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Last of Us II

dimyh

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dimyh

dimyh 1874

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So I made a big mistake.

Usually I avoid trailers/previews for games and movies since they usually fail to deliver or give away too much story. And for the original Last of Us I consider that as an interactive movie so it double-downs on the preview risk. But I was weak. Surfing the Youtubes and noticed they had the E3 gameplay trailer posted. Tried to fight the urge but couldn't hold back and pressed that magical play button. And now I completely regret it. BECAUSE THIS GAME IS GOING TO BE FUCKING EPIC!!! Now I can't sit still without thinking how badass this game is going to be.

I'm not sure if the new one can touch the emotional range of the first but I trust Naughty Dog will put together a strong story. However the gameplay portion just looks fucking incredible. The animations, the actions, the visual and audio details all look superb. The attention to detail is just stunning.

 

 

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dimyh

dimyh 1874

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Yep, I've never been a pre-order guy or gotta play on opening day type but this might be the exception. I've watched the preview a couple of times and all of the little details just add up to make it look incredible:

the facial reactions when getting hit

injuries are to specific locations and not just a generic damage. Shooting the lady in the face shows exactly where she was hit. Ellie getting hit by an arrow means she has to pull it out from that specific spot.

animations just look smoother, she can pick something up and throw it without breaking stride

even seeing little things like the bow cross-hair in the shape of the fireflies logo is just a subtle but cool touch

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hayden_horn

hayden_horn 11362

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6 hours ago, dimyh said:

Definitely. It took me some time to get used to the mechanics and struggled at a few spots but once the story ramped up there was no looking back. Do you remember how far in the story you are?

not very far - made it through the buildings at the beginning, and i'm in some dark basement with something like 5 bullets and there are a bunch of those puffy headed zombies i have to get past somehow.

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dimyh

dimyh 1874

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Oh my you are still way early in the game. So much goodness you have yet to experience. And 5 bullets is a damn armory at this point of the game. Usually I was just cruising around with just a brick and band-aid...mostly because I was a terrible shot. Not sure what kind of problems you were having but let us know and we can help you out.

My generic advice:

---you don't have to kill everything

-- if you do need to kill then stealth is great

-- if you have trouble with clickers (they 1 hit kill you) then upgrade the ability to defend clicker attacks with a shiv. That made a world of difference in my game.

-- if you get lost then look for the color yellow (police tape, signs, etc) which is used as a soft clue to point players in the right direction

-- watch your teammates, they can help identify when the area is safe or when enemies are nearby. Plus hanging around them usually triggers conversations/talking points which helps with the overall story.

 

 

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hayden_horn

hayden_horn 11362

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On 11/21/2018 at 8:42 PM, dimyh said:

 

Oh my you are still way early in the game. So much goodness you have yet to experience. And 5 bullets is a damn armory at this point of the game. Usually I was just cruising around with just a brick and band-aid...mostly because I was a terrible shot. Not sure what kind of problems you were having but let us know and we can help you out.

My generic advice:

---you don't have to kill everything

-- if you do need to kill then stealth is great

-- if you have trouble with clickers (they 1 hit kill you) then upgrade the ability to defend clicker attacks with a shiv. That made a world of difference in my game.

-- if you get lost then look for the color yellow (police tape, signs, etc) which is used as a soft clue to point players in the right direction

-- watch your teammates, they can help identify when the area is safe or when enemies are nearby. Plus hanging around them usually triggers conversations/talking points which helps with the overall story.

 

 

i'm finishing up the uncharted series (which i'd never played, and one of my sons got the whole collection), which is kind of a grind, but i insist on finishing it. i'm on the second one now, so i've a bit to go before i come back to this game. (btw, i almost bailed on uncharted in the first game when the zombies were almost impossible)

i'll give it another shot - i was a terrible shot as well, which was giving me some of the issues. 

and yeah, it was a bunch of clickers. i think i'm actually supposed to sneak past them, but i like death and destruction. thanks for the pointers!

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dimyh

dimyh 1874

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Cool, I'm not watching any more vids as I'm already past hyped. Part of the joy of the first game was that I didn't really know much going into the game beside it was some type of zombie survival. It gave me a chance to be sucked into the story without any expectations or preconceived notions. I can't replicate that going into the new game but I'm going to do my best to avoid spoilers rest of the way.

 

 

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Jkwellborn

Jkwellborn 6702

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Cool, I'm not watching any more vids as I'm already past hyped. Part of the joy of the first game was that I didn't really know much going into the game beside it was some type of zombie survival. It gave me a chance to be sucked into the story without any expectations or preconceived notions. I can't replicate that going into the new game but I'm going to do my best to avoid spoilers rest of the way.
 
 

I didn’t really know much about the first one either. Just watched a couple of vids and said screw it. I need a game. It did not disappoint.
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Modessit

Modessit 5601

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For me, I liked 3rd person games and asked my nephews if they had anything good I could borrow for the PS3. They gave me Assassin's Creed 1 & 2, Uncharted 1 and 2, and The Last of Us. I thought AC was all right and Uncharted was awesome, but The Last of Us really blew me away. I remember getting worried about characters when they got hurt and would talk to my wife about it and kept calling it a "movie" instead of a game. When I finished the game I just spent the next couple days feeling weird that I wouldn't be in the story anymore. I've only watched the very first trailer with her playing the guitar. I'm not watching anything else to get any preconceived notions about it. I'll probably play the first again (and the DLC) for the 4th or 5th time the week before #2 comes out just so it's all fresh.

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Modessit

Modessit 5601

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Dammit. I was afraid of this and was checking their Twitter feeds last week to see if the SIP orders were interfering with getting the game done but everything said they would be on schedule. Sounds like the game will be done but they can't get it on the servers or something for release.
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Modessit

Modessit 5601

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What logistical issues affect a game launch in the age of digital licensing?  Folks buy the game through the PlayStation Store, download and play.  They having issues getting servers configured and ready?
I'll bet Sony requires a hard copy instead of internet transfer before adding to the servers and that in the age of piracy they want it hand delivered.

Tl;dr - I have no fucking idea.
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dimyh

dimyh 1874

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Yep one more day. I'm old school and pre-ordered the steelbook. Been practicing social distancing on any news articles to avoid spoilers. Just got to avoid the rona for another day and its gonna be game time!

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HOOKEM4

HOOKEM4 5037

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I just stopped after a 12 hour marathon play. This shit is too good. I do remember getting sorta tired of the long "play along" cutscene but it hasn't bothered me yet. The story is good and playing the whole time on pins and needles is fun as hell.

This is the only time I will say this, fuck the dogs. Mfers are a pita.

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dimyh

dimyh 1874

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Got to some of these dag sections and they have been fucking me up. I usually try to stealth and that strategy has been shelved as I can't campout in a safe area. Gotta get better at running and gunning. Definitely a thrill though just getting past some of those sections.

 

Also have run into heart attack inducing baddies while trying to upgrade weapons. I get into an area and "hey look there's a workbench!" Seems like a complete safe zone and start tinkering with my stuff when some guy ends up choking me out. Those have been the worst jump scares so far in the whole game.

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Storm the Field

Storm the Field 5294

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Man, the online gaming community is such a cesspool of incels and anti-social trolls poisoning Reddit/Twitter. A lot of people decided they hated this game months before it ever was even released. Within a few minutes of being launched, large scale review bombing started. Tens of thousands of 0/10 reviews on metacritic despite having a 95/100 average over 96 professional reviews.

A good chunk of the negative reviews are literally just gibberish key-mashing like "arlkjadksfljaskdljf fuck naughty dog" or something along the lines of "awful writing, I refuse to play this game b/c Neil Cuckmann ruined this entire franchise with SJW bullshit that fans didn't want..."

Which makes it even more funny to see:

Quote

 

The Last of Us Part 2 sales have smashed the record for Sony’s fastest-selling PS4 exclusive, knocking Naughty Dog’s previous record holder by the wayside.

The news comes from a report published by GamesIndustry.biz, which concludes that The Last of Us Part 2 sales have knocked 2016’s Uncharted 4 off its perch as the fastest-selling PS4 exclusive of this console generation.

 

 

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HOOKEM4

HOOKEM4 5037

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I wont ruin anything but there is a section I got to in this game and played it something like 20 times before realizing the best way to handle it is a full on mad dash through everything. There was next to no way to map out the movements of the NPC's and they seemed to have dogs everywhere I went. You cant hide from those fuckers. I killed so many guys and dogs only to have even more show up. It was clear I needed to ignore the loot and just run Forrest run. 

 

And as far as the reviews, I give it a 9/10. One of the top games I have ever see/played.

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NAVY

NAVY 6740

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On 6/22/2020 at 10:46 AM, HOOKEM4 said:

I wont ruin anything but there is a section I got to in this game and played it something like 20 times before realizing the best way to handle it is a full on mad dash through everything. There was next to no way to map out the movements of the NPC's and they seemed to have dogs everywhere I went. You cant hide from those fuckers. I killed so many guys and dogs only to have even more show up. It was clear I needed to ignore the loot and just run Forrest run. 

 

And as far as the reviews, I give it a 9/10. One of the top games I have ever see/played.

That’s a great hint. Gracias 

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LonghornJudas

LonghornJudas 1097

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Finished my playthrough last night and I can't say enough good things about the artistry on display in this game. Really a solid work of art by the ND team and I was not disappointed AT ALL with the story, characters, or the ending. Some people think this is their own personal IP and complain about it not going the way they wanted it to go, and they really need to be reminded that ND has earned the right to tell their story they way they want to tell it. Love it or hate, you're still talking about it, and while I have my personal opinions on some of the design, I have to recognize the game as a whole is really well done and deserves recognition.

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Modessit

Modessit 5601

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Here's a video I captured the other night in my stream. It was so good that I just turned of the camera and overlays and let it play out.
 
Spoiler that. I'm not watching it now and even the still visual tells me that what I'm going thru now won't turn out terrible.

I'm at the point where I'm playing as a different character and I took 2 days off simply because I don't particularly like that character despite my understanding of why they did what they did earlier in the game. I'm sure I'll get back into it here soon.
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dimyh

dimyh 1874

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@LonghornJudas yeah you really should spoiler that

 

I finished it the other day and been just slowly digesting the story. Definitely well crafted but with some tough moments to deal with. It does not have the simplicity and clarity of the first game with the straight forward coming of age/coming to terms themes that weave a strong empathy for the pair. This game though grabs you by the scruff of your neck and forces you to stare at this violent trauma.

 

End game spoilers:

Spoiler

Game makes it really uncomfortable playing as Abby since you are so emotionally invested in Joel. I completely understand people being pissed at having to play so much of the game as her. Let alone the boss fights where I have to take down Ellie. I would just run up to Ellie and say, "Hey I'm right here! Shoot me in the face!" 

I understand the point of having these parallel stories of revenge and the obsessions that curl around your heart like bandages, seemingly as a comfort from the pain but actually strangling that last bit of humanity out of you. Ellie is the main character but Abby is the one that provides that extra context. She's the one who gets her revenge. Then realized it didn't make a difference. She was actually becoming more like Joel, the mercenary warrior, who was great at taking lives but never actually saving anyone. Both were spiralling down that path until each one found a kid to save.

Abby also works as the mirror to Ellie, a cautionary tale of revenge obtained but not absolution. As Ellie gets closer to her goal the closer she gets to becoming Abby. They both end up destroying or alienating the ones around each other: Owen and Mel, Jessie and Dina. When we got to the first farm scene and got to see teen mom Ellie, I was thinking, "Just take the safe ending. Forgive a little. You can be happy." Mainly because I'm a wuss and risk averse but I understood that this was not going to end well. And seeing Ellie losing that last bit of family, losing her ability to play guitar, losing all of that, before she could finally come to terms with losing Joel. Before she could realize that no amount of killing could ever undo that one horrific moment. Tough to see that little Ellie who once believed it all can't be for nothing, realize that some of these losses are for nothing. Talk about survivor's guilt...its one thing to survive in that world when much of that violence is outside your control but when you are the catalyst for that violence then that remorse has to strike twice as deep.

 

 

 

 

 

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MillerEP

MillerEP 30455

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Just finished it, and I'll echo some of the same things. It's graphically gorgeous, still has the same great game play. However, I definitely get the hate for the story, I have a lot of gripes about it. I would still recommend it to others, with that caveat. 

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