Seriously, it's messed up. The guy is a jerk that tried to justified crunch. One of those guys. If you explore the first area you'll find playing cards and one of them is Dr. Uckman. The info on the card is him making light of crunch. "The New Dogs"
Seriously, it's messed up. The guy is a jerk that tried to justified crunch. One of those guys. If you explore the first area you'll find playing cards and one of them is Dr. Uckman. The info on the card is him making light of crunch. "The New Dogs"
I did find that card and noticed the "nod" to Druckman. However, reading it now in context of the work crunch... wow that's pretty great. Not the crunch, but the jab at him.
He's a grown man with a pony tail. How can he not be a d bag?
I'm enjoying the game, but definitely not as mentally/emotionally invested, as I was with the first one, I expected this going in. There was no way this game was going to be as good as the first, which was/is one of my favorites of all time.
I see what you mean, but I don't fully agree. I think the killing of Joel early on set the tone for the game, you felt the same anger as Ellie towards the people that did it. Then to reveal that their motive for killing Joel was more of an eye-for-en-eye thing so that you question Joel's decisions from the first game, was a smart twist. Had they revealed what Abby's motive was at the beginning of the game, I don't think Joel's death would have been as shocking and I don't think hunting down Abby and her crew would have the same sense of revenge from the player's perspective.
I don't feel they are forcing you to like Abby, they are asking you to see from her perspective. I initially hated playing as Joel's killer, but I think it was a very good way of showing you her side of the story, so you learn to understand Abby's motives and to question the morality and choices of the game's main characters. They build up all the hate for Abby then they show you, the player, as Joel in the first game, killed her father for extremely selfish reasons.
In other words, the order of events is laid out in a way to cause maximum speculation and shock value to the player, I think. Perfectly suited for the type of game The Last of Us is. Part of the reason I think the game is so good is that it's not conventional at all, you never know what to expect, but that's the point.
I'm assuming you haven't completed the game yet, so I'll avoid details.
I don't have a problem with Abby being so dead set on her goal to kill Joel for her father. However, her choices make her completely hard to sympathize with her b/c during her quest, she obviously disregards the feelings of those on her own team multiple times and even after. At 1 point, her own interaction with Joel creates a bit of a plot hole down the road; Joel saves her, she finds out who he is, kills him anyway. Perfectly ok character-wise as it shows her ruthlessness. Abby is saved at another point & from that point on given the savior, that character trait she showed towards Joel pulls a 180.
Had my first encounter with Stalkers last night, and it definitely had me on edge. Good old fashion WTF? moment, when coming out of a room, looking down a short hallway, and just catching a glimpse of something running across, at the intersection. The wife thought I was just seeing things, then got down to the big room where more were. These are nerve racking creatures, but fun at the same time.
Shortly after that, started running into some Scars. They sure can whistle. Quickly realized stealth was the way to go with them.
I'm not always a fan of flashbacks, but they have been welcome in this game, filling in the time between the first game, and this one.
Last night I seen the one where Ellie goes back to Saint Marys, to try and find out more about what happened there, and gets a piece of info, that makes her question Joel, when he rides up panicked, that she's there. That scene was solid, and on par with the emotion level of the first game. You could see Joel's struggle to answer the question. Good stuff.
Which further supports my belief that it would be better if they played everything out in chronological order. Beyond: Two Souls made the same mistake and they eventually released a version with all scenes in chronological order so it actually makes sense.
As you know I didn't play the first but I think it would be really neat to start TLOU2 right where TLOU1 left off and see things develop over time. We see Ellie grow up and we mature our perspective along the way. And then after Ellie tells Joel "we're done" they somehow reconciled because he's back in the group at the point TLOU2 starts and Ellie clearly still cares for him judging by her reaction to him being murdered. That would give the murder scene more depth of character.
As it is now, it's like a reverse in media res. Weird
Which further supports my belief that it would be better if they played everything out in chronological order. Beyond: Two Souls made the same mistake and they eventually released a version with all scenes in chronological order so it actually makes sense.
As you know I didn't play the first but I think it would be really neat to start TLOU2 right where TLOU1 left off and see things develop over time. We see Ellie grow up and we mature our perspective along the way. And then after Ellie tells Joel "we're done" they somehow reconciled because he's back in the group at the point TLOU2 starts and Ellie clearly still cares for him judging by her reaction to him being murdered. That would give the murder scene more depth of character.
As it is now, it's like a reverse in media res. Weird
This is one of the things I saw Penguinz0/Charlie bring up. The flashback scenes are great & well done, they're one of the things that have been praised as individual scenarios. But, as Charlie notes, they come up & feature characters you killed hours before with no investment in them, so you're left not really caring that you're seeing these folks again.
It wasn't a mistake IMO, just a design choice that some people didn't like. BTS is my favourite video game of all time, I've played it through 9 times, all of which was with the original non chronological order & I think it works very well. Whether one likes it or not is purely subjective.
It was also one reason that TLOU1 fell flat with me. The graphics were better in BTS on PS3, the MoCap was light years ahead with much more detailed facial expressions, & having two Hollywood A-listers in the lead roles meant the acting was top notch too. So, when I tried TLOU1 I wasn't impressed with the cut scenes as I'd seen better, much better. The main reason I didn't like it though was the gameplay, it's just not for me.
If Beyond is your favorite game then I can understand how you can ignore/look past obvious glaring issues in storytelling. David Cage is a freakin' idiot
I still don't know exactly how I feel and what to think of it except, right now, I know it's nowhere near the first game, which still has my favorite game story and characters of all time.
Part 2 has some amazing moments, but I found it a bit draggy especially on the "second half".
I still don't know exactly how I feel and what to think of it except, right now, I know it's nowhere near the first game, which still has my favorite game story and characters of all time.
Part 2 has some amazing moments, but I found it a bit draggy especially on the "second half".
I finished the game last night and I 100% agree with this. I found myself not emotionally invested in the later parts of the game and it felt like a drag at the end and at times I was just rushing through scenes. There were some sections of the game I did not enjoy doing...
...such as most of the sections with Abby, unfortunately. I appreciated the story telling mechanism, playing as the "enemy" and seeing her story, but I found it hard to care about her still. I especially hated having to play as Abby while attacking Ellie in the theater, that felt odd, really wasn't a fan of that.
I absolutely loved the game in the end, though, but I do think the story was a bit jumbled up and with low emotional impact to the player at times, for example...
...just when you think the game has reached a conclusion they tossed in the Santa Barbara section. Felt tacked on and by the time you reach Abby I found it ridiculous that Ellie still decided to beat her up. Not that I expected her to let it go either. By the end of the game I was 30 hours in, maybe I was just drained. But the ending felt a little flat to me.
A difficult game to play, for sure, and not perfect, but it's definitely among the best games I've ever played. I do not believe the game deserved the negative attention it received.
I finished the game last night and I 100% agree with this. I found myself not emotionally invested in the later parts of the game and it felt like a drag at the end and at times I was just rushing through scenes. There were some sections of the game I did not enjoy doing...
...such as most of the sections with Abby, unfortunately. I appreciated the story telling mechanism, playing as the "enemy" and seeing her story, but I found it hard to care about her still. I especially hated having to play as Abby while attacking Ellie in the theater, that felt odd, really wasn't a fan of that.
I absolutely loved the game in the end, though, but I do think the story was a bit jumbled up and with low emotional impact to the player at times, for example...
...just when you think the game has reached a conclusion they tossed in the Santa Barbara section. Felt tacked on and by the time you reach Abby I found it ridiculous that Ellie still decided to beat her up. Not that I expected her to let it go either. By the end of the game I was 30 hours in, maybe I was just drained. But the ending felt a little flat to me.
A difficult game to play, for sure, and not perfect, but it's definitely among the best games I've ever played. I do not believe the game deserved the negative attention it received.
I got to the part with Abby past the warehouse. What is going on here? She gave Manny a boost up the rope, but it wasn't all that high up and she easily grabs on herself. Then she's lifting the soda machine, while Manny's already checking out the other door. Is this from the consulting input they received? Looks roided out.
I'm watching Girlfriend Review's LP and I just finished Day 2.
You kill Owen and that lady and then instantly find out she was pregnant. Kill a bad person and then they try to immediately make you feel bad with retroactive context. It doesn't work that way, Naughty Dog!
One small thought on the whole “Druckmann is Manny and him spitting on Joel is him spitting on what the fans like, etc, I think it’s much less than that. I think it’s just a character who’s close to Abby and knows just what Joel put her through, killing her father (whether or not it was the right decision to save Ellie) and thus he spits on his corpse as if to say, “good riddance”.
I finished it today. I echo some of the thoughts other users posted and some of the reviews covered. It's a good, but flawed sequel. On the one hand, I want to say I can't believe how the reviewers handed out 10/10 ratings like candy, but it's not exactly shocking. Realistically, I don't think they could've topped the first game.
Some of the gameplay was a bit repetitive. You're going through the buildings and scavenging in each one on all floors. We have to escape guys, but hold on I gotta scavenge for parts. Only purpose for the trading cards and coins is probably an achievement/trophy. It was a nice touch when you found the first trading card, but i could've done without for the rest of the game.
On Abby's part, I think it could've waited until after finishing the main story. I appreciate that they didn't put it up as DLC later on, but I don't think it was essential to tell the story. Or they could've cut some parts down. There were a lot of cutscenes, flashbacks and other stuff that could have been shorter. Exploring the aquarium didn't really add much. Plus we already experienced something similar with Joel and Ellie at the museum. Abby's part after the final encounter at the theater could've been done with a short-ish cutscene.
I was kind of hoping the game would finish after the final encounter at the museum, or after getting to the boats Ellie just lets them go. Ellie going after them just seems like her looking for trouble. It seems like she was more angry that Joel didn't let her die, and didn't really care about him killing all the Fireflies. That's what makes the most sense, otherwise there's a bit of a hole there. She was pissed at him, but pursued Abby multiple times until the end.
