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[Enco]

Finished the game.. What an absolutely amazing ride. Easily one of my favorite games of all time. The ending was great. It was bitter sweet and I don't think I'll forget it any time soon. Some points:

1. It started off a bit slow and had some boring moments
2. Human enemies >>>> infected
3. Awesome characters
4. Awesome non cliched ending
5. Sexy graphics for the most part
6. Fuck that deer. Holy shit
7. Enemies leaning toward bullet sponges with unrealistic injuries
8. So many intense moments. Reloading as you're being charged, trying to quickly open doors and sneaking by a group of enemies.. wow..
9. I NEVER get emotional in games. It just doesn't happen. This game made me emotional. I didn't cry or anything but my jaw hit the ground, I gasped, I cringed and I shouted. I was involved in the story and loved the characters
10. Makes me want to get a PS4 so I don't miss on any other ND project

 

[Shrike_Priest]

Just finished my survivor run. Like the first time, the first of the two encounters at the end kept handing my ass to me. After a while I stopped trying to kill anyone and just did my best to stealth to the exit, and after a couple of tries I succeeded. Last encounter, however, I managed to pull off first try, which felt good. Didn't quite manage to do what I wanted (was hoping to shiv a few guys, but only managed to, two more saw me instead, but I managed to kill them anyway). I got out via a smoke bomb down the hall and meleeing the final enemy.

Weird thing was, I knew what was coming, I still cried at the end. Like, real, man-tears streaking down my face crying.

So with that, I think I can safely say that The Last of Us remains, as I thought after my first run through, my favorite game of all time. I was afraid a second run might diminish it, but not at all.

As for the Survivor difficulty, I'm not sure I did the right thing in going from Normal directly to Survivor. Because you die, a lot. This kinda screws up the pacing compared to when I played it on normal (took me 20 on Survivor, 16 on Normal. Granted a lot of that was extra careful exploration, but still). I still don't buy the claim that there's no penalty in dying, I hated having to restart only a few minutes of carefully timed stealth gameplay (play five minutes, die, play five minutes, add an extra minute of undiscovered stealth, die and replay the last six minutes - repeat).

With a second play-through behind me, I think I only have three legit criticisms of the game: 1. The rifle hit-detection is not 100%. Both playthroughs, at Tommy's camp, I was lining up headshots and they just weren't connecting. It happened way too many times to be just my shitty aim. I only noticed this with the rifle though, not any other guns. So it's nit picking.
2. The difficulty spike at the end ruined the pacing for me, both playthroughs. The same series of encounters were just too unforgiving compared to the rest of the game. Also, giving you the Assault Rifle that late and having it be that under-powered was poor balancing. It comes across as this awesome rifle that'll kill everything almost instantly (because that's what happens when enemies use it on you), but against the concurrent enemies, it's not that effective (didn't use it on Survivor).
3. Pop-in during the horse chase was a major mood killer, would rather have had more sparse vegetation.

Those are seriously my only issues with the game. The only issues where I think "Naughty Dog could have fixed this/made better design choices."

The DLC is going to have one hell of a pair of shoes to fill.

 

[TrojanBlade]

Just got it and starting soon. I have stayed away from all media so far and these thread to avoid any spoilers.. Any tips to maximize the experience? Hopefully it meets the high expectations I have.

 

[Enco]

Just got it and starting soon. I have stayed away from all media so far and these thread to avoid any spoilers.. Any tips to maximize the experience? Hopefully it meets the high expectations I have.

Just keep going through it.

A lot of people seem to think that listen mode is stupid. I liked it. You can usually hear people in real life and position them fairly well so I don't really see why people consider it so broken.

 

[TrojanBlade]

HOLY!!!! That intro

 

[urge26]

21 hours of trying to explore every nook and cranny, and to take in every beautiful visual, I'm done. Honestly, I feel like we've already played the launch titles for the next gen with this, and Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider on PC.

Now I'm watching the behind the scenes video for the last of us, and Naughty Dog talks about the memory constraints of the ps3? Are you kidding me? Naughty Dog will create masterpieces on the ps4. I can honestly say the one and only reason I need a PS4: naughty dog.

 

[Shrike_Priest]

Just keep going through it.

A lot of people seem to think that listen mode is stupid. I liked it. You can usually hear people in real life and position them fairly well so I don't really see why people consider it so broken.

The equivalent of "hearing people in real life" would be playing it with 5.1 surround sound, not getting cutouts of all your enemies through walls

I don't dislike it because it's unrealistic or "cheating", I dislike it because the game is much more tense without it. Not knowing for sure whether the footsteps you hear are approaching the door you're hiding behind or walking past it makes for great combat.

 

[Enco]

The equivalent of "hearing people in real life" would be playing it with 5.1 surround sound, not getting cutouts of all your enemies through walls

I don't dislike it because it's unrealistic or "cheating", I dislike it because the game is much more tense without it. Not knowing for sure whether the footsteps you hear are approaching the door you're hiding behind or walking past it makes for great combat.

True. 5.1 > listening feature

Anyone know which part has this song?

edit: this might sound crazy but I don't even want to play any other game now

 

[Refreshment.01]

Ok...

-Only Naughty Dog game that truly deserves game of the year withouth a shadow of doubt. I'm really glad this game came about as it puts the Uncharted series in a whole new perspective.

-Predictable plot that touches on every one of the usual tools of the miriad of zombie works that have preceed it yet it is saved for me thanks to 1 single character and ND's commintement of making him a despicable POS. Well played by the talented devs.

-The game has not a single original play mechanic, yet is executed well enough to hold my attention through out the entire campaign. Formulaic as f*ck but really enjoyable

Still waiting for another push to 3rd person action/sdventure games as RE4 was but this will do for now..

 

[darkjedi187]

Finally finished. A truly amazing experience, I enjoyed everything about it. It does stand to be the only game I have finished with only 5% of the trophies. Seems really low and I did a ton of exploring.

 

[blitzwolf215]

I finished the game today. Man was it awesome. Also I liked the ending and can't really blame Joel for his choice.

 

[ascii42]

The equivalent of "hearing people in real life" would be playing it with 5.1 surround sound, not getting cutouts of all your enemies through walls

I don't dislike it because it's unrealistic or "cheating", I dislike it because the game is much more tense without it. Not knowing for sure whether the footsteps you hear are approaching the door you're hiding behind or walking past it makes for great combat.

Right, but not everyone has a 5.1 setup, let alone a really good one.

 

[SSM25]

Just completed the game, it's been a while since I had the will to finish a whole game in a weekend, it's good.

 

[TrojanBlade]

Stuck at the first encounter with the clickers...trying to stealth but they get me. Any tips?

 

[Quick]

Stuck at the first encounter with the clickers...trying to stealth but they get me. Any tips?

Turn off the game, cry at that feeling of dread and hopelessness.

Are you talking about the crumbling building?

 

[TrojanBlade]

Turn off the game, cry at that feeling of dread and hopelessness.

Are you talking about the crumbling building?

Yes (

 

[aparisi2274]

Finished the game.. What an absolutely amazing ride. Easily one of my favorite games of all time. The ending was great. It was bitter sweet and I don't think I'll forget it any time soon. Some points:

1. It started off a bit slow and had some boring moments
2. Human enemies >>>> infected
3. Awesome characters
4. Awesome non cliched ending
5. Sexy graphics for the most part
6. Fuck that deer. Holy shit
7. Enemies leaning toward bullet sponges with unrealistic injuries
8. So many intense moments. Reloading as you're being charged, trying to quickly open doors and sneaking by a group of enemies.. wow..
9. I NEVER get emotional in games. It just doesn't happen. This game made me emotional. I didn't cry or anything but my jaw hit the ground, I gasped, I cringed and I shouted. I was involved in the story and loved the characters
10. Makes me want to get a PS4 so I don't miss on any other ND project

I cringed during the winter season, when you were

Spoiler

playing as Ellie, and you were in the restaurant, trying to sneak around David, and you'd step on a piece of glass.

I would cringe and be like "Shit!"

 

[Grinchy]

Stuck at the first encounter with the clickers...trying to stealth but they get me. Any tips?

First crouch-walk up to the one by the desk. He's alone and not moving. Then backtrack to the back room and hide behind the counter. When the runner walks through, sneak up behind him quickly and strangle him (before he gets through the doorway). That's the way you want to start it out.

 

[bluelightningduo]

Did anyone else have a ladder not show up during a play through?

At the end of the hotel you are suppose to find a ladder right next to the place where you prop it up and start a cut scene (restaurant area after the basement).
I wandered that fucking room for 20 minutes and no ladder. I saw one other person have that problem in a different forum, so I 'restarted encounter' and boom. Ladder right where it should have been.

Outside of that glitch, great game looking forward to what comes next...even if I feel like the end of the game should have been a choice.

 

[Shrike_Priest]

Right, but not everyone has a 5.1 setup, let alone a really good one.

Neither do I, but stereo works pretty well. Way better than breaking the immersion with that kind of super-power ability. Also, once again: combat is just much more fun when every corner is a possible death trap, compared to you knowing where 90% of the enemies are.

 

[Vally]

Did anyone else have a ladder not show up during a play through?

At the end of the hotel you are suppose to find a ladder right next to the place where you prop it up and start a cut scene (restaurant area after the basement).
I wandered that fucking room for 20 minutes and no ladder. I saw one other person have that problem in a different forum, so I 'restarted encounter' and boom. Ladder right where it should have been.

Outside of that glitch, great game looking forward to what comes next...even if I feel like the end of the game should have been a choice.

Yeah, I had the same problem on my second playthrough

 

[Faaip]

I was very impressed with this game. Im really happy about how little it ended up feeling like Uncharted and with the improvements they made in the way the game plays and the AI.

The part

Spoiler

where you play as Ellie

was a pleasant surprise and by far my favorite in the game. I will probably revisit just that section in the future.

 

[Superflat]

True. 5.1 > listening feature

Anyone know which part has this song?

edit: this might sound crazy but I don't even want to play any other game now

After

Spoiler

you clear out everyone at the ranch house. The cutscene that plays

after that section has that song.

I still play that game every once in a while, and I played it day one. Just random compulsions to boot it up, even when I mostly game on the PC right now

I know that game backwards and forwards at this point.

 

[I-hate-u]

Naughty Dog panel @ Pax Seattle

https://twitter.com/Neil_Druckmann/status/364530072343961600

http://prime.paxsite.com/schedule/panel/pitching-the-last-of-us

 

[The Chef]

Finally beat it over the weekend.

I was always surprised when I first saw trailers for this game, seeing how ultra violent and mature it was. Just seemed so out of left field for ND.

But after you play this game you realize that they created this game that way, not to appeal to the masses, but for a specific reason. Its what drives and effects the world and more specifically

Spoiler

Joel and Elly

. The emotional attachment I got from this was like nothing I can ever remember feeling in game. The dialogue, the characters interaction, my god the facial animations that capture that kind of feeling just left me speechless.

Ending dialogue spoiler:

Spoiler

"Swear to me that everything that happened back there with the Firefly's was true!"
"I swear"
"..........ok"
Roll credits

Son of a bitch that is epic.

For me, the question of "Whats your favorite game of all time?" has always been a grey area. But after this and after thinking about it for a few days I can confidently say The Last of Us is the best game I've ever played. Period.

Bravo ND, bravo.

 

[JoduanER2]

And the new patch when?

 

[Dance Inferno]

I finished the game on Easy last night and I want to start New Game+, but it only gives me the option to do so on Easy. Can I not choose a different difficulty level for my second playthrough?

 

[The Chef]

I finished the game on Easy last night and I want to start New Game+, but it only gives me the option to do so on Easy. Can I not choose a different difficulty level for my second playthrough?

NG+ is only for the method you beat it on previously.
I just beat it on Hard and I'd LOVE to keep all my crap and do it on Survivor but....you get the idea.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

I finished the game on Easy last night and I want to start New Game+, but it only gives me the option to do so on Easy. Can I not choose a different difficulty level for my second playthrough?

Yes, you can.

NG+ is only for the method you beat it on previously.
I just beat it on Hard and I'd LOVE to keep all my crap and do it on Survivor but....you get the idea.

You can, you just have to use chapter select instead of starting a "continuing" NG+.

 

[Dance Inferno]

You can, you just have to use chapter select instead of starting a "continuing" NG+.

Oh, interesting. Maybe I'll do that then. I don't feel like playing through the game again on a different difficulty setting just to unlock NG+ for that difficulty.

 

[Ezio]

Finally beat this the other day. Wow, what a journey that was. Top of my list for game of this gen though for sure.

 

[Tribes of Trusty]

Finished my first playthrough, clocking 13h42mins.
Well, it was certainly an intense ride, a far better game imho than Uncharted that tried to do several things at once without doing them righ. TLOU was certainly well-thought and everything feels right and justly designed.
I would classify the game as a survival-horror, and shit that was the best I've ever played. RE & cie ain't got shit, I've never felt so opressed with a game before. Also, humans were scarier than infected (It's the people that scare me - Bill is so true). One of the reasons I really enjoyed the game is because I went on a total media blackout on it...

I liked :
- It didn't drag out.
- The whole game feels really tightly designed, and stealth as well as full-frontal assault are really satisfying.
- The feel of weapons. One of my gripes with Uncharted was that.
- The game's beautiful of course. Water is really impressive.
- The French dub.
- The dynamic between Ellie and Joel and its development. Subtle at moments, and rightfully obvious at others.
- The bow. I LOVE BOWS. Seriously, and they're realistically powerful too. Have it been a crossbow in the game I'd have lost my shit.
- The artisanal bomb. I love seeing groups of mecreants flying with nails all over their body

- Molotov cocktails. I love seeing infected catch on fire and spreading the fire unto others. Particularly effective against clickers

²
- Bricks. The bottles are shit, only useful for making noise. Bricks bricks bricks.
- On that matter, close quarters weapons : pipes, rods, bats, machetes.
(I sound like a psychopath but the game is really that good gameplay-wise).
- The hearing superpower is useful for those of us who don't have good sound setups, but I feel like survivor mode + 5.1 or 5.1 headphones would be bliss.
- The boss battles.
- The death animations. Really make the point of "you fucked up and you die".

Spoiler

Especially David's during the restaurent encounter. Man that's brutal

- The ending. I'm going to get flamed but it reminded me of (spoiler of another 2008 video game)

Spoiler

Prince of Persia

. Pretty ballsy

I didn't like :
- The game's glitched on my on several occasions : a model doesn't animate properly for several seconds, no audio on a few cutscenes...
- Ellie please let me through aw shit we're spotted.
- The endgame felt somewhat anti-climatic. I expected something tougher

Spoiler

I liked how it reminded me of Manhunt though

Misc :
- The game's fucked up. A real emotionnal rollercoaster. I can't count the number of times I went through "aaaw"

Spoiler

like Sam wanting to take the Transformers toy

to "no no no no fuck no"

Spoiler

too many to count

.
- I felt bad about

Spoiler

shooting the surgeon in the end but I could've sworn he took the scalpel. The crying nurses didn't make easy either.

- Sooo when do we get Ish DLC ?
- Sooooo when do we get TLOU 2 ?

tl;dr : Excellent game, made me have faith in Naughty Dog again after the Uncharted trilogy.

Yes, you can.
You can, you just have to use chapter select instead of starting a "continuing" NG+.

Doesn't that just brings you to the chapter with only the gear you had at that point of time ?

 

[ascii42]

Doesn't that just brings you to the chapter with only the gear you had at that point of time ?

That's true regardless. In New Game +, you still acquire the weapons as normal, but they with whatever upgrades you had applied in your first play through. It makes sense, because otherwise they'd have to rebalance the ammo you find (either that or you'd have the weapons but wouldn't find any ammo for them)

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

So, The Last Of Us got an "BIU Sales Award"(Platin).
The "Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware" (some german organisation) annouced that The Last Of Us sold over 200.000 units in germany by the end of July.
200.000 units get you the platin award.

LuigisMansion2, FarCry3(Xbox360 version) and AnimalCrossing all got a gold award for over 100.000 units.

German source: http://www.videogameszone.de/The-La...s-200000-Mal-in-Deutschland-verkauft-1081926/

Google translated:

The Last of Us was sold in Germany since release more than 200,000 times, such as the Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software announced. For the success of the action adventure from Naughty Dog reaped the BIU Sales Award in platinum. Awards also appreciate About two Nintendo games.

Since the release on 14 June The Last of Us PS3 could sell for more than 200,000 times in Germany, the reports of the Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software in collaboration with Media Control. The available exclusively for PlayStation 3 action-adventure game was awarded in July, according to the BIU Sales Award in platinum. In addition, in the past three months BIU Sales Awards were awarded in gold. With Luigi's Mansion 2 and Animal Crossing: New Leaf get two Nintendo 3DS games for the coveted award.

The third BIU Sales Award goes Gold in July at the Xbox 360 version of the first-person shooter Far Cry 3 For the BIU Gold Award at least 100,000 a game to be sold on a platform. With 200,000 copies sold, the Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software distinguishes the games with the BIU Platinum Award. A BIU's special price for games that were sold at least 500,000 copies in Germany.

Thats pretty good, I guess.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Doesn't that just brings you to the chapter with only the gear you had at that point of time ?

Yes, but you can continue to play from that chapter, so just select chapter 1. Technically you can start from the last chapter and work your way to the beginning, so you don't need to worry about conserving your inventory.

 

[Tribes of Trusty]

So you mean I can keep the level of weapon enhancement with "Chapter select" while playing in survivor mode, can't I ?

 

[Celegus]

I finished this up last night, and yep, fantastic game. Took 16 hours on hard. I didn't find it that difficult, so maybe I'll check out survivor someday. Not for a while though, I don't think I could stand playing this twice in a row. I thought the characters were interesting, but I couldn't get anywhere near as invested in them as say The Walking Dead, so the ending wasn't all that dramatic for me. My wife and I were just laughing at

Spoiler

how much of a crazy psychopath Joel is, which sort of ruins any possible connection to him because I just can't relate. He made all the opposite choices of what I would have done. I realize this was on purpose and it made for an unconventional story, but I still saw it coming from two miles away.

I wouldn't say it was my favorite game this year, but it'll probably end up in the top 5 of the year. Looks like Demon's Souls is going to keep that torch of my favorite game of the generation.

 

[raindoc]

So, The Last Of Us got an "BIU Sales Award"(Platin).
The "Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware" (some german organisation) annouced that The Last Of Us sold over 200.000 units in germany by the end of July.
200.000 units get you the platin award.

i bought it about two weeks after release in Austria - and it was quite mission, because it was sold out, even in the big electronic store chains. The 5th shop i visited/called finally had a couple left - never seen something like that happen.

 

[Superflat]

I finished this up last night, and yep, fantastic game. Took 16 hours on hard. I didn't find it that difficult, so maybe I'll check out survivor someday. Not for a while though, I don't think I could stand playing this twice in a row. I thought the characters were interesting, but I couldn't get anywhere near as invested in them as say The Walking Dead, so the ending wasn't all that dramatic for me. My wife and I were just laughing at

Spoiler

how much of a crazy psychopath Joel is, which sort of ruins any possible connection to him because I just can't relate. He made all the opposite choices of what I would have done. I realize this was on purpose and it made for an unconventional story, but I still saw it coming from two miles away.

I pretty much thought the complete opposite, where I couldn't get into The Walking Dead as much as I wanted to because of a number of characters who constantly did really asinine, stupid crap to the point where I found it really hard to relate and empathize with them and get really into the story. It wasn't long before Clem and Lee's relationship was the only thing I cared for at all (thankfully since that's what the game's foundation is).

And as far as premeditating the ending, it was the same in TWD for me as well. Saw

Spoiler

"the random man who is going to call you out on every choice you made no matter what" stuff way ahead of time, because it's really the only thing they could do to tie it together. And everything that happened afterward was pretty much called at the beginning of the game. I still thought the ending was as powerful as it was because of its delivery more than its originality, which I would say TLOU also did superbly.

Dark Souls is my competition with TLOU for game of the gen for me. Haven't played Demon's Souls yet *_*

 

[ultron87]

I finished up the other day for the first time. Was playing on Hard.

The story and acting was good enough but I wasn't ever particularly impressed by the parts where it is a game. Part of this was certainly the fact that I'm now entirely burned out on stealth games where you sneak up behind guys and choke/stab them. All the little immersion breaks in combat with stuff like guys not dropping guns, Ellie being invisible, extra enemies spawning when you get spotted and/or in waves, and random checkpoints in the middle of the encounter that drop you at places you were never even necessarily at made it so I ended up just not caring about the combat at all. I'd pretty much just make a run for the exit at any point it was an option and usually come out okay.

I must say that the ending did not take the route I expected, which was nice. Part of this was helped by me getting fake spoiled here on GAF with someone saying

Spoiler

they both died

. But it being a surprise didn't make it an actual satisfying ending. Which I guess is kind of the point? I don't think that being the author's intent makes it any less meh. The majority of the last gameplay sections being essentially forced stealth (since you're facing either way too many infected to fight or dudes in armor with machine guns) didn't help my temperament.

I guess I'm coming off as fairly negative. I didn't really dislike the game. It had a lot of beautiful moments and the care that went into creating the world was amazing to see. It just didn't really wow me.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I guess I'm coming off as fairly negative. I didn't really dislike the game. It had a lot of beautiful moments and the care that went into creating the world was amazing to see. It just didn't really wow me.

I came off the ending of the game feeling the same way: kind of unsatisfied with the whole thing. However I think a big part of that was the fact that the ending of the game is not designed to make you feel good: Joel is a selfish prick who sacrifices the human race for his own emotional satisfaction, and then he lies to the one person in the world that he truly loves. And to top it all off, Ellie pretty much knows that he's lying right to her face, and she's OK with it. That whole situation is just uncomfortable and unpleasant, but that's the reality of their world.

After reflecting on the game for a few days my opinion of it has improved, as I realize that Naughty Dog did a lot with this game that deserves praise. The ending they chose was emotionally unsatisfying, but it is the only ending that Joel would have allowed, and that's really what the whole thing is about.

You guys should all watch the following video btw. It's a really great discussion of the plot and how ND handled it, and it gave me a better appreciation for the subtleties of the dialogue and storytelling than I previously had.

Spoiled Games with Adam Sessler - The Last of Us

 

[Celegus]

I came off the ending of the game feeling the same way: kind of unsatisfied with the whole thing. However I think a big part of that was the fact that the ending of the game is not designed to make you feel good: Joel is a selfish prick who sacrifices the human race for his own emotional satisfaction, and then he lies to the one person in the world that he truly loves. And to top it all off, Ellie pretty much knows that he's lying right to her face, and she's OK with it. That whole situation is just uncomfortable and unpleasant, but that's the reality of their world.

I'm not sure I agree with this, but that's just my take on it. It felt like through the whole Spring section, she knew what was coming, and did her best to come to terms with it. I sure wouldn't be happy with how things went down if I were her.

I actually really liked how open-ended the ending is, I was just bummed that I was completely right about it from so far out (and I'm usually horrible at predicting the way a story will go).

 

[Dance Inferno]

I'm not sure I agree with this, but that's just my take on it. It felt like through the whole Spring section, she knew what was coming, and did her best to come to terms with it. I sure wouldn't be happy with how things went down if I were her.

I actually really liked how open-ended the ending is, I was just bummed that I was completely right about it from so far out (and I'm usually horrible at predicting the way a story will go).

Really? She mentions at some point that once they're done with whatever they need to do, she'll go wherever Joel wants to go. I don't think she was expecting to be carved up on an operating table. Earlier in the game Joel even tells her they'll probably just "take some blood" or something.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Really? She mentions at some point that once they're done with whatever they need to do, she'll go wherever Joel wants to go. I don't think she was expecting to be carved up on an operating table. Earlier in the game Joel even tells her they'll probably just "take some blood" or something.

Yup. Joel also says something along the lines of "Well, I'm not gonna leave without you."

 

[Celegus]

Really? She mentions at some point that once they're done with whatever they need to do, she'll go wherever Joel wants to go. I don't think she was expecting to be carved up on an operating table. Earlier in the game Joel even tells her they'll probably just "take some blood" or something.

That was during Fall I think, when Joel was planning to leave her with Tommy. She obviously genuinely liked and cared about Joel, and just wanted to stick with him, since everyone else had always abandoned her. But then in Spring, she was so subdued on their way to the hospital. Maybe it was just because of all the horrible stuff she went through in Winter was still on her mind, but I thought it was more the realization that "Once we make it to the Fireflies, things aren't going to be the same for us, and it most likely will be permanent. But for the best."

After the credits, I just don't see them being very close with eachother. I don't think she believed him, but honestly, who else does she have in the world? They'll stick together, probably until Joel dies, but it'll be strained.

 

[Dance Inferno]

That was during Fall I think, when Joel was planning to leave her with Tommy. She obviously genuinely liked and cared about Joel, and just wanted to stick with him, since everyone else had always abandoned her. But then in Spring, she was so subdued on their way to the hospital. Maybe it was just because of all the horrible stuff she went through in Winter was still on her mind, but I thought it was more the realization that "Once we make it to the Fireflies, things aren't going to be the same for us, and it most likely will be permanent. But for the best."

After the credits, I just don't see them being very close with eachother. I don't think she believed him, but honestly, who else does she have in the world? They'll stick together, probably until Joel dies, but it'll be strained.

I could swear that was during Spring, but I'm not positive. In any case I don't think it's made clear, but I was always under the impression that neither of them thought that Ellie would die.

Of course, Ellie's speech at the end of the game about her best friend and "losing their minds together" seems to imply that she was expecting not to make it out of the Firefly facility, so who knows.

 

[Celegus]

I could swear that was during Spring, but I'm not positive. In any case I don't think it's made clear, but I was always under the impression that neither of them thought that Ellie would die.

Of course, Ellie's speech at the end of the game about her best friend and "losing their minds together" seems to imply that she was expecting not to make it out of the Firefly facility, so who knows.

It does kind of all run together, but I remember her being rather mopey the whole time (not that it was very long), much moreso than any other time in the game. Joel was much more jaunty than ever before, going on and on about "oh you would've been such good friends with Sarah, once we're out of this it's just gonna be you and me, etc" and she was just "Yeah. Sure." I especially loved when you had to boost her up to get the ladder, but she was just sitting there staring into space and you had to go back and fetch her.

I got the feeling deep down Ellie knew whatever procedure to make the vaccine would mess her up pretty bad, whether or not it was fatal. I think it blindsided Joel though, which is why he murdered yet another entire group of people.

Obviously she still cared a great deal for Joel when she jumped on the bus in the tunnel, but after waking up dazed and confused wearing a hospital shift, with nothing but a crappy excuse after finally finding the Fireflies? Something is clearly wrong. Even if it were true that they've tried and couldn't make a vaccine, why was she unconscious for the whole thing? And why didn't they at least stay a couple days to rest up and recover?

Again, this is all just how I interpreted it. I think it speaks greatly to Naughty Dog that people can actually have conversations like this, especially with it being so linear and everyone basically subjected to the same exact scenes.

 

[Dance Inferno]

It does kind of all run together, but I remember her being rather mopey the whole time (not that it was very long), much moreso than any other time in the game. Joel was much more jaunty than ever before, going on and on about "oh you would've been such good friends with Sarah, once we're out of this it's just gonna be you and me, etc" and she was just "Yeah. Sure." I especially loved when you had to boost her up to get the ladder, but she was just sitting there staring into space and you had to go back and fetch her.

I got the feeling deep down Ellie knew whatever procedure to make the vaccine would mess her up pretty bad, whether or not it was fatal. I think it blindsided Joel though, which is why he murdered yet another entire group of people.

Obviously she still cared a great deal for Joel when she jumped on the bus in the tunnel, but after waking up dazed and confused wearing a hospital shift, with nothing but a crappy excuse after finally finding the Fireflies? Something is clearly wrong. Even if it were true that they've tried and couldn't make a vaccine, why was she unconscious for the whole thing? And why didn't they at least stay a couple days to rest up and recover?

Again, this is all just how I interpreted it. I think it speaks greatly to Naughty Dog that people can actually have conversations like this, especially with it being so linear and everyone basically subjected to the same exact scenes.

That's an interesting way to look at it. It's not how I interpreted it, but it's definitely valid. The excuse Joel gave was definitely half-assed, you'd think he would have at least prepared something better given how long she was out.

I actually assumed that they resuscitated Ellie after they knocked Joel out - otherwise she would have been dead by the time she made it back to the hospital since she had basically drowned. So she would have been conscious before they had to put her down again for the surgery. However it doesn't seem like she was aware of anything that happened at the hospital, so I find that a little odd.

What I love about Naughty Dog (although I'm starting to think this is more a function of Neil Druckmann rather than ND - just look at Uncharted 3 and its complete lack of subtlety and finesse) is that they don't straight up explain everything to you and allow you to fill in the blanks yourself, which is a lot more effective. I didn't even think David was trying to rape Ellie until one of my friends mentioned it; I just thought he was a weird dude who was trying to be friendly to gain her trust.

 

[cj_iwakura]

At Fall now.

God I need a break. That was intense.

 

[dgenx]

Add me guys, saimondgx