Flamestrike
Legend
So there seems to be a huge disconnect between critical reactions to the game, and fan reaction. Admittedly a lot of the negative responses are a deliberate review bomb campaign by the usual suspects from the cesspool of the internet who take issue at the diverse cast in the game.
Those clowns can obviously be ignored.
But even putting them to one side, we're left with negative reviews by people that had the following main gripes (in some order):
1) They were outraged at
2) A lot of players dont get the point of having the player play
3) A lot of players just dont get what the game was about. I see a lot of people complaining that
TL;DR - leaving aside the usual outraged scumbags who seem to want their media white, male and hetero, many of the negative reviews seem to totally miss the above. They miss the point of the game; and miss what it says about violence, the cycle of violence, and how we dehumanise our enemies in order to inflict violence on them.
I havent seen many (indeed any) of the thousands of negative fan reviews who get the above point (what the game was about, what it was saying about violence and revenge and humanity) and hate it on those grounds (barring a few that claim it was too heavy handed about how it went about it.
They seem to somehow totally fail to get the message of the game (a message the game is at great pains to demonstrate).
Personally, I really liked it. I hated it as well, but that was kind of also the point. Im definitely more on the side of the critical reviewers who are scoring the game in GOTY territory.
What are peoples thoughts on the game?
Those clowns can obviously be ignored.
But even putting them to one side, we're left with negative reviews by people that had the following main gripes (in some order):
1) They were outraged at
Joels death. Bearing in mind this was a man who literally went on a mass murder spree to save his surrogate daughter from death, and condemned the entire world (and thousands if not millions of people) to a horrific fate in so doing, depriving them of the cure for the zombie virus. This was also a man prepared to leave a young family to die on the side of the road and employ brutal torture. While his motivations are sympathetic (the loss of his own daughter) his actions are horrific.
While the beauty of the first game is it leaves his final terrible decision for the player to mull over without passing judgement one way or another, its nonetheless strange that the rage over his death is so high.
I personally didnt have a problem with this death. Joel has made a LOT of enemies.
Agreed it was awful seeing a character that I had come to see through his eyes, and feel the terrible weight of his actions and motivations die in such a brutal fashion, but really, that was the point. The game wanted me to be angry at this death. It wanted me to hate Abby and see her as less than human. It wanted me to dehumanise her, be angry at her, and want to get her back. This sets the game up nicely IMO.
While the beauty of the first game is it leaves his final terrible decision for the player to mull over without passing judgement one way or another, its nonetheless strange that the rage over his death is so high.
I personally didnt have a problem with this death. Joel has made a LOT of enemies.
Agreed it was awful seeing a character that I had come to see through his eyes, and feel the terrible weight of his actions and motivations die in such a brutal fashion, but really, that was the point. The game wanted me to be angry at this death. It wanted me to hate Abby and see her as less than human. It wanted me to dehumanise her, be angry at her, and want to get her back. This sets the game up nicely IMO.
2) A lot of players dont get the point of having the player play
Abby. They were outraged that they had to play the very character that killed Joel. The first half of the game sets her up as the final boss fight (after a number of mini-bosses) but then forces a switcheroo on the player by making them play her.
I personally thought this was great. I hated playing her as well at first, but then the more I played her, the more I realised that Ellie was even more of a monster than she was. Both characters were prepared to let vengeance consume them following the death of a father figure, and followed a path of vengeance that ultimately cost them everything they held dear, including the lives of many friends. However Abby actually spares Ellie, and walks away, even though Ellie has killed so many people she loves. She evolves between her killing of Joel, and her sparing of Ellie, something that Ellie can not do until it is too late.
I personally thought this was great. I hated playing her as well at first, but then the more I played her, the more I realised that Ellie was even more of a monster than she was. Both characters were prepared to let vengeance consume them following the death of a father figure, and followed a path of vengeance that ultimately cost them everything they held dear, including the lives of many friends. However Abby actually spares Ellie, and walks away, even though Ellie has killed so many people she loves. She evolves between her killing of Joel, and her sparing of Ellie, something that Ellie can not do until it is too late.
3) A lot of players just dont get what the game was about. I see a lot of people complaining that
Ellie does not kill Abby in the games penultimate scene and final showdown. For mine, these people are completely missing the point of the whole game; it's not a game about successfully obtaining vengeance on someone; its a game about the destructive cycle of violence and how it begets nothing but more violence.
It deconstructs the 'fight a series of mini-bosses, then the BBEG, racking up hundreds of bodies along the way' trope. It shows that (like in real life) those people are not just monsters to be killed, they're people - often good people.
It deconstructs the 'fight a series of mini-bosses, then the BBEG, racking up hundreds of bodies along the way' trope. It shows that (like in real life) those people are not just monsters to be killed, they're people - often good people.
TL;DR - leaving aside the usual outraged scumbags who seem to want their media white, male and hetero, many of the negative reviews seem to totally miss the above. They miss the point of the game; and miss what it says about violence, the cycle of violence, and how we dehumanise our enemies in order to inflict violence on them.
I havent seen many (indeed any) of the thousands of negative fan reviews who get the above point (what the game was about, what it was saying about violence and revenge and humanity) and hate it on those grounds (barring a few that claim it was too heavy handed about how it went about it.
They seem to somehow totally fail to get the message of the game (a message the game is at great pains to demonstrate).
Personally, I really liked it. I hated it as well, but that was kind of also the point. Im definitely more on the side of the critical reviewers who are scoring the game in GOTY territory.
What are peoples thoughts on the game?