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[AngryNapkin]

This may have been asked before but I have to ask. I was playing on Grounded and couldn't get past a certain section. I changed the difficulty to Easy just to get past the section and realized what I was doing wrong

Spoiler

using the security key in the hotel scene on the panel instead of just opening the door running around the bloater)

. I got a ton of supplies and changed it back to Grounded before the checkpoint. When I changed it back I started the section over at the generator where I left off originally but I had all of my supplies.

In other words switching to Easy got me a lot of supplies (nail bomb, 12 shot gun shells, and misc parts), then switching back to Grounded I started where I left off before with the supplies.

Is this known and will it affect my trophy for Grounded?

 

[MaximusPayne]

you can only get survivor trophy and not grounded in the left behind dlc

Maybe you should have looked at the trophy list. If you had done that you would have realized that there is no trophy for Grounded on Left Behind!

It happens.

Sweet....so it was right. I'm not a big trophy guy but I wanted to see what Grounded was all about. Thought maybe I screwed myself.

Welp, about to start the full game on grounded...

Spoiler

 

[Radec]

What do you gain for playing New Game + ?

I'm a pussy and didn't finished any difficulty except for normal.

 

[TRios Zen]

Just finished this game on hard difficulty last night and I really enjoyed my time with it.

I wasn't overly fond of the ending largely because

Spoiler

Ellie was never given the choice to sacrifice herself. A sacrifice I think she was likely to make. Additionally I think Joel losing Elie at the end of this game would have been more impactful than how it did play out.

However this game does so many things right, that it's easy to over look it's flaws. I think the pacing, particularly near the end, was damn near perfect.

Spoiler

All the time fighting infected and hunters, through most of the game, culminating in the fight with David. After that the only extended armed gun-fight is in the hospital trying to save Ellie and if you were more patient than I, you could probably stealth by most of that too. The world of the last of us is a dangerous place but the mood set by the beginning of spring - I feel like that atmosphere is wasted if you have to trudge through multiple more gunfights and then some prolonged boss fight.

I started Normal+ game to find all the collectibles I missed, for an easier run through then my first play through. I doubt I'll play at a harder difficulty though; as I mentioned earlier in thread, I don't really care for the manner in which they limit your ammo in Hard and I think that will only intensify in survivor/grounded.

Lastly, funny thing about the hotel basement; when I went through this level I must have, by pure dumb luck, done everything in exactly the right order the first time.

Spoiler

I didn't even know there was a bloater in that area...I turned on generator, ran to door and opened it without having to fight anything.

In other words, I breezed through this area and had no idea anyone considered that section challenging. Interested in getting back there now.

 

[nib95]

That's what 30fps feels like after playing it at 60. Your point of reference changes.

I actually compared it to LoU PS3, and unless I'm going crazy, pretty sure the PS4 version was choppier. Not sure if it's reduced motion blur or what, but 30fps in the PS4 version looks worse.

 

[Markitron]

These are the known bugged ones:

Spoiler

-Museum: at the of the encounter where you get back together with ellie and tess, they are both standing by the window and you talk to both, you have to make sure you listen to both of them without moving.
-University: The firefly graffiti, you have press triangle on the last one you see, which is behind the building in from of the statue where you met the monkeys.
-Winter: when you're in the room with the bloater, there's 2 bodies which trigger the conversation.

Do you know if any of the shiv doors are known to be glitchy? I opened all 13 and its only showing as opening 12, this is particularly annoying as I had to scrounge fucking everywhere just to get enough parts to barely make enough shivs.

 

[daveo42]

Almost done with the game on hard. Made it to

Spoiler

Spring and about to tackle the tunnel before the hospital. I've never had issue with this section before, but now I've completely forgotten the approach I used previously to make it through undetected.

I should finish up this evening when I get home. Only a few short hours left.

The bugs are killing me with the AI. Several times I was questioning what was actually going on with some of the enemies during the entirety of

Spoiler

Winter.

Dudes running away erratically, not responding to sound, only showing up once you pass a certain threshold even though they should come in way earlier. The fight near the end with

Spoiler

David made a bit more sense since it made it hard to hide and sneak up on him and at least he responded to sound, but it all seemed so fucking strange.

I also ran into some weird shadowing or something in the same area. Really stuck out like a sore thumb in relation to how well the rest of the game looked. At least one of the best scenes in the game looked freakin' fantastic, just like it did in the original. Still one of the best points in the narrative and nice breather before getting to the end of the game.

Still fun, but annoying bugs. Btw, anyone else run into these bugs?

 

[Footos22]

Almost done with the game on hard. Made it to

Spoiler

Spring and about to tackle the tunnel before the hospital. I've never had issue with this section before, but now I've completely forgotten the approach I used previously to make it through undetected.

I should finish up this evening when I get home. Only a few short hours left.

The bugs are killing me with the AI. Several times I was questioning what was actually going on with some of the enemies during the entirety of

Spoiler

Winter.

Dudes running away erratically, not responding to sound, only showing up once you pass a certain threshold even though they should come in way earlier. The fight near the end with

Spoiler

David made a bit more sense since it made it hard to hide and sneak up on him and at least he responded to sound, but it all seemed so fucking strange.

I also ran into some weird shadowing or something in the same area. Really stuck out like a sore thumb in relation to how well the rest of the game looked. At least one of the best scenes in the game looked freakin' fantastic, just like it did in the original. Still one of the best points in the narrative and nice breather before getting to the end of the game.

Still fun, but annoying bugs. Btw, anyone else run into these bugs?

Flamethrower, just let them come at you and watch em burn

 

[MaximusPayne]

On grounded....

Spoiler

anyone got tips to get past the tunnel before the hospital? There are two bloaters and I can't get the one closest to the truck to get out of the way.

 

[SocksAndShoes]

Finished the game for the first time a couple days ago and I think my favorite sequence is:

Spoiler

Joel falling on the rebar and the events right after. The way the FOV shrank more as he lost more blood, the way the gun is harder to handle, the increasing amounts of blood Joel leaves on the cover....truly masterful and impactful presentation. One of my favorite gaming sequences of all time.

 

[kubus]

On grounded....

Spoiler

anyone got tips to get past the tunnel before the hospital? There are two bloaters and I can't get the one closest to the truck to get out of the way.

Spoiler

I used that passage on the right side that takes you through a hall with three runners (and a bunch of supplies) and when you come out again there are a couple of bottles lying around. I lured the bloaters and other infected away from the truck by throwing two bottles and then sneaked towards the truck. Just make sure you lured all the infected away because there are a few hidden from sight iirc.

 

[kaioshade]

Finally getting around to playing this. And so far i have two thoughts:

1. game is visually stunning.

2. Joel needs to just carry a bag of bricks around.

 

[Scoot2005]

Just beat the main game and Left Behind last night. I liked it.

 

[knitoe]

On grounded....

Spoiler

anyone got tips to get past the tunnel before the hospital? There are two bloaters and I can't get the one closest to the truck to get out of the way.

Spoiler

I use the right hallway at the end. Lure all the mobs trying get through the door single file and flamethrower once they bunch up. Flamethrower takes them down fast. Consume ammo by just lighting them on fire and burn themself out. Also, use the shotgun if needed. Was easy

 

[Markitron]

Spoiler

I used that passage on the right side that takes you through a hall with three runners (and a bunch of supplies) and when you come out again there are a couple of bottles lying around. I lured the bloaters and other infected away from the truck by throwing two bottles and then sneaked towards the truck. Just make sure you lured all the infected away because there are a few hidden from sight iirc.

This is what I did (on survivor) the only infected you have to kill are those in the passage, a couple of arrows will sort them out nice and quietly.

 

[TRios Zen]

This is what I did (on survivor) the only infected you have to kill are those in the tunnel, a couple of arrows will sort them out nice and quietly.

Similar to what I did, however, bloaters, like clickers are blind, so you can sneak right past them. What I mean is besides two (of three) infected I killed in the tunnel, I was able to sneak by all others without alerting them in any way. (Unless this differs on Survivor mode, I was able to do this on Hard).

 

[Markitron]

Similar to what I did, however, bloaters, like clickers are blind, so you can sneak right past them. What I mean is besides two (of three) infected I killed in the tunnel, I was able to sneak by all others without alerting them in any way. (Unless this differs on Survivor mode, I was able to do this on Hard).

It's slightly harder to sneak up behind and grab enemies on survivor, but sneaking past them is essentially the same. The tunnel section is one of the more straightforward stealth sections in the game imo.

 

[Raptor]

Looooooved this Sniper Area, after 10 tries I beat that fucker flawlessly with no ammo, 1 arrow, 1 sand granade, 1 nail bomb.

Entered Fall........JESUS FUCK at the atmosphere there, I could smell the wet dirt and feel the damn coldness of

Spoiler

the mountains.

 

[OneUh8]

Similar to what I did, however, bloaters, like clickers are blind, so you can sneak right past them. What I mean is besides two (of three) infected I killed in the tunnel, I was able to sneak by all others without alerting them in any way. (Unless this differs on Survivor mode, I was able to do this on Hard).

Yeah that is what I did. Only had to kill a couple with the bow, just stealth through the rest.

 

[owlbeak]

This may have been asked before but I have to ask. I was playing on Grounded and couldn't get past a certain section. I changed the difficulty to Easy just to get past the section and realized what I was doing wrong

Spoiler

using the security key in the hotel scene on the panel instead of just opening the door running around the bloater)

. I got a ton of supplies and changed it back to Grounded before the checkpoint. When I changed it back I started the section over at the generator where I left off originally but I had all of my supplies.

In other words switching to Easy got me a lot of supplies (nail bomb, 12 shot gun shells, and misc parts), then switching back to Grounded I started where I left off before with the supplies.

Is this known and will it affect my trophy for Grounded?

You won't get the trophy for grounded. When you change difficulties and beat the game you'll only be awarded the trophy for the highest difficulty you changed it to, and the trophies that fall under that (ie: you change it from grounded to hard, you'd get trophy for hard, normal, and easy). In your case, when you beat the game you'll only get the trophy for Easy. Sorry! Should have looked up a walkthrough.

 

[IndustryX]

On grounded....

Spoiler

anyone got tips to get past the tunnel before the hospital? There are two bloaters and I can't get the one closest to the truck to get out of the way.

Spoiler

throw a bottle molotov at the group or use the flame thrower

 

[TriEdgeFury]

Finally getting around to playing this. And so far i have two thoughts:

1. game is visually stunning.

2. Joel needs to just carry a bag of bricks around.

lol i agree man, #teambrick

 

[daveo42]

Similar to what I did, however, bloaters, like clickers are blind, so you can sneak right past them. What I mean is besides two (of three) infected I killed in the tunnel, I was able to sneak by all others without alerting them in any way. (Unless this differs on Survivor mode, I was able to do this on Hard).

This is what I've done in the past too. It seems to work well by coming around the right side and just killing the few runners in your way and avoiding all of the clickers/bloaters. At least that's what I remember doing. Pretty easy stealth section, just have to remember the proper approach and take it slow.

Finally getting around to playing this. And so far i have two thoughts:

1. game is visually stunning.

2. Joel needs to just carry a bag of bricks around.

I want a brick holster upgrade.

 

[GamerKingFaiz]

You're not shaking it. At least that's not what you're supposed to be doing, and not what the animation is instructing you to do.

You're supposed to be hitting the controller against your hand, as if the flashlight wasn't working right so you hit a few times until it works.

Ah, okay, that makes a little more sense. It would be much clearer if Joel had an animation in-game doing the same motion.

There was no in-game prompt to explain it the first time it happened, so I was left confused and wondering. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

Just finished this game on hard difficulty last night and I really enjoyed my time with it.

I wasn't overly fond of the ending largely because

Spoiler

Ellie was never given the choice to sacrifice herself. A sacrifice I think she was likely to make. Additionally I think Joel losing Elie at the end of this game would have been more impactful than how it did play out.

Can't disagree with you more there.

Spoiler

By having Ellie die, you'd lose the entire impact of the game as a whole. The last hour or so of the game is Joel's complete determination to save Ellie no matter what the costs. He's selfish, but he's also a father. If she dies, the relationship crumbles. It just rehashes the opening and becomes a poor bookend to the game.

The lingering thoughts in Ellie's head is what makes the ending so powerful. Joel loves her as his own, but she knows what he's hiding. This dynamic relationship is made even more complicated because of Joel's choices.

 

[DJ Lushious]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUaX5XQUVxo

That is a ridiculously easy way to get past the sniper section. I'm hoping to employ that method when I get there on Survivor (yeah, I'm not hardcore enough for Grounded, ha!). And I suppose that way is preferred, since you don't waste any supplies, even though you don't gain any, either.

 

[CloudyTuba]

Finally finished my first playthrough of this game. Never played it on PS3.

Unfortunately I wasn't surprised when

Spoiler

Joel got badly hurt and we played as Ellie for a while

because some loser on here posted unmarked spoilers a while back. That person is now on my ignore list, but otherwise my game went unspoiled.

Spoiler

The cannibals

were a fun surprise. Throughout the game I kept being surprised by how much of a vicious badass Joel was.

I was expecting

Spoiler

more zombie madness

near the end of the game but instead it went the opposite direction and became more about

Spoiler

the human conflict

. While that part was really good, I was expecting the end of the game to be some

Spoiler

grand finale endless horde of zombie ridiculousness

. Perhaps I've been watching too many action movies lately.

Ready for TLOU2. I'm in.

 

[Futurevoid]

Can't disagree with you more there.

Spoiler

By having Ellie die, you'd lose the entire impact of the game as a whole. The last hour or so of the game is Joel's complete determination to save Ellie no matter what the costs. He's selfish, but he's also a father. If she dies, the relationship crumbles. It just rehashes the opening and becomes a poor bookend to the game.

The lingering thoughts in Ellie's head is what makes the ending so powerful. Joel loves her as his own, but she knows what he's hiding. This dynamic relationship is made even more complicated because of Joel's choices.

Not to mention it robs both Joel and Ellie of their character arcs from a narrative standpoint. The entire point of The Last of Us is...

Spoiler

The growth of these two characters.

For Joel, it's finding a reason to survive for something outside of survival's sake. Once his daughter dies, the proceeding 20 years amounts to Joel doing whatever it took to continue living without having a reason to do so.

Tess: "We're shit people, Joel. We have been for a long time!"
Joel: "We're survivors!"

By the end, he's found an actual reason to live. A reason to continue on and that's Ellie. We find out why he's willing to go so far. Far enough to murder Marlene in cold blood or anyone else that gets in his way to make sure he hangs onto that. No matter the cost.

For Ellie, you can interpret her "Ok" in different ways. You could interpret it as her accepting Joel's lie because she found a relationship with someone unwilling to leave her. Ellie to Sam "I'm afraid of being alone".

Frankly, I agree with Druckman that it's a poor interpretation and a simple one. Her "Ok" is a realization that she can no longer depend on Joel and despite his love for her, there is something broken in that relationship now. She's moved on from being a child that depended on people to protect her (Marlene, Tess, David, Joel). The entire game shows this progression in gameplay. It shows it in the trust Joel begins to have with Ellie by giving her a gun, by letting her protect him against the Hunters in Pittsburgh. By having Ellie actually kill David instead of Joel outright saving her. By having Ellie protect Joel while he is injured, etc. The dependency she has early on with Joel and others slowly but surely disappears...

 

[Audioboxer]

Not sure what to do first, I want the platinum... I have completed on PS3, but I want to enjoy a PS4 playthrough.

Think I'll have to do an easy run to upgrade Joel, then do grounded on NG+.

 

[Markitron]

I'm about to start my first playthrough of Left Behind. Been waiting ages to play it. Since I have never played it I have been mulling over starting on hard or survivor (beaten the main story on survivor twice after an initial normal run)

I might just go with normal, I don't want to be frustrated even once.

 

[leng jai]

Bit of a protip if you're playing Survivor or higher: upgrading your maximum health automatically fills it up to 100%. So in other words, time it so you use it when you're about to die. Doesn't appear to work for weapon clips though.

 

[eso76]

(possibly not even) halfway through the game: this is the new RE4.
A darker, better written, deeper, more fun and i'd imagine, more impactful (characters and story-wise) RE4, that is, but I feel the games are similar as far as overall quality goes.


So, I was actually going to come here and bitch about how I had somewhat different expectations from the "Citizen Kane" of videogames.

And to be honest I was expecting a bigger leap for the medium in terms of storytelling, gameplay and mechanics.
I was expecting to see a game that finally throws away all the classic videogames' tropes and clichés and tries something new. I was somehow expecting a videogame to rewrite the rules, to approach the medium in a different way.

What we have here, however, is still very much your typical videogame at heart: while good, AI didn't strike me as much better or more lifelike than most titles out there, level design is somewhat formulaic, writing definitely is above average (but not the best ever) and characters themselves are interesting, but again, not the best i've seen.
The novelty is there in the way Tlou mixes old ingredients to offer a rather fresh mix; that it does, but the game didn't initially strike me as the quantum leap some reviews made it sound like.

Halfway through though, i put (unrealistic ?) expectations aside. And the quality, the amount of love put into, the perfect balance between frantic (and actually, some of the most exciting) action sequences, exploration, and quiet...contemplation ? of the surroundings, the perfect pacing with carefully placed events to offer a much needed relief between stressful sections, the sheer amount of different locations / setpieces / themes / emotions (and damn, is the game long) really make TLOU one impressive piece of...craftsmanship.
A true classic.

And now, back to the fucking

Spoiler

flooded hotel basement

.

 

[lukeskymac]

Spoiler

Once his daughter dies, the proceeding 20 years amounts to Joel doing whatever it took to continue living without having a reason to do so.

Disagree with you there. I think the game heavily implies

Spoiler

Tess was. Not in a romantic relationship, mind you, rather something like a cat that doesn't generally like physical contact with his owner but always follows him around the house.

Rest of your post is spot on.

 

[daveo42]

Spoiler

For Ellie, you can interpret her "Ok" in different ways. You could interpret it as her accepting Joel's lie because she found a relationship with someone unwilling to leave her. Ellie to Sam "I'm afraid of being alone".

Frankly, I agree with Druckman that it's a poor interpretation and a simple one. Her "Ok" is a realization that she can no longer depend on Joel and despite his love for her, there is something broken in that relationship now. She's moved on from being a child that depended on people to protect her (Marlene, Tess, David, Joel). The entire game shows this progression in gameplay. It shows it in the trust Joel begins to have with Ellie by giving her a gun, by letting her protect him against the Hunters in Pittsburgh. By having Ellie actually kill David instead of Joel outright saving her. By having Ellie protect Joel while he is injured, etc. The dependency she has early on with Joel and others slowly but surely disappears...

Spoiler

Pretty interesting comments on an alternate take for the ending, but I think she still holds some survivor's guilt at the end of the year and holds on to the fact that she should have died like those around her and went as far as being sacrificed to try and save mankind.

While she has definitely grown since the beginning, there are still a lot of internal conflict going on over what happened between her and David and her loss of innocence. She was wrecked by that moment and it carried over to the final act of the game. She has a small reprieve that lifts her spirits, but even with that growth, there is a lot of emotional growth left for her to do. Even with the growth and independence, I think she's still relieved that Joel has stuck with her from start to finish, but the lingering doubt comes from not "finishing what they started", even if it does mean she lives on.

I think she knows she can be independent in the world, but that we also need to rely on those that truly care for you will lie about what really happened in that hospital.

 

[Dave_6]

I bought this on PS3 but never even got a 1/4 of the way through it for whatever reason. Got this edition on launch day and have played it a little every day until I finally finished it last night (on normal). What a fantastic game! It was one of those that will stick with me for a while. Started Left Behind last night and it is really, really good so far too.

 

[Evil Beaver]

You can only do New Game+ on the same difficulty you finished it on (or lower).

You can bypass it using a trick. You have to start NG+ on Hard and complete chapter 1. Once you're in chapter 1 (with Tess), go to the menu and then if you go to chapter select you should be able to choose Grounded now. At least that's how I think it works, I've never used that glitch.

Would I get the trophy if I went to Grounded+?

 

[toastyToast]

This game has way too many collectibles.

 

[CitizenCope]

In real life I saw a ladder leaning against a fence this morning. I wanted to press triangle.

 

[Savantcore]

Just got to the Capitol Building on my Grounded playthrough. I think it's just a bit too difficult for me. The long gap between checkpoints is seriously dampening my enjoyment of the game.

 

[frogger]

This game does not have the best graphic on PS4. I own several other games on PS4 which I think looks better.

 

[StuBurns]

This game does not have the best graphic on PS4. I own several other games on PS4 which I think looks better.

Okay.

 

[camac002]

This may have been asked before but I have to ask. I was playing on Grounded and couldn't get past a certain section. I changed the difficulty to Easy just to get past the section and realized what I was doing wrong

Spoiler

using the security key in the hotel scene on the panel instead of just opening the door running around the bloater)

. I got a ton of supplies and changed it back to Grounded before the checkpoint. When I changed it back I started the section over at the generator where I left off originally but I had all of my supplies.

In other words switching to Easy got me a lot of supplies (nail bomb, 12 shot gun shells, and misc parts), then switching back to Grounded I started where I left off before with the supplies.

Is this known and will it affect my trophy for Grounded?

If you want the trophy on this playthrough, it's okay to replay only that chapter later on Grounded then replay the final chapter if the trophy doesn't pop.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

This game does not have the best graphic on PS4. I own several other games on PS4 which I think looks better.

this is funny.

 

[leng jai]

While it's obviously not the most technically advanced game on PS4, it's still quite easily the most well rounded visual experience on the console. It just goes to show how much clean IQ, attention to detail and art direction can do to a game's presentation.

 

[dead monkey uk]

This game does not have the best graphic on PS4. I own several other games on PS4 which I think looks better.

This is expected, its a PS3 game with an added level of polish. Infamous and Killzone look better on PS4, but LoU has better design. As people always tell me there is more important things in life than looks.

 

[lukeskymac]

And to be honest I was expecting a bigger leap for the medium in terms of storytelling, gameplay and mechanics.
I was expecting to see a game that finally throws away all the classic videogames' tropes and clichés and tries something new. I was somehow expecting a videogame to rewrite the rules, to approach the medium in a different way.

[...]

And now, back to the fucking

Spoiler

flooded hotel basement

.

That's never going to happen in a single game. Once in a while a game comes that has revolutionary writing, or level design, or mechanics, etc. But never at all once. And mostly in a slow way.

Another thing that's never going to happen (this time never for realsies) is "throwing away tropes". Tropes are tools. If you think they need to be disposed of you don't understand them.

Anyway, for me the game IS a giant leap for the industry in one particular field (while still being awesome in all others): storytelling. The story itself isn't groundbreaking*, but the level of polish in the way the game tells it - with gameplay being an important part of it - is unprecedented in this industry.

But I wouldn't expect you to get that yet - you aren't even in the 11/10 half of the game yet

 

[TRios Zen]

Can't disagree with you more there.
Spoiler snip.

Not to mention it robs both Joel and Ellie of their character archs from a narrative standpoint. The entire point of The Last of Us is...

Spoiler snip.

I guess it's a testament to the game that we can have this discussion, but:

Spoiler

There IS no growth in Joel, that is the problem. The first part of the game after he can't save his daughter he becomes a survivor, caring only about his survival in the life he's fashioned. AFTER he realizes that he cares for Ellie, he does everything he can to survive and protect her, in the life he fashioned. There is no character arc here, no change.

The power in the story IMO would come from him accepting his love for Ellie AND letting her go, having to live with his inability to save anyone in his life he cared about, and living with that pain for a greater good. This is what Ellie would've wanted, that seems fairly clear and the only reason it DIDNT happen was because Joel was the same selfish ass he was from the very beginning.

 

[giancarlo123x]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUaX5XQUVxo

Looks like grounded+ just got a bit easier.

 

[Subtervotion]

These are the known bugged ones:

Spoiler

-Museum: at the of the encounter where you get back together with ellie and tess, they are both standing by the window and you talk to both, you have to make sure you listen to both of them without moving.
-University: The firefly graffiti, you have press triangle on the last one you see, which is behind the building in from of the statue where you met the monkeys.
-Winter: when you're in the room with the bloater, there's 2 bodies which trigger the conversation.

The

Spoiler

University

one actually got me. I triggered the convo on the first one and thought nothing of it.

Also the collect all collectibles trophy is glitched. I got it before I even collected the last 4 artifacts.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

i'd love a dodge function...

too many times am I punching a dude and joels animation doesn't reset or the enemy doesn't die I get automatically hit/countered, without the chance to flee

plenty of other pet peeves with this game. definitely not perfect.