The Last of Us - Review Thread [Emargo up, scores in OP.]

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It's not about the low review scores ruining our experience, it's about the effect it has on naughty dog. Unfortunetly publishers use metacritic for business negotiations and bonuses with developers. It also affects sales. The last of us seems like it is one of the best games in its genre. It probably deserves at least 9-10.

In a day where studios invest so much money and go out of business, then yes, a fair review of the game is important. It's just reality, I only hope the game sells many millions to support the genius that is Naughty Dog.

They have a 95 metascore with 50 reviews. I'm fairly certain it will end up being a good seller and will receive several awards this year.
ND isn't going anywhere. Outside of PD with GT (which is sony's biggest franchise), ND is, right now, sony's best studio. They make games that are reviewed and sell well, and unlike some sony studios, they actually make several games on one generation.
 

iratA

Member
From Playstation Official Magazine UK:
There are sneaky set-piece excursions that outdo even Metal Gear Solid 4 at its best

Could this be real? I mean this is the first I'm reading about set-pieces in this game. I love these when they are well done and IMO MGS4 had some awesome ones. Can anyone else whose reviewed it comment on this quote?

EDIT: Without spoilers or being too specific please.
 

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
Can we please get a review below 7.5 so we can stop talking about polygon?
 

Moxx19

Banned
Again, why are people so emotional over some arbitrary numbering system? Each person who plays the game will ascribe their own sense of value to the game anyway.

If what you've seen interests you then why do you care?
 

mxgt

Banned
So fuck your stupid list, because if you go back a few pages, there was a ton of anti-Last of Us comments that couldn't get over a parallel to Citizen Kane. Play the game, we'll see you in the OT.

Making fun of that embarrassing comparison doesn't mean people are anti-Last of Us.
 

hal9001

Banned
Holy shit at all the hate for a 7.5 review.

If I told people I thought GTA 4 deserved a 7 I wonder if I would have been assassinated.

I don't go by averages though, I have a select few journalists I feel I have similar tastes to and they seem to enjoy it well enough for me to be confident in my purchase. (was going to by this game no matter what scores it got)

I don't think it's just because of the score. It also relates to the fact that supposedly Polygon and Microsoft have a very "close" (dare I say unprecedented) relationship with each other.
 

sam27368

Banned
When people are complaining about the scores of a game they haven't even played yet then yes, the thread is that bad. It's Drake's Deception all over again.

"How dare you rate a game that I haven't played from a developer I love less than 9.5/10!"

This. This thread is an example of why GAF has a negative reputation. Play the fucking game yourself and make a judgement yourself. Complaining that a site didn't give it a perfect score just reinforces the hyperbolic mess that this whole situation is. Maybe in your opinion Gies is right, to others he will be way off. It's a fucking review not a rulebook, an OPINION.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
These threads are always like a wake up call to what some gaffers are like. I really need to better my skills at taking mental notes so I know in the future when im discussing with people who complain about an 7.5 or 8 score on a game they haven't played themselves, purely based on the scores said game gets on other sites. It's really embarrasing.

Im sure this is just another comment in a sea of similar ones and on what's a common practice at this point but it still kinda catches me by surprise every time.

It really brings some truth to what Garry Whitta said in the GAF documentary.
 

Salsa

Member
Again, why are people so emotional over some arbitrary numbering system? Each person who plays the game will ascribe their own sense of value to the game anyway.

If what you've seen interests you then why do you care?

apparently the game needs to have a 100 on Metacritic and every one else just needs to stop trying
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
These threads are always like a wake up call to what some gaffers are like. I really need to better my skills at taking mental notes so I know in the future when im discussing with people who complain about an 7.5 or 8 score on a game they haven't played themselves, purely based on the scores said game gets on other sites. It's really embarrasing.

Im sure this is just another comment in a sea of similar ones and on what's a common practice at this point but it still kinda catches me by surprise every time.

I really hope you (and others) arent confusing people who complain about Polygon with people that complain about the 7.5 score. Those are two entirely different things. Complaining about a score of a game you didnt play yet doesnt make much sense, but doubting the credibility of Polygon and pointing out that Polygon isnt really the best place to listen to atm, is perfectly reasonable.

apparently the game needs to have a 100 on Metacritic and every one else just needs to stop trying

The game gets awesome scores, which is fine by me. And the game might be an 8 for me personally for all I know, but Polygon still looks shady in the light of recent events.

(Dont hate me, want some Doritos?)
 

JCizzle

Member
Why do fans get angry about good but not stellar review scores of a game which they haven't even played yet?

Mostly just backlash against Polygon because of their track record. If giant bomb dropped that score instead, I'm sure we'd be seeing much different reactions. Hard to take so much money and still claim to be neutral.
 
In order to prove your point, you need to both show scores from the same reviewer and from the same genre. The genre might even be the most important factor there.

I might suggest that this isn't a point worth proving. Maybe I've just got an antiquated notion of what a score means in this current "Scores are serious business because Metacritic is a big deal" era, but I generally don't consider assigning a score to a game to be a scientific process. There's no clear criteria for what differentiates an A game from a B game, and there certainly isn't when we introduce the 100 point scale. Further, I don't think there's anything wrong with allowing for the fact that there are imperfect factors that influence the score such as simply what kind of mood the reviewer is in that day.

I could be way off the mark, but to me the importance of the score is simply to give a general idea for what the reviewer thought of the game. "A 95? Awesome. That means he really liked it and I generally see eye-to-eye with his views. I look forward to playing it myself." That's how I view scores. I don't look to it as some objective metric of where it stacks up with every other game as I can only conclude that the process is inevitably pretty arbitrary.
 
It's not about the low review scores ruining our experience, it's about the effect it has on naughty dog. Unfortunetly publishers use metacritic for business negotiations and bonuses with developers. It also affects sales. The last of us seems like it is one of the best games in its genre. It probably deserves at least 9-10.

In a day where studios invest so much money and go out of business, then yes, a fair review of the game is important. It's just reality, I only hope the game sells many millions to support the genius that is Naughty Dog.

Why the fuck should I care about Naughty Dogs review scores? These are companies motivated by one thing, profit. Naughty Dog and Sony are NOT you're friends. They don't make games because they like you personally, they make games because it's an extremely profitable business for them.

Stop humanizing these corporations, they don't have your best interest in mind.
 

Alienous

Member
From Playstation Official Magazine UK:

Could this be real? I mean this is the first I'm reading about set-pieces in this game. I love these when they are well done and IMO MGS4 had some awesome ones. Can anyone else whose reviewed it comment on this quote?

As much as I love MGS4, I don't imagine that it would be difficult to have a better stealth segment. No moment in MGS4 really stands out to me, stealth-wise (expect maybe the Europe one).
 

JABEE

Member
You would have been welcomed with open arms here on GAF, also, review scores are meaningless without the context of the reviewers writing and general taste in games.

They are meaningless. Period. They are a leftover artifice of the print era. Now that they are simply a marketing used by outlets to get placement on sites like MetaCritic to demonstrate publishers and readers.

That aside, I am looking forward to playing this game soon.
 

Jarmel

Banned
Polygon is run by a known MS moneyhat, and before the XBone was revealed, MS supporters, including the owner of Polygon, were insisting that MS had some "secret sauce" in the tech that would make up for the lackluster specs.

This is an ad hominem. Can we argue about the merits of the review itself after we play the game?
 

Solo

Member
From Playstation Official Magazine UK:


Could this be real? I mean this is the first I'm reading about set-pieces in this game. I love these when they are well done and IMO MGS4 had some awesome ones. Can anyone else whose reviewed it comment on this quote?

UC 2 has like 10 setpieces that crap on anything in MGS4.....TLoU being developed by the UC 2 team basically guarantees it will also crap on MGS4.
 

Cmerrill

You don't need to be empathetic towards me.
Can we please get a review below 7.5 so we can stop talking about polygon?

Just wait for the GameTrailers review. They're the other Microsoft funded site. 500 million or so wasn't it?, between Viacom and GT. GameTrailers and Polygon should just merge.
 
I have the game preordered... but I would think it would be a travesty if they did not release this game on the PS4. Talk about a system seller. I would gladly buy that and GTA 5.
 

Salsa

Member
I really hope you (and others) arent confusing people who complain about Polygon with people that complain about the 7.5 score. Those are two entirely different things. Complaining about a score of a game you didnt play yet doesnt make much sense, but doubting the credibility of Polygon and pointing out that Polygon isnt really the best place to listen to atm, is perfectly reasonable.

Polygon being shady; sure, I just think there's better examples of it's shadyness than this and some people seem to be confused on hatin it because of what you say and hating it because they're giving what people somehow consider a low score to a game they were ready to go batshit insane over

now i'd like some doritos plz
 
When people are complaining about the scores of a game they haven't even played yet then yes, the thread is that bad. It's Drake's Deception all over again.

"How dare you rate a game that I haven't played from a developer I love less than 9.5/10!"

Sorry, but this post speaks truth.

What's worse is that a lot of the criticism isn't even addressing the written content but merely jumping on the arbitrary number thrown on at the end.

You may not agree with the 7.5 score (although I'd question the reasoning considering the game isn't out yet), but the justification for that is there in the text. Viewing a number on its own is disingenuous and incredibly naive. I want differing perspectives in my games reviews! I want one writer to love a mechanic yet another to coherently argue about its negativity, it's entertaining to read!

A lot of people complain about games journalism being one-dimensional and based around hyperbole and PR yet when something breaks away from the average it gets jumped on as a 'shill site'.

That being said, this game has been very well received - can't wait!

Edit: One thing to further my point above - I often see debates like this in review threads/comment sections prior to a games release. Yet, a few months later it seems like many understand where the negative points are coming from.

It happened with GTA4, it happened with Bioshock Infinite, it will probably happen with this.
 

Kade

Member
Polygon's definition of a 7:

Sevens are good games that may even have some great parts, but they also have some big "buts." They often don't do much with their concepts, or they have interesting concepts but don't do much with their mechanics. They can be recommended with several caveats.

Polygon's definition of an 8:

Eights are great games, and easily recommendable with caveats in mind. They're examples of consistently sound design, or a novel concept well-developed around a functional core. A game that executes well enough to be remembered, even if there are better contemporaries.

It's in between those. In short, Phil Kohler thinks it's a pretty good game. The worst review this game got is basically "it's a great game but has some flaws".
 

DatDude

Banned
This. This thread is an example of why GAF has a negative reputation. Play the fucking game yourself and make a judgement yourself. Complaining that a site didn't give it a perfect score just reinforces the hyperbolic mess that this whole situation is. Maybe in your opinion Gies is right, to others he will be way off. It's a fucking review not a rule book on how things will play, an OPINION.

See you don't get it all.

It's not about having an "OPINION"

It's about multiple things...

1. Polygons shady relationship with Microsoft and the money hatting that's going on there
2. Arthur Gies saw the hyperbolic tweets regarding the reviews and had some interesting tweets to leave.
3. They scored Remember Me, Dead Space 3, Kirby Epic Yarn, Metro 2033 and others higher than TLOU
4. There just a shady site in general after the Sim City diabolical and should honestly be blacklisted from not just metacritic but gaf as well.
 

BossLackey

Gold Member
Friday, June 14th. Get off work. Pick up The Last of Us on the way home. Play for a bit while the girlfriend watches. Eat. Go see Man of Steel. Get home. Drink. Play The Last of Us until 3 AM.

Friday's gonna be a good day.
 

Jarmel

Banned
See you don't get it all.

It's not about having an "OPINION"

It's about multiple things...

1. Polygons shady relationship with Microsoft and the money hatting that's going on there
2. Arthur Gies saw the hyperbolic tweets regarding the reviews and had some interesting tweets to leave.
3. They scored Remember Me, Dead Space 3, Kirby Epic Yarn, Metro 2033 and others higher than TLOU
4. There just a shady site in general after the Sim City diabolical and should honestly be blacklisted from not just metacritic but gaf as well.

You're not arguing about the review itself.
 

Orayn

Member
It's bioshock infinite all over again.

Bioshock Infinite was better than I thought it would be, but still fell far short of the "21/10, GAME OF THE ETERNITY, MADE ME BREAK DOWN IN TEARS WHEN I REALIZED THAT NO OTHER ARTISTIC WORK WOULD EVER AGAIN ACHIEVE THIS LEVEL OF TRANSCENDENT PERFECTION AND BEAUTY." reviews.

So yeah, my stance is one of cautious/suspicious/skeptical optimism. I don't doubt that it's a good game, I just expect that my own impressions will differ from the gushing reviews for reasons similar to Bioshock.
 

Demon Ice

Banned
This is an ad hominem. Can we argue about the merits of the review itself after we play the game?

Why would I bother giving the site any traffic? He is a known (as in he himself confirmed it on Twitter) MS moneyhat, doesn't take a genius to figure out he'd avoid giving a game that is exclusive to a Sony console a high review.
 

mxgt

Banned
Except that reviews have specifically mentioned how good the gameplay is in this game. Sessler takes a big chunk of his review to talk about that.

Pretty sure reviewers gushed about Infinite's gameplay as well and it ended up being a tedious shooter.
 
Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. Why does it matter? It won't hamper your enjoyment of the game in any way, will it?

Yes it does matter. Its not going to effect my personal enjoyment of the game but it will effect the industry and THAT is why we are on here talking about it and THAT is why you should care as well.

Reviews do effect sales. And sales are pretty much all that effects what kinda or games come out and what kinda of games we have to play as gamers. This is why I care and this is why you should care as well.

I think gamespot increasing has proven its self to subscribe to the method of blinding throwing a dart and at a dart board to get their review scores.

In gamespot context Last of Us is equal to Fable: The journey (also reviewed by Tom Mc Shit)

Hell the game might not be a 10 in my book, but I bet it isn't going to be an 8. And my guess is you don't represent gaming and what gamers are looking for very well if you give an 8 to a game like this.
 

Doran902

Member
I don't think it's just because of the score. It also relates to the fact that supposedly Polygon and Microsoft have a very "close" (dare I say unprecedented) relationship with each other.

That's fair but I hope it isn't unfounded.

I tend to think better of people than that unless there is overwhelming evidence that suggests bias and I don't think a 7.5 warrants these kind of accusations and all of this vitriol.
 
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