The Last of Us 2 is the best piece of content that I’ve ever consumed (Today is its 5th Anniversary June 19th 2020)

Bernardougf said:
Yeah I remember the theater dead silent after TLJ .. eveyone basically in shock thinking "WTF did I just watched?" .. I also remember several awkward laughs in some scenes that just wasn't purposely made to be laughed at it.
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Yeah that exactly what I think it was "wtf did I just watch"
Total silence while we process it all.
Ironically you had people defending it saying it was the best Star Wars yet.
People don't like when it's said but TLOU2 & TLJ have a shit load in common.
 
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XERXES_89 said:
The game doesn't portray Ellie's actions in a positive light. On the contrary. There is constant disapproval of her actions from her peers, who constantly insist she's going too far. These actions negatively impact Ellie's psychological and physical appearance, as we see her growing increasingly thin and displaying symptoms of PTSD. The game even gives us control in certain situations to force us to do things that we, as players, probably don't want to do.

As for Abby, by the time she spares Ellie and Dina, she's already changed. She's broke up with her previous world -perpetuos cycle of violence- because the only thing that's helped her overcome her trauma is finding a new purpose: hope, represented by Lev.
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That's a cool analysis and all but whatever sort of 'message' they tried going for is meaningless in the face of characters as empathetic as traffic cones, and less convincing than reality shows. Developments and character's drives feel like a bunch of excuses strung together because the plot said so.
 
HRK69 said:
It's basically the Dark Knight Rises of gaming

Ambitious, divisive, and weighed down by impossible expectations
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That's one way of seeing it. But I think a much more straight forward approach would've satisfied most of us. Now ND chose something completely different.
 
HRK69 said:
It's basically the The Last Jedi of gaming

Ambitious, divisive, and weighed down by impossible expectations
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Ftfy
TDKR is actually a okay film that couldn't live up the TDK, you can watch that trilogy and be okay with it, it doesn't ruin what came before it.
 
If ND made a safe crowd pleaser it would have been derided as a samey sequel like like Horizon Forbidden West.

Say what you want but the game has long legs and is still talked about.
 
Donald Trump GIF by reactionseditor
 
Yeah, perhaps the op needs to get out and experience more "content"
Owned for ps4, upgraded for the ps5 remake..
Got a little further in the ps5 remaster, but ultimately the narrative wasn't really for me, just unpleasant characters doing unpleasant things to each other. Sure the 1st game had similar tones but I enjoyed that far more.
Neither were the best content I've ever consumed.. or even standout enough to make a top 10 list
That's why it's good we have choice since none of us have the same tastes
 
kpopSuperstar said:
Yes, it makes Joel and Tommy psychopaths. One thing is survival, but going after people is different. But you could perhaps reason for their behaviors.
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I find that brush too broad. Are all military personnel psychopaths if they have to hunt people down in the name of justice or retaliation? Psychopathy is never about the act itself. It is the toll that the act takes on you. If it takes no toll, then they are psychopaths. I'm sure there are people out there like that, but I would say the majority are at risk of PTSD because they are, by nature, not psychopaths.

Not all murderers are psychopaths. But most serial killers are. Their killings take no toll on them.

Ellie is absolutely bothered by it all and so is Abby. Joel and Tommy too, in their own stoic way. They all process it with a touch of denial and misplaced sense of righteousness. We can agree to disagree on her "enjoying killing at some level". The insane body count is simply a gamified version for a violent videogame. See how they handle it in the show. She kills 2, arguably out of survival instinct, and one (+ an unborn) by accident. This is her actual core that translated from game to TV. She was never meant to be presented as a psychopath. If that's your takeaway from a video game character, then all action videogame characters are psychopaths.

If there are any actual psychopaths, it's Nathan Drake. At least part 4 tries to redeem him just a little bit. But that series isn't meant to be taken seriously as it was all meant for fun. Does that makes us psychopaths though? Within the confines of make-believe, I would argue yes!
 
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TGO said:
Yeah that exactly what I think it was "wtf did I just watch"
Total silence while we proceed it all.
Ironically you had people defending it saying it was the best Star Wars yet.
People don't like when it's said but TLOU2 & TLJ have a shit load in common.
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The difference its I think Druckmann really love this world and what he created, his woke/feminist ideas and bad story telling got the better of him.

Rian Johnson, and nothing will convince me of the contrary, just fucking hates star wars and did a troll movie for the sake of "fans tears"
 
The big difference between the two is that Star Wars is about good vs evil while TLOU never was. Anybody who saw the ending of the first game should have realized that there would be fallout from Joel's actions.

Also ND created it so he can do what he wants with I t.
 
Bernardougf said:
The difference its I think Druckmann really love this world and what he created, his woke/feminist ideas and bad story telling got the better of him.

Rian Johnson, and nothing will convince me of the contrary, just fucking hates star wars and did a troll movie for the sake of "fans tears"
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I agree except for the Rian Johnson part.
I think he truly believes he was making it better with what he put out.
 
No matter how good or bad the game is, it doesn't deserve this much attention and a new thread every few months where GAF argues over the same talking points again and again. But I guess when ND never releases a new game, what else is there to do?
 
I loved it, through the sketchy, heady, mess of a story. Anyone who is remotely reasonable is victimized by these two revenge motivated a-holes. It's a difficult, modern Western. It horrified me, it's got a really dark game loop, like, very necro. A red nightmare of peoples faces, twisted in pain, the horror of realization as they die, the sound of agonized, pitiful screams. You learn to enjoy it though, like, you are the monster. In some ways, the zombies are a relief.

I think the whole controversy is wild. Like, it has a queer vibe and a woman vibe and they delivered a technical powerhouse of a game. It's extremely fun to play, nobody was pandered to, as far as I am concerned, that's all they owed anyone. God bless them for killing their icons.
 
JayK47 said:
No matter how good or bad the game is, it doesn't deserve this much attention and a new thread every few months where GAF argues over the same talking points again and again. But I guess when ND never releases a new game, what else is there to do?
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This shows you how much of a milestone TLOU 2 is…
 
GymWolf said:
Doesn't make sense after killing a small city worth of men and all of his friends and an unborn child, it was way too late to show mercy, not when you also left your wife and kid forever to kill the bitch, to do that the revenge must be eating you inside and no memory of joel is gonna solve that, if anything it should lit an even bigger fire.

And abby sparing her after she killed all her decades long friends and his lover just because lev say so was even more retarded, you don't forget someone killing LITERALLY your entire world because a kid you meet yesterday tell you to spare the killer.
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You do realize both Ellie and Abby are super weak physically and destroyed emotionally by this time in the game, all of that comes into play and Ellie gives up. The world in TLOU is usually a visceral one, but this time it wasn't…
 
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The Last of Us 2 is the best piece of content that I've ever consumed

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I'm genuinely sorry and sad to hear that. Of all the great books that've been written and all the amazing movies that've been made, your crowning consumtion of content is this crap. :messenger_pensive:
 
TLOU Part 1 was a real 9/10 cream of the crop release. I just played it for the first time in the Steam release launch window and the quality was end-to-end in a way that we've only seen a handful of times in the entire span of HD gaming. TLOU 2 had a lot of good parts. Many teams within Naughty Dog brought their best effort. Combat design, tech, graphics etc. All great. The level designer wasn't able to recapture the TPS brilliance of Part 1, but it was still solid. The challenge there might have been scope. Thinking about it, the situation is not unlike Doom Eternal -> Dark Ages. Less focused, less refined, diluted. You'd get more random enemy counts in random areas, where their predecessors seemed to account for every blade of grass, sight line and weapon type. Really making each encounter feel like its own little meal. Not sure if this is even possible at the scale of TLOU2. The thing TLOU does the best is the immediacy and violence of a head shot. The combination of the gameplay and visuals of it are the best in the industry. First couple I popped in TLOU1 my jaw really dropped. I get that it would have big implications for difficulty, but I'd love it if they could find a way to balance the game with chest and stomach shots having the same realism. Meaning 95% of the people you hit with one are basically done. Maybe something for Grounded mode with the ammo supply adjusted for it.

Story is going to be subjective. But I thought the worst parts of it had nothing to do with their decision to kill Joel. Maybe because I only knew Joel from one playthrough just a few months before playing TLOU2. I can see how that bond can grow over the course of a couple years of replays, and HD remake and plenty of wondering what TLOU2 would be like. The overall tone of the writing felt like when a really good movie gets a spinoff TV show made by a B network.

On mute and with completely neutral feelings on Joel, TLOU 2 is still an overall step down from TLOU 1. Scope could be responsible for this. Perhaps it is too big to hand craft every encounter and make resources feel the same. The gameplay highs are just as high as they are in TLOU1, and maybe even higher in flashes, but the pacing and space between drags down the overall score. The timeline that got a Joel-centric TLOU2 and is now bubbling with anticipation for September launch of TLOU 3 sure is looking good right now. But hey, Sony fans are all about extraction shooters now, so maybe it don't matta.
 
When you say shit like "piece of content that I've ever consumed" you clearly show off how deep your brain has been colonized by your market overlords to label yourself as a subhuman 'consumer'.

Learn to talk like a proper human being, instead of regurgitate corporate marketing shit.

a57b189a4a1c048c63de1495b7095b48.gif
 
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FukuDaruma said:
When you say shit like "piece of content that I've ever consumed" you clearly show off how deep your brain has been colonized by your market overlords to label yourself as a subhuman 'consumer'.

Learn to talk like a proper human being, instead of regurgitate corporate marketing shit.

a57b189a4a1c048c63de1495b7095b48.gif
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Who are you talking to? Because it isn't me…You don't know me..
 
ResetEraVetVIP said:
Who are you talking to? Because it isn't me…You don't know me..
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It's utterly braindead to reduce everything to neoliberal buzzwords like "piece of content I consume."
That soulless jargon strips art, ideas, and human expression down to mere products for passive ingestion, as if people are just mindless cogs in a capitalist machine.

It's a lazy, dehumanizing way to talk; parroting corporate marketing that commodifies creativity and critical thought.
Wake up and use real words: call it a game, a book, a film, or a song, not some sterile "content" you "consume" like a zombie.
 
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FukuDaruma said:
It's utterly braindead to reduce everything to neoliberal buzzwords like "piece of content I consume."
That soulless jargon strips art, ideas, and human expression down to mere products for passive ingestion, as if people are just mindless cogs in a capitalist machine.

It's a lazy, dehumanizing way to talk; parroting corporate marketing that commodifies creativity and critical thought.
Wake up and use real words: call it a game, a book, a film, or a song, not some sterile "content" you "consume" like a zombie.
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I understand what you are saying and I agree, but the title still stands. I broke down some very niche things about TLOU 2 in the OP. Did you read the OP?
 
Obviously this is my opinion- While the acting, production values, and new tech like motion matching elevate TLOU2 above most games, it also has some pacing issues and is relatively simple in it's design. I know it's apples to oranges, but I'd argue that something like the 'Souls' Games top it by a pretty wide margin. The overall depth, sense of exploration, addicting game play loop, and meaningful progression make something like Elden Ring infinitely more immersive and a 'better' game imo. Don't get me wrong, TLOU2 does a fantastic job doing what it sets out to do, it is great for what it is, but it's ultimately too simple, shallow, and repetitive to stand toe to toe with the very best games in the industry.
 
hemo memo said:
A 5 year victory lap for a game that substitutes shock value for substance? The technical achievements are commendable but no amount of graphical polish can redeem a narrative that mistakes misery for depth and manipulation for storytelling. That you consider this the pinnacle of creative expression says more about your standards than the game's quality. But by all means keep celebrating your beloved trauma simulator. Just don't expect the rest of us to mistake it for art.
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Literally this, it's was one of the things we where drilled into in the art of moving image (essentially a degree to aid in getting into the TV and film industry) "dont mistake misery for depth, suffering for complexity, its a very American thing to do" which got a big round of laughter in the hall. Now with a anouther 2 decades under me I realise how true that is, you see it all the time in American shows, whilst European (and us in the UK) manage to avoid this trap. Although in recent years with how streaming services work this resilience in the writers is starting to fall into the same traps.

TLoU 2 is essentially a showcase of how to make mistakes as a writer in videogame form. The fact "critics" missed this tells you what you need to know about the video game press at the time.
 
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XERXES_89 said:
TLOU2 is not a "simple revenge story", fcs. xDDDD

The game is about empathy and knowing how to forgive. Abby doesn't find peace after killing Joel, but after finding another purpose and helping characters she'd previously dehumanized. The same thing happens to Ellie: she spares Abby when she remembers her last conversation with Joel, which is precisely about forgivness.
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Anyone with half a brain understands this. The problem is how badly executed it is. That's made simplistic by a simplistic mind. The last part is flatout stupid and conflicts Ellie's character up to that point. Ellie should have had a whole "sympathy arc" for it to be believable.

Making another comparison with TWD, which is written by actual adults, just check the evolution of the relationship between Negan and Maggie and their last conversation. This is how you do it correctly. TLOU 2 wants to treat serious topics with a childish approach.
 
Gameplay is good. Stinky story + unskippable and/or forced walking segments listening to pure vomit is not.

A whole level with sheman, to get medicine for a stranger to show what a good person she is, only to have that person die immediately after really felt like I completely wasted my time.

If your gameplay is good, but I don't want to play because your forced story is absolute shit, then it is really, really very very bad.
 
kungfuian said:
Obviously this is my opinion- While the acting, production values, and new tech like motion matching elevate TLOU2 above most games, it also has some pacing issues and is relatively simple in it's design. I know it's apples to oranges, but I'd argue that something like the 'Souls' Games top it by a pretty wide margin. The overall depth, sense of exploration, addicting game play loop, and meaningful progression make something like Elden Ring infinitely more immersive and a 'better' game imo. Don't get me wrong, TLOU2 does a fantastic job doing what it sets out to do, it is great for what it is, but it's ultimately too simple, shallow, and repetitive to stand toe to toe with the very best games in the industry.
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TLOU 2 IS among the best games in the industry, its literally the definition of best in industry.
 
Woggleman said:
Asking TLOU to do this is like Asking Mario Kart to be dark and gritty. It's like eating ice cream and complaining it is cold. Dark and depressing is Parr of the DNA of the series.
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There next game isn't this series. I was talking about intergalactic.
 
FukuDaruma said:
It's utterly braindead to reduce everything to neoliberal buzzwords like "piece of content I consume."
That soulless jargon strips art, ideas, and human expression down to mere products for passive ingestion, as if people are just mindless cogs in a capitalist machine.

It's a lazy, dehumanizing way to talk; parroting corporate marketing that commodifies creativity and critical thought.
Wake up and use real words: call it a game, a book, a film, or a song, not some sterile "content" you "consume" like a zombie.
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I...was also outraged by the thread title but didn't have this amount of energy to throw down. I agree with you in short. "Content" is a truly hideous term.
 
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