I had been KOed once so I scoped the area and got the keycard before turning on the generator again. I just ran from the bloater. Just wondering if that's one of those deals where you have to bail? It was way too creepy down there to engage him with the running clickers too lol
The first time I tried to fight the bloater and end up having no face. The second time I investigated the area to see which direction I needed to run from the generator to the exit door. Turned on the generator, ran for my life, waited near the door and eventually killed all of them by throwing molotovs and shooting them.
We are allmost 10 days after release and still the game keeps being sold out. It's probably a good sign, but shouldn't they ship more copies at this point?
We are allmost 10 days after release and still the game keeps being sold out. It's probably a good sign, but shouldn't they ship more copies at this point?
So, I finished the game very recently and here are my thoughts:
I think the game is brilliant from a technical perspective. There are certain areas in this game that look more next-gen than almost anything I've seen at E3 this year. Even though I think that the forest in Uncharted 3 looks better than the forest parts in TLoU, overall the game has an insane look: characters, lighting, animations (Ellie hiding under Joel when both are leaning towards a wall) - and then there is the sound. The slow paced music, ominous sound effects (whoever designed the sounds that Clickers make deserves a fucking award) and ambient sound create such a crazy good atmosphere - really well done. I just can't imagine what these guy will do next on PS4.
Another thing I liked was the narrative: the plot itself is pretty flat just like most of the characters you encounter - but there is one really well done character near the last parts of the game who is creepy as it gets, and then there is of course the relationship between Joel and Ellie which is the biggest accomplishment of this game.
I didn't care for Ellie at first, but then some major events happen and you realize how fucked up her situation is: being a 14 year old teenage girl who has lost everything and tied to a man she barely knows and who has no problem killing people for all kinds of stuff. Seeing her being trapped in this world where "survival of the fittest" is the order of the day is one thing, but then observing her development from being a naive teenager girl to probably one of the best developed female characters in gaming is another; and it's incredible that Naughty Dog managed to make me care more about her than about Joel towards the end. It takes huge skill to pull something like this off.
That being said, I still think the game is nowhere as good as many praise it to be. Technical limitations like FPS beside, I think the core gameplay simply isn't good. The game has the typical Uncharted pacing of fighting bunch of bad guys in arenas, then slower paced exploration sections, cinematic moments and puzzle sections. And worse, there are like only two major puzzle tools: ladders/bridges and floats, which is why puzzles feel so repetitive and unchallenging.
The huge addition here is the stealth gameplay, and sadly it doesn't work as good as one would expect; this is Manhunt-level of stealth gameplay. Crouch to move more quiet/slower, bottles/bricks as distraction items and melee takedowns - and that's basically it. Sometimes enemy just don't react to the thrown goods or don't see you despite being right in front of them behind a table, but in the end this is just a game, so I'll give them that. The fact that your comrades just walk through the enemies lines of sight crushes a good bit of the atmosphere, too. But there doesn't seem any other way if the path finding of your friends isn't well-engineered.
I always tried playing as stealthy as possible, because there was one thing I wanted to avoid at all costs: fighting.
Man, I really disliked the gunplay in this - you could clearly smell the roots of Uncharted being hidden here somewhere. It's beyond me why they try to create such a realistic scenario when the enemies are bullet sponges all over again. We're talking about regular dudes who take up to 2-3 shotgun shots before dying, and 2-3 shotgun shots is like the half of your shotgun ammunition in this game :lol
And why has Joel problems to hold the gun when he was living the thug life for like 20 years?! I mean come on, this guy has clearly seen some shit: he knows who the Clickers/Infected are, he knows who the military are and he knows who the bandits are. He's a smuggler, he has no problems doing bad things to people later in the game because he has been in this shitty world for so long - and then you want to tell me that he can hold his pistol like he's actually supposed to according to his experiences without upgrading? This is bullocks and when you also consider the bad collision detection of this game, then you'll understand why it is wise to strive for stealth gameplay. And almost every upgrade seems tacked on, I mean who creates a medi-pack and wonders "man, I wished this would go faster than 3-4 seconds!", especially since I'm pretty sure the majority of players creates most stuff before bigger fights which are always predictable because that's what's probably going to happen if you put the player into a arena with chest-high crates and walls. There were just a few encounters that made me go "oh shit, that was unexpected!".
All in all I was entertained, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that this is Uncharted with great protagonists and an interesting setting. Naughty Dog really has to do something about their gunplay, nobody wants to fight bullet sponges anymore and nobody wants bad collision detection, white crosshairs over enemies etc. - it's a shame, really. Maybe I was a bit overhyped because of overhyped reviews from overhyped enthusiastic-gaming-writers, but yeah: good game that deserves your money, but not the mind blowing experience that others want to make you think it is.
In the UK it sold more in its first week than U2 but was slightly down from U3. It was also number 1 in every European chart last week. And a day after its release it'd already reached an 80% sell through in Japan with shipments over 100k.
The sales have been the coolest part. I think we all knew the game was going to be masterful, and well received by the press, and a least sell respectably given it's subject matter and the summer drought, but it keeping pace with Uncharted is awesome. It must give them a lot of clout internally.
Finished the game yesterday: normal (wish i had chosen hard), listening mode off, 20 hours.
Overall, i had mixed emotions and feelings going through the game, mostly positive, some negative (mostly gameplay related). But in the end, i found it a truly memorable experience and i loved it for the most part. And that comes from somebody who doesn't like horror/zombie/ultra violent games at all. Luckily, each of these elements had it's place in this game/story.
I kept checking my save game to see how much percentage of the game i still had left because i didn't want it to end. Also, i'm glad i went on a media blackout for this game. It was well worth it.
Much respect must go to Naughty Dog for making such a long, often slow paced, single player game.
I'm going to play some other games now (including Bioshock Infinite, should be interesting) and then come back to replay the game in hard or survivor mode.
It's going to be really interesting to see Naughty Dog on PS4. I have a feeling that their PS4 games will look drop dead gorgeous and spectacular.
Using just stealth and the bow to clear a building is so satisfying. My only complaint is you can't pick up arrows that miss their target. They are lying there on the floor right in front of me. Argh.
The sales have been the coolest part. I think we all knew the game was going to be masterful, and well received by the press, and a least sell respectably given it's subject matter and the summer drought, but it keeping pace with Uncharted is awesome. It must given them a lot of clout internally.
It also does away with the whole idea that you need a new console to launch a new IP. That's all we heard from various developers when it came to why we needed new consoles.
That's the same. I never thought about it, but I wonder if the cutscenes were all vetted to be 'gore-less' so it doesn't matter if people choose gore or not.
I don't get the "bullet sponge" complaints at all. Everything I shot at died after 1 or 2 shots except the bloaters. Maybe if you only hit their limbs it takes longer?
Finally finished. Great game. Would 8-9/10 it. Wasn't 10/10 GAME OF FOREVER PERFECT MASTERPIECE but I can see why someone would enjoy the journey more than I did, much in the same way as the Uncharted series.
Winter was far and away the best season, for what it's worth, and summer went on for too fucking long.
Haven't been following this thread as I'm trying to avoid any form of spoilers. I think I'm at 20-30% completion so far, game is awesome.
One complaint I have is how dying in the game doesn't punish the player. I'm playing on Hard difficulty and when I die I expect at least to be stripped from my inventory and/or to restart from a much earlier check point. This is a survival game, it's built around scarcity and high importance of every ammo/supply/etc. Dying does not seem to be something that I should be scared of or worried about. I die, I restart from virtually the same location and with the same inventory. Not fun for survival. At least I was expecting Hard difficulty not to have this (dunno what Survivor difficulty will have but it's grayed out for starters unfortunately).
Only 3 hours in or so but already enjoying this much more than the Uncharted series. But wow is the first enemy-wall you hit a high one, kudos to ND sticking to that.
OK, so know that I'm a good bit into Winter (save file is at 10 hours, with 81% completion) I feel like I can with some confidence update my impressions from a while back in this thread. Apologies for the long post!
First of all, the game improves an enormous amount once you get to the second major town, after your time with Bill (
Pittsburgh
). The characters you meet here are great, and the gameplay is fantastic. Loved the entirety of the
hotel
area, and I think the way ND make you feel like you're progressing through the area is absolutely amazing - you always see the bridge in the distance, and with every building you exit the bridge gets bigger and bigger in the distance. Kinda reminds me of the God of War games, which are also great at emulating the feeling of a journey well.
In fact, that's probably my favourite part of the game - the environments. The sense of place is overwhelming, combined with some of the greatest graphics I've ever seen. I thought it would be impossible to top Uncharted 3's visuals, I was clearly wrong. Favourite area so far has been the (mid-Fall spoilers)
ranch to which Ellie runs away. The soft sunlight coming in through the windows really made that scene special.
I was also surprised at the fact that (Summer location spoiler)
the sewer area didn't suck. I normally despise sewer areas in games, so when a review mentioned that there was going to be one I was prepared to be disappointed. However, because of the backstory of that area, with notes describing who lived there, I actually quite enjoyed it.
I'm still enjoying the gameplay far more than the actual plot. Stabbing a clicker, while hoping that a runner isn't going to appear around the corner at any moment never gets old for me. And then there are the set-pieces - particularly the one at the end of Summer, with
the sniper - sneaking up slowly towards the house, with the music softly increasing in volume during the action bits was perfectly paced.
Certain bits remind me of Resident Evil 4, such as that bit during Winter where
you and David fend off the infected in some sort of factory.
I mentioned that I didn't particularly like the plot - while it may be quite generic and predictable, the wonderful characters really help to elevate the story into something more. Certain scenes, such as the one at the end of Fall, with
Joel falling on the spike
I had seen before in other games, the notable example being this year's Tomb Raider, but while in Tomb Raider I could not care less about the person involved in that scene due to the terrible characterisation, during The Last of Us I was fully emotionally involved. My two other favourite scenes so far have been during mid-Fall
when Ellie runs away
, and, of course, the ending of the Summer chapter. Wow, that was intense. I feel like I've seen worse events happen in the Walking Dead game, but that scene really caught me off-guard. Powerful stuff.
Now that I'm what I assume to be mid-way through Winter, at the bit when
Ellie gives Joel the medicine and rides off on the horse to distract David's men
, I still think that while the game is really good, it's not GOTY or GOTG. I'll reserve my judgement until I finish it, of course. Maybe the ending will win me over.
Also, a quick question, I missed what I assume to be an important piece of info during one of the cut-scenes, is there any way to re-watch them from the main menu?
One thing that the documentary surprised me with is that surfaces in this game have color reflection. That was something I didn't notice during my first playthrough. Definitely going to experiment with my flashlight now.
and I'm find that the game is getting a little repetitive.
While I find the shooting mechanics to be stellar I am surprised by how much a traditional cover-based shooter this game is at times. Kind of disappointing, even if the shooting itself can be exhilarating.
Also, a quick question, I missed what I assume to be an important piece of info during one of the cut-scenes, is there any way to re-watch them from the main menu?
Also, a quick question, I missed what I assume to be an important piece of info during one of the cut-scenes, is there any way to re-watch them from the main menu?
One complaint I have is how dying in the game doesn't punish the player. I'm playing on Hard difficulty and when I die I expect at least to be stripped from my inventory and/or to restart from a much earlier check point.
and I'm find that the game is getting a little repetitive.
While I find the shooting mechanics to be stellar I am surprised by how much a traditional cover-based shooter this game is at times. Kind of disappointing, even if the shooting itself can be exhilarating.
Does anyone know what happened to the Pulse Wireless headset sound profile for this game? I remember reading on here that ND said one was coming just after launch.... but nothing's shown up.
and I'm find that the game is getting a little repetitive.
While I find the shooting mechanics to be stellar I am surprised by how much a traditional cover-based shooter this game is at times. Kind of disappointing, even if the shooting itself can be exhilarating.
Finally finished. Great game. Would 8-9/10 it. Wasn't 10/10 GAME OF FOREVER PERFECT MASTERPIECE but I can see why someone would enjoy the journey more than I did, much in the same way as the Uncharted series.
Winter was far and away the best season, for what it's worth, and summer went on for too fucking long.
No game is perfect, and never will be. But a game where the flaws are negligible to the amazing experience, where it is best in class for its genre, has the potential to be 10/10 to me. Otherwise there's no use in even using the number 10 since nothing would ever qualify as perfect.
awesome! I will be having a blast tomorrow/today 
