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Forums - Sony Discussion - The Last of Us Part II - Review Thread (MC: 93 / OC: 93)

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DarkD on 21 June 2020
Jaicee said:
DarkD said:

Nonsense.  A lot of people played a few hours, were so put off by a storyline decision that they dropped the game right there and reviewed it.  Some people read the spoilers and were put off from that as well.  I would say either is fair game.

I see. So what you're saying is that thousands of people picked this game up the second it was released at midnight Eastern Time on Friday morning, took it home, played it for two hours, and then, disgusted, turned the game off and wrote negative reviews...and then went back in time two and a half hours to post them at 12:02 AM?

No dude, the vast majority of the "reviews" we've seen over on MC to date are obviously written by people who don't own the game, never intended to, and had in fact made up their minds in that regard years ago, not a day or two ago.

The fact is that even now, few people will realistically have completed the game, as such a feat would have required around 12 hours of play for two days, the average gamer typically averaging not more than a few hours a day of video gaming. In other words, average players of this game won't likely be posting user reviews of it until like after next weekend at the earliest, although perhaps a very small number of exceedingly dedicated people who don't have lives may have in fact completed TLOU2 by now. And you can't help but notice that, as time goes on, the share of TLOU2 reviews that are positive is slowly increasing. There will likely never be enough objective reviews to overcome what legions of trolls have already done to the average "user" score, but expect the percentage of reviews that are positive to keep increasing over time as more and more people actually complete the game.

I say that the share of Metacritic users scoring TLOU2 positively will continue to increase over time as more people actually complete the game with confidence because I'm now many hours into it myself and have a tentatively very positive opinion of the game as yet. And it's mainly because of the game's narrative, not in spite of it. It's much too early to reveal important plot details right now, but after I complete the game and have had time to absorb it, I intend to author a thread with my personal thoughts and feelings because, while I mean no, this game isn't going to resonate the same way for everybody (I get that very clearly), my experience so far is filling me with all kinds of strong emotions on subjects that are deeply personal to me. I really want to share.

Once again, your points don't make sense.  Everyone knows there's bias going on.  And there's plenty of people like yourself no doubt giving it 10/10 stars simply to "make up for the 1-stars".  Given how personally you've taken it, I would bet you've already reviewed it yourself.  One look should tell you to look for a third source if you wanna accurately score it.  Personally I took the "IGN Japan" score as more accurate since Japan doesn't have the same political biases. 

As for user scores, I listened to a streamer who's determined to play the game the whole way through.  I've watched him play a few sections on the hardest difficulty.  He says 70/100 as well and he also says 80/100 for TLOU Part 1.  

If anything, I welcome the scores on both sides since they make it obvious the system is completely corrupt and people should be more discerning.  Just like Fox News lies all the time, CNN lies all the time.  People should research things a bit more carefully.  



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KazumaKiryu on 21 June 2020

After the first 5 hours of play I can say: Wow, the game is impressive !!! This quality is REALLY unbelievable, the gameplay better than in part 1, the story / characters exciting and interesting.

PS: Over 17.000 1 Star-Ratings in the first 30 hours... FAKE-"reviews" by Fanboys of other consoles. TLOU2 is bigger than the first game and god of war.
The Last of Us 2 is a strong game, maybe the best in den last years for me.



pikashoe on 21 June 2020

Just finished it and overall I have to say it was disappointing. It definitely has good moments, the gameplay is well done. But the story just drags and is so poorly done compared to the first. I was begging for it to end.



iron_megalith on 21 June 2020

No matter how much I hate the story, I still think this game is still a 5-6/10. Watching someone play it, it really is just drop dead gorgeous. Would not be surprised if it was a PS5 launch title.



Jaicee on 21 June 2020
RolStoppable said:

That being said, I am looking forward to your thread. I've read a spoiler-filled review that went over all events in the game, so I am curious what you will think of this game after you've completed it, because I know what happens in the game despite having no desire to ever play it. You bring a unique perspective to this forum, so it will be interesting to read your thread regardless of what your thoughts will be.

Well thanks! I'm looking forward to writing it. Right now though I've gotta get back to playing!



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brute on 21 June 2020

Game-play wise, they really did an awesome job, possibly even topping part 1. Sound quality is top notch as well.
But from what I've played so far (guessing right close to the halfway point with 12 hours), the story and characters are really a joke. It's as if Naughty Dog just randomly came up with a script for the sake of creating a sequel. Right now it is not doing any justice to part 1.

I'm also agreeing more with the average of the later reviews (~85) than with the glowing perfect tens it received when the embargo lifted. Curious if any of the reviewers feared of giving this game a low score for fear of fan backlash and angering the publisher as well.
Reminds me of a case around a decade ago when a Gamespot reviewer was fired for his Kane and Lynch review just cause the publisher was advertising on their site.



tag:"reviews only matter for the real hardcore gamer"

Shaunodon on 21 June 2020
BraLoD said:

With the new lowest score of 6.5 it has now fallen to 3rd for games ranked at 95.

The blurb for that review:

"Cultured Vultures
Jun 21, 2020
65
In trying to subvert expectations, The Last of Us Part II discards the best aspects of its predecessor to provide a rote revenge tale that is ill-considered, ending on a note that makes everything — all the violence, all the loss, all the struggle — feel utterly, hopelessly pointless."

...Is the one that sounds in tune with most of the users here who've played the game. Or I should say most users who aren't just overt Sony/ND fanboys/fangirls. The ones that seem the most objective (to me). Also in line with some of the more recent youtube reviews I've been seeing, mostly from channels I've never watched.

That said, I honestly don't know much about Cultured Vultures. When going through Metacritic scores, the one I usually seek out first is Destructoid who gave it an 85. Below the average, and somewhere between the extremes of reviewers throwing out perfect scores along with overly-emotional soliloquies (which Destructoid is also guilty of), and fans who aren't completely bombing it but hate many of the choices the designers made.

Until I play it for myself, I'm assuming 85 is probably closer to where the actual quality of this game lies.



brute on 21 June 2020
Shaunodon said:
BraLoD said:

With the new lowest score of 6.5 it has now fallen to 3rd for games ranked at 95.

The blurb for that review:

"Cultured Vultures
Jun 21, 2020
65
In trying to subvert expectations, The Last of Us Part II discards the best aspects of its predecessor to provide a rote revenge tale that is ill-considered, ending on a note that makes everything — all the violence, all the loss, all the struggle — feel utterly, hopelessly pointless."

...Is the one that sounds in tune with most of the users here who've played the game. Or I should say most users who aren't just overt Sony/ND fanboys/fangirls. The ones that seem the most objective (to me). Also in line with some of the more recent youtube reviews I've been seeing, mostly from channels I've never watched.

That said, I honestly don't know much about Cultured Vultures. When going through Metacritic scores, the one I usually seek out first is Destructoid who gave it an 85. Below the average, and somewhere between the extremes of reviewers throwing out perfect scores along with overly-emotional soliloquies (which Destructoid is also guilty of), and fans who aren't completely bombing it but hate many of the choices the designers made.

Until I play it for myself, I'm assuming 85 is probably closer to where the actual quality of this game lies.

While I wouldnt give it a 65 I definitely have to agree with that. It discards so many aspects of what made part 1 amazing.

Gameplay, which is the biggest factor for me, has remained of the same quality if not better, everything else seems to be a downgrade.



tag:"reviews only matter for the real hardcore gamer"

Carl on 21 June 2020

Mid game spoilers.

Spoiler!

Assuming I'm now at the midway point because I'm playing as Abby and she has her own med and weapon upgrade trees as well as her own collectibles. All her friends are alive, about to go to the places they die on Ellie's section. I'm just about to set off to the aquarium after her flashback. Still on her "Day 1" and assuming her 3 days until she gets to that theater will be similar length to Ellie's chapters.

Before I go too far with her story, I can't help but feel like if they were *really* going to do a perspective twist halfway through the game, it should have been the other way around. Have us play as Abby for the first half of the game, get to know and connect with her. Not really knowing why her friends are all getting murdered, tortured, hunted down by the "trespasser" or whatever until we break into that theater and realise it's Ellie, Tommy and co... *Then* she has the zebra flashback and we realise who her dad was and it's revealed what she and the WLF guys did in our switch to Ellie on the hunt for revenge.

I dunno, maybe I'm thinking too much about it without playing through her entire arc.

Ellie's slow descent into madness is unlike anything I've seen in a videogame before. Really highlighted by her reactions between the torture of Nora and the murder of pregnant Mel. She's going to be emotionally destroyed by the end of this.

Still really enjoying the challenge on Survival. Can't believe how long it actually seems to be.



                            

Torillian on 21 June 2020
CGI-Quality said:
John2290 said:

Sony is benifeting in the very near and short term but not in their intent, you assume I know better about bots on MC so I'm going to assume you know better about how exclusives work in the favour of a company like Sony and why they make them. The worst thing that could have happened to this game is for those reviewers to give it tens across the board, cause it's not a ten. 

If you're liking the game, that's a great thing, I liked it too. I wanted it to be good, I still want it to be good but the more I pay the worse it gets. I hope that doesn't happen for you too but unfortunately it's happening for most people and if you know anything about metacritic, 45k isn't trolls, it isn't even in the ballpark. 

"Most people". You don't know most people to be able to make that proclamation. I agree with those who say some of you have let this get to a point now. We're talking about a bunch of damn pixels on a screen, yet people act like their freakin' lives will end because a video game didn't go how they wanted it to. It's ridiculous and my sympathy is nill.

It's the death knell of one of the big three in gaming. "get woke go broke" as they say. 

For those who don't know my politics, the above is sarcasm and views that I find abhorrent and stupid. Just to make things obvious. 



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