Quoted from adol75:5 hours In TLOU2 and meh, I wasn't expecting complete revolution but it feels like playing a long DLC that cost 60$ and took 7 years to make.
Same action, same patterns, more talking, actually way more talking with long and slow conversations that have less impact than what used to be some real character and story building in the first episode.
I guess it's a payback from the first one where they explored everything that survivors could do in an apocalypse setting. Except going to Mars there wasn't much more to do.
Anyways I'll keep going, it's not unpleasant it's just slightly boring without much hooks to stay stuck to my chair.
I think what's peculiar about this game is that even more than the first game, it feels like the plague is really completely in the background. It often felt that way in the original, but there was a balance to some degree.
My issues at about 12 hours in, are more large based character arc and the entire plot really being immersed in more of a Springer style personal melodrama, than a larger than life plot that deals with the characters trying to change the world within.
Gameplay has always been peculiar in this series, much like how Uncharted developed with the second game and more so with each release. I often feel more frustrated by gameplay, than pulled in by it, as the intense melodrama gets cut into by overdrawn action scenes. Then in reverse, sometimes action sequences feel cut off by an interjection of character interaction. It's a weird balance that sometimes feels more bogged down than fluid.
I also get tired of scouring every corner of a map, (which in this game even more so than the original, is more sprawling and confusing at times) for collectables and ammo/crafting items. It's an odd gameplay loop that feels more hamster in a wheel, than natural and fluid.
As far as Ellie's characterization and romance, it's definitely blanketing/suffocating at times. I feel like if this was a hetero based relationship with a young man, no one would cheer it on or curse it for existing. So in that sense it feels a bit sensationalist more so than substantial in that aspect. It's an element of drama that feels less compelling for me than the nurture and growth that was presented for both Ellie and Joel in their process of learning about one another in the prior game. The original title always focused on Ellie being the chosen one, but it also focused on Joel overcoming his grief by befriending someone he never intended to, on top of the overall world building and the attempt at resolving the plague. It felt like the two leads, and the backdrop, all balanced the game direction really, really well.
This so far, just feels a bit lost in why it exists, and via it's birth, somewhat dilutes the brilliance of the stength of the original two leads from the first game.
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