Latest news with #TheLastofUsPart2
Tom's Guide
20 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
Your PS5 games are about to look a whole lot smoother thanks to this new update — here's what it does
Sony just dropped a system update for the PS5 and PS5 Pro, finally putting the problematic VRR stuttering to rest. The PS5 system update, version 25.04-11.40.00, doesn't actually specify this particular fix in its release notes. Instead, Digital Foundry highlighted the change in a post on X, referencing an email correspondence with Sony PR. In the unlikely event you you don't get a system update message upon startup, first make sure you're connected to the internet. Head to Settings -> System, then System Software. Click "Update System Software," and you should be good to go. Sony PR contacted me yesterday to confirm that - as already detected by some - the latest PlayStation firmware resolves the VRR hiccup issue. Both the PS5 and PS5 Pro have long suffered from stuttering issues when using VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) for several months now. In an ironic twist, VRR is intended to diminish stuttering using some key enhancements. These include real-time syncing of the console and TV's refresh rate and an unlocked framerate to give games that buttery-smooth look. The PS5 initially used the technology without any constraints, but a more recent system update that went out in the past few months most likely caused VRR syncing issues when playing specific games in this mode. The problems persisted after playing for around 30 to 40 minutes across a variety of games. Luckily, the issue has been quelled across both Sony consoles, and you can rest assured that playing titles like The Last of Us Part 2, Diablo 4, and more will run smoothly in VRR mode now. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
The Last of Us Season 2 stumbles with major changes
FOLLOWING the success of HBO's The Last of Us first season in 2023, it was a no-brainer that the second season would be greenlit to adapt Sony and Naughty Dog's controversial The Last of Us Part 2 video game and bring the story of Joel and Ellie full circle. However, with the new season, it is now clear that the 2023 season's success was nothing more than a fluke or an isolated lightning-in-a-bottle moment. Adapting hefty source material such as The Last of Us Part 2 – with its complex characters, themes, nuance and controversial creative decisions – to television was always going to be an arduous task but one could argue that it would also be easy, as the groundwork has already been set. Unfortunately, the second season of The Last of Us handles the source material as literal groundwork. In other words, the game and everything that transpires in it is treated as nothing more than a suggestion, which is how the show's co-creator Craig Mazin has developed the season. New threat Set five years after the conclusion of the first season, The Last of Us picks up with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) fully settled into the normalcy of living in Jackson, a barricaded town consisting of other survivors from the Cordyceps pandemic. Everything goes well until a mysterious group from Seattle arrives. Belonging to a bigger militia outfit called the Washington Liberation Front, the small group is led by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) to Jackson, looking for Joel due to his actions at the end of the first season. At the same time, an infected horde is riled up into attacking Jackson. In the ensuing chaos, the town suffers massive losses. The tragic events on that day lead to Ellie and Dina (Isabella Merced) trekking halfway across the country to Seattle, as they seek to settle the score with Abby. Radical changes, major damage Though the first season took creative liberties in condensing and expanding The Last of Us Part 1 into a nine-episode season, the second season makes far more radical changes to the point that HBO and Sony's properties look like different entities. Early in the season, it becomes clear Mazin has changed the order of events that occur in the game, as the domino effect quickly spirals into disrupting several other aspects of the narrative, such as how important secondary characters are removed from the story, leading to critical scenes, sequences and set pieces to be removed as those characters do not exist in the new narrative. With the passing of each episode, the aftermath continues to snowball, affecting other aspects, such as how certain main characters have their characterisation either reversed or swapped. A big victim of these changes is the main character herself, a 19-year-old Ellie, who is infantilised by Mazin to behave like a clueless, happy-go-lucky child that constantly needs to be watched over. From wrath to whimsy In the game, Ellie is persistently wallowing in depression and anger. Fueled entirely by an unquenchable thirst for revenge, Ellie's descent into an endless pitch black hole forms the crux and backbone to The Last of Us Part 2. From her brusquely calling Dina a 'burden' after finding out about her concealed pregnancy in the middle of their dangerous mission to committing acts of extreme violence, the heavy tone prompts players to plead – in their heads – for her to stop before there are further losses, either to herself or to those around her. In Mazin's new version, Ellie is consistently jovial five episodes into the season. In the fourth episode, several major tonal whiplashes occur, frenetically shifting between comically out-of-place jokes and Ellie behaving more her age and in-character. Mazin's fundamental misunderstanding of the character also robs Ellie of agency and the bloodthirst she is supposed to have from the traumatic incident that put her on the path for revenge. Fans familiar with the game often joke that Ellie 'kills half of Seattle' on her mission, yet this iteration of Ellie by Mazin struggles against the infected and barely kills three people, two of which were accidental. The poor writing and direction bleeds into Ramsey's performance as well, turning it extremely uneven due to the tonal inconsistencies. At points, it was so bad that whenever Pascal, Merced, Dever or any of the supporting cast were on screen, their great performances would completely eclipse Ramsey's. Missing voices, misguided vision Unlike the first season, a bulk of this season was written primarily by Mazin. Show co-creator and writer Neil Druckmann's – also the game's co-creator and writer – absence is clearly felt. It certainly does not help that Halley Gross, who co-wrote The Last of Us Part 2, was not involved with the first five episodes, which forms the most jarring bulk of the season. Already greenlit, the third season will cover the second half of The Last of Us Part 2 and if there is a merciful god, Druckmann and Gross should have majority control over steering the series back to what it is supposed to be: a story that is not dumbed down for general audiences and is brave with making hard decisions in its narrative, without being weighed down by infantilised main characters or having its nuance and complexity stripped. The Last of Us second season is streaming on Max.
The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
The Last of Us, defanged
FOLLOWING the success of HBO's The Last of Us first season in 2023, it was a no-brainer that the second season would be greenlit to adapt Sony and Naughty Dog's controversial The Last of Us Part 2 video game and bring the story of Joel and Ellie full circle. However, with the new season, it is now clear that the 2023 season's success was nothing more than a fluke or an isolated lightning-in-a-bottle moment. Adapting hefty source material such as The Last of Us Part 2 – with its complex characters, themes, nuance and controversial creative decisions – to television was always going to be an arduous task but one could argue that it would also be easy, as the groundwork has already been set. Unfortunately, the second season of The Last of Us handles the source material as literal groundwork. In other words, the game and everything that transpires in it is treated as nothing more than a suggestion, which is how the show's co-creator Craig Mazin has developed the season. New threat Set five years after the conclusion of the first season, The Last of Us picks up with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) fully settled into the normalcy of living in Jackson, a barricaded town consisting of other survivors from the Cordyceps pandemic. Everything goes well until a mysterious group from Seattle arrives. Belonging to a bigger militia outfit called the Washington Liberation Front, the small group is led by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) to Jackson, looking for Joel due to his actions at the end of the first season. At the same time, an infected horde is riled up into attacking Jackson. In the ensuing chaos, the town suffers massive losses. The tragic events on that day lead to Ellie and Dina (Isabella Merced) trekking halfway across the country to Seattle, as they seek to settle the score with Abby. Radical changes, major damage Though the first season took creative liberties in condensing and expanding The Last of Us Part 1 into a nine-episode season, the second season makes far more radical changes to the point that HBO and Sony's properties look like different entities. Early in the season, it becomes clear Mazin has changed the order of events that occur in the game, as the domino effect quickly spirals into disrupting several other aspects of the narrative, such as how important secondary characters are removed from the story, leading to critical scenes, sequences and set pieces to be removed as those characters do not exist in the new narrative. With the passing of each episode, the aftermath continues to snowball, affecting other aspects, such as how certain main characters have their characterisation either reversed or swapped. A big victim of these changes is the main character herself, a 19-year-old Ellie, who is infantilised by Mazin to behave like a clueless, happy-go-lucky child that constantly needs to be watched over. From wrath to whimsy In the game, Ellie is persistently wallowing in depression and anger. Fueled entirely by an unquenchable thirst for revenge, Ellie's descent into an endless pitch black hole forms the crux and backbone to The Last of Us Part 2. From her brusquely calling Dina a 'burden' after finding out about her concealed pregnancy in the middle of their dangerous mission to committing acts of extreme violence, the heavy tone prompts players to plead – in their heads – for her to stop before there are further losses, either to herself or to those around her. In Mazin's new version, Ellie is consistently jovial five episodes into the season. In the fourth episode, several major tonal whiplashes occur, frenetically shifting between comically out-of-place jokes and Ellie behaving more her age and in-character. Mazin's fundamental misunderstanding of the character also robs Ellie of agency and the bloodthirst she is supposed to have from the traumatic incident that put her on the path for revenge. Fans familiar with the game often joke that Ellie 'kills half of Seattle' on her mission, yet this iteration of Ellie by Mazin struggles against the infected and barely kills three people, two of which were accidental. The poor writing and direction bleeds into Ramsey's performance as well, turning it extremely uneven due to the tonal inconsistencies. At points, it was so bad that whenever Pascal, Merced, Dever or any of the supporting cast were on screen, their great performances would completely eclipse Ramsey's. Missing voices, misguided vision Unlike the first season, a bulk of this season was written primarily by Mazin. Show co-creator and writer Neil Druckmann's – also the game's co-creator and writer – absence is clearly felt. It certainly does not help that Halley Gross, who co-wrote The Last of Us Part 2, was not involved with the first five episodes, which forms the most jarring bulk of the season. Already greenlit, the third season will cover the second half of The Last of Us Part 2 and if there is a merciful god, Druckmann and Gross should have majority control over steering the series back to what it is supposed to be: a story that is not dumbed down for general audiences and is brave with making hard decisions in its narrative, without being weighed down by infantilised main characters or having its nuance and complexity stripped. The Last of Us second season is streaming on Max.
Tom's Guide
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
‘The Last of Us' season 2 let me down — here's 3 things the finale can do to win me back
I'm a "Last of Us" superfan. The PlayStation duology ranks among my favorite video games of all time, and I was hugely impressed by the first season of the HBO show. Sadly, I've had a less enthusiastic response to 'The Last of Us' season 2. I've been left feeling largely disappointed by the show's long-awaited return, as each episode makes more and more significant changes to the source material that, in my opinion, don't benefit the overall story. It's not that 'The Last of Us' season 2 has been especially bad, it's just not hit the heights of season 1, and hasn't resonated with me in the way The Last of Us Part 2 video games did, and continues to do so to this very day. Nevertheless, with the finale set for this weekend (airing on HBO and Max on Sunday, May 25), I'm preparing to watch with an open mind and the hope that the season can be salvaged at the death. For that to happen, here are the three things I want to see in 'The Last of Us' season 2, episode 7. But first, a quick spoiler warning: this article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2 game and may contain spoilers for future episodes of the HBO show. One of the most curious changes that the HBO show has made compared to the original video game is its handling of the character of Tommy (played by Gabriel Luna in the show). In the Part 2 game, Tommy is the one who first heads out to Seattle to find (and kill) Abby, with Ellie and Dina following in his wake. Alternatively, in the world of the show, Tommy is a pillar of the community in Jackson and a family man with a young child. He stays behind to rebuild the makeshift town following its attack by a horde of infected, with Ellie and Dina trekking to Seattle on their own to find Abby. I wasn't a fan of this change, but with the die now cast, at the very least, I want Tommy to be properly brought back into the mix. The good news is Tommy's reemergence appears almost certain. We know he's now on the board, as Jesse revealed in episode 6 that the other Miller brother accompanied him to Seattle. Tommy's role should be sizeable in the finale, and that'll make me very happy. "The Last of Us" as a franchise has never been scared of shock character deaths, and arguably the most out-of-the-blue kill in the series to date is that of Jesse. There's no buildup to this murder. Instead, Ellie and Jesse hear somebody breaking into their theater base, sprint to confront this intruder (revealed to be Abby), and in a split second, Jesse is snuffed out via a bullet to the head. It was a moment that left me nearly breathless when playing the game for the first time. I was initially convinced that Jesse hadn't just died in such a sudden way. But in the world of "The Last of Us," key characters don't always get heroic deaths or dramatic send-offs. This apocalyptic world is much too brutal for every character to go into the dark night with a fitting swansong. The show needs to keep this important moment intact, and fortunately, I think it most likely will. While season 2 has made a boatload of changes, it has, at least so far, kept the narrative broad strokes the same, and I hope it won't go as far as to alter a key character's untimely fate. OK, so I'll fully acknowledge this one is a bit of a nitpick, but I was super disappointed that Joel's iconic line just before his brutal murder at Abby's hands ('Why don't you say whatever speech you got rehearsed, and get this over with.") was removed in favor of one that lacked the same punch. The much-anticipated theatre confrontation between Abby and Ellie, which all signs point towards being the bookend of 'The Last of Us' season 2, contains an equally iconic moment, when Abby, shocked to discover the person hunting her and her friends down is Ellie and Tommy, spits out 'we let you both live and you wasted it' before raising her gun to shoot. Cut to black. It's a real fan-favorite line, and I'll be pretty miffed if this dialogue is also removed (or significantly reworked). Here's hoping the show opts to keep this intense scene pretty much unchanged. When you land on perfection the first time, why alter things the second time?
Economic Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
The Last of Us Season 2: What to expect in finale? Watch Episode 7 trailer
Agencies As per reports, the creators may keep bringing Pedro Pascal's character through flashbacks The finale of The Last of Us Season 2 is coming soon. A short trailer offers a glimpse into what viewers might expect. One of the biggest talking points is Jesse. Fans believe the finale may follow the same story as the original game, where Jesse meets a tragic end. The trailer shows Jesse and Ellie walking through the streets of Seattle. The scenes are tense and quick. Isaac is seen leading a WLF squad. Ellie appears to be captured by the Seraphites. Dina is shown looking at Jesse with tears in her eyes. Ellie is also seen riding a boat across rough waters. At the 17-second mark in the trailer, Jesse and Ellie are running through a theater. This moment stands out to fans of the game. In The Last of Us Part 2, Jesse is killed by Abby in this exact location. In the game, Ellie and Jesse return from the aquarium and plan to head home. Also Read: The Handmaid's Tale Season 6: Episode 9 release date, time across regions and upcoming episode schedule In the game, Tommy screams from the theater lobby. Ellie and Jesse rush in to help. As they enter, Abby shoots Jesse in the head. The trailer may be setting up this same moment for the show. Fans noticed this and are talking about it Read: Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2: Release date, episode schedule and where to watch in US and UK Several fans commented on the trailer. One warned Jesse to stay away from the theater doors. Another predicted the season would end with Jesse's death and Abby's arrival. A third said Jesse was about to get shot. One viewer joked about Ellie and Jesse racing for pizza, hinting at the tense scene. Is Jesse going to die in The Last of Us Season 2 finale? Fans believe Jesse might die, based on the game's storyline and scenes in the trailer that match his death in the original story. Will Season 3 focus on Abby's perspective? It is likely Season 3 will follow Abby, as the original game's story shifts focus after the theater confrontation involving Jesse.
