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Part II ruined gaming for me

Walking dead didn't get stale for like 5 or 6 seasons. They could literally come up with 100s of ideas. stop act ling like its hard.how about abby killing ellies friends and joel and ellie wanna get revenge, boom, done.

looking at breaking bad what was the story about? a teacher and his student having a relationship and selling drugs. they made that go for 5 seasons.

Good quality TV drama you cannot compare with a video game story.

With video games, simpler stories hit harder. In TV shows, you would just drop it in a moment if you smelled any nonsense.
 

Reaseru

Member
It’s a fantastic game. Abby is a great character

I like her too. Abby was born in a post apocalyptic world, and lived almost the entirety of her life in paramilitary organizations like the Fireflies and then the Wolves. Someone with a physique like Abby is more logical and has more chances to survive in the world of the Last of Us, then a skinny ass girl like Dina, for example.

Of all the crap people can complain from the TLoU Part II, Abby should be one the least of them. But that's my take on things...
 

Roberts

Member
I know the feeling. Sometimes it happens to me with movies. You watch something so perfect and made just for you that it feels like it is impossible to watch and enjoy anything else. The good thing is that this feeling lasts for a day or two. It’s also helpful to watch/play something entirely different afterwards. It’s useless to watch an action movie after Hard Boiled but then something like Blow Out, Once Upon a Time in the West, Serious Man etc shifts the balance.

Speaking of Part II, I will probably give it another try some day because I just didn’t feel it at all the first and the last time I tried it a few years ago. I found it dull as a game and didn’t buy any of the storytelling, conflicts, etc - it felt like some Hollywood wannabes wanted so hard to be taken seriously and be edgy. Nice graphical showcase in cutscenes, though.
 

MagnesD3

Member
It was a good game, but it pales in comparison to the first one.
This, its an incredibly disappointing game coming off of last of us pt1 but its still good in many respects even if I think parts of it are infuriating and I absolutely hate how they lied through marketing decieving fans.

For example I give Part 1 a 9.7 Excellent and Part 2 a 9.4 Very Good.

If that last section of Part 2 didnt exist though I would absolutely hate that game.
 
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SteadyEvo

Member
I’m mad at myself for never completing it. Not the games fault. Something else took my attention away from it and I never went back.

Now I’m just waiting for a remaster.
Remaster!? How much better can it look? Looks amazing on PS5. If you told me the game was recently released I’d believe it.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Hardly. Gameplay in TLOU 2 was fantastic. The fact that it also excelled in other areas doesn't take away from that.

Its pretty ironic that the fact that that gameplay in 2 is so much better than the first -and yes, this is a factual statement- apparently doesn't matter to those who were so alienated by the story!

Its like the perfect example of the importance of story over gameplay!
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
You come into a thread where someone discusses what they like about a game just to shit on it point out how much you didn’t like “intentions” and “hubris” of the author and that you will never, ever play the game again… and sarcastically accuse someone who *does* like it of virtue signalling? What the fuck is wrong with you?
Well I don't know about virtue signalling but his response sounded very arrogant, as if he was somehow better than people who disliked the game just because he "gets it" or whatever. Like, seriously, quit sniffing your own farts, people will have different opinions.

And yeah, this is an open discussion so I'm free to say what I think about the game. Cope.
 

MagnesD3

Member
Its pretty ironic that the fact that that gameplay in 2 is so much better than the first -and yes, this is a factual statement- apparently doesn't matter to those who were so alienated by the story!

Its like the perfect example of the importance of story over gameplay!
Its factual on a smooth base mechanical level but on some gameplay design choices the first is better, the shivs carried alot more weight in the first game and were alot more fun to use with the storage rooms where you could unlock a bunch of cool stuff, also the safes in part 2 were a miss because of the realistic esk click made them all easily solvable.

Also its worse in Part 2 in the sense the way gameplay transitions better with the story in the original, in Part 2 its disjointed and at times manipulative.
 
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Robb

Gold Member
apparently doesn't matter to those who were so alienated by the story!
It mattered to me at least. I played through it just cause it was enjoyable to play.

I get that people might not like the story but if you don’t there’s at least the option to skip all the cutscenes. I used that all the time.
 

Topher

Gold Member
It mattered to me at least. I played through it just cause it was enjoyable to play.

I get that people might not like the story but if you don’t there’s at least the option to skip all the cutscenes. I used that all the time.

I agree. I stopped debating story with people because it is so subjective especially in a game as divisive as this, but I vividly recall moving through those levels in TLOU 2 and enjoying every minute of gameplay. One of the best stealth games around, imo.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I like her too. Abby was born in a post apocalyptic world, and lived almost the entirety of her life in paramilitary organizations like the Fireflies and then the Wolves. Someone with a physique like Abby is more logical and has more chances to survive in the world of the Last of Us, then a skinny ass girl like Dina, for example.

Of all the crap people can complain from the TLoU Part II, Abby should be one the least of them. But that's my take on things...
exactly. Especially that she is fueled by revenge and LIVES IN A GYM
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
Part I has one of the best, tightest narratives to ever be told. Part II meanders a bit and has the bigot sandwich line but is better in almost every other way. It’s a shame the culture war bullshit took over the narrative around it. Playing it on PS5 in 60FPS is so good, if they finally release the remaster and multiplayer I’m there day 1
 
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KungFucius

King Snowflake
No one who has claimed "x ruined gaming for me" has ever really meant it.

It's complete hyperbole.
I felt that about TotK to some extent. It certainly raised the bar, but that doesn't mean other games are 'ruined'. I am hoping Starfield does something better than other games.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Last of us owns the top spot in gaming to some people, I think uncharted demolishes it.

Tom Holland Action GIF by Uncharted
 

Neff

Member
Someone with a physique like Abby is more logical and has more chances to survive in the world of the Last of Us, then a skinny ass girl like Dina, for example.

The most plausible explanation for Abby's bulk is the one which rarely gets mentioned- Abby knows full well that Joel is a fucking murder machine who wiped out the Fireflies' security all by himself. She wouldn't have a chance against him without some serious gains and a shitload of burritos.
 
I’ve got to be honest, I can totally agree with this, although maybe not quite to the extent of “misery porn”, suggesting it was bleak for shock value.

But yeah, it IS a very bleak game, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t become a little overwhelming at times. But, it kind of had to be given the subject matter.
Agreed. Neir automata just makes me roll my eyes, too. Contrived and unsubtle "tragic" storytelling.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Its factual on a smooth base mechanical level but on some gameplay design choices the first is better, the shivs carried alot more weight in the first game and were alot more fun to use with the storage rooms where you could unlock a bunch of cool stuff, also the safes in part 2 were a miss because of the realistic esk click made them all easily solvable.

Its mechanically better, which is pretty huge given that the combat is generally delivered in small to mid-sized sandbox areas where the draw is that the player can choose their own approach. Stealth is also more interesting due to the improved enemy AI and more behavioural cues to react to.
2 is also definitely a much longer game which I believe translates to more variety in gameplay scenarios, although I feel like there are fewer really big diversions from the core combat loop.

The bottom line on this issue for me is that its so similar in formula to the first game, but with clearly evident improvements in almost every technical and design dimension, its an undeniable step up. Not saying its perfect, but its definitely closer to perfection than part 1.

Also its worse in Part 2 in the sense the way gameplay transitions better with the story in the original, in Part 2 its disjointed and at times manipulative.

I think it can be fairly argued that the narrative is disjointed and manipulative, but I don't believe those are gameplay issues, or at least faults that you can lay at the feet of the mechanics... it again underlines that if the player finds themselves at odds with the narrative it spoils the pure play experience regardless of its quality.

Just saying, I think it makes an extremely strong case for the relative importance of things in a game that aren't "gameplay" being more impactful than the actual gameplay! Because I feel like games with mediocre gameplay but an appealing story tend to get received better than vice versa. Which I think is interesting in that it kinda flies in the face of the prevailing wisdom of what really matters to players.
 

MagnesD3

Member
Its mechanically better, which is pretty huge given that the combat is generally delivered in small to mid-sized sandbox areas where the draw is that the player can choose their own approach. Stealth is also more interesting due to the improved enemy AI and more behavioural cues to react to.
2 is also definitely a much longer game which I believe translates to more variety in gameplay scenarios, although I feel like there are fewer really big diversions from the core combat loop.

The bottom line on this issue for me is that its so similar in formula to the first game, but with clearly evident improvements in almost every technical and design dimension, its an undeniable step up. Not saying its perfect, but its definitely closer to perfection than part 1.



I think it can be fairly argued that the narrative is disjointed and manipulative, but I don't believe those are gameplay issues, or at least faults that you can lay at the feet of the mechanics... it again underlines that if the player finds themselves at odds with the narrative it spoils the pure play experience regardless of its quality.

Just saying, I think it makes an extremely strong case for the relative importance of things in a game that aren't "gameplay" being more impactful than the actual gameplay! Because I feel like games with mediocre gameplay but an appealing story tend to get received better than vice versa. Which I think is interesting in that it kinda flies in the face of the prevailing wisdom of what really matters to players.
The whole gameplay vs story id absolutely give to gameplay generally but ultimately it depends on what the game is trying to achieve.

The Last of Us are movie games so its important that the story is good, imo if the story wasnt there id give it 9.3 score of Good for its solid 3rd person shooter base but im not really a big 3ps guy so I probably wouldnt think much of the game without its story.

Another example I have would be MGS3, its one of my favorite games ever but I prefer the story over its gameplay in that game, the bosses are awesome and the steath mechanics work well and are fun but stealth isnt my favorite genre or 3ps so its the Story/boss fights that motivate me to like it so much.
 
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BbMajor7th

Member
Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and protects the city of Gotham. The story allows new threats to enter and make the story more intriguing.

Bruce Wayne isn't a hero. He's billionaire brat who spends his inheritance on tooling up so he can beat the shit out of people on the lowest rungs of the social ladder, all so rich twats like his mum and dad can wander the streets at their leisure.

The best way to fight crime if you're a billionaire is to invest in infrastructure and social mobility programs to help lift people out of poverty, not wander the streets after dark knocking people's teeth out.

You never see Batman taking down some rich twat who's profiteering has damaged the livelihoods of thousands - no, always some 'thug' whose only crime is not to be a major benefactor of the system.
 

RainyNguyen

Neo Member
Holy shit, your words feel like they're taken straight from the depths of my soul. From the first minutes of the game, I sensed its remarkable difference compared to other games out there - it reaches a level of excellence that no other game has achieved.

And TLOU2 remains the only game that delivers a true next-gen experience up to this moment. For me, next-gen isn't just about graphics. it's a perfect blend of many elements: gameplay, animation, sound, AI, attention to details ... I fear that until the end of the current console generation, only the next game from ND or Rockstar can surpass the standards set by TLOU2.
 
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Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
giphy.gif



collage-maker-20-mar-2023-01-41-pm-6098.jpg



This was the moment in the game where it hit me that I was playing an all-time great.

The graphics whore in me was cumming buckets. I'd never seen anything like it. That shit looked orgasmic on the OLED.

This was when Abby started to grow on me. And then, the atmospheric as fuck night escape into the woods right after. With the stalkers chasing you,

and then right into the crazy lady with the hammer a bit after, at dawn.

E9Cq2ZSWYAYzBmb

E9CrCtIXIAEDX5p


What a brutal and visceral gaming experience.

I took probably around 200 screens of this section.

GOAT
 
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zeldaring

Banned
You need a story that makes sense and that creates enough conflict to where you have a common threat.

What's her motivation for killing Ellie's friends? How does it connect to the main story? You can't just say, "This person killed my friends, so I want revenge." The antagonist needs to have believable motivation that no only connects to the overall plot, but to the main character as well (other than just being a GF of the dead woman).

The ratings for The Walking Dead started to decline during season 7. Season 6 was the beginning of Negan. After this, you had the Whisperers and the Commonwealth. It became repetitive because we have seen the same formula before.

Rick found his family in the mountain and retreated
They made it to the farm and retreated
They made it to the prison and retreated
They fought against the governor and won
They fought against the saviors and won
They fought against whisperers and won.
They bought against the Commonwealth and won.

There are many underlining stories with Shane, Negan's redemption arc, etc, but it's still very much similar.

If a series goes on too long, then we're just going to start seeing the same things over and over again. You can create a story, but an intriguing one is another story. That's why the series has declined for The Walking Dead.
Last of us had one game, its not like it's the third sequel. you act like it's impossible make a story or drama in post apocalyptic with probably 2 of the most interesting character in gaming. why did she kill ellies friend or friends? well she was trying ambush them to find info on joel and when they tried to fight back just like the scene with ellie ended up killing abby friends duh.
 

zeldaring

Banned
I wanted to add that I don't think the results for last of us part 2 in sales were great, considering it was the biggest most hyped sony franchise . GOW blew out of the water, horizon has matched its sales, spider man blew out of the water, even ghost of tsushima basically matched it's sales. they really hurt the franchise by making such a stupid story and move.
 
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VulcanRaven

Member
Walking dead didn't get stale for like 5 or 6 seasons. They could literally come up with 100s of ideas. stop act ling like its hard.how about abby killing ellies friends and joel and ellie wanna get revenge, boom, done.

looking at breaking bad what was the story about? a teacher and his student having a relationship and selling drugs. they made that go for 5 seasons.
That is what everyone thought would happen because trailers implied that.
 
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proandrad

Member
giphy.gif



collage-maker-20-mar-2023-01-41-pm-6098.jpg



This was the moment in the game where it hit me that I was playing an all-time great.

The graphics whore in me was cumming buckets. I'd never seen anything like it. That shit looked orgasmic on the OLED.

This was when Abby started to grow on me. And then, the atmospheric as fuck night escape into the woods right after. With the stalkers chasing you,

and then right into the crazy lady with the hammer a bit after, at dawn.

E9Cq2ZSWYAYzBmb

E9CrCtIXIAEDX5p


What a brutal and visceral gaming experience.

I took probably around 200 screens of this section.

GOAT
Naughty Gods got a PS5 game to run on a PS4.
 

zeldaring

Banned
Good quality TV drama you cannot compare with a video game story.

With video games, simpler stories hit harder. In TV shows, you would just drop it in a moment if you smelled any nonsense.
Exactly my point. Person i'm replying is making it seem like it's difficult to continue joel and ellie's story when there was l00 of ideas that could have worked out much better. last of us was the biggest sony franchise. last us part 2 went on sale quickly and sold 10 million in 2 years that basically what ghosts of tsushima a new sony franchise did with out nearly being discounted as much, same for horizon, then you have GOW and spider man blowing it out of the water. then last of us part 1 also bombed, they are just killing the franchise.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Last of us had one game, its not like it's the third sequel. you act like it's impossible make a story or drama in post apocalyptic with probably 2 of the most interesting character in gaming. why did she kill ellies friend or friends? well she was trying ambush them to find info on joel and when they tried to fight back just like the scene with ellie ended up killing abby friends duh.
The Last of Us had one game that built the foundation for Part II. The way the game ended on a cliffhanger, it was obvious it was going to set up events for Part II and sequels like this are a continuation from the previous game.

I don't act like it's impossible, but you think it's easy. The story you're creating now creates a lot of narrative choices that are not compelling enough and would create problems down the road.

> Abby kills Ellie's friends because she wanted info on Joel.
> What happens during the final confrontation? Dina dying would be the result of Joel's actions, something Ellie wouldn't be too happy about.
> Why would she stop looking for Joel?
> How does this keep the Fireflies in a good light as they're set up the be savior?

There's much more.

You're basically telling the same baseline story.. the difference is that Dina dies and Joel doesn't.
 

Lupin25

Member
Judging by the thread title I thought you would annihilate this game (I see what you did there 😏) but I couldn’t agree more op. This game is an all-around technique showpiece.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Exactly my point. Person i'm replying is making it seem like it's difficult to continue joel and ellie's story when there was l00 of ideas that could have worked out much better. last of us was the biggest sony franchise. last us part 2 went on sale quickly and sold 10 million in 2 years that basically what ghosts of tsushima a new sony franchise did with out nearly being discounted as much, same for horizon, then you have GOW and spider man blowing it out of the water. then last of us part 1 also bombed, they are just killing the franchise.
The majority of PS4 games went on sale early. I tracked the sales from all major PS4 exclusive releases and they dropped around the same time.

Do you even follow video game sales? lol

I already addressed the other points in my previous post.
 

[Sigma]

Member
I don't even have the will to boot this game up. Every time I think about what game I should play next and I look at my list and get to this game on it, I always come to conclusion that I would rather try/boot up something.
 
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zeldaring

Banned
The majority of PS4 games went on sale early. I tracked the sales from all major PS4 exclusive releases and they dropped around the same time.

Do you even follow video game sales? lol

I already addressed the other points in my previous post.
I do follow video game sales and sales of Sony and Nintendo franchises, and new ip's have exploded. like almost every sony t AAA game is nearly hitting 10 million. Last of us went from sony biggest franchise to just selling like a New AAA IP cause of last us part just focusing on gore and the bad word of mouth online.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
I do follow video game sales and sales of Sony and Nintendo franchises, and new ip's have exploded. like almost every sony t AAA game is nearly hitting 10 million. Last of us went from sony biggest franchise to just selling like a New AAA IP cause of last us part just focusing on gore and the bad word of mouth online.

If you did, then you would know Horizon, God of War, and Spider-Man were all discounted quickly, which makes your statement false.
 

zeldaring

Banned
The Last of Us had one game that built the foundation for Part II. The way the game ended on a cliffhanger, it was obvious it was going to set up events for Part II and sequels like this are a continuation from the previous game.

I don't act like it's impossible, but you think it's easy. The story you're creating now creates a lot of narrative choices that are not compelling enough and would create problems down the road.

> Abby kills Ellie's friends because she wanted info on Joel.
> What happens during the final confrontation? Dina dying would be the result of Joel's actions, something Ellie wouldn't be too happy about.
> Why would she stop looking for Joel?
> How does this keep the Fireflies in a good light as they're set up the be savior?

There's much more.

You're basically telling the same baseline story.. the difference is that Dina dies and Joel doesn't.
They could tell the same baseline story, the difference is you don't have to kill such a loved character that only had one game, and replace with a shitty character that killed one of the best characters in gaming, it's gonna end up making many fans not happy.

They should have killed joel in probably the third game while he was trying to save ellie or something instead they give the characters deaths like they are not even important.
 
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