Last of Us Part II

[Sheikah]

Exactly what I was waiting for! Have had the game in its wrapper for a few months now, suspected this was coming.

[Goron_3]

Buzzing. Was holding off playing until the update. Will be downloading the moment I finish Yakuza 3.

[Julius]

Completely missed that Digital Foundry put up a video on the PS5 upgrade as it went up just moments after the announcement! 

@Sheikah @Goron_3, hope you enjoy it! 

Though I think the game has its flaws and some very vocal detractors (for some legitimate reasons, and some not so much) it was still one of the standout games of the generation for me. That I played it on the base PS4 last summer and was blown away at how great it looked and ran on that means I'm a little envious of you diving into it for the first time with this patch on PS5! 

 

...inevitably, this means I'll have to replay it at some point 

Edited May 19, 2021 by Julius

[drahkon]

Game is installing, watched a recap of the first game's plot (and may have gotten a little emotional at certain scenes again...) and the 60fps patch is downloading

Managed to avoid spoilers, so I'm basically going in blind. I do have one (in my opinion quite obvious) prediction:

Spoiler

Joel will get infected and he gets killed (or kills himself).
This would kind of disappoint me, 'cause it's painfully obvious and boring...but if it's executed well, I probably won't mind that much.

If he gets killed by bandits or some other group, Ellie will rage and kill people up the ass.
And if Ellie kills him, I will be bored.

Other than that...looking forward to seeing if there's going to be a cliffhanger or if this is the end of The Last of Us. If it's the latter, I really hope they don't go with "we can create a vaccine without killing Ellie, yay, happy ending, god bless us everyone". I hate that

Well...going to watch some German football and the Champions League final and if I'm not too tired, I'll play The Last of Us Part 2 for a bit.

I'm going to cry, aren't I

Edited May 29, 2021 by drahkon

[Julius]

Look forward to reading your thoughts @drahkon! 

I've been half tempted to return to this (and the first game) over the last few weeks, especially as I played it on a base PS4. So far I've staved it off well enough - there are so many other games to play, it's seriously an embarrassment of riches at times - but the release of the 60fps patch for Part II means the game is slowly calling me... 

[drahkon]

3 hours ago, drahkon said:

going to watch some German football

That match was decided pretty early so I went ahead and played The Last of Us Part 2 for 1 1/2 hours.

First of all: It's a drop dead gorgeous game. Naughty Dog are freaking wizards and I can't wait what they do with their first PS5-only game.
Secondly:

3 hours ago, drahkon said:

I'm going to cry, aren't I

Welp...
(be aware, early game spoilers)

Spoiler

That song...

...and her sad expression surely got me close to shedding some tears.

Yeah...it's gonna be one of those experiences

Here's a screenshot for @Hero-of-Time:

Spoiler

I know you love pets

Some more early location/fight spoilers:

Spoiler

It's so beautiful.

And violent.

And brutal.

One more thing: I got reminded of how horrified I am of Clickers

Spoiler

That asshole deviated from his early patrol and scared the shit out me

So far, so good.

Edited May 29, 2021 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

23 minutes ago, drahkon said:

 

Here's a screenshot for @Hero-of-Time:

  Not really a spoiler (Hide contents)

I know you love pets

 

 

 

[drahkon]

Spoiler

Joel
What a scene that was...hit me hard.

My prediction was off by a bit.
Now...if Joel shows up as an infected...not sure what I'd think of it. It would be a little too obvious now and I'd probably not like it.

Anyways, I'm 100% in now.

[drahkon]

6 hours in.

Still can't believe how gorgeous this is. And it's a freaking PS4 game:

Spoiler

Story ramped up a bit. Just what I've come to expect from Naughty Dog: exceptional writing throughout, so far.

Spoiler

That was heartbreaking Dina's look says it all...

Oh yeah, more heartbreak...

But also something cheerful (yet, kinda sad, too):

Combat is tense, keeps me at the edge of my seat and sometimes makes me jumps up. The encounters are just top-notch. Atmosphere is creepy and yes...I can still handle it

Also: While I'm lucky enough to not need the accessibility options, I decided to check them out. It's crazy how much effort the devs put into these. Should become a standard for major releases.

[drahkon]

Didn't have much time to play today, but I did manage to dabble with the photo mode a bit

Spoiler

It's so pretty

And the encounters are brutal.

Watched a scene that made me feel things...

Spoiler

Ellie saying that it sucks the bitten aren't immune...the story of how people suffer, having to kill each other after getting infected, not being able to kill themselves...

...and Joel keeping up the lie.

Made me quite angry towards Joel. Not for keeping Ellie alive, but for denying her the truth.

This game

[drahkon]

Phew...

Spoiler

Ellie is starting to lose it...

That sequence was intense...
And the game didn't stop. Threw me from one emotion right to another:

Ellie realizing what she's done

But it's not over...

As soon as I saw Joel, I knew what was about to happen.

His face when he told her

And her breaking down

Oh well, I did smile once, though

Spoiler

And the madlads actually put in Hotline Miami Including the banger track Hydrogen by MOON.

 

[drahkon]

I guess I'm now halfway through the game.

Spoiler

I thought the game was about to end...

...but then you get to see more of Abby's backstory.

Going to be interesting to see how her story plays out and how the confrontation between her and Ellie will end...

And here's something again for @Hero-of-Time

Good girl

[Hero-of-Time]

[drahkon]

Made some more progress. Still enjoying it, even though it's starting to get quite repetitive. The encounters always play out the same. The stealth-gameplay is really good, though.

Spoiler

That sequence of encounters was really good!

Spoiler

I wonder how much of the game is left.

Edited June 4, 2021 by drahkon

[drahkon]

Oooohhh boy.

Spoiler

That chapter on the island
Pretty much every chapter with Abby  so far was great. A lot more enjoyable than Ellie's part. I also think Abby is a much more interesting character.

Sadly, I have to go to sleep now. Might finish the game in a couple of days, though, depending on how much there's still left to play.

Edited June 5, 2021 by drahkon

[drahkon]

Finished the story.

Great game.

[drahkon]

Yup, great game

[Sheikah]

So I finished this yesterday and share very similar feelings to@Zell.

To be honest, I didn't find the story particularly depressing because the characters were all kind of behaving in an absurd manner and didn't feel very real at all. Like, when Ellie left the farm that was a real eye rolling moment. If she had gone on to die at the end after that I honestly wouldn't have cared. One thing that particularly irks me in this game is that people seem fully capable to act on whatever impulses they want. I mean, it's basically an utterly horrible, apocalypse scenario where one bite (or enemy ambush) would end your life, but none of the characters seem to be aware of this and go off on their revenge plots as though they're nothing. Or at least, that's how it felt to me when playing the game.

I felt the ending was strange and almost had no meaning/moral to end on. It also felt like there was a lot of filler throughout - how many times must I strum a guitar or see a flashback, or wander through non-hostile areas.

I did generally enjoy the attention to detail and the polish, combat (to an extent), and the general production values of the game. Graphically it looked great, especially at 60 FPS. The game was criminally long though, which is unforgivable in my books. Never overstay your welcome. The Abby sections were too long and the game should have ended at the point where you met Ellie as Abby. The way they kept the game going after that was a mistake. They could have easily wrapped the game up there in which both players understand each other because they basically did the same thing as each other - seeking revenge because someone killed what was basically their dad. And it would have worked because they'd have seen how many people got killed along the way for their revenge, and how pointless it was.

Overall I thought the game was decent but not great. The more I actually reflect on the game the less I think of it, so perhaps don't ask me again in a week.

 

[Julius]

Rumoured previously, supported by leaks a few days ago with a PS5 SKU being spotted on the PS Store backend, and now leaked completely: The Last of Us Part II Remastered, arriving 19th January 2024. 

The most interesting parts are probably the Lost Levels (getting to play three new early development versions of levels not included on the 2020 release) and the Roguelike Survival Mode:

Nothing to indicate a PC release as of yet. 

Almost certainly a TGAs announcement I'd imagine, but man, Naughty Dog just haven't been able to catch a break on the leaks front of late, have they? For those keeping count, that's now all four of their PS4 offerings updated and made available as native PS5 releases. 

Wasn't sure how I felt about Part I, but loving the first game as much as I did, I had to bite out of curiosity. I've yet to return to Part II or get its Platinum, so I think that's something I'll be doing first before thinking about picking up the Remastered version. 

Edited January 15 by Julius

[Julius]

And it's officially official: looks like Naughty Dog did the smart thing and reacted by releasing all of the info now that it's out there. 

It has been confirmed that there will be a $10 upgrade path from the existing version of the game, per the PlayStation Blog. 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

Are we ever going to get an original game from them this gen?  Watch as they now port the Jak trilogy to PS5.

 

[Dcubed]

So… it’s a remaster of a remaster?

[Julius]

Feels like a huge missed opportunity to me that they didn't at least make the Roguelike Survival Mode co-op/multiplayer; considering the mess Factions is (was? It seems all but dead), I think it would've been a nice hold over. 

Jordan Middler (VGC) has shared that he heard this was more a project for new hires and isn't the main focus over at ND:

Makes sense to get them on something like this to bring them up to speed with the workflow/expectations/etc., but at the same time, can you imagine getting your dream job at a studio like Naughty Dog after catching wind of their next project...to find yourself working on an updated version of a game released just a couple of years ago, which has already had a little next-gen bump and didn't really need much else besides that? 

8 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Are we ever going to get an original game from them this gen?  Watch as they now port the Jak trilogy to PS5.

I mean, ain't that the question  though they've sized up, at this rate it's looking like we're going to be lucky to get one game from them this gen, and after Part I, the HBO show, Part II Remastered...I'll be shocked if it's not Part III. There's been small murmurs in the background for years now of a new IP, but goodness knows what's going on there. Factions being a total non-starter combined with the constant remasters has just really taken the wind out of my sails when it comes to being excited about whatever comes next. 

I love Naughty Dog, and TLOU especially, but man, imagine how depressing it's potentially been to work over there since Lost Legacy released, besides the Uncharted Legacy of Thieves collection it's been nonstop TLOU.

The other problem this causes is that it puts so much pressure on Druckmann to be the face of ND, deliver consistently, and doesn't really put anyone else in the limelight, which I can see potentially stunting their climb in the future. I would kill for ND to have messed around with some other genres (straight-up psychological horror? Mob? Detective? A fun and light-hearted platformer or puzzle game? A farming sim?! ) and just put out some shorter experiences (like 5 hours tops), but I know it just doesn't work that way in AAA anymore.

It's such a massive shame that they aren't doing anything else, or even really collaborating with other studios under the PlayStation umbrella in any big and noticeable way (still of the firm belief that not making Days Gone a soft tie-in to TLOU is one of the biggest missed opportunities of last gen and would've put to bed the discourse around sales and critical reception it ended up with). 

TLOU has got to be such a heavy game series to work on considering it's graphic nature and story beats, and I genuinely think part of the problem with II came about because they've been living and breathing TLOU for so long at this point. Well, that and Straley not being involved. 

3 hours ago, Dcubed said:

So… it’s a remaster of a remaster?

The crazy part to me is that this just seems to be touting native 4K, and there's not even a mention of ray-tracing or any other new next-gen buzzwords hidden in the small print. 

It's not a competition - so I say this in jest and maybe half-seriously - but Insomniac have walked circles around Naughty Dog this gen in terms of game output and their technical prowess being showcased. They've got to be one of the best acquisitions of this acquisition era we've found ourselves in over the last few years. 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Julius

[Dcubed]

Quote

It's not a competition - so I say this in jest and maybe half-seriously - but Insomniac have walked circles around Naughty Dog this gen in terms of game output and their technical prowess being showcased. They've got to be one of the best acquisitions of this acquisition era we've found ourselves in over the last few years. 

To be fair, Insomniac are roundly trouncing everyone when it comes to productivity, not just ND.

Also most AAA development studios are generally coalescing around single franchises and game types.  From Software have basically stopped making anything that isn’t a reskinned Dark Souls, Santa Monica have more or less only made God of War since 2005, DICE only do Battlefield etc.  So if anything, ND are falling in line with most of the rest of the AAA industry.

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

To be fair, Insomniac are roundly trouncing everyone when it comes to productivity, not just ND.

I think the Yakuza team are up there as well.

Quite a similar situation actually. The Yakuza team are able to reuse environments and assests for a lot of their games and in doing so can have a fast turnaround. Insomniac were also able to do this with the 3 Spider-Man games. 

With games taking longer to make, not to mention becoming more expensive to produce, there is something to be said to using this approach.