The Last of Us: Part II

[Finsbury Girl]

Finally picked this up. Looks amazing plays amazing so far. Just in Day 1 Seattle.

There are some seriously cool things so far. Finding the music shop and playing the guitar.

Almost noped out at

->Open Spoiler<-

those mofos ****ing up Joel

but I just want to play on to kill every last one of them, very slowly. If this isn't possible I will seriously pissed.

I hope the character switches don't put me off like in Halo 2 (which put me off for about 10 years)

[Colin]

The character switches may initially jar, but stick with it and it'll all become clear as the game progresses. I was initially annoyed when the game originally came out with the switches but it made for an even better story, and now replaying it because I already know why it's doing it, it's even better.

[buster_broon]

I loved the first one and bought this digitally on release but didn't really get a chance to play it until about a month ago, but once i started i couldn't put it down

must have played it through about 5 times with my initial run of about 46 hours (watched all videos and tracked the story) down to 19 hours, unlocked all trophies except grounded mode as i think i would probably just get annoyed, i played it through on the 2nd highest difficulty with permadeath added (chapter) but getting moved back about 40 minutes for missing a fall or a silly mistake I found too irritating

But the story is incredible, has the ability for you to want to like Abbie for what happens in the story, excellent levels (sniper from the bridge) and after playing it through I wanted Abbie to win and f**k Ellie

[buster_broon]

Hillcrest is probably one of my favourite parts of the game

[Finsbury Girl]

What I will say is the gameplay is compelling. Last night I was like, "explore just one more house".

The tension is great just like the first one.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, Part II is something of a triumph that oddly seems to broadly have a more muted reaction to it than the first entry. I will always have issues with the first game and how overrated it is but this second entry is vastly superior and really nails things. Best thing ND put out all gen.

[Finsbury Girl]

Up to Seattle Day 3 ; damn this game is brutal as hell. One section where I had to take out like 20 peeps silent assassin style. Also getting shot by arrows by some pyscho whistling dudes was a real WOAH moment ; scared the hell out of me

Not gonna lie as Ellie takes down each of the mofos responsible I am happy but damn she is a bad arse and I love it.

I am unsure where the game is going but it is still absolutely top drawer

[fishbowlhead]

Yep, Part II is something of a triumph that oddly seems to broadly have a more muted reaction to it than the first entry. I will always have issues with the first game and how overrated it is but this second entry is vastly superior and really nails things. Best thing ND put out all gen.

It had a muted release because of all the morons bashing it for no reason, probably because they couldn’t play it on their rgb pc’s.

I’d put this down as the game of the generation, nothing really comes close to it on any level, and all achieved on a PS4 no less, the technical mastery on show is just embarrassing to program this on such lowly hardware.

[Brad]

I have a ps4pro and never played this despite loving the original and completing it twice. I should get it I guess.

[Neon Ignition]

LOU2 really is an example in how well games can refine on a predecessor. Like Uncharted 2 to Uncharted 1, the sequel has a much stronger hold on what it wants to be and kind of has ambition beyond being a relatively basic encountered Walking Dead game with popcorn headed people. I think when the sequel briefly opens up widely in the early hours and that initial concern very quickly passed to eager gaming it clicked they'd mastered the template.

[Finsbury Girl]

Finished this today. I am in two minds, in some respects this is an absolutely great game, in others it is absolutely terrible. My main grudge is lack of agency (something I really, really disliked about RDR2 but for other reasons). I take on the point that this is not an open world game so lack of agency should not be a massive issue, however I strongly disliked the course this game forces you to take.

->Open Spoiler<-

I have zero empathy for Abbie. I have zero empathy for the Fireflys. I certainly didn't like having to try and murder Ellie, shoot Jessie and Tommy as Abbie. The story tries hard to make to empathise with her but I never did and I didn't enjoy playing as her either. The switch midgame was like playing the first half of the game all over again ; like a metroid game where you lose all of your power ups but instead of the beginning which is fine, it's halfway through the game so you have to slog as an underpowered character AGAIN. This aspect really pissed me off.

As Rodriguez once said, it started out so nice

[Neon Ignition]

After a short while I was alright with the switch, I think because as the game progresses Ellie becomes increasingly dislikeable.

[Golgo]

They're all basically horrible and broken, as they would be given the lives they're forced to lead. Expecting to find a nice, 'identifiable' character in this mess is unrealistic. Even in the first game

->Open Spoiler<-

the lovely, fan-favourite Joel was revealed to be a total **** (i.e., his wilderness years of murderising when he went off the rails after the killing of his daughter).

[Neon Ignition]

Yep

->Open Spoiler<-

Ellie starting off being so angry with him for his choice but by the end she's gone so far beyond what he was capable of and Abbie is painted as the villain but is actually the slightly more moralistic of the two. None of them are 'good' but I suppose part of it is to also paint Ellie in a light where it remains questionable as to whether Joel was right or not to save her

[Finsbury Girl]

Maybe that's all true but still it doesn't sit well with me. The first one dealt with redemption the second damnation.

Perhaps that was the intent.

Anyways I look forward to the multiplayer game. The first was so unique and apart from my criticisms around monetisation and balance it was a truly memorable and enjoyable game mode.