Naughty Dog's The Last of Us

[Yggdrasil]

@Agent D.: ...? I didn't say anything about the jokes being bad.

Anyways, I'm close in getting the Platinum trophy now. I only have to get through the Survivor and Survivor+ modes along with doing a match in 'Survivors' in Factions and everything should be done.

Oh and fuck you too Agent D.（￣へ￣）

Edited.*

[Agent D.]

^...? I didn't say anything about the jokes being bad.

Anyways, I'm close in getting the Platinum trophy. I only have to get through the Survivor and Survivor+ modes and do some stuff along with doing a match in 'Survivors' and everything should be done.

Oh and... fuck you too Agent D.（￣へ￣）

(>^_(>o_O)>

[Bleaker]

I didn't really have any bugs that I can recall either. Obviously with a game this elaborate, some people are gonna have them and some aren't, but my experience felt very solid, and watching my brother play through the entire game, his was as well. And even then, glitches never really bother me all that much, but that's just my personal experience.

Vis-a-vis shooting and enemies-- yes, I enjoyed fighting both immensely. Fighting humans involved totally different tactics than Infected, and I liked that.

And like I said, it comes down to story versus systems. Some sequences in the game "broke rules" in order to change up the experience. I know Rob didn't like those (an Infected spots you no matter what, you're hanging upside down with unlimited ammo, etc), but I thought they were excellent and kept you on your toes.

While I'm sorry others didn't have the same experience, this game is, again, easily one of my favorites I've ever played. If you didn't like the story until the end, that's totally cool, but I was 100% invested. The acting was outstanding, the voicing was perfect, and I was completely invested in all of the characters. Where ND really succeeded was including so many different ages and kinds of characters, which basically ensured that no matter who you are, you can relate to someone. As someone very close to my two brothers,

Code:

Sam and Henry's arc left me literally stunned. When I watched my brother play through the game this week, I could see that he was moved by it as well.

If you look at it as "THIS IS JUST A ZOMBIE STORY," sure, that kind of reductionism will make you value it less. But The Walking Dead is "JUST A ZOMBIE STORY," and everyone seems to adore that. Really it's about how well you get to know these characters, and in this regard, TLOU is an unmitigated success. I will remember the characters in the game forever, I enjoyed the gameplay, and I adored the fact that Naughty Dog didn't feel the need to spell out absolutely everything in the game. Naughty Dog made a world that I felt like I knew incredibly well despite only seeing certain sides of it.

So yeah, my GOTY all up in here. Totally cool if others don't feel that way, but I'll argue dissenters into oblivion :)

I really enjoyed the game, but to me Bioshock Infinite still takes that GOTY title. I loved the game, but the parts where it 'broke rules' didn't keep me on my toes, it just kind of pissed me off. Getting hung upside down and having to shoot waves of zombies with infinite ammo, if he had that much ammo, why the fuck wasn't he using it more often? Its a great game to be sure, just not the pinnacle of gaming as some like to think.

Also the just another zombie story thing, I think people don't levy that complaint at The Walking Dead because that really hasn't been done in gaming before. A game with such a similar premise as this one coming a year later is why some will levy that complaint at this game, instead of the previous. The way they go about telling the story is different, but the mood they set is similar.

Also spoilers for both TWD and Last of Us:

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Kenny's family tragedy > Henry and Sam tragedy.

[BassTrap]

My experience with the game overall was fantastic, but I don't think it was a perfect game. I didn't experience too many glitches that I can remember, other than getting caught in a window and spontaneously dying at one point. I don't know if anybody else feels this way, but Naughty Dog's recent games (Uncharted series and this one) always feel greater than the sum of their parts. The shooting and platforming is nothing spectacular, but the stories/presentation make the game better as a whole. I was totally invested in protecting Ellie and thought the acting was spot on, but by the end of the game I was getting a little sick of shooting bad guys. Uncharted is way more guilty than The Last of Us at sending in waves of enemies, but it was still a chore by the end of the game. Still, at the end of the day I loved it.

As for the game "breaking the rules," I didn't mind so much. I usually don't think about it unless it's really egregious or frustrates me as a player. I just chalk that stuff up to the game being gamey. The same way I don't think about how unbelievable it is that the same four or five supplies just happen to be laying all over the place, or a makeshift medkit made from bandages and alcohol can heal gunshots instantly, is how I dismiss stuff like hanging upside down with unlimited ammo. Though in those instances the game isn't breaking any of its own rules like having unlimited ammo does, none of that makes the story any less impactful or pisses me off when I'm playing.

[Agent D.]

Why does everyone think you had infinite ammo when you got hung upside down? I had 18 shots on me, and there was NO WAY I could have burned through them all and survived. Ellie throws you ammo during the course of the event too, similarly to when you have to do that part later with David and he tosses you rifle rounds.

All I know is if I fired 6 shots in that upside down event and didn't kill the enemies in the room, I was dead. Reloading before the room was cleared was a death sentence.

[Bleaker]

What difficulty were you playing on? Didn't die during that once. I had more trouble with the bloater fight, mainly because I was trying to find ways around it.

[Agent D.]

What difficulty were you playing on? Didn't die during that once. I had more trouble with the bloater fight, mainly because I was trying to find ways around it.

Dude...it was the only fight I actually died due to failure in. Nothing else killed me, though I spent many an encounter resetting due to item conservation.

[Taelus]

Code:

You have unlimited ammo when hanging upside down. I've done it twice and seen someone else do it. You also have unlimited when Joel gets injured.

[Agent D.]

Code:

You have unlimited ammo when hanging upside down. I've done it twice and seen someone else do it. You also have unlimited when Joel gets injured.

I don't know how you could fire so many shots during that part to see if you had unlimited ammo. I stand by what I said before about Ellie tossing you rounds, and you still had to reload...but idk, I guess it's possible. Still arguably the hardest part of the game in terms of simply advancing.

[Dice]

I think I'm still amazed by the interactions in this game.  They didn't feel contrived.  Too often I feel like relationships (of whatever sort) feel way too forced, so this game made me slap-happy.

I want Last of Us 2 and DLC alreadu D:

[Dice]

http://youtu.be/tTsBn36yPrg

I love a number of games Dunky reviews....but I'll be damned if his pissy commentary isn't absolutely brilliantly put together and comical. x)

[Yggdrasil]

Finished Survivor+ mode in one day while also going for the "Master of Unlocking" trophy. I still haven't unlocked all the skins or the Platinum trophy yet, but I'm close.

[PaleRobbie]

Got to Winter on hard and had to quit.  I just hate how the game forces you into combat at times and how the enemies become fucking bullet sponges on higher difficulties.  I think normal mode got the combat part right but there were two many resources while hard mode is the exact opposite.  My last death was caused by trying to run away from a bunch of dudes and I got shot five times in a row and ended up stun locked.  Sorry, I'm not putting up with that shit.

It's a good game.  Sometimes it's great.  However, I feel like this game would be getting eaten alive if the story wasn't so "good."  I honestly thought the story was fine and well told in places, but it wasn't anything special (outside of the awesome ending, of course).  It's an 8 or 8.5 out of me.  The dissonance between the world and the "game" part is just too great for me to bear, and the stealth mechanics are far too random and glitchy to rely on them.  Tried to sneak up on dudes during Fall's end sequence and they would break animation and spin around and shoot me every damn time.  Again, great game when it lets you play how you want, but I can't stand it when you're forced into combat and the game just spawns enemies.  The best moments are when you come upon a group and have to figure out how to approach the situation. 

And before anyone says anything, I feel the same way when other stealth games force me into combat.  Couldn't stand the stupid stairwell scene in Metal Gear Solid, or the awful finale in Hitman 2. 

And why the hell does this game get away with so many of the chief complaints about other games released in the past year?  Resident Evil 6 is, rightfully, picked apart for having the whole "Pick up a key, now the enemies attack" bullshit, but it's here in this game too.  Other stealth games are picked apart, again rightfully, for hive-mind AI, but all of the hunters know where you are if one sees you.  Again, I just look for consistency in my reviews, and I feel like Last of Us is getting away, at least among critics, with the same shit that other games are crucified for.  I remember Gametrailers made a huge deal out of the fact that you can throw a bottle in front of an enemy in the new Hitman and he will only notice the sound when it hits a wall.  And yet, not one peep from the site when Last of Us does the exact same damn thing.  Maybe it's because, to its credit, Last of Us doesn't do this kinda thing nearly as often as other games, but it's still there and quite annoying when it happens. 

Sorry to rant.  Got really pissed on my last death and I think I'm shelving the game for good.  I'm glad people like it, and I think it's probably the most important game of the year.  I just hate the fact that the game was apparently critic proof among most of the press (though i do think Polygon was a little harsh at points). 

[Yggdrasil]

Couldn't stand the stupid stairwell scene in Metal Gear Solid

Press X to crouch and get up again by pressing X and without leaving to press the button start running, while running press Square with the FAMAS equipped (at this point I think you can let go of the X button). Later you stop to throw some Stun Grenades and you should be done.

[Yggdrasil]

Naughty Dog reveals The Last of Us alternate ending image -- Source: All Games Beta