polygon's review is more negative than kotaku's i think!
― ciderpress, Friday, 12 June 2020 15:47 (four years ago) link
i'm in the middle of the first one now (never got that far), but my least favorite part of the game are the "puzzles", and i really dislike watching the animations to climb up a ladder or help someone else up over a ledge several dozen times per hour. it feels like half of the game involves finding the ledge and tapping a button to help someone climb over it.
the relentless cynicism/negativity/depression of the series doesn't bother me so much, but hearing that the gameplay remains much the same is enough to convince me not to bother
― our god is a wee lil god (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 June 2020 15:54 (four years ago) link
I'm hard-pressed to recall a bad review that left me more intrigued about the work being 'panned'.
Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu Poll
― our god is a wee lil god (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 June 2020 15:55 (four years ago) link
I guess tbf I never got very far into the first game for pretty much the reasons you give.
― ...Like a Soggy Handburger (Old Lunch), Friday, 12 June 2020 16:00 (four years ago) link
who didn't find green room fun??
― Mordy, Friday, 12 June 2020 16:00 (four years ago) link
Not really a fan of the Naughty Dog style but I did play and (mostly) like the 1st one way back on PS3.That said I have absolutely no interest in playing another one. Especially right now.
― circa1916, Friday, 12 June 2020 16:02 (four years ago) link
It's the feel bad game of the summer!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 12 June 2020 16:19 (four years ago) link
thing is, death stranding was also supposedly a "feel bad" game, but it's actually really fun (imo)
― our god is a wee lil god (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 June 2020 16:20 (four years ago) link
xposts Green Room was bracing af but fun is not the descriptor I'd use. Like riding a rollercoaster where survival is maybe a 50/50 proposition at best.
― ...Like a Soggy Handburger (Old Lunch), Friday, 12 June 2020 16:32 (four years ago) link
i would never play it but i appreciate the concept of a miserablist hyper-violent video game that is philosophically anti-violence. you love killing enemies in video games? well here, experience the full range of sights and sounds involved in murdering this cute dog. you like that?
― na (NA), Friday, 12 June 2020 16:56 (four years ago) link
So many horror games veer explicit torture porn, there's something to be said for the experience being bad vs fun or "escapist, " though don't know if it makes for a better game.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 12 June 2020 16:58 (four years ago) link
― circa1916, Friday, 12 June 2020 16:59 (four years ago) link
would never play it but i appreciate the concept of a miserablist hyper-violent video game that is philosophically anti-violence. you love killing enemies in video games? well here, experience the full range of sights and sounds involved in murdering this cute dog. you like that?
― na (NA), Friday, June 12, 2020 11:56 AM
haha, yeah, that reminds me of (something someone said here?) the idea of a game where you spend the first 5 minutes killing something and then spend the rest of the game in a panic about what happened, trying to cover it up, and/or coming to terms with it and trying to forgive yourself
― our god is a wee lil god (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 June 2020 17:01 (four years ago) link
that was some kind of adult swim web game, i forget the name
― Nhex, Friday, 12 June 2020 18:07 (four years ago) link
i liked the first one if this got raves across the board maybe i'd bite but it feels like it'll be $30 soon and the reviews seem inconsistent and don't make me excited to play. "misery simulator" sounds like fun but i think i just want a sequel to afterlife
― Mordy, Friday, 12 June 2020 19:17 (four years ago) link
I haven't played the first one yet, so I figure by the time I do this one will be, like, $20.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 12 June 2020 20:17 (four years ago) link
skimming the reviews, making me reconsider. i love the first one, so i was going to get this for release day...
― Nhex, Friday, 12 June 2020 20:36 (four years ago) link
mainstream reviews are almost universally positive, but the sites I generally trust have much more mixed reactions (Polygon, Ars, Eurogamer)
― Nhex, Friday, 12 June 2020 20:39 (four years ago) link
Didn’t eurogamer give it an essential?
― Mordy, Friday, 12 June 2020 20:50 (four years ago) link
Overall positive yes
― Nhex, Friday, 12 June 2020 21:02 (four years ago) link
Are the problems reviewers have with the gameplay, or are objections related to thematic aspects of the story and presentation? The last high profile games I can think of that got some very mixed reviews were Rage 2 and Days Gone, and I guess Death Stranding, but fans really seem to have grown to like those second two, if not the first.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 12 June 2020 21:06 (four years ago) link
when the gameplay consists of brutally murdering people i don't think you can disentangle that from the thematic aspects in this case!
― ciderpress, Friday, 12 June 2020 21:07 (four years ago) link
I guess, but plenty of games consist of brutally murdering people. Like, I remember hearing good things about Far Cry 3, so I watched a couple of videos and it seemed massively unpleasant, like, referring to women as bitches before stabbing them in the neck sort of stuff.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 12 June 2020 21:09 (four years ago) link
the kids can’t go to bed quick enough to suit me
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:21 (four years ago) link
idly mulling whether to start on “hard” once i get down to brass tacks later on
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:22 (four years ago) link
Yeah I thought about it but went with normal.
FWIW a few minutes and I murdered a bunch of kids, in a snowball fight.
― Learned Leeegue (Leee), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:43 (four years ago) link
A few minutes IN.
― Learned Leeegue (Leee), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:44 (four years ago) link
reading the reviews it sounds like this game spawned from the violence-in-videogames-what's-it-all-mean discourse that popped up every once in a while for a decade but the world has moved past that by now. maybe the world's also moved past naughty dog style cinematic experience games. in any case it takes a really long time to make a game
― ℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Friday, 19 June 2020 18:09 (four years ago) link
I caved and bought it. See you guys in a week or two.
― Nhex, Friday, 19 June 2020 20:51 (four years ago) link
that’s going to be the cleanest fucking fretboard in zombieland
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 19 June 2020 21:05 (four years ago) link
lol Leee
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 19 June 2020 22:25 (four years ago) link
in the walking bits i keep unconsciously trying to keep 6 feet away from everyone
i'm waiting to hear y'all's reports back b4 i buy this new but yr excitement is infectious
― Mordy, Friday, 19 June 2020 22:35 (four years ago) link
The first one is sitting in a drawer. Have to Finish death stranding first
― calstars, Friday, 19 June 2020 22:36 (four years ago) link
i love everything about this so far.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 19 June 2020 22:42 (four years ago) link
Same. Not a whole lot different from the first game so far, except the narrative has been slacker, and the combat encounters seem more dynamic.
Oh and the trick of sitting on your upgrade vitamins until you're low on health to save on a health kit doesn't work quite as well because the health upgrade is the third level on a skill tree now.
― Learned Leeegue (Leee), Saturday, 20 June 2020 07:09 (four years ago) link
Yeah i think i was expecting it to be a really different game somehow given various things i’ve read so i’m very pleasantly surprised that i still get to creep around and shiv monsters and snap fools’ necks. There’s a nice emphasis on scrambling and exploring. it feels more open somehow. and good god the first time you realise that your only move is to run? fuuuuuuuck
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 20 June 2020 09:05 (four years ago) link
been watching some playthroughs. this looks incredible
― scampo simmonite (||||||||), Saturday, 20 June 2020 11:58 (four years ago) link
Is expecting to binge the game this weekend, and after putting in about 8 cumulative hours yesterday, my hand started to hurt. 😟
I'm not sure why I like TLOU so much when I hated playing the Uncharted games.
― Learned Leeegue (Leee), Saturday, 20 June 2020 16:40 (four years ago) link
cause it’s got heart? but also gameplay-wise it’s more MGS than uncharted imo
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 20 June 2020 16:47 (four years ago) link
Hah, that sounds reasonable on both counts!
― Learned Leeegue (Leee), Saturday, 20 June 2020 16:58 (four years ago) link
It’s also got heavy horror energy. Christ almighty. I’d sooner let my kids watch Alien than play this.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 20 June 2020 19:03 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tero0sRNi8U
― scampo simmonite (||||||||), Sunday, 21 June 2020 08:29 (four years ago) link
I watched a full stream of Part 2. I don’t really want to pick at the flaws right now. This game takes big risks, and I think I need to sit on it for a while. I can appreciate what the Kotaku and Polygon reviewers are saying, but “misery simulator” is also (deliberately) glib. There’s a lot more going on than that. Themes that could seem trite on paper turn out to be far more absorbing when given time and a world in which to develop. A lot probably depends on how far you can buy into the depiction of violence, as well as the verisimilitude of the crazy lengths these characters are willing to go to. But it must have essentially worked on me since I was just really sad at the end.
― jmm, Monday, 22 June 2020 16:12 (four years ago) link
wait.... isn’t it like 25 hours or something??
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 22 June 2020 16:14 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I was stuck inside this weekend.
― jmm, Monday, 22 June 2020 16:18 (four years ago) link
Oh I see what you meant. I meant a full playthrough, over a few separate streams.
― jmm, Monday, 22 June 2020 16:37 (four years ago) link
Is there a stream you preferred? I don't think I could invest in the time to play it but I could have it on in the background while doing other things.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 22 June 2020 16:41 (four years ago) link
just a little light evisceration over dinner
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 22 June 2020 16:54 (four years ago) link
Yeah the thing that strikes me as myopic (though I've been studiously avoiding reading reviews as a stringent anti-spoiler policy, so I may be missing some of the current context) is that the critics are forgetting about the first game. The gameplay loop is fairly basic, and resources are deliberately scarce. In other words, the not-fun qualities aren't new to Part 2, on top of which is overlaid a story that, on paper, is trite. But you get into the game, the polish and care and overall execution given to the conventions are notable.
― Learned Leeegue (Leee), Monday, 22 June 2020 17:26 (four years ago) link