The Last of Us Part II (PS4)

The area of downtown Seattle is, by NDs admission, the biggest play area they've made, but after that there aren't any other areas (that I can think of) that match it in size.

This is one aspect of the game that I think did not gel well. The switch to
the more linear and traditional - though yes, still bigger and more open than the first game - sections after that opening Seattle area did not feel consistent to me and made that first open area feel separate. It reminded me of the Plateau in Breath of the Wild, but the transition onward and off the Plateau into the big, wide open world did not happen in TLOUII. Instead we find ourselves in smaller environments and set pieces again after. Still, it does not impact the overall game for me at all.

Note, Naughty Dog have said frequently that it is overall the biggest and most ambitious game they have made.

I also felt that the further you get into the game, the more linear the areas are and the less scope for exploration there is.

Hmm.. perhaps. I need to play though new game plus to comment on your point. What about the
boating section, how cool was that! A wider area but still linear. So much atmosphere ion this section with that heavy Seattle rain drenching everything - I love Ellie's putting on her hood animation, man! And the heavy mist and gloom, then later the lightning in the clouds were just stunning. I would have loved to have had the horse and boat as permanent modes of transport
with perhaps a hub world/ area. But knowing Naughty Dog, I half expected them to take these away as and when as the story progressed. Story after all, is always their starting points for these games.

What I did notice are areas of the game where it is always almost
wider and more open than the first game and split into usually two paths that lead to the same point. For example playing through the boat segment. I felt that this gave the illusion of a wider play area or of more freedom. Still, nice.
 
The count seems to have reset so do I really need to playthrough until I've done all skills and weapon upgrades and then go back to my original game file and do chapter select for collectables?

Yes I would like to know, too, please anyone. Do the collectables transfer over to new game plus? Or, so I need to go back into each chapter from my first game?
 
Neil Druckman was asked if Naughty Dog are working on factions and he gave a "lips sealed" response. The way things are set up in the campaign with the environments and various groups I think it makes a lot of sense and could be a lot of fun - even for someone like me who only every plays single player, to do my toes into. 😁
 
Neil Druckman was asked if Naughty Dog are working on factions and he gave a "lips sealed" response. The way things are set up in the campaign with the environments and various groups I think it makes a lot of sense and could be a lot of fun - even for someone like me who only every plays single player, to do my toes into. 😁

I agree. No confirmation for Factions 2, but I really hope we get it. I think Factions in the first game is great. Even if I am quite sh!te at it compared to most players ha ha ha. Wiggle wiggle! Those who play it know ha ha ha ;)
 
So now that I'm a way into NG+ I have some thoughts on how I would rate this:

- Graphics 10/10. This game looks amazing, absolutely the pinnacle of current gen. There will be nextgen titles that don''t look as good as this. Now looking forward to seeing what ND can do with 10 Tflops and a superfast SSD.

- Story. 8/10. It's good but it's not perfect and not as good as the first. Kudos to Druckmann and the team for trying to do something a bit different and more challenging, but it doesn't quite come off. It's still a bloody good yarn though.

- Gameplay. 5/10. It's OK, but you don't play TLOU games for gameplay really. It's very linear and actually pretty repetitive - go from A to B, encounter enemies on the way, stealth kill as many as you can and then pick off the rest.

So for me all the 10/10 reviews overrate it a bit. Still gonna be GOTY though.
 
who else loved the Crooked Still nod with the vinyl on the farm? My heart melted man. I stayed specifically took my time to enjoy the place, Dina, the sunset and their baby (forget his name), just to hear Ecstasy.
I would play that song on repeat for years before the game came out, thinking about Ellie and her story and the sorrow that permeates through the game and her life.
 
- Graphics 10/10. This game looks amazing, absolutely the pinnacle of current gen. There will be nextgen titles that don''t look as good as this. Now looking forward to seeing what ND can do with 10 Tflops and a superfast SSD.

100% agree. It is a marvel. How did they do this on 8 year old hardware!

- Gameplay. 5/10. It's OK, but you don't play TLOU games for gameplay really. It's very linear and actually pretty repetitive - go from A to B, encounter enemies on the way, stealth kill as many as you can and then pick off the rest.

This is the main thing I am not looking forward to playing again - those gameplay loops got really tedious for me. Especially when you couple in how emotionally and physiologically draining the game is/ can be.

Still gonna be GOTY though.

I hope so. It is my game of the year, too. It was previously FFVII. But I think this is a masterpiece, despite its flaws. My game of 2019 was Resident Evil 2.
 


I watched this one last night. @zt1903, I would hide these videos as spoilers for people who are yet to know and experience it. They were completely unexpected for me even though I was not surprised due how much emphasis they put on
the guitar in marketing and trailers and video clips pre-release.

HINT: Change controller to sideways control in the options so you have more space on the track pad to
play notes on the guitar. The person above is very good, its not easy to pull off playing like that in the game. The first thing I tried playing was the end of Citizen Erased by Muse.

I am listening to the soundtrack now on YouTube for the first time (outside of the game). Wow. I appreciate it even more now being able to hear it in full and without the volume lowered for the sake of the other game audio. The Brad Fiedel (Terminator) and Hans Zimmer vibes/ inspirations are very clear to me and just stunning. I am pretty sure its the same classic Synclavier synths used in T2. It's all over They're Still Out There, Eye for an Eye and The Ratlers. Someone on YouTube also mentioned Sicario sounding, too, I agree.

Gustavo Santaolalla is in the game ;). I didn't know! Looking forward to seeing him in my second playthrough.
 
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Neil Druckman was asked if Naughty Dog are working on factions and he gave a "lips sealed" response. The way things are set up in the campaign with the environments and various groups I think it makes a lot of sense and could be a lot of fun - even for someone like me who only every plays single player, to do my toes into. 😁
Don't forget this from last year, so they are working on it. Its just when we'll get it.



1593690513973.png
 
Here's a mic drop moment for the next presser .......



...... TLOU2 Factions is a standalone title ..........



....... and a PS5 launch title
 
Here's a mic drop moment for the next presser .......



...... TLOU2 Factions is a standalone title ..........



....... and a PS5 launch title

That would be awesome. Didn't think about that possibility!
 
Gustavo Santaolalla is in the game ;). I didn't know! Looking forward to seeing him in my second playthrough.

I think he's in Jackson when you're first walking around right before you set out on your patrol. He's sat out the front of a bar I think, strumming on a guitar :)
 
I didn't think much of guitar scenes - infact I groaned when Ellie found one in the theatre. I wish they have included an option to skip.

Dear @Rascak, again, I think we should be more mindful of these spoilers for others yet to experience these moments.

Why did you not like the
guitar scenes? I thought the guitar was a symbolic motif and gameplay tool that bound the entire game together from start to finish. From my Review thread post:

"... the ending was utterly sad and painful for me. Just gut wrenching. I feel like the first and main motif we are introduced to in the game is the guitar. I think the first line alone contains the entire message of the game or at least highlights to the core, one of the main themes and its very repercussions,

"If I ever were to lose you
I'd surely lose myself"

In this respect I think the guitar is a thread carried throughout the entire game from start to very end - it being the very last thing (along with Ellie) we see on screen, too - and thus, the guitar binds the themes and plot together, or rather, the game together. It is the first thing we are taught early on in the game as players, to play the guitar, when Joel plays Future Days for a younger Ellie. I think this will be a powerful moment playing it a second time, knowing it will the be the first and only time that you play the guitar as Joel. It is also worth noting that after this time, Joel's guitar is handed down to Ellie, along with the moth on the fretboard, which Ellie uses to cover up her bite-mark. I think her love note to Joel is beautiful and says a lot about her relationship with him. The guitar and moth signify her attachment to Joel but combined, the guitar and moth may remind us of both Joel and Ellie. After being introduced to Future Days, whenever Ellie finds a guitar, we are invited to heal if we felt like it, when possible. I also see and use music and the guitar in real life as tools for catharsis, recollection and healing myself. In the game, for me it is a clear and powerful motif for Ellie's humanity and healing through recollection - flashbacks to her loving and happier times are often recalled once she starts playing the guitar. And I will return to how this ties in with the powerful use of Joel's death later on.

I certainly felt a visceral meaningful bond with Ellie through the guitar. But it also brought me closer to Joel; as I feel it does Ellie. But not just Joel, but closer to humanity or peace or goodness; it is so far removed than killing, revenge and nearly everything else the game asks you to do as a player, which for the large part is kill. Therefore, at the very end of the game, by the time Ellie realises that she has lost everything in her life that held meaning and hope, that she had loved. By the time that she is stripped of everything she could have been or was before - an artist, a singer, having a life of meaning; being a sacrifice for the fate of humanity, or a 'better' or purer human being, she cannot even play Future Days any more and stops short because of her missing two fingers. And we know that her physical loss was the cost of her path of revenge. Hearing her struggle to play those single notes because of her impairment, it sounded as weak, fragile and stripped to the bone as Ellie was at that point in her life. It hit me like silent thunder in my heart and stomach. To me, this was a moment of Ellie's damnation, being deprived of perhaps the one true thing in the brutal world that seemed to provide her peace, love and humanity, the guitar. I think it was so powerful - I feel it was the most powerful moment of anything I have ever experienced in an art form. Video games are such a a unique art form because they are interactive; although we did not play this moment, we did play the guitar in other moments, yet alone as Ellie and thus, you feel tied to the act, to Ellie and to the moment. By this moment in the game, its very end, I felt like I had lived and died a lifetime's worth. And I think that shows the impact it had on me and many others that feel the same way".

Playing the guitar with Ellie, or every time I saw one, I was reminded of Joel, too. And his love of crafting and the guitars he made that we get a sense of and see in his house. I thought that was very poignant.

So, I think if you remove the guitar, you loose many vital elements of the game and a great deal of meaning.
 
Interesting and mostly agree.

While i understand the parallels between story arcs, showing both sides of revenge themes and so on, i still didnt feel empathy for many of the characters.
Ellie while clearly having issues and becoming quite ruthless, still seemed more justified than the other character's revenge plot. The latter felt somewhat american bru-ha marine, but without associated improved gameplay, and perhaps is meant to appeal more to those more brash cultures. To me it seemed her "good moments" were still selfishly motivated, along with being completely illogical.

It's a very good game, thought provoking (how many games get no discussion like this ;) ), just didnt quite hit everywhere with me.


Thankfully any of the identy politics stuff was very inconsquential, or relevant to the character without being shoved in your face, as most characters may have an associated trait (jewish, black, whatever) but it didnt define them, and just made them better rounded. Which is really how it should be.
Really?

You thought
Ellie had more justification for revenge than Abby? I must be missing something here, Joel killed Abby's father and she had the only right to revenge.
 
Really?

You thought
Ellie had more justification for revenge than Abby? I must be missing something here, Joel killed Abby's father and she had the only right to revenge.

@DAZ UK 74, why do you feel that
Ellie did not have a right to revenge? And that only Abby did?

I think that ultimately
both Ellie and Abby are just as wrong and right as each other. The game showed me that everyone feels they are justified for the acts they commit, including those we learn about from letter writing who seek vengeance. Through the games eliciting of empathy, empathising and being tolerant as much as I could, leaving my ego aside, that is how I felt. But if I were to add some sort of measure for measure to the situation, Joel for me, does a lot more damage and killing; wiping out most of the Fireflies single-highhandedly, robbing the world of a potential cure and killing Abby's father. Thus, the repercussions of his actions are arguably, from an objective standpoint, more significant and large-scale and did not just have personal repercussions.

That said, because the game did a perfect job for me with eliciting empathy throughout, I felt totally humanised by it and both characters. All I wanted in the end was peace and the safety and well-being of both characters and all. That was what was brought about by my catharsis.
 
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Dear @rowedav,

I think he's in Jackson when you're first walking around right before you set out on your patrol. He's sat out the front of a bar I think, strumming on a guitar :)

Yes, I read so from a YouTube comment :thumbsup:.
 
Here's something I wish I kept!

2013-07-10 14.46.26.jpg

2013-07-10 16.36.52.jpg


I wasn't a hardcore collector back then like I am now. I would have loved to have put my PS4 games, LOU PlayStation Only Edition, but especially my LOUII copy in there.
 
Really?

You thought
Ellie had more justification for revenge than Abby? I must be missing something here, Joel killed Abby's father and she had the only right to revenge.

Agreed, I think Abby's path and actions are justified looking at it from her viewpoint.

Admittedly I never fully warmed to her, but once her backstory and motivation are revealed it made complete sense to me.

I replayed Part 1 in the week running up to release, and finished it on the Friday then jumped straight into Part 2. So to me it was like watching a film where we get the "Five years later" card. There are consequences to actions, and this was - especially in the context of the world Naughty Dog establishes in Part 1 - almost the logical outcome, to my mind.
 
Really?

You thought
Ellie had more justification for revenge than Abby? I must be missing something here, Joel killed Abby's father and she had the only right to revenge.
I agree with Stinga.

Ellie's actions were understandable - she wanted revenge for the torture and murder of Joel. All her actions - even the torture of Nora which was done to acquire information - were framed in that context and both understandable and justified in that context. By contrast Abby tortured Joel for her own gratification. I can understand her viewpoint but thought it was unjustified. I also think she let down most of the people she worked with but I don't think its really worth going into detail on all that.
 
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Dear @raymondo77, I agree with you about warming to her (over time). Worked perfectly for me. I would hide such points mentioning her name because
most people will not know or want to know that you might play as another character.

I replayed Part 1 in the week running up to release, and finished it on the Friday then jumped straight into Part 2. So to me it was like watching a film where we get the "Five years later" card. There are consequences to actions, and this was - especially in the context of the world Naughty Dog establishes in Part 1 - almost the logical outcome, to my mind.

Totally agree with you here, too. It is seamless world blending to me, and a logical and justified development of character, and world. Even the virus has mutated, as it might. I thought about playing the first part in the run up, again. But I think I have finished it about four times now and it is always quite fresh in my mind.
 
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I agree with Stinga.

Ellie's actions were understandable - she wanted revenge for the torture and murder of Joel. All her actions - even the torture of Nora which was done to acquire information - were framed in that context and understandable in that context. By contrast Abby tortured Joel for her own gratification.

Remember that Ellie said, "I'm going to kill every last one of them". Is there not gratification in that? Otherwise why does she want to kill "every last one of them"? But for gratification? And in her sole desire to
kill Abby? I felt that gratification is tied to most of the motivations of both characters.
I as a player was also very satisfied murdering NPCs
as both Abby and Ellie,
just like I was in the first game. I gained the lesson form the game that the sole motivations for both characters were out of their own egos; that their revenge is always personal. And I think this is tied to their desires for self-gratification; they both believe they will be fulfilled, and thus gratified by the end of it. But they are not.
Hence, why Abby renounces her ego and becomes selfless in order to devote herself to save and protect Lev and Yara. I think this humanises her and puts her on a path of redemption,
just as Joel did in taking in and accepting Ellie in the first game.
 
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Anyone know what the story is with collectables on New Game+

The count seems to have reset so do I really need to playthrough until I've done all skills and weapon upgrades and then go back to my original game file and do chapter select for collectables?

I was rather hoping that I could playthrough until the appropriate upgrades are done picking up the missing collectables from the first half of the game. I have all collectables in the second half already.
Playing on Plus now , and i think ( really not sure) if it has been rest ,
there are a few cards which i mist on the 1st play , but the ones i remember are there to collect again ,
how ever i have gotten two trophies , the safe one ( collect/open all -i was only missing one ) and the sightseer ( both of these i got without playing all the way through .. )

so tbh it's hard to say "yes" you have to play all the way through again ..
 

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