protagonist stuff if it wasn't obvious enough. If we were given an option to play as which character we wanted first, then it probab… morely would have defined Ellie and Abby as the main protagonists but that's not the case because the game forces you to play the story in a certain order.
Said it before and I'll say it again, I did not feel like I was following the same story when playing as Abby because Ellie has no connections to her shenanigans whatsoever beside the death of her friends.
We're 6 months out from release by now and we're just going over the same points! I broke this thread off from yours to help you move on, to let you turn a blind eye to those thread notifications and just chilllll.
Are you mr. Freeze? I would chill if you were.
So please, accept this game as non-canon or whatever will make you feel better, because I feel like we're going in circles. There's no use changing the past, let alone the actions of someone else at Naughty Dog.
Not until The Game Awards, although I have no good expectations.
You can talk about whatever game did whatever thing better than TLOU2, but you can't change what we have today.
The problem is that no one is gonna talk about this game ever again, even if it's gonna win GOTY awards. It's gonna be another Avatar situation and I'm talking James Cameron's franchise. The more I talk about this game, the less it's fun to talk about. It's been in development for 7 years to just end up as one of the most divisive things in whole media and people are already going to move on to better stuff.
Games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, The Witcher 3, Persona 5, Amnesia The Dark Descent, God of War 2018 etc. are still being discussed to this date because they are still fun to talk about despite their certain age. I honestly don't see how the game is going to get better in later years and how TLOU3 is gonna be able to win back its old fans. Which is exactly how it happened with Life is Strange. I barely hear people talk about it in the internet because there is just nothing fun to talk about it.
EDIT: Okay, sorry if I come across too strong here, but I feel like we're getting into argument territory again regarding this game, and tha… moret never leads anywhere productive, based on past experiences.
the game forces you to play the story in a certain order.
Because the team behind this chose to tell the story in that specific way? This isn't Resident Evil, Naughty Dog usually tells their stories in a very linear way. Would the game's story and direction have improved if choices were added? Maybe! But that's not what the development led to and is frankly foolish to to expect from ND based on previous games, so it's no use bringing up 'what ifs', especially now.
You can talk about whatever game did whatever thing better than TLOU2, but you can't change what we have today.
So dude, I get that you don't like this game. But right now you're kinda getting a hate-boner for this game again, and I don't see this conversation going… [view original content]
Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Heavy Rain, GTA 5, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Detroit: Become Human, Until Dawn, A Plague Tale are all games with two or more main protagonists that railroad you into playing as specific characters in a specific order. Does that mean none of these games have any main protagonists?
I don't see how any of these are similar to TLOU2. Each of these games knew their own storyline and had their protagonists share the same screentime together. TLOU2 told 2 different storylines which do not connect to each other that much. Abby's story is all about refusing to fight in war and make friends with refugees from the enemy faction and Ellie's story is all about struggle to track down the person who ruined her life.
Because they both have their own separate narratives that are tangentially connected through a singular event. Neither of them go through the same story.
That is the damn problem. The first game told one singular storyline which worked while in the second game, the story has 2 plotlines which did NOT work. The other issue is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a direct continuation of the first game or have a separate story with different characters? The only answer is that it tried to do both of these things which didn't work. Doing something new can only work if it's done right but that's not the case here.
I don't understand the comparison with RE2 at all.
RE2 had both Leon and Claire have a different storyline. Claire's objective is to protect a little girl who is a daughter of an Umbrella employee and get out of Raccoon City now that she learned the current location of her brother while Leon's objective is to learn about the cause of the fall of Raccoon City and prevent Umbrella from getting their hands on the G-Virus to be used outside of the city. With that case, both Leon and Claire share the same route which is exactly the opposite of TLOU2 take with method. Abby's story could have easily been a standalone game cause it didn't feel like I needed Ellie's whole journey to understand what's going on.
If we were given an option to play as which character we wanted first, then it probably would have defined Ellie and Abby as the main protag… moreonists but that's not the case because the game forces you to play the story in a certain order.
Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Heavy Rain, GTA 5, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Detroit: Become Human, Until Dawn, A Plague Tale are all games with two or more main protagonists that railroad you into playing as specific characters in a specific order. Does that mean none of these games have any main protagonists?
I don't understand the comparison with RE2 at all. Even RE2, no matter how much I adore the game, doesn't do a good job of separating Leon and Claire's campaigns. They both go through pretty much the exact same series of events albeit with a few different beats and story changes sprinkled in. Having a choice between the two didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
… [view original content]
Alright, sorry about that, but I'm just so tired of hearing of all the negativity surrounding the game from even before the game came out!
I know the game has issues and I've heard same stuff being brought up again and again, but it's a needless battle of opinions.
I can't change yours and you can't change mine, it seems.
About the lack of interconnectivity between Abby's and Ellie's stories, I definitely wished there was more shared between them, but in this case there wasn't. And frankly, that's life. (And yes, I get that this is fiction and has a story -- and successful stories follow certain rules. But this one didn't. I'd say it's deliberately dissapointing in many ways, and they're just letting fans deal with the fallout of it on their own terms.)
You meet people every day, some may affect your life in greater ways than others, and some people you might meet again later down the line, but sometimes you don't!
We're 6 months out from release by now and we're just going over the same points! I broke this thread off from yours to help you move on, to… more let you turn a blind eye to those thread notifications and just chilllll.
Are you mr. Freeze? I would chill if you were.
So please, accept this game as non-canon or whatever will make you feel better, because I feel like we're going in circles. There's no use changing the past, let alone the actions of someone else at Naughty Dog.
Not until The Game Awards, although I have no good expectations.
You can talk about whatever game did whatever thing better than TLOU2, but you can't change what we have today.
The problem is that no one is gonna talk about this game ever again, even if it's gonna win GOTY awards. It's gonna be another Avatar situation and I'm talking James Cameron's franchise. The more I talk about this game, the less it's fun to talk about. It's been in dev… [view original content]
Alright, sorry about that, but I'm just so tired of hearing of all the negativity surrounding the game from even before the game came out!
That's fine. I wouldn't say the game shares the same spotlight with Superman 64, ET, Ride to Hell etc. but what annoys me the most is how it's heavily praised by critics and journalists. They don't have to dislike to game but they just refuse to admit that this game can't appeal to everyone.
Alright, sorry about that, but I'm just so tired of hearing of all the negativity surrounding the game from even before the game came out!
… more I know the game has issues and I've heard same stuff being brought up again and again, but it's a needless battle of opinions.
I can't change yours and you can't change mine, it seems.
About the lack of interconnectivity between Abby's and Ellie's stories, I definitely wished there was more shared between them, but in this case there wasn't. And frankly, that's life. (And yes, I get that this is fiction and has a story -- and successful stories follow certain rules. But this one didn't. I'd say it's deliberately dissapointing in many ways, and they're just letting fans deal with the fallout of it on their own terms.)
You meet people every day, some may affect your life in greater ways than others, and some people you might meet again later down the line, but sometimes you don't!
Ellie and Abby have two different storylines because that is the point. We're supposed to see both sides of their individual stories. Abby's story is brought in so that the audience understands who Abby is as a character and why she does what she does. While what she does to Joel is absolutely vile, she isn't the monstrous evil everyone initially thinks she is. That's it.
You can hate it all you want, claim the franchise is dead and no one talks about it anymore and still continue to let the game live in your mind rent free but TLoU2 is a sequel, regardless of your thoughts on the game. It directly follows up on the events of the previous game, while introducing a new set of characters. It didn't work for you and that's fine. Not everything has to work for everyone, but to act like the game didn't work for anyone at all for trying something different is inane.
Abby's story could have easily been a standalone game cause it didn't feel like I needed Ellie's whole journey to understand what's going on.
Except you absolutely do. That's absurd if you think the story of the game would have somehow been the same if Abby's side of the story was left out. The whole reason the people that do enjoy the game like it so much is because of Abby's inclusion.
Do you want to know why it isn't fun to talk about the damn game? It's because anytime someone wants to say something positive, literally anything that could be perceived as praise, someone else will jump on them to tell them how wrong they are. Fuck man, even me just saying that Ellie and Abby are both protagonists led into an entire argument of its own. This is why people don't want to talk about the game. Not because no one likes the game, not because the franchise is dead, not because it's "the next Avatar", but because of shit like this. If you don't like the game, that's fine, if I like the game that's fine too. It shouldn't be this whole thing.
Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Heavy Rain, GTA 5, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Detroit: Become Human, Until Dawn, A Plague Ta… morele are all games with two or more main protagonists that railroad you into playing as specific characters in a specific order. Does that mean none of these games have any main protagonists?
I don't see how any of these are similar to TLOU2. Each of these games knew their own storyline and had their protagonists share the same screentime together. TLOU2 told 2 different storylines which do not connect to each other that much. Abby's story is all about refusing to fight in war and make friends with refugees from the enemy faction and Ellie's story is all about struggle to track down the person who ruined her life.
Because they both have their own separate narratives that are tangentially connected through a singular event. Neither of them go through the same story.
That is the damn pro… [view original content]
So much for trying to keep the game's story under wraps this year. Did Sony really just make a trailer about the "you-must-not-mention-the-s… moreecond-part-of-our-game-in-your-review"?? (And also the inciting incident that Naughty Dog fought tooth and nail to not reveal?) Holy cow.
(Spoiler)
Part of me's hoping this random decision to make a new trailer for TLOU2 means there's something on the horizon for it. Maybe a PS5 patch reveal at the Game Awards? Maybe Factions 2? Maybe a story DLC?
when ya don't know someone's pronouns just say they, my dude. makes it easier on everyone. also lupinb0y and i are tight, i knew they were just havin a goof and a gaff. i have posted about it a lot elsewhere is what it boils down to.
ayyy congrats to him. neil's a super talented guy and definitely deserves to be higher up, regardless of what anybody thinks about tlou2. hope him being in that higher position means he'll start doing some things to cut down on naughty dog's crunch-based work environment.
So, uh, it seems the hate and divisiveness of TLOU2 has not caused any problems for Neil Druckmann's time at Naughty Dog. He's now the Co-Pr… moreesident of the Company, alongside Evan Wells.
From programming intern for Jak 3 all the way up to the tippity-top president's chair. That is quite the accomplishment.
The problem is that no one is gonna talk about this game ever again, even if it's gonna win GOTY awards.
i'm gonna regret butting into an argument about tlou2, but i strongly disagree with this sentiment. the game has been out for several months and yet you, and millions of other people are still talking about it every single day. there's always something being said about it. avengers is gonna be forgotten, in fact it already has been, and it's been out for less time. nobody is talking about that game anymore because it's awful through and through and a majority of people agree with that.
tlou2 is very similar to, and i know you hate this movie but hear me out, the last jedi. it completely split it's fanbase straight down the middle, and half the people love it and half the people hate it. but the people who love it have enough to analyze to bring them back to it, and the people who hate it at least find it fascinating enough to still be talking about it nearly 3 years after release. you seem to have this interesting stance that a thing being controversial is worse than it being forgettable. it's a point you bring up every so often in your comments on tlou2, ever going as far to say at one point that it shouldn't get an award due to the controversy, and that's a fair viewpoint, but i don't see things that way.
i would always, ALWAYS prefer a product to be controversial than forgettable. because if there's a controversy, that means there's something interesting enough about it to keep the conversation going. and i believe tlou2 above all else is fascinating. it has so many different working parts that can be critiqued and praised in a million different ways that literally everybody comes away from it with a different interpretation and perspective. i severely doubt the last of us 2 is going to be forgotten because there's still so much to be said. i mean when was the last time a video game brought this much passion out of people?
people are making 6 hour long essays about why it's good or why it's bad, people are making entire alternate cuts of the story to transform it into an entirely new story, people on forums like these have comment chains spanning several dozen pages and nobody in said thread can settle on whether it's good or bad. regardless of whether or not you hate the game, it very clear it's brought some form of passion out of you. it's brought some form of emotion and memory that's stuck with you. not every game can accomplish that. don't you feel, maybe a tiny bit, that the game deserves some form of credit for being just interesting enough to keep the discussion going?
We're 6 months out from release by now and we're just going over the same points! I broke this thread off from yours to help you move on, to… more let you turn a blind eye to those thread notifications and just chilllll.
Are you mr. Freeze? I would chill if you were.
So please, accept this game as non-canon or whatever will make you feel better, because I feel like we're going in circles. There's no use changing the past, let alone the actions of someone else at Naughty Dog.
Not until The Game Awards, although I have no good expectations.
You can talk about whatever game did whatever thing better than TLOU2, but you can't change what we have today.
The problem is that no one is gonna talk about this game ever again, even if it's gonna win GOTY awards. It's gonna be another Avatar situation and I'm talking James Cameron's franchise. The more I talk about this game, the less it's fun to talk about. It's been in dev… [view original content]
Not everything has to work for everyone, but to act like the game didn't work for anyone at all for trying something different is inane.
This.
anytime someone wants to say something positive, literally anything that could be perceived as praise, someone else will jump on them to tell them how wrong they are.
And this.
Now ya see why I'm so exasperated to continue in this conversation.
I thought you wanted to take a break from TLOU, Aron. That this game didn't mean anything to you anymore. But it doesn't! -- Er, it does, I mean! (As ClemyCloo so eloquently put it)
I just feel like this thread has all the positive get shut down by the negative, and it's a disappointing turn-off. Ugh.
"Yeah... no one is gonna keep talking about The Last of Us 2"
-Guy still talking about The Last of Us 2
Bonus this.
We're going. In circles.
Sidenote: (I've also had a pretty conflicting emotional week concerning a family member's death, so sorry if I seem more volatile or shaken that usual. I'm just done with feeling down lately.)
aw geesh, i'm sorry to hear about your loss, chicken. hope things start looking up for you the rest of this holiday season. it's always rough to lose someone.
because that is the point.
This.
Not everything has to work for everyone, but to act like the game didn't work for anyone at a… morell for trying something different is inane.
This.
anytime someone wants to say something positive, literally anything that could be perceived as praise, someone else will jump on them to tell them how wrong they are.
And this.
Now ya see why I'm so exasperated to continue in this conversation.
I thought you wanted to take a break from TLOU, Aron. That this game didn't mean anything to you anymore. But it doesn't! -- Er, it does, I mean! (As ClemyCloo so eloquently put it)
I just feel like this thread has all the positive get shut down by the negative, and it's a disappointing turn-off. Ugh.
"Yeah... no one is gonna keep talking about The Last of Us 2"
-Guy still talking about The Last of Us 2
Bonus this.
We're going. In circles.
Sidenote: (I've… [view original content]
I just feel like this thread has all the positive get shut down by the negative, and it's a disappointing turn-off. Ugh.
Yep. Which is why I'm usually a little coy when it comes to mentioning the game on here. I learned my lesson when I said that I liked The Last Jedi lmao.
I've also had a pretty conflicting emotional week concerning a family member's death, so sorry if I seem more volatile or shaken that usual. I'm just done with feeling down lately.
because that is the point.
This.
Not everything has to work for everyone, but to act like the game didn't work for anyone at a… morell for trying something different is inane.
This.
anytime someone wants to say something positive, literally anything that could be perceived as praise, someone else will jump on them to tell them how wrong they are.
And this.
Now ya see why I'm so exasperated to continue in this conversation.
I thought you wanted to take a break from TLOU, Aron. That this game didn't mean anything to you anymore. But it doesn't! -- Er, it does, I mean! (As ClemyCloo so eloquently put it)
I just feel like this thread has all the positive get shut down by the negative, and it's a disappointing turn-off. Ugh.
"Yeah... no one is gonna keep talking about The Last of Us 2"
-Guy still talking about The Last of Us 2
Bonus this.
We're going. In circles.
Sidenote: (I've… [view original content]
Sidenote: (I've also had a pretty conflicting emotional week concerning a family member's death, so sorry if I seem more volatile or shaken that usual. I'm just done with feeling down lately.)
My condolences. Sometimes, I can't help but get blinded by the hate for TLOU2 too much but that doesn't matter. All I can do now is hope you're doing well in this holiday.
because that is the point.
This.
Not everything has to work for everyone, but to act like the game didn't work for anyone at a… morell for trying something different is inane.
This.
anytime someone wants to say something positive, literally anything that could be perceived as praise, someone else will jump on them to tell them how wrong they are.
And this.
Now ya see why I'm so exasperated to continue in this conversation.
I thought you wanted to take a break from TLOU, Aron. That this game didn't mean anything to you anymore. But it doesn't! -- Er, it does, I mean! (As ClemyCloo so eloquently put it)
I just feel like this thread has all the positive get shut down by the negative, and it's a disappointing turn-off. Ugh.
"Yeah... no one is gonna keep talking about The Last of Us 2"
-Guy still talking about The Last of Us 2
Bonus this.
We're going. In circles.
Sidenote: (I've… [view original content]
Comments
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish the game. I don’t think I’m a quarter into the game and I already feel fatigue.
I won’t say the game’s bad in a conventional sense, just unsatisfying. Joel’s death is unsatisfying, Ellie and Dina’s relationship is unsatisfying, Abby’s character so far is unsatisfying. Gameplay is still solid but it doesn’t have the freshness and magic the first game brought, especially when you beat that game on grounded +
dude are you playing the game on grounded (or did you beat the first game on grounded??) if so mega kudos to you. Never managed to do that.
And what point are you at? A quarter through is at the end of Day 1, I'd say. That's a long chapter.
Tbh there isn't much story during Ellie's revenge quest. Just some subtle (-ish) characterization but that's it really. The story isn't paced like the first game, unfortunately. But the levels are really fun, so there's that.
I was going to but the game said it was not recommended for a first play through so I went with hard instead.
Ellie and Dina are still exploring Seattle. I think it’s still day 1.
The story seems to be getting better after Joel’s death. Ellie and Dina have decent chemistry.
I can appreciate the vision Naughty Dog had for the story even if the presentation is lacking, there’s just not enough innovation in the gameplay from the first one to keep me invested so far. It feels stale, and the flaws in gameplay and AI that were excusable in the first one are distracting now.
If it wasn’t 7 years in the making I’d probably be more forgiving.
Yeah, that's another critical tipping point: most of the actual potential plot and most worthwhile characters are also on Abby's end.
That makes some sense considering what the story is doing to begin with, but knowing how much of that progresses, uh....
just discovered this thread and im havin a hoot and a holler over all the tlou2 bickering. i still refuse to share my feelings on the game but i would like to mention that after playing the uncharted series for the first time this year, i went back and replayed the original last of us, a game i'm sure i've made abundantly clear how much i dislike.
but that in fact is not the case anymore because upon replaying it, i was taken by surprise at just how great it was. i definitely dont subscribe to the notion of it being flawless still, however it was a genuinely beautiful game with a really powerful, if not occasionally generic, story. i think the ending is easily the best naughty dog has ever done and the performances are all strong, even troy baker who i'm usually left completely indifferent by his work.
the music is also fantastic and i find myself listening to tracks like The Path (A New Beginning) quite often. really sad i spent so many years shitting on this one, but i'm willing to admit when i'm a dumb boy, and i was very dumb when it came to the last of us. it's very good and i'm glad i get to enjoy it with the rest of you. 8/10.
i also played the last of us 2. that sure was a video game with things in it. it was developed by naughty dog and directed by neil druckmann, and had a runtime of about 25 hours. yup. sure is a whole lot of not opinions im having about the last of us 2.
Man, you sure like talking about how much you're not gonna talk about TLoU2.
the big secret is that im waiting for my 21st birthday in january so i can spill the beans about how i feel on the game all over the social media sites i frequent and then drink while i read the responses i get. should be an exceptionally fun time.
I commend you for your noble intentions. May the salt line the rim of your margarita glass.
So much for trying to keep the game's story under wraps this year. Did Sony really just make a trailer about the "you-must-not-mention-the-second-part-of-our-game-in-your-review"?? (And also the inciting incident that Naughty Dog fought tooth and nail to not reveal?) Holy cow.
Part of me's hoping this random decision to make a new trailer for TLOU2 means there's something on the horizon for it. Maybe a PS5 patch reveal at the Game Awards? Maybe Factions 2? Maybe a story DLC?
How am I supposed to take this shit seriously? It does nothing but make me think Naughty Dog is just not itself anymore. What I mean is that I still can't tell if they want me to love or hate Abby.
I don't know if there'll ever be a clear answer to that unless one of the writers confirms "yes, you should care".
Do what you want, you can still hate her. The interpretation is still all up to you.
The only question that no one will be able to answer for me is: Who is the main protagonist of TLOU2?
Ellie is the primary protagonist and Abby is the secondary protagonist.
The game has an odd way to show it if you ask me. Ellie is in the game for 15 hours and Abby's campaign is 10 hours long. They don't share the same screentime together. Playing as Abby in the middle of the game made me forget that Ellie also existed in the story for a few moments.
This is nothing like in the first game. The original was obviously about Joel right from the beginning and Neil can kiss my ass if he thinks that game was about Ellie, considering that she served as the deuteragonist 90% of the game and had only ONE chapter of playable campaign which didn't take 10 hours to complete. If that is the case, then why didn't he cram the Left Behind DLC with the original game together, just like how he did with TLOU2?
This also isn't like Resident Evil 2 Remake where you can choose to play as either Leon or Claire first, then play as the other one for the second run.
But... Should it be?
Does he think that?
I'd say that's kind of true. It's more so about Joel, but Ellie goes through a major loss of innocence and their cross-country trip really opens up her fairly sheltered life.
I actually meant to say "This isn't like the first game where Joel and Ellie share the same amount of screentime together while in the second game, Ellie and Abby share each of their presence separately".
What does the Resident Evil 2 Remake have to do with this?
Of, the protagonist stuff if it wasn't obvious enough. If we were given an option to play as which character we wanted first, then it probably would have defined Ellie and Abby as the main protagonists but that's not the case because the game forces you to play the story in a certain order.
Said it before and I'll say it again, I did not feel like I was following the same story when playing as Abby because Ellie has no connections to her shenanigans whatsoever beside the death of her friends.
Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Heavy Rain, GTA 5, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Detroit: Become Human, Until Dawn, A Plague Tale are all games with two or more main protagonists that railroad you into playing as specific characters in a specific order. Does that mean none of these games have any main protagonists?
I don't understand the comparison with RE2 at all. Even RE2, no matter how much I adore the game, doesn't do a good job of separating Leon and Claire's campaigns. They both go through pretty much the exact same series of events albeit with a few different beats and story changes sprinkled in. Having a choice between the two didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Because they both have their own separate narratives that are tangentially connected through a singular event. Neither of them go through the same story.
EDIT: Okay, sorry if I come across too strong here, but I feel like we're getting into argument territory again regarding this game, and that never leads anywhere productive, based on past experiences.
Because the team behind this chose to tell the story in that specific way? This isn't Resident Evil, Naughty Dog usually tells their stories in a very linear way. Would the game's story and direction have improved if choices were added? Maybe! But that's not what the development led to and is frankly foolish to to expect from ND based on previous games, so it's no use bringing up 'what ifs', especially now.
You can talk about whatever game did whatever thing better than TLOU2, but you can't change what we have today.
So dude, I get that you don't like this game. But right now you're kinda getting a hate-boner for this game again, and I don't see this conversation going anywhere productive. Again.
We're 6 months out from release by now and we're just going over the same points! I broke this thread off from yours to help you move on, to let you turn a blind eye to those thread notifications and just chilllll.
This place definitely need a mute thread option.
So please, accept this game as non-canon or whatever will make you feel better, because I feel like we're going in circles. There's no use changing the past, let alone the actions of someone else at Naughty Dog.
So, uh, it seems the hate and divisiveness of TLOU2 has not caused any problems for Neil Druckmann's time at Naughty Dog. He's now the Co-President of the Company, alongside Evan Wells.
From programming intern for Jak 3 all the way up to the tippity-top president's chair. That is quite the accomplishment.
He/she didn't? Most of that was about replaying the first game and having a new view on it
He's posted multiple comments about how he's not going to talk about TLoU2 so I'm just being cheeky with him.
Are you mr. Freeze? I would chill if you were.
Not until The Game Awards, although I have no good expectations.
The problem is that no one is gonna talk about this game ever again, even if it's gonna win GOTY awards. It's gonna be another Avatar situation and I'm talking James Cameron's franchise. The more I talk about this game, the less it's fun to talk about. It's been in development for 7 years to just end up as one of the most divisive things in whole media and people are already going to move on to better stuff.
Games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, The Witcher 3, Persona 5, Amnesia The Dark Descent, God of War 2018 etc. are still being discussed to this date because they are still fun to talk about despite their certain age. I honestly don't see how the game is going to get better in later years and how TLOU3 is gonna be able to win back its old fans. Which is exactly how it happened with Life is Strange. I barely hear people talk about it in the internet because there is just nothing fun to talk about it.
I don't see how any of these are similar to TLOU2. Each of these games knew their own storyline and had their protagonists share the same screentime together. TLOU2 told 2 different storylines which do not connect to each other that much. Abby's story is all about refusing to fight in war and make friends with refugees from the enemy faction and Ellie's story is all about struggle to track down the person who ruined her life.
That is the damn problem. The first game told one singular storyline which worked while in the second game, the story has 2 plotlines which did NOT work. The other issue is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a direct continuation of the first game or have a separate story with different characters? The only answer is that it tried to do both of these things which didn't work. Doing something new can only work if it's done right but that's not the case here.
RE2 had both Leon and Claire have a different storyline. Claire's objective is to protect a little girl who is a daughter of an Umbrella employee and get out of Raccoon City now that she learned the current location of her brother while Leon's objective is to learn about the cause of the fall of Raccoon City and prevent Umbrella from getting their hands on the G-Virus to be used outside of the city. With that case, both Leon and Claire share the same route which is exactly the opposite of TLOU2 take with method. Abby's story could have easily been a standalone game cause it didn't feel like I needed Ellie's whole journey to understand what's going on.
Alright, sorry about that, but I'm just so tired of hearing of all the negativity surrounding the game from even before the game came out!
I know the game has issues and I've heard same stuff being brought up again and again, but it's a needless battle of opinions.
I can't change yours and you can't change mine, it seems.
About the lack of interconnectivity between Abby's and Ellie's stories, I definitely wished there was more shared between them, but in this case there wasn't. And frankly, that's life. (And yes, I get that this is fiction and has a story -- and successful stories follow certain rules. But this one didn't. I'd say it's deliberately dissapointing in many ways, and they're just letting fans deal with the fallout of it on their own terms.)
You meet people every day, some may affect your life in greater ways than others, and some people you might meet again later down the line, but sometimes you don't!
That's fine. I wouldn't say the game shares the same spotlight with Superman 64, ET, Ride to Hell etc. but what annoys me the most is how it's heavily praised by critics and journalists. They don't have to dislike to game but they just refuse to admit that this game can't appeal to everyone.
Ellie and Abby have two different storylines because that is the point. We're supposed to see both sides of their individual stories. Abby's story is brought in so that the audience understands who Abby is as a character and why she does what she does. While what she does to Joel is absolutely vile, she isn't the monstrous evil everyone initially thinks she is. That's it.
You can hate it all you want, claim the franchise is dead and no one talks about it anymore and still continue to let the game live in your mind rent free but TLoU2 is a sequel, regardless of your thoughts on the game. It directly follows up on the events of the previous game, while introducing a new set of characters. It didn't work for you and that's fine. Not everything has to work for everyone, but to act like the game didn't work for anyone at all for trying something different is inane.
Except you absolutely do. That's absurd if you think the story of the game would have somehow been the same if Abby's side of the story was left out. The whole reason the people that do enjoy the game like it so much is because of Abby's inclusion.
Do you want to know why it isn't fun to talk about the damn game? It's because anytime someone wants to say something positive, literally anything that could be perceived as praise, someone else will jump on them to tell them how wrong they are. Fuck man, even me just saying that Ellie and Abby are both protagonists led into an entire argument of its own. This is why people don't want to talk about the game. Not because no one likes the game, not because the franchise is dead, not because it's "the next Avatar", but because of shit like this. If you don't like the game, that's fine, if I like the game that's fine too. It shouldn't be this whole thing.
"Yeah... no one is gonna keep talking about The Last of Us 2"
-Guy still talking about The Last of Us 2
Oh. They pushed that, did they?
Reminds me of the Episode 3 trailer for Walking Dead.
Shame how the trailer almost makes Abby's story look decent considering what a mild mess I kinda is.
when ya don't know someone's pronouns just say they, my dude. makes it easier on everyone. also lupinb0y and i are tight, i knew they were just havin a goof and a gaff. i have posted about it a lot elsewhere is what it boils down to.
ayyy congrats to him. neil's a super talented guy and definitely deserves to be higher up, regardless of what anybody thinks about tlou2. hope him being in that higher position means he'll start doing some things to cut down on naughty dog's crunch-based work environment.
i'm gonna regret butting into an argument about tlou2, but i strongly disagree with this sentiment. the game has been out for several months and yet you, and millions of other people are still talking about it every single day. there's always something being said about it. avengers is gonna be forgotten, in fact it already has been, and it's been out for less time. nobody is talking about that game anymore because it's awful through and through and a majority of people agree with that.
tlou2 is very similar to, and i know you hate this movie but hear me out, the last jedi. it completely split it's fanbase straight down the middle, and half the people love it and half the people hate it. but the people who love it have enough to analyze to bring them back to it, and the people who hate it at least find it fascinating enough to still be talking about it nearly 3 years after release. you seem to have this interesting stance that a thing being controversial is worse than it being forgettable. it's a point you bring up every so often in your comments on tlou2, ever going as far to say at one point that it shouldn't get an award due to the controversy, and that's a fair viewpoint, but i don't see things that way.
i would always, ALWAYS prefer a product to be controversial than forgettable. because if there's a controversy, that means there's something interesting enough about it to keep the conversation going. and i believe tlou2 above all else is fascinating. it has so many different working parts that can be critiqued and praised in a million different ways that literally everybody comes away from it with a different interpretation and perspective. i severely doubt the last of us 2 is going to be forgotten because there's still so much to be said. i mean when was the last time a video game brought this much passion out of people?
people are making 6 hour long essays about why it's good or why it's bad, people are making entire alternate cuts of the story to transform it into an entirely new story, people on forums like these have comment chains spanning several dozen pages and nobody in said thread can settle on whether it's good or bad. regardless of whether or not you hate the game, it very clear it's brought some form of passion out of you. it's brought some form of emotion and memory that's stuck with you. not every game can accomplish that. don't you feel, maybe a tiny bit, that the game deserves some form of credit for being just interesting enough to keep the discussion going?
This.
This.
And this.
Now ya see why I'm so exasperated to continue in this conversation.
I thought you wanted to take a break from TLOU, Aron. That this game didn't mean anything to you anymore. But it doesn't! -- Er, it does, I mean! (As ClemyCloo so eloquently put it)
I just feel like this thread has all the positive get shut down by the negative, and it's a disappointing turn-off. Ugh.
Bonus this.
We're going. In circles.
Sidenote: (I've also had a pretty conflicting emotional week concerning a family member's death, so sorry if I seem more volatile or shaken that usual. I'm just done with feeling down lately.)
aw geesh, i'm sorry to hear about your loss, chicken. hope things start looking up for you the rest of this holiday season. it's always rough to lose someone.
Yep. Which is why I'm usually a little coy when it comes to mentioning the game on here. I learned my lesson when I said that I liked The Last Jedi lmao.
My condolences. Sending digital love your way.
My condolences. Sometimes, I can't help but get blinded by the hate for TLOU2 too much but that doesn't matter. All I can do now is hope you're doing well in this holiday.
My boyfriend gifted me the game today!!! 🥰 Cant wait to finally experience it for myself! Early XMas gifts
!