Cybsled
Avatar of War Slayer
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TLOU2 gameplay wise is fine
Storywise it’s mixed and some of the controversial storybeats involve gameplay that takes away player agency, so even though you REALLY don’t want to do that gameplay action, you have to in order to proceed. It’s like that Viva la Dirt League sketch where the guy has an unskippable quest where he is forced to kill a bunch of cute puppies. TLOU2 evokes a similar disgusted reaction at points along those lines.
There are some good story elements in the game, but most of the negativity is the result in my opinion: 1) it wasn’t the story people wanted. The flashbacks with Joel and Ellie I think were more in line with what people expected, although that unto itself would have lacked sufficient action to sustain a game 2) We are introduced to a new character that murders a character we love, then the game tries to retroactively explain why we should feel bad for this new character. As a result, while most players understand why they did what they did, the massive emotional barrier that the player has put up as a result of that initial action results in most players never actually sympathizing or empathizing with the new character like we did with Joel + Ellie in the first game 3) The underlying theme of the game, revenge, is handled poorly because other media has done it better. They try to cap it off with a “turn the other cheek” type of message, but it always felt like Ellie got the shittier end of the deal at the end for taking the high road decision
Storywise it’s mixed and some of the controversial storybeats involve gameplay that takes away player agency, so even though you REALLY don’t want to do that gameplay action, you have to in order to proceed. It’s like that Viva la Dirt League sketch where the guy has an unskippable quest where he is forced to kill a bunch of cute puppies. TLOU2 evokes a similar disgusted reaction at points along those lines.
There are some good story elements in the game, but most of the negativity is the result in my opinion: 1) it wasn’t the story people wanted. The flashbacks with Joel and Ellie I think were more in line with what people expected, although that unto itself would have lacked sufficient action to sustain a game 2) We are introduced to a new character that murders a character we love, then the game tries to retroactively explain why we should feel bad for this new character. As a result, while most players understand why they did what they did, the massive emotional barrier that the player has put up as a result of that initial action results in most players never actually sympathizing or empathizing with the new character like we did with Joel + Ellie in the first game 3) The underlying theme of the game, revenge, is handled poorly because other media has done it better. They try to cap it off with a “turn the other cheek” type of message, but it always felt like Ellie got the shittier end of the deal at the end for taking the high road decision
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