The story is memorable for part 2 for me but what makes me play game+ survivor mode over and over is the amazing gameplay. Best stealth/action gameplay. Tension and transition to action is just amazing. And you can be surprisingly creative due to how advanced the AI in the game is. It's one of those games where difficulty scaling had less to do with making enemies just being able to take more damage or the user being able to take less damage and more to do with enemy AI increasing their awareness and intelligence. Just a all around well made ultra polished engaging game that makes me want to play it more and more. Ellie Hillcrest and Abby/Lev skyscraper levels I just keep on coming back too
I didn't say forced out, but left of their own accord due to differences/dissatisfaction with Druckmann. That being said, my source is only internet rumor mill. I've not heard much to the contrary behind a lot of the changes at ND over the years, so that's all I'm going on. Could be a bunch of bunk. I understand it, and most of it is pretty stupid. The anti-woke freakout about the game was way, way overblown. The weakest part of the game was the story, which is not great considering that was the strongest part of the first game. But overall it was still good. A lot of characters made dumber than usual decisions, etc, but I think that the blowback was due to 1) the bar being the highest it could possibly be for video game storytelling and 2) everyone basically wanting to just play the 1st game all over again. I don't think anybody went into it like "I really want to have my moral compass toyed with while I go cosplaying around as the murderer of my favorite video game character of all time". Critically, not really in the sales dept (although I'm not sure part 2 will stand the test of time as well as 1 financially).
Forced out vs left due to differences is a bit of semantics, but fair enough. I inserted that verbiage as it sounded like BS I saw before, though you're right you didn't say that explicitly. The game industry has high turnover (and burnout), so I'm sure quite a few key members of TLOU1 left/moved on to other projects, but I don't think that's anything out of the ordinary. I think many of the key figures in TLOU1 were still heavily involved in TLOU2 as well (including the actors themselves). It isn't really something I'd think much about, except for some reason, there is a lot of BS about things going on at Naughty Dog. Some of that even predates TLOU2, where high profile gaming press folks would 100% make up stories about conflicts within Naughty Dog just to get web clicks (e.g., Amy Hennig's departure). The backlash surrounding TLOU2 just allowed for more junk to circulate the interwebs without much critical thought. Kinda unfortunate IMO since I think ND are one of the better developers out there (in terms of game quality and AFAIK their actual workplace). It is just bizarre to me because people love to hate TLOU2 and Druckmann. Plenty of games/movies/etc fall victim to #1 and #2 (at least to some degree), yet they don't always get this kind of reaction. As an example, Stranger Things S1 was amazing, and people ended up being pretty disappointed with S2 (and S3 for that matter). "S1 was amazing, but they did too much forced comedy/nostalgia/boring stuff/etc in S2/S3." That kind of thinking is usually about as far as it goes. People don't go further, getting into conspiracy theories about how the great minds of Stranger Things S1 were forced out by the Duffer Brothers or some other kind of nonsense. Never mind review bombing and things of that sort. I can understand being disappointed in TLOU2. I'd probably put myself in that camp, at least to some degree, even though I also knew it would be tough to match (let alone exceed) the excellence of TLOU1. But the hate the game and its staff receive is pretty crazy IMO. That's the stuff I don't really understand, especially if it is just due to "well that didn't turn out quite how I expected" type stuff. This is an industry where 2K Sports, Activision, Blizzard, etc., all exist and do objectively worse things with their games and fans, yet it seems they get a fraction of the negativity. What's your definition for a critical flop? I can pull out quotes from the Wikipedia article for it, but it definitely received "universal acclaim" from critics. It received a ton of GOTY awards (plus some attention for one of the best of the generation), various other awards, etc. TLOU1 probably did a bit better, but if TLOU2 is a critical flop, I'm sure many developers would love to achieve that level of failure. I do agree that TLOU2 will likely not sell as well as TLOU1 did over time. I don't think it is as good of a game, plus it suffers from being a sequel. Selling 10M+ copies is still pretty damn good, and they probably could have done better if they didn't break out the MP component for the game. Though if/when Factions launches, I suppose it could make more money than either game (not that I'm happy about that). ------------------------------------------------ Sorry for going a bit off-topic (even though this is about the source material). I think my general point is that I don't think the TV Show is in bad hands or anything like that. It could end up being terrible, but I don't think it will be due to lack of talent, effort, etc.
When I say critical flop, I mean among the public, not the press. TLOU2 got just as much love as 1 did from gaming media, but the user reviews were decidedly mixed.
Well even that's not accurate, at least based on what I see. The game did well from some "gamer choice" polls (I know it won ResetEra 2020's GOTY and it came in 2nd at TGA to Ghost of Tsushima). Also won a lot of industry awards (usually decided by other developers, not press). The only indicator of a mixed public reaction is from things like the user score at Metacritic, but there's a known "review bombing" effect there. TLOU2 is probably *the* example of this, though I notice lots of other games affected by this. I just realized Genshin Impact PS5 has a 1.8 user score, which makes TLOU2's 5.7 look pretty damn good. There's definitely a group of TLOU2 players that were hugely disappointed by the game (likely much bigger than TLOU1), and they consider it a huge flop. But by all accounts, that seems like a fairly small minority of the 10M+ people who have played it. A very vocal minority, but still a minority. I remember this one vocal weirdo* on here who thought Super Mario Galaxy sucked because it didn't have a very interesting narrative. That doesn't mean the game was a flop or anything like that though. I'm sorry for picking on you about some minor wording. As I mentioned before, I probably wouldn't care if this was about other stuff. I don't even care that much about the game personally (I'd probably give it like an 8.x type score). But that vocal minority mentioned above goes around spreading nonsense about the game and Naughty Dog (including specific individuals at the studio), and all that weirdness makes me want to correct those things when possible. It became some weird piece of propaganda to push certain ideas I think, which is unfortunate IMO. Spoiler *That weirdo was me.
TLOU2 meta critic user score started off in the low 3s (the release week review bombers... back when it was under 20k) but has since received over 180k reviews and sits in the 5s. I can't think that's all the work of butt hurt fan boys. I think it's safe to say it was a mixed experience that split the audience.
It's a little more upbeat. There are zombies. But instead of being caused by a virus, the zombies are caused by.... fungi.
Ok, I could not remember if it was zombies or just post apocalypse. I might give it a shot, but TWD was such a let-down I quit zombies all together.
The strength of the story has more to do with the relationships and human character arcs rather than the actual infected. You have to get invested in the games to realize why some are hyped for this. The Last of Us series is considered the best in video game storytelling. Though part of me doesn't understand it because the games themselves do an excellent job of being movie like with great writing. I guess I'll welcome a different interpretation of the story.
The game was much more focused than TWD, given that both games it had a clear beginning and end point. Tone wise...it's f**king depressing, particularly part 2 if they get to it. It is like the walking dead in that the "zombies" are more of a background element to the character narrative so if you're looking for old school zombie action this isn't it. They were amazing games though, and this looks oddly promising for a video game adaptation.
I might give it a try, but I don't really go in for long stories of surviving during the apokolips. I can see why a game would be fun because you have to make decisions and strategize, but to be a passive experience would be a bit of a slog for me.