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NerfedFalcon

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Mar 23, 2011
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Playing The Last of Us 2 again cuz shut up! As much as it is what it is, the chapters 'Hillcrest' and 'The Seraphites' are SO good the game deserves a passing grade just for that.
I feel the same way about Ace Combat 7. It's definitely not perfect, and it may not be as good as the rest of the series (I wouldn't know, I never played them), but at its best, it's brilliant. Mission 7 is a heavy adrenaline rush every time.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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What's there to shut up about, it's a good game.
I mean, sorta, but also 'hell no, it fucking sucks, and I HATE IT!'

This is just my thing that I hate but I can't let go. Everyone has one I'm sure, whether it's a movie, game, or series; You hate what it is or has become, but man does it scratch a very significant itch.
 

Ezekiel

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Went pretty far in the Last of Us II today before deciding Survival was just crappy. I found it so lame that your enemies always have unlimited ammo and you always have maybe two bullets, if any. Makes the game way too much about coming up behind, grab n' stab, rinse and repeat. So now I'm trying a balance of Hard and Survival. Nice that you can adjust all the individual difficulty parameters. But now, with the meter just one lower I'm finding too many resources, when I only really wanted more ammo. Oh well.

The story... doesn't matter. I've never understood the lust for vengeance. Some of those stories are very good, but none of them are among my favorites, because it's such a senseless desire. At least Kill Bill and its inspiration, Lady Snowblood, were fun. What I'm doing in this game, it doesn't feel like a real goal. Then again, I never cared about him anyway.

First game that made me put the PS4 out in the hallway.

DSC01728.JPG

Because when you're playing a cinematic game, what you want to hear is your console fans roaring nonstop over the ambience. Brilliant engineering, consoles. Build them like computers but make them so small that the fans can barely ventilate the heat. And all the gamers care about is how nice it looks.

The default Contrast and Brightness are much too low and high. Have them at +4 and -4 in HDR.
 
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Chupathingy

CONTROL Agent
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I feel the same way about Ace Combat 7. It's definitely not perfect, and it may not be as good as the rest of the series (I wouldn't know, I never played them), but at its best, it's brilliant. Mission 7 is a heavy adrenaline rush every time.
AC7 was a very good installment for the series. Most of the AC fans I've spoken to, myself included, feel that way.
 
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Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Went pretty far in the Last of Us II today before deciding Survival was just crappy. I found it so lame that your enemies always have unlimited ammo and you always have maybe two bullets, if any. Makes the game way too much about coming up behind, grab n' stab, rinse and repeat. So now I'm trying a balance of Hard and Survival. Nice that you can adjust all the individual difficulty parameters. But now, with the meter just one lower I'm finding too many resources, when I only really wanted more ammo. Oh well.
While enemies have unlimited ammo (probably), I can't say I've ever found myself pinned down by gun fire waiting for an opening to escape or get a shot in. First time playing this game was on Survival, and I was barely making it through certain encounters by the skin of my teeth, trying to sneak my way past many enemies rather than fight them. But once I learned a bunch of little tricks things became a lot more doable and fun. The fact that you can kinda stealth kill with loud weapons for example.

I also switched on the motion aiming for more precision, since aiming with the sticks alone was really not working for me no matter how much I fucked around with the settings. But with the motion aiming I was suddenly increasing my headshot ratio by a huge margin.
 

laggyteabag

Scrolling through forums, instead of playing games
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Went pretty far in the Last of Us II today before deciding Survival was just crappy. I found it so lame that your enemies always have unlimited ammo and you always have maybe two bullets, if any. Makes the game way too much about coming up behind, grab n' stab, rinse and repeat. So now I'm trying a balance of Hard and Survival. Nice that you can adjust all the individual difficulty parameters. But now, with the meter just one lower I'm finding too many resources, when I only really wanted more ammo. Oh well.
Scavenging was my biggest gripe of The Last of Us 2.

Thematically, it makes total sense. I shouldn't expect to be up to my eyeballs in bullets in a post-apocalyptic game, and the "every bullet counts" style of gameplay is very stressful - which is a perfect fit for The Last of Us.

However, it also means that after every engagement, instead of moving onto the next area, I spend about 5 minutes looking for precious resources, sticking my fingers into the pockets of every corpse, and rummaging through every nearby drawer and cupboard, which completely killed the pacing.

In the first game, it wasn't so bad, because the game was a mostly linear affair, but because Part 2 opened up each area a lot more, it meant that there were exponentially more dark corners that I needed to check. It was just an exceptionally dull part of the game, that immediately puts me off replaying it.
 
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Ezekiel

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While enemies have unlimited ammo (probably), I can't say I've ever found myself pinned down by gun fire waiting for an opening to escape or get a shot in. First time playing this game was on Survival, and I was barely making it through certain encounters by the skin of my teeth, trying to sneak my way past many enemies rather than fight them. But once I learned a bunch of little tricks things became a lot more doable and fun. The fact that you can kinda stealth kill with loud weapons for example.

I also switched on the motion aiming for more precision, since aiming with the sticks alone was really not working for me no matter how much I fucked around with the settings. But with the motion aiming I was suddenly increasing my headshot ratio by a huge margin.
Can't bypass them often because I don't have that good a sense of direction. They must all die (or most of them) so that I can find my way and scavenge.

Seriously, I've never seen anyone in any media go to this length, through so much danger, for revenge. Pretty unbelievable.
 

hanselthecaretaker

My flask is half full
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Playing The Last of Us 2 again cuz shut up! As much as it is what it is, the chapters 'Hillcrest' and 'The Seraphites' are SO good the game deserves a passing grade just for that.

Also playing Wind Waker again because happiness feels nice.
Pretty much everything on from the chase sequence before reaching the theater is good from a gameplay standpoint; in many cases surpassing the original. It’s just that it really takes the long way home for a story-driven game, and it’s peppered heavily with nihilistic depressing shit which makes the journey feel much more arduous. I think the trick is having to pretty much disengage from the story to fully enjoy actually playing it.

The walk n talk sections are also a bane no matter how this pie is sliced though.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

My flask is half full
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Scavenging was my biggest gripe of The Last of Us 2.

Thematically, it makes total sense. I shouldn't expect to be up to my eyeballs in bullets in a post-apocalyptic game, and the "every bullet counts" style of gameplay is very stressful - which is a perfect fit for The Last of Us.

However, it also means that after every engagement, instead of moving onto the next area, I spend about 5 minutes looking for precious resources, sticking my fingers into the pockets of every corpse, and rummaging through every nearby drawer and cupboard, which completely killed the pacing.

In the first game, it wasn't so bad, because the game was a mostly linear affair, but because Part 2 opened up each area a lot more, it meant that there were exponentially more dark corners that I needed to check. It was just an exceptionally dull part of the game, that immediately puts me off replaying it.
The thing is though, NG+ is where you don’t even have to bother with that shit providing you’ve suitably upgraded the first time around.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Scavenging was my biggest gripe of The Last of Us 2.

Thematically, it makes total sense. I shouldn't expect to be up to my eyeballs in bullets in a post-apocalyptic game, and the "every bullet counts" style of gameplay is very stressful - which is a perfect fit for The Last of Us.

However, it also means that after every engagement, instead of moving onto the next area, I spend about 5 minutes looking for precious resources, sticking my fingers into the pockets of every corpse, and rummaging through every nearby drawer and cupboard, which completely killed the pacing.

In the first game, it wasn't so bad, because the game was a mostly linear affair, but because Part 2 opened up each area a lot more, it meant that there were exponentially more dark corners that I needed to check. It was just an exceptionally dull part of the game, that immediately puts me off replaying it.
I honestly think the scavenging is done pretty well, but then I like just going through all those empty houses, it creates its own little mood. And I also enjoy that dopamine hit when you find enough salvage to get that one gun upgrade, or finding enough pills so you can make better silencers or bombs. Overall it gives me a similar feeling to how Resident Evil 4 structured its upgrade progression.
Seriously, I've never seen anyone in any media go to this length, through so much danger, for revenge. Pretty unbelievable.
In a more fantastical setting it's relatively easy to pull off, like God of War or Berserk. Heck, Ghost of Tsushima has a side character out for revenge and it feels very fitting for the character and setting. The problem with The Last of Us is that it so desperately tries to present itself - and particularly its characters - as grounded and realistic. And as a result it makes the characters appear totally irrational, especially when it's two characters (Ellie and Tommy) for whom it feels very out of character.

Instead of thinking how the characters would develop based on their history and where they reside, the writers just decided the story should be about revenge and then proceeded in forcing Ellie into the role of edgelord killer. It's funny how Ellie got the Prince of Persia treament, when the Prince went from likeable and optimistic in Sands of Time to scowling, edgey douchenozzle in Warrior Within.
Pretty much everything on from the chase sequence before reaching the theater is good from a gameplay standpoint; in many cases surpassing the original. It’s just that it really takes the long way home for a story-driven game, and it’s peppered heavily with nihilistic depressing shit which makes the journey feel much more arduous. I think the trick is having to pretty much disengage from the story to fully enjoy actually playing it.

The walk n talk sections are also a bane no matter how this pie is sliced though.
It also really helps that Ellie is alone in those sequences, meaning much less embarressing Dirty Harry dialoge. Nearly everything that comes out of Ellie's mouth in this game makes me wanna smack the shit out of something.
 
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meiam

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Dec 9, 2010
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AC7 was a very good installment for the series. Most of the AC fans I've spoken to, myself included, feel that way.
Yeah, especially after the last few entries. The story is a bit weak since they try to have three different story and just sorta abandon most of them along the way but its fine-ish.
 
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NerfedFalcon

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Mar 23, 2011
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SALLLVATION!
That's from the DLC, which by its nature has nothing to do with the main plot, so I don't think it counts. But speaking of top-tier missions, all three of the DLC missions are up there with the best of them, from what I've seen and heard.

...Man, now I want to play it again.
 
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Dalisclock

Making lemons combustible again
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That's from the DLC, which by its nature has nothing to do with the main plot, so I don't think it counts. But speaking of top-tier missions, all three of the DLC missions are up there with the best of them, from what I've seen and heard.

...Man, now I want to play it again.
I know but I couldn't help it. Everything Capt. Torres says is pure deranged gold.

And yes, the DLC missions are totally worth the price. Technically they slot in the middle of the campaign(after the nuke silo mission but before the spotlight canyon run) but difficulty-wise they're endgame hard and the Alicorn is much harder then either of the Arsenal Birds.
 
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Ezekiel

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Twenty runners, a bunch of clickers and a bloater for some guitar strings from the music shop?!

I dislike only being able to swap shoulders while aiming. It makes corners worse. L3 doesn't do anything important. Just lets you look at points of interest, which could have been done with Triangle when those moments occur. What they could have done is move the flashlight to L3 and then let you swap shoulders at all times with R3, fittingly the camera stick. Also wouldn't then have to leave the camera stick to press Cross to control THE CAMERA.
 
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Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Twenty runners, a bunch of clickers and a bloater for some guitar strings from the music shop?!
I don't think they did that just to get some guitar strings, they went initially for the strings but as they realized there's zombies present they obviously figured to get rid of them as they are on patrol for that very reason. They even agree to call it a day on the guitar strings after their first infected encounter before running into the bloater.

This doesn't mean the game doesn't have its characters just expose themselves to danger by traveling through the wasteland just for a birthday party though.
 

Ezekiel

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I can't stand the rain, and not because of sweet memories.



Any film director who would intentionally do this to their lens to make a storm feel wet would be laughed at. Really distracting and stupid. Screw artistic intent. Your artistic intention here was stupid and you should have provided an option to disable it. There's a lot of rain in this game.
 
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