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The Last of Us |OT| It Can’t Be For Nothing (Spoilers)

AniHawk

Member
Other than Boston, this game doesn't seem to do a very good job of telling you where you actually are. I had to look up the Wiki just to figure out the prologue took place in Texas. I thought they were just headed to some other settlement just outside of the Boston zone. I didn't realize they were heading across the country and didn't even realize we'd gone all the way to other cities up to this point.

texas is the only one that isn't stated as it's happening to my knowledge. the only way you'd know is when tess calls joel 'texas'

as for the other cities,
they're all stated or shown- usually through signs or locations. the capitol building is the statehouse in boston. there's a sign that reads 'pittsburgh', etc'
 

UrbanRats

Member
Tess called him texas though.

An there were other subtle references thrown throuhgout the game of where he was from.

Plus the intro said what county you were in.

I imagine your not from the US? Must've made it a bit more difficult in that case.

texas is the only one that isn't stated as it's happening to my knowledge. the only way you'd know is when tess calls joel 'texas'

as for the other cities,
they're all stated or shown- usually through signs or locations. the capitol building is in dc. there's a sign that reads 'pittsburgh', etc'

If you're not from the US, it's kind of harder to keep track of the distances by intuition.
I know I had a problem keeping track of the geography traveled, especially
in the Summer chapter.
 

Schlomo

Member
I think that happens when Ellie says 'be careful, there's a guy in front of you' or something like that, and the game highlights that specific enemy for a few seconds

I see. I found it kind of annoying in such a "realistic" game, especially after turning off Listen Mode. Does it also happen on Hard and Survivor (I'm playing on Normal)?
 

DatDude

Banned
texas is the only one that isn't stated as it's happening to my knowledge. the only way you'd know is when tess calls joel 'texas'

as for the other cities,
they're all stated or shown- usually through signs or locations. the capitol building is in dc. there's a sign that reads 'pittsburgh', etc'

They weren't going to washington dc, they were going to the Massaschusets State of House building, also known as the "capitol building"

This is how it looks in real life:

CIMG0487.jpg


Also the place where they went to meet bill, in lincoln, is a small historical old town that is in the outskirts of boston (a 30 minute drive from the city)
 

AniHawk

Member
If you're not from the US, it's kind of harder to keep track of the distances by intuition.
I know I had a problem keeping track of the geography traveled, especially
in the Summer chapter.

well for fall/winter and spring, joel says where the next place is, and then they get to that next place. i don't think teaching geography was really necessary. all people need to know is that the destination is always further west, and that it's a long ways away.
 

DatDude

Banned
For anyone who needs some help documenting joels travels:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...64,-91.230469&spn=35.165747,86.044922&t=m&z=4

I documented Ellie and Joel travel for anyone who wants to take a look.

A) City Hall Plaza, Boston. Wasn't sure exactly what part of boston they were in.

B) You might not see lincoln, but rather the edge of it. It's really close to boston though only 30 minutes away.

E) I used Colorado State University, because I think that's the university that was based off in real life for there fiction Eastern Colorado University. Plus there mascot is a ram, which has horns, "go long horns".



I'm not sure during the Winter Chapter where they were. I assumed it was in Wyoming, or Utah...

They traveled overall 3,596 miles. Would take 56 hours to drive via a car.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Tess called him texas though.

An there were other subtle references thrown throuhgout the game of where he was from.

Plus the intro said what county you were in.

I imagine your not from the US? Must've made it a bit more difficult in that case.

I am from the US, I've just never been to any of the locations in the game, and other than Boston and Pittsburgh I don't know any of the location names at all. How am I supposed to tell they're in Texas just from the name of a county. I don't know all the counties in Texas. I've never even been there. I don't even remember where the game tells you it's Pittsburgh, and I don't recognize the bridge as a landmark.

texas is the only one that isn't stated as it's happening to my knowledge. the only way you'd know is when tess calls joel 'texas'

as for the other cities,
they're all stated or shown- usually through signs or locations. the capitol building is the statehouse in boston. there's a sign that reads 'pittsburgh', etc'

I guess I must've missed the sign. And I've never seen the Boston Statehouse before.
 
Who would want to see an open world sequel?

Still keep that strong narrative focus, but set in a more open world enviroment (ala Red Dead Redemption perhaps)

Maybe, they could make a whole city explorable, and you could use various transportations.

I'd definitely be down for that personally.

I don't think I want to see a sequel at all. Almost feels like it could cheapen this story. I'm sure any sequel would be a self-contained story with new characters, but even so I don't really want or need it. As a backdrop to what I think is the best character-driven story I've experienced in a game, I think this world should be retired.

And it would be even worse open world. One of the most defining traits of this game is the painstaking detail in the world, lots of implied stories in the environment everywhere you look. I've never played a game with a sense of place like this and no open world could possibly do this universe justice. Every inch of this game is a labor of love. It would have to be pathetically watered down.
 

UrbanRats

Member
well for fall/winter and spring, joel says where the next place is, and then they get to that next place. i don't think teaching geography was really necessary. all people need to know is that the destination is always further west, and that it's a long ways away.

Yeah, what i mean is more like, after
the University they say they have to go to Salt Lake City and i was like "ok, how far?" and it's those kind of distances that i don't have by intuition (even though i know the names of the cities) of course, with more popular US cities, that doesn't apply, i know where New York, LA, Miami, Vegas etc etc etc are in relation to each other.
Not saying MY ignorance is a game's problem though. :p
 
Is it true that Quitting Game through the XMB doesn't count as a quit?

Don't worry, I'm not gonna make a habit of it, but that could be useful for when the telltale signs of a dying connection represent themselves.

Does it still count as a day in the metagame/mission?
 

DatDude

Banned
I am from the US, I've just never been to any of the locations in the game, and other than Boston and Pittsburgh I don't know any of the location names at all. How am I supposed to tell they're in Texas just from the name of a county. I don't know all the counties in Texas. I've never even been there. I don't even remember where the game tells you it's Pittsburgh, and I don't recognize the bridge as a landmark.



I guess I must've missed the sign. And I've never seen the Boston Statehouse before.


When ellie and joel are driving from bill's, it says pitsburgh so many miles away..it's on a highway sign.
 

News Bot

Banned
Just passed the
hotel
and now the game won't load a necessary triangle prompt to boost Ellie up to a bunch of boxes in a garage. Fuck. :(
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Yeah, what i mean is more like, after
the University they say they have to go to Salt Lake City and i was like "ok, how far?" and it's those kind of distances that i don't have by intuition (even though i know the names of the cities) of course, with more popular US cities, that doesn't apply, i know where New York, LA, Miami, Vegas etc etc etc are in relation to each other.
Not saying MY ignorance is a game's problem though. :p

This is the reason why Hollywood movies always take place in tourist attractions. Almost nobody knows where the fuck any other locations in the US are. Naughty Dog probably should've just used subtitles at the beginning of each chapter.
 

DatDude

Banned
I don't think I want to see a sequel at all. Almost feels like it could cheapen this story. I'm sure any sequel would be a self-contained story with new characters, but even so I don't really want or need it. As a backdrop to what I think is the best character-driven story I've experienced in a game, I think this world should be retired.

And it would be even worse open world. One of the most defining traits of this game is the painstaking detail in the world, lots of implied stories in the environment everywhere you look. I've never played a game with a sense of place like this and no open world could possibly do this universe justice. Every inch of this game is a labor of love. It would have to be pathetically watered down.

Not a direct sequel..but with a new cast of characters with there own tales and plights of survival.

An open world games can still be detailed. Make it the size of arkham city, rather than liberty city.
 

UrbanRats

Member
This is the reason why Hollywood movies always take place in tourist attractions. Almost nobody knows where the fuck any other locations in the US are. Naughty Dog probably should've just used subtitles at the beginning of each chapter.

IT was cool to see different places though.

Also, DatDude, remember to use spoiler tags, just in case!
And yeah, the Winter chapter
is in Wyoming, it's written on a sign or a newspaper somewhere.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Just passed the
hotel
and now the game won't load a necessary triangle prompt to boost Ellie up to a bunch of boxes in a garage. Fuck. :(
I had that happen in a section much later yesterday, really irritating because when I restarted encounter, it was four minutes earlier and I'd checked this big house for a bunch of stuff.
 

DatDude

Banned
This is the reason why Hollywood movies always take place in tourist attractions. Almost nobody knows where the fuck any other locations in the US are. Naughty Dog probably should've just used subtitles at the beginning of each chapter.

Boston
Pitsburgh
Salt Lake City

are all tourist attractions.

The fucking winter olympics took place in
salt lake city
. Boston, everyone know's about boston. An pitsburgh? How can you not know about the yellow bridge, it's the steel city of america.

plus the steelers, penguins and what not all reign from that city.
 

Squire

Banned
Really ? there is like 2 pages full of only chinese names as part of an art team and something like Shangai studio or something...

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they just have a really big art team. Half the reason they started up TLOU was they had hired so many people that they needed to put them on something or they'd lose them and they feel they're too good to lose.

I'm inclined to agree with them.
 

Vally

Member
texas is the only one that isn't stated as it's happening to my knowledge. the only way you'd know is when tess calls joel 'texas'

as for the other cities,
they're all stated or shown- usually through signs or locations. the capitol building is the statehouse in boston. there's a sign that reads 'pittsburgh', etc'

If my memory doesn't fail me, I think at the very beginning of the game there was a newspaper in the bathroom titled 'the Texas herald' or something like that.

I see. I found it kind of annoying in such a "realistic" game, especially after turning off Listen Mode. Does it also happen on Hard and Survivor (I'm playing on Normal)?

Yep, I'm playing on Hard and it happens from time to time.
 

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
I finally wrapped up Pittsburgh and started the Fall chapter. It was a bit weird for the game to start these "season" chapters mid-way through, from a pacing perspective. So am I right into assuming that Winter, Spring, and Summer are still ahead or were the opening portion basically Summer?
 

StuBurns

Banned
I finally wrapped up Pittsburgh and started the Fall chapter. It was a bit weird for the game to start these "season" chapters mid-way through, from a pacing perspective. So am I right into assuming that Winter, Spring, and Summer are still ahead or were the opening portion basically Summer?
I'm pretty sure the game actually starts by saying it's Summer, it's just hard to take note because it's not really contextualized as to why that matters.
 

JB1981

Member
Got to Bob last night. The sequence leading up to that was a real nail-biter! Haven't played a game that made me this tense in a very long time. Make every shot count. Love it
 

DatDude

Banned
I finally wrapped up Pittsburgh and started the Fall chapter. It was a bit weird for the game to start these "season" chapters mid-way through, from a pacing perspective. So am I right into assuming that Winter, Spring, and Summer are still ahead or were the opening portion basically Summer?

the opening cutscene where you play as joel in boston says SUMMER by the bottom of the screen
 

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
I'm pretty sure the game actually starts by saying it's Summer, it's just hard to take note because it's not really contextualized as to why that matters.
Ah, this makes more sense. Though it sure was a stretch, being 60% of the game.
 

UrbanRats

Member
I'm pretty sure the game actually starts by saying it's Summer, it's just hard to take note because it's not really contextualized as to why that matters.

Yeah it says SUMMER at the start.
Frankly i immediately got what they were going for, with the journey thematic, seeing "summer", you can make 2+2.

It's easy to miss though.
 

Peeete

Member
Just passed the
hotel
and now the game won't load a necessary triangle prompt to boost Ellie up to a bunch of boxes in a garage. Fuck. :(

I think I know what you mean, I also had a situation where it didn't show the triangle. First I thought it'd be a bug and I'm stuck but it's actually just a misleading situation. There's either some box around that you have to move or the triangle shows up on a different place than expected, I don't really remember right now. Anyway, just walk around a bit and keep your eyes open, there's a solution somewhere.
 

raindoc

Member
i'm a bit confused about how new game + works here.
I'm about to complete the game on Survivor difficulty - following that, can i replay single missions to gather supplies and collectibles on Normal difficulty before starting a NG+ on Survivor, or do I need to start Survivor+ right away?
 
i'm a bit confused about how new game + works here.
I'm about to complete the game on Survivor difficulty - following that, can i replay single missions to gather supplies and collectibles on Normal difficulty before starting a NG+ on Survivor, or do I need to start Survivor+ right away?

Beating the game gives you a "completed" save file. Anything you gain in Ng+ is probably gained from that.
 

raindoc

Member
Beating the game gives you a "completed" save file. Anything you gain in Ng+ is probably gained from that.

the question is: will the option to start a NG+ remain after playing a random mission on random difficulty.
i'm asking because after completing the campaign on normal and starting a new one on survivor, the NG+ option disappeared. this is hopefully due to the fact that i chose to start a new campaign, but given the time invested i'd like to be sure that i won't loose my Survivor+ option.
 
I am from the US, I've just never been to any of the locations in the game, and other than Boston and Pittsburgh I don't know any of the location names at all. How am I supposed to tell they're in Texas just from the name of a county. I don't know all the counties in Texas. I've never even been there. I don't even remember where the game tells you it's Pittsburgh, and I don't recognize the bridge as a landmark.

I think the newspaper in the bathroom when you control Sarah says its some sort of Texas paper. Plus, the TV that was on playing the news was from Austin. Austin, TX is pretty well known.
 

Nemesis_

Member
Guys I don't really know how to spoiler this so I am going to try my best.

I'm almost at the end of the area called
Pittsburgh
- how much longer?

The game isn't grabbing me at all and I want to persevere because so many people insist it gets better.

Though I think personally if it takes this long to grab me that I should just put it down, but this is the game I pretty much re-bought a PS3 for after my launch model died so I feel like I should finish it through :(
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
It might be 60% of the game, but the 40% are the best that this game has to offer.

Yeah but by the time I got to "Fall" I'd pretty much forgotten that the whole first half of the game was supposed to be a "summer" chapter.

I you look at the Google maps thing, the vast majority of their journey is actually covered during the time skip.
 

Bollocks

Member
Guys I don't really know how to spoiler this so I am going to try my best.

I'm almost at the end of the area called
Pittsburgh
- how much longer?

The game isn't grabbing me at all and I want to persevere because so many people insist it gets better.

Though I think personally if it takes this long to grab me that I should just put it down, but this is the game I pretty much re-bought a PS3 for after my launch model died so I feel like I should finish it through :(

Well, you still have quite some hours left.
For what is worth, you'll get to different environments which are cool.
I found it pretty boring too at the beginning, but never so much that I wanted to stop playing, it gets better.
 

Cesar

Banned
So I started new game +, but now it won't load anymore, the music during the loading section with the spores gets all choppy and it loads really slow, after about 45 minutes it just stays there at 99.33%. Reset the console and tried it again but it's the same. (PS3 Slim here btw).

This sucks.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Seeing all the
giraffes
was such a wow moment!
Just got there?
suddenly after finishing TLOU a thought is pop in my mind...

play to others games, it seemed to me a waste of time.
Funnily enough, for all the comparison people throw out, TLoU is pretty much the next-gen MGS3. It's far better in every measurable field, but I think if it evokes anything, it's that, over the frequent RE4 comparison, which of course does make sense too.
 

ced

Member
Something I'm not feeling in the hotel area of Pittsburgh is there seems to be magically spawning bandits.

I know I cleared an entire floor, moved up a level, was stalking a dude then Ellie gives me the "watch out behind you" and a dude came up the stairwell. This resulted in being shot in the back and then at least 10 guys pouring in from everywhere. It's really irritating how one guy blows your cover the whole damn area comes in. To be fair this is the only section so far that this has happened, and it's a huge area in and outside the hotel, so it could be expected that a gunshot would bring lots of attention.
 
I'm stuck :(

Just exiting the sewers and Sam and Ellie have climbed through the window, leaving me and Henry. I don't have much ammo and I'm getting swarmed by clickers :(


Edit: nvm done!
 
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