all 12 comments

[–]HideYourDogItsTheATF 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I decided to wait until deep, deep discount (<$10) and even then I may skip it entirely. I certainly didn't expect a happy go lucky story but the decisions they made in regard to the story completely turned me off. It felt fans were being punished for liking the first game by being beat over the head with cheap emotional manipulation, retconning personalities and decision making abilities on some characters, and tired tropes by a writer(s) that have an over inflated sense of worth and ability.

[–]m68k 8 insightful - 4 fun8 insightful - 3 fun9 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

I rather play a game where I just shoot stuff, and have the character says things like "It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of gum."

[–]nomad77 7 insightful - 3 fun7 insightful - 2 fun8 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

I just watched a lets play instead. I was never going to buy it after the leaks came out but watching it on youtube allowed me to still enjoy it without having to suffer through the awful story.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

For a game like this it seems the story is most important, it is action but not like a first person online shooter where mechanics and controls are most important, people want to be immersed in the story, that is how first one was. If the story sucks, which after hearing of spoilers it did to me, why play it. Or yeah maybe the story is good but just don't feel like paying money for it based on what I heard. Some rpgs have great stories and I like watching them on youtube. I wanted to see the story of the new Zelda game but I didn't have a switch so I watched a guy playing it.

[–]nomad77 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's not even just the story being bad. It destroys what was good about the first game and then forces you into the shoes of the character that destroyed it and begs you to empathize with her. No thanks. The story does fit within the universe because it is a brutal universe but that doesn't make it a good story to tell. They could have gone many directions but chose this and then try to force the player to agree with their choice. It's insulting to the player and then the fact that you're forced to beat the shit out of the character you've already come to care about using the new (somehow yoked in an apocalypse) character removes player agency and gives it to the writer to satisfy his weird gross fetish. At least with a lets play I can enjoy the commentary from the lets player.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah I heard that, without playing it I suppose I shouldn't review it but I don't see how that story can be good, it doesn't seem to make sense, breaks many story conventions, you don't usually have the bad guy who did evil things become the protagonist because people won't want to relate to them. Anyway I will just not get that game, no need to.

[–]LesbianOutlaw 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I enjoyed it a lot. My primary complaint was that it went on about two hours too long. I wish it had just ended at the farm, but they had to go and tack on that extra bit at the end there and give the game a depressing ending. It felt like a DLC chapter.

The various plot twists and turns were well done. Aside from the annoying film grain you can’t disable, the graphics were top notch. The animation next-level. Ellie’s gameplay sections were acceptable but when the game reached the surprise Abby half of the game the gameplay actually got really good, definitely better than the first.

It took me 30 hours to finish the whole campaign. The game is at least twice as long as the first one which surprised me. But, as I mentioned, I could have done without those last two hours.

I think it’s getting a lot of hate because Druckmann did put in an amount of LGBT and female dominant content that gamers aren’t used to seeing. Both protagonists being female, the lesbian relationship being the center of the story, the surprise FTM trans character appearance. The few important male characters all getting killed. The focus put on pregnancies, a definitive female-only experience.

It was a lot of progressive storytelling for one game and by the time we got to the trans character part I just audibly laughed because it did feel a bit like they were trying too hard to be woke. Ultimately though I didn’t mind, because there’s no reason why women and LGBT people can’t get a game or two that focuses on their stories from time to time. It was nice to get to play a game where my gender and sexual orientation didn’t take a backseat.

I think all the hating was primarily from younger men in their teens to 30’s upset that a game didn’t revolve around them for once. I know guys, it can be threatening when something isn’t all about you. You just got a taste of what we’ve had to experience our whole lives. Women and non-heterosexual characters have always taken a backseat in media, especially video games. We’re used to having to play games or watch movies through your perspective but you clearly aren’t yet used to experiencing media through our perspective.

[–]Trajan 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think it’s getting a lot of hate because Druckmann did put in an amount of LGBT and female dominant content that gamers aren’t used to seeing. Both protagonists being female, the lesbian relationship being the center of the story, the surprise FTM trans character appearance. The few important male characters all getting killed. The focus put on pregnancies, a definitive female-only experience.

Or maybe people were a bit unhappy that the protagonists they enjoyed from the first game end up either dead or mutilated, with the player required to play the character responsible for this? I could imagine similar annoyance if Geralt were to be killed early in Witcher 3, with the rest of the game spent playing as the character who killed him. Upping the gay probably only further soured the experience.

It was a lot of progressive storytelling for one game and by the time we got to the trans character part I just audibly laughed because it did feel a bit like they were trying too hard to be woke. Ultimately though I didn’t mind, because there’s no reason why women and LGBT people can’t get a game or two that focuses on their stories from time to time. It was nice to get to play a game where my gender and sexual orientation didn’t take a backseat.

If survival in a brutal post apocalyptic world is representative of the stories of women or LGBT people then they probably need to consider moving to somewhere less dangerous.

I think all the hating was primarily from younger men in their teens to 30’s upset that a game didn’t revolve around them for once. I know guys, it can be threatening when something isn’t all about you. You just got a taste of what we’ve had to experience our whole lives. Women and non-heterosexual characters have always taken a backseat in media, especially video games. We’re used to having to play games or watch movies through your perspective but you clearly aren’t yet used to experiencing media through our perspective.

Sure, let's go with the fragile masculinity thing. Nothing at all to do with what happened to the original characters and the player then having to take the unconventional role of controlling the character responsible for their demise. It's not as if a large number of the negative comments made, in fact a majority of them, mention unhappiness at how Joel and Ellie were treated.

Gay characters 'take a backseat' because they're a tiny minority in the general population (~5% for the entire LGBT pantheon). In films and TV they are overrepresented to the point where the average person, when asked, thinks they are way more common (typically upwards of 20%). Women don't take a backseat. It just happens that males are by far the largest customer for certain types of games, and male characters are a more natural fit for action games. There are also fewer rules to observe when using male characters.

White male characters are more flexible. Feminists and other identitarians have frequently complained when these characters, viewed by them as representatives of the collective identity, are not treated as they would demand. This is why it's safer to stick with white males, in video games and film. This is why female characters so often end up being flawless, safe, and dull. This won't go away until people can stop seeing their genitals or skin colour as membership in a collective identity, where any individual representation of the identity is an avatar of them. If you really need to see yourself on screen then switch on a webcam and look at your preview.

Don't get me wrong, perspectives are good. Threats and motivations are gendered in a post-apocalyptic world, and good storytelling can use this. Women are unlikely to be going toe-to-toe with men or playing much of a combative role. In terms of men, we'd see varying forms of protection for women, rape, and exploitation. The problem with identitarianism is that vaguely realistic portrayals of these themes will be considered problematic. Rather than the more realistic set-up of a man trying to protect a woman, we get a roided-up woman who don't need no man. Instead of a character with flaws, setbacks, and development, we get characters who are the best at everything and whose only 'character development' is centred on becoming even more powerful.

You're not acknowledging the valid criticisms people have off this game. You don't once mention the main complaint people express in their reviews. I don't see how you can credibly assert a cause for this 'hate' while ignoring that reason and instead devoting most of your comments to identitarian concerns.

[–]ChingChongdingdong 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Wow. You need to stop being such a fucking cunt towards men. That's why you're lonely and have more cats then dicks you've ever taken. The game fucking sucked donkey dick because it pandered to a bunch of freaks. I'm glad they did. I hate Sony, and ND is over rated as fuck.

[–]Article10ECHR[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

the surprise FTM trans character appearance.

In any other medium you would call this 'jumping the shark'. It's always cringe to include a token character like that whose sole defining feature is their minority status.

[–]Tums_is_Smut_bkwrds 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The Critical Drinker has what I think is a good review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGtKUaPhdfk

I didn't play the first one but watched a playthrough and it was captivating. Not going to bother for the second one.

[–]Drewski 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Still waiting to play the first one. Hopefully it will come to PC at some point, or PS3 emulation gets to the point where it's playable. By the time I get through with the first, the second one should be pretty cheap.