The Last Of Us (Parts I & II) - NO Part II Story SPOILERS
Jul 29, 2020 13:06:38 GMT
DragonKingReborn, clips7, and 2 more like this
Post by Jeremiah12LGeek on Jul 29, 2020 13:06:38 GMT
Okay, I don't think I can successfully give a decent take on Part 2 without spoilers, but I'll give it a shot because when I tried to talk about the story in the spoiler thread reading through it was more depressing than playing the game.
Up front, I consider the first TLOU to be among video games' greatest, even though I would heavily criticize the gameplay.
Part 2 is bleak. I don't mean this in the way that Fallout 4 or Rage are bleak, with a declining world (although that would apply as well) but that it permeates the story and character moments throughout. It also becomes decidedly more bleak as it goes on. It is not a game to play for happy-fun-times, although the lighter moments do exist (though mostly at the earlier stages of the story.)
Gameplay has been significantly improved, and might even qualify as good. That might sound like faint praise, but gameplay was never really what TLOU was about, so for them to put so much effort into expanding and tweaking it is important. Especially given what the story will do to you, emotionally, it's beneficial that the gameplay doesn't feel like it's beating you down (which it certainly could in the first game.)
The writing and performances are top-notch. In fact, I'll say the combination is the best I've ever seen in a video game. It's the ambition of L.A. Noire, but with execution that will stand the test of time. I believe even people who hate the story and characters would probably acknowledge that both were well-written and performed.
Of course, I'm referring to more than the voice performances. The animations, and the ability for the characters to emote is the culmination of a lot of technology in recent years, and without it, it's doubtful a lot of the game's scenes would have worked. If you're going to tell a primarily emotional story, you've got to get those performances as close to perfect as you can. And they really got them close.
Part 2 introduces a host of new characters in a story structure that is bold, risky, and ultimately doesn't quite work. Some of the game's controversy is related to this, although most of it seems to be concerned with character details that I personally don't care about (insofar as they have no positive or negative impact on my view of the game.) For me, the issue is that the game leans heavily into the new characters' stories without any attendant emotional investment on the part of the player. It's an admirable risk, but I'm largely on the side of the critics in that I don't think it really worked the way they structured it. I'm being intentionally vague, because "non-spoiler," but the structure of the story undermines the ability for the player to appropriately invest in the large cast of new characters. Without that investment, a lot of it can feel like an "intrusion" on the rest of the story. The final structure ultimately does fit together, and it does make sense, but the process of getting through it on an initial playthrough really doesn't work, in my opinion. I think they created a lot of problems for themselves that they didn't ultimately find solutions for.
I have a few problems with the game, and they're quite significant. They are related to my above criticisms about structure, so for spoiler-free sake, I'll leave some of them unsaid.
The game tests our ability to care, and it probably shouldn't have, because they really needed us to care to get to the end. And if you don't get to the end, the story really doesn't work properly.
Most of the game's conventionally enjoyable moments happen in the first 20%. After that, genuinely funny, cute, sweet, or uplifting moments fade rapidly and my up-top warning of bleakness starts to become a very heavy blanket weighing down. I admire the effort to balance a game people could enjoy playing to the end with a brutally dark story designed to feel like a rough gut-punch, I don't believe they managed to find the appropriate balance.
I played through the game three times, and nabbed one of the very few platinum trophies I've got on PSN. I was able to understand and enjoy more in playthroughs 2 and 3 than I was the first time, because their structural choices made it very hard to appreciate what they were doing (but I won't elaborate.) In the end, I really admire the game's efforts, and I'm very glad a played it. It is a hell of an experience, though I'd definitely not describe it as a mostly enjoyable one.
It is going to test your patience for excessive violence. I couldn't describe it as "objectively more violent" than other games, but the nature of the way the player is thrust into certain very dark, violent acts takes it to places I've never seen a video game go before. I don't mention this as praise - this is probably the thing I like least about the game. I offer it as both warning and concession, that the game's flaws (as I see them) are nonetheless compelling and effectively done.
In the end, even if I didn't like the game, I would be glad for its success. That's how I felt about Horizen Zero Dawn, a game which I really didn't like, but was glad an original IP of its kind was successful. I think its important for risk-taking games to have an environment to thrive. I don't want a world of "safe, unimaginative" video games. I want some of this dark shit, too, even if I think it goes too far.
TLOU Part 2 is a powerful achievement, but it sure isn't for everyone. And I really wouldn't blame anyone for opting out (my various warnings are there for a reason.)
Not that I think anyone is actually reading this thread to decide whether to play or not, but if anyone is, I hope I can give them some insight into whether it's a journey they want to take.
Up front, I consider the first TLOU to be among video games' greatest, even though I would heavily criticize the gameplay.
Part 2 is bleak. I don't mean this in the way that Fallout 4 or Rage are bleak, with a declining world (although that would apply as well) but that it permeates the story and character moments throughout. It also becomes decidedly more bleak as it goes on. It is not a game to play for happy-fun-times, although the lighter moments do exist (though mostly at the earlier stages of the story.)
Gameplay has been significantly improved, and might even qualify as good. That might sound like faint praise, but gameplay was never really what TLOU was about, so for them to put so much effort into expanding and tweaking it is important. Especially given what the story will do to you, emotionally, it's beneficial that the gameplay doesn't feel like it's beating you down (which it certainly could in the first game.)
The writing and performances are top-notch. In fact, I'll say the combination is the best I've ever seen in a video game. It's the ambition of L.A. Noire, but with execution that will stand the test of time. I believe even people who hate the story and characters would probably acknowledge that both were well-written and performed.
Of course, I'm referring to more than the voice performances. The animations, and the ability for the characters to emote is the culmination of a lot of technology in recent years, and without it, it's doubtful a lot of the game's scenes would have worked. If you're going to tell a primarily emotional story, you've got to get those performances as close to perfect as you can. And they really got them close.
Part 2 introduces a host of new characters in a story structure that is bold, risky, and ultimately doesn't quite work. Some of the game's controversy is related to this, although most of it seems to be concerned with character details that I personally don't care about (insofar as they have no positive or negative impact on my view of the game.) For me, the issue is that the game leans heavily into the new characters' stories without any attendant emotional investment on the part of the player. It's an admirable risk, but I'm largely on the side of the critics in that I don't think it really worked the way they structured it. I'm being intentionally vague, because "non-spoiler," but the structure of the story undermines the ability for the player to appropriately invest in the large cast of new characters. Without that investment, a lot of it can feel like an "intrusion" on the rest of the story. The final structure ultimately does fit together, and it does make sense, but the process of getting through it on an initial playthrough really doesn't work, in my opinion. I think they created a lot of problems for themselves that they didn't ultimately find solutions for.
I have a few problems with the game, and they're quite significant. They are related to my above criticisms about structure, so for spoiler-free sake, I'll leave some of them unsaid.
The game tests our ability to care, and it probably shouldn't have, because they really needed us to care to get to the end. And if you don't get to the end, the story really doesn't work properly.
Most of the game's conventionally enjoyable moments happen in the first 20%. After that, genuinely funny, cute, sweet, or uplifting moments fade rapidly and my up-top warning of bleakness starts to become a very heavy blanket weighing down. I admire the effort to balance a game people could enjoy playing to the end with a brutally dark story designed to feel like a rough gut-punch, I don't believe they managed to find the appropriate balance.
I played through the game three times, and nabbed one of the very few platinum trophies I've got on PSN. I was able to understand and enjoy more in playthroughs 2 and 3 than I was the first time, because their structural choices made it very hard to appreciate what they were doing (but I won't elaborate.) In the end, I really admire the game's efforts, and I'm very glad a played it. It is a hell of an experience, though I'd definitely not describe it as a mostly enjoyable one.
It is going to test your patience for excessive violence. I couldn't describe it as "objectively more violent" than other games, but the nature of the way the player is thrust into certain very dark, violent acts takes it to places I've never seen a video game go before. I don't mention this as praise - this is probably the thing I like least about the game. I offer it as both warning and concession, that the game's flaws (as I see them) are nonetheless compelling and effectively done.
In the end, even if I didn't like the game, I would be glad for its success. That's how I felt about Horizen Zero Dawn, a game which I really didn't like, but was glad an original IP of its kind was successful. I think its important for risk-taking games to have an environment to thrive. I don't want a world of "safe, unimaginative" video games. I want some of this dark shit, too, even if I think it goes too far.
TLOU Part 2 is a powerful achievement, but it sure isn't for everyone. And I really wouldn't blame anyone for opting out (my various warnings are there for a reason.)
Not that I think anyone is actually reading this thread to decide whether to play or not, but if anyone is, I hope I can give them some insight into whether it's a journey they want to take.