The Last of Us Discussion

Just wanted a thread to discuss this when it releases. I have decided to not watch any new singleplayer stuff since last E3 I believe to go in fresh, so not much to say other than I'm excited! I did give the multiplayer trailer a look. Sounds a little lacking in modes. The meta stuff seems kind of pointless to me. And I was disappointed to see the wallhack/situational awareness nonsense in there. Otherwise it looked alright if not particularly original. I had something a little more interesting in mind.

Oh I did see there will be New Game + which is always good.

So excited for this game. And I get a new Walking Dead issue next week so it's going to be zombie central!

One of my most anticipated games of the year. Have the day off as well so I can hopefully play it all day as long as the girlfriend doesn't have it off. She'll make me clean because she's a party pooper.

IGN gave The Last of Us a perfect 10. Off the top of my head there are only a few games I can recall them giving that score to...

MGS4, Uncharted 3, GTA 4, and I think Skyward Sword got a 4 and maybe one of the Mario Galaxy games. Can't wait for next week. Apparently there have been like 25 other places giving it perfect scores.

Perfect scores lose all meaning once you give them to MGS4, Uncharted 3, and especially GTA4

I'm sort of worried that the ending is going to turn out basically the same as The Walking Dead. It's still my most wanted game of the year

ajapam wrote:Perfect scores lose all meaning once you give them to MGS4, Uncharted 3, and especially GTA4

Skyward Sword definitely deserves to be grouped with those. Seems Mario Galaxy 2 was the exception to a game getting a perfect score from them and actually deserving it. Let's hope Last of Us is as well.

I don't think even Mario Galaxy 2 deserved a 10 so they must be wrong there too. Especially if IGN was using the 100 point scale at the time. Not sure about the guy who wrote TLOU review over there, but at least it wasn't Greg Miller. His Dead Space 2 and Uncharted 3 reviews (seriously go read these) were kind of embarrassing. Don't understand how he gets paid to do it.

There were some good outlets that gave TLOU a 10 though, but really who cares about reviews. I'm glad it is doing well for ND's sake, but we'll be able to judge it for ourselves in a week.

Holy shit that Dead Space 2 review was pathetic. I'm nowhere near perfect as a reviewer, but even my worst reviews are better than that. I don't even want to read his Uncharted 3 review after that.

I think Greenie's reviews are the only ones worth paying attention to. Even then it's about the content and not the "score".

Anyways, I think I'm holding off on this game until a GotY or a sub-$40 drop. There's just too much coming out and my backlog is unreasonable as-is. I look forward to seeing what you guys have to say though.

I hate looking up info on games I know look to have amazing stories. I know nothing about it other than its supposedly awesome.

Kayshire Cat wrote:I trust IGN's reviews about as much as I trust myself keeping my clothes on around Cassie.

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Uh anyway, I'm looking forward to this game too. Obviously with the kind of games I play sometimes I don't care about review scores, but positive ones are always nice to see. I have no doubt that TLOU will be great.

Intro is pretty damn cool. Otherwise, I haven't gotten too far. Definitely not a shooter for those wondering if it would be. I think I played a couple hours and while I did shoot someone, I feel like I probably could have avoided shooting anyone. Stealth and melee weapons rule the day I think. Environments are beautiful. Story is great so far.

Oh and make sure to spoiler tag any story spoilers for when you guys start playing. Gameplay impressions are cool.

Intro was a little too long and hit home too close to Heavy Rain followed by a little too much cinematic stuff for my taste. The second it got going though...OH MY FUCKING GOD I FUCKING LOVE THIS GAME!!! Combat's so damn intense and I'm actually getting scared shitless while playing. I only want to play it at night now to increase the intensity of this, but it's proving really hard to do so. It's so fucking good!

I was going to buy this when at work today, and we sold every fucking copy.  To make matters worse, my girlfriend told me she was going to buy it for me but it was sold out.  She never buys me games, and this time I was going to get a free one.  I'm waiting until Wal-Mart gets it because I have a $30 gift card, so why not use it for that?  Totally bummed.

Hopefully you can snag one soon Bret.

This game is just amazing. I think it offers a little for all different kinds of gaming fans. The story and characters are great for those who prefer to play for that sort of thing. There is action, horror, survival, stealth and all done fairly well.

The combat encounters are just so good. So many ways to approach them (or bypass them) and so many ways to toy with enemies. There aren't a ton of different enemies, but there are significantly different types which vary wildly with how they behave which makes combat scenarios less predictable. You get to hold onto any weapons you get, but switch between certain weapons, as well as healing and crafting all happen in real-time (or maybe not the right term, but during gameplay) which adds intensity to already intense combat encounters. AI seems pretty smart too. Also kind of a risk reward aspect to taking on enemies. Is it worth the ammo and health lost so you can scour the area for supplies, or do you pass by try to hold onto what you have. Personally, I've been killing stuff. Stealthily when I can, but I've wanted to explore all the levels.

I think my big question about the game is what would you do when not in combat and honestly there isn't much. But given the intensity of the combat, I think just walking around talking to other characters, getting supplies and crafting stuff to prepare for your next fight works as a nice respite from the action.

This game rocks. This is what I needed after being so blah about games lately.

I'm an hour or two in. I love the options that you get in combat. I replayed UC2 right before buying this, and this is definitely a huge step up from that game. Also, I love the lack of recharging health. It makes a HUGE difference in gunfights. Sound effects are awesome, too, which is a big thing in a game like this, I think. They make it feel like every shot counts.

The opening was great. I just met Ellie for the first time so I haven't seen much of a story yet. The world seems to be put together pretty well... When I asked for a game in a universe like Children of Men, this is pretty close to the vibe I was looking for

So my last comment can be seen as the game making a strong first impression on me. But that's not the case. 9 hours and 22 minutes in and I still mean every word of that. If anything, it's just kept getting better and better. Pacing is fantastic and it's one of those rare games where I can die 20 times in a row and blame myself every single time. I've experienced three cheap deaths and those were only because I didn't know I was supposed to flee the encounter. 

I see this ending up in my top 3 this gen without a doubt.

I said this on Twitter so I might as well say it here. I keep thinking it might be my favorite game this gen. And that puts it crazy high on my all-time favorite games list. Like it's so rare for a game to hit me like that, so it feels weird. But the game feels that good. Obviously the combat is just better than Uncharted 2 and the story is really hitting me right. Joel and Ellie are fantastic. The voice-actors, the sound design, the visuals. I've already talked about the combat and encounter design which is so top-notch. It seem to have a long-playtime and be very replayable.

Obviously I need to finish it. And replay it and really just have a few weeks to think back on it before even knowing where to place it, but man... I'm blown away. In Bruce Straley I trust. He's simply the best.

Finished it tonight. Loved every second of it. Right now I'd rank it as my top game this gen and in my top 3 all-time. It just does what it does so well. I'm absolutely blown away. Sorry for those who read this bit on Twitter already. And I'll stop with the superlatives for now... haha. Will start up another playthrough tomorrow. Debating on Survivor or New game +.

Oh and I missed the tweet about multi earlier, but I am down to play some later this week. Has anyone tried it? Curious how it is.

Definitely go for Survivor first Trip. Then you can decide whether you want to use that or your original file for NG+ and the challenge increase will be less steep than if you go from a NG+ to survivor.

I tried some multiplayer. It was pretty interesting. I can't really grasp yet whether it'll capture the nature of the SP or defeat the purpose of it, but I thought the mechanics translated well to MP based on that. Scavenging supplies and crafting items in real time was pretty interesting and could be what makes me like the game. Need to play some more before I can really decide how I feel on it though.

Yeah good point. Probably be more rewarding to do NG+ on Survivor after I finish an initial run on it. Curious to try the multiplayer. Not sure if it is my style, but I'll definitely give it a go. Glad to hear they brought over a lot of the singleplayer stuff. I did see in footage they included listen mode which is lame. I never used that in the story mode.

Really, you never used listen mode? That thing is like my best friend in it.

Just for the tutorial and maybe once or twice after. Didn't like it. Seemed kind of cheap to me and like it might reduce the challenge. Reminds me of situational awareness in Uncharted 2 multi so it will surely be terrible in multiplayer.

I wasn't a fan of the multiplayer. Honestly, I enjoyed UC2's more

I used to use listen mode, but I turned it off to make things a bit more tense

Just beat it. I love this game so much.

I also have to say

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I definitely agree on that point Also ending spoilers

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Got the game today.  Was more annoyed than I should have been when Tess ran right in front of an enemy and literally right by him and he reacted in no way.  I made a strong exhaling noise in disgust.  Hopefully that is the last time I see something like that.

I love that scene too Trip! 

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