The Last of Us (PS3)

[SoxFan01605]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

Great post and I agree completely.

At right around 25% complete this game REALLY hits its stride. I went from really like to absolutely falling in love with this game.

I successfully went through at least two enemy sequences last night without dying and some without killing anyone! As a gamer I'm getting smarter, and as a fan of gaming, the dialogue bestowed upon us while exploring...

Spoiler

With Ellie in Bill's refuge town for instance

...is absolutely exhilarating.

The pacing is perfect and the tale is perfectly woven. If this isn't GOTY I either haven't played THAT game yet or it hasn't come out.

Agreed. I was actually a little bit disappointed in the gameplay early on, to be honest. Not that it wasn't good or enjoyable, but between the glowing reviews and gushing from posters here, I was underwhelmed by contrast...felt like I was missing something. Like you said though, at about 25% or so, it just all clicks and I finally understood all the praise.

And I don't think I can rave enough about the dialogue. Everyone so far has been excellent, but Ellie in particular is simply stellar.

I've played about 2 hours, just a question. Where are the zombies, am I missing something...lol

sent from Droid DNA

Yeah, it's primarily human foes early (whose AI leaves plenty to be desired IMO). It takes a little bit before you really start dealing with the infected. Once you do though...yikes! The game starts to shine and **** gets real.

[fishepa]

Melee combat still feels meh. Just seems like button mashing unless I'm missing something.

Sent from my SCH-I545

[j3nkins29]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

This game just continues to get better and better. I can't wait to see what Naughty Dog has in store for the ps4.

[ChaseB]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

Melee combat still feels meh. Just seems like button mashing unless I'm missing something.

Sent from my SCH-I545

Sans timing the initial blow so you're close enough and all that, there's not much too it, no. But I think as you get deeper there is more to do with it in terms of the weapons you have. Whether you're just going in headlong with the intent of nailing someone with a 2x4 or you want to throw a brick off some guy's face then grab him to use him as a shield etc. You can also use the brick/bottle as a melee weapon so don't forget that.

But yeah, either way the initial way you plan to approach the melee combat is where the depth is rather than the combat itself. When you're just getting mauled by a group it's frenetic and button mashy, but I think it has to be. You're not going to be blocking and countering like in Batman. Here's it's just a dirty down fight between a guy trying to survive rather than some hand-to-hand expert. Plus you're not fighting trained enemies either, it's either infected or crazy humans.

BTW, I ended up beating this in a little

Spoiler

under 15 hours.

It's a great game, an amazing game. I wouldn't change a thing about the story, but I'd probably tweak a couple things with some gameplay sections in a couple parts.

Either way, can't wait until more beat it so we can talk more about the story as well as the approach to certain combat situations.

[Glenn33]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

This game is possibly the best single player experience i have played to date on current gen consoles. Ive just met up with bill and have been just trying to slowly creep through the game and investigate all the areas i can to find whatever i can for equipment.

Take away the word possibly and these are my thoughts exactly. I adore this game.

[willIam9387]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

Melee combat feels right in my opinion. No real need for anything other than button mashing because Joel isn't trained and heck it is a survival game where your life depends on you being the quicker stronger guy. I don't expect Joel to be a Jason Bourne countering every move, I don't want a melee system like Arkham city. I like the grungy realistic fighting style Joel has. It's really a who lands the first blow type system and I imagine that's how it would be if you were really in that situation. Every fight feels like life and death and it's a struggle, even stealth kills are a struggle. Joel doesn't get the job done pretty but he's a survivor.

This game is far from linear, I mean the game does lead you through a set environment, but there are so many branches in that path gameplay wise to get where you need to go. You can be the guy with a vendetta, who is sick and tired off his world and is going to make people pay, heck Joel has gone through a lot, we see that in the opening scene. Or you can be the guy who rather would avoid conflict, you are the smart survivor who can get around obstacles without being seen, who only engages when necessary. Or you can be the loud guns blazing guy. There are so many options and neither of them are wrong and all of them take some skill and planning.

The worst thing you can do in this game and it's the one reason I've died a couple times during certain levels is that you rush into engaging the enemy and don't run away to regroup.

Spoiler

That period when you are separated from Ellie when you have to start the generator was one tough scene. The bloater snuck up on me a couple times as I was continually bombarded by those runners. Then on my third try I sprinted up to the second floor took out two runners immediately, headed for the door and realized I needed a keycard, fml. So I decided to lay down some nail bombs as the bloater approached. Voila! I downed the big boy, but one small problem I was down to one health bar and still had two runners remaing. Slowly I crept using Joel's listening skill and was able to pick off both runners but man what a scary experience and nervewracking

This game has tremenduous replayability even though you know the objective, it pays to play it a higher difficulty level because the AI in this game is really good.

[SoxFan01605]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

Melee combat still feels meh. Just seems like button mashing unless I'm missing something.

Sent from my SCH-I545

Yeah, the combat in general is pretty simplistic IMO. I think it works in context though, as it seems to be intended as a means to an end rather than a focus. I've avoided so much confrontation that when I do engage it has more meaning (not that it changes the blandness of the mechanics themselves, mind you, I'm talking in a broader sense).

One of the things I like about this game is that it's the first time I can go from feeling like a bad-*** one minute to helpless the next and it all feels fluid and natural. At times, I actually feel less safe wielding my gun than I do without it.

All that said, I can see how a bit more depth (perhaps more elaborate or combined transitions from weapon to environment and vice versa) would make the game play more engaging for some people , especially for those who would take a more aggressive approach.

[buickbeast]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

Just a small feature, but I cannot get over how great the sound is.
When it's raining and you walk into a tunnel, it sounds like you walked from the outside into a fricken tunnel.
2 hours in and I'm simply amazed at this game. I'm so happy I switched from xbox years ago.

[Blzer]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

So I finally got the game, despite a crapload of issues with Best Buy. Instead of giving me $20 worth of reward zone points, they discounted the game by $20. So I only had to pay $39.99 + tax.

[Brandwin]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

So I finally got the game, despite a crapload of issues with Best Buy. Instead of giving me $20 worth of reward zone points, they discounted the game by $20. So I only had to pay $39.99 + tax.

Dang, what happened?

[goillini03]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

I am only a few hours in but I am loving the game so far. I agree that the fighting is what it is but it works for me.

[Blzer]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

Dang, what happened?

It's all in this post.

[franch1se]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

Spoiler

Just got to The Sniper part....

[Burns11]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

Note, an orphaned spoiler is unlikely to be read by most, give a vague indication of what part of the game you are spoiling.

[Burns11]

Re: The Last of Us (PS3)

I made it through winter and

Spoiler

Wow. I knew that was going to turn bad as soon as she took off on the horse for home, never seeing her try to hider her tracks. Didn't expect it to go that bad though. Seems like Ellie is turning into Joel, for good and bad, she's turning into a little bad ***. With her I didn't fire a shot, she was absolutely destroying dudes with that little switchblade then went all rage on the guy with a machete.

Speaking of that guy, do you think he was really infected? Is Ellie still infectious, or just was infected and healed? They never really showed an infection spot on him as far as I recall, and he didn't seem to start going nutty or anything. Well, nuttier anyway.