10/10 (no spoilers)

[Dreamer5xH]

Ill give it 1/10

[Valkirye22]

2 hours ago, TheConfusedMan said:

  Reveal hidden contents

but it was dragged out far too long, and the writers failed to make me care about Abby. It wasnt bad at first, but it ended up getting dragged out for too long, the whole time i was playing as Abby I just didnt care about her. Nor did i really care all that much about the kids. I understand what the writers were trying to do, showing both sides of the story, one mans hero is another mans monster ect.. ect.. but i just didnt enjoy Abbys character. Found her very bland. She was honestly a very shitty person and they spent too much time trying to shove down our throats that Abby was a good person and we should care about her and that Ellie was a monster. It just felt very artificial. Ellie is our protagonist, it doesnt matter how many good deeds the writers show Abby doing, and how many bad deeds the writers show us Ellie doing, at the end of the day, we all will be rooting for Ellie. Abby clearly isnt a decent person. She took sick pleasure from torturing Joel. And when Ellie told her Dina was pregnant, she took perverse pleasure in killing her. The only thing stopping her was Lev. Where on the other side, Ellie found herself sick when she realized she killed a pregnant woman. Ellie felt sick after she tortured someone for information. Even at the end Ellie wasnt a monster. She very easily could have left Abby tied to that pole and tortured her. Could have even let the kid watch. Instead she cut her down and gave her a fighting chance. I found myself just trying to power through Abbys section. I get what the writers were trying to do, but it just didnt work for me. At times it honestly felt like Abbys section was added on to pad out the runtime

Ellie and Joels final scene had me in tears! While i did enjoy the game, it honestly made me wish they didnt turn tlou2 into a revenge story and instead focus the game on Ellies life in Jackson and patching up hers and Joels relationship. You need action? Just send Ellie on patrol! Give us a far stronger focus on the characters relationships. 

Spoiler below is hidden otherwise feel free to read

 

I loved the pace from the "main event" and the motivation for it and then the twist later on which just makes it less clear-cut adds so many shades of grey over what you are doing.

On your point I would disagree some - a 25 hour game of your average/expected patrols and everything being fine, building up Jackson, bonding, family, maybe a defense or some close calls against the infected or a marauder group would be... just expected. NOT TO say such things to further flesh out the Jackson period in DLC would not be welcome. If they can fit given the timeline. DLC post-story is also well prepared territory.

 

I would agree the second half part is a bit overextended (but not too much) but as far as the game goes in showing consequences for otherwise clear-cut actions - absolutely loved it.

The overall arc of the game was very enjoyable and intense, really enjoyed it from my end. And the other characters were also well crafted.

 

SPOILER BELOW:

Spoiler

I will obscure this a bit just to be sure for spoilers but everyone that played should understand. I see a lot of flak from the people who see Joel's actions as perfect, understandable and consequence-free but considering the motivation of the other character and what they did... it the same vicious cycle that repeats itself. The "other character" did to Ellie what Joel did to that character. And they both go down this horrible path which is so well written and paced I think this is the first game that made me feel like that. It had me hooked from start to finish and it has that complexity in story I miss in games otherwise. Like I wrote in the first post, it is a excellent story - but not a nice one.

 

[Ric]

I finished it, just a 6/10 from me, maybe a 7/10 max. It's alright.

 

There is an occasional visual glitch, though rare, they are there. I even caught one on a trophy image I think.

 

Minor hidden trophy spoiler:

Spoiler

The trophy where you put on the hat on Joel. The hat just floated from where Ellie picked it up, and she put an invisible hat on Joel, which caused some weird baldness.

Edit: dug up the image, a bit dark (even though I've brightened it a bit), but you can see the weirdness on Joel's hair where the hat is supposed to be:

 

For the rest, the graphics are fine. Mechanically it's more of the same, and that's also fine for me. Audio and VA were great.

 

I went into this game blind (had nothing spoiled) and played through it twice. But I'm on the side of the people who criticize the story and the character development. I Think a lot of the points that have been beaten to death by now are true. Just expected something better after the first game.

 

To give a small example, in the first one I was invested in the characters, the moments with Sarah, Tess, Sam & Henry, hell even Bill and Frank where strong moments for me, some more so than others ofcourse . I think I played through the main story of the first one a total of 8 times getting the plats for both versions, and I still choked up every time I ended the intro.

In part 2, I felt nothing even close to that. Since you asked for no spoilers, and I sort of already messed that up , I won't go into details.

 

All the 0/10s and 1/10s are rediculous, but imo so are the 9/10s and 10/10s. It's just avarage/average+.

Edited June 22, 2020 by Ric

[Mori]

Too bad, many people just brush over Abby's part of the game.

 

Abby had probably the best levels/locations in the game. The Hotel they had to descend was straight out of a nightmare. The sound and atmosphere was spot on. When I left that building, I had to let out a deep sigh. 

 

Then the hospital. Trauma Station, Surgerey Station? I get anxious just hearing those terms. Holy moly it was intense. (The bossfight was meh though)

 

 

[TheDragonfly44]

It's interesting to see everyone saying they barely encountered any bugs or glitches. I found quite a few. Npcs walking endlessly into walls, I fell through the map once and then during the last chapters of the game once Ellies hair just disappeared and she looked like Lev except for like one strand of hair on her face 

[offdutysuperhero]

i enjoyed the story.

but what i hate is review bombing/cancel culture/rewrite the story mobbing.

[jpgelnette2]

I had a glitched experience. When I was crouched with Ellie and grabbing items her arm got stuck in one position (straight out in one direction) it stayed that way no matter what I did. To fix the issue I had to just close the game out and load it back up. Nothing major but I was surprised to see something like that in a Naughty Dog game.

[Deluziion90]

7.5-8/10 for me.

 

-2 for two reasons:

 

Spoiler

- I didn't mind Joel dying but he got slaughtered and spit on like cmon a bit too much for a beloved character this isn't fucking Game of Thrones.

 

- Because the above reason I had to play the other half of the game with Abby. A person I disliked a lot it's like playing God of War and hating Kratos it makes no sense. I just kept through it for the platinum and I wanted to give it a chance to see the ending but that dissapointed me as well. They only had to do 2 things. Let us kill Abby and when returning to the farm Dina should have been there and it would be a "ok" ending.

 

[Alex_R-13]

Environment and Atmosphere 10/10

Voice Acting 10/10

Graphics 10/10

Flashback segments 10/10

Concept of parallel timelines 10/10 

Gameplay 9/10

Story 7/10

Spoiler

Fingers 8/10

 

[triplejmzu8]

The Last of Us 2 is my GotD (Game of the Decade 2011-2020). I can't put into words, how much I loved it -- but it rarely happens that I play through a whole game twice in a row ... within four days.

[D-Square23]

Game plays just fine. Looks great. Animation is top notch. Acting is great. But the story is quite bad and by itself knocked down my personal score down to 5/10. It's a perfectly good "Game" but as a narrative and follow up to a masterpiece it falls completely flat. *shrug* I am glad people like it though. I wish I could be on their side. Truly.

[SasquatchSaul]

Wow, I just finished after 21 hours and need a smoke, what an exhilarating finale. The last scene got me right in the heart, and cements it’s 10/10 from me. Easy to see why critics gave this a 10, theres very little wrong with it (Some pacing issues) you might not agree with how Naughty Dogs decided to take the story, which is a unnecessary hill to die on, but I can attest to their vision for the game and god damn it paid off. 

 

I sympathised with Abby, and it really wasn’t that hard, this game was brutal and depressing, but it’s not as cliche as people like to say. This game has driven narrative in gaming forwards, everyone will be looking at this in the future, truly. 

 

also Grounded mode trophies pls

[rolltideroll157]

Just finished it myself and it’s a complete masterpiece. Everyone that is calling the story bad clearly doesn’t know what the point of it was. It was all about how every choice has consequences. Joel’s choice from the first game Had consequences in this one which then forced Ellie to do the same throughout the game. It really is astonishing how amazing this game is. I hope we get all kinds of dlc and another game entirely on ps5. I need more of this world!

[BlackSnake1435]

I'll be receiving the game perhaps tomorrow, and i'm astonished of seeing how mixed the review of this game are. Well, i'm talking about the players review because right now I would take any website or game magazine seriosly, for example, in the IGN review there are a lot of users making fun of IGN giving a 10 out of 10 to every game without any reason to do it. The same applies to gamespot, where users claim that the website has been giving an 8/10 to almost every game since 2014 "and also, the users reviews there are terribly bad, as it is in metacritic".

 

Gameplay seems to be great, but let's see how the story develops for itself. Of course, I would base my review in contrast with the first one, because I they should put on the table a product at least as good as the previous one, not necessarily always better, but that's all. I haven't read to many about the criticism towards this game, other than the inclusion of LGBT characters just as a compromise to them?. Well, if that's true, that would be a reason for me to not rank the game with a 10, because if they are gonna give a character a specific identity, they should at least make sure to develop its personality and evything around him in proper way, because videogames don't have any comprise with any agenda, just to make games.

 

Ok, i'm crossing my fingers to like this games as I start to play it and enjoy it as much as I can, I'm not expecting a let down.

[Azaan60]

I really enjoyed the game. 

 

I have a bunch of issues with the story. Mainly I think it would've been better if they paced the Ellie and Abby sequences concurrently rather than stopping Ellie's midway through and swapping to Abby. But other than that I thought the game was fantastic. 

 

Also the mass triggering this game has caused is absolutely hilarious lmao. I can't wait for round 2 when it wins GOTY. 

Edited June 22, 2020 by Azaan60

[NoiizeR-]

I would give it 8/10 at max. No difficulty trophies, 30fps and the lack of multiplayer bring it down from a 10. The first game on the other hand is a 10/10, no doubt.

[StraightVege]

I can't believe I'm buying into all the hullabaloo surrounding this game. I never get excited about AAA games anymore (always wait until they drop to $15), but I'm actually looking forward to my copy arriving next week.

[NeilBefore_ZOD]

Finished my first playthrough last night, and it's quite a ride. To summarize without spoilers, when I evaluate a story, I don't ask whether I got the ending I wanted to see, because it's not my story. Instead, I try to look at things from the characters' perspectives, and analyze the thinking behind their decisions, and whether I can see how they would arrive at the choices they made. I try not to think about what I would have done if I were in that character's position; rather, I think about whether that character's knowledge, experience, intelligence, etc. would allow them to make that decision, or if their behavior is totally irrational and purely driven by emotion. Sometimes, as is the case with stories about revenge like this one, the irrational wins out, because revenge consumes all that is good about a person in an effort to make the pain of loss go away. On that level, I think the story succeeds.

 

Here's the spoiler-filled part of my review:

Spoiler

I think it takes guts to attempt to do what Naughty Dog did by showing how a conflict between human beings is never just "good guys" and "bad guys" by forcing players to play as a favorite character's sworn enemy for nearly half the game. It shows us how easily each side can come to view the other as evil and beyond redemption because they don't know what we as the audience get to know. Abby has no idea Joel lost his daughter to the chaos surrounding the outbreak, and that he was not about to willingly let go of Ellie after traveling across the continent with her. Ellie has no idea that Abby's father was the surgeon that Joel killed. Perhaps if they were to actually talk about what they each had lost, the ending would be different, but again, neither of them is behaving rationally at the point when they finally meet. Ellie says she can't forgive Joel for his lie at the end of the first game (although she's willing to try), so it's not a surprise that she can't let go of what Abby did to Joel, even after finding some happiness with Dina and J.J. As much as I hate that Ellie made that choice to leave again, I think it is in keeping with her character that she can't let go of hatred, and it literally keeps her awake at night that Abby got away.

 

From a technical standpoint, the game is as good as it gets: character animation in cutscenes is top-notch, the voice acting is superb, and the sound design, music, and graphics are among the best of this generation. Gameplay, it feels smoother and more refined from the first game, and it's a control scheme that works for me. There were few hiccups where a partner AI would push me out of cover when I'm trying to hide, and I had one issue with a massive framerate drop during a fight late in the game, but for the most part, it was very smooth.

 

Overall, if I were to give it a score, I'd say it's probably around a 9 out of 10.

[Radford999]

I finished the game this morning. Absolutely loved it. Incredible game. I saw a lot of negative things said about the story, saying it was very weak. I didn’t get that impression at all. Thought it was brilliant. 

[bmg_ps]

I haven't finished it (17,5h, so I guess I am half way through) and loving. Absolutely fantastic. I was not aware of major spoilers and it already paid of.

Is dark and brutal, but it has been amazing. A couple of emotional moments have been the highlight. 
As someone already said here, unless they destroy the ending chapters, it will be a near perfect game to me.

 

[DeepEyes7]

Still haven't finished the game, but I think that I'm pretty close... I think that there was a miscalculation of ND with the second part because...

 

It is impossible to not rush Abby's part.... After THAT cliffhanger on the Teather I NEED to know what happened

....

 

Thought that the story of the Wolves and the Seraphites will be just part of the background, nothing too important and BAM! Full scale war and an awesome final fight on Haven.... It's sad to see the village on fire but that was so well executed and it looks so beautiful (if it is possible to say that with destruction like that), never have seen fire so well depicted

 

And the boss fight on the basement of the hospital... that was so classic, so Resident Evil theme... Loved it!

 

I wasn't looking forward for the part of Abby because of all the whining, but what can you have in your mind to not like things like the descent from the building, the basement of the hospital or the war on Haven? Man that was amazing! And i haven't finished yet!

[Radford999]

It’s amazing how there was so much negativity when the leaks were released regarding the story. There is the odd person that doesn’t like the story now but for the most part most people absolutely love the game. 

[Ric]

3 hours ago, rolltideroll157 said:

Just finished it myself and it’s a complete masterpiece. Everyone that is calling the story bad clearly doesn’t know what the point of it was. It was all about how every choice has consequences. Joel’s choice from the first game Had consequences in this one which then forced Ellie to do the same throughout the game. It really is astonishing how amazing this game is. I hope we get all kinds of dlc and another game entirely on ps5. I need more of this world!

 

Everyone calling the story good have no idea about character development and pacing. See it works both ways . Don't just say that people "don't get it" for having a different opinion.

 

I thought it was bad and I feel like I did get what they were going for, it just fell flat.

 

Plot details and spoilers (do not read unless you've finished the game):

Spoiler

• If you played both, can you honestly say that the emotional moments where even in the same league? Did you care at all for Jesse? Manny? Mel? Owen? As much as you did for Sarah, Tess, or Henry & Sam? I did not, I didn't care much for them or their deaths.
• An extremely basic revenge plot without payoff.
• The anticlimactic ending. Ellie wanted to "break the cycle of hatred" so no one would come back after her? Who would come back after her? The relegious kid? Or maybe the fireflies from the radio? It's very unlikely. Killing Abby would have very little consequence for Ellie. And since Lev was unconcious at the time, Ellie could have brought him to safety and lie that Abby didn't make it from the torture. Which would have drawn a parallel to the first game's ending. 
• You don't have a choice. I've tried going through the game stealthily the 2nd run, I thought, maybe they'd surprise me in that scene in Abby's part with the body bags. Maybe there would be less of them because I killed less. No such luck, nothing changes. You gruesomely kill everyone and it doesn't matter. And even in the end you don't have the choice.
• Ellie not caring that she kills entire armies, and then being totally shocked when she kills a few plot characters. It made sense in the first game after David, she was inexperienced and traumatized by the events. In part 2, after all the killing she's done, it felt a bit overreacted.
• The stupid, stupid actions characters take when we don't have control over them. Joel just casually strolling to the middle of the house surrounded by strangers. Ellie not pulling the trigger the moment she opens the door to the basement. Manny and Abby forgetting they are chasing a sniper and just don't pay attention while one of them gets shot. Abby helping both Lev and Yara over the locked door instead of just one of them and keeping the other with her. Ellie again not pulling the trigger when Jesse gets shot. It's full of this stupid stuff for "reasons".

I could go on, but I think this illustrates enough why I didn't care much for the story.

 

We just think differently about the game. That doesn't make your or my opinion any more valid than the other .

Edited June 22, 2020 by Ric

[DeepEyes7]

13 minutes ago, Ric said:

 

Everyone calling the story good have no idea about character development and pacing.

  Reveal hidden contents

• If you played both, can you honestly say that the emotional moments where even in the same league? Did you care at all for Jesse? Manny? Mel? Owen? As much as you did for Sarah, Tess, or Henry & Sam? I did not, I didn't care much for them or their deaths.
• An extremely basic revenge plot without payoff.
• The anticlimactic ending. Ellie wanted to "break the cycle of hatred" so no one would come back after her? Who would come back after her? The relegious kid? Or maybe the fireflies from the radio? It's very unlikely. Killing Abby would have very little consequence for Ellie. And since Lev was unconcious at the time, Ellie could have brought him to safety and lie that Abby didn't make it from the torture. Which would have drawn a parallel to the first game's ending. 
• You don't have a choice. I've tried going through the game stealthily the 2nd run, I thought, maybe they'd surprise me in that scene in Abby's part with the body bags. Maybe there would be less of them because I killed less. No such luck, nothing changes. You gruesomely kill everyone and it doesn't matter. And even in the end you don't have the choice.
• Ellie not caring that she kills entire armies, and then being totally shocked when she kills a few plot characters. It made sense in the first game after David, she was inexperienced and traumatized by the events. In part 2, after all the killing she's done, it felt a bit overreacted.
• The stupid, stupid actions characters take when we don't have control over them. Joel just casually strolling to the middle of the house surrounded by strangers. Ellie not pulling the trigger the moment she opens the door to the basement. Manny and Abby forgetting they are chasing a sniper and just don't pay attention while one of them gets shot. Abby helping both Lev and Yara over the locked door instead of just one of them and keeping the other with her. Ellie again not pulling the trigger when Jesse gets shot. It's full of this stupid stuff for "reasons".

I could go on, but I think this illustrates enough why I didn't care much for the story.

 

Oh, "character developing" and "pacing" the main two options that everybody use when you just don't like something and wants to sounds superior.... Sure man, this is a shitty game...

Edited June 22, 2020 by DeepEyes7

[rolltideroll157]

12 minutes ago, Ric said:

 

Everyone calling the story good have no idea about character development and pacing. See it works both ways . Don't just say that people "don't get it" for having a different opinion.

 

I thought it was bad and I feel like I did get what they were going for, it just fell flat.

 

Plot details and spoilers (do not read unless you've finished the game):

  Reveal hidden contents

• If you played both, can you honestly say that the emotional moments where even in the same league? Did you care at all for Jesse? Manny? Mel? Owen? As much as you did for Sarah, Tess, or Henry & Sam? I did not, I didn't care much for them or their deaths.
• An extremely basic revenge plot without payoff.
• The anticlimactic ending. Ellie wanted to "break the cycle of hatred" so no one would come back after her? Who would come back after her? The relegious kid? Or maybe the fireflies from the radio? It's very unlikely. Killing Abby would have very little consequence for Ellie. And since Lev was unconcious at the time, Ellie could have brought him to safety and lie that Abby didn't make it from the torture. Which would have drawn a parallel to the first game's ending. 
• You don't have a choice. I've tried going through the game stealthily the 2nd run, I thought, maybe they'd surprise me in that scene in Abby's part with the body bags. Maybe there would be less of them because I killed less. No such luck, nothing changes. You gruesomely kill everyone and it doesn't matter. And even in the end you don't have the choice.
• Ellie not caring that she kills entire armies, and then being totally shocked when she kills a few plot characters. It made sense in the first game after David, she was inexperienced and traumatized by the events. In part 2, after all the killing she's done, it felt a bit overreacted.
• The stupid, stupid actions characters take when we don't have control over them. Joel just casually strolling to the middle of the house surrounded by strangers. Ellie not pulling the trigger the moment she opens the door to the basement. Manny and Abby forgetting they are chasing a sniper and just don't pay attention while one of them gets shot. Abby helping both Lev and Yara over the locked door instead of just one of them and keeping the other with her. Ellie again not pulling the trigger when Jesse gets shot. It's full of this stupid stuff for "reasons".

I could go on, but I think this illustrates enough why I didn't care much for the story.

 

We just think differently about the game. That doesn't make your or my opinion any more valid than the other .

Every one of your criticisms in your spoiler tag sound like you are just bitching to bitch though. Like it’s a revenge story yes and you say it’s basic but please tell me how it can be more complex since you are clearly a better storyteller? Also she didn’t kill her at the end not to “break the cycle” so no one comes for her lol she stopped because she realized that all that killing was truly changing her and nothing would change or bring the people she loves back. And for the the decisions you say that were stupid that all these characters made in key points in the story are honestly you just trying to nitpick. Every one you call stupid happened so fast that the Characters didn’t have much time to react to the situation till it already happened. I would go into more detail but idk how to do the spoiler tag and don’t want to spoil anything for anyone.