Current Events > I have to rant about this Last of Us 2 moment I just passed (earlyish spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

that just exemplifies how much the storytelling is intruding on the gameplay here

i just got to the end of day 1, which ends when you trigger a playable flashback to a time when Joel took Ellie to a museum.

and its a fairly long walk-and-talk segment where you trigger conversations about museum exhibits, no enemies or anything. then in the second part of this you start seeing signs of enemies and getting supply/ammo pickups as though something is going to happenBut its actually just a fakeout and the segment ends

the thing is, there is literally no point to this half-hou-ish segment. Its just filler. Ostensibly its there to show that Joel looked out for Ellie, but thats something we already know, having played the first game (which this game presumes you have), not to mention several early game moments where they further it. It could have been a short cutscene, instead they stretched by all accounts a pretty long game out even further with useless non-gameplay

Naughty Dog really needs to learn how to A)better incorporate story and B)trim the story fat

of course they get perfect scores for this shit so why would they


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it helped establish the kinda relationship they had post- TLoU, where everyone wondered where they stood.

and IMO, it was a really good segment of the game, especially since it showed the lengths that he would go not just to save her life, but also feel that she was loved.

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boxington posted...

it helped establish the kinda relationship they had post- TLoU, where everyone wondered where they stood.

and IMO, it was a really good segment of the game, especially since it showed the lengths that he would go not just to save her life, but also feel that she was loved.

This, tbh.

You might argue the first flashback is the least relevant, but all of them are relevant to the story in some way.
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aaa games are getting too expensive and this style of game is going to start to die out over the next decade, let them wrap up their moviemaking

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I'm not up to that segment so I can't quite speak of it but I think they've been doing this sort of stuff more since people really liked it in Left Behind. I don't mind some slow sections in a game personally. Especially since they really turn up that tension meter quite high in Seattle.

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I agree. While the segment is very touching, it messes with the flow of the game. It's part of the reason why I'm going through this game at such a snail's pace. I did that segment and then just quit for the day.

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boxington posted...

it helped establish the kinda relationship they had post- TLoU, where everyone wondered where they stood.

and IMO, it was a really good segment of the game, especially since it showed the lengths that he would go not just to save her life, but also feel that she was loved.

I disagree, from a storytelling standpoint it gives no new information about the present day and especially since it tasked place 2 years after the first game (three years before the present) all it does is rehash themes from the first game, themes that were shown in the intro sequence of part 2

but that problem could have been mitigated if they had added any compelling gameplay moments in the segment, which they assuredly did not. Why not add some platforming to get into the museum, or solve a puzzle to advance through it, or even just have you find a key or something

instead, it strictly focuses on walk-and-talk storytelling, and the story its telling is not newinformation

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true, it doesn't offer any new current day info, but the way I see it, it's a moment/day that Ellie is remembering that helps further fuel her anger/sadness for her revenge mission

like, she's pulling up whatever she can you justify to herself what she's doing


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boxington posted...

true, it doesn't offer any new current day info, but the way I see it, it's a moment/day that Ellie is remembering that helps further fuel her anger/sadness for her revenge mission

like, she's pulling up whatever she can you justify to herself what she's doing

I think even if you justify it as a story beat they wanted to have, I still dont think it justifies them putting this long segment without any meaningful gameplay

just kind of gets back to my point of how their desire to tell a story a certain way is at odds with making it a compelling gameplay experience

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What's funny Is the super important plot/backstory explaining scene in FF7 is optional and easily missed

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I dunno, I feel that the flashback benefits from being an "interactive" segment.

it's not just a scene of Joel doing something meaningful for Ellie, but them just enjoying the moment and each other's company, and finding new things to enjoy/discover.

maybe there's nothing about that part that made its gameplay compelling, but there are enough moments in the game to allow a scene or two to be more slow-paced

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it's also worth noting that downtime and slow paced moments are useful to help keep a pace going and having meaning

Insanity from start to end just becomes mundane and boring. See Agony or that unintentionally hilarious COD train wreck scene

Even Half Life had you crawling through events to break up the shooting

Not every game had to be an arcade

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Guns_of_Verdun posted...

it's also worth noting that downtime and slow paced moments are useful to help keep a pace going and having meaning

Insanity from start to end just becomes mundane and boring. See Agony or that unintentionally hilarious COD train wreck scene

Even Half Life had you crawling through events to break up the shooting

Not every game had to be an arcade

Not mentioned in my original post to avoid spoilers as much as possible but this segment follows a present day area that is also devoid of enemies and largely involves you walking point a to point b, which follows a fairly lengthy cutscene on its own

so it is a fairly long lull in the gameplay that breaks up pacing for an extended period of time

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theres more of them. my biggest gripe about the game. i like the idea of them but they run too long. not sure if they could have been shortened.

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Better than some of the others

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Guns_of_Verdun posted...

unintentionally hilarious COD train wreck scene

thank you for making me aware of this, that was absolutely amazing

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Meanwhile it was a highlight for me. Glad they brought back these elements from Left Behind. A lighthearted break from the present, a return to the young Ellie & Joel dynamic, Joel being full dad, the fun quips between the two, all leading up to that sweet ass shuttle launch. Yeah, that was great.

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The mirror segment was very cute. I'm glad it was there, it was a nice break from all the gunning and killing.
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