my 3rd time trying to finish this game i finally did it during this lockdown. overall yes the game kinda too linear to a fault and the charaters unlikable.but as it goes on they get more fleshed out and i ended up liking most of them. the plot is so so but the bosses were atleast cool. the games main draw is its stellar ost and beautiful areas that still look good in 2020. great art direction and world. eventually the padgrim system does click with you and when you get to use all characters at once finally u can make some neat padgrims given the situation and swap between. it can be fun but it still never becomes the most engaging combat system. overall when i finished it i would say i enjoyed it but still think its only a decent game. i can see why at the time and now people dont like it but its not the total disaster people made it out to be at the time. i hear xiii-2 fixes alot gameplay wise and has more open areas like the one part in this. so im excited to try that. you can sort of semi focus and tune out and play this so i did sort of vibe with that. if you have the time i wanna get this off your ff to do list its not so bad, but its still a stepdown overall compared to most of the series. but still id say i enjoyed it even enough i didnt regret my 50 hours. there is a hump that you need to get over and you might not.

having played the first one about 2 weeks before this came out kinda made me notice alot of the gameplay changes in this one right away. the more heavy stealth focus for ellie at least really i didnt like as the game is most fun when you just go all in, but you get punished for it. i do enjoy baiting clickers into firefights with enemies tho. i did like the small bits we got to see that showed ellie and joel dealing with the end of part one but they are scattered hapazardly in the narrative. the constant flash backs and fowards was not done well and really segemtized gameplay flow unlike most of part 1. also i grew to hate ellie and enjoyed abbies areas alot more too, which made me not want to be ellie for the ill advised last 2 hours. the game should have ended at the house or maybe given you the option to pursue abby. that would have been neat a game where the good ending doesnt give more gameplay and the badone does. ellie just becomes an unlikeable pyscho in this game i just grew to dislike here. whereas i liked abby alot more and her gameplay sections where more fun. the zombie hospital and the scar island were the 2 highlights of the game for me. the way you learn about abbys firends after youve killed them as ellie really does dissconect you from them. i did grow to like owen tho he is a good guy, which is more annoying seeing as pyscho ellie already killed him. manny is a creepy sex pest tho dont know what was going on there. overall there are some 9/10 sections in this game and the level of polish is just unmatched. seeing rain drops drip down on the gun bench was insane never seen anything like that. but also its all kinda not needed aswell. the game has too much break up and bits that feel like filler inbetween great sections and some totally bizzare bland parts. its too bloated and the story is very unfocused i think it could have been done really well. so its all a bit mixed for me but its still a decent time with some great moments in between the trudge and okay parts. id still kinda reccomend it tho as its kinda the still maybe the most indulgent AAA game there is for better and often for worse

played this about 2 weeks before part II came out had never played it before. i grew to enjoy the character interactions but alot of the combat felt clunky. you got used to it but i never really love the gunplay. i did however enjoy exploring areas of lootable and some of the clicker areas. the school sticks out in my mind. the canibal area was also a highlight. i grew to enjoy the little interactions with joel and ellie but overall wasnt the biggest fan of the overall tone. it was a decent game overall but i dont really think the 7 years since it launch have been too kind to it