The Last of Us Part 2 (and the review conundrum)

I mean you could put an uncompromising group of lesbian designers in charge of making this game and see the direction they would take it in. I'm pretty sure it WOULDN'T BE what you're seeing right now. Now THAT's an alternative!

Let's do it. I'd play that too.
 
I would usually trust the reviewers for established outlets over fan reviews (especially from those that have only had a couple of days to play the game).

I don't think it's generally in the best interests of games journalists to pretend something is good - they want credibility with their audience and to be a trusted source.

But I will say no more, because we don't need the dreaded discussion of ethics in video game journalism.
 
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It's not specific to one game, really. If this were Skyrim or GTA or Call of Duty, the response would be the same.

I don't agree with you on Skyrim because the game actually does allow customisation to the degree that you can be in a lesbian relationship if you choose to and it was never a talking point at all or generated any controversy beyond the fringes of the internet.

The other two games are as BASIC INCEL as you can get so the point remains.
 
doesn't Ellie's lesbainism go back to the first game? or at least the expansion. not exactly shoehorned in this time around just to tick off the box

anyways, I'm a few hours in and am entertainer. those grim clicking beasts make my heart skip a beat every time
 
doesn't Ellie's lesbainism go back to the first game? or at least the expansion. not exactly shoehorned in this time around just to tick off the box

anyways, I'm a few hours in and am entertainer. those grim clicking beasts make my heart skip a beat every time
Yeah, she was strongly hinted to be gay, and then the DLC confirmed it.
 
Don’t forget Bill with his dead BF from the first game too. Filthy gays everywhere. Maybe that’s the true outbreak here eh.
 
It’s so hard to discuss this game without just spoiling every great moment :(
 
spoiler tags?

I'm only about 20 minutes in and I've killed seven zombies and watched a lot of scenes. So i'm certainly not going to be as far as you.
 
I’ve just finished the “boat” chapter and...

I have been absolutely loving it so far. Yes it’s more of the same but what’s better than more of The Last of Us. My only issue was the boat section really as it seemed to lull here and more of the same where as prior to that you were drip fed new gameplay mechanics - going prone in the long grass with a bow is absolutely thrilling and the Scars whistling to communicate put me on a nervous edge, heart rate increasing.

Story wise it’s a well documented revenge mission so was never going have the depth of the first game but I was still shocked by Joel’s death and a little bit sad too :(

Current highlights:
- The museum with Joel
- The car chase with Jesse
- Bow and prone realness
- The open world of downtown Seattle although I think I may have got out of this a little too soon
 
God this game goes on FOR EVAH!! But what a thrill and some truly outstanding moments/cinematography/whatever.
 
I forgot how often in this game you die. Fucking mushroomheads forever tearing out my neck tendons.
 
I've just finished the boat chapter too. both Ellie and I are shaking and crying somewhere in Seattle but will we get them

my heart has stopped a few times. there was a dark room, and as I pointed my flashlight towards the door a mushroomhead scurried past in a flash... Mr M is most amused by the audible shocks coming from the other room
 
I’ve finished the game. A little over long in places (oh another building to empty) but it has been absolutely fantastic, brutal, gorgeous and sincere. A lot has happened and I think I’ll need to read many a recap to take it all in but what an experience. I’m just sat here listening to the credits taking it all in. All the brutality, all the happy moments (that *do* exist). Probably not cool to say it but I actually think it was outstanding.

Can’t wait for you all to finish it.
 
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I don't get that much TV time so imagine I'll be at it for a few months. I'm in the first (I assume) Seattle sector.
 
One thing I have loved (and it was the same in the first one) is that it genuinely feels like you’re fighting to survive (WHY you’re fighting to survive is a different topic). In Resident Evil it just feels like your character can stand and take as many bullets as required and you just keep shooting back until one of you wins. In TLOU you get knocked back, you fall back to ground and have to recompose constantly aware and thinking how you’re going to get through it all. I’ve had many moments (mainly coz I’m a bit shite) where I’ve had a last breath of health and fuck all ammo and it completely redefined how you play the game. What do I have? What can I craft? In one of the final buildings towards the end I was bleeding out, I had a bottle and melee weapon and two enemies to dispatch. Was pretty much left to play a game of cat and mouse with the enemies, throw a bottle at them and then just charge for them and melee the fuck out of them.

It’s just fucking fantastic. But now it’ll make every game ever seem ropey as fuck :( (A bit like Breath of The Wild ruined everything)
 
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I'm on Seattle Day 2 now (well, a little bit into it). Finding the game extremely engaging and quite a lot of fun. A bow and arrow was a marvellous addition to the armoury. Finally caught someone begging for his life, and of course i shot him in the head. :)

Shamblers can fuck right off. I died a million times on first encounter.
 
The scene in Seattle Day one where there were a load of infected and a load of WLF in an underground station was an absolute joy - throw a bottle into the distance and wait for the carnage to begin.
 
I don't wanna spoil myself but is is worth a buy if I loved the first one?
 
The scene in Seattle Day one where there were a load of infected and a load of WLF in an underground station was an absolute joy - throw a bottle into the distance and wait for the carnage to begin.

That’s how I wanted to play that area but ended up just making it worse for myself and constantly getting mauled by clickers. Had to go in stealth.
 
That’s how I wanted to play that area but ended up just making it worse for myself and constantly getting mauled by clickers. Had to go in stealth.

Thankfully I found me a little hiding place. Spent a good five minutes watching panicked WLF get chased by clickers.
 
yes! I must be getting close to the end now, feels like an epilogue, RDR style
 
I'm still in it and oh my fucking god it just NEVER ENDS :D I really don't know where people find the time to finish multiple games a month, I've probably devoted hours and hours every week since release and still not done.

It's utterly incredible though. Just when you think it's coming to the last act, on we go again. I feel emotionally wrecked. Even though it's kind of obvious what the game wants you to feel, the way

you want to root for both Ellie and Abby is like some kind of beautiful torture. It was always obvious you'd take over Abby again (which at first was hateful after spending so many hours with Ellie) because of those brief early plays with her (and then realizing Ellie's upgrade branches were filling up suspiciously quick - although had it ended right there on day 5(?) in the theatre it STILL wouldn't have seemed THAT short!) but holy fuck it really was like starting a new game all over again. You then become so invested in her story - which I think ends up the more interesting of the two - that you don't want to return to Ellie as much.

I'm at the point now where Abby has been captured by Rattlers and Ellie is chasing her down. PRAYING they join forces and both live/forgive the other but I don't trust this game not to pile on more misery :(
 
The praise is all well deserved (and my initial worry was thankfully needless) but there's no way it's topping the first game. As @PercyPig says it does get a little repetitive in places and the story doesn't match up (but still 1000 times more gripping and emotionally charged than most games).

Spending the majority of time in Seattle was a little disappointing despite making the best out of it. I got so sick of seeing that damn ferris wheel. And then another rainy day in the city, another basic street or building to clear and loot. I mean they keep it interesting - it looks beyond amazing and the advancement of the old world's decay with the rivers etc is jaw dropping, but I missed the variety in the first game and the clean way it took you through the seasons culminating in winter being the hardest.

Also I don't think making each area bigger to explore enhanced things all that much, apart from that first Seattle part. There was something more iconic about the first game's trajectory and locations and I get that they pretty much exhausted them first time around, but they were more memorable on the whole. The huge skyscrapers in Boston, Bill's town, the suburbs, the sewers etc - because it took you to completely new places, pretty much ticking every zombie apocalypse exploration box in the process, they stay etched in the mind. I can't even remember half of Seattle!

But they've tried something different and it's still a stunning achievement. I just kind of want it to end now before I need THERAPY
 
Also in terms of iconic moments, just as I was getting bored:

there's a section with Abby that starts when her and Lev fall into the swimming pool and go through that horrendous building, all leading up to the hospital and that UTTER NIGHTMARE boss fight. I kept fucking up because I was so terrified, and then that weird super clicker thing takes over. I was a wreck but omg what a moment :disco:

..and then pretty much everything from that point on is relentlessly amazing. I assume I'm near the real end now but fuck knows with this twisty epic.
 
you want to root for both Ellie and Abby is like some kind of beautiful torture. It was always obvious you'd take over Abby again (which at first was hateful after spending so many hours with Ellie) because of those brief early plays with her (and then realizing Ellie's upgrade branches were filling up suspiciously quick - although had it ended right there on day 5(?) in the theatre it STILL wouldn't have seemed THAT short!) but holy fuck it really was like starting a new game all over again. You then become so invested in her story - which I think ends up the more interesting of the two - that you don't want to return to Ellie as much.

I'm at the point now where Abby has been captured by Rattlers and Ellie is chasing her down. PRAYING they join forces and both live/forgive the other but I don't trust this game not to pile on more misery :(

I did a complete u-turn on Abby by the time you do her back in story where she’s looking for her dad. It had been made apparent beforehand something had happened to her dad but not how. Looking for her dad I was just fearing the worst and then it turned out he was the doctor which I loved. There’s so much mindless killing in games and in the first game he just fell like another grunt id killed. To give him a backstory and a family was a great spin.

Also <3 Owen
 
I'm done!

the final encounter between Ellie and Abby was fucking dark, I actually felt uncomfortable because, as both ROM and PP has pointed out, Abby sort of takes over Ellie's place and now you are deliberately trying to stab and drown her mashing that button and I DID NOT WANT TO. I thought that was a pretty masterful move, to shift a player's sympathy towards who was initially the villain after one and a half game, and instead instating Ellie as a sort of villain. and all of that vengeance just to come home to an empty house... the way she just quietly accepts that she will always be alone without Joel was heartbreaking

another great moment was galloping through carnage and fire in Haven :disco:

am I the only who had to lower the difficulty for the Mushroom Supreme in the hospital basement? :shy: holy fuck, my heart was racing
 
I'm done!

the final encounter between Ellie and Abby was fucking dark, I actually felt uncomfortable because, as both ROM and PP has pointed out, Abby sort of takes over Ellie's place and now you are deliberately trying to stab and drown her mashing that button and I DID NOT WANT TO. I thought that was a pretty masterful move, to shift a player's sympathy towards who was initially the villain after one and a half game, and instead instating Ellie as a sort of villain. and all of that vengeance just to come home to an empty house... the way she just quietly accepts that she will always be alone without Joel was heartbreaking

another great moment was galloping through carnage and fire in Haven :disco:

am I the only who had to lower the difficulty for the Mushroom Supreme in the hospital basement? :shy: holy fuck, my heart was racing

Yay Mats!!

The final fight really demonstrated to me how much I’d shifted round to being a fan of Abby - when it was Abby vs Ellie I didn’t really care if Ellie died (maybe because it didn’t feel like the final fight although I had no idea of the Abby second part) but Ellie vs Abby was gut wrenching for me. I just didn’t want to fight her. I stopped fighting. I couldn’t kill her. But I loved the game forced you to do it (or make you think you were going to). No choices here. You’re going to feel bad for all the hurt you’ve caused and the final bit of misery you’re going to inflict because you know it’s wrong. I’ve never felt stunned by a video game before (or even to a movie tbh) in that way.

To me Abby was always the more humane between the two of them - she let them go after they killed Joel as they weren’t a part of it. She’d gotten her eye for an eye. Ellie was after fucking everything. I know Abby wasn’t an angle (Scars not being an issue to her) but wisened up quicker. I loved seeing her in Santa Barbara with Lev having the kind of chats Joel and Ellie would have. I hope it was the fireflies on the radio and she found a safe place with Lev.

Ellie returning to the empty house was pretty devastating though. Why couldn’t they just get together and form a Mini Viva like pop duo :( The first time at the house before SB I was more than sure a sniper bullet was gonna come ricocheting through the windows and kill the cutest baby in the world ever :(

Absolute yes to Haven burning down as your gallop through on the horse. When it breaks through the forest and you enter the wide expanse of the field was utterly utterly stunning.

Another part I liked graphically was the stadium when you go into the stands to leave. It looked stunning. I’ve never ever seen anything of that scale in a game. It just looked so imposing and MASSIVE but at the same time tangible, like you could go to any part of it.

I also enjoyed guessing the moments where Ellie and Abby may have crossed paths. Loved playing as Ellie when you kill the dog Alice at the aquarium and you don’t think anything of it. It’s just an enemy. Same for when you see the body parts on the operating table. You just think “God these WLF lot are fucking scum!!“ then as Abby you slowly see the parts coming together.

As for mushroom man boss it took me a fucking while but I got there. Think I used everything up trying to kill it. The thing that fell out of it was even more problematic for me.
 

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