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State of Play’s next episode is dedicated to The Last of Us Part II


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They spent 14 minutes on stuff they've already shown before. Ok, maybe some people haven't seen those earlier gameplay clips explaining the game mechanics. But did the latest trailer need to be there?

 

Anyway. Gameplay looks fine. The thing I enjoy the most so far in all the gameplay clips is the animations. Just little things like how Ellie picks up an arrow from the ground. I believe most AAA still can't do even that. Your character does a grabbing animation and the item disappears or teleports. In TLOU2 it never happens anywhere.

 

Other than that, the whole thing looks kind of bland to me. I remember being bored in some parts of the original game. At least Part II doesn't look like it has these endless ladders and generators, and they're promising a couple of new types of enemies. Maybe they will spice up the gameplay along with some cool set pieces. 

 

They're still mostly ignoring Abby. That's fine. I don't think they shouldn't.

Edited by Alderriz
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8 hours ago, MidnightDragon said:

Well, a teenager is going to be more agile than an older man.

I know it's just refreshing to see. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/25/2020 at 9:22 PM, Givaldo150 said:

I understand what you mean but i just don't care about what the internet community says about games anymore, since CoD Ghosts, that i really love,  suffered an disgusting and unnecessary backlash.

 

What i see is people whining about the crunch and spoilers, because it is aparently, "too woke" or full of "gender vitimism", and even if it is the case ( i also hate those progressist propaganda and vitimism), people are instantly turning ND as a scumbag company for no reason, thats what i see, i think it is a great move to focus on SP, that is what they are good on, and what i personaly care.

(Procrastinated late reply)

There's only so much one person can know when they isolate themselves from sources and other parties of information. You don't have to believe everything you read online, but it's still the best option to do some kind of research to at least have sufficient information on things. 

 

It's not "no reason". They've been doing many questionable & distasteful things and having numerous internal conflicts for a long time, both way before Amy's departure and U4's development. People just haven't generally spoken up on it too much or paid much mind of because, well, it's Naughty Dog. "They make the best games, who cares?" Anyway, in situations like theses, there's always multiple different sides: some people obviously hopping onboard the bandwagon, some using the info for attention or money, and some who are genuinely upset and have been pushed to their limit.

 

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For me atleast, games are about having fun, and some games are focused on gameplay, as others are more in narrative, so games like RE games, are more famous by its mechanics in survival horror, that's why RE5 and RE6 are so hated, because people misunderstood those games. Uncharted and TLoU are beloved by the experience it gives to the players, more than its gameplay, let's be honest,

 

There's actually, literally, video game genres for focusing specifically or more heavily on narrative—officially none of which Naughty Dog's games fall under—and they're all about providing powerful story-driven and interactive experiences. Classics like Heavy Rain and The Walking Dead are prime examples. Gameplay should never take the backseat to story/narrative outside those genres.

 

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Uncharted mechanics was innovative, but also really bad, the cover and shoulder shooting was great, but the aim reticle or crosshair, was a real downside, and also the clumsy nathan movements and lack speed was unfun, but overall, it was a great experience,

 

What mechanics were innovative exactly? A lot of new games have generally had mechanics not seen too often, not properly utilized, unoriginal and/or unique, but what tends to matter is how well uncommon, underutilized, and unoriginal mechanics are used compared to other games, as well as how effective unique mechanics are used. So what did Uncharted do better than its competition? As for the cover-system, Kill Switch is credited as the first game to use it as a core mechanic. Gears of War and Uncharted, which launched the same year, both took inspiration from it, but GoW ended up doing it better than both games and is the one credited as the game that revolutionized the mechanic. Agree with the rest.

 

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TLoUs did great improvements from Uncharted,

 

A heavier usage of exposition in gameplay (which even Amy Hennig has criticized) and increase in scripted slowed down walking sections is not an "improvement" I'd use as leverage. I don't recall much great improvements on the gameplay side of things. Many of the shooting mechanics from Uncharted are completely absent, like blind-fire (in and outside cover), hip-firing, run-and-gun, and gun+melee combo. Features like climbing (when done right), puzzles, throwback grenades, every single type of cover-based takedown (over, side, above, and under), etc, are also absent. The melee system has been regressed to an unskillful heavily scripted square masher (which U4 then also regressed itself to after U3 and TLOU). Similarly, the entire "cover system" is also a downgrade. 

 

TLOU's "great improvement" that I can recall is providing the player with a larger item carrying system for them to have access to and use weapons beyond just a long gun, a sidearm, and four slots for one type of explosive item, that the Uncharted series uses. But the game tries to use its array of carrying items as a cover for its lack of core mechanics and little depth. As for stealth, it's only better in select areas but is still overall underwhelming compared to games that aren't Uncharted. It's cool that they can make stealth better in their newer franchise (TLOU) than their previous (Uncharted), but the stealth system in their games aren't the only games that matter and they should be looking to outdo.

 

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and was a really fun stealth experience, mainly on Hard modes.

 

If you've been playing regular shooters and coming off the Uncharted trilogy, yeah, but I've had way more fun with the stealth in action-stealth games, pure stealth games, and games with stealth elements—Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4. Even with that series' success, some people love bashing it, but the gameplay in the series is fairly superb. Stealth wise alone, and why I have more fun with it than TLOU's, is because you can often do more (e.g., ledge takedowns, underwater stealth and takedowns, aerial takedowns, body relocation and hiding, vegetation stealth, silencers, base or enemy takedowns through use of wild or caged animals, etc), and the reward factor is utterly higher, especially when complete stealth is actually doable without forcefully scripted interrupting action events or with very little of it.  

 

TLOU's stealth is conflicting. Not entirely sure if it's decent or mediocre, either of which is due to the limitations the developers set in their own game rather than hardware limitations. It has some of the 101 basics like sound triggering suspicion (limited to carrying items and footsteps), sneak attack from behind, and crouching—modern games have been mostly getting this right for years now—but it's then blatantly missing other very common stealth elements, like body relocation, silencers, other directional physical stealth takedowns, and cover takedowns. (The bow is a silent weapon, yes, but arrows can break, and silencers are still the superior choice.) Particularly, for a game so focused on realism, it's disappointing that body relocating in its full entirety (i.e., dragging bodies and picking up bodies) isn't included. It sucks being in helpless situations during stealth mode when other members of a group are heading in a direction of a dead body that nothing could be done about, seemingly because the game wants the player to engage in action rather than leaving that choice to them.

 

What makes the game more entertaining on higher difficulties is the increased survival nature, the best and most consistent gameplay aspect in the game. Survival and stealth go well together, generally, because health doesn't regenerate and items are scarce, making stealth the default/favorable choice for non-aggressive players. But with this game it's not the stealth system being really good on its own that results in people using it (unlike say in Dishonored), it's the prominent survival system supporting it and encouraging players to proceed in the workable stealth mode to have a better chance at . . . survival (the most engaging aspect)

 

The action, scripted action events, and developer-driven story also directly conflicts with the stealth gameplay too often, which hurts the gameplay in areas and affecting replay-value (examples below will make the point clear), reward factor (non-existent at times because various scripted events coerce use of survival resources and negates skilled stealthy progression), and approach/player freedom (no point in attempting to do things differently if an event or segment has to play out a predetermined way). There's various instances in the game where being completely stealthily is entirely redundant because the game is following the action-based events and story the developers laid out in advanced. Some instances include being spotted exiting the Capitol even after flawless stealth (the enemies notice the player regardless of what action they take), not being able to sneak up behind the sniper shortly after exiting the sewers (the lead character has to have a scripted and cinematic fight with the person), not being able to completely stealth past the weaponized vehicle in financial district (this one really looks utterly stupid in gameplay—the player has to partake in the chase sequence), not being able to stealth out of the ranch house (all enemies have to be eliminated), not being able to stealth to-and-through the elevator in the hotel (enemies teleport and fight Joel to prevent him from stealthily proceeding on through it), and more. The action gameplay (and pre-determined story) take precedence over the (already limited) stealth too much.

 

Level design is also one-two dimensional, whether semi-open or not. Among the absence of interesting verticality, the levels lack the traversal and tight hiding spaces one would see in other stealth-related titles. By design, the levels are cover-shooting based (which is no surprise), so players are always hiding behind walls/other vertical surfaces or conveniently placed on the ground horizontal structures/things the same way they would in a cover shooter. That's just too simple and non-creative, so it ends up also not complementing the stealth-play or bringing it to new heights. There also aren't any environmental hazards/traps that players can exploit to use against the enemy, whether preformed or crafted by the player. I mean, most objects in this game in general are permanently glued to surfaces without any interactivity.

 

The game also surprisingly has a slightly better but still outdated "enemies in the area are alerted and know where you are once just one of them spots you" system, even if they haven't spoken/spoken loud enough to be heard by nearby allies and you kill them immediately afterwards. 

 

Overall, some fun can be had with the stealth system, but I wouldn't call it "really fun or good" due to a mixture of relevant factors that negatively impact the stealth experience, like what's been listed and some notably very faulty A.I. behavior occasionally (which more people only seem to be calling out more now that the glorious sequel is around the corner with its improved A.I, something I'll also be testing), especially the one involving (human) enemies standing in one place indefinitely, sometimes with and completely without any movement. What stealth the game offers, "works"; it's not outright bad, it's mostly just underwhelming and not particularly interesting or great.

 

I've noticed PII has made several improvements to a few of the things listed above, some of which includes the addition of stealth features seen in other games, all of which honestly should have already been in PI in some kind of form (tight spaces to hide—hopefully more than just hiding underneath large vehicles—vegetation stealth, silencers, etc). Not saying PII is looking innovative or revolutionary, but it's still ridiculous how much better it's looking in the gameplay department (strictly compared to the first game), which is largely in part due to how limited the under-criticized gameplay is in the first game. Not liking the "set the bar low the first time around so the sequel looks even better" formula. I'll end it here.

Edited by EcoShifter
some wording improvement
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