Sony The Last of Us Part II OT - Best Served Cold, update: the story behind the game's realistic facial animations (PlayStation Blog)

[SaysWho?]

Since I finished Day 3 and I'm a few hours into the next day, here are some stray observations up to that point (if you're not, like, 75% into the game, don't click just to be safe):

 

Spoiler

The minute you control Abby, your perception of everything changes. Let's put aside more of the obvious things, like having the people you killed personalized, including pregnant Mel who I didn't even realize was pregnant when I killed her (shit). The WLF seems to be forward-looking for humanity, similar to Tommy's crew that built that city. They're growing crops, they have a constant supply of ammo, they have food and meats and cooks for everyone at the stadium, and they don't practice social distancing.

But really, there's an optimistic feeling in the stadium. And those dogs, man: they're so loving and are viewed more as protectors and companions, not the random dogs you had to kill as Ellie.

At the same time, you see the dark underbellies of it. They have prisoners chained up and starving; the guy Isaac was talking to was mostly bones. And what they do and how they do it is the subject of debate among the WLF members: Mel thought Joel should die, but she was shaken by it and wish she didn't have a part of it. Why the truce with the Scars ended is debated.

The game isn't giving us a clear-cut pure organization that we were gunning down to make us feel bad for doing it. It has its issues. As of this part of the story, nothing they're doing is so far worse than what Joel did at the end of 1. Whether it changes remains to be seen -- it was cool to see Isaac, and I'm very curious what his endgame is -- but it's gonna be hard to top, "Damning humanity to save one person."  

I'm also curious as to what's going on with Owen in relation to Danny, how Mel ended up with Owen, and understanding more about what many of these WLF members were arguing about when you eavesdropped as Ellie.

BTW: lol @ encountering the PS Vita girl at the WLF camp.

 

[johnny]

Good short vid about the writing. Full spoilers 

 

 

[best3444]

27 hours in and I think I'm close to the end. Fantastic experience.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Spoiler

Lordy, Abby does not have an ample chest. I'm not really sure that bra was necessary.

 

[Amazatron]

Just finished it.

 

Spoiler

Had a marathon session to get through the end game because I thought it was going to end 2-3 times before it did and there was no way I was stopping.

 

Initially, when it got to the Abby section I kinda groaned and was like “are we really doing this?” After playing through it though, I think I liked Abby’s section better. It just had more of those moments that make TLOU great.

 

Also, that last fight was the most uncomfortable thing I’ve played in a video game. And poor Alice...

 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

27.5 hours. I know, I’m slow. But that’s okay in a game like this. 
 

Spoiler

Made to the hospital as Abby. I’m also afraid of heights, so I’m right there with Abby in my unease. Did NOT enjoy those skyscraper bridges. Jesus. 

I'm skeptical I’ll finish this by 30 hours. Work the next two nights, so I’ll finish it this weekend. Least my husband can see the ending. He’s been watching most of it and what he misses I fill him in. 

[TheLeon]

Just hit the credits. I don't know if I much to add to the spoiler conversation right now, but I pretty much loved everything about this game. My final time was just under 22 hours. I got most of the "artifacts" but missed like half of the other collectibles. 

[Phaseknox]

I finished it, it took me 35 hours and that was taking my time searching everywhere for ammo, collectibles, crafting materials, health items, notes, supplements, etc.

I enjoyed every minute of it and some really cool stuff happens throughout, but the story and ending didn't really do it for me. While the story was somewhat entertaining due to a lot of the events that occur in it and how well that it's told, I wouldn't really call it good. It was kind of all over the place, and I think that a lot of things that happen in it should have been handled better/differently. The first game had a much better story IMO.

The best aspects of the game are its graphics, environment designs and gameplay IMO. It looks stunning, and the combat is a lot of fun. But I feel that the game starts out better than it becomes later since it offers more exploration, environmental puzzles and platforming early on and then kind of becomes more of a straight forward linear action game later.

 

The following are some specific things that I didn't like about it:

 

Spoiler

Abby's muscular physique was exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness, and I found it distracting the entire time that she was onscreen whether it be in story scenes or when I was playing her. She looked great in the flashbacks when she was younger and thinner, but they went overboard with her current look. Some muscles would have been fine, but making her look like He-Man was absurd. Also, why didn't she have breasts? If she did, it would have made her cringe-y sex scene a little less cringe-y.

 

How quickly and viciously Joel was attacked and killed by Abby seemed completely unrealistic. I get that she was looking for him for a long time to get revenge for him killing her dad (which was a lame plot device IMO), but he just literally saved her life right before her attacking him. Perhaps that wouldn't change her mind about killing him, but I would think that it would have maybe made her hesitate and think about it a little first instead of instantly whipping out a shotgun and blowing off his kneecap and grabbing a golf club and beating him to death with it as soon as he said his name.

 

Not physically traveling to Seattle in the beginning felt like a missed opportunity to me. I was looking forward to that journey, but I was robbed of it. Even just a short cut-scene montage of the journey would have been better than nothing at all. I realize that some of the journey was mentioned in Ellie's Journal, but that's stuff that I want to play not just read about.

 

I didn't like that the bulk of the game took place in Seattle as it started becoming a little same-y looking, especially since you play through it as both Ellie and Abby. It was nice going to California at the end, but that part of the game was extremely brief. It seemed rushed, and you didn't get to spend much time there at all. It felt like they were originally going to make it a bigger part of the game, but cut it short due to time constraints. I also didn't like that they didn't really explain the Rattlers, they were a briefly encountered enemy faction in California with no explanation given as to who they were or why they were taking countless people as slaves.

 

You don't get to play as Ellie enough. While I liked Abby's portion of the game, I would have liked to have played as Ellie a lot more before playing as Abby. This game has always been shown as being Ellie's revenge tale, but then you only get to play as her for half the game (and briefly at the end).

 

And finally... WTF is up with Ellie's switchblade? It's virtually indestructible while crowbars in the game crumble after hitting an enemy a few times (which literally made me LOL). The blade on Ellie's switchblade would have broke off the very first time that she used it on an enemy, so why Naughty Dog felt that a switchblade was the right choice of knife to give Ellie to use throughout the game when there are so many military knives out there that would have made a lot more sense is baffling. Also, I didn't like that Ellie used it during the final fight with Abby. I would have enjoyed that fight a lot more had it been a fair fistfight from the start since it seemed uncharacteristic of Ellie to just start cutting the shit out of unarmed, frail, thin and weak Abby.

 

[SimpleG]

Spoiler

25 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

Abby's muscular physique was exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness, and I found it distracting the entire time that she was onscreen whether it be in story scenes or when I was playing her. She looked great in the flashbacks when she was younger and thinner, but they went overboard with her current look. Some muscles would have been fine, but making her look like He-Man was absurd. Also, why didn't she have breasts? If she did, it would have made her cringe-y sex scene a little less cringe-y.

 

She was a little exaggerated but not much and certainly not when we compare to other buff characters.Just an FYI some girls have small titties and in shape very muscular low body fat women will have smaller boobs. This women has very close body type to Abby

 

28 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

How quickly and viciously Joel was attacked and killed by Abby seemed completely unrealistic. I get that she was looking for him for a long time to get revenge for him killing her dad (which was a lame plot device IMO), but he just literally saved her life right before her attacking him. Perhaps that wouldn't change her mind about killing him, but I would think that it would have maybe made her hesitate and think about it a little first instead of instantly whipping out a shotgun and blowing off his kneecap and grabbing a golf club and beating him to death with it as soon as he said his name.

My issue with it was that there was little to no real verifying this is who we are looking for from the group 

 

31 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

Not physically traveling to Seattle in the beginning felt like a missed opportunity to me. I was looking forward to that journey, but I was robbed of it. Even just a short cut-scene montage of the journey would have been better than nothing at all. I realize that some of the journey was mentioned in Ellie's Journal, but that's stuff that I want to play not just read about.

I also would like to have seen more of that instead of the repeated ad nauseam neighborhoods that we got.

 

[best3444]

Credits rolling. Phenomenal videogame...period.

 

Now to read all the spoilers. 

[Phaseknox]

Spoiler

 

3 hours ago, SimpleG said:

She was a little exaggerated but not much and certainly not when we compare to other buff characters.Just an FYI some girls have small titties and in shape very muscular low body fat women will have smaller boobs. This women has very close body type to Abby

 

Her arms are comparable to Abby's, but the rest of her looks more female including actually having breasts. Abby looks like a male bodybuilder with a female face. And me asking why Abby didn't have breasts was a rhetorical question.

 

3 hours ago, SimpleG said:

My issue with it was that there was little to no real verifying this is who we are looking for from the group 

I agree, the second that he says that his name is Joel he's brutally attacked. I'm sure that there's more than one person named Joel in the world. No matter how you look at it the killing of Joel happened too suddenly, and was poorly handled.

 

3 hours ago, SimpleG said:

I also would like to have seen more of that instead of the repeated ad nauseam neighborhoods that we got.

Yeah, same-y looking Seattle neighborhoods and city streets are basically the entirety of the game's environments except for the Aquarium and Seraphite village. We only got to spend like five minutes in California, I would have liked more of the game to take place there.

 

[SimpleG]

@Phaseknox

You need to spoiler that stuff

[Phaseknox]

16 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

@Phaseknox

You need to spoiler that stuff

Yeah, I realized that it wasn't hidden right after posting it which I remedied immediately.

[SimpleG]

Spoiler

10 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

I agree, the second that he says that his name is Joel he's brutally attacked. I'm sure that there's more than one person named Joel in the world. No matter how you look at it the killing of Joel happened too suddenly, and was poorly handled.

Did I miss it in the first game or in this game but did anyone actually know how to find Joel , I mean even if the they know the state thats a hell of needle in a haystack

 

[SimpleG]

2 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

Yeah, I realized that it wasn't hidden right after posting it which I remedied immediately.

No worries I damn near screwed @SaysWho? with a spoiler until @Spork3245 caught it.

[skillzdadirecta]

This fucking game... I feel like I'm watching an amazing season of a cable TV show. And I really cant say enough about the gameplay.

[Spork3245]

38 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Her arms are comparable to Abby's, but the rest of her looks more female including actually having breasts. Abby looks like a male bodybuilder with a female face. And me asking why Abby didn't have breasts was a rhetorical question.

 

I agree, the second that he says that his name is Joel he's brutally attacked. I'm sure that there's more than one person named Joel in the world. No matter how you look at it the killing of Joel happened too suddenly, and was poorly handled.

 

Yeah, same-y looking Seattle neighborhoods and city streets are basically the entirety of the game's environments except for the Aquarium and Seraphite village. We only got to spend like five minutes in California, I would have liked more of the game to take place there.

 

Spoiler

That girl has implants, as do most competitive female body builders. Look at WWF’s Chyna prior to her getting implants. 

 

[TheLeon]

Spoiler

Abby has the body of a woman that has spent years getting ripped so when she finally has the opportunity to get revenge, she can kick this dude's ass. Meanwhile Ellie can take on fully grown men in melee combat, but she looks like a gangly dweeb that could be knocked over by a strong breeze. 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

A spoiler-heavy interview with The Last of Us Part 2 director Neil Druckmann (Eurogamer)

Quote

Before The Last of Us Part 2 was released - but after we had finished playing it, and after its plot had leaked online - we had a chance to interview the game's director Neil Druckmann. It was too good an opportunity to discuss the game's full storyline and radical structure with its creative lead to miss. So here is the second, spoiler-heavy part of our chat - and please, only read on if you have already finished the game.

 

Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross Open Up About the Biggest Twists of ‘The Last of Us Part II’ (IndieWire)

Quote

After years of total secrecy, Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross sit down for the first extensive spoiler-filled interview about the most ambitious story in modern video game history.

 

[ShreddieMercury]

I'm really trying to temper myself, and maybe it's just recency bias since I tend to get really excited about good games while I'm playing them, but for me this is easily a generational best, and far and away my favorite game on PS4.

[TheLeon]

Girlfriend Reviews takes a break from their normal format to talk about the story (FULL spoilers)

 

[Phaseknox]

Spoiler

2 hours ago, SimpleG said:

Did I miss it in the first game or in this game but did anyone actually know how to find Joel , I mean even if the they know the state thats a hell of needle in a haystack

It was never explained how Abby was able to track him to his whereabouts which I thought that they would show in flashbacks during her section of the game.

 

1 hour ago, TheLeon said:

Abby has the body of a woman that has spent years getting ripped so when she finally has the opportunity to get revenge, she can kick this dude's ass. Meanwhile Ellie can take on fully grown men in melee combat, but she looks like a gangly dweeb that could be knocked over by a strong breeze. 

Exactly.  I kept thinking why did Abby need to be ripped to go after Joel since she would most likely just use weapons to kill him when she finally found him. Boxing, martial arts and some strength training I could maybe understand, but why the body of a bodybuilder? That just seemed like overkill to me. And like you said, skinny little Ellie was able to take on humans and infected just as easily without the need to be He-Man. But she did have an unbreakable switchblade that definitely helped.

 

[TheLeon]

16 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

  Reveal hidden contents

It was never explained how Abby was able to track him to his whereabouts which I thought that they would show in flashbacks during her section of the game.

 

Exactly.  I kept thinking why did Abby need to be ripped to go after Joel since she would most likely just use weapons to kill him when she finally found him. Boxing, martial arts and some strength training I could maybe understand, but why the body of a bodybuilder? That just seemed like overkill to me. And like you said, skinny little Ellie was able to take on humans and infected just as easily without the need to be He-Man. But she did have an unbreakable switchblade that definitely helped.

 

Spoiler

Yeah, it's a shame Abby didn't get set up with the right personal trainer while plotting her revenge. They could have really helped her develop a more pleasing figure while planning for her revenge. She needed someone in her corner saying "hey babe, go easy on the bench presses. You don't need that much muscle mass to bash in someone's face with a 9-iron." 

 

[Amazatron]

2 hours ago, TheLeon said:

Girlfriend Reviews takes a break from their normal format to talk about the story (FULL spoilers)

 

Definitely the most spot on assessment of the game that I’ve seen.

[johnny]

There are plenty of muscular and buff women. Criticizing abby’s body is lame as hell. 
 

Spoiler

She doesn’t even need a reason to be so strong because she can do it just because she wants to. Being strong as hell would likely help her in any hand to hand situation, not just if she were to encounter Joel. 
 

and in one of the flashbacks at the aquarium she mentions that she heard from somebody about a settlement in Jackson. I don’t remember specifically what she said but if WLF knows she is looking for somebody named Joel Miller and somebody comes across him, well...

 

[Phaseknox]

3 hours ago, TheLeon said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Yeah, it's a shame Abby didn't get set up with the right personal trainer while plotting her revenge. They could have really helped her develop a more pleasing figure while planning for her revenge. She needed someone in her corner saying "hey babe, go easy on the bench presses. You don't need that much muscle mass to bash in someone's face with a 9-iron." 

 

Spoiler

Despite thinking that her muscular physique is exaggerated, it admittedly does make her feel like a genetically enhanced badass super soldier while playing as her which is kind of cool.

 

1 hour ago, Amazatron said:

Definitely the most spot on assessment of the game that I’ve seen.

It's not bad, but I personally feel that Angry Joe nailed it better (spoilers):

 

[Amazatron]

14 minutes ago, johnny said:

There are plenty of muscular and buff women. Criticizing abby’s body is lame as hell. 
 

  Reveal hidden contents

She doesn’t even need a reason to be so strong because she can do it just because she wants to. Being strong as hell would likely help her in any hand to hand situation, not just if she were to encounter Joel. 
 

and in one of the flashbacks at the aquarium she mentions that she heard from somebody about a settlement in Jackson. I don’t remember specifically what she said but if WLF knows she is looking for somebody named Joel Miller and somebody comes across him, well...

 

 

Spoiler

Didn’t she get info that his brother Tommy was in Jackson? So when they introduced themselves as Tommy and Joel, well obviously...

 

Also, small breasts is a stupid thing to complain about.

 

[Phaseknox]

3 hours ago, johnny said:

There are plenty of muscular and buff women. Criticizing abby’s body is lame as hell. 
 

  Reveal hidden contents

She doesn’t even need a reason to be so strong because she can do it just because she wants to. Being strong as hell would likely help her in any hand to hand situation, not just if she were to encounter Joel. 
 

and in one of the flashbacks at the aquarium she mentions that she heard from somebody about a settlement in Jackson. I don’t remember specifically what she said but if WLF knows she is looking for somebody named Joel Miller and somebody comes across him, well...

 

Spoiler

There are plenty of ugly and obese women as well, but that doesn't mean that I want to play as them in video games.

 

Spoiler

I get that Abby is a soldier and why she would want to be strong for that reason, but I still feel that they went a little overboard with how buff that they made her.

 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I’m tired of oversexualization of female video game characters. I’m fine with how Abby looks. It’s a change. 

[johnny]

20 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

There are plenty of ugly and obese women as well, but that doesn't mean that I want to play as them in video games.

 

  Hide contents

I get that Abby is a soldier and why she would want to be strong for that reason, but I still feel that they went a little overboard with how buff that they made her.

 

Shut up 

[Phaseknox]

58 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

I’m tired of oversexualization of female video game characters. I’m fine with how Abby looks. It’s a change. 

Ellie and Dina aren't oversexualized, and I'm fine with how they look because they look realistic and not unrealistically exaggerated like Abby does IMO.

 

Spoiler

Like I previously stated, young Abby in her flashback scenes looks good IMO because she looks realistic, but her current muscular appearance looks overdone like she has a male bodybuilder's physique. They could have made her muscular looking without making her look like He-Man.

 

43 minutes ago, johnny said:

Shut up 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Some women are buff. They body build. It’s not unrealistic, JFC. 

[best3444]

Spoiler

Abby was a beast...deal with it!

 

[SaysWho?]

Why am I not surprised some people are upset that a woman is really strong?

 

More people than horny incels play games.

[Bloodporne]

4 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

Unrealistically exaggerated like Abby does IMO.

The character model is 100% based on a female bodybuilder:

 

 

It's literally realistic.