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Posted

Finished it last week. 

 

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Posted (edited)
  On 7/25/2020 at 10:53 PM, Mandalore said:

Finished it last week. 

 

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Edited by dwarf
Posted (edited)

@Mandalore, I agree with @dwarf on this one. Unfortunately, while I do think that there are a number of legitimate criticisms to make about this game, the main reasons behind the review bombing come from a place of hatred. 

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Edited by Julius
Posted

I haven't played it myself, I'm not really interested in the game itself; but I love watching Matthew's reviews in general.  So I figured I'd share it here.

Posted

I definitely have to get a PS5, in case they make a third part. I'd also like to see a sequel to Days Gone. These last several PS4 games made me so excited to be a gamer again, after I started to lose interest in survival horror games.

Posted

See I'd be interested in going for the grounded trophy, but I just can't be arsed to go through the slow-paced item collection. Maybe one for when I upgrade to PS5 and have an itch to replay it.

You'll hear from me in a year's time when I nope out after the first proper mission.

  • Like 1
Posted

I kind of like that cumbersome feeling, though. You're not well equipped to begin with, which adds to the dread and realism. As the levels get harder, you acquire better s*** to combat said hard levels. I think in the RE games, you can have your gear carry over into the new game, but in general, it makes some of the otherwise challenging parts become nothing but a simplistic cakewalk...

:)

Posted (edited)
  On 8/12/2020 at 11:01 PM, CrowingJoe79 said:

I kind of like that cumbersome feeling, though. You're not well equipped to begin with, which adds to the dread and realism. As the levels get harder, you acquire better s*** to combat said hard levels. I think in the RE games, you can have your gear carry over into the new game, but in general, it makes some of the otherwise challenging parts become nothing but a simplistic cakewalk...

:)

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Don't get me wrong - it's a good way to build tension. It's just that it makes up too big a proportion of the game, especially on harder difficulties which require you to stock up.

Edited by dwarf
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  • 1 month later...
Posted

I am about 20 hours into this now (and have had it about 6 weeks) and I just don't want to play it anymore. 

The first game I felt was an absolute masterpiece. I loved every single second. 

This game has been boring, repetitive and more challenging to play all round. I don't mean difficulty, although it has had its moments - but there have been countless times I have wandered around not knowing what the same wants me to do next. Or where to go. 

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  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)

If you didn't know, the first game received an update recently, so there's no loading lag anymore.

Hey. You are many years late, Naughty Dog! :idea:

Edited by CrowingJoe79
  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)

I've just completed the game, there's certainly a lot to unpack. Overall I enjoyed it, even if it did make me feel cold and miserable.

My spoiler-free disorganised thoughts.

What I liked:

  • The game is absolutely gorgeous, such a treat for the eyes. I played on PS5 and it looks stunning in HDR. Even at 30fps it is still one of the most visually impressive games I've played
  • The production values and attention to detail really are on another level. During my playthrough I noticed so many neat little touches that other games wouldn't even think about. Cut scenes, voice acting, character animations, direction, visual effects, gore, sound design, fluid controls... it all just adds up to a very immersive experience
  • Beyond the actual plot, they do a great job at world building, such as all the letters scattered about the city
  • I like the improvements to the core stealth-action gameplay. It feels way smoother than the original (I just remember it being kind stiff in places but it was a long time ago) but I love how they made all the "combat arenas" very open. In the first game you felt much more boxed in and the level design was pretty generic. Now you have multiple routes to take and a lot more freedom in how you approach each encounter. You can quietly shank everyone, or set mines everywhere, or bash people's stupid skulls in, or just ruin people with molotovs and a shotty. I would keep things refreshing by trying to change my loadout with each new encounter. Moment to moment gameplay felt satisfying and I never felt like I was fighting the controls
  • Like the first game it does a decent enough job of ramping the action up and down without being too predictable

What they could have done better:

  • The parts between the missions can be a bit of a slog, borderline padding at times. Finding the next bit of the environment to climb starts getting old. If they make a 3rd game they need to think of more creative things to do between the combat bits
  • There's this open world-ish section at the beginning which I thought was interesting but never occurs again in the rest of the game. Just seemed a bit pointless really since it was so half-hearted. I was expecting the game to embrace this idea a bit more, as in between story points you have a navigate through the same open city and explore more places, but it just ended up being the same linear progression after that
  • While the moment to moment stealth-action is done very well, the game just seems to recycle the same few scenarios: fight a bunch of humans, or fight a bunch of zombies. There's not a lot of variety on offer. Some of the levels are well done (like the bit in the skyscraper) but overall the game stops surprising you and starts to run out of steam towards the end
  • The RPG upgrade system seems a bit unnecessary. The problem is related to the previous point: the enemies don't improve that much, nor do the encounters change. It feels as if you as a player get stronger (more weapons and deadly tools) but the enemies don't to a significant degree. While I like the freedom of choice with which weapons I use, you could very easily go through the game without using half of the gear
  • I played on Moderate difficulty, which was probably a tad too easy once I got into the groove of the gameplay. Even so, it did feel that the game was getting easier rather than harder the further I progressed, think they could have done a better job with ramping up the difficulty within the difficulty setting itself. My worry about playing on a higher difficulty was that I'd end up spending way to long foraging to equipment etc and it would drag the pace of the game down (my experience with the first game was that there was too much stuff between the plot events) 
  • Quick time events needs to bugger off. I am so sick of hammering the square button to open a door to prevent a zombie from biting my face. Just a massive pet peeve of mine

I've gotten this far without talking about the story, so here goes...

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So yeah, I'm quite conflicted really. I would still highly recommend it as the things it does well it does better than any other game out there.

Edited by Zell
  • Like 4
Posted
  On 12/22/2020 at 3:46 PM, Zell said:

I've just completed the game, there's certainly a lot to unpack. Overall I enjoyed it, even if it did make me feel cold and miserable.

My spoiler-free disorganised thoughts.

What I liked:

  • The game is absolutely gorgeous, such a treat for the eyes. I played on PS5 and it looks stunning in HDR. Even at 30fps it is still one of the most visually impressive games I've played
  • The production values and attention to detail really are on another level. During my playthrough I noticed so many neat little touches that other games wouldn't even think about. Cut scenes, voice acting, character animations, direction, visual effects, gore, sound design, fluid controls... it all just adds up to a very immersive experience
  • Beyond the actual plot, they do a great job at world building, such as all the letters scattered about the city
  • I like the improvements to the core stealth-action gameplay. It feels way smoother than the original (I just remember it being kind stiff in places but it was a long time ago) but I love how they made all the "combat arenas" very open. In the first game you felt much more boxed in and the level design was pretty generic. Now you have multiple routes to take and a lot more freedom in how you approach each encounter. You can quietly shank everyone, or set mines everywhere, or bash people's stupid skulls in, or just ruin people with molotovs and a shotty. I would keep things refreshing by trying to change my loadout with each new encounter. Moment to moment gameplay felt satisfying and I never felt like I was fighting the controls
  • Like the first game it does a decent enough job of ramping the action up and down without being too predictable

What they could have done better:

  • The parts between the missions can be a bit of a slog, borderline padding at times. Finding the next bit of the environment to climb starts getting old. If they make a 3rd game they need to think of more creative things to do between the combat bits
  • There's this open world-ish section at the beginning which I thought was interesting but never occurs again in the rest of the game. Just seemed a bit pointless really since it was so half-hearted. I was expecting the game to embrace this idea a bit more, as in between story points you have a navigate through the same open city and explore more places, but it just ended up being the same linear progression after that
  • While the moment to moment stealth-action is done very well, the game just seems to recycle the same few scenarios: fight a bunch of humans, or fight a bunch of zombies. There's not a lot of variety on offer. Some of the levels are well done (like the bit in the skyscraper) but overall the game stops surprising you and starts to run out of steam towards the end
  • The RPG upgrade system seems a bit unnecessary. The problem is related to the previous point: the enemies don't improve that much, nor do the encounters change. It feels as if you as a player get stronger (more weapons and deadly tools) but the enemies don't to a significant degree. While I like the freedom of choice with which weapons I use, you could very easily go through the game without using half of the gear
  • I played on Moderate difficulty, which was probably a tad too easy once I got into the groove of the gameplay. Even so, it did feel that the game was getting easier rather than harder the further I progressed, think they could have done a better job with ramping up the difficulty within the difficulty setting itself. My worry about playing on a higher difficulty was that I'd end up spending way to long foraging to equipment etc and it would drag the pace of the game down (my experience with the first game was that there was too much stuff between the plot events) 
  • Quick time events needs to bugger off. I am so sick of hammering the square button to open a door to prevent a zombie from biting my face. Just a massive pet peeve of mine

I've gotten this far without talking about the story, so here goes...

  Reveal hidden contents

So yeah, I'm quite conflicted really. I would still highly recommend it as the things it does well it does better than any other game out there.

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I kinda agree with the point that @Shorty was making off-forum when he said that the criticisms that are levelled at this game in a storytelling sense can only really be made in the first place because the game elevates itself to that level in the first place. 

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Overall, I think there's so much to discuss with this game and the story isn't going to be one that pleases everyone. It's going to make people feel "something", which ultimately I think is fantastic. Art should do that, and imo this game is a masterpiece. I imagine that opinions will change on this and it will become more and more "accepted" as time passes. 

  • Like 1
Posted
  On 12/23/2020 at 12:50 PM, Fierce_LiNk said:

I kinda agree with the point that @Shorty was making off-forum when he said that the criticisms that are levelled at this game in a storytelling sense can only really be made in the first place because the game elevates itself to that level in the first place. 

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Overall, I think there's so much to discuss with this game and the story isn't going to be one that pleases everyone. It's going to make people feel "something", which ultimately I think is fantastic. Art should do that, and imo this game is a masterpiece. I imagine that opinions will change on this and it will become more and more "accepted" as time passes. 

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Yeah, I'm only really criticising it in a way I wouldn't with other games because of what it attempts to achieve and because it is a heavily narrative driven experience. I completed the Resident Evil 2 remake before this and although it is a very good game it has a very silly story and makes The Last of Us 2's story look like There Will Be Blood, but it's a completely unfair comparison.

I'm also being critical because I believe with a stronger narrative this game could have been truly great, but in the end it falls short. But I understand my experience will differ from someone else's. I've seen quite a few reviews/analysis etc now and its remarkable the range of opinions from a lot of reviewers I have respect for, and even for ones I personally disagree with it's very hard for me to say "you're wrong" when ultimately we are discussing the story like we would a novel or TV show. My opinion is that there's some good ideas that were just not executed particularly well.

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Posted

I finally sat down and started playing this properly today. I tried the other week but just couldn't stick with it for whatever reason. 

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I'm not a fan at all of the open world segment that I'm currently trawling through. They done the same thing in Uncharted and I hated it in that as well. It really slows down the story and it can be a hassle traveling around the large area.

  • Like 1
Posted

Well, my Christmas day mostly consisted of sitting playing this. That being the case, the credits have just rolled.

EqH5YBuXEAE-X-1?format=jpg&name=large

 

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I'm still amazed I got to play the game months after release and manage to avoid spoilers. I can now read other people's thoughts on the game without fear of spoiling anything. 

  • Like 3
Posted

It is done.

EqLuBnBXMAc2_tW?format=jpg&name=large

I figured I would play through the game again today while everything was still fresh in my mind. You can make very quick progress if you know where you are going and skip the cutscenes. It's crazy how long the load times are if you do this though. They do a good job of masking this the first time through the game.

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  • Like 2
Posted
  On 12/23/2020 at 3:09 PM, Zell said:

Yeah, I'm only really criticising it in a way I wouldn't with other games because of what it attempts to achieve and because it is a heavily narrative driven experience. I completed the Resident Evil 2 remake before this and although it is a very good game it has a very silly story and makes The Last of Us 2's story look like There Will Be Blood, but it's a completely unfair comparison.

I'm also being critical because I believe with a stronger narrative this game could have been truly great, but in the end it falls short. But I understand my experience will differ from someone else's. I've seen quite a few reviews/analysis etc now and its remarkable the range of opinions from a lot of reviewers I have respect for, and even for ones I personally disagree with it's very hard for me to say "you're wrong" when ultimately we are discussing the story like we would a novel or TV show. My opinion is that there's some good ideas that were just not executed particularly well.

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On a random note, I can't stand There Will Be Blood! I think I tried to watch it twice and I just didn't take to it. A bit odd for me to have such a strong negative reaction to films because I'd like to think that I will accept films for what they are, but I didn't enjoy it either time.

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  • Like 1
Posted
  On 12/26/2020 at 12:30 AM, Hero-of-Time said:

Well, my Christmas day mostly consisted of sitting playing this. That being the case, the credits have just rolled.

EqH5YBuXEAE-X-1?format=jpg&name=large

 

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I'm still amazed I got to play the game months after release and manage to avoid spoilers. I can now read other people's thoughts on the game without fear of spoiling anything. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Finished over the weekend, might have taken me 6 months.  But, that's my habit.  Start playing games, put them down and come back months later

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  • 4 months later...
Posted (edited)

!

PS5 free upgrade lands TODAY

  Quote

Download the free* PS5 Enhanced Performance Patch today. 

Once patch 1.08 for The Last of Us Part II is installed on your PS5, you will find a toggle in the Display options that allows you to choose between a Framerate Target of 30 FPS or 60 FPS. This allows you to choose your preferred framerate to complement the rest of the enhancements that are part of the PS5 backward compatibility with PS4 games, such as enhanced resolution, faster load times, and more. 

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Days of Play sales tie-in I guess, which is pretty cool? Because otherwise at this point you could have also saved it until the next State of Play, or the anniversary of release next month. 

Edited by Julius
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