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

[nakamura]

Good points @Vemsie, particularly regarding how dynamic it is which I do like but I don't really agree it's that good. I felt in the original I was more often in control than not, having the element of surprise on my side. I've not found shooting limbs very effective and sometimes you'll shoot someone with a rifle and they act like it's a scratch, it's a rifle!

 

When it's good it's amazing, but i feel they haven't got the balance right. Sometimes it's just a bit of a drag. They have gone for volume and size over focus imo. 

[Glasgowchivas]

Kneecapping to hobble enemies def works....unless, like me, you are using the shotgun or upgraded hunting pistol, in which case you are just blowing limbs off and legging it while the poor bastards screams and bleeds out, drawing his friends over to walk into the bomb I'd left behind.

I love this game.

[MardiganX]

In a fairly early section I was lying prone under something. I shot a guy in the leg and then shot his face when he dropped down. I was waiting for the Babayaga achievement to appear but it didnt

[Vemsie]

20 minutes ago, nakamura said:

Good points @Vemsie, particularly regarding how dynamic it is which I do like but I don't really agree it's that good. I felt in the original I was more often in control than not, having the element of surprise on my side. I've not found shooting limbs very effective and sometimes you'll shoot someone with a rifle and they act like it's a scratch, it's a rifle!

 

When it's good it's amazing, but i feel they haven't got the balance right. Sometimes it's just a bit of a drag. They have gone for volume and size over focus imo. 

I think they really want to give you that feeling of someone who isn't a trained government agent like Sam Fisher, or a methodical hitman like Agent 47 or a badass who can just waltz through everything like the Doomslayer, but someone who needs to improvise. Someone who is always outnumbered and outgunned. Fights need to be scrappy. I think it really nails the essence of that. I always tend to start the encounters as silently as possible. Following enemy routines, trying to take them out with a stealth attack when they're isolated, eleminating goons with an arrow or a silenced shot, but I'd often fuck things up. Sometimes because I overlooked certain enemies, sometimes because I miss a shot and hit the wrong part of the body. And that's when the game really shines imo. Making a run to saftey, switching to my shotgun on the fly to deal with enemies suddently popping up, diving into grass to break line of sight, throwing a smoke bomb to distract groups of enemies, finding a little room that I can defend by placing mines near the door etc. 
I think it's a much better game than the first because ND forces you into that mindset more, by making enemies more intelligent, giving them new tools like dogs but also by making the level design more interesting, with more ways to hide and break line of sight and by giving you more tools to deal with them. And they all have their use, there's not a single item that is useless. 
Can they build upon it any further? No doubt, but I feel it's already best in class or close to it.

I think those gifs I posted yesterday convey really well how easy it is to adapt to situations but also how satisfying it all feels. Everything is on point in that regard as well. The animation, the sound design. It's just a great feedback loop. Some would say it's too satisfying to play given the themes of the game, but I'd rather have this than another Spec Ops: The Line. An interesting story, but a mechanical bore.

[the_debaser]

4 minutes ago, Vemsie said:

think they really want to give you that feeling of someone who isn't a trained government agent like Sam Fisher, or a methodical hitman like Agent 47 or a badass who can just waltz through everything like the Doomslayer, but someone who needs to improvise.

It feels like you’re controlling Rambo most of the time 

[nakamura]

Yeah I also think the enemies have a lot of ammo. They never seem to run out. It doesn't feel consistent. I really like it don't get me wrong, but it feels often too messy by accident rather than design. 

[Stanley]

3 minutes ago, the_debaser said:

It feels like you’re controlling Rambo most of the time 

Oh yeah 

[Vemsie]

1 minute ago, the_debaser said:

It feels like you’re controlling Rambo most of the time 

It doesn't, at least not the really action-packed Rambos, because Rambo would have infinite ammo. It's too scrappy for that. It's more like First Blood or Final Blood or whatever it was called, in which he used guerrilla tactics instead of going in guns blazing. The game does nail the exploding arrows though. 

[Spacehost]

3 minutes ago, the_debaser said:

It feels like you’re controlling Rambo most of the time 

First Blood or Rambo III?

[Vemsie]

2 minutes ago, nakamura said:

Yeah I also think the enemies have a lot of ammo. They never seem to run out. It doesn't feel consistent. I really like it don't get me wrong, but it feels often too messy by accident rather than design. 

I think that's by design. It makes it more challenging and forces you to be on the move more. Are there many games in which enemies have limited ammo period? I can't think of many.

[the_debaser]

Which Rambo was it that had the protagonist starting up generators every few minutes and struggling with fallen over cupboards?

[Spacehost]

1 minute ago, the_debaser said:

Which Rambo was it that had the protagonist starting up generators every few minutes and struggling with fallen over cupboards?

I think that was the one that came out last year. I haven't seen it yet.

[Stanley]

Just now, the_debaser said:

Which Rambo was it that had the protagonist starting up generators every few minutes and struggling with fallen over cupboards?

First Blood Seattle Day One: Come Back Later.

[Vemsie]

1 minute ago, the_debaser said:

Which Rambo was it that had the protagonist starting up generators every few minutes and struggling with fallen over cupboards?

Except for those two generators in Seattle, you hardly ever have to do it again in a 40 hour game though.

[Hitcher]

And done. Pretty good game overall even if the story was a bit too cliched at times and totally predictable.

[JoeK]

Aaand another break needed.

 

End of Day 2 I believe.

 

Jeepers.

[Lying Cat]

2 hours ago, PeteBrant said:

You may as well ask for Resi 4 to be open world . Heathen! 

 

What? You mean you're not completely up for climbing village church steeples to to reveal swathes of suspiciously similar Las Plagas mission icons in the local area?

[teddymeow]

2 hours ago, Spacehost said:

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I think doing something like Seattle Day 1 but on a far bigger scale could be spectacular. Sneaking into buildings and experiencing largely linear, contained experiences, but also having this wide open space to explore, with the issue of finding a safe camping ground every night.

 

Not unlike a grounded Stalker, to be honest.

Seattle Day 1 spoilers. Thought it might be a suprise that's better experienced without spoiling for some.

 

I would totally be up for some of this. The Lost Legacy did similar. Naughty Dog call it "wide linear".

[Gambit]

I'm about a couple of hours into Day 3. How long do I have left to play?

 

It's not that I'm noit enjoying it (I'm loving it!), but the free time I have these days to play games is limited.

[Pob]

2 hours ago, Spacehost said:

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I think doing something like Seattle Day 1 but on a far bigger scale could be spectacular. Sneaking into buildings and experiencing largely linear, contained experiences, but also having this wide open space to explore, with the issue of finding a safe camping ground every night.

 

Not unlike a grounded Stalker, to be honest.

Seattle Day 1 spoilers. Thought it might be a suprise that's better experienced without spoiling for some.

I've just realised there has already been a game this gen that does what I'm thinking - Metro Exodus. Replace the expansive wildenerness areas with smaller, denser urban areas, and I think that structure would suit TLOU perfectly.

[Majora]

29 minutes ago, Gambit said:

I'm about a couple of hours into Day 3. How long do I have left to play?

 

It's not that I'm noit enjoying it (I'm loving it!), but the free time I have these days to play games is limited.

 

 

You're probably less than halfway

[Spacehost]

30 minutes ago, Majora said:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

You're probably less than halfway

 

 

 

Spoiler

Fuck off! I'm not even that far in and I'm worried Tom Nook is going to have my knees broken if I don't get back to Animal Crossing. Jesus.

 

[Stanley]

Yeah be in no doubt, this game is massive. 

[Vemsie]

Long, mostly linear singleplayer games are dead they said.

Naughty Dog: Hold my brick, bottle and smoke bomb.

[Pob]

Usually in linear story-drive games I tend to be looking forward to the end as much as I'm enjoying playing it. This is a long game but not once have I wished any of it away and the more it goes on the more I want to know about the world and the characters. I reckon I'm about 2/3rds of the way through.

[Popo]

15 minutes ago, Peb Kacharach said:

Also, I can't put my finger on why, but it reminds me more of Half-life 1 & 2 than it's predecessor.

Same here and no, I didn’t get that feeling with the first game either. 

[Majora]

It reminded me of Half-Life 2 in the way your journey to a landmark is just as arduous and important as what you find when you get there. It routinely tells you where you need to head to, points out the landmark and then you spend several hours slowly heading towards it. A lot of games don't really capture that sense of hardship getting somewhere, or the feeling that your journey is a long but coherent one.

 

It also reminded me of Alan Wake at times, interestingly. I think because that game was also often geared around spending a couple of hours reaching somewhere way off in the distance but which you could see from different vantage points throughout your journey there.

[Pob]

The first game specialised in that as well.

[spanx]

Struggling with the introduction of dogs. Is there anyway to shake them off, I really don’t want to kill them but all have had to succumb to silenced pistol shots to the head so far

[Pob]

8 minutes ago, spanx said:

Struggling with the introduction of dogs. Is there anyway to shake them off, I really don’t want to kill them but all have had to succumb to silenced pistol shots to the head so far

 

bottles / bricks distract them and throw them off the scent. Killing their handlers confuses them.