[SPOILERS] The Last of Us 2 open discussion [/SPOILERS]

[Daozang]

THIS THREAD IS FOR DISCUSSING 'THE LAST OF US 2' WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT SPOILER TAGS, FOR THOSE YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE GAME OR DON'T CARE TO PLAY IT. READING THIS THREAD WILL SUBJECT YOU TO 'THE LAST OF US 2' SPOILERS.

IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE ANY SPOILERS, BACK AWAY NOW.


...


OK, I'm 18 hours in, and I think I just reached the middle...
A bit after Ellie killed one of the wolves in the hospital.
I really like it so far, so no complaints, but from the looks of it, it's either a very long game, or I must stop sightseeing and just play.

 

[Strange]

So for those who finished the game can we say that: TLOU1 was saved by its great story and TLOU2 was saved by its great gameplay ?

Still haven't played the game, I am cautiously reading this thread, and immediatly stop reading when I suspect a spoiler-ish post. I think there are a few of them.

No, TLOS2 had a story that attempted to make an emotional impact. People that felt it and acknowledged what they tried to do gave it high praise. People that didn't felt disgusted.
Gameplay was near perfection.

I just finished a second run-through on survivor+ mode. I was swimming in resources because I knew what to do to save on resources.
Pretty much blasted through Rat king because I had full flamethrower + shotgun ammo and coupled with a few hunting pistol shots and ~12 pipe bombs it went down really fast.

 

[Strange]

OK, I'm 18 hours in, and I think I just reached the middle...
A bit after Ellie killed one of the wolves in the hospital.
I really like it so far, so no complaints, but from the looks of it, it's either a very long game, or I must stop sightseeing and just play.

That's about 40% of the game.

 

[Clukos]

I think I might be close to the end and

I'm not really liking the second part of this game, pacing is all over the place. The lack of a distinct music theme in the second part also makes it feel more hollow. I get what they were trying to do but I think it works against the game if I'm honest.

For the first half I was going through the game playing for hours on end and I was enjoying it a lot, but now I kinda want it to end.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I'm not really liking the second part of this game, pacing is all over the place. The lack of a distinct music theme in the second part also makes it feel more hollow. I get what they were trying to do but I think it works against the game if I'm honest.

For the first half I was going through the game playing for hours on end and I was enjoying it a lot, but now I kinda want it to end.

Spoiler but I'll er on the side of caution and not spoil anything that you've obviously not experienced.

What I liked abut the second half of the game was getting a new perspective on surviving the post-mushroom apocalypse and learning about Abby. This is a new group that have found a way to survive with different challenges. I didn't notice any change in the sound design though, and the pacing for the whole game is hit or miss and I'm afraid to say it doesn't change much going forward. That said, I found Abby's story and her gameplay, much more interesting and challenging than Ellies'.

 

[Clukos]

Spoiler but I'll er on the side of caution and not spoil anything that you've obviously not experienced.

What I liked abut the second half of the game was getting a new perspective on surviving the post-mushroom apocalypse and learning about Abby. This is a new group that have found a way to survive with different challenges. I didn't notice any change in the sound design though, and the pacing for the whole game is hit or miss and I'm afraid to say it doesn't change much going forward. That said, I found Abby's story and her gameplay, much more interesting and challenging than Ellies'.

Don't get me wrong, I like the gameplay still and I think the second half has some really nice moments. I just didn't buy that Abby went from hunting and torturing Joel to saving kids in the span of a few days, which Mel kinda brings up by calling her a pos.

I think ND tried too hard to make Abby likable, to the point where her story kinda feels artificial to me. It's so obvious what they're doing it pulls me out of the story if that makes sense.

Ultimately, I think Abby's story should've been a separate playthrough, it just killed any momentum the game had for me.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Don't get me wrong, I like the gameplay still and I think the second half has some really nice moments. I just didn't buy that Abby went from hunting and torturing Joel to saving kids in the span of a few days, which Mel kinda brings up by calling her a pos.

I think ND tried too hard to make Abby likable, to the point where her story kinda feels artificial to me. It's so obvious what they're doing it pulls me out of the story if that makes sense.

Ultimately, I think Abby's story should've been a separate playthrough, it just killed any momentum the game had for me.

I think by you get the end you'll probably question the motivations of both playable characters and some other characters as well. None of them are good guys in any sense at all and I never felt the game was attempting to make Abby nor Ellie likeable characters. Indeed I Ellie was incredibly easy to dislike and Abby only slightly less so.

If you watch the Neil Druckmann / Ashley Johnson / Troy Baker spoiler cast with Greg Miller (linked above) I think you'll come away with a different view of what they were trying to do. Almost everything reviewers have claimed abut the game trying-to-do-this or trying-to-make-people-feel-that is wrong. As Neil Druckmann said in regard to one suggestion "if you felt that you're a fucking psychopath".

But like the ending to the first game, this sequel has resulted in a lot of interesting discussion.

 

[Clukos]

Ok I finished the game
I liked the second half of the second half a lot more than I thought I would've

I still like the first one more because I liked the story better though.

A lot of the new characters were hit or miss for me, but I didn't want Ellie to kill Abby in the end. Which I guess was the entire point of this game, to do that switcheroo on your emotions.

 

[iroboto]

Just finished the game and it's a masterpiece if you like story driven survival horror( lite on the horror but it has its moments) game.

Played on survivor difficult which means resources was tight especially in the beginning and meant a more conservative approach was necessary in the combat and really built the tension in certain sections( some high tension sections that I really enjoyed actually reminded me of when I played Silent Hill 1 and 2 )
Graphics and the animations are fantastic.
I don't mind long games in fact I enjoy them when I know it will be another 3-5 years before I get to experience that world again ( I'm not big on replaying,rewatching or rereading any media)



I want to answer this question but don't know how to use the spoiler tags?

Should just be
[ spoiler ] I think and the respective closing tag. You’ll need remove the spaces

Spoiler

yup

 

[Xbat]

Spoiler

this is a test

 

[milk]

Ok I finished the game
I liked the second half of the second half a lot more than I thought I would've

I still like the first one more because I liked the story better though.

A lot of the new characters were hit or miss for me, but I didn't want Ellie to kill Abby in the end. Which I guess was the entire point of this game, to do that switcheroo on your emotions.

Honest questions here

What were your thoughts on Abby when sje first shows up?
How did you feel about Joels execution?
How did you feel about Ellie and Joel's brother initial revenge quest at first?
How did you feel as Ellie kept on pushing through with it despite the raised stakes? (the pregnancy, the colateral damage, Ellies psycho mode at the hospital, etc)
How did you feel about Abby's jorney?
Did the motivations of the character feel plausible? Did they feel in-character?
Did you find the plot resundant? did you find it excessive?

I ask thia without judgement. I just felt the game was a little bothersome through thw beginning, and borderline disgustingly cynical by the end, to a point I can't picture how other people felt any different. I just want to see what are other people's take out of legit curiosity. No pitchforks.

EDIT: if anybody else wants to jump in on those questiona too, I'd love to get your take too.

 

[Xbat]

Regarding Dsoups question ok answering Dsoups question I was always team Ellie and didn't enjoy having to play with Abbie but that last confrontation got me a bit with how brutal it was ( don't know how any of them survived that) and the dogs the fucking dogs were animated so well and so realistic but I was playing on survival so some dogs had to bite it( pun intended) and when playing with Abbie and seeing how the dogs really behaved like dogs was tough( I love dogs )

 

[Xbat]

Part two answer to Dsoups question

I really didn't enjoy having to play with Abbie the person who all my hate was directed against for killing Joel and it was only right at the end when Ellie and Abby fight after Ellie cuts her down from the "pillars" that I was like Ellie you going to far and I was pleased that she let her go. In the first fight where you play with Abbie against Ellie I died the first time on purpose just because I didn't want to attack Ellie. Obviously my affection for Ellie's character is because of the first game. So

Just to add I love story telling that doesn't sugar coat things just to suit the audience ( when it happens in books or movies it grates me terribly I call it going Walt Disney )

It's the main reason I love grim dark fantasy, it's got all the things I love about fantasy without the Walt Disney bullshit. Where there's no real good or bad guys it's all just a matter of perspective to a degree. Obviously some characters are just assholes though but it's not as black and white as most would like it to be.

Answering one of Milks questions actually it's probably not an answer but a perspective, maybe? You got to remember these characters aren't you and me they have been brought up in real trying horrible conditions especially the younger characters it would be foolish to think the things Ellie and others had to go through especially when so young wouldn't effect them and shape who they become.

 

[Clukos]

Honest questions here

What were your thoughts on Abby when sje first shows up?

As in controlling her midway? I thought that was a terrible idea for the game to do. The first time she shows up I didn't know much about her to care really, I kinda knew she would kill Joel and she'd be firefly/ex-firefly.

How did you feel about Joels execution?

I saw it coming a mile away, even from the teaser thing they did a few years back. I expected it, given that it is a revenge story. That said, I still didn't like the overall direction of the story, it was too obvious a thing to do.

How did you feel about Ellie and Joel's brother initial revenge quest at first?

It seemed a bit hopeless but at this point I understood why she had to do it and was on-board with getting revenge for his death.

How did you feel as Ellie kept on pushing through with it despite the raised stakes? (the pregnancy, the colateral damage, Ellies psycho mode at the hospital, etc)

I felt like Ellie was doing a lot of damage to herself/character, but I still wanted to get some finality to her journey, it was too late to just drop all of it in this case. By the end I didn't want her to kill Abby because of what it would do to her, I wanted her to keep some semblance of humanity after this journey and not lose absolutely everything.

How did you feel about Abby's jorney?

Indifferent. This wasn't her game really

Although I liked the environments I got to explore whilst controlling Abby.

Did the motivations of the character feel plausible? Did they feel in-character?

All of it felt forced to me when it comes to Abby. I liked the kids in her story arch the most, and getting to explore some nice enviroments with cool lore.

Did you find the plot resundant? did you find it excessive?.

I felt it lacked focus. In the end I didn't really care about any of the new characters (except the Seraphite kids, those were cool) I only cared because Ellie cared.

Despite all this, I still enjoyed my time with the game, I think the gameplay is probably the best part, it's a shame we don't have MP to actually use all of the mechanics.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I'd like to respond a lot spoiler stuff here but there is so much and formatting quoting/spoiler tagged text is a huge pain in the arse.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'd like to respond a lot spoiler stuff here but there is so much and formatting quoting/spoiler tagged text is a huge pain in the arse.

Yep. I've been thinking this and future games require a Spoiled discussion branch. So let's give it a go here. If it's a good idea, next time a story warrants discussion we'll have an early Spoiled thread for that.

 

[Clukos]

Since this is a spoiler thread, this is my favorite scene in the game by far

That was really surprising and well done

 

[orangpelupa]

Since this is a spoiler thread, this is my favorite scene in the game by far

That was really surprising and well done

Me too! And not just only that scene but the whole level for that scene.

Heck, if you also close your eyes, it's still a really good scene. The audio design is phenomenal. Try it if you haven't

 

[Daozang]

I haven't read a single thing in this thread, because obviously, my post in the main thread for the Last of Us, states the fact I am not even close to finishing the game.
So...,
Why did you guys move my post to make a new spoiler discussion thread about the game exactly?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Honest questions here

What were your thoughts on Abby when sje first shows up?
How did you feel about Joels execution?
How did you feel about Ellie and Joel's brother initial revenge quest at first?
How did you feel as Ellie kept on pushing through with it despite the raised stakes? (the pregnancy, the colateral damage, Ellies psycho mode at the hospital, etc)
How did you feel about Abby's jorney?
Did the motivations of the character feel plausible? Did they feel in-character?
Did you find the plot resundant? did you find it excessive?

I loved when Abby first shows up. Specifically I like that nothing is explained; she wakes up in a lodge and approaches Owen and he leads her outside and all you get is that they clearly have a history but you're getting only snippets. There is no exposition regarding who they there, where they are or why they are there. My assumption was Abby would be this game's Sarah; i.e she had some relationship to Ellie, Joel or Tommy which would be explained later but that she would die and it would be her death that initiated the revenge story. So, so wrong!

Killing Joel? For a while I was convinced Joel was not dead, that he survived but that rumours of death has been allowed to propagate to deter a second attempt. So it took me a while to come to terms wit that not being the case.

I think the revenge quest made sense at first - especially for Tommy. But Jackson to Seattle is approx 900 miles and that's a lot of time for Ellie to reflect and there was more opportunity to reflect once Ellie discovers Dina is pregnant and they find Jesse. I'm not really not sure what is driving Ellie at this point - you by then that Ellie and Joel had a falling out. It could be it's part regret on Ellie's part that Joel died before they could reconcile? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I felt Ellie's second journey to Santa Barbara (1,000 miles!) made more sense because because as she explains to Dina, although she has tried to get past Joel's death things, she can't. She has severe PTSD and she feels the only way to beat that is a kill Abby.

Both protagonist's arcs left me scratching my head at times. I didn't understand why Abby felt so responsible for Yara and Lev. Sure, they saved her but she saved them plenty too. Again.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I really didn't enjoy having to play with Abbie the person who all my hate was directed against for killing Joel and it was only right at the end when Ellie and Abby fight after Ellie cuts her down from the "pillars" that I was like Ellie you going to far and I was pleased that she let her go. In the first fight where you play with Abbie against Ellie I died the first time on purpose just because I didn't want to attack Ellie. Obviously my affection for Ellie's character is because of the first game.

By the time I started replaying at Abby half-way through, my blood-rage had long since dissipated so I was keen to learn more about this new character and her life and this was way more interesting for me. I liked that we got to see the WLF stadium and see how this community live and how they're surviving. Plus of course you now understand Abby's motivation, the moment I hit that scene where Abby finds her dad dead at Joel's hands, I had a complete re-evaluation of the situation. Abby did what Joel did.

For me Dina was an odd character. She's in the game a lot but I never really felt she was fleshed out. She never seems to have strong opinions on things, she's just always in the background ready to go along with whatever her companion is saying. I didn't understand what Ellie saw in her because her character seemed to lack distinctiveness unlike Riley in Left Behind, or just about any other character. I felt I had a better grip on Jessie, Owen, Mannie and Mel!

But the best lines of the gam for me remains:

Ellie mock answering a phone: "Hello?. No, all the dinosaurs are busy."
Walking in, Joel: "What're you doing?"
Ellie into the phone: "Oh no, wait.."
Ellie handing the phone to Joel, "hey, it's for you."​