Game Debate #51: The Last of Us

[Reed Rothchild | 9,640]

[DarkTone | 989]

9/10. Amazing story. 

[O.G. CIB | 415]

9/10 for sure......... such an amazing game!

[Sumez | 3,013]

Been in my backlog for too long

[sp1nz | 629]

When I finished it I had the knee-jerk reaction to think of it as a 9/10 game due to the story impact (for video game standards) but at the same time I don't think I'd jump from joy to replay it. The game's approach to design is more grounded than grandiose or "fun". The gameplay is serviceable but nothing to write home about; you explore, you sneak, you fight, you loot, you craft. My immersion was constantly broken when sneaking because enemies don't react to your partner(s) being in plain sight or making noise but obviously this choice was made to not piss of people with AI babysitting. Most design areas beyond the gameplay were done really well and they really carry the overall package. It's a bleak journey worth experiencing once for most people, so I'll be in the 8/10 camp.

[themisfit138 | 523]

2/10. The story was alright, but the gameplay was a slog. Why give me the illusion of stealth if you are just going to have a big fight anyways. Just one of my many dislikes of the game. I have similar complaints about Uncharted.  

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

Never played it, but it sounds interesting.

[TDIRunner | 2,794]

Never played it, but definitely want to try it.  

[Gloves | 11,890]

Gave it an 8 based on my opinion of it when it first came out and when I actually (first) played it.

I got the platinum, maxed out the multiplayer, ran game nights with my trophy hunting friends, really played the shit out of it when it was THE thing to be playing.

Revisiting it on the PS4 ("HD Remaster") and accounting for the butchering the story took with the sequel soured me on it, but I prefer to remember a game for the time I had with it initially rather than necessarily judge it based on future hindsight.

[DefaultGen | 5,506]

I think it's great all around. It's not overly long so I didn't get bored of the stealth, combat, or walking simulatoring around super detailed areas like I eventually did with 30 hours of Part II. It does a good job not letting any one of those aspects overstay its welcome. It does repeat the same plot cycle like 4 times of: We need to get to (far off structure) > Oh no, zombies! > The real enemy... is man!

Ellie is probably the strongest female child character in any game in TLOU1. It's easy to get behind the survival-at-all-cost characters on a quest to save humanity even if they're not "the good guys". TLOU2 made that pretty impossible, and it was filled with long sections trying to sympathize or humanize characters that are actual murderous psychopaths.

8 for me

[Nintegageo | 582]

Easy 9 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

4 hours ago, themisfit138 said:

2/10. The story was alright, but the gameplay was a slog. Why give me the illusion of stealth if you are just going to have a big fight anyways. Just one of my many dislikes of the game. I have similar complaints about Uncharted.  

Yep, gameplay absolutely killed it for me.  I know how it goes because of my brother (who slogged through it despite having the same issues withe gameplay I did) and YouTube.  Oh, you're using this gun in this area primarily?  Well here's tons of ammo for every other gun!  Now you want to use the gun we just spent hours throwing tons of ammo at you for?  Well, it's too bad you can't go back and pick any of it up!  And hey, we all know how backpacks work, you can only put a certain amount of every thing you're likely to find in it and not ALL of the ONE THING that you ACTUALLY USE...right?  I just hard turned off my Playstation when I ran into the issue of not being able to stab one of the "zombies" with one half of a pair of scissors.  I guess if I break all of the scissors in the house into two pieces, it's ok to let my kids run around with them, because in no way is one of two sharp, pointed, steel blades dangerous--it's only when they're in pairs!  I won't even get into only being able to use a pair of scissors once and apparently being too inept to remove them from a body for re-use.

So, great story but absolutely abysmal game design, as it's crystal clear that 99% of the stupid restrictions they have on inventory, weapon usage, etc., is specifically put in there to drag things out, and make what would probably be a 2-3 hour game with a great story into an absolute slogfest for people who don't enjoy operating within arbitrary, nonsensible restrictions that in no way reflect the way things really are.  Didn't and won't play again and more than happy to skip the sequel as well.

[Rocketship Evan | 55]

10 – I thought it was a perfect game. I don't play games for the story but I thought the story was good. The gameplay loop, the controls, the atmosphere, the multiplayer, I thought all of the was right on the money. I've beat it five times, I'd beat it on hard then hard plus then that next difficulty and it's plus and then the downloadable difficulty and I was working on its plus when I quit playing. The multiplayer I'm surprised didn't get more recognition, the way they integrated stealth and sound and how it worked with your mini map was revolutionary. The gunplay felt excellent, the sneaking was smooth as silk. I hated the uncharted series but I Loved this game. Best bow ever

[cj_robot | 555]

1 hour ago, Rocketship Evan said:

10 – I thought it was a perfect game. I don't play games for the story but I thought the story was good. The gameplay loop, the controls, the atmosphere, the multiplayer, I thought all of the was right on the money. I've beat it five times, I'd beat it on hard then hard plus then that next difficulty and it's plus and then the downloadable difficulty and I was working on its plus when I quit playing. The multiplayer I'm surprised didn't get more recognition, the way they integrated stealth and sound and how it worked with your mini map was revolutionary. The gunplay felt excellent, the sneaking was smooth as silk. I hated the uncharted series but I Loved this game. Best bow ever

Exactly my feelings about the game. I thought the single player game was great and played through it a few times. Then the multiplayer got me hooked like no other game ever has. Hands down my favorite game from that gen.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

On 5/27/2021 at 10:23 AM, Gloves said:

Gave it an 8 based on my opinion of it when it first came out and when I actually (first) played it.

I got the platinum, maxed out the multiplayer, ran game nights with my trophy hunting friends, really played the shit out of it when it was THE thing to be playing.

Revisiting it on the PS4 ("HD Remaster") and accounting for the butchering the story took with the sequel soured me on it, but I prefer to remember a game for the time I had with it initially rather than necessarily judge it based on future hindsight.

I've never played either one, but I remember reading a lot of complaints about the direction the story took when the sequel came out. 

[Tanooki | 4,958]

Disliked it, a lot.  Gave it a 3 which I see few agree with.  I found the gameplay wasn't the best, nor was the camera, a lot of stupid unnecessary deaths over it.  I'd go lower, but I thought the atmosphere, set pieces, primary characters, and story were pretty good, especially for a survival horror style-ish type game as it is.

[Webhead123 | 691]

Been in my backlog forever and I drag my feet on it because everything I've heard about it suggests to me that I will be disappointed.

a) I'm just not that into "cinematic experience" 3rd-person games of this sort. There are some games in this genre that I have enjoyed, of course. But such a game has to have really amazing gameplay if it wants me to forgive it for forcing me to watch hours of scripted encounters and cutscene transitions.

b) I know the zombie approach in the game is unique and I appreciate that immensely...but the zombie genre on the whole is such a tired horse in video games today. Quickest way to make me disinterested in your game? Make it about fighting zombies. And cutscenes. Or fighting zombies during cutscenes. Snore.

c) My brother actually played all the way through it and I asked some probing questions to help me figure out if it was going to be my cup of tea. He said that the "movie" element of the game was pretty impressive in terms of character drama, etc. But the gameplay was occasionally frustrating and limiting in the worst ways. According to him, anyway. I've come to more or less trust my brother's instincts when it comes to certain kinds of games. Did not bode well for this one.

[wongojack | 232]

I went and found my old comments about this game from 2014.  I'm not sure if I remember everything I was referencing here, but I definitely remember being a bit overloaded with zombies (and zombies killing your kids) at the time.  I also just never really liked Joel.  I thought he was a dud of a character.  I was kinda happy about the way they handled Joel in the sequel (which I didn't play until 2022/23).  I have never done a 2nd playthrough, and I'll mention that even though I made other comments at the time saying I liked the ending, I didn't even remember the ending when I finally got around to playing the sequel. - voted 7/10

 

Below is from 2014

I just finished playing "The Last of Us" on PS3. I think it is fine, but I'm not sure I understand all the praise that this game has gotten. I'm a little disappointed with the story as it is really just another zombie story. This one is the special immune one and now the person I most care about has been bitten . . . blah blah. I was hoping for a bit more originality. I guess life is hard after you've consumed everything there is that carries the name "The Walking Dead." Or "Y the Last Man" or Fallout or even more original zombie related stuff like BioShock and Dead Space.

Actually, I didn't really enjoy the core gameplay for most of the game. I didn't look forward to the conflicts as I felt they were trying to teach me something new about how to kill stuff with each encounter. It's more like trying to figure out what they expect me to do rather than actually play the game. Also, those baddies are real bullet sponges while one molotov can take out a whole group just by barely getting something hot. It seemed the guns were almost useless at first and then they decided : I got it, let's make them shoot stuff like 40 times while hanging upside down!

 

There was one action sequence where I finally gave up fighting the game and figured out what they were doing. A part where you have to start a generator to swipe a keycard and escape a basement to rejoin Elle. In that section, you'd pull the cord - zombie. Kill the zombie and pull the cord - more zombie. You had to do it their way. I had to make peace with the fact that you can't really get through most of the encounters without dying the first time. It's more like a horror movie where your hero always has an incredibly thin margin of success. Not like Batman where you are a bada$$ and can always beat up everything. Of course, having access to all the weapons helped me enjoy it more too. The bow was fun.

 

The Uncharted characters were so much more interesting. There really isn't much going on story wise early-on, and Joel doesn't give us much of a reason to give a crap about him. However, things got ALOT better after the Wyoming power plant with his brother. Joel was barely even a character up until that point.

 

I think it would be more fun a second time through. Now that I've learned to stop worrying and love the spores so to speak. Unfortunately the copy that was given to me was used, so there is no online multiplayer for me. I've also got so many other games to play.

[G-type | 2,601]

I like the TV show..

[NostalgicMachine | 261]

Never played it, but I'd give it a shot!

[Sumez | 3,013]

I was thinking about this game just today. Or rather, this whole school of games, and about what it is that really strikes me about them that makes me distance myself from them. Even a game like TLOU that I don't strictly mind. The story is ok, and the gameplay is alright. And both are improved in the sequel.

I thought about one thing that really defines TLOU as well as many other AAA games, and other less-than-AAA ones still targeting a similar audience - the gameplay, even when it's done well, is second fiddle.

It's not just that the game is more focused on the story and presentation, but the fact that when someone got the idea for this game, it's clearly not the game they had an idea for. They had an idea for the framework to hang it on. The setting, characters, and various story beats. What the actual game would play like is very clearly something that was thought up afterwards, based on what would fit the best into the setting.

TLOU gets away with this better than a lot of other much more generic feeling games, but I think the fact that it wasn't conceived as a video game is just something that will always feel a bit off-putting to me, a person who's really into video games.

Am I completely off about this?

[DefaultGen | 5,506]

26 minutes ago, Sumez said:

I was thinking about this game just today. Or rather, this whole school of games, and about what it is that really strikes me about them that makes me distance myself from them. Even a game like TLOU that I don't strictly mind. The story is ok, and the gameplay is alright. And both are improved in the sequel.

I thought about one thing that really defines TLOU as well as many other AAA games, and other less-than-AAA ones still targeting a similar audience - the gameplay, even when it's done well, is second fiddle.

It's not just that the game is more focused on the story and presentation, but the fact that when someone got the idea for this game, it's clearly not the game they had an idea for. They had an idea for the framework to hang it on. The setting, characters, and various story beats. What the actual game would play like is very clearly something that was thought up afterwards, based on what would fit the best into the setting.

TLOU gets away with this better than a lot of other much more generic feeling games, but I think the fact that it wasn't conceived as a video game is just something that will always feel a bit off-putting to me, a person who's really into video games.

Am I completely off about this?

How can the gameplay be second fiddle when the story is that a man single handedly kills hundreds of people and finds 20 little reasons he needs to head to the prominently viewable thing on the horizon? Surely that story is so dumb people only like it for the gameplay.

[DarkTone | 989]

9/10.

[wongojack | 232]

3 hours ago, Sumez said:

I was thinking about this game just today. Or rather, this whole school of games, and about what it is that really strikes me about them that makes me distance myself from them. Even a game like TLOU that I don't strictly mind. The story is ok, and the gameplay is alright. And both are improved in the sequel.

I thought about one thing that really defines TLOU as well as many other AAA games, and other less-than-AAA ones still targeting a similar audience - the gameplay, even when it's done well, is second fiddle.

It's not just that the game is more focused on the story and presentation, but the fact that when someone got the idea for this game, it's clearly not the game they had an idea for. They had an idea for the framework to hang it on. The setting, characters, and various story beats. What the actual game would play like is very clearly something that was thought up afterwards, based on what would fit the best into the setting.

TLOU gets away with this better than a lot of other much more generic feeling games, but I think the fact that it wasn't conceived as a video game is just something that will always feel a bit off-putting to me, a person who's really into video games.

Am I completely off about this?

You are not completely off, and I would describe TLOU II exactly like you say.  That game was one where I really wanted the story to get out of the way and let me play it.  I tend to prefer the story driven game where they at least give you some arcade-y segments you can dip into if you want to.  Arkham, Mass Effect, Control all do this, and it at least lets you focus on gameplay if you want to.  It also probably forces the dev teams of those games to do some extra work on the gameplay and make sure it is balanced for more generic encounters.

It is likely that the original and the sequel are exactly the same in their insistence on story before gameplay, but I didn't notice as much in 2014.  I liked the game, but TLOU II felt like a game a bit "out of time."  The structure and style of the gameplay felt a generation behind.