The Last of Us Franchise - Because it's apparently a franchise now. This thread has been double-DMCA’d by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

New review from Polygon. Apt title/subtitle.
"The Last of Us Part 2 review: We’re better than this - Did you know murder is wrong?"
Polygon's was somehow even more scathing than Kotaku's.

EDIT: This one doesn't pussyfoot around like the Kotaku article, it just goes right for the throat at the beginning and keeps stabbing.

EDIT 2: WHAT THE FUCK DRUCKMANN!?
Maddy Myers said:
Some of Ellie’s enemies have trained attack dogs, and it’s hard to avoid killing them. Even if you do manage to avoid it, though, there’s eventually a cutscene with a quick-time event that forces you to kill a dog, to hear the animal’s sharp, confused yelp as you smash her skull in with a metal pipe.


That wouldn’t be enough suffering, however. Naughty Dog has to make sure you feel horrible, so you’re later treated to a flashback in which you play fetch with that same dog, scritching her behind her velvety little ears. If Naughty Dog makes you feel bad enough, maybe next time you won’t do ... the thing the game forces you to do?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
  • Islamic Content
  • Lunacy
  • Horrifying
Reactions: gmax alcremie, Mr. Awesome Man, Zaryiu and 34 others
Both the Polygon and Kotaku reviews largely read like some soybeard wringing his hands about how IRL events make bleak nihilism uninteresting and unpopular, 2020 seems purpose-built to wreck this game's chances and tank Druckmann's career.
 
  • Like
  • Winner
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: Parthenos, ExciteDyke, Uranus Pink and 9 others
Absolutego said:
Both the Polygon and Kotaku reviews largely read like some soybeard wringing his hands about how IRL events make bleak nihilism uninteresting and unpopular, 2020 seems purpose-built to wreck this game's chances and tank Druckmann's career.
Click to expand...
I think it is just so bad and bleak that it is hard to defend. Think about the ending of the first game. "Humanity is doomed, there is zero chance of survival."

So in this game? NOTHING MATTERS, none of it. Joel is old and broken by his choice. Ellie has no future, society won't ever recover or improve. In the very least The Walking Dead has moments where you think that things could get better. TLOU has directly put int he narrative that the Human race is on borrowed time.
 
  • Feels
  • Like
Reactions: Darkdragon96, The Great Chandler, UnclePhil and 8 others
You know, I'm all for a gratuitously violent game (heck, I love Killing Floor 2 and Soldier of Fortune). But the way this game handles violence just feels extremely off. It's not used mainly for thematic purposes like say, Undertale or Spec Ops The Line, nor is it used to reveal anything about the characters. It's just there because "muh dark and mature experience".

Perhaps it wouldn't be an issue to this degree either if the game didn't take itself so fricken seriously. It almost comes off as comical. Plus, it's using this theme of "violence and killing is bad" while also indulging in it to an almost unseen degree. Like, you can't just use all this purely for an overdone message that countless other works have handled in a much better manner.
 
Last edited:
  • Agree
  • Horrifying
  • Like
Reactions: Zaryiu, Uranus Pink, Darkdragon96 and 9 others
shill.jpg

Who are all these no-name review sites and how much did Sony pay them.
 
  • Lunacy
  • Like
  • Horrifying
Reactions: gmax alcremie, Renge, Mr. Awesome Man and 33 others
LightDragonman1 said:
You know, I'm all for a gratuitously violent game (heck, I love Killing Floor 2 and Soldier of Fortune). But the way this game handles violence just feels extremely off. It's not used mainly for thematic purposes like say, Undertale or Spec Ops The Line, nor is it used to reveal anything about the characters. It's just there because "muh dark and mature experience".

Perhaps it wouldn't be an issue to this degree either if the game didn't take itself so fricken seriously. It almost comes off as comical. Plus, it's using this theme of "violence and killing is bad" while also indulging in it to an almost unseen degree.
Click to expand...
it was written by a man who thinks he is smarter than he truly is.
 
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: gmax alcremie, FuckedUp, Darkdragon96 and 11 others
Honka Honka Burning Love said:
it was written by a man who thinks he is smarter than he truly is.
Click to expand...
Without any of the talent to back it up.

Again, I'm just so amused that he's going to such lengths to tell a story and message that he (and several reviewers apparently) for some reason believe to be such a powerful and thought provoking one rarely seen in the medium. Which, again, has already been told in other video games, which didn't need all that gratuitous violence, or if they did use lots of gore, did it in a much more mature manner.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Uranus Pink, not william stenchever, Adamska and 1 other person
LightDragonman1 said:
Without any of the talent to back it up.

Again, I'm just so amused that he's going to such lengths to tell a story and message that he (and several reviewers apparently) for some reason believe to be such a powerful and thought provoking one rarely seen in the medium. Which, again, has already been told in other video games, which didn't need all that gratuitous violence, or if they did use lots of gore, did it in a much more mature manner.
Click to expand...
Given what was revealed with the leaks, and now reading the reaction from the reviewers not giving it game of the year all year awards, I think Cuckmans purpose was just to make people miserable and rub their noses in it. Like its some kind of kink or fetish he is forcing on everyone. At least that's what it comes off as. I hated the first game, and hated the fans of the first game even more so maybe I just don't get it, but this reeks of a cuck coming in his own mouth while everyone is forced to watch and then calling them perverts for looking at him jerk off in his own mouth.
 
  • Agree
  • Horrifying
  • Islamic Content
Reactions: gmax alcremie, Zaryiu, Uranus Pink and 13 others
Why is it that every pretentious writer that fails to deliver satisfying pay-off or thematic reasoning in their stories turn around and treat it like some great coup on their part? Game of Thrones, Mass Effect 3, Star Wars, TLOU2, and so on. They all act like a disgusted audience was their intention all along.
"I made you feel something :)"
Oh man you got me good haha. It's a pity this poor product disguised as a publicity stunt reliably kneecaps your brand's viability.

Anyway, this is the high tide for reviewing.
Come Monday we'll start to get a trickling of reviews from people that paid for their Ellie experience, and that's when the fun will start.
I also think they timed TLOU2 and the PS5 conference because these reviews will provide Sony a solid week of positive press.
They did this very plainly because TLOU2 has a heaving abortion of a plot whether you enjoy it or not. Halo 2 and MGS2 had similar story divergence but they never dared to have the separate protagonists come to blows in such a brutal way. Nor did they try and gaslight you into thinking the true MC deserved it.
The killing the dog vignette really clinches it for me because it indicates Druckmann believes we'll feel a certain way regardless of player input / choice. If you're gonna FORCE me to do reprehensible things no matter what to progress I'm either gonna, eventually get desensitised to the madness on screen, or decide, yeah nahh I actually don't like the characters enough to continue with this unfun experience (which is exactly what I did with TLOU1)
Re; PS5, they have failed with that opening reveal. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares, and most importantly they won't be able to shield the dearth of content on the next gen in 2020-2022 with PS4 ports because this gen they only averaged like 2 exclusives per year.
They were able to convince a lot of people into buying TLOU:Remastered. Not this time! See you in 6 years when they package TLOU3 as a thrilling conclusion to a trilogy that you weren't even aware was a trilogy
 
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: Scarface1, The Great Chandler, UnclePhil and 5 others
LightDragonman1 said:
Perhaps it wouldn't be an issue to this degree either if the game didn't take itself so fricken seriously. It almost comes off as comical.
Click to expand...

This is called grimderp. It's when you take Warhammer 40K levels of darkness and then take it seriously. The results are generally as stupid and autistic as this.
 
  • Agree
  • Like
  • Winner
Reactions: gmax alcremie, Zaryiu, Prompt Critical and 25 others
Hyrip123876 said:
Why is it that every pretentious writer that fails to deliver satisfying pay-off or thematic reasoning in their stories turn around and treat it like some great coup on their part? Game of Thrones, Mass Effect 3, Star Wars, TLOU2, and so on. They all act like a disgusted audience was their intention all along.
"I made you feel something :)"
Oh man you got me good haha. It's a pity this poor product disguised as a publicity stunt reliably kneecaps your brand's viability.

Anyway, this is the high tide for reviewing.
Come Monday we'll start to get a trickling of reviews from people that paid for their Ellie experience, and that's when the fun will start.
I also think they timed TLOU2 and the PS5 conference because these reviews will provide Sony a solid week of positive press.
They did this very plainly because TLOU2 has a heaving abortion of a plot whether you enjoy it or not. Halo 2 and MGS2 had similar story divergence but they never dared to have the separate protagonists come to blows in such a brutal way. Nor did they try and gaslight you into thinking the true MC deserved it.
The killing the dog vignette really clinches it for me because it indicates Druckmann believes we'll feel a certain way regardless of player input / choice. If you're gonna FORCE me to do reprehensible things no matter what to progress I'm either gonna, eventually get desensitised to the madness on screen, or decide, yeah nahh I actually don't like the characters enough to continue with this unfun experience (which is exactly what I did with TLOU1)
Re; PS5, they have failed with that opening reveal. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares, and most importantly they won't be able to shield the dearth of content on the next gen in 2020-2022 with PS4 ports because this gen they only averaged like 2 exclusives per year.
They were able to convince a lot of people into buying TLOU:Remastered. Not this time! See you in 6 years when they package TLOU3 as a thrilling conclusion to a trilogy that you weren't even aware was a trilogy
Click to expand...

It's literally the equivalent of Pee Wee Herman falling off his bike and saying "I meant to do that"
 
  • Feels
Reactions: Dean Pentel and Raging Capybara
AnOminous said:
This is called grimderp. It's when you take Warhammer 40K levels of darkness and then take it seriously. The results are generally as stupid and autistic as this.
Click to expand...
The bigger problem seems to be that he broke the golden rule of writing good fiction, "respect the intelligence of your audience". Several of the reviews with negative views on it have mentioned directly or indirectly that it felt like the game was calling them stupid, and believe me when a polygon journalist is saying this you have severely treated your audience like completely braindead vegetables. A competent fiction writer could take all the plot points of this game and make a compelling plot with them, I mean we give it shit for killing the fan-favorite characters with a ma'am, but as a plot point its not DOA. If I were writing this plot I would have started the game off with a tutorial and epilogue of the last game, then do a time jump forward to maam playing golf and killing Joel, Ellie, and big-nosed prego lesbian self insert. Then it would jump back to immediately after the ending of the first game from the perspective of maam and show her journey to find those responsible for killing her father and friends, and once it caught back up to hot shots golf, it would time jump back again and finish with the last few days of ellies life before getting cunt punted to the sand trap in the sky. That narrative structure could have been an interesting and properly dramatic plot, imagine playing as Ellie knowing what you are leading her to. Of course, it would require proper writing and character development. . . essentially a bunch of skill, talent, and finesse that cuckman does not possess.
 
  • Like
  • Winner
Reactions: FuckedUp, Uranus Pink, Slimy Time and 6 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back