Is anyone playing the Last of Us Part II? Thoughts? (Spoilers)

[ThomasNLD]

You're entitled to this...even though I hate this mentality with a passion. It's a narrative-driven game. The first one was a narrative driven game. It's an experience. I mean...you're entitled to not want to experience a narrative. But, then...why would you play this to begin with? Just saying. Especially if you are going to stop short of actually completing the game and still complain about it without actually knowing how it ends...

I would also be interested to know the specific part you actually stopped at...to judge how much of the narrative you've actually missed as a result. Admittedly, the game dragged for me at certain parts...but, it was well worth pushing through in the end.

Well, you don`t know exactly what direction the narrative is going to take you when you start playing, do you? I mean, the reason I played this game was because I loved the first game. I think this is the same reason I don`t like this one. The vibe is completely different, it feels like it has no meaning. I think either IGN or Gamespot did a review which got a lot of backlash, in which the reviewer stated that it was just to grim and violent. I think that sums up my experience as well. I felt no sense of hope during the game, which the first part definetly had a lot more. It felt more like a "road movie," a feel which I loved. Due to the start of the game where Joel lost his daughter, you inmediately build up a connection. I was kinda shocked that they threw that overboard and now wanted me to look at it from the perspective of some random stranger. Even so, that could have been implemented better. I also just hate this theme with a passion. It teaches us revenge is bad and hate breeds hate, wow, how profound. It feels to me like a very cliche story told relatively well in a stunning (the gameplay, graphics and sound are amazing) package. I can pinpoint a lot of moments where I felt very conflicting messages from the game, but the biggest let down is where the first part helped me emphatize and think abour what they went through, this 2nd part just made me feel like I was going through the motions. It made the fun gameplay often feel repetitive, because the story behind it just didn`t grab me as much. Its to grim, shallow (in the sense it emphasises agression way to much in comparison to other emotions, like regret, sorrow, happiness. It didn`t feel realistic in that sense. I feel this game wants to tell a story which it started conflicting from the very start of the first game. I`m just not in favour of the shock and awe way of story telling. I like nuance more. The first part, even though you were mercilessly killing people, infectants and monsters, had that in abundance. This one didn`t, in my humble opinion.

I`m btw around 70% of the game I believe and I will be finishing it.

 

[LuchaSloth]

Being a sequel, that's exactly how this game had to be. The first game had the benefit of working through two strangers helping each other to survive an outbreak. Last of Us 2 was never going to have that...because, they had already made it to relative safety by the end of the first game. Making it obvious that the entire driving force of the sequel would need to be something else. I also don't think the theme of LoU2 is entirely "shock and awe" at all. I think there is plenty of this "nuance" that you describe as missing. Ultimately, when you finish the game, you'll see how all of those pieces go together. It's a story about people misunderstanding each other, and how we act out of fear or prejudice. In many ways, I think it's a better story than the first game. How could you have a sense of "hope" when the characters already had a perfect town to live in? This was all about expanding the world of Last of Us beyond the small bubble of organized humanity that we already knew. It's about tying up the loose ends of Ellie forgiving Joel, and working through her own anger of him "wasting her life". Ultimately, that's why she does everything she does in LoU2. It isn't revenge...it's because she still isn't over what happened, and she's trying to fill her existence with purpose and closure.

 

[IonicKarma]

I've been watching a streamer play this game and honestly, I don't think its a game I'd enjoy. It's way too gorey and violent for me ;-; The gameplay does seem cool though, but I'm not really sure I like the story either, the ending was just super depressing...