The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

[peter42O]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

What does everyone think about the role the infected/clickers play in the game compared to the 1st one ?

I don't think is considered a spoiler question

They're still good but no longer a focal point. They're in the background and there's very few instances where the Infected and Enemy Factions interact with each other. Kind of disappointing. The encounters with the Infected are still all very well done. Just not the focal point anymore. First game was more about the Infected where as the sequel is more about the human Factions.

[YuNgWuN]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

What does everyone think about the role the infected/clickers play in the game compared to the 1st one ?

I don't think is considered a spoiler question

I think they have a very good balance between all imo. Factions and infected that is.

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[kingkilla56]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

I generally dont like ND as a studio. I find their gameplay loops to be wildly boring and almost identical in all their games this side of Jak and Daxter. I see them as a movie studio masquerading as a game studio with AMAZING environmental design teams and casting team. But I spent last week playing through the game with my friend online.

Once you get halfway through the game, you can see ND behind the curtain pulling the levers to get a certain reaction out of the audience. And unless youre willing to reconcile with that, its hard to look past it.

This game feels like ND took a personal challenge to shock the hell out of the audience and anger them early, and through the narrative, pull the audience back in and make the audience reverse course. Its like they just want to see how skilled they were at playing the audience like a fiddle. And for many it worked, for many it didnt. I personally couldnt reconcile with the shocking action of the game at the start. There was just no redemption from that for me personally, and all the lever pulling and box checking that was the second half did not work for me. I saw through it all instead of being immersed in it.

All that said, it is a good video game. You can do much much worse than this. 8/10. Lost two points for bleh story structure and gameplay stuck in 2013.

[Junior Moe]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

What does everyone think about the role the infected/clickers play in the game compared to the 1st one ?

I don't think is considered a spoiler question

This was easily the most disappointing aspect of the game for me. I wanted to see a lot more mutations and generally dangerous infected. Clickers felt almost neutered. For me it felt like the infected were an afterthought unless the story called for it.

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[ForeverVersatile]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

Just finished up and I think the game was great. It made you feel all sorts of emotions like, happy, sad, angry and empathetic. Gave you some adrenaline rushes here and there and a few jumpy moments; It also was fun. That's a good game in my book.

I hope we get some dlc with Lev and Abby.

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[ForeverVersatile]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

Are there any unlockables for finding all the coins and cards or do the points you unlock the character models with come form collecting the coins and cards?

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[georgiafan]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

The lack of clickers I thought was disappointing as well which I didn't think I would say going into the game. Even with the zombie type things being over done I thought it made it unique. I also think it made the world feel desperate and empty instead of everyone having power and entertainment.

They have said no DLC coming for this game

No the collectables are just for trophies

[ForeverVersatile]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

The lack of clickers I thought was disappointing as well which I didn't think I would say going into the game. Even with the zombie type things being over done I thought it made it unique. I also think it made the world feel desperate and empty instead of everyone having power and entertainment.

They have said no DLC coming for this game

No the collectables are just for trophies

Nah there was plenty of clickers. Too many more and the game could've been a crawl. I think there was a good mix of newly inffected and higher stages.

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[JazzMan]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

This is exactly how I felt once I beat the game early this morning.

Holy ****, what a ride. 10/10. Never had a game make me feel emotions the way this one did. So much weight to the story

[JazzMan]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

Spoiler

STORY and CHARACTERS - 5.0/10 (average)
The revenge also never happens after the Joel segment. It's all about Abby and Ellie. As Abby, you let Ellie and Dina live while at the end as Ellie, you let Abby and Lev live. So what the hell was the point? If you're going to let
them live, there's no point in going after them in the first place. Too many false endings. Game seems to drag on way too long. You feel like it's going to end and it just doesn't.

DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE NOT FINISHED WITH THE GAME

Spoiler

The point of the revenge story was that if Ellie kills Abby in the end due to Abby killing Joel, it just starts another vicious cycle of violence and vengeance. Who's to say Lev wouldn't have hunted Ellie down? But notice during the Final Fight that Ellie, as she's drowning Abby in the shallow water, has another stint of PTSD, as the last moment she spends with Joel flashes before her eyes, causing her to stop. She realizes that even if she does get her revenge, and kills Abby, she's still going to be haunted by Joel's death as well as the things that Joel did to keep Ellie alive. Killing Abby isn't going to change the fact that Joel is dead.

She has a certain human characteristic called EMPATHY, something that this game is seeking to teach to others. Abby's story, it was the player learning to sympathize for her, and understand why she killed Joel the way she did. Joel's death haunts Abby, she can't sleep, she still has literal dreams about her father, which is what she was trying to to put to bed by killing Joel. She's still messed up. Her getting revenge didn't fix anything for her. She got almost nothing out of it. (And that's what would have happened to Ellie had she finished Abby. She would have gone back to Jackson, still feeling empty and unfulfilled despite getting revenge. And she'd likely have nightmares about Joel every night like Abby still does with her father, despite Abby getting revenge.) And in the end, all that killing Joel did for Abby was get all of her friends and the man she loved killed in retaliation. The story is literally telling you "Getting revenge did nothing but ruin this person's life."

Then when you play the Santa Barbara chapter, it's Ellie that is learning to sympathize for Abby. She sees her tied up on a pillar/crucifix, having been visibly tortured, malnourished, possibly raped (the Rattlers gave off a rapey vibe for sure...), she initially realizes, "I can't kill her now... not when she's like this." She lets Abby off the pillar, they aren't hostile toward each other, and Abby gets Lev down. At this point Ellie DEFINITELY sees the parallels between Joel and Ellie in TLOU1 and Abby and Lev in TLOU2. So she shows empathy until her PTSD from Joel's death kicks in, causing her to assault Abby and try and finish her off.

The ending isn't about revenge, or forgiveness, it's about Ellie's realization that nothing will bring Joel back. Nothing will fix her last conversation with Joel where they had an argument. Nothing will fix her not 100% forgiving Joel before he was murdered for what he did in the hospital in Salt Lake City. And nothing will fix that when Joel was murdered, he and Ellie just simply weren't on good terms. I think that is what is tearing Ellie apart more than anything; that she couldn't reconcile with Joel properly before he died.

Hell, by the end of the game, I didn't even want to fight Abby. Before the fight, I almost just wanted Ellie to get on her boat, and drive away as Abby and Lev go in the opposite direction. No words, no fight, nothing. Just a mutual understanding between the two that it was done. That's how attached I grew to Abby, I thought she was badass and her character arc was very similar to Joel's - start as a hardass, no bull**** character with a cold heart, and then becomes a parent/older sister figure to a 14 year old kid. So when I saw Abby (and Lev) looking like that on the Pillars, my jaw dropped. I didn't want to fight her, and I doubt Ellie even wanted to at that point until the PTSD kicked in.

The ending is beyond horrible. Again, the ending sees Abby live and leave with Lev while Ellie loses half of two fingers, Dina and Dina's son. She basically loses what should be most important to her but isn't. I did not like fighting Ellie as Abby because I don't want to play as Abby or fight/kill Ellie. The ending fight in the water was cool but the actual ending, not so much.

During the Farmhouse chapter after Seattle, Ellie finds a note on the table from Jesse's parents, saying, "There will always be a place here in Jackson for you, Ellie, and JJ." She likely is going to be living with Jesse's parents along with Dina and JJ.

Also, look more closely in the Santa Barbara chapter. When Ellie gets to Santa Barbara, she doesn't have Dina's bracelet on that she had when she was in Seattle. It wasn't in her backpack if you check it, either. Dina still has it. When Ellie returns from Santa Barbara, and is at the farmhouse, she's wearing Dina's bracelet again, and she also doesn't have any of her survival gear or weapons on her, which likely means that this isn't her immediate return from Santa Barbara. She most likely already had returned to Jackson, reconciled with Dina (hence the bracelet) and went to the farmhouse to find her old room and guitar. Notice how Ellie doesn't look for Dina or wonder where she went off to, or why the house was abandoned. I think if Dina was done with Ellie, she would have at least left a note for when Ellie gets back. With no note being there, as well as all these other things, I strongly think that this isn't IMMEDIATELY when Ellie gets back from Santa Barbara. Then when she plays the guitar (poorly), she decides to leave it behind to finally put Joel's memory to rest.

So I believe Ellie returned home to Jackson, reconciled with Dina, and lives with her, JJ, and Jesse's parents. She didn't lose everything, she just lost Joel and the main link between them: the guitar.

I absolutely love this ending. It's so much better than just the typical video game revenge storyline where you kill the antagonist at the end, and everything is awesome and everyone's happy. Ellie isn't a good guy. Just like Joel wasn't a good guy. The difference between them, was that Ellie realized this and stopped, showing empathy toward Abby and letting her and Lev go on their way. It's an internal struggle that I have never seen before in a video game character, hell hardly any movies have tried touching on something like this. I think it's brilliant, and I'm just about to start my New Game + playthrough and see if I can't pick up on some more small details in the story.

[JazzMan]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

With all that being said...

Bring on some Factions Multiplayer please Naughty Dog! I'd pay money for it. Imagine it with the gameplay of TLOU2, oh my god

[Brandwin]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

With all that being said...

Bring on some Factions Multiplayer please Naughty Dog! I'd pay money for it. Imagine it with the gameplay of TLOU2, oh my god

That’s coming no? Or at least some ND multiplayer. I’m assuming it’s Factions.

[JazzMan]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

That’s coming no? Or at least some ND multiplayer. I’m assuming it’s Factions.

I'll be geeking if it is Factions. I played some Factions about a week before Part 2 launched, it still holds up today.

They could honestly go the Apex/Fortnite/Warzone approach (but please have standard 4v4 multiplayer in, a BR would be cool though) and make it free-to-play, but they could easily charge for skins and gear like they did in the first game. It blows up, they'd have a solid money-maker from kids who like to buy skins and **** lol. I just hope they don't do DLC paid-for weapons again if they do bring back Factions

[Jr.]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE NOT FINISHED WITH THE GAME

Spoiler

The point of the revenge story was that if Ellie kills Abby in the end due to Abby killing Joel, it just starts another vicious cycle of violence and vengeance. Who's to say Lev wouldn't have hunted Ellie down? But notice during the Final Fight that Ellie, as she's drowning Abby in the shallow water, has another stint of PTSD, as the last moment she spends with Joel flashes before her eyes, causing her to stop. She realizes that even if she does get her revenge, and kills Abby, she's still going to be haunted by Joel's death as well as the things that Joel did to keep Ellie alive. Killing Abby isn't going to change the fact that Joel is dead.

She has a certain human characteristic called EMPATHY, something that this game is seeking to teach to others. Abby's story, it was the player learning to sympathize for her, and understand why she killed Joel the way she did. Joel's death haunts Abby, she can't sleep, she still has literal dreams about her father, which is what she was trying to to put to bed by killing Joel. She's still messed up. Her getting revenge didn't fix anything for her. She got almost nothing out of it. (And that's what would have happened to Ellie had she finished Abby. Should would have gone back to Jackson, still feeling empty and unfulfilled despite getting revenge. And she'd likely have nightmares about Joel every night like Abby still does with her father, despite Abby getting revenge.) And in the end, all that killing Joel did for Abby was get all of her friends and the man she loved killed in retaliation. The story is literally telling you "Getting revenge did nothing but ruin this person's life."

Then when you play the Santa Barbara chapter, it's Ellie that is learning to sympathize for Abby. She sees her tied up on a pillar/crucifix, having been visibly tortured, malnourished, possibly raped (the Rattlers gave off a rapey vibe for sure...), she initially realizes, "I can't kill her now... not when she's like this." She lets Abby off the pillar, they aren't hostile toward each other, and Abby gets Lev down. At this point Ellie DEFINITELY sees the parallels between Joel and Ellie in TLOU1 and Abby and Lev in TLOU2. So she shows empathy until her PTSD from Joel's death kicks in, causing her to assault Abby and try and finish her off.

The ending isn't about revenge, or forgiveness, it's about Ellie's realization that nothing will bring Joel back. Nothing will fix her last conversation with Joel where they had an argument. Nothing will fix her not 100% forgiving Joel before he was murdered for what he did in the hospital in Salt Lake City. And nothing will fix that when Joel was murdered, he and Ellie just simply weren't on good terms. I think that is what is tearing Ellie apart more than anything; that she couldn't reconcile with Joel properly before he died.

Hell, by the end of the game, I didn't even want to fight Abby. Before the fight, I almost just wanted Ellie to get on her boat, and drive away as Abby and Lev go in the opposite direction. No words, no fight, nothing. Just a mutual understanding between the two that it was done. That's how attached I grew to Abby, I thought she was badass and her character arc was very similar to Joel's - start as a hardass, no bull**** character with a cold heart, and then becomes a parent/older sister figure to a 14 year old kid. So when I saw Abby (and Lev) looking like that on the Pillars, my jaw dropped. I didn't want to fight her, and I doubt Ellie even wanted to at that point until the PTSD kicked in.



During the Farmhouse chapter after Seattle, Ellie finds a note on the table from Jesse's parents, saying, "There will always be a place here in Jackson for you, Ellie, and JJ." She likely is going to be living with Jesse's parents along with Dina and JJ.

Also, look more closely in the Santa Barbara chapter. When Ellie gets to Santa Barbara, she doesn't have Dina's bracelet on that she had when she was in Seattle. It wasn't in her backpack if you check it, either. Dina still has it. When Ellie returns from Santa Barbara, and is at the farmhouse, she's wearing Dina's bracelet again, and she also doesn't have any of her survival gear or weapons on her, which likely means that this isn't her immediate return from Santa Barbara. She most likely already had returned to Jackson, reconciled with Dina (hence the bracelet) and went to the farmhouse to find her old room and guitar. Notice how Ellie doesn't look for Dina or wonder where she went off to, or why the house was abandoned. I think if Dina was done with Ellie, she would have at least left a note for when Ellie gets back. With no note being there, as well as all these other things, I strongly think that this isn't IMMEDIATELY when Ellie gets back from Santa Barbara. Then when she plays the guitar (poorly), she decides to leave it behind to finally put Joel's memory to rest.

So I believe Ellie returned home to Jackson, reconciled with Dina, and lives with her, JJ, and Jesse's parents. She didn't lose everything, she just lost Joel and the main link between them: the guitar.

I absolutely love this ending. It's so much better than just the typical video game revenge storyline where you kill the antagonist at the end, and everything is awesome and everyone's happy. Ellie isn't a good guy. Just like Joel wasn't a good guy. The difference between them, was that Ellie realized this and stopped, showing empathy toward Abby and letting her and Lev go on their way. It's an internal struggle that I have never seen before in a video game character, hell hardly any movies have tried touching on something like this. I think it's brilliant, and I'm just about to start my New Game + playthrough and see if I can't pick up on some more small details in the story.

Outstanding write up. I had the same thoughts about everything up to the last scene. You saw some details I didn't notice at all and definitely make sense now that I think about it more.

[Blzer]

Re: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)

16 hours played so far.

Dude...

Spoiler

Stalkers...

Spoiler