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[Grief.exe]

Have you actually played a game on console? I'm surprised.

Didn't expect an ad hominem like that on GAF. Can we stick to the discussion at hand rather than attacking someone?

I very much enjoy console gaming, as I own games from just about every platform. Currently playing 999 on my 3DS, Oracle of Ages on my SP 101, and Divinity OS on PC. I very much plan on picking up a PS4 sometime in 2015 once some compelling titles are available.

Agreed. It's kind of like Mario Galaxy 2, there's nothing too innovative about the game, but the mechanics are perfect and everything is so well made that the title is considered a masterpiece. The Last of Us is a refinement of the TPS genre, it's doing everything that's been done before but better.

I haven't played the Mario Galaxy games, from what I have heard that would be a great comparison.

 

[atr0cious]

it's doing everything that's been done before but better.

No it's not. It doesn't even hold a mechanical candle to RE4, or have a tenth of the tension as Ellie cannot be seen by enemies, making the game a thematic mess.

Mario Galaxy 2 stands on a league of it's own because it's borrowing mechanics that it's predecessor started, TLOU is borrowing from the genre itself, and not even well in some cases.

 

[sploatee]

Three threads filled with negativity towards a masterpiece and you thought: 'I know, I'll start the hundredth thread calling the gameplay out.'

Coincidental? Yeah ... of course ...

Blimey again! Look, I'm a 33 year old woman with a family and a career. I asked an honest question because (as some of the responses show) it's so useful to hear first hand experiences.

I've got no agenda! I'm not calling the gameplay out, I've not even played the bloody game! That's why I asked the question!

Honestly, you're being crazy. I'd rather you just explained to me why it's a masterpiece and I'd listen.

This.

To add to that, the OP not only complains beforehand about the game's already praised mechanics and asks for people to "convince" him/her, but also throws in "the PS4 release schedule is so dry", another subjective, negative generalization.

This thread is just a fire starter.

I've not even played it. I asked because my perceptions from footage could be well wrong. I wanted to hear what people had to say, that's all.

I love this forum, but by eck there's a lot of rage over here on gaming side.

 

[nib95]

Wonderful 101. Also the Resident Evil 4 PC edition if we're counting fiscal years.

Resident Evil 4 is one of my all time favourite games, but it's gameplay still pales in comparison to The Last of Us (imo). The actual gunplay itself is not as satisfying or well realised. The sense of weight and realism, the recoil, the melee options and impact, the animations, the enemy feedback etc. The controls, the degree of movement freedom, fact that LoU has an excellent cover system, considerably better enemy AI. Hell even the tactical options offered are no where near as compelling in RE4. With Last of Us you have greater diversity in how you approach combat scenario's, more poignant emphasis on survival and stealth (the latter lending itself very well to the former) to the point where in harder difficulties even random tertiary objects such as bricks and bottles become pivotal.

RE4's gameplay whilst excellent for it's time, and still very much satisfying today, is just no where near as polished or refined as Last of Us's, then again, not many third person shooters are. I don't think gamers today, would take as kindly to the kind of clunky movement mechanics RE4 offers. Forcing cumbersome control mechanics is simply not a very intelligent or satisfying way to increase tension. It's actually rather frustrating. Last of Us strikes a far better designed and implemented balance in that respect.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

In my 25 years of gaming, I have never played a game with such a great story and ending in the single player that it spawned an in depth discussion after about morals and choices people make that blur the lines between heroism and villainy, then immediately turn to the multiplayer to continue to enjoy the games core gameplay mechanics. This game really is the total package. It may not be for everyone and no game is. You may not like it for whatever reason and thats fine but trying to convince someone that this game lacks any sort of compelling gameplay because you don't like it is ridiculous.

 

[Darknight]

No it's not. It doesn't even hold a mechanical candle to RE4, or have a tenth of the tension as Ellie cannot be seen by enemies, making the game a thematic mess.

Mario Galaxy 2 stands on a league of it's own because it's borrowing mechanics that it's predecessor started, TLOU is borrowing from the genre itself, and not even well in some cases.

Well people that hold RE4 to some ridiculous standards obviously will discredit any and all form of media. RE4 is way more "overrated" than TLoU. Just on gameplay, TLoU is more fun. Voice acting in general was terrible on it too. "Morir es vivir" line x infinity makes RE4 unbearable. RE4 for its time was a good game. Now its just a classic that hasnt aged well. I feel TLoU will age very well into the future.

Also if you keep ignoring the fact ND made Ellie to be invisible as a choice to not punish players and offer a fair balance in gameplay then I have no reason to reason with the likes of you. Its a very simple technical aspect of the game and makes perfect sense if you played the game on hard/survival. Also this is laughable you bring this up because Ashley's AI (if there is any) is stupid as a brick and so are the enemies.

 

[Kinyou]

I love this forum, but by eck there's a lot of rage over here on gaming side.

I partly blame the current console war. When exclusives are involved people tend to get a little zealous.

 

[Dr. Black Jack]

And you'd be amazed by seeing what living in a post-apocalyptic world is like.

And lots of kids swear a lot at her age, I don't know what you're talking about.

It's not the swearing, it's the way she went about it. Seemed too forced to me. The Lee/Clem relationship was written more organically. I wish I had played TLOU first so the bar wasn't so high.

 

[StuBurns]

It's not the swearing, it's the way she went about it. Seemed too forced to me. The Lee/Clem relationship was written more organically. I wish I had played TLOU first so the bar wasn't so high.

I did play TWD first, and thought TLoU was much better written.

 

[sploatee]

I partly blame the current console war. When exclusives are involved people tend to get a little zealous.

It's a shame. I grew up during Sega vs Nintendo. So many deaths. :'(

It's just a console. I like my PS4 and it will really come into its own next year. The Xbox one looks OK too. I don't get the 'war mentality'.

 

[dralla]

Mechanically I think it's great. I love the idea of sacrificing health items for offensive weapons (and vice versa), and the crafting in real time makes it even better. I think the enemy encounters lack depth and become repetitive the further you get in. The DLC helps alleviate this with the 3 way battles.

 

[Krejlooc]

Even if you ignore the story, TLOU is still an exceptionally well made game. There aren't many games out there with its level of production values.

 

[Artorias]

Currently playing 999 on my 3DS, Oracle of Ages on my Micro

How?

 

[Fancy Clown]

I did play TWD first, and thought TLoU was much better written.

So, so much better.

 

[Grief.exe]

How?

Meant SP 101, my mistake.

 

[Relativ9]

Aside from the shooting gameplay, is Halo any good?

Aside from the real time strategy, is Dota 2 any good?

Aside from the open world exploration, is Skyrim any good?

Aside from the survival mechanics, is DayZ any good?

...starting to catch my drift?

 

[duck_sauce]

I also don't really have an appetite for a third-person shooty/stealthy game right now (I'm more excited by Diablo 3).

Dont take it the wrong way - but why do you want people to convince you? Sounds to me like you already made up your mind. Which is fine. Tlou is not for you (right now). Move on

 

[Phreakuency]

Aside from the 100 or so reviews on Metacritic averaging 95/100, aside from the 6000 user ratings averaging 91/100 and aside from the hundreds of GOTY awards and other comments and threads for a year old game, is a thread like this really that special?

 

[benny_a]

I think The Last of Us is special because of its gameplay.

The loop of being sneaky, the tenseness of being almost discovered, then being discovered and having to fight your way out of an encounter and being happy about that while realizing you've just made the whole rest of the game harder on yourself because you fucked up and used many of your resources.

In my opinion you could break this game by replaying encounters over and over again by reloading every time you screw up. I love it the way it is but I'm also a fan of roleplay games. I like games to have consequences and TLOU has plenty of those.

 

[atr0cious]

. Forcing cumbersome control mechanics

This is where we differ. RE4, like TLOU, had thematic reasons for it's control scheme, although Naugty Dog added slippery aiming. RE4 has a control scheme that lets you feel like a badass, but still be powerless at a moments notice.

Also if you keep ignoring the fact ND made Ellie to be invisible as a choice to not punish players and offer a fair balance in gameplay then I have no reason to reason with the likes of you. Its a very simple technical aspect of the game and makes perfect sense if you played the game on hard/survival. Also this is laughable you bring this up because Ashley's AI (if there is any) is stupid as a brick and so are the enemies.

Ashley's AI? You mean where you specifically tell her where to go, wasn't a choice, But having Ellie flail into a wall while enemies hunt for you was?

RE4 is about finding and protecting the president's daughter. The game then let's you do that. It hammers home how only Leon can save her, and through out the game, you the player specifically tell ashley when and where to go, even throwing her in trashbins if necessary.

TLOU is a game is constantly hammering home that you need to protect Ellie, the ending is specifically about this, and the devs had already predetermined that Ellie didn't need saving from anyone. You push forward to another set piece, and go into stealth mode, next thing you know, Ellie is running into a wall while the enemies pretends she doesn't exist.

TLOU is pretty much the Godzilla, to RE4's Gojira.

 

[RustyNails]

What OP is basically asking is "Should I buy a game which I know I will not enjoy or like, because of hype?"

It's like someone buying one of those ice-cream game because hype.

 

[Shaanyboi]

It was a relatively tense stealth game that I thought was pretty great. Not mind-blowing, but great.

 

[Jigorath]

No it's not. It doesn't even hold a mechanical candle to RE4, or have a tenth of the tension as Ellie cannot be seen by enemies, making the game a thematic mess.

Mario Galaxy 2 stands on a league of it's own because it's borrowing mechanics that it's predecessor started, TLOU is borrowing from the genre itself, and not even well in some cases.

If you think TLOU doesn't have tension then you haven't played it through on the harder difficulties. Ellie being attacked by enemies would make the game more frustrating than anything. Nobody likes escort missions for a reason, they make you feel like a babysitter. Ashley worked better because she usually wasn't being killed so much as kidnapped by the enemies, you had a chance to save her. The infected trying to kidnap Ellie wouldn't make any sense.

 

[Grief.exe]

If you think TLOU doesn't have tension then you haven't played it through on the harder difficulties. Ellie being attacked by enemies would make the game more frustrating than anything. Nobody likes escort missions for a reason, they make you feel like a babysitter. Ashley worked better because she usually wasn't being killed so much as kidnapped by the enemies, you had a chance to save her. The infected trying to kidnap Ellie wouldn't make any sense.

That would be a good point, it would just be an instant failure state for much of the game.

Players would end up just putting her at the beginning of the level, then work their way through the area, then call her to the player. Effectively, the concept is the same, either way Ellie is irrelevant to the player during gameplay.

 

[Hoje0308]

Well, it's not really meant to be a game in the pure stealth genre Adam, at least Naughty Dog never promoted it as such. In any case, there are multiple areas where you can indeed skip past enemies, but it's very difficult. Stealth is mostly just another added component to the gameplay layer in how to tackle scenarios, not completely skip past every enemy really. Thus, I'm not sure that's something I would dog the game on.

I thought the encounters reinforced the idea that conflict and unspeakable violence were unavoidable in this new world, no matter how careful you were. For me that made

Spoiler

Joel a more complex character, rather than being a simple hero or villain (depending on your perception of the ending).

You'd be amazed how much you learn about childhood (even your own) by watching someone else live theirs every day.

I'm not saying that she should have had dewey eyes and believe in magic but they way they wrote her was too heavy handed and not believable.

I disagree, on both points. I don't have to have kids of my own to observe and take note of their behavior. Also, I have a pretty good memory so I remember being fairly precocious. Not only this, but I've met a number of children that age that were more shrewd and direct. You argument from experience really falls apart when you realize that this is a child that grew up in a world that you or I will never know. It wasn't that long ago that people her age were getting married and starting families on a regular basis. I can imagine the collapse of modern society might elicit the same kind of rapid maturity in addition to unhealthy doses of cynicism.

 

[Cthulhu_Steev]

I think The Last of Us is special because of its gameplay.

The loop of being sneaky, the tenseness of being almost discovered, then being discovered and having to fight your way out of an encounter and being happy about that while realizing you've just made the whole rest of the game harder on yourself because you fucked up and used many of your resources.

In my opinion you could break this game by replaying encounters over and over again by reloading every time you screw up. I love it the way it is but I'm also a fan of roleplay games. I like games to have consequences and TLOU has plenty of those.

I think it's also the quiet moments after all that chaos that also makes it special.

I can't wait to take in those views, those sunsets and that lighting all over again and I'm hoping the 1080/60 makes it feel like a brand new game.

And I bet it does just that.

 

[atr0cious]

If you think TLOU doesn't have tension then you haven't played it through on the harder difficulties. Ellie being attacked by enemies would make the game more frustrating than anything. Nobody likes escort missions for a reason, they make you feel like a babysitter. Ashley worked better because she usually wasn't being killed so much as kidnapped by the enemies, you had a chance to save her. The infected trying to kidnap Ellie wouldn't make any sense.

Meh, it's just a horror MGS puzzle game. I do no touching, no guns in those games in extreme difficulty, so I was expecting more from this. Having to manage the macguffin of the game, should be another aspect, not just a visual reminder. And once again, RE4, pulled this off beautifully. You could clear the area, and then call her, it wasn't some constant thing. And it made you feel like you were doing more than just the usual boring escort mission, where you couldn't interact with the NPC.

 

[Wynnebeck]

This is where we differ. RE4, like TLOU, had thematic reasons for it's control scheme, although Naugty Dog added slippery aiming. RE4 has a control scheme that lets you feel like a badass, but still be powerless at a moments notice.

Ashley's AI? You mean where you specifically tell her where to go, wasn't a choice, But having Ellie flail into a wall while enemies hunt for you was?

RE4 is about finding and protecting the president's daughter. The game then let's you do that. It hammers home how only Leon can save her, and through out the game, you the player specifically tell ashley when and where to go, even throwing her in trashbins if necessary.

TLOU is a game is constantly hammering home that you need to protect Ellie, the ending is specifically about this, and the devs had already predetermined that Ellie didn't need saving from anyone. You push forward to another set piece, and go into stealth mode, next thing you know, Ellie is running into a wall while the enemies pretends she doesn't exist.

TLOU is pretty much the Godzilla, to RE4's Gojira.

Oh bullshit. You see over the course of the game Ellie's growth from a pre-teen girl being thrust into as role of being an adult way before she is ready. The point in which she gains enough trust from Joel to even handle a gun is a major plot point in the story showing that in order to survive the cruel, cold world of TLOU, Joel has to go against his better judgement and give her a weapon to protect him and herself.

The gameplay from this point reflects this plot point and you now see as she is now emboldened and will help you out by calling out enemy positions, attacking enemies trying to get the drop on you, etc. Trying to compare Ellie to Ashley who's sole purpose was to basically be a grown up version of E.E. from MGS2 is frankly ridiculous.

 

[Fancy Clown]

Meh, it's just a horror MGS puzzle game. I do no touching, no guns in those games in extreme difficulty, so I was expecting more from this. Having to manage the macguffin of the game, should be another aspect, not just a visual reminder. And once again, RE4, pulled this off beautifully. You could clear the area, and then call her, it wasn't some constant thing. And it made you feel like you were doing more than just the usual boring escort mission, where you couldn't interact with the NPC.

You did not just call Ellie a MacGuffin

Also, enemies often grab Ellie in combat and you have to save her before she is killed.

 

[Ajax35]

No it's not. It doesn't even hold a mechanical candle to RE4,

I love RE4, but TLOU features vastly better mechanics. By today's standards, RE4's controls are positively tank-like. TLOU has better shooting (including better weapon sway), better stealth (non-existent in RE4) and fewer opportunities to abuse the environment (like knifing enemies while they're climbing up ladders).

If you want to argue that Ashley > Ellie, okay I can see that. Personally I prefer the quasi-invisible AI partner who I don't have to babysit, but I understand why somebody might feel differently. And of course there is no weapon in TLOU that matches the perfection of the Red 9 or BAR. Otherwise TLOU is a clear improvement on every gameplay mechanic from RE4.

 

[Slixshot]

The Last of Us is my favorite game. Ever. Aside from the story, here's three main bullet points as to why:

1. Infected - I'm a man who loves his zombies. I find shows like the walking dead and movies about zombies to be some of the more enjoyable media. The way that ND went about creating a unique brand of zombies was perfect, to me.

2. Understandable UI - the UI isn't overly simple but it's easy to grasp and it's all integral to the gameplay. There isn't much below the surface, like you would see in a P* platinum game, but there's enough depth there that it keeps things interesting.

3. Badass Gameplay - everything in The Last of Us packs a punch. Limbs blow off, melee attacks feel as heavy as a machete cutting into someone's bones should, and so on. It's brutal and because of that it causes a sense of tension that is found only in survival horror games and I'm talking about the fuckin multiplayer here.

Everything just works well together and feels like it's in the game for a reason. It's perfect.

 

[TheKastorian]

Oh bullshit. You see over the course of the game Ellie's growth from a pre-teen girl being thrust into as role of being an adult way before she is ready. The point in which she gains enough trust from Joel to even handle a gun is a major plot point in the story showing that in order to survive the cruel, cold world of TLOU, Joel has to go against his better judgement and give her a weapon to protect him and herself.

The gameplay from this point reflects this plot point and you now see as she is now emboldened and will help you out by calling out enemy positions, attacking enemies trying to get the drop on you, etc. Trying to compare Ellie to Ashley who's sole purpose was to basically be a grown up version of E.E. from MGS2 is frankly ridiculous.

This.

Also, -and I apologize for the expression- RE4's gameplay is total crap compared to TLoU. Went back to RE4 after TLoU and the game was unplayable. TLoU's gameplay is a step forward for the third-person survival horror genre. It plays amazing while looking realistic. Still waiting for other developers to match ND's magic on contextual animations. No one comes even close.

 

[atr0cious]

. Trying to compare Ellie to Ashley who's sole purpose was to basically be a grown up version of E.E. from MGS2 is frankly ridiculous.

She wasn't grown, and was still more apart of the gameplay than Ellie. Leon is a soldier doing his duty, which means protecting her from herself, so he has to manage her fully. I don't see the connection to E.E. other than they are both underaged girls, and are a part of escort missions.

You did not just call Ellie a MacGuffin

Also, enemies often grab Ellie in combat and you have to save her before she is killed.

You don't think the one thing that they've been searching for, normalcy, doesn't lie in Ellie? That Joel stops everything to maintain the new status quo of him being useful still, after normally losing what he loves, isn't important?

 

[FlashFlooder]

It was one of the rare titles, as of late, that was able to keep my attention gameplay-wise. Didn't hurt that the story and production were top notch, either.

It was rare in the sense that I felt I could approach the encounters in very different ways, rather than just minor variations of the path I choose to take.

 

[SmoothRunningGun]

One of the best games I've ever played. So yes it's special OP.

 

[benny_a]

Still waiting for other developers to match ND's magic on contextual animations. No one comes even close.

Raycasting to determine which contextual animation to play.

If I recall correctly it was a terrible demo anyway. It throws you into a really tough and unusual combat scenario midway through the game.

I was on a media blackout at that point but I remember hearing a lot about people saying that they were very concerned about the game after playing that section.

 

[Neuromancer]

I don't know what the demo for TLoU included, but it seems like an extremely difficult game to demo. You can't give someone three hours of the game, and you can't just throw someone in to the encounters that are interesting. There shouldn't be a demo for it.

If I recall correctly it was a terrible demo anyway. It throws you into a really tough and unusual combat scenario midway through the game.

 

[Wynnebeck]

She wasn't grown, and was still more apart of the gameplay than Ellie. Leon is a soldier doing his duty, which means protecting her from herself, so he has to manage her fully. I don't see the connection to E.E. other than they are both underaged girls, and are a part of escort missions.

Well of course Ashley was apart of the gameplay, you had to fully manage what she did a majority of the game which honestly, I found to be a chore. I used the comparison to E.E. as the section where Raiden has to save her is almost exactly like RE4; tedious and annoying. Now, you are entitled to your own opinion, but in mine, having an AI controlled partner who acts accordingly to enemy encounters and makes sense in the grand scheme of the story as opposed to messing with a blonde Yorda who can't do shit except get kidnapped and make the game a slog.

 

[Comfort Jones]

If you like pretty typical AAA game design minus regen health, you'll probably like TLoU. There's nothing all that special with the actual shooting, enemies are super easy to confuse and pick off, the stealth is SUPER basic, etc.

Once you've seen both the human enemies and the infected you've pretty much seen all the enemies the game has to offer. Eventually it puts armor on the humans and throws...more infected at you. Oh and one more variation of them.

Variety!

 

[Morfeo]

"I too have no experience with this game and my meaningless judgment is just the same! Huzzah!"

The point is by taking up this, I can read what more people like about it than its story and "experience" which was all reviewers talked about. Dont see whats stupid about that except for your terribly defensive response.

 

[Caja 117]

And you'd be amazed by seeing what living in a post-apocalyptic world is like.

.

And Im guessing you know what it is like?

OP, TLoU is a great game, my complaint about the game was the fact that Ellie could never get spoted by enemies while you were on Stealth, it killed the imersion on the game for me. Also the story is good, but IMO it is the weakest aspect of the game, Gameplay and Graphics are fantastic and The crafting mechanic was also really nice.

 

[MoonsaultSlayer]

No handholding, no health regen, no limitless resources, tough AI, open areas for combat/stealth scenarios....


Yeah, I'd say it's pretty special compared to others in its genre.

 

[CrimsonCommie]

Why do people get so defensive over people not liking a critically acclaimed game? It doesn't need you to defend it when it has 1,000 GOTY awards so let people have their own opinion.

 

[Ramrock]

TLOU is one of the greatest games ever. Even the best, for a lot of people. The total package of the game is an amazing journey. Truely a masterpiece!

(and great games always have haters)

 

[StuBurns]

And Im guessing you know what it is like?

I was being facetious.

 

[Whitebison]

best multiplayer of the generation.

 

[Kinyou]

No handholding, no health regen, no limitless resources, tough AI, open areas for combat/stealth scenarios....


Yeah, I'd say it's pretty special compared to others in its genre.

It does have a little of hand holding with the occasional medkit or bullets that Ellie will hand you, but overall a lot less than other main stream games.

 

[Hoje0308]

Why do people get so defensive over people not liking a critically acclaimed game? It doesn't need you to defend it when it has 1,000 GOTY awards so let people have their own opinion.

I personally know people that either didn't like or aren't interested in the game and couldn't care less about that fact. What gets annoying is when people insinuate that their lack of interest means the game is overrated or lacking in some way (Ex. People that assume that just because the game has a good story that it must be lacking in other areas). Sure, there are flaws, but it seems these are hardly ever elucidated. Instead, blanket statements are made without supporting evidence and then anyone that points that simple yet salient fact out is accused of stridency. It gets to be a bit ridiculous and takes place in every TLoU thread.

 

[StuBurns]

It does have a little of hand holding with the occasional medkit or bullets that Ellie will hand you, but overall a lot less than other main stream games.

Those are actually only substituted from drops from upcoming enemies.

 

[lukeskymac]

Wonderful 101.

Not played it. But I do get the distinct impression it's only mentioned because muh platinum.

Also the Resident Evil 4 PC edition if we're counting fiscal years.

Bwhahahahahahahahahaha

It does have a little of hand holding with the occasional medkit or bullets that Ellie will hand you, but overall a lot less than other main stream games.

The medkits count, but the ammo is just the game's economy correcting itself when it realizes it really should have had dropped more items.

Anyway, the former is one of the reasons I like Grounded. The latter is its only big weakness: there are occasions where the game simply refuses to drop ANYTHING, and you may be forced to stealth through areas that are only stealthable through glitches/exploits.

That's what happened in my playthrough: arrive at the sniper area right before fall with only two 9mm bullets and a hunting rifle bullet. No medkits or molotovs or anything. Guy inside the left house doesn't drop shit; 4+ guys are invariably thrown at you after you exit the house. Used the "search-after-line-of-sight-is-broken" AI routine to lead them up and away from the left-most part of the map, jump over to it, run like a madman past the only guy that didn't follow the others (thank god it was the molotov dude), jump over the fence, enter the house and quickly sprint through the kitchen to evade getting shot by the guy there that was taken aback by my sudden entrance, run upstairs to get to the sniper and thus de-spawn everyone I left behind.

The execution was actually fun, but it still envolved knowing everyone would despawn, AND it was the only way I could get through that area. Trust me. I spent 1:30h trying it the usual way.