#its why tlou 2 doesnt work for me

[rise-my-angel]

hii mimi!! how are you?? how is everything? also!! what did you think of the most recent ep of tlou?? i love hearing your thoughts about shows!! ☺️☺️

I actually really love the small pockets of a somewhat normal life. First two episodes had what we know as a normal life but drenched in a looming dread of whats to be lossed. But then we get two main peeks of what is now. Under cut cus i talk so goddamn much:

Bill and Frank found harmony in their isolation and shows that the world is healing on its own already. Their lives and end had nothing to do with the world around them.

And I actually really liked Ellie at FEDRA. We barely know them, and have only seen one officer who even despite what he did l, wasn't just a bad guy. And I like Ellie's conversation with at the school. That these people are just like the fireflies. They believe they have the answer as to how to keep things together and their sacrifices are necessary. His talk with Ellie wasn't full of propaganda or manipulation. Just a man who thinks he's doing right by the world and wants to guide others. They do bad things, but so do the rebel groups and neither of them are totally in the right or wrong.

I do love how they didn't feel tempted to go for horror or shock snd show Riley's inevitable. Just like not showing Bill and Frank even just together. We know the ending for her because Ellie's in Marlenes hold not Riley. Its more tragic that we see her whole and never again.

I also, like episode 3 love how it shows that life still can be normal. That behind the walls or in them, people still find love and live a life that feels like before. The fact that so much of them was just pure goofiness in the mall was perfect. We saw normal can exist in Bill and Frank, that you can find it in Tommy and Maria, and now we see that Ellie already knows its possible. She grew up to be mostly normal and has experienced what love can feel like and now shes seen it out there, twice.

We never saw that with Joel after he left to go bail Tommy out of jail. Normal didn't exist for him but Ellie has seen and experienced it, she knows its possible and despite everything the person she wants to show that to the most is Joel. Its why she asks what theyre going to do with their lives after they reach the fireflies and not whats going to happen there. She knows what love feels like and now she wants Joel to remember how that feels.

Also, I love our two awkward as fuck little idiot lesbians. Two complete morons who perfectly capture "how romantic does this shit need to get before you dingbags are on the same level". On the carousel would have been picture perfect but they just don't know and they move on. I also love how Ellie also merciless bullies Riley, like she does Joel. Her love language is making fun of you and its the funniest thing.

Interesting I saw people say Ellies post bite reaction made them think Joels looked like that. But I don't think so. Ellie wasn't losing just Riley she was losing herself too. She KNEW (👀) she was at her end. Ellie reacted with upset and anger that finally spilt into tears when she accepted their fates. Joel's anger festered and grew. Spurred on by the people they surrounded eachother with who insisted they were indeed not good people.

I think Joel was numb for a while. So devastated his own soul had nothing left to give until other people ensured he could fill it with anger. Ellie's anger was instant and not really anger but helplessness. Its why her meeting Joel so soon after this is important.

She didn't have a chance to feel numb. She met Joel before that could kick in, and she recognizes someone who could be her. They're alike and I think Ellie picked up on it fast, and by reaching out to someone she felt could be her if she let herself forget the good she has seen and felt.

Its important they met so soon after, because while part died with Riley, her soul reached out to Joel before it could die too. They're the only people who could make that emptiness feel whole again for one another.

Also. Ellie is actually me excitedly asking if she was getting tacos.

#tlou spoilers #the last of us spoilers #i just love how the show refuses to paint the world as miserable #it's not its full of life and love and it's not bleak and horrific #bad things happen (me looking at the next episode) #but it doesnt define things and it shouldn't be the focus #its why tlou 2 doesnt work for me #its a story about finding hope and healing through love #and having such an unapologetically bleak and macabre sequel strips away why the original worked #it's not about revenge or anger or violence #its about overcoming those for the sake of love

[mechecolomar-archive]

A thing that really bothers me is when people go "well, TLOU has always been about graphic violence, have you played the first one?". Well, yes, I have and I remember pretty clearly every time someone died YOU NEVER SEE IT NOR THE VIOLENCE INFLICTED. I'd say the most graphic death scene is Henry's, and you barely see anything there. The first TLOU was very careful about death scenes and violence.

Yeah! I was thinking about if The Last of Us was done in the same was as 2 and they so would have shown Sarah full of holes or something, make you watch Tess get shot up, make you stare at Sam’s body, probably explicitly show Henry killing himself, Maria probably would have died a shock value death to traumatize Tommy, you probably would have to stare at ur dead horse convulsing or something, the camera would have been on marlene and so forth. The game did have violence but it was different from this... the most serious moments were definitely Marlene and Sam, but they never focused on it zooming in on their corpse or drawing it out. In tlou when it is longer its focused on Joel himself showing that he’s a morally gray character (tlou2 does this too once but that still is way longer and interactive for some reason??)

The violence with minorities is ridiculous too, tlou was bad for this but 2 seemed to have taken it a step further and included more people to die?? I just don’t get why they did this. I’ve seen SO many people praise the death animations and gore and all that and like. u cant have that reaction if ur game is supposed to be abt violence being wrong... it just doesnt work.

#ask #anon #tlou2 critical #i dont know what happened between 1 and 2 but someone got inspired by game of thrones im guessing lmao #Anonymous

[mechecolomar-archive]

i replayed tlou a bit ago so im gonna share my thoughts about this 7 year old game :) it’ll be mostly criticisms (bc i clearly like the game and havent really said what i dont like about it) and what i hope nd will improve for tlou2. i’ll kinda reference footage thats already been released for tlou2, but i wont mention any spoilers

so my biggest complaint is the gameplay, controls, and maybe the layout of the weapons. 

A big thing during fights that doesnt feel as good as it should be is the movement. I really dont like the forced jog throughout the entire game. I understand it when joel is hurt or the game wants to to focus on a certain thing in the environment, but other-wise it makes it really hard to explore the map naturally. Another thing when youre actively in a fight with numerous enemies surrounding u, theres almost no way to get out of it unless you shoot the enemy, theres no dodge and the L1 to sprint out of combat usually doesnt work well. This was especially frustrating with ellie who normally dies from one hit. In TLOU2 theyre adding the ability to dodge so thats something im looking forward to and hopefully crouching as a way to dodge works better bc in tlou it felt very slow and was normally used for slow stealth in tlou. 

The ai of npcs often broke the immersion by outright running in front of enemies all the time, no matter what character it was. Nd didnt punish the player by having other enemies detect them, which im thankful for, but hopefully joel, jessie, dina, and lev are a bit better in TLOU2. Before Ellie became able to help me fight she often got outright stuck in the middle of me and an enemy. Ellie was unable to be harmed, but it led to these almost comical scenes where me and some hunter were just swinging pipes at each other but entirely missing due to ellie running in place between us and taking no damage from either of us.

The collectibles were very frustrating (due to the mobility i mentioned earlier) and the map at some points were annoying to deal with. A lot of nd’s games seem to put the hidden items in areas behind where you start, or places that are hard to get to and its really annoying when you have to jog to backtrack or even walk at some times. The underwater parts were also irritating bc of joel’s movement too. The map was usually ok, but the part where you can ride a horse was the start of naughty dog trying open world levels (for some reason??) and the first time was really annoying, especially due to ellie not having the horse follow you while you walk and you having to jog back to her. I honestly can’t see this being too much better based on what we’ve been shown. Ellie will ride a horse for at least 2 times, be in a boat, and potentially be in a car. ND also boasted that tlou2 will feature their largest area yet filled with things and thats not very comforting to me. The only thing i could see them doing to make it better is like at least having your horse follow you or letting you full on sprint, but i feel like they gave you the horse so you can traverse the area without running :/. I think nadine does follow chloe eventually in the western ghats part of tll, so it could be better in tlou2 but we’ll see.

The bricks and bottles really felt useless unless it was for a distraction. I also didnt like how they were considered as two separate items so it constantly looked like you could hold more, when it was just the opposite. I dont think you could run and throw bottles/bricks either in tlou, but i know that changes in 2. Hopefully whatever items u can throw are considered one item and it could be more than bottles/bricks.

sometimes interactions were in an area that were around enemies, so they would get ruined and i personally didnt like that. i felt like areas where you choose to sit and have a convo should be a clear indication the player is safe, this usually was the case but i had a moment ruined because some enemy heard me. you could argue that could be more natural, but i think having a clear establishment or whats going to happen where makes more sense.

I also had an issue with the detection by enemies in the game. I played on easy so its definitely the most lenient it could have been, but the detection sound seemed too short imo. I really wish the game had like a little meter like in most games? Also the detection sound seemed to blend into certain soundtracks played and was sometimes hard to discern between the two. I personally dont understand why they dont have a detection meter considering theres other hud elements on the screen but idk. Tlou2 doesnt seem to have included that and its kinda disappointing imo

The subtitles sometimes didnt show or they were different from what was actually said but this happened rarely and it wasnt that frustrating, it was just something i noticed. This goes along with the ruined interactions. Also the few times the game had a recorder instead of notes for collectibles, it would have been nice if there was a transcript of it. I’m just lazy, not deaf, but i know some people prefer text over sound.

I personally didnt like the controls on ps4, having to constantly hold L1 to move faster than a walk was annoying to me. I also wish there were more control layouts than the one provided, or that you could change it yourself. I wish just toggling/holding L3 would let you move faster, reloading could be square, R3 should be crouching, and circle should be dodging or whatever. 

I also didnt like the photomode but apparently all new ps4 games had that type of photomode? Idk if its nd that likes that version, but it’d be neat if tlou2 had one similar to hzd/gow/hellblade. I think the lost legacy had the same type so it might just be the same :/

This is nitpicking, and isnt quit dealing with the base game, but i wish the unlockable skins were a bit more diverse instead of being 5 diff colored plaid shirts for joel and references to nd or their old games for ellie. The goggles seem to be the only unique item and its still a easter egg. Idk, i just think it’d be a bit cooler if they were more unique? I dont know if the outfits would work like in uncharted 4, with skins extending to other characters like dina or abby, but it’d be cool if they were more diverse.

Its late and this is all the criticism i can think of and hopefully they improve in tlou2, but yeah everything else is good. 

#personal #long post #in case ur on mobile #tlou2 spoilers #if u dont want to hear any mention of it (game mechanics) i mean. not any actual spoilers #...maybe a name fhjsdjfsd #thats it!!