The Last of Us Part 2 - Now updated for PS5 for at 60fps

[Spacehost]

Finished Seattle Day 1.

 

Spoiler

I think if this were any other game, I’d put the relative coldness and emptiness of this day of stabbings, shootings, zombie horror (oh God, I threw that bottle in the subway and I feel genuinely bad about it now. I’m sorry. I just wanted a way out) and awkward relationship chat down to dull writing.

 

BUT, you get to the flashback, and it puts what came before in relief. Ellie’s obviously still grieving and numb. It’s not a simple revenge quest full of bombast and righteousness because as much as the flashback is this tender moment, it’s also soured by yet another reminder of what Joel did.

 

I sometimes feel the revenge quest is a bit of an obligation rather than being driven by Ellie’s need for closure- another room, another step towards ticking someone off a kill list- as you’re never really given much insight into how Ellie is feeling except superficially. Much maybe that’s deliberate, for all its draining the energy out of the narrative.

I’ve got to be about a third through this now right?

[Jamie John]

Just finished.

 

Fucking hell. I'm a wreck.

 

Outstanding.

[Jamie John]

10 minutes ago, Spacehost said:

I’ve got to be about a third through this now right?

 

Spoiler

 

[Capwn]

48 minutes ago, Popo said:

I think I’ve reached the end now. 

 

(Don't look if not finished)

 

Spoiler

 

[Triple A]

6 hours ago, Spacehost said:

I’ve got to be about a third through this now right?

[MansizeRooster]

Just finished getting the last of the collectables, now just need to quickly run through a NG+ to fully upgrade the weapons and characters, then I'll have the platinum :-)

[Marlew]

Spoilers for 20hrs in:

 

Spoiler

I'm in what might be described as a longueur and while at first I literally sighed when I picked up a manual and some pills, I've come to really really enjoy this section and the character. At first, I didn't give a shit and couldn't understand why it dared to try to make me empathise but it's actually been really effective, and I like it a lot. I could actually go for a Lost Legacy style spin-off at this point because there are so many stories to tell here. The settings and scenarios have also been absolutely stunning.

 

[Popo]

A correction to my earlier post - I am definitely not near the end. 

[Kevvy Metal]

16 hours ago, Majora said:

 

You've still got some of the best and most intense set-pieces of the game ahead of you, including a couple which are genuinely quite scary. The gameplay loop itself never really changes though.

Err... it totally does change and evolve and get more complex and dynamic as you play. It might not completely change as in turn into a totally different game but it does change. 

[Spacehost]

Day 1 spoiler I just remembered

Spoiler

Which one of you arseholes complained to Naughty Dog about there not being enough kinds of Infected and gave us all Superintendent Shamblers? I've got enough stress in my life as it is.

 

[joemul]

Late Day 2 thoughts

 

Spoiler

The section where you get the boat was just tremendous. Creeping about, taking someone out then jumping Into the water to swim to another location while they all sh*t themselves trying to find me. 
 

I was quite happy using loud weapons to add to the confusion, knowing I could slip away underwater. A small new element to battles but made a great addition. 
 

I felt like Kevin Costner in Waterworld.  

 

[Vemsie]

7 minutes ago, joemul said:

Late Day 2 thoughts

 

  Hide contents

The section where you get the boat was just tremendous. Creeping about, taking someone out then jumping Into the water to swim to another location while they all sh*t themselves trying to find me. 
 

I was quite happy using loud weapons to add to the confusion, knowing I could slip away underwater. A small new element to battles but made a great addition. 
 

I felt like Kevin Costner in Waterworld.  

 

It's something that Uncharted 3 introduced and was expanded upon in 4, and I agree that it really adds to the combat sandbox. I'm really struggling to think of a third person game with better core combat. In terms of options it's probably The Phantom Pain, but this game has more interesting level design, more enemy variety and more satistfying feedback. Oh, and cooler set-pieces.

[Robo_1]

The accessibility option which essentially allows you to summon up a Crazy Taxi style arrow, which points you in the direction you need to go is a hugely welcome addition. On too many occasions I found myself running around looking for where to go next and to just eliminate that and make swifter progress with a tap of the button is most welcome. I totally understand why it's not a standard feature but one of my pet hates in video games is spending time wandering around looking for where to go next and this completely eliminates that. Bravo, I'd love to see more games employ such a system.

[Majora]

1 hour ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Err... it totally does change and evolve and get more complex and dynamic as you play. It might not completely change as in turn into a totally different game but it does change. 

 

In terms of combat mechanics it evolves, I believe his issue was more with the structure mostly being story bit - scavenge - combat arena - story bit - scavenge - combat arena which is a bit reductionist but is, very broadly, how a lot of the game proceeds. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, personally, just not to expect that loop to really change.

[Capwn]

I kinda want to play this again, however I don't have a PS4 PRO or 4K tv and I'm 100% aiming to have a P5 and 4K tv by the end of the year so I'm tempted to wait. I did the same with Uncharted4, would love to play it again but am holding off.

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, Robo_1 said:

The accessibility option which essentially allows you to summon up a Crazy Taxi style arrow, which points you in the direction you need to go is a hugely welcome addition. On too many occasions I found myself running around looking for where to go next and to just eliminate that and make swifter progress with a tap of the button is most welcome. I totally understand why it's not a standard feature but one of my pet hates in video games is spending time wandering around looking for where to go next and this completely eliminates that. Bravo, I'd love to see more games employ such a system.

Everything about the hints system is brilliant - you can have as little or as much help as you need with everything in between. 

[JoeK]

32 minutes ago, Capwn said:

I kinda want to play this again, however I don't have a PS4 PRO or 4K tv and I'm 100% aiming to have a P5 and 4K tv by the end of the year so I'm tempted to wait. I did the same with Uncharted4, would love to play it again but am holding off.

 

Have to say I can already see a huge amount of replay value going on - I took a lonely stroll a town area after I'd been in a big old fight, and the amount of different paths available for the budding predator is pretty amazing!

[Uncle Nasty]

2 hours ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Err... it totally does change and evolve and get more complex and dynamic as you play. It might not completely change as in turn into a totally different game but it does change. 

 

Can you say how it evolves and changes without being spoilery? I'm at the (location and weapon spoilers):

 

Spoiler

Hospital, just fallen off the bridge with my Scars buddy into the building. Got the crossbow, exploding shotgun rounds.

 

 

[Jamie John]

I finished this last night on Hard and loved it so much that I'm thinking of jumping straight back into New Game+ on Survivor, but I don't know if I can face all the scavenging, exploration and safe-cracking again - as much as I enjoyed it the first time around, it might become a bit tedious on a second visit.

 

Is there a way to circumvent this? What if I set all the options to Survivor except for item scarcity (or whatever it is) and keep that in Easy? But then I suppose there won't be enough tension.

 

Hmm.

[pledge]

I'm doing my New Game+ like that. I put everything on Hard and put resources on Easy. I would say there's less tension as even without scavenging a lot you get a lot of ammo. You could try it on medium though.

[Thor]

I just finished my NG+ run, also with resources on easy, I still opened every safe!

[Jamie John]

2 minutes ago, Thor said:

I just finished my NG+ run, also with resources on easy, I still opened every safe!

 

Do you know how long your second playthrough took in comparison with the first? My first was 

Spoiler

30 hours and, much as I love the game, I'm not sure if I could put that amount of time in again straight away. I'm wondering whether to sell it now and re-buy the inevitable PS5 remaster.

 

[Thor]

11 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

Do you know how long your second playthrough took in comparison with the first?

I just had a look...

Spoiler

My NG+ run was 26hrs and 49mins.

 

My original run was 27hrs and 34mins.

 

I had the week off work.

 

[teddymeow]

I'm selling a sealed copy for £42 delivered

[teddymeow]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

I just had a look...

  Hide contents

My NG+ run was 26hrs and 49mins.

 

My original run was 27hrs and 34mins.

 

I had the week off work.

 

 

Friend of mine finished in

19 1/2 hours. I shudder to think how much he missed!!

[Captain Kelsten]

I’ve just started this. I like it so far. Doesn’t seem too far removed from the first game, which is fine. Only about an hour and a half in.
 

Film grain is a bit aggressive, though, and can’t seem to turn it down. 

[Down by Law]

I completely forgot that there's still the HBO series coming...

[Broker]

Well, I love being a dick about how the first game has a great story for a game. And there was nothing in the 26 hours I just watched that made me want to play it at all.

 

But god damn. This does not just have a good story for a game. This has a story that could stand alongside actual storytelling media. It is superbly written, superbly acted and the characterisation is mesmerising. These feel as much like real people as anyone in a movie does, and the growth and change they experience is absolutely astounding for a game of this length. Assuming you’re talking about their ability to tell a traditional story, rather than creating an environmental narrative like Bloodborne, this has easily the best story of any game I’ve ever encountered. It makes other games that aim for this sort of storytelling, like the first game or Red Dead 2, look like failed experiments in trying to achieve this. It’s absolutely staggering how well delivered the story is. 

[Marlew]

@Broker The gameplay is the best ever of its kind. Only MGSV is superior to this as a stealth game, but it can't compare in the third person action genre. I'd also say that this is better than RE2 Remake as a survival horror game.

 

It's big talk and I've had a couple of robust Trappist beers but I would molotov a dog to defend this position. 

[the_debaser]

Played another hour tonight. Still utterly frustrating. It plays like a game from 15 years ago. Everything is signposted, full of hold forward cutscenes, crafting shit, codes on paper, boring conversations, scavenging, long pressing, qtes, uncharted lite environment exploration, NPCs telling you to look at stuff all the time, the game bombarding you with press button indicators all the time. Seattle feels so small. The story is absolute tripe too. 
 

A step backwards for gaming. I’ll stick with Nintendo for the foreseeable.