Aside from the story, is 'The Last Of Us' really that special?

Jito said:
It didn't get all those awards and GOTY for no reason OP, try it out for yourself. You've got nothing to lose.

Too many posters playing on easy/normal with listen mode on, saying it's a boring stealth game and a standard 3rd person shooter (i'd love to play more "boring" 3rd person shooters of TLoU quality).

Play it on the proper difficulties before passing judgement. That's akin to playing through Dark Souls all in Co op and saying it's too easy or Guitar Hero on beginner and claiming you've mastered it. You're not really experiencing the proper game when it's throwing so much ammo and resources at you, whilst also being able to see enemies through walls. Might as well call it kiddie mode.
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If you have to play on hard for gameplay elements to be useful/make sense/or just plain be fun, then that sounds like poor game design to me.
It's one thing if I'm playing on the easiest mode, but if you're on the normal difficulty then that should be enough.
 
It is a standard 3rd person action game with stealth. It should be worth noting that the game mechanics are superior to the Uncharted games in my opinion.

The game itself is special because the world and the characters are very believable, and it's one of those games that you play through and when you finish, you think about it for a couple of days. It's very rare for video games to have this effect, so I recommend you give it a shot.
 
Everything before "Bill's Town" is a tutorial and an introduction to the setting. The story gets way better after Bill's town starts.

Fjordson said:
After Bill's town I was sort of permanently checked out.

Except for when
Nolan North's character
showed up. What a performance.
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Fjordson said:
After Bill's town I was sort of permanently checked out.

Except for when
Nolan North's character
showed up. What a performance.
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Yes, he'll always be remembered for Nathan Drake, but I think Spec Ops: The Line and The Last of Us are where he most expressed his talent and dramatic range. Nathan Drake is a one-note character.
 
The first chapter is absolutely boring, the story is only good by video game standards, enemy variety is basically non-existent and encounters become formulaic ( human enemy encounter, exploration to find the ladder, find the pallet to move Ellie over water, infected enemy encounter).

That said, the graphics are amazing even though the frame rate is low and the controls are fairly solid with a serviceable stealth system. Oh yeah the voice acting is very good too.

I like the game and I can recognize it as being a great game but there's definitely way too many things they could improve upon in the sequel for me to agree with all the perfect scores.
 
The last of us aside from the story, has this great ambience that pulls you in, and this gorgeous enviroments, sadly, the AI and the gameplay are mediocre and kinda break inmersion. Thats why TLOU wasnt a 10/10 on my book
 
TheFLYINGManga_Ka said:
It's not a game I would want to play twice.

And I think a little 14 year old cursing like a storm and killing grown men and mutated humans is a bit ridiculous, but whatever.

Fun game though.
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I thought it had a fantastic theme. Putting them in this hellish world and keeping their mind together was interesting. It also didn't leave itself open to be criticized. It went there and you felt the urge to get away from whatever that was. Not a lot of games can do that/have done that. Everything flowed together real well.
Guys shooting from houses etc
Clickers coming out of nowhere
Jumping off of buildings
Relaxing and wanting to continue
 
Fuck yes.

I don't really care for story in video games, and TLOU was no exception. The gameplay, pacing, art direction, music, atmosphere, character design... everything was phenomenal.
 
antitrop said:
Yes, he'll always be remembered for Nathan Drake, but I think Spec Ops: The Line and The Last of Us are where he most expressed his talent and dramatic range. Nathan Drake is a one-note character.
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Apart from expressing a different vocal range in TLoU, I think David is way more of a one note character than Drake. He's essentially just a
crazed psycho used to represent the worst in humanity
, whereas Drake has a surprising amount of depth to his personality, motivations, and desires (especially shown in Uncharted 3). I also think his performance as Drake shows great comedic timing, subtle expressiveness, and humanistic relatability.
 
Mediocre gameplay at best with a questionable framerate during firefights. Repeating puzzles, half-assed stealth elements but good gunplay and some nice options during fights. A.I. was servicable at best, but I assume that this is the price that comes with such presentation.

One thing though I will never understand is why the hell you have to upgrade Joel's shooting skills in the upgrade menu when the celebrated story introduces him as someone not only able to shoot neighbours but also as a person who has lived in the post-apocalyptic world for some time with Tess; it doesn't make any sense for him to get shaky when you draw the gun and it hindered the gunplay for no fucking reason.

It never felt like Uncharted 3 where I got bored and questioned NaughtyDog several times, but it could have been much better. Still like TLOU though and think it's a fine game for what it is.

Dennis said:
It is like no matter how many times I post the screenshots people just don't get it.
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KuGsj.gif
 
Great Characters
Great Story
Great Music
Great Gameplay
Great Environment

Its was a brilliant game, but so was Uncharted 2. There is absolutely nothing about this game that I don't like. And I still think its way WAY overhyped. Because anything you say against this game, people will try to kill you. Its like a GOD for some people. And I don't understand why. There are plenty of great games out there.
 
Sakura said:
If you have to play on hard for gameplay elements to be useful/make sense/or just plain be fun, then that sounds like poor game design to me.
It's one thing if I'm playing on the easiest mode, but if you're on the normal difficulty then that should be enough.
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I play all my games on hard and everyone should do too really. You get more out of most games on harder difficulties anyway.

TLoU gave you less resources, ammo and hits with melee weapons on the harder difficulties meaning every fight you'd have to decided how to approach it and what weapons you were going to use. Coupled with not being able to see through walls (lol) the game was clearly meant to be played on harder difficulties.

A survival themed game where it's a battle to survive? Genius!
 
I forget to say how amazing and innovative the MP in the game is... the game really shines in this mode... absolutely.
 
Fancy Clown said:
whereas Drake has a surprising amount of depth to his personality, motivations, and desires (especially shown in Uncharted 3). I also think his performance as Drake shows great comedic timing, subtle expressiveness, and humanistic relatability.
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I've only played Uncharted 1 and 2, so I'll take your word for it, haha. :)
 
BeforeU said:
Great Characters
Great Story
Great Music
Great Gameplay
Great Environment

Its was a brilliant game, but so was Uncharted 2. There is absolutely nothing about this game that I don't like. And I still think its way WAY overhyped. Because anything you say against this game, people will try to kill you. Its like a GOD for some people. And I don't understand why. There are plenty of great games out there.
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Great. Now you just think about what you said when you're shouting people for not being interested in Halo.
 
BeforeU said:
And I still think its way WAY overhyped. Because anything you say against this game, people will try to kill you. Its like a GOD for some people. And I don't understand why. There are plenty of great games out there.
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Because usually those things come from people that can't accept that other people prefer other games than their favorites? See poster mentioning MGS, Vanquish and Link Between Worlds for no fucking reason.
 
I thought the gameplay was amazing. It's one of the few games I've played where you can break line of sight with enemies and actually lose them, allowing you to circle around and maybe escape, maybe attack from a different position, maybe get completely boned and have to struggle your way out again. TLOU is one of those games where I was having memorable experiences in pretty much every combat encounter. I'd always start out trying to be stealthy, but I'd usually get caught and my mad scramble to get a weapon up and aimed in time, or to sprint away and find a good hiding spot to desperately craft a molotov or something had my heart racing every time. And a few times I did manage to get through an entire area stealthily I felt like a stealth God. I only fired my guns as a last resort, so any time I actually had to pull one out shit felt real.

There was one point in the city after Bill's chapter where I was walking along the highway and heard voices from direction I'd entered the area. I immediately ducked and spotted three guys, so I started inching along between cars to stay out of sight and plan my attack. I waited to see if they'd split up so I could take them one by one, but they kept together and wouldn't give me an opening. Eventually I was just about to make a move when the three guys simply left the area. They were just passing through. I was absolutely floored at the time, and still kind of am. They just left!

I've never been a survival horror fan, but TLOU's blend of survival horror aspects and easy, intuitive controls just clicked with me so well. I absolutely loved it, and I can't wait to see how much better it plays at 60FPS.
 
I think there's enough word of mouth, reviews, and Youtube videos to answer your question TC. What more do you need? Someone to go in their wallet and buy it for you?
 
Cthulhu_Steev said:
Great. Now you just think about what you said when you're shouting people for not being interested in Halo.
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Nothing. Actually nothing at all. You don't like Halo? Good for you. There are plenty of people who hate Halo 4. So what's your point?
 
BeforeU said:
Great Characters
Great Story
Great Music
Great Gameplay
Great Environment

Its was a brilliant game, but so was Uncharted 2. There is absolutely nothing about this game that I don't like. And I still think its way WAY overhyped. Because anything you say against this game, people will try to kill you. Its like a GOD for some people. And I don't understand why. There are plenty of great games out there.
Click to expand...

I think that's partially because every conversation about the game on this forum gets derailed into the same cyclical argument over whether or not the story is cliched, or gameplay is mediocre. We have like 3 last of us threads on the front page and the same thing is being discussed in all of them. It's tiresome when when the analyses and discussion of the game isn't pushed any further than cursory evaluative statements that really offer no insight into people's interpretation of the game.

antitrop said:
I've only played Uncharted 1 and 2, so I'll take your word for it, haha. :)
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You should play it! I'd be curious to see what you think. Also, off-topic: what little I've managed to play through of Spec-Ops without my computer crashing on me has been pretty awesome so far. I'm loving how surrealist the whole aesthetic and narrative is.
 
"Besides one of the key elements that make the game special as a whole is this game special GAF?"

"Also the gameplay looks generic to me"

You are breaking parts of a whole package when the way you will perceive the game if you decide to play it will be as a cohesive interactive experience. If you can't be bother to respect the game for what it is, maybe you shouldn't play it.
 
BeforeU said:
Nothing. Actually nothing at all. You don't like Halo? Good for you. There are plenty of people who hate Halo 4. So what's your point?
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Well, probably because I thought of this reply you made to somebody saying the HMCC might not be a huge system-selling hit:


BeforeU said:
Are you people new to gaming? or first time heard of Halo? because you are like 4 person in this thread who said its only a collection of old halo games. Do you guys know the impact of Halo on fps and fanbase it already has? Its not JUST a port. TLOU, Tomb Raider, GTA 5 are all ports. This collection offers not only campaign but EVERY Halo multiplayer maps with dedicated servers. You are getting all this for 60$. Wet dream for any Halo fan out there. Halo pioneered multiplayer and fps on console, there is nostalgia and incredible fan following going with this. Not to mention Halo CE, Halo 2 you can't even play online. So in short, it offers something that you CAN'T even play on older consoles. You are getting 4 Halo Campaigns full HD 60fps, 100multiplayer maps, dedicated servers, all running at 1080p 60fps. This is fan service on maximum level.

And AGAIN for the 10th freaking time. YES 3rd parties are BIG. But anyone you can PLAY them on BOTH PLATFORMS. People will be attracted to which ever has better first party lineup.
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and I thought well, he can type out that rant, but still can't understand why people might like to defend their favourite games and then my hypocrite alarm went off.

I think that lol-worthy Halo-championing post of yours deserves to be Amirox'd for eternity.
 
looking back on it.. the gameplay was quite mediocre in my opinion. the only reason i kept playing the game was to see how the story ends.
 
Generic
characteristic of or relating to a class or group of things; not specific.

Much like the criticisms if you ask me :x
 
sploatee said:
I can appreciate that the story might be this wonderful, transcendent Citizen Kane of videogames but I'm not particularly interested in yet another post-apocalyptic journey of growth and redemption. I also don't really have an appetite for a third-person shooty/stealthy game right now (I'm more excited by Diablo 3)
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It's obvious what the intention of this thread is, anyone can see it.

In the case you're being genuine, you already made up your mind clearly with the above.
 
I'm watching the Matt Lees video someone linked earlier in the thread, and what a great video, never watched this before.

It's really a shame that my first contact with his work was through Killer is Dead, because while I was able to give his other stuff a shot and ended up really liking them (I love his Dark Souls stuff), a lot of people couldn't get over it.

He's really good.
 
Cthulhu_Steev said:
Well, probably because I thought of this reply you made to somebody saying the HMCC might not be a huge system-selling hit:




and I thought well, he can type out that rant, but still can't understand why people might like to defend their favourite games and then my hypocrite alarm went off.

I think that lol-worthy Halo-championing post of yours deserves to be Amirox'd for eternity.
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And me saying Halo is BIG because of its sale number of 1-4 is me forcing my opinion on someone? This is a fact, look at any Halo launch and its sales. It gets bigger and bigger. The audience reaction for MCC has been positive. It was best selling game on Amazon for E3 week.

I thought you will try harder and find someone meaningful from my post history. Common dude? Dig down, I am sure you will find something more.
 
My brother bought me a PS3 because I wanted to borrow his to play this (don't understand his reasoning) and I played it for a few weeks on and off. I got to a city, maybe Pittsburgh, and put it down and have never touched it again. Beneath the, admittedly, very shiny veneer was a very basic, generic game. Also I hate the DS3 and find myself dying a lot because of how crap that controller is (poor placement of analogue sticks, the strange curve down on the triggers that make your fingers slip off when you least want them too) as well as how terrible aiming with twin analogue sticks is.

Whenever I think about getting back to it, I usually am in two minds about whether or not I should just avoid my foibles and just watch someone else playing it so that I can avoid the barely enjoyable gameplay.

Instead, I have been playing through every Legend of Zelda game I have missed out on, and just finished the Minish Cap and a Link between Worlds. Awesome games!
 
BeforeU said:
And me saying Halo is BIG because of its sale number of 1-4 is me forcing my opinion on someone? This is a fact, look at any Halo launch and its sales. It gets bigger and bigger. The audience reaction for MCC has been positive. It was best selling game on Amazon for E3 week.

I thought you will try harder and find someone meaningful from my post history. Common dude? Dig down, I am sure you will find something more.
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'Come on'

Why does this keep happening? It's rediculous.
 
The last part alone when you're
stealthing in the heavy snow
is better than anything I've played in a long while.

The set pieces in conjunction with the stealth is what makes LoU amazing. And I like the crafting. Deciding on what items to use is important, and can affect how you move on.
 
The writing is probably the best thing about the game. That's not to say the game itself is bad, far from it, but it's not amazing either.
The terrible AI, glitches and repetitive gameplay definitely wore on me, but the game had some really great moments throughout that made up for those not so good elements.
 
I actually really enjoyed the gameplay in The Last of Us, and I'm surprised it isn't brought up more often. I liked the variety of weapons and limited resources. Every shot counts and there is some strategy in balancing your play-style. My only play-through was on hard (with listen mode on) so I can't speak to other difficulties.
 
Gbraga said:
I'm watching the Matt Lees video someone linked earlier in the thread, and what a great video, never watched this before.

It's really a shame that my first contact with his work was through Killer is Dead, because while I was able to give his other stuff a shot and ended up really liking them (I love his Dark Souls stuff), a lot of people couldn't get over it.

He's really good.
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This. Matt Lees is awesome, I feel kind of bad about some of the stuff I said in that Killer is Dead thread. :P
 
"Growth and redemption" aren't words I'd use to describe the story of The Last of Us.

That's part of what makes it good.
 
shinobi602 said:
It's obvious what the intention of this thread is, anyone can see it.

In the case you're being genuine, you already made up your mind clearly with the above.
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That's exactly what I thought...You don't like the story, you don't like the gameplay, there is nothing left for the OP...don't get the game...
 
Yes, it's just that good in about every imaginable way. Gameplay, writing, music, characters, environments, the whole nine yards.
 
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