RF Generation Message Board

Over three-quarters of the global population has succumb to the cordyceps fungus and slowly mutated into deadly creatures. It's your task to take a young girl from Boston to a rebel camp on the west coast.

Participation in the DLC is encouraged.

Overview
The Last of Us received widespread critical acclaim for its writing, voice acting, sound design, level design, and art direction. Its narrative was noted particularly for its characterization, application of subtext, and critical depiction of the human condition, dealing with themes of sacrifice, loyalty, fate, and hope. Soon considered one of the most significant titles of the seventh generation video game era.
Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us)

Platform
PS3
DLC available on PSN ($15)

Checkpoints
1 - Outbreak: Survive the outbreak of cordyceps in Texas and agree to smuggle something for the Fireflies. (1-2 hours play time)
1.1 - "Dam near broke my shootin' arm": Enter Lincoln and meet Bill.
2 - Reunion: Meet a new group of survivors at the dam.
3 - Cruel Winter: Everything happens for a reason... Do whatever is necessary to survive.
4 - Spring: Protect what you love. Complete the game.
*OPTIONAL* Girls Night Out: Get to know a little more about Ellie in the Left Behind DLC.
Analysis
Video Analysis of ending (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImvQs0fPJqU)
Retrospective blog (http://ca.ign.com/blogs/arieces/2013/12/31/retrospect-analysis-the-last-of-us-2/)
Dissection of the game play and narrative (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sJA-C1yrtk)
Combining film and video games to make The Last of Us (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAzqDgKYfiM)

Behind the Scenes Documentary
Grounded: The Making of the Last of Us (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0l7LzC_h8I)
Watch after completing the main game
From Dreams: The Making of The Last of Us: Left Behind (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZrIvpH5ksQ)
Watch after completion of DLC level "Left Behind"

Participants
blklblskt
Disposed Hero
Fleach
GrayGhost81
h1ghw1nd
techwizard(?)
Raidou
Stigzilla

Updates
Since this game is heavily narrative-driven I will use an unconventional approach to the checkpoints. Instead of posting weekly goals I will structure the checkpoints around key plot events. Think of these as chapters of a book.

Hell yes. Of course I'm in.

Very interested in this game for all the hype it got and given my love/hate relationship with the Uncharted series.

I'm in

I need to beat the game on Survivor+ difficulty.  This will be a great time to revisit one of my favorite games.  Count me in as well!

definitely in on this, assuming i can squeeze time in around Phantasy Star. i'll be playing on Survival difficulty.

I played this game when it first came out, and it was my personal GOTY for 2013.  I've been wanting to replay it on Survival difficulty, so this is as good a time as any.  I also need to check out the new DLC episode.  Count me in!

I've put a link to the "Grounded:The Making of The Last of Us" documentary in the main post. Those who have already finished the game can watch it. Anyone who will be starting the game for the first time should wait until they're done playing before watching the video.

Started this last year but didn't get far. Put me down for sure.

@GrayGhost, this game is much darker than Uncharted although it does follow the same formula of do an objective-get a story building cut scene-repeat. That's Naughty Dog's signature I guess.

@techwizard & blklblskt, I'm going to be a New Game Plus run as well. Should be fun.

@h1ghw1nd, you started and didn't finish?!  :nono:

I'm okay with that, I just loathe trial & error shooting galleries.

Weapons and ammo are  scarce so you often rely on stealth, traps, and outsmarting the enemy.

Thanks for posting that.  It was entertaining and insightful, and it got me pumped to revisit this awesome game.  I always find these behind the scenes documentaries to be interesting.

watched through the whole Grounded documentary, it was really good! definitely hyped up the game for me again.

Hell yeah count me right in. Been looking for a good reason to play this again. Will be playing on Survival.

You guys are serious. I'm going to be playing New Game Plus on Normal.

started a bit early today because a friend was over and i wanted to show her at least a little of the game, only played for about 20 minutes though

A very half-arsed checkpoint for Week 1 is up. Just play for two hours and report back with your progress. I'm in for a busy time the next few days.

Hopefully a more structured approach will be put in place.

Played for a few hours this evening.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Currently in the booby-trapped town of Lincoln looking for car parts for Billy.

I finally got a chance to play. Now transporting Ellie to the Capitol Building. This should be a good first checkpoint for first-time players. Anyone who is doing New Game Plus can continue, but please use those spoiler tags. This game is very story driven so I don't want anything being spoiled for the first-time players.

EDIT

Check the Updates section of the main post. I am using a different approach with this playthrough so make sure you're aware. This is mostly for players new to the game.

If you're replaying the game feel free to blaze your own path. Anyone who is new to the game aim to reach checkpoint 1.1.

Finally finished with midterms for this week, so I'm looking to jump into this tomorrow.  Can't wait to discuss what was likely my GOTY 2013.

This was my favourite game for 2013 as well. I'm sure it'll be my favourite of all time. I don't mind to sound biased but I love what Naughty Dog does, and this game has everything I could have wanted.

blklblskt, if you want to chat about this game please feel free to PM me. I'm sure we'll have some awesome discussions.

Ok so I'm a little ways past agreeing to transport something now. I forgot last time I was playing I had watched my brother play even beyond this point and I used his save to start my game. I'm glad I restarted though it feels better to control everything and just look through the environments. Where's everyone else at? I'm gonna play a little more here in a minute to get a better feel for the discussions. :P

You're in for a roller coaster of emotions. The upcoming scenes are great!

I also loved the environments (wait til you progress!) and I would walk so I could take it all in. I actually forgot Joel could jog/run during my first playthough. This game feels so slow paced that it only made sense to walk and my mind subconsciously made that decision. The decayed roads and buildings are so beautiful. I love the way nature has reclaimed the world just like that Discovery show "Life After People."

I'm just a little past the week 1 checkpoint.  I'm kinda anxious to get through this chapter because, while the whole game is good, it's after this section that the game gets REALLY good.

I love how intense some of the sections can be when you're trying to play stealthy.  Trying to sneak around clickers (on Survival difficulty, no less) can make for some nail-biting moments.  But it's all so satisfying when you get it right.

Has anybody played the Left Behind DLC yet?  I'm gonna wait until I finish the game to play it, but I'm curious to hear what people think about it.

Thanks for joining the playthrough, Hero. This is probably my favourite game ever so I'm happy to be playing through it as a group. If you want to talk about the main game or the DLC level shoot me a PM.

Nothing more satisfying than stealth shiving a clicker.  Suffice to say I keep running out of shivs.

Heh, I'm saving all of my shivs for locked doors on this playthrough, so I gotta sneak around ALL the clickers.....

....or slaughter them all.  Yeah, that's fun too  :)

Spoiler! Read with caution!

Spoiler (hover to show)

Shivs can be upgraded by opening the safe in the hotel in Philadelphia. PM me if anyone wants the location. Also using your pills to buy upgrades is super helpful.

I choke out Runners, and save shivs for doors, and Stalkers. Clickers are no sweat as long as you're quiet and don't use distractions. That'll just move them off their scripted paths.

I'm pretty sure my first playthrough took twice as long as it should have because I was busy staring at the environment.  It really is a masterpiece.

Same here. I find it difficult to talk about this game without sounding like a fanboy, but it's absolutely amazing in every way.

HOLD UP:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-making-a-last-of-us-movie-who-would-you-cast-as-joel-and-ellie/1100-6418155/

this is a thing

They must have seen all that amazing clicker cosplay (http://www.allthatsepic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/the-last-of-us-clicker-cosplay-13.jpg).

This is interesting news. Will it be like the Assassin's Creed movie with Michael Fassbender that is being rewritten even 6 months and likely won't see the light of day?

How can they condense the story into a two hour movie?

Just play the cutscenes and remove all the terrible gameplay. Sounds good to me.

I find this news very surprising because the creative leads behind the game said Joel and Ellie's story is over. They did, however, say that if they can come up with a good story to tell a sequel could be possible. Maybe this is that good story they were talking about.

it could be a sequel but my best guess will be an adaptation, especially since like you said they didn't really want to do a sequel. as for fitting in a 2 hour movie, i don't think it would be that difficult. like grayghost said, just cut out the gameplay (you don't like it?), and maybe a few scenes that aren't totally essential. i could see a lot of stuff in boston being cut, the stuff with "robert" near the beginning, maybe even all the scenes with Henry and Sam (i liked them a lot but i wouldn't call it essential to the plot).

I finished the game last night. About to watch Grounded right now. I have a lot of thoughts. Trying to decide whether to write them out or just link to a youtube vid or two in which a more eloquent speaker will express feelings about this game which I agree with.

Will you play the DLC level, Shawn?

It's worth it. You'll learn about Ellie's past and about what happened between the Winter and Spring segments.

I'm going to pass. I've had my fill of this story and its characters.

what's your general opinion of it, positive or negative? I know the ending can leave a sour taste in your mouth if you don't agree with it, but I loved how they did something that felt so wrong and debatable.

I loved the ending. I actually wrote Fleach a long pm today on my thoughts which I will probably just cut and paste here soon. Long story short everything was awesome except having to actually play the game. A lot of games are like that nowadays so it's not a big deal. I didn't want to nitpick everything while I was playing so I haven't posted anything really. I actually enjoyed the game a lot, but it may be one of the most overrated pieces of media ever created, as the press seemed to ignore its most glaring issues.

Week 3 checkpoint is up!

Survive the cruel winter.

haven't really done anything in this playthrough yet because of Phantasy Star but once i've beaten that i should have a good week left in march to power through TLOU. i beat it my first time through in only 4 days so i shouldn't have any problem with it :)

Beating this game within a week shouldn't be too hard. There's only one trial and error shooting gallery, and with the exception of being spotted by an enemy just off-screen (happened a lot to me) this game is pretty easy.

I just finished the Winter portion of the game. Always love that part.

the difficulty might make it take longer for me because i'll be playing on survival with echo-location disabled, but i still should be able to do it in a week anyway

Beat the game on normal difficulty.

Finished my New Game Plus on Normal this afternoon. It was just as great as my first run of the game.

Looking forward to the discussions.

I took about a week long hiatus from this game while playing Phantasy Star, but I picked it back up again yesterday.  I haven't reached checkpoint 2 yet, but I should be there before too long.  I'm still holding out on buying the DLC just in case it goes on sale before the end of the month.  Unlikely, I know, but I hate paying MSRP for anything.

[img width=500 height=481]http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mURyAMepzRA/UyjcRFEj2bI/AAAAAAAAAzY/2oSenOrLS1s/w500-h481-no/14+-+1[/img]

those jokebook scenes were great rofl

I'm still a little behind on the checkpoints, but I'll get caught up soon enough.  I'm currently

Spoiler (hover to show)

at the University, about to take out some runners

I recently got one of the new Sony Gold Wireless headsets, and I love using it while playing this game (or any game, for that matter).  I've never used a gaming headset before, so it's nice to be able to hear all of the little sound details that I missed while the audio was just coming from the TV.

now that i've finished Phantasy Star i decided to sit down and finally get going on this one. played for about an hour or so, just got past the part with the military trying to find you outside the walls, saved after the cutscene just before entering downtown.

Just started the Spring portion of the game.  I'm doing a New Game Plus and following a collectibles guide, and as a trophy/achievement hunter, it's nice to finally see some trophies popping up in this game.  I got hardly any trophies on my first playthrough.

I'm pretty anxious to play the Left Behind DLC when I finish the main game since that will be all new content to me.  Has anybody here played it yet?  Any opinions on if it lives up to the main game or if it's disappointing?

Oops. Hit "Modify" instead of "Quote." Sorry.

You won't get many trophies during the first playthrough; that's how the game is. The majority of the trophies will come in your second or third session with the game since most awards are for upgrading Joel and his weapons.

Left Behind is a great DLC level. It's about 3 hours long and completely worth it. It really cements Ellie's relationship with Joel and explores the events leading up to the main game.

Apparently The Last of Us is coming to PS4.

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/03/27/the-last-of-us-is-coming-to-playstation-4

I thought I bought my new Playstation for new games. I guess Sony had other plans.

huh...while i'm happy that it'll have a graphics upgrade with that, i'm sad that what should have been the PS3's swansong exclusive is now just another cross-generation transition game.

edit: yesterday i made some more progress on this, stopped just after being ambushed by the hunters. love the whole sequence with Bill, he's one of my favourites.

saved just as i exited the Regal Hotel and gave Ellie the hunting rifle before the fight in the street. really happy i knew what to expect in the flooded basement floors, because that made that whole area infinitely easier...managed to sneak past the bloater without even fighting him.

where abouts is everyone else, if you haven't already finished? for those who have finished what did you think about it, the month is just about over so spoilers are acceptable now!

So you're roughly half way through by now. I think you'll be able to finish if you know what you're doing and devote enough time to the game. I couldn't sneak past the bloater in the basement. Kudos to you.

I don't see the reason for releasing this game on PS4 if the only difference is a graphical overhaul. The Last of Us is readily available in many stores and has retained its value. Unless there are people who never owned a PS3 and want to play the game might have a chance now, but then they're missing out of a slew of great games.

Haha, I did the same thing in that section.  Got the keycard, turned on the generator, and got the hell out of there!   ;D

Just finished my New Game Plus playthrough on Survival.  Still trying to clean up some of the last few trophies I somehow missed.

I might hold off until Tuesday to buy the Left Behind DLC just in case it happens to get a discount.  I know it's unlikely, but I'll be kicking myself if I buy it now only for it to go on sale next week.

Ah, the "Magic Generator". That section took a few attempts cos the runners/bloater spawn in random locations each time you start the generator (often in unavoidable locations). 

Funny thing is that the electronic lock has an active LED (meaning that it's drawing power from somewhere), so why did I even need to turn on the fungoid-zombie-summoning-generator at all?

I must have gotten lucky then.  I just turned on the generator and made a mad dash for the exit.  I didn't even see the bloater (forgot there was one in this section until techwizard mentioned it).

the bloater actually spawned right next to the exit, but he was in the middle of that long animation where he throws that spore grenade at me when i got there so that took him long enough that i could run full speed past him and out the door.

finished Fall, saved at the start of Winter! looking forward to this, definitely one of the best segments in the game.

That's my favourite portion of the game. David is such a great character.

done! even when knowing what to expect it's still such an emotional roller coaster, i always get choked up at the end

Now that you guys mention it, I never really thought about what my favorite section of the game is.  The game is so consistently good throughout that it makes it hard to choose.  I think I would have to go with the latter half of the first section of the game (summer?), starting at Philadelphia (or maybe Lincoln, I can't decide).  That part just feels so gritty with the ruthless hunter faction running around that area.

Winter is also a great section of the game.  Playing as Ellie makes you think a little differently about how to take out the enemies since she can't take human shields and silently choke out enemies like Joel can.  I also really liked the 'boss fight' with David.

i'm not sure if anyone realised but if you look at your collectables while playing as ellie you'll notice that you have everything she collected throughout the journey, so it accurately represents what's in her backpack. it also gives you little dialogue clips from her for each item.

That's really cool. I knew you could look at everything you've collected throughout the game while playing Ellie, but I didn't know there were audio clips for the items.

Thanks for sharing that.

ya, i didn't look at them during this playthrough so i don't remember if there was one for every item or not but i'm fairly sure there was

A little late, but I just finished the Left Behind DLC.  Overall I enjoyed it very much.  I think it's great that they expanded on events that were alluded to during the main game.  I'll include the rest of my thoughts in spoiler tags so nothing will be spoiled for those who haven't played it yet:

Spoiler (hover to show)

I was surprised how much I enjoyed the action-less sections with Ellie and Riley.  I thought these sections would get boring, but I actually enjoyed these parts more than the Winter sections.  It was fun watching those two explore the mall and just act like kids, which isn't something we get to see Ellie do too often.  I was hoping they would show what happens when Riley turns.  I assume that Ellie was the one to put her down (either that or she escaped after Riley turned), but I think it was a missed opportunity for a very emotional moment. 

As far as the more action-oriented Winter portions with Ellie fending off hunters and infected, they provided some pretty intense fights.  One thing I liked about this part was that you could lure a pack of infected towards a group of hunters and watch them kill each other, which is a strategic element I really felt was missing from the main game.  Story-wise, I didn't feel like the Winter portion brought anything to the table, but I'm assuming it was really just there for the action to offset the tamer 'prequel' portion of the game.

I'm glad you had a chance to play the DLC level. I thought was great to explore more of Ellie's past and get a better understanding of the events she references throughout the main game.

Spoiler (hover to show)

The opportunity to play as a young Ellie in a collapsed society was another memorable experience. The main game sets up the setting as a place that isn't for kids and once outside the military controlled zones it is very much a kill or be killed environment. So being able to just be a kid and have innocent fun in a world that simply wouldn't allow for that was great. It brought some humanity to the game.

As for Ellie potentially putting Riley out of her misery, that wouldn't have been right. The game (the the parallel Winter segment) had enough killing that if the romp through the mall ending in a mercy kill it would have not had the same impact. It still would have been an emotional scene, but wouldn't have the same weight. The ambiguous ending was much more fitting and Riley's last words mirrored Joel's which helps the player understand a little better why Ellie is the way she is during the main game.

I also really had fun getting Infected to fight

Spoiler (hover to show)

Robert's

men. According to some developer interviews that was something they would have liked to include in the main game, but didn't have the time/programming prowess for.

I'm a little late to the party, but I recently started playing through the Last of Us as well. I'm unfortunately not enjoying it as much as you guys seemed to. If you've listened to me talk about Bioshock on the podcast that kind of sums up my feelings on the last of us as well. I don't get it :(

I guess both because of the universal praise/Game of the Year statements for the game and the emphasis on it being very immersive I expected it to be a very unique experience. It was not. It has so many video game tropes strewn about that everytime I would start to get sucked into the world I'd get tossed back out again.

My thoughts would go something like this while playing "Henry is kind of a jerk, but I guess I can see why he would put Sam as his priority and it did work out when it was all said and done. Looks like people used to live in the sewer down here. That classroom is prett ominus. Hey! There is some water! Time to find a pallet........" Or "Man that was a close one. Two bullet shot wounds and a runner attack. Good thing rag+booze=surgery+recovery time!"

The atmosphere feels very tense at first as well. Limited inventory, easy to die during most fights. I can get behind that. BUT pretty early on you are tought that it doesnt matter at all. The anxienty I had during the first few fights left when I realized you just respawn right away with no real consequences. And by the time I was entering the Hotel I had maxed out all my crafting weapons and items so I was never in need of inventory items anymore.

I remember Bil talking about how each person you took down struck him as an actual human. How you felt the impact of that death as you made it happen. I definitely couldn't feel that as the enemies still act very much like typical video game enemies. "Oh did you hear that bottle smash? Better check it out in a small group and leave our back to the hero so he has enough time to take us all out". It also took me out of the experience when I noticed things like you are invulnerable during certain animations. I could smash an enemies head into something or beat them to death with a melee weapon while taking heavy gunfire and come away unscathed. I've even had Ellie/Sam/Bill/Tess/Henry walk out right in front of an enemy while we were being stealthy, literally walk into them in a few cases, and they didn't notice thier presence.

Lastly the story so far (I'm just about the enter the science area of the University), seems very familiar and not really unique. I've seen this all before so far (Children of Men, Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, etc.). Fleach said the ending is a twist though so I'm gonna see it out for that.

What makes this game so special for all of you guys that are loving it? I'm just seeing it as "Dark Gloomy Shooter 105".

Let's get this out of the way first: as a game, The Last of Us isn't anything new or innovative (and it is pretty buggy at times.. "Bill stop running in front of that clicker!"). Except for the game not pausing while your craft items, maybe. The major downfall of this game is also perhaps its best trait - it wants to be a movie. It's written extremely well, gets you interested in the characters and their motivations, and makes you want to see them succeed in their journey.

What I liked most weren't the stealth or action sequences, but the quiet moments where I could just rummage through the debris for supplies, take in the beautifully decayed world, and getting snippets of conversation from Ellie and Joel. It would be unrealistic if they didn't talk to each other, or if the conversations only involved the plot or their situation. And if Joel was some kind of Rambo one-man-army the game would lose its impact and tension.

But at the end of the day you're playing a video game. You're going to succeed by trial and error and sometimes luck (which makes it feel like less of a game and more of a movie). To incorporate a Heavy Rain-esque consequence system wouldn't work because who would replace Joel? It might slightly work that when Ellie dies you see some kind of cut scene that shows the decline of America into a bunch of fungal zombies, but that would be cliche and silly, and would lose its meaning very fast.

What I took away from The Last of Us wasn't the game play but the experience of going on that journey. It was a well told story and hooked me and left me feeling satisfied.

Crabby, watch this YouTube video when you finish the game. This guy shares you pain.

Spoiler (hover to show)

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

i can see all the problems you mentioned crabby but for me this is one of those games where i enjoyed the story so much that the problems with the gameplay weren't very detracting. also if we're comparing it with movies or books, then no it's not very original. besides the infected it's extremely similar to Cormac McCarthy's The Road. compared to games though i haven't seen many that i feel pulled off a story like this in a way that didn't feel cheesy or uninteresting. there are enough twists (especially from winter and spring, which you haven't gotten to yet) that put it above and beyond most games for me.

Finished the game last night. The Winter section was definitely unexpected. Storywise it was a nice change of pace. Spring was much more predictable though. I was bothered that the gameplay never changed AT ALL. No new enemy types introduced after the bloater (which was very early), no new enviromental elements (snow didn't alter the fights at all, but looked cool), same old arsenal, enemies still behave the same. The battles, which I wasn't particularly into at the start, became more and more of a grind as the game went on. The puzzles also stayed very repetitive. Water.....Pallet, Ledge.....Ladder, Locked Door......Ellie. Gameplay-wise you can stop playing after the first 2 hours because you've experienced the game in it's entirety.

The ending was good though, I did like how they left things.

My last gripe is that this game also has the worst trophies ever. They are all just grinding or using a completion guide. None of them encourage you to try anything fun or interesting.


This is your only point I have to disagree with. In my game Joel had killed hundreds of men and dozens of infected, taken many bullet wounds/knife wounds, punched people to death with just a couple blows, could modify weapons greatly with just a pair of plyers and some random scrap metal, healed at a super human rate, carried an entire arsenal on him, and did all of those things while bleeding severly from being punctured straight through from back to front in the stomach area and then again while recovering from said wound which was apparently infected (the regular kind of infected). I'd have to double check, but I think Joel may have actually killed more men than Rambo did in all his movies combined ;)

You are hard to please. We gotta hop on Skype and discuss this, not to put anyone down for their opinions, but to discuss the highs and lows/hits and misses of this game because you brought them up.

As for the enemy types. You have Runners (mindless attackers), Stalkers (some vision and will try to sneak up on you), Clickers (harmless until provoked), and Bloaters (fully infected, deformed killing machines). If something like this happened in real life (and it does in the insect world) would you have more than four forms of an infection?

And about my Rambo comment... I just meant that you can't go in guns blazing and expect to win. But, yes, Joel is a bullet sponge.

I largely agree with that youtube link you posted. He gets a lot of my thoughts across, but much more elequently.

I wasn't even aware that Stalkers was an enemy type. I though it was just runners, clickers, bloaters as far as infected go. But I also include the human characters. I assume that trained soldiers would behave differently than a somewhat organized milita and that they would both behave differently than an unorganized group of blood thirsty bandits. I'd be wrong though apparently.

You may not be able to go in all guns blazing in most situations, but you can go in all two-by-fours blazing on many occasions. If you take advantage of the invulnerability during the kill animation you can take out 3-4 armed men with your melee attacks.

Also only one of the self upgrades was useful. I put all my personal upgrades into hearing further (weird) and then saved the rest to use later in case I felt one of the other stats was in need of a boost. I kind of forgot and didn't actual upgrade anything else, oops

if you play on survival with echo location turned off then that changes the game significantly for the difficulty. i made a solid attempt at going without upgrading myself all the way until the sewers with Henry and Sam, but when i got stuck on a couple rooms for over an hour i was forced to upgrade and even then i barely made it through. i'm not sure what you mean when you say you were wrong about assuming different groups would behave differently, because in my experience they did most of the time. military used cover much more extensively than the hunters, and worked together to flank you better. the hunters, true to their name, typically would stalk around trying to find you and rarely sat around waiting defensively for you to screw up (like a lot of the military did except in certain scenes).

I played on normal and most of the time I either found a good corner to sit in and just shot all of the infected, or was able to fight them all off with a 2x4/my hands. Bloaters I found it easy to throw molotovs at them and blast with the shotgun, run if necessary. I agree with pretty much everything Crabby said. I think it's a good game and was well worth my time playing but the story is super bland. I don't know if it was all the hype but I just feel like I'm left wanting more. Maybe it's the ending. Maybe it's because I find the enemies to be very…lame haha. The clickers remind me of Jar Jar Binks. I haven't played the DLC (though I want to) but from what I hear it is about it doesn't seem like that's going to change the overall feel for me.

Also I never had a single Stalker run up behind me unless they did when I was in a brawl LOL. I wasn't aware they were an enemy type either.

Stalkers were the Infected that wondered around moaning. There a bunch in the Sewer scene. They're very much like Runners but not as mindless.

finally got around to watching/reading all the analysis that Fleach linked to in the original post for this playthrough, it was all really good!

to those who didn't like the game very much, i highly recommend watching this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sJA-C1yrtk

it's one that Fleach linked to so you might already have, but if you haven't and are willing to sit through 34 minutes then it's well worth it. he actually mentions the Errant Signal video and counters some of it's points

The Last of Us represents a very polarizing trend in video games. As games try to be more cinematic that often comes at the expense of the gameplay. That seems to be why we have such opposing views of the game and why its impact is often lost on people.

When people call the story of the game unoriginal I'm reminded of a quote from a movie called "The Trip." The line is, "Everything's already been done. You just have to do it differently or better." That sums up the writing of TLOU in one line.

I'm not defending the game and I respect everyone's opinion, I just want to stir conversation and thought since this discussion is still popular.

i agree for sure, saying "it's been done before" isn't much of an argument against it. what matters is whether or not it was done better than past influences or not.

One of the biggest complaints that I see about The Last of Us is that it's not a very good shooter.  I would agree with this, because it isn't meant to be played as a shooter.  If you're just running into areas and shooting/punching all of the enemies to death, quite frankly, you're playing it wrong.  To me, saying "The Last of Us is a bad shooter" is the same as saying "The Shining is a bad comedy movie."

The Last of Us is a stealth-action game.  In my opinion, playing it as a run & gun shooter wouldn't be much different than trying to play something like Splinter Cell as a shooter.  The guns are really there as a last resort, or for taking calculated risks in order to take out an enemy from a distance or to 'thin the herd.'  Playing on the harder difficulties, shooting/punching your way through all the enemies wouldn't even be an option due to a lack of ammo and the enhanced difficulty.

For me, the game was at its best when I was trying to sneak past and silently take out groups of enemies.  Barring a few quirks, the stealth mechanics of the game work pretty well, even if they are a bit minimalistic compared to the likes of Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid.  Actually, I really didn't care for the 'forced shooting' parts of the game (i.e. Ellie and David fending off infected in the cabin).  Sneaking around and taking out enemies one by one was intense and satisfying, and yes, sometimes shit would hit the fan and I'd be forced to start shooting and fall back.  And this creates different scenarios depending on which enemy type you're up against.  Infected mindlessly charge you, while human enemies will try to use more strategy to flush you out and flank you.  From a stealth perspective, this can considerably change your approach, but from a shooter perspective, well, all enemies react the same to a bullet to the head.

I haven't played The Last of Us on anything lower than hard difficulty, but I can see how it wouldn't be as good of an experience if the challenge wasn't there.  I would highly recommend anybody who played on normal difficulty to go back and play on hard or survival difficulty.  Rushing all of the enemies simply isn't an option on the harder difficulties.  Ammo and crafting resources become quite scarce, and it forces you to carefully consider your actions (Do I use up my last few shotgun rounds to take out some clickers, or do I try to sneak around?  Do I use my last bit of alcohol to create a health kit or a molotov?  Tough decisions I actually had to make).

As far as the criticisms about the story, I personally enjoyed it, but if all of the tropes are as familiar and overused as people say they are (I don't watch a lot of movies, so I can't really comment), I can see how it would be predictable and less interesting.  The whole idea of a mutated cordyceps fungus infecting humans creates a neat 'what if' scenario, but I'll admit, it does come off as just an elaborate excuse to make a 'zombie game.'

I wasn't aware that the game is as polarizing as it is until very recently.  I've been reading various opinions from various sources, and it seems some people truly hated the game.  I can understand not liking the game, it not being everyone's cup of tea, or it falling short of expectations, that's all well and good, but I think a lot of the extreme hate stems from the game being as hyped as it was.  If somebody approaches The Last of Us as a stealth game instead of a shooter and still doesn't like it, fair enough.  It just sounds like some people were expecting 'Zombie Uncharted' and that just isn't what this game is. 

Whew!  I didn't mean to write an entire essay.  But anyway, this is just one man's opinion.  I just wanted to get my thoughts out there, and hopefully stir up some more conversation since I'm stuck at work and have nothing better to do at the moment  :)

I actually thought the shooting mechanics were great. They feel kinda close up like you're using them yourself. I got scared a few times looking down the sight while something came up from behind.

I'm also a fan of sneaking around (Hitman, Manhunt, Metal Gear) & "movie" type games (Uncharted, Tomb Raider, FFX LOL) so idk why I'm hard on this game. The story was boring last time. I'm gonna replay it on hard and try to use as few bullets as possible….and check out the DLC too.

I'm just starting to watch that video techwizard posted but do you guys agree this is the defining game (or one of them) for this generation? What's the best thing this game offers?

Excellent posts Highwind and Disposed Hero! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the game. Glad people are watching the videos and thinking critically about the game and sharing their well developed thoughts.

Disposed, your opinion is very similar to mine in that I can't really find any faults with this game. I think people criticize The Last of Us because it can't be pigeon holed into one specific genre and so they preach their dislike to the masses. A lot of player will say, "this game has guns so it's a shooter" or "there is a sound/noise mechanic so this is a stealth game." If you really wanted to you could call The Last of Us an RPG because you can upgrade your character and weapons. But now with so many genres blending together we need to reassess how we categorize games.

Highwind, I would really like to think of The Last of Us as a defining game of this generation as it represents so many milestones in gaming. The voice acting, motion capture/animation, writing, level design, programming are all top notch and I want to see how the next big game outshines this one. But I find it difficult to chose just one game to hold the honour. BioShock Infinite was great (even though it has its faults and I feel I take the same stance Crabby did for TLOU for BS Infinite) and it did the same thing TLOU did, but in a first person perspective. Two very similar games, done differently. Then there are the Indie hits The Stanley Parable and Gone Home which both subvert the way narrative is handled in games. I think you posed an excellent question that I can't answer simply because we're at such a high point in games right now. I only hope the industry doesn't fly too close to the sun.

My favourite thing about the game: the script. Hands down it was pinnacle of character and story development in games to date.

@Highwind:  I personally liked the shooting mechanics myself also, but at the same time, I wasn't really using guns most of the time.  I'm assuming that most of the people who labeled this game as a 'shooter' tried to treat it like Max Payne or something similar, and if that's the case, I can see how they could come away disappointed.

I'm also a fan of all of those types of games you mentioned.  I've also heard people compare The Last of Us to the likes of Heavy Rain because of all the cinematic elements.  I loved Heavy Rain also, but not sure if I really agree with that comparison.

As far as The Last of Us being the defining game of this generation....  As much as I loved the game, I don't think I would call it that.  I feel like that's something I would have to give a lot of thought before handing out a title like that.  Off the top of my head though, I would probably call Uncharted 2 the defining game of this generation ahead of The Last of Us.  I feel like a lot of the things that The Last of Us does was done first in the Uncharted series, and The Last of Us was more or less built on that formula.  I'm not even sure which game I like more since it's been so long since I've played Uncharted 2.  I should really go back and play it soon....

@Fleach:  Yeah, I guess me simply calling The Last of Us a stealth-action game is a gross generalization because it has many elements from many different genres.  This overlap of genres is becoming more and more common with games nowadays.  I agree, it's probably about time the gaming community starts thinking of new methods of categorization.

A new downloadable difficult in slated for release soon called "Grounded Mode."


Who's interested in trying this DLC and discussing over PMs or Skype?

Source: http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/04/17/the-last-of-the-last-of-us-dlc-finally-detailed/

I'm intrigued.  I'll probably pick this up.  Feel free to PM me when it releases.

I have the season pass so I'll probably check it out too. Still playing through on hard... should beat it in a couple days if I keep logging in time lol

i think this is a new record for the longest community playthrough discussion over time, though not in post count

It's a testament to how amazing this game really is. ;)