I just reached the part at the hotel where you fall down the elevator into the water, leaving Ellie behind.
Do you guys think that setting the difficulty lower would fix some of my problems with the game? I'd rather go along with Hard because I don't want to pussy out, but I don't want to kill my enjoyment of the game either. I don't know what's up ahead. Is it gonna get worse? (And yeah I heard some stuff about the part I'm heading into now... Oh god wish me luck)
No shame in lowering the difficulty man. I believe in playing the game the default way the first time through if you're just not sure. When I'm familiar with a developer or just a game series in general then I play on harder difficulties. Like Halo for example, I start out on Legendary because I always know what I'm in for. Lately I've been playing everything on Normal because I just have too many games in my backlog to spend a ton of time on one game. Plus saving the harder difficulties gives me something to go back to later.
I personally played through TLOU on Normal and left the listen mode on. I never ended up using it though outside of the first time the game teaches you about it.
I wonder if anyone else has encountered this. I started my second new game plus playtrhough and when I got to the point when I collected my equipment, I checked my supplement progress.
None of the progress I made in my first new game plus carried over. Only what I had completed in my first playtrhough seems to have carried. Is this a glitch? I couldn't find anything about it online.
I like listen mode, and I think it's not cheap, it's a good representation of the tracking skills and sound listening that Joel has but we (as players) don't have, specially if we're not playing in 5:1 earphones and high volume to be able to hear the same as Joel hear. I liked a lot that listen mode can be avoided by enemies if they are sneaking because they realised of your presence.
But would love that listen mode don't give so many tips, as weapons, full silhuette of the character, etc, that give you info that Joel can't know. It would have been much better a generic silhuette of the kind of enemy (because of the different sound that they made) and tips about if it's getting closer of further.
First playthrough on Normal.
Second on Survivor.
Third on Survivor+.
Fourth on Normal+ with a gamefaqs guide to get all the collectables. Feels good to blast away at enemies and liberally throwing molotovs and nailbombs around.
How much harder is Survivor compared to Hard? I'm not sure which difficulty level to choose on my second playthrough. Bearing in mind that for me Normal was about the right level of challenge the first time through.
What are the differences, just AI and resources? I don't want the enemies to be any more bullet-spongey than they already are.
How much harder is Survivor compared to Hard? I'm not sure which difficulty level to choose on my second playthrough. Bearing in mind that for me Normal was about the right level of challenge the first time through.
What are the differences, just AI and resources? I don't want the enemies to be any more bullet-spongey than they already are.
Finished it last night. Overall a fantastic game. One of my favourite experiences this gen. A nice way to go out on a bang.
It wasn't without a few niggles and it's a slow burner initially, at least for me, to really get into it before it hit me with it's awesome. There are some intense (as Ellie would say) parts, with great set pieces and moments. Graphically, especially the outdoor parts, are amazing in places. I enjoyed exploring, the story and characters were interesting and likable.
The only problem is, I don't know if I could play through it again, especially on a harder difficulty. It's a big game and whilst I could pretty much speed through it, I'm not sure I would enjoy it a second time through if I'd be doing that.
Trophies also need multiple runs through and was a little disappointed to find after 16 hrs, I only achieved 5% on first play through. It's not a big thing, but it annoyed me a little.
There are two games this generation that I played, finished and straight away started playing again just for the joy of it.
Those games are TLOU and Uncharted 2. I probably enjoyed playing U2 a little more simply because stealth isn't really my thing. But I would be happy to suggest that TLOU is still the far better game and easily the best console game I have played this generation.
I'm not sure how long they have to wait before announcing the PS4 version, but I'm saving a survivor run for then and I'm really looking forward to it (once past the opening scenes... )
How much harder is Survivor compared to Hard? I'm not sure which difficulty level to choose on my second playthrough. Bearing in mind that for me Normal was about the right level of challenge the first time through.
What are the differences, just AI and resources? I don't want the enemies to be any more bullet-spongey than they already are.
Better AI, less resources and the enemies are better protected, for example I was replaying the hotel section on Survivor and many of the hunters were wearing vests and helmets while on Hard they weren't. So if Normal was the right amount of challenge for you, I'd say go for Hard.
last night definitely confirmed this game respawns enemies until you get to certain points in the level. There were a couple of times where I ran back down the hallway to avoid being flanked from the side, and every time I went back down, 3 more dudes would show up to replace the ones I killed. I chose a different way to go down that level and one I got to the point where they would appear, it was two different enemies this time. Enemy placement and dispersal is key to any game with a stealth element and if the game is going to break that rule then listen mode doesn't strike me as cheating.
Do you guys think that setting the difficulty lower would fix some of my problems with the game? I'd rather go along with Hard because I don't want to pussy out, but I don't want to kill my enjoyment of the game either. I don't know what's up ahead. Is it gonna get worse? (And yeah I heard some stuff about the part I'm heading into now... Oh god wish me luck)
If it's giving you that much trouble, I'd say you should lower the difficulty but that's not going to help much against clickers because they 1 shot you no matter what difficulty is but I suppose you will have more ammo and stuff drop to kill them with.
I'd say that game stays at a relatively consistent difficulty throughout up until the final chapter which I felt was a bit easier than the rest but that could be because I was all upgraded and stockpiled a lot of ammo and resources.
One thing I am surprised to see in this game, not that it bothers me, but given the game is set in 2033 and that there is advertising around from 2013, there are a few adverts for cigarettes. Do they still advertise cigarettes in US today? I thought billboards for those had been banned for years.
Yes. The game isn't a pushover even on Normal using the listen mode.
I'm not the world's greatest player, but I'm far from the worst; and Normal for me offered a nice level of challenge.
The problem with the harder modes is that they make exploration largely a waste of time, your best bet 9 times out of 10 is simply getting through with the minimum of fuss. On hard, you can keep yourself geared up just using caches behind the shiv doors, so hunting around for odd extra resources isn't that effective.
One thing I am surprised to see in this game, not that it bothers me, but given the game is set in 2033 and that there is advertising around from 2013, there are a few adverts for cigarettes. Do they still advertise cigarettes in US today? I thought billboards for those had been banned for years.
Got to play this a bit more yesterday, bought the Sony Pulse Elite headset as well (amazing headset). I'm loving this game and with the headset and the VSS 7.1 I now know what I was missing using my standard speakers. I'm a bit into
Pittsburgh
and the game is picking up quite nicely. Love the Ellie/Joel banter that goes on. Also
If it's giving you that much trouble, I'd say you should lower the difficulty but that's not going to help much against clickers because they 1 shot you no matter what difficulty is but I suppose you will have more ammo and stuff drop to kill them with. [...]
I'm playing now and according to my save I'm now at 56% of the game. Just got to
the sewers, and I'm now alone with Henry (or was that the older brother? Anyway, the other kid)
. I feel like I've finally come to understand the game mechanics and I'm also fully stocked up now, instead of being constantly low on supplies. Also not afraid anymore to go guns blazing when I screw up being stealthy and get noticed. The game is much more enjoyable for me now . I'm gonna stick with Hard + No Listen Mode for a while longer, see if I'll still hit a difficulty wall later on. If it does, I won't hesitate to switch to Normal, like you suggested.
This game is really amazing. The pacing is great. Just when I start to think "man, enough with the combat already" it's like the game knows what I'm thinking and voila, exploration and relaxing time! So good, so good. And damn it's long! I'm 11 hours in and I'm only halfway. Taking my time with exploring though
I'm playing now and according to my save I'm now at 56% of the game. Just got to
the sewers, and I'm now alone with Henry (or was that the older brother? Anyway, the other kid)
. I feel like I've finally come to understand the game mechanics and I'm also fully stocked up now, instead of being constantly low on supplies. Also not afraid anymore to go guns blazing when I screw up being stealthy and get noticed. The game is much more enjoyable for me now . I'm gonna stick with Hard + No Listen Mode for a while longer, see if I'll still hit a difficulty wall later on. If it does, I won't hesitate to switch to Normal, like you suggested.
This game is really amazing. The pacing is great. Just when I start to think "man, enough with the combat already" it's like the game knows what I'm thinking and voila, exploration and relaxing time! So good, so good. And damn it's long! I'm 11 hours in and I'm only halfway. Taking my time with exploring though
Very much doubt that you'll switch the difficulty. It clicked for me and really stayed at an enjoyable challenge through to the end. Playing stealthy but not afraid when things go wrong, managing your supplies carefully, just like Joel would do
The game really only gets better from where you're at.
I finally finished this game on hard difficulty last night. It took me 24 hours according to the counter, but I'm not sure if that counts the pause menu, and admittedly I would replay areas that I enjoyed - much to my wife's aggravation. She watched me play this entire game, from start to finish, and she would be completely tense during a climatic area and once I finished it she'd be relieved. Then I'd smile and say, that was awesome, I'm going to play it again and restart the encounter. hahaha
God I can't wait for Naughty Dog to keep pumping out games like this. No questions asked, whatever they put out on PS4 I'm buying.
Haha, same with me. Kept seeing all these "OMG Fall" posts and was wondering if I was missing anything. Surprised to learn that basically half the game is summer. Very anxious to see what all the fuss is about in the second half...
Don't put too much stock in the amazed posts about each season. I don't quite get the fuss about fall. I think it is best to go in with no different expectations than you already have.
But there have been situations where I got stuck for more than an hour, and these parts are incredibly frustrating. Worst was the part where
you get into the high school with Bill, and you need to get through a hallway with a runner and a clicker, and then through a classroom
. I was stuck there for more than an hour... And there's only so many ways you can go about in that room. I tried to do stealth because I was running really low on supplies and I just can't handle 3 clickers and 5 runners coming at me at full force (I tried, multiple times). Eventually I got lucky and 2 clickers both dropped nail bombs and I boobytrapped the room and was able to get through the
classroom
. Also sneaked past the other three runners up ahead by causing a distraction somewhere else, making them shuffle past me and allowing me to go right to the door. ...At which point,
Bill says we need to wipe all the infected out first. God I was pissed. All that trouble to go through that section with stealth and the runners were really far away. Why did I have to go back and finish them off?!
That part was pretty annoying. Took me awhile as well, since stealth didn't seem to work there. Eventually I found that making a lot of noise and having them all run at me and then throw a molotov was the easiest way to do it.
What were some "easter eggs" that you guys noticed?
Here are a couple that I saw:
-A PlayStation 3 console on the shelf of a game store.
-A newspaper headline stating Justin Beiber had been cast as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie
What are you using to get pics? Do you have this hooked up through a capture card in your computer or are you actually using just a camera? Looks like a camera due to the cropping and colors.
What were some "easter eggs" that you guys noticed?
Here are a couple that I saw:
-A PlayStation 3 console on the shelf of a game store.
-A newspaper headline stating Justin Beiber had been cast as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie
What were some "easter eggs" that you guys noticed?
Here are a couple that I saw:
-A PlayStation 3 console on the shelf of a game store.
-A newspaper headline stating Justin Beiber had been cast as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie
Were any of you guys disappointed by the unlocks? I thought that we'd get some funny stuff like how naughty dog usually do for the uncharted series. I really thought that there'd be a Doughnut Joel skin or something.
Finally finished this a couple hours ago. I'll start off by saying wow. What a fucking game. What a fucking game. I loved everything, the visuals, the story, the characters, the world Naughty Dog created.
Salt Lake City, the mountains at the very end of the game, stunning!
But, and it's a big but,
I can not stand some of the combat encounters in this game. Some of them are just infuriating. Way too much trial and error BS where you painstakingly work your way through an area before making a tiny mistake that forces you to restart all over again. I played on hard with listening mode off. It started to get better as time went on and Joel's arsenal grew, and his skills upgraded. But then you're thrown back almost to square one when controlling Ellie. It wouldn't be so bad except right at the start I'm thrown into an encounter in that tiny room with infected coming through the windows. One missed shot or mistimed reload and it's another restart. Was even worse when later you're stuck in the room with infected coming in from the roof and all sides at once. All it takes is for one to get to close and you're either instantly dead, or lose 90% of your health. It was such a bitch to get through those encounters and it sucked because I was dying to get to the next part of the story, but had to endure so much trial and error crap that took me out of the game. It wasn't all like that though. Even (what I thought would be the hardest) the last 2 sections through the hospital, I managed to sneak around everyone without firing a single shot in a couple tries. But too often in this game I just felt like I kept having to restart and restart until everything lined up perfectly to get through an encounter decently. Naughty Dog was making it really hard for me to have fun in this game sometimes. Maybe that was their intention, survival isn't supposed to be fun, but damn it was a bit too heavy handed.
Other than that, just such a polished, phenomenal game. I've never fallen in love with the characters in a game like this before. And the ending will stick with me for a long while.
Finally finished this a couple hours ago. I'll start off by saying wow. What a fucking game. What a fucking game. I loved everything, the visuals, the story, the characters, the world Naughty Dog created.
Salt Lake City, the mountains at the very end of the game, stunning!
But, and it's a big but,
I can not stand some of the combat encounters in this game. Some of them are just infuriating. Way too much trial and error BS where you painstakingly work your way through an area before making a tiny mistake that forces you to restart all over again. I played on hard with listening mode off. It started to get better as time went on and Joel's arsenal grew, and his skills upgraded. But then you're thrown back almost to square one when controlling Ellie. It wouldn't be so bad except right at the start I'm thrown into an encounter in that tiny room with infected coming through the windows. One missed shot or mistimed reload and it's another restart. Was even worse when later you're stuck in the room with infected coming in from the roof and all sides at once. All it takes is for one to get to close and you're either instantly dead, or lose 90% of your health. It was such a bitch to get through those encounters and it sucked because I was dying to get to the next part of the story, but had to endure so much trial and error crap that took me out of the game. It wasn't all like that though. Even (what I thought would be the hardest) the last 2 sections through the hospital, I managed to sneak around everyone without firing a single shot in a couple tries. But too often in this game I just felt like I kept having to restart and restart until everything lined up perfectly to get through an encounter decently. Naughty Dog was making it really hard for me to have fun in this game sometimes. Maybe that was their intention, survival isn't supposed to be fun, but damn it was a bit too heavy handed.
Other than that, just such a polished, phenomenal game. I've never fallen in love with the characters in a game like this before. And the ending will stick with me for a long while.
if by trial and error you mean trying perfect stealth, don't bother with it, the game isn't designed so you can play it with perfect stealth, the enemy AI awareness pre-alert is really dumb. the game shine when you're in full combat state, if you make a mistake during stealth, then run away and hide, enemy ai can lose track of you so now you got second chance to stealth it the way the game want you to. with enemies actively looking for you.
hell there's one combat encounter
when Ellie cover you with sniper from above
. I stealth kill all of the enemy before they're alerted. when I kill the last guy left, suddenly there's enemy reinforcement and they know where I killed the last enemy. but I can run away and hide and kill them one by one again,
I just reached the part at the hotel where you fall down the elevator into the water, leaving Ellie behind.
So far I'm not really sure if I'm playing it right. I'm playing on Hard with Listen Mode off. Maybe that's it, but I've heard that Hard+No Listen is the way to play this game and I gotta agree, the game is really intense. I'm on the edge of my seat everytime and when I get out of a clicker-infested building I need a few secs to relax and process everything that just happened. It's so good.
But there have been situations where I got stuck for more than an hour, and these parts are incredibly frustrating. Worst was the part where
you get into the high school with Bill, and you need to get through a hallway with a runner and a clicker, and then through a classroom
. I was stuck there for more than an hour... And there's only so many ways you can go about in that room. I tried to do stealth because I was running really low on supplies and I just can't handle 3 clickers and 5 runners coming at me at full force (I tried, multiple times). Eventually I got lucky and 2 clickers both dropped nail bombs and I boobytrapped the room and was able to get through the
classroom
. Also sneaked past the other three runners up ahead by causing a distraction somewhere else, making them shuffle past me and allowing me to go right to the door. ...At which point,
Bill says we need to wipe all the infected out first. God I was pissed. All that trouble to go through that section with stealth and the runners were really far away. Why did I have to go back and finish them off?!
This part nearly killed all my enjoyment of the game, but luckily I was able to get it done and move on. Parts after that were great. Still got a little stuck
when you had to move through the entire house with the ambushers - couldn't find the exit
but it was far less frustrating.
I hope I won't run into the same situation again. I feel like I'm still trying to get used to the game mechanics, or I am just too panicky. Like when I'm trapped between two clickers and I have no idea what to do. I try to throw a bottle far away in hopes they go the other direction, but instead they rush at me instead of the bottle... Like they heard that I was throwing it. Stuff like this is great - because it's realistic - but also very frustrating at times...
Do you guys think that setting the difficulty lower would fix some of my problems with the game? I'd rather go along with Hard because I don't want to pussy out, but I don't want to kill my enjoyment of the game either. I don't know what's up ahead. Is it gonna get worse? (And yeah I heard some stuff about the part I'm heading into now... Oh god wish me luck)
if by trial and error you mean trying perfect stealth, don't bother with it, the game isn't designed so you can play it with perfect stealth, the enemy AI awareness pre-alert is really dumb. the game shine when you're in full combat state, if you make a mistake during stealth, then run away and hide, enemy ai can lose track of you so now you got second chance to stealth it the way the game want you to. with enemies actively looking for you.
hell there's one combat encounter
when Ellie cover you with sniper from above
. I stealth kill all of the enemy before they're alerted. when I kill the last guy left, suddenly there's enemy reinforcement and they know where I killed the last enemy. but I can run away and hide and kill them one by one again,
I'm only really appreciating the bow on my second playthrough now. I've never paid much attention to when the arrows break. Is it actually only dependent on headshots?
Using the bow has made clearing rooms of infected MUCH easier since they barely seem to notice it.
. I'm gonna stick with Hard + No Listen Mode for a while longer, see if I'll still hit a difficulty wall later on. If it does, I won't hesitate to switch to Normal, like you suggested.
