| pikashoe said: The game is a real mixed bag. The gameplay is great during combat but the story is an absolute mess. It really feels like they needed to go through a few more drafts of the story to make it work. So many ideas feel like they could potentially work but it all just ends up feeling rushed and underdeveloped. I do admire what they tried to achieve but I feel that most of it ends up falling flat unfortunately. |
Of all the remarks I've read on here, this one (and @epicurean's) resonate the most with me. I loved the story in the first game! It doesn't try to be anything crazy. It's just a simple telling of a man and a little girl who grow close during an escort mission (amidst a "zombie apocolypse"). Combine this with addictive & immersive combat system, and you have one of the greatest games of all time. Following this up was already a massive feat...and I believe the writer(s) behind Part 2 recognized this.
My perspecive on this game's story: It doesn't seem like the writer(s) had a clear idea on how to continue it in a meaningful manner. Even if I do believe Joel being killed off was a solid way to move things forward (with all the innocent ppl he killed in the first game, it was inevitable somebody was gonna be after him), the lead up to his death fails to explain why Joel's death was a natural consequence of his actions from the first game, and, as a result, comes off as a little bit cheap. Combine this with a very same-y (refined) combat system, and you get a game which struggles to justify its existence. Lacking past the motivation, I wasn't gripped at all by the story, especially when most of the emotional impact consisted of (i) discovering somebody is pregnant, or (ii) Ellie having a bleeding heart upon murdering the team of ppl who killed Joel (yet she has no remourse for the scores of soldiers she killed along the way).
I will confess that I have only gotten up through the start of the Abby portion of the game, but I don't have any intention to finish it. Seems like most of the story has already concluded, plus I already sunk 25hr into Ellie's section (i play on Survivor Mode, which means being very slow in sneaking up behind every enemy...hence the bloated playtime).
Last edited by firebush03 - on 17 December 2024
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