Current Events > The Last of Us Part II reviews are coming out

(+) Yeah! (+)

DezDroppedFreak posted...

>hasnt played the game hes critiquing

Nope

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96 meta? so the essjaydubz didn't ruin the game after all.

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pauIie posted...

96 meta? so the essjaydubz didn't ruin the game after all.

Nah, the SJWs have long corrupted games journalism! GAMER GATE! MAGA!

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Man this is so going to be The Last Jedi of video games. The Last Jedi of Us.

Generally critically acclaimed but its going to be divisive.

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Dunno why these reviews are gonna make people think TLOU2 is any less of a mess

Just because it's a mechanically sound game doesn't make it necessarily a GOOD one, as MGSV loves to remind me

That IGN review reads like a Youtube sponsorship script, just replace Raid Shadow Legends with TLOU 2 instead

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this video has a few spoilers from the leaks, but I thought that it was hilarious

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BU4YzeFcx5c

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AvantgardeAClue posted...

Dunno why these reviews are gonna make people think TLOU2 is any less of a mess

?

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boxington posted...

?

"Welp this 10/10 must mean that the story isn't a complete bomb that disrespects everyone who liked the first game while spitting on their face after all"

Is what I feel people are supposed to think when they see reviews like this. Nothing can change my mind after seeing those leaks, so these reviews are ultimately just reaffirmations

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I didn't mean the scores, I was more curious about how you know it's a mess, and now I'm more curious about how it disrespects people who enjoyed the first game.

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Flop

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parabola_master posted...

I read the whole thing, it was incredible lol

Got an archive link?

pauIie posted...

96 meta? so the essjaydubz didn't ruin the game after all.

Or the essjaydubz are the ones reviewing it?

Plot twist.

Cant wait to try it.

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same.

I have the digital version pre-ordered.

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Critically acclaimed, to the surprise of no one (with brain cells)

Looking forward to picking up my copy next week :)

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La-la-la-la! I hear nothing. I see nothing.
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Joenage posted...

Critically acclaimed, to the surprise of no one (with brain cells)

Looking forward to picking up my copy next week :)

Anyone who actually thought this game would fail is insane. After the success of the first game, and all the hype around the sequel it was always going to sell millions of copies.

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boxington posted...

I didn't mean the scores, I was more curious about how you know it's a mess, and now I'm more curious about how it disrespects people who enjoyed the first game.

All of that is heavily spoiler-based, which I don't want to bring up ITT unless you really want me to.

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another huge win for Sony ms still has no exclusives Sony continues to dominate

AvantgardeAClue posted...

All of that is heavily spoiler-based, which I don't want to bring up ITT unless you really want me to.

go ahead.

I've heard that *The Last of Us Part II spoilers* Abby, or whatever her name is, the daughter of the doctor Joel kills in the first game, kills Joel early in the game, and you play much of the game as her. and as far as Joel goes, it reframes the decision he made in the first game as wrong rather than morally ambiguous

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iT dIsReSpEcTs PeOpLe WhO lIkEd ThE fIrSt GaMe

Gimme a break

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I love the attempts to discredit these reviews lmao. Get over it, bigots.

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a review from someone who was initially turned off, like many, by the leaks, but who ended loving the game after playing through it:

https://youtu.be/iTweaXhmocQ

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another review (this time an article) where the person saw the leaks and was willing to dismiss the game until they played through it:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/06/12/i-saw-leaks-thought-i-knew-i-was-still-not-prepared-last-us-part-ii/

I was ready and willing to hate the sequel to The Last of Us.

Naughty Dogs The Last of Us was a high watermark for narratives in gaming, and didnt need a sequel. Its endings ambiguity was perfect, as evidenced by seven years of passionate, intelligent back-and-forth debate over whether the protagonist, Joel Miller, made the right decision.
I tried to sabotage the hype for myself by diving straight into all the leaks and rumors that surfaced in April. Part of it can be blamed on journalists curiosity. After all, these leaks were huge, and my level of excitement was already pretty low. Seeing these leaks wouldve affirmed my biases. And sure enough, what I saw and read left me severely disappointed and angry. The leaks made the story sound trite, uninspired and misguided. I knew it, I thought. They never shouldve made a sequel. This was my mind-set as I booted up The Last of Us 2.

By the end of it, I had changed my mind. Despite my early and strict skepticism of the premise, I now believe the sequel to The Last of Us feels justified. It dives deeper into character motivation than ever before, and its at least as good as the first game, which many believed to be almost perfect. It does not worsen or remove that endings significance or impact. It grapples with its traumatic consequences directly, without any of the coy teasing and walking on eggshells that dominate much of pop art, including film.

While I will not confirm details within any of the leaks, I can deny some of them. Game director Neil Druckmann (who co-wrote the story with screenwriter Halley Gross) made an early claim that there were a lot of other false rumors out there. This is not a lie, and is a reference to many false narratives and plot summaries spread across sites like 4chan and Reddit. Some made up entire details and scenes, while making false assumptions about the story and its characters.
In April, an hour and a half of footage from the game leaked onto the Internet. Kotaku reported in May that hackers may have exploited a security vulnerability of a prior Naughty Dog game. The magnitude of these leaks was unprecedented, particularly for a narrative-driven game shrouded in mystery and mainstream anticipation.
The games release date was pushed up to June 19 after the leaks ravaged the initial rollout plan. Naughty Dog and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment went into damage control while launching an investigation into the hack. Joels voice actor Troy Baker, a celebrated talent in the industry, also tweeted in support of the game: You might think you know. But you dont.

Baker was right. I went into the game, armed with all the knowledge of the leaks, thinking I could fill in the blanks of the story. The game still left me in shock. It is very much an extension of the first games themes and storytelling tricks. Its less concerned about the lore of the world, and more about how these characters find strength and meaning in a world stripped of it all.

Druckmann told The Washington Post that this sequel is so much about hate and how we dehumanize each other. And you can see that happening with the leaks."

The leaks caused many players, including myself, to take nuggets of information and cast a blanket judgment on the whole game and its concepts before engaging with it. The fallout was nasty, spawning hard-to-avoid memes, many of which were hateful and based on the presumption that Naughty Dog is trying to cater to liberal audiences. YouTube influencers reacted immediately with disappointment to the story details, ready to turn down their excitement for the game. I muted my excitement in turn.
But as the game played out scene by scene, my skepticism was disarmed, and my mind was open to a story I thought I knew, but clearly didnt. The games first few seconds comforted me. It begins with a confessional from Joel to his brother Tommy as he grapples with his actions from the first game. Tommys face expresses both horror and compassion as he comes to grip with what his brother did. The stories told on all their faces are unlike anything weve seen in games. Its worth the price of admission alone.

If you were to break down the first story of The Last of Us, it wouldve sounded similarly trite and uninspired. The Last of Us was special because of the lengths the writing went to get us to know and understand these characters motivations. Joel is a coldhearted killer, and we know that because we live through his trauma, and understand his decades of doing whatever it takes to survive. We understand Ellie because shes a young girl looking for purpose and fulfillment in a world empty of it. We understand them both because we watch them grow and fight together.

The Last of Us was not simply a father-daughter road trip across America, any more than its sequel is a story about revenge and violence. Like a folk tale or historical fable, hearing it is not the same as living it. People loved Joel and Ellie because of how they grew on each other, how their personalities changed as their relationship evolved into something deeper, without conditions.

Here, in Ellies story, we have a tale about how the ones dearest to us are capable of wreaking the most havoc in our lives. We witness her happiest moments, and stay with her in her deepest anguish. No, its not a particularly new topic for pop art, even video games, to address. But its rarely been told with such discomforting bluntness. Even if I thought I knew the storys beats (and I usually didnt), the way it was framed and performed chilled my blood, even when it dared me to smolder in my own blood lust.

The Last of Us Part II still works, even in a so-called spoiled state, because its rare to play a video game that listens so intently to who its characters are, one that portrays them with doting sympathy.

In the coming weeks, I predict theres going to be a lot of conversation around the events in The Last of Us Part II; how theyre portrayed, what the characters do, and how players feel about it. As much as I enjoyed and appreciated its intentions, it will divide opinion. There will be furious debate. And the only way you can honestly engage with these discussions is to play The Last of Us Part II."
The stories of Ellie and The Last of Part II" are one and the same: Beyond hope and rationality, they scream to justify their existence. The only way you can know and understand their argument, in the end, is to play the game.

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The Polygon review is quite stupid

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so do game rentals exist anymore? Im not paying fucking $60 for a 20 hour game.

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daftpunk_mk5 posted...

so do game rentals exist anymore? Im not paying fucking $60 for a 20 hour game.

Buy it, finish it, sell it. Youll barely lose any money, and in the off chance you really like it and want to do new game+ or whatever you can keep it.

daftpunk_mk5 posted...

so do game rentals exist anymore? Im not paying fucking $60 for a 20 hour game.

So you've never paid full price for a singleplayer game? $3 an hour is still too much?

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hockeybub89 posted...

So you've never paid full price for a singleplayer game? $3 an hour is still too much?

I payed full price for RDR 2, for GTA San Andreas, and for GTA Vice City. That's it. $3 an hour is way too much, most I'll pay is $1 an hour and thats still stretching it.

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AsteriskChamps posted...

Buy it, finish it, sell it. Youll barely lose any money, and in the off chance you really like it and want to do new game+ or whatever you can keep it.

I could buy it for $60, beat it in a week, take it to gamestop and they'd give me what? $30?

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I will definitely be waiting for this to drop to $20 before I consider buying it.

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boxington posted...

go ahead.

I've heard that *The Last of Us Part II spoilers* Abby, or whatever her name is, the daughter of the doctor Joel kills in the first game, kills Joel early in the game, and you play much of the game as her. and as far as Joel goes, it reframes the decision he made in the first game as wrong rather than morally ambiguous

Yep. What is especially aggravating is that they're deliberately hiding Abby's existence in all pre-release footage and even the reviewers are either told to shut up about it or they simply didn't get that far. I'm sure Druck even has a Tweet preloaded in Tweetbot or whatever that defends those shitty decisions that appeal to nobody.

Doom_Art posted...

iT dIsReSpEcTs PeOpLe WhO lIkEd ThE fIrSt GaMe

Gimme a break

Don't support mediocre storytelling because you like to consume product/see what "shocking" swerve someone can think of

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AvantgardeAClue posted...

Yep. What is especially aggravating is that they're deliberately hiding Abby's existence in all pre-release footage and even the reviewers are either told to shut up about it or they simply didn't get that far. I'm sure Druck even has a Tweet preloaded in Tweetbot or whatever that defends those shitty decisions that appeal to nobody.

Don't support mediocre storytelling because you like to consume product/see what "shocking" swerve someone can think of

well, this is a lame opinion

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Doom_Art posted...

iT dIsReSpEcTs PeOpLe WhO lIkEd ThE fIrSt GaMe

Gimme a break

Jesus Christ, someone actually said that too.

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tbf, she was in the second The Last of Us Part II trailer, iirc, but people assumed she was Ellie...at least, I did

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gTjZGlp0OQc

and just because you don't like the direction(s) the story has taken, it doesn't make it mediocre

edit: at post 136

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Copy_X_Mk_ll posted...

MGSV and RDR2 also got 10s across the board and those were 7s at best

guess that makes this a 7. Only 9/10 games are actually amazing

My man. Fuck all these "epic" movie games.

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MrMallard posted...

well, this is a lame opinion

And what does a good one look like exactly? "Hurr great story m8 I r8 8/8"?

IShall_Run_Amok posted...

Jesus Christ, someone actually said that too.

How whipped does someone have to be to buy a game that thinks the player is dumb for feeling a certain way and needs to be filibustered with the "correct" interpretation, hmm

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LordFarquad1312 posted...

The big takeaway from Skill Ups review from me is the whole "I'm not allowed to review the part that will actually turn people away", which is a big yikes from me dawg!

Well that seems... problematic.

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^ no, it's just that no one who was given a review copy is supposed to talk much about the story, regardless of whether they enjoy it or not

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That seems incredibly obstructive lol

Then again most reviews nowadays are just signal-boosted adverts, so that doesn't surprise me much

Sony can't win with the leaks, so they just buy their support

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AvantgardeAClue posted...

How whipped does someone have to be to buy a game that thinks the player is dumb for feeling a certain way and needs to be filibustered with the "correct" interpretation, hmm

IShall_Run_Amok posted...

Jesus Christ, someone actually said that

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Lame gimmick bro

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like someone has said before: if a game you don't like gets poor reviews, then it fails, but if it gets good reviews, then those reviews were paid off...oh, and it still fails

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boxington posted...

like someone has said before: if a game you don't like gets poor reviews, then it fails, but if it gets good reviews, then those reviews were paid off...oh, and it still fails

uhhh, okay?

You'd think the fact that reviewers were specifically told to omit the entire second half of the game would be a red flag that something is up here

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they're omitting most of the first half, as well

and just because they're not going over details due to NDAs, or whatever you call them, it doesn't mean that their scores aren't genuine.

it didn't affect Skillup's review, Kotaku's, etc., who all had issues with the game.


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boxington posted...

they're omitting most of the first half, as well

and just because they're not going over details due to NDAs, or whatever you call them, it doesn't mean that their scores aren't genuine.

It kinda does. I haven't read many of those reviews but unless they specifically mention completing the game in any of them, for all we know they could have been legitimately thinking the game was 10/10 in the first few hours (although idk how that's still even possible), but the second part could've easily changed that vibe.

It's like how so many reviewers gave MGS5 a 10/10 and for all we know most of them only finished the first few chapters, and I'm sure almost none of them got to "Chapter 2".

boxington posted...

it didn't affect Skillup's review, Kotaku's, etc., who all had issues with the game.

People will simply flock to the 10/10 reviews at the end of the day, even if they're from "literally who" companies like Digitally Downloaded and Power Unlimited.

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it's weird how many assumptions you're making to discredit the views of others.

am I saying that your views, or my views, or anyone else's views have to align with them? no. I feel that what anyone feels about a product is valid, even if it's contrary to how most people might feel, but I put more merit in those who have experienced that product more than those who haven't.

AvantgardeAClue posted...

People will simply flock to the 10/10 reviews at the end of the day, even if they're from "literally who" companies like Digitally Downloaded and Power Unlimited.

what I was saying was that, despite not being able to expand on some things that they might have wanted to to help better justify their reviews, that still didn't affect their final scores/negative impression about the game, and they shared as much.

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boxington posted...

it's weird how many assumptions you're making to discredit the views of others.

am I saying that your views, or my views, or anyone else's views have to align with them? no. I feel that what anyone feels about a product is valid, even if it's contrary to how most people might feel, but I put more merit in those who have experienced that product more than those who haven't.

Reviews are ammo. Not say you're specifically doing this, but all these reviews have done is persuade the game's defenders (who were probably gonna buy the game regardless of the scores) that all the people who were turned off by the leaks were apparently wrong and should not be listened to.

I got the Platinum trophy for the first game. Why WOULDN'T I want to get this game unless it was an absolute abomination of a story, which it is?

Personally I think it'll be funnier to see how people react to the second half all on their own; people can have their 10/10 scores, so long as I'm not obligated to admit being "wrong" about them. I already knew nothing would stop this game from being critically acclaimed by at least a few reviewers.

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