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LTTP: Alan Wake 2's story sucks. Best Narrative?? (ENDING SPOILERS)

Freeman76

Member
Most overated game in recent memory, what a boring ass game. Felt like it was written by teenagers, I mean "the dark place" you really telling me that was all they could come up with? Story made no sense either, was just stupid and confusing just for the sake of it. Went right over my head that one
 

thuGG_pl

Member
I made it ot a few hours of the game, but nothing really was impressing me beside the graphics. The whole story, the board and all was a bore fest. I plan to pick it up eventually to see if it gets better but I don't have too much hope that it gets any better.
 

Fake

Member
I getting the same deja vu, similar with games like Deathloop and Returnal.

Alan Wake 2, Deathloop and Returnal both got highly praised by reviewers, but players particulary don't like that much. And we got players, the feel that like the game, using metascore as some sort of parameter to avoid criticism.

I think devs need to be warned about making games to please reviewers and more for the players related.
 

Mr Moose

Member
Played about 20 minutes of it, but didn't know what the fuck was going on so played 5 chapters of the first game. I should finish that one today... Maybe. Still don't know what the fuck is going on.
 
Most overated game in recent memory, what a boring ass game. Felt like it was written by teenagers, I mean "the dark place" you really telling me that was all they could come up with? Story made no sense either, was just stupid and confusing just for the sake of it. Went right over my head that one
maybe not. i'm thinking that there're things that don't really so much go over my head as under my head. that is, it's not so much that they're just too much for me to grasp as that there's really, after all the sound & fury, actually little if anything to grasp. & i'm thinking alan wake 2 is more along those lines...
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Played about 20 minutes of it, but didn't know what the fuck was going on so played 5 chapters of the first game. I should finish that one today... Maybe. Still don't know what the fuck is going on.
you are still early on in the game. both saga and alan have 10 chapters each. and they go on forever towards the end.

took me 24 hours to beat the game. though i did do a lot of exploration.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I getting the same deja vu, similar with games like Deathloop and Returnal.

Alan Wake 2, Deathloop and Returnal both got highly praised by reviewers, but players particulary don't like that much. And we got players, the feel that like the game, using metascore as some sort of parameter to avoid criticism.

I think devs need to be warned about making games to please reviewers and more for the players related.
At least those games had great combat. AW2 has nothing going for it other than graphics. I came around on returnal almost a year after i first played it because the combat was exceptional even the story sucked ass.
 

Fake

Member
At least those games had great combat. AW2 has nothing going for it other than graphics. I came around on returnal almost a year after i first played it because the combat was exceptional even the story sucked ass.

I mean, they pretty much have the basics. Nothing especially unique.

I saw some folks saying Suicide Squad have a 'great combat', but after watch countless of footage I can confirm this is much similar to Fortnite combat.

Like or not doesn't mean the combat is unique or special. For example, I find the combat of Witcher 3 really terrible, but everything else in Witcher 3 is top tier.

When other aspects of the game have a strong bases, they can carry the others aspects that aren't. We can't much find a better comparison than Returnal and Deathloop.

Deathloop is IMO the most fascinating. The game is fucking terrible, since the day the game got high reviewers I've been trying to find out in what universe that game could be exceptional and the sales was abysmal.
In short, Deathloop got higher review scores, got a nomination for best game of the year and sales was pretty bad. Ring a bell?

My rules for review a game are fucking simple: having fun is subjective. Is someone using the card 'I having fun' to defend a game, thats pretty much a confirmation of defense force or bias.
 
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The biggest problem I had with story is that after 30 hours it literally moves NOWHERE.

I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that Remedy finally got another shot at the series after so many years and didn’t think it would be a good idea to give the story any progress whatsoever. If they ever make part 3 you already know part 2 can be cut and it would not make any difference.
? The story went plenty of places. Both characters went on an interesting journey and you might not like where it ended up, but you could say the same thing about stories like Inception or The Godfather.

“Why even watch those movies, it didn’t go anywhere at the end”.

Because it’s about the journey, not the outcome.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
The acid test for whether you'll like this game's story or not, is whether you dig surreal and off kilter fiction like Twin Peaks.

Definitely a game you need to approach with the right frame of mind, or you bounce off it really hard.

Control has a more cohesive story.
 

Iced Arcade

Member
I absolutely loved the first Alan Wake but after a few hours playing this, I just couldn't lie to myself anymore and just uninstalled it.

Sooo fucking draggy, no waypoint made things more confusing than it needed to be, the whole mind space thing really takes you out of gaming mode.
 

Doom85

Member
The acid test for whether you'll like this game's story or not, is whether you dig surreal and off kilter fiction like Twin Peaks.

I dug the heavier emphasis on Twin Peaks influence. The first game felt heavier on Stephen King with a dash of Twin Peaks (not that that’s a bad thing, I like a lot of King’s works as well), but this one felt heavier on Twin Peaks to me.

Even certain specific stuff not really related to the story. Like I love when they show Saga and Casey, with their backs turned to Alan and facing the camera, each taking a sip of their coffee simultaneously. That just felt very Twin Peaks/David Lynch to me, this kind of weird, unique vibe.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
It's a great game, shame to hear you didn't like it OP, at least rofif rofif will be on your side.
I said this before, Remedy games heavily flawed but they always gives unique and interesting experience and I can appreciate that.

With that being said they need to come up with better enemy design and you can't tell me because they trying to be more "grounded"...

This Siren Blood Curse, these looks terrifying as fuck.
tlhesjxz0ffkanfcawie.jpg

E6sEaJIXEAArIDl


Compare to Alan Wake 2, this just fucking boring.
Alan-Wake-2-scary.jpg

d71106e1778b9bb6476d7fef06ec2a19.jpg



They couldn't come up with with more scary enemy design?
 
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Luigi Mario

Member
The first game might have leaned too heavily on its middling combat but the sequel went definitely too much into the other direction.
 
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Vick

Member
This thread is about Alan Wake, not The Last of Us.
GIF by Saturday Night Live


You poor thing..

Let's see Alan Wake 2 boring as fuck gameplay sustain a competitive multiplayer for 11 years.
Pretending its mechanics could even allow it in the first place that is.

Let's see its boring as fuck story and characters spark ten years of endless debates, or give birth to an HBO award winning series.

Let's see how many directors of different forms of art, from Shinji Mikami to Steven Spielberg, will be inspired and moved by it in the span of a decade.

Let's see this already forgotten turd bring people ten years from now to work on essays devoted to its perfection, or how many appearances will collect in countless Top 5 Best Game of All Time lists.






Hell, let's see how many people will be able to make a living by simply dedicating their lives to streaming speedruns of the game.

The fact you decided to make a fool of yourself to such a ridiculous extreme only to defend a game like Alan Wake 2 is among the saddest things I've ever witnessed on this site.
 
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Mortisfacio

Member
GIF by Saturday Night Live


You poor thing..

Let's see Alan Wake 2 boring as fuck gameplay sustain a competitive multiplayer for 11 years.
Pretending its mechanics could even allow it in the first place that is.

Let's see its boring as fuck story and characters spark ten years of endless debates, or give birth to an HBO award winning series.

Let's see how many directors of different forms of art, from Shinji Mikami to Steven Spielberg, will be inspired and moved by it in the span of a decade.

Let's see this already forgotten turd bring people ten years from now to work on essays devoted to its perfection, or how many appearances will collect in countless Top 5 Best Game of All Time lists.






Hell, let's see how many people will be able to make a living by simply dedicating their lives to streaming speedruns of the game.

The fact you decided to make a fool of yourself to such a ridiculous extreme only to defend a game like Alan Wake 2 is among the saddest things I've ever witnessed on this site.


TloU is a glorified brick throwing simulator, but OK bud. Enjoy your day.
 

Vick

Member
TloU is a glorified brick throwing simulator, but OK bud. Enjoy your day.
Well, I'll tell you this response caught me completely off guard as I'm currently going through a Grounded NG+ run with the goal of not wasting using a single piece of ammo/equipment (except for those found within the area if I have max capacity) for most of the game in order to have the very best possible Chapter Select, and the only way to do so most of the time is.. in fact, playing it as a stealth brick throwing smashing simulator.

8ywg4TM.gif


Touché.
 
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blue velvet

Member
Took me a while to finish this because this is one boring ass game, but I have played boring games before. The story and storytelling in this game isnt just boring, it's awful from start to finish.

- Constant cheap scares with evil Alan Wake flashes on screen. After around the 100th one I was ready for this game to be over. I am not exaggerating. There are probably over a 100 of these flashes.
- Constant cuts to realtime FMVs that are poorly acted, and feel like a cheap knock off instead of an AAA game.
- Constant monologues. Alan talking to himself because has no one to talk to in his story. Saga constantly talking to herself in the mind place. People tell kojima to get an editor, someone tell Sam Lake to stop writing. Less is more.
- The meta writing a story within a story plot simply doesnt work. Again, it reeks of Sam lake thinking he's a big genius writer when it turns out he's just an amateur. Every single narrative choice he made falls flat.
- Game is like 25 hours long and has maybe 2 hours of actual combat. The rest of the time you are listening to these two protagonist talk to themselves. Sometimes Saga has cutscenes with others which are well acted and directed, but most of the time she's in her mind palace talking to others as they openly reveal to her their darkest secrets and evil plans in what is supposed to be a sinister tone, but comes across as overly robotic and laughable.

The pacing is atrocious. After the final boss fight, Saga ends up in the mind place where she talks to herself for a 30 minute sequence where you simply put up some pictures up on a caseboard. It isnt just awful gameplay, and the worst climax ive experienced in a game recently, it's also a very poor form of storytelling. it's way worse than any walking segment Sony studios have made because it goes on for what feels like 30 fucking minutes. And thats basically 90% of the game.

This is what goes for best narrative nowadays? Has the industry lost their fucking minds? 90+ metacritic, awards for best narrative, gotys. GOTYs?

P.S The ending sucked ass. They were trying to pull off a Prisoners inspired ending but failed miserably. Absolutely atrocious. In Prisoners, you know he's heard the whistle because you hear the whistle. Here, you dont hear her daughter pick up the phone. It cuts before that. Honestly, this entire game can fuck right off.
Haven't played it yet. Remedy is extremely mid asf as a developer, to be honest. Their original Max Payne games were great but the rest of their catalog screams mediocrity. I'm not saying their games are bad, it's serviceable but that's about it.
 

Mortisfacio

Member
Well, I'll tell you this response caught me completely off guard as I'm currently going through a Grounded NG+ run with the goal of not wasting using a single piece of ammo/equipment (except for those found within the area if I have max capacity) for most of the game in order to have the very best possible Chapter Select, and the only way to do so most of the time is.. in fact, playing it as a stealth brick throwing smashing simulator.

8ywg4TM.gif


Touché.

I already did grounded easily, since the AI is terrible

Znn4Dpc.gif
 

blue velvet

Member
GIF by Saturday Night Live


You poor thing..

Let's see Alan Wake 2 boring as fuck gameplay sustain a competitive multiplayer for 11 years.
Pretending its mechanics could even allow it in the first place that is.

Let's see its boring as fuck story and characters spark ten years of endless debates, or give birth to an HBO award winning series.

Let's see how many directors of different forms of art, from Shinji Mikami to Steven Spielberg, will be inspired and moved by it in the span of a decade.

Let's see this already forgotten turd bring people ten years from now to work on essays devoted to its perfection, or how many appearances will collect in countless Top 5 Best Game of All Time lists.






Hell, let's see how many people will be able to make a living by simply dedicating their lives to streaming speedruns of the game.

The fact you decided to make a fool of yourself to such a ridiculous extreme only to defend a game like Alan Wake 2 is among the saddest things I've ever witnessed on this site.

I hope this is some kind of sarcasm because TLOU is pastiche. It's just a retelling of a story that was done in literary and films gazillion times before. There's absolutely nothing to learn in the game if you are into cinema. New revolutionary film technique, screen writing, cinematography? Sorry, man but no. It is an extremely high budget imitation of Hollywood movies and that's not always a bad thing.
 

Luigi Mario

Member
This thread is about Alan Wake, not The Last of Us.
The Last of Us isn't an absolute clunker of a game or story like Alan Wake 2 at least.
Which is pretty disappointing because Remedy’s previous two games had excellent gameplay and didn't actively waste their player’s time.
 
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Roberts

Member
I had a love/hate relationship with the game but ended up enjoying it way more than I disliked it. It is possible!

Despite my love for all things meta I don't think Sam Lake is exactly auteur genius he thinks he is but I really appreciate that he at least tries and packages it in game that looks and feels like a proper AAA game and those usually play it safe. There are parts that are hilarious and parts that are genuinely creepy and while I wasn't fan of the combat, the game always made me curious to explore further to see where it will go. It is also one of the best looking games out there. That said, I liked Control and Quantum Break more because they managed to create a better balance between gameplay and typical Remedy oddity.

I hope this is some kind of sarcasm because TLOU is pastiche. It's just a retelling of a story that was done in literary and films gazillion times before. There's absolutely nothing to learn in the game if you are into cinema. New revolutionary film technique, screen writing, cinematography? Sorry, man but no. It is an extremely high budget imitation of Hollywood movies and that's not always a bad thing.

I enjoyed the first game to a certain extent but you nailed it. As a film aficionado who's spent countless hours watching everything from mainstream to obscure gonzo stuff for majority of my life, it always baffled me when gamers praised it as some sort of second coming of genius storytelling. Nothing it does is groundbreaking or particularly interesting in any way. But I digress, this thread is about Alan Wake 2 so I will just shut up.
 
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The acid test for whether you'll like this game's story or not, is whether you dig surreal and off kilter fiction like Twin Peaks.

Definitely a game you need to approach with the right frame of mind, or you bounce off it really hard.

Control has a more cohesive story.
really disagree. as a big fan of twin peaks, i feel that alan wake 2 is just an empty, meandering exercise presented as surreal off kilter fiction. twin peaks is, at its core, a twisted, bizarre whodunit. alan wake 2 not only has no core, it's proud of it...
 

Vick

Member
I already did grounded easily, since the AI is terrible

Znn4Dpc.gif
What's funny is that even that 2013 PS3 Moderate Difficulty glitching AI is better than what's featured in Alan Wake 2 in 2024.
Says it all about the games as well as your integrity in this conversation.

Back to the Grounded Remake now, take care.

I hope this is some kind of sarcasm because TLOU is pastiche. It's just a retelling of a story that was done in literary and films gazillion times before. There's absolutely nothing to learn in the game if you are into cinema. New revolutionary film technique, screen writing, cinematography? Sorry, man but no. It is an extremely high budget imitation of Hollywood movies and that's not always a bad thing.
And that's your take on the whole discussion and listed facts within my post; must be sarcasm because TLOU is pastiche.
Well I guess if you say so must be true, and I'll ignore the unhealty amount of essays now ingrained in my brain proving you wrong or the amount of professionals disgreeing with you scattered and easily documentable around the web I've witnessed during the years, as well as my very own personal experience with the piece in 2013 and the many other times since.
And afterall, I've only spent 6 hours a day from 2007 to 2011 in film school deconstructing archetypes before spending countless hours as private projectionist of 35mm prints for hobby, so what could I possibly know about a kind of narrative that could only work as flawlessly as it did in an interactive medium, something just very recently proved by the fact the praised HBO series is not even a tenth of the experience the game provided.
And on this note, and in regards to the absolutely incorrect and frankly bizarre statement about being nothing to learn from the game, here's a thoughtful piece:


No desire whatsoever for questionably driven revisionistic debates in an Alan Wake 2 Thread though, so please enjoy Remedy's game and the rest of this medium offering. Take care.



wyvern_bloodfist wyvern_bloodfist Funny isn't it Doofy?
Fear not friend, 2013 Naughty Dog can't actually physically hurt you. They're apparently too busy hurting me by pissing on the game's legacy with questionable sequels.
 
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GymWolf

Member
The game is sam lake's death stranding, but not as successful because kojima has more fart sniffing fanboys around the world.

Hopefully the dude is gonna tone down the bullshits for control 2.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Alan wake 2 was a great game. I don't think I rate it personally as highly as everyone did last year but it's certainly one of the better games.

I do have a big complaint however and that is the concept of the final draft and the execution.

Great concept, poor execution.

It ended up being a cheap way to pad the game and force you replay everything for tiny, almost nothing changes except the final cutscene.

If they really shook things up and you played the final draft from Casey's perspective or really shook up the encounters or something like that then it would of been worth it (and would of played into the overall narrative of it being a spiral and not a loop).

After finishing final draft I felt burnt out on the game rather than invested on the final outcome... which was still just a cliffhanger
 
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MacReady13

Member
Played it for around 8 hours. Boring, pretentious crap. Wasn’t scary. Wasn’t interesting. Just a cheap Twin Peaks/David Lynch wanna be rip off game. To be fair, I really didn’t think much of the original game either.

I stopped after 8 hours and haven’t gone back. Probably won’t to be honest. It would have to be the most overrated game I’ve ever played. I seriously don’t know what these reviewers were playing to have these wank feats over this. And for anyone to compare it to the greatest horror game of all time, Silent Hill 2, is blasphemous.
 

samoilaaa

Member
It's a mainstream AAA game made for the average consumer. It's expected that the story or direction isn't going to be any special. Just your ordinary, easy to digest tropes.

Also, Sweet Baby.
i just watched sweet baby website , ffs so many companies are working with them
xbox studios
2k
rocksteady
EA
santa monica

and many more , its like a plague that spreads everywhere , and if you look closely all those companies have had a downgrade in the narrative department and also easy/braindead gameplay
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
It does what it sets out to do at least - it wears its Stephen King and Twin Peaks influences on both sleeves, a writer and series quite infamously all about the journey rather than the destination. I never expected AW2 to give me closure and it never did. The ludicrous FMV stuff is what gives it most of its charm.

Where AW2 - like the first - falls down is the actual game part. It sucks, it's just window dressing to get you to the interesting part.

I 100% agree that the absolute most disappointing aspect is the pop-up faces. You have this visually gorgeous horror game full of creepy locales and every single scare in the game is just a .gif and loud noise overlaid onto the game itself. It boggles the mind that I went down into a flooded basement with a flashlight and that was still the only thing they could come up with.
 

Klosshufvud

Member
I agree fully, Slime. It's a real self-fellating boring sleep inducer. The gameplay is barebones and completely ass. I had more fun with AW1 gameplay. The story is wannabe True Detective but it's all so amateurishly presented it seems more like fanfic instead. Also Remedy really likes to jerk itself off with blatant pandering to past games. It's a disgrace this was the last of "Max Payne".

How this got even a single award is beyond me.
 

Senua

Member
Damn it's a bummer so many gaffers disliked it. I bloody loved it minus the cheap jump scares, I don't know anyone that appreciated those. The story and world were way more captivating than the first game, especially the saga sections they were just so atmospheric in the twin peaks inspired locales. Loved the cult of the tree stuff was very true detective. The game just has atmosphere up the chuff
 
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KungFucius

King Snowflake
Sam Lake is the most overrated buffoon in the current gaming space.
Well what kind of person calls someone who wins an award for narrative a buffoon insinuating that anyone who liked it is mentally deficient as well just because they don't like it themselves? Do you think your tastes are so refined and your intellect is so much bigger than those who disagree with you? Or are you just thoughtlessly pointing the finger and blurting out insults like a .... buffoon? It's OK not to like something. It is not OK to claim that it is so bad that only a moron could create it.
 

yamaci17

Member
Well what kind of person calls someone who wins an award for narrative a buffoon insinuating that anyone who liked it is mentally deficient as well just because they don't like it themselves? Do you think your tastes are so refined and your intellect is so much bigger than those who disagree with you? Or are you just thoughtlessly pointing the finger and blurting out insults like a .... buffoon? It's OK not to like something. It is not OK to claim that it is so bad that only a moron could create it.
because they feel threatened; they did not like this specific game but reviewers and a majority of people liked it / it has gotten goty awards. it means some games that could be in their flavor may now go the alan wake 2 route in future.

it is why I have similar feelings for Fortnite players because it caused a lot of game development to be GaaS oriented.

difference is though I do not speak them out loud because that would be disrespectful of people who genuinely enjoy Fortnite/gaas games. and there is nothing wrong with that. Am I sad that gaas direction probably took away a lot of narrative driven experiences I could've additionally experienced ? yeah. but it is how the world operates

I also personally don't think gaas / fortnite enjoyers are people with mental deficits. they just enjoy it. there's nothing wrong with that. there were times i also enjoyed gaas content but my preferences change depending on my mood

since they're threatened that way, they voice their concerns in an offensive manner because they think this game getting good reception directly causes their overall gaming experience to go down

it is like how ironman and captain america movies started a trend of superhero movies. superhero movies probably caused a lot of normal movies to be discarded in favor of them. so someone who does not enjoy superhero movies potentially gotten a degraded movie experience for a long time (2010-2022). finally hype is over and people are bored of it so we can maybe go back to having normal movies.

of course alan wake 2 is not at the same level of trend setting as superhero movies. but logic applies all the same. it winning narrative goty award surely enraged some people lol
 
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I'm a huge fan of Remedy and most of there games(bought Alan Wake on 360 at launch and multiple times again since then), but I couldn't make it more than 5 hours of Alan Wake 2 before I gave up. I was interested in the story, but the gameplay was awful and it just couldn't do enough to keep me playing. I was VERY disappointed in it and don't understand the praise. I liked it less than Quantum Break and thought that they may have righted the ship with Control, but man, AW2 is terrible.
 

Senua

Member
I'm a huge fan of Remedy and most of there games(bought Alan Wake on 360 at launch and multiple times again since then), but I couldn't make it more than 5 hours of Alan Wake 2 before I gave up. I was interested in the story, but the gameplay was awful and it just couldn't do enough to keep me playing. I was VERY disappointed in it and don't understand the praise. I liked it less than Quantum Break and thought that they may have righted the ship with Control, but man, AW2 is terrible.
I just don't see how the gameplay is awful. It's your bog standard third person combat, nothing special in the slightest but not bad either.
 
What's funny is that even that 2013 PS3 Moderate Difficulty glitching AI is better than what's featured in Alan Wake 2 in 2024.
Says it all about the games as well as your integrity in this conversation.

Back to the Grounded Remake now, take care.


And that's your take on the whole discussion and listed facts within my post; must be sarcasm because TLOU is pastiche.
Well I guess if you say so must be true, and I'll ignore the unhealty amount of essays now ingrained in my brain proving you wrong or the amount of professionals disgreeing with you scattered and easily documentable around the web I've witnessed during the years, as well as my very own personal experience with the piece in 2013 and the many other times since.
And afterall, I've only spent 6 hours a day from 2007 to 2011 in film school deconstructing archetypes before spending countless hours as private projectionist of 35mm prints for hobby, so what could I possibly know about a kind of narrative that could only work as flawlessly as it did in an interactive medium, something just very recently proved by the fact the praised HBO series is not even a tenth of the experience the game provided.
And on this note, and in regards to the absolutely incorrect and frankly bizarre statement about being nothing to learn from the game, here's a thoughtful piece:


No desire whatsoever for questionably driven revisionistic debates in an Alan Wake 2 Thread though, so please enjoy Remedy's game and the rest of this medium offering. Take care.



wyvern_bloodfist wyvern_bloodfist Funny isn't it Doofy?
Fear not friend, 2013 Naughty Dog can't actually physically hurt you. They're apparently too busy hurting me by pissing on the game's legacy with questionable sequels.
you misunderstand; the lol was a real one i hate the Last of us Part 2 but at the the same i don't feel as though the first games story was a ,masterpiece. the game was good; just not great that's just me opinion, so who really cares.
 
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