Обсуждение The Last of Us Part II (ВНИМАНИЕ СПОЙЛЕРЫ)

The game does not deserve to be purchased, regardless of its merits (which are few, and overblown). The story works to actively destroys everything the prequel had been building: well-known characters act in opposite ways compared to their previous selves, and new characters are not defined by their nuances and behavior but are just cardboard cutouts marked only by their identity politics group. Naughty Dog has written a Last Jedi and managed to kill a beloved franchise forever.

Even worse, the technical merits of the game are arguably not as good as the prequel. The pretty environments feel now like soulless Quixel asset flips, and the game animations are thousands upon thousands of motion capture segments weirdly blended together by something which feels more like an AI than any kind of human-made plan. The end result is something which looks amazing in a static frame or a small motion segment, but doesn't feel right or cohesive once you are playing.

The gameplay has been simplified and dumbed down considerably compared to the predecessor, where it was already thin. Even worse, the changes made are never there to make the game better, but to make the developer's job easier. An example is the addition of tall grass as a stealth mechanic, an unwelcome gaming trope which allows them to get away with much worse level design. Multiple issues which were present previously but were unimportant due to the nature of the prequel (inconsistent control response, shooting issues, out-of-control secondary animations getting in the way of your stealth, poor enemy AI, and more), now return but are way more prevalent since the game is way longer, has worse pacing, and the writing is no longer able to carry the weight of the game. It's just a lazy job after lazy job. At the end of the day, this game was not made as something intended to be played, but to be watched. And, since you have zero agency and zero choices during the game, I'd say the optimal platform to play the game is YouTube and not PlayStation.

The entire game feels like it was made by factory robots, except for the story bits, which seems to be written by an Internet troll instead. It deserves a 0 not only because that's how it will make you feel after trying it for a while, but because this is an extremely dangerous trend which can end up destroying the entire AAA gamespace. Do not listen to the dozens upon dozens of 10/10 'professional' reviews which talk nothing about the game's blatant faults and are nothing more than glorified press releases.

Lesbian here who owns the collector's edition. I was extremely excited for this game and had pre-ordered on the first day. The only true last of us is in my favorite games of all time. I was excited up until the first leaks came out. I had a small piece of hope that it would be at least somewhat good as I already expected Joel would probably die in the squeal just not in the way the leaks showed. When I played the game and saw how they made Joel/Tommy go against their characters, by telling these people where they live and their names when they do not know these people at all. The way Abby just kills Joel when at this point the player has no idea who Abby makes her insufferable. All the work they do to try and make her sympathetic does nothing. At the end of the game, I agree with Ellies's decision to still go after Abby cause 'it can't all be for nothing'. It does not make sense that she would almost just let Abby go, she had just killed a man to get information on where Abby is. The ending is inconsistent with Ellie's character, as the entire game she has been killing people to try and get to Abby, and it is stupid she did not just shoot her in the head. Ellie's ending is bad and she does not even get revenge if she had just killed her straight away all that would be different is she would still have 10 fingers. A waste of £160

The Last of Us 1 is a game that has been loved by many for three specific reasons:
Graphical beauty, character development and storytelling.
Joel and Ellies complexed relationship was fascinating and made the motive of the story intriguing and captivating, and the core of the game lies in the Storytelling.
The Last of Us 2 takes place years after the first happening. It is a visual masterpiece, the VA's are on point, and it almost feels like watching a movie at times. ....But here comes a problem.
Neil Druckmann, the writer and director of the game, knew that without a specific happening, this new game would eventually stagnate. Neil Druckmann needed a strong plot, so what would be better than something very infuriating?
Neil Druckmann went ahead to kill of the gameseries most beloved character.
This choice will bring Very divided opinions. I am standing inbetween.
I understand that letting us, along with Ellie, watch Joel getting tortured and executed will fire our passion. Passion for Revenge.
The problem doesn't fully lie in that Joel died. The problem lied in the Way he died and how Early he died. Creating a game while trollbaiting its fans that they will play as Joel and Ellie again, only to kill Joel off within 3 hours of a 25 hour long game is unfair. Not just for the hardcore fans but also those of us who simply created a bond with Joel in the first installment.
In other words, in order to Successfully kill Joel off, Neil had to make the rest of the story Intense and Passionated. It needed to be about revenge... and i am Not saying it wasn't.
I am saying that it was too little, too late.
The first 7 hours after Joels death was stagnating, filled with paddings and "mini-puzzles" (For instance, when you have to find safe codes, move something out of the way or turn on generators).
It doesn't help that the relationship between Dina and Ellie barely progress or develops, which kind of sucks since you Want to like Dina. When you finally think that the game reaches a turn of event, from the slowpaces tempo it held for so long, you suddenly no longer play as Ellie, instead you get to PLAY as Joels MURDERER.

Halfway into the story, we get to follow this person, Abby, and her point of view.
Why she kills Joel, what she does up til the point of the decisive battle.
It is Very hard to care about Abby, and the whole plot feels Forced.
We get it, Joel killed her father, but the same father wanted to do an operation on Ellie that definitely would have killed her, Yet knowing he would Never have done that same operation on his Own daughter. (His hypocrism makes it difficult to pity his death at all)
Then all of a sudden Neil Druckmann wants us to care for Abbys lovelife and friendships. He fails.
Ironically the second part of the game has the most interesting actionscenes, and the grittyness can get very intense at times, almost Too real.
On that note, it is important to mention how incredibly wellmade some details in the fightingscenes are. When you for example strangle an enemy you litterally see their facial reactions to it, including their restless panicked eyes and the screams from someone that you just shot sounds unnervingly realistic.
In other words, when the action gameplay works, it WORKS.
The problem is that the STORYTELLING lacks creativity and enough motivation to go on.
The passion is gone, and while playing as Abby you don't fully know what you are supposed to do. It is like a milelong padding filled with actionscenes.
On top of that there is multiple Flashbacks. Not only mentioning the main flashback for Abby, but we also enters flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks, and eventually the whole plot is lost in a maze of different timezone with little to no reasons to be told at all.
The only part worth mentioning is when Abby meets Yara and Lev. Both contribute well to the story imo.
Now that we have reached the Present again, and expect us a decisive battle where you kill Abby as Ellie, you gets to play as Abby trying to kill Ellie instead. As if the whole game hasn't been a big slap in the face already. At this point you simply don't care anymore.
After the fight ends, Abby and Ellie goes their seperated ways and Ellie settles down with a pregnant Dina (How convenient).
HERE the game should have ended. Simple and clean after an already failing storytelling... But NO. Now Ellie wants to hunt down Abby again.
I don't even want to dig into the ending, since it makes no sense and feels more like Neil wanted to throw in some "final fortress", but the story ends the same way as before anyways.
I think Neil Druckmann desperately tried to copy both classic Homeros and cult-director Hideo Kojima. He did not make it.
For those that loves action and graphics but couldn't Care about storytelling, this is the game for You.
For us Others who loves storytelling... this was simply a mediocre Disappointment