Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2020-06-20 01:22 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2020-06-20 01:22 pm
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In The Event Of A Fire In Or Around Your Office, Please Try To Ignore It.
Some notes on the opening hours of The Last of Us, Part II! I'm up to the sequence where you're preparing to set out for Seattle.
I started up the game and saw Joel and was immediately struck by 'I can't believe this game actually exists and I'm actually playing it'.
Somehow, even though Joel has appeared in trailers, in my head Joel was not in this game at all, so it was particularly surreal to see him.
The ride to the town was extremely pretty.
THE GAME WANTS ME TO PLAY THE GUITAR FOR ELLIE
NO
I THOUGHT I'D JUST BE KILLING PEOPLE
I WASN'T READY FOR THIS KIND OF PRESSURE
That was a lovely scene, and very bad for my heart. I loved Ellie going 'okay, fine, you can tell me your terrible joke' at the end.
I'm a little sorry that gorgeous 'Ellie and Dina dance and kiss' cutscene from the trailer doesn't appear to be in the game itself. (It's still canon, to clarify for anyone wondering, but it takes place before the game begins.)
Ellie and Jesse's friendship seems endearing! I enjoyed him going 'what, you're making a move on my girl a week after we break up?' and then 'lol, just kidding, I don't care.'
I got Abby killed by infected and went 'well, maybe this is for the best, because I'm getting the impression she's not good news for the characters I care about,' but alas you can't just go 'okay, the character I was playing as has died but I'd like to continue the story, please.'
ELLIE'S GOT A JOURNAL, I LOVE IN-GAME JOURNALS
Ellie's also hopelessly smitten and it's really cute.
I keep saying 'I'M NOT HERE, I'M NOT HERE' aloud when I'm trying to hide from infected. I can't control it.
I've suspected for a good while that the trailers were trying to make it look like Dina would be killed to obscure the fact that actually Joel would be killed, but I'm still unhappy that Joel's death is looking more and more likely.
AND THERE IT IS, noooooooo.
The two of them were planning to watch a stupid action movie that evening! Noooooooo.
On his own, I don't actually have that much investment in Joel as a character, but I have a lot of investment in his relationship with Ellie.
OF COURSE, THIS DEVELOPMENT ISN'T CANON, BECAUSE IN REALITY ABBY GOT KILLED BY INFECTED EARLIER BECAUSE I CAN'T SNEAK.
Tommy, I'm glad someone gave Ellie a hug, but that was not nearly as long a hug as she needed.
I could really see Joel in Tommy's face as he pulled away after the hug. The family resemblance had never really struck me before.
Where are people getting all these memorial flowers in the middle of winter?
I keep accidentally pressing the shoot button instead of the sprint one. Whoops.
I started up the game and saw Joel and was immediately struck by 'I can't believe this game actually exists and I'm actually playing it'.
Somehow, even though Joel has appeared in trailers, in my head Joel was not in this game at all, so it was particularly surreal to see him.
The ride to the town was extremely pretty.
THE GAME WANTS ME TO PLAY THE GUITAR FOR ELLIE
NO
I THOUGHT I'D JUST BE KILLING PEOPLE
I WASN'T READY FOR THIS KIND OF PRESSURE
That was a lovely scene, and very bad for my heart. I loved Ellie going 'okay, fine, you can tell me your terrible joke' at the end.
I'm a little sorry that gorgeous 'Ellie and Dina dance and kiss' cutscene from the trailer doesn't appear to be in the game itself. (It's still canon, to clarify for anyone wondering, but it takes place before the game begins.)
Ellie and Jesse's friendship seems endearing! I enjoyed him going 'what, you're making a move on my girl a week after we break up?' and then 'lol, just kidding, I don't care.'
I got Abby killed by infected and went 'well, maybe this is for the best, because I'm getting the impression she's not good news for the characters I care about,' but alas you can't just go 'okay, the character I was playing as has died but I'd like to continue the story, please.'
ELLIE'S GOT A JOURNAL, I LOVE IN-GAME JOURNALS
Ellie's also hopelessly smitten and it's really cute.
I keep saying 'I'M NOT HERE, I'M NOT HERE' aloud when I'm trying to hide from infected. I can't control it.
I've suspected for a good while that the trailers were trying to make it look like Dina would be killed to obscure the fact that actually Joel would be killed, but I'm still unhappy that Joel's death is looking more and more likely.
AND THERE IT IS, noooooooo.
The two of them were planning to watch a stupid action movie that evening! Noooooooo.
On his own, I don't actually have that much investment in Joel as a character, but I have a lot of investment in his relationship with Ellie.
OF COURSE, THIS DEVELOPMENT ISN'T CANON, BECAUSE IN REALITY ABBY GOT KILLED BY INFECTED EARLIER BECAUSE I CAN'T SNEAK.
Tommy, I'm glad someone gave Ellie a hug, but that was not nearly as long a hug as she needed.
I could really see Joel in Tommy's face as he pulled away after the hug. The family resemblance had never really struck me before.
Where are people getting all these memorial flowers in the middle of winter?
I keep accidentally pressing the shoot button instead of the sprint one. Whoops.
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(Anonymous) 2020-06-20 12:38 pm (UTC)(link)I'm a little sorry that gorgeous 'Ellie and Dina dance and kiss' cutscene from the trailer doesn't appear to be in the game itself. (It's still canon, to clarify for anyone wondering, but it takes place before the game begins.)
Wonder whether it was originally meant to be, then somebody went, "This is controversial and might put people off" and it got pulled?
I got Abby killed by infected and went 'well, maybe this is for the best, because I'm getting the impression she's not good news for the characters I care about,' but alas you can't just go 'okay, the character I was playing as has died but I'd like to continue the story, please.'
If this worked in games it'd be kind of amazing, particularly the more convoluted the narrative got. Roxas dies in the prologue of KH2? GUESS YOU'RE NEVER GETTING THE SORA SECTION. Or in Assassin's Creed 3: Haytham dies, guess Connor was never born! That was a short game.
ELLIE'S GOT A JOURNAL, I LOVE IN-GAME JOURNALS
In game journals can be great! Is it written in Ellie character voice? That's my sign of a good in-game journal. Life is Strange always did a good job with them, and the Black Mirror games have great journals: serve as a reminder of what you've done and got to do, but Darren's sarcastic summaries of events are often hilarious.
I guess the Joel thing makes sense to grow Ellie as a character on her own, as I can't see them voluntarily parting.
OF COURSE, THIS DEVELOPMENT ISN'T CANON, BECAUSE IN REALITY ABBY GOT KILLED BY INFECTED EARLIER BECAUSE I CAN'T SNEAK.
This is the canon timeline! Lalala!
I keep accidentally pressing the shoot button instead of the sprint one. Whoops.
I hope this is while you are stealthily trying to escape, and then stealth is an impossibility.
-
Here's something I thought you'd find funny:
I've been learning Python in lockdown, because why not? It's recently taught me the random function which is my favourite thing ever, so I've been inventing ridiculous scenarios in which to test it. I decided to code a version of the ZTD Rec Room puzzle, where you have to roll all 1s. I ran it a few times with varying results during bug testing. Once, it took 15 times. Here is my favourite one: https://postimg.cc/HVtFsqYZ Uh, hope you're having fun, C-Team!
-timydamonkey
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Ellie and Dina make out later on, so I don't think they pulled it to avoid controversy! If I recall correctly, I think Naughty Dog has a history of creating trailers including cutscenes that don't appear in the game itself.
It's handwritten, in Ellie's voice, and with doodles, i.e. my favourite sort of in-game journal! Sean Diaz's journal might be my favourite of any in-game journal I've encountered, but Night in the Woods, Red Dead Redemption 2 and most of the Uncharted games are also great on the journal front.
I hope this is while you are stealthily trying to escape, and then stealth is an impossibility.
I'm pretty bad at stealth, but at least I know enough not to try to sprint when I'm sneaking!
That Rec Room simulator is really cool! It's interesting to get an actual idea of how many tries it might take, given that Zero Time Dilemma (understandably) rigs it.
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I love reading your journal even when it's something I don't know much about for exactly this kind of thing!
That would be weird.
Aw!
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But yes, the guitar scene is great and filled with such awkward attempts on Joel's part to connect to Ellie and it's just so precious.
Okay, so I could only play for about two hours or so upon release (I had pre-ordered) because I had to work the next day and had to go to bed. I fully admit, I could not sleep well after seeing Joel die the way he did. Even though I was kind of expecting it, it still hurt.
Part of me kinda hopes we do get to see the scene with Ellie and Dina's dance as a flashback, but their relationship is pretty-well established before they head off to Seattle, so I can't see it being brought up again.
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It's lovely! I was distressed that Ellie was so awkward around him (although I understood it) and then so, so relieved that his efforts to connect actually got through to her.
I'll admit I was glad that I'd played through Joel's death scene in the morning; I wouldn't have wanted to see that just before bed.
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The game is so fucking beautiful and I'm loving every moment. The biggest thing so far is reminding myself that I can't spend ALL day AND ALL night playing. I wish I'd been taking more screenshots though, getting them off the PS4 is just such a pain though.
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Bonding moments are the ones that stress me out the most, too. Any time I might permanently damage characters' relationships is horribly stressful.
Ellie's also hopelessly smitten and it's really cute.
oh no this sounds amazing
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WHAT IF ELLIE HAD MOCKED MY GUITAR PLAYING, I'D NEVER HAVE LIVED IT DOWN
There's a point where Ellie quietly swears because she JUST CAN'T HANDLE ALL THIS WEIRD TENSE TIME WITH DINA WHERE SHE'S NOT SURE WHETHER THEY'RE FLIRTING, and it absolutely delighted me.
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SAME. I had wrapped up my replay of The Last of Us on Wednesday and then dove into this after work on Friday... and damn, it's so surreal.
I'm hoping there's a flashback to the night Ellie and Dina dance and kiss, especially when there are other parts mentioned from that night (mostly Joel punching a homophobe and then Ellie and Joel having a fight) that weren't in the E3 trailer... so fingers crossed? We shall see!
I AM ALSO HERE FOR THE JOURNAL ENTRIES :D
I also love how I'm like, the complete opposite of you in that whenever I enter a spoopy looking place (so like 95% of the game), I loudly go "HELLO MONSTAHS???" like I'm some reject mob dude. Also doesn't help that my boyfriend gives commentary such as "Oh lookit that lil' guy. He's just going for a walk!" Though I imagine it's to make me feel less stressed, because oh boy, do I get pumped on adrenaline with these types of games.
Apparently Joel's death was spoiled with some leaks about a month ago (I tried to stay the fuck away from any and all spoilers, but my boyfriend found out from an article yesterday). I kind of expected Joel to die at some point, but damn, not this early. I'm also REALLY RELIEVED it was him and not Dina, like a lot of the trailers hinted at sort of. Joel is... an interesting character, because while I do not like him as an individual, he's very intriguing as a character and I am way more invested in his relationship with Ellie than just as him alone, if that makes sense. So I was less upset that he died and more upset about the repercussions that has on Ellie for witnessing it and everything :(
Where are people getting all these memorial flowers in the middle of winter?
I thought this too initially, but then I figured A) greenhouse or B) fake flowers. Honestly I was more put off by the cards with all of them. Who are they even for??? Ellie? Either that or they're like, "Hey Joel, sorry you died. That kinda sucks."
I am SO excited to see your thoughts on this game! :D
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I loudly go "HELLO MONSTAHS???"
That's BAD STEALTH. You have to say 'I'm not here' or they'll think you're there! (My other surefire stealth strategy is to whisper 'stealth!' while I'm sneaking around.)
I'm really glad I've managed to evade spoilers, but I was convinced Joel was going to die early on, so it sort of felt like I knew even though I didn't technically know.
I am way more invested in his relationship with Ellie than just as him alone, if that makes sense. So I was less upset that he died and more upset about the repercussions that has on Ellie for witnessing it and everything :(
This is very much my attitude to Joel. If Ellie hadn't been in The Last of Us (that's a very weird thing to think about; the game wouldn't work at all!), I doubt I'd have developed any sort of attachment to Joel.
The cards didn't bother me; people do sometimes try to deal with death by writing notes to the dead, or at least it's something I've seen at shrines at the site of accidents. It is slightly unusual that they're all in envelopes, though. And I'm sort of surprised Joel's apparently formed so many connections that so many people felt moved to write to him after his death; he's not the most personable guy!
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The only spoilery stuff I saw were the official trailers, so I had no idea about the story. I was kind of resigned to the fact that Joel was going to die, but I was pretty shocked too that it happens so early...
Looking forward to the rest of your posts! ♥
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