The Last Of Us Official Nazi Thread of No Review Talk No Uncharted Comparisons

vader i will be on tonight.

EDIT: not until 10. i am being forced to go to the gym.

[QUOTE="contracts420"]

[QUOTE="dvader654"] Yeah I recalled I had used one other shiv before. Damn you had to make every single shiv you could and only use them for doors.dvader654

Damn, didn't expect supplies to be that limited on Survivor. Is there a trophy for opening all locked doors on Survivor or something?

[QUOTE="dvader654"][QUOTE="contracts420"]

Damn, didn't expect supplies to be that limited on Survivor. Is there a trophy for opening all locked doors on Survivor or something?

TheFallenDemon

It seems the collectables are shared. I just went to the chapters menu and it keeps track of all the collectibles you've found/missed so locked doors work the same. Regardless, i have to finish on Survivor+ anyway.

I haven't finished the game yet but I did have an opportunity to play a large chunk of it this weekend and I really came away impressed with just how far out of their comfort zone Naughty Dog went on this particular title.

Outside of the visuals and the melee system, this game played NOTHING like the Uncharted games. The gunplay is (purposely) imprecise and uneven, the stealth is protracted and requires serious deliberation, the game places a hefty premium on scavenging and resource management, and even the central playable character moves with a weight and inertia far more grounded in reality than the nimble shuffling of Mr. Drake.

I was discussing this game with a friend the other day and my opinion was, outside of the visuals, which are clearly predicated on the Uncharted engine, there is nothing that would identify this game as a Naughty Dog title given their past endeavors. At its core TLOU is a survival-horror game with a concerted emphasis on many of the genre mainstays that have been stripped out of contemporary offerings, such as the newer RE titles, while also being imbued with a solid narrative that focuses on some interesting (if admittedly well-worn) themes that address the struggle to maintain humanity in the wake of widespread disaster and societal breakdown.

Also, Gamespot dolling out an 8 for something this polished, lengthy, and well-made flatly makes them look foolish if not downright ridiculous.

I noticed that while engaging in melee combat, I got far less counter opportunities than Uncharted.TheFallenDemon

Can you even counter melee attacks in this game?

Also, nice impressions Grammaton. Be sure to give the Survivor difficulty a try. The limited supplies COMPLETELY change the way you play the game.

[QUOTE="TheFallenDemon"]I noticed that while engaging in melee combat, I got far less counter opportunities than Uncharted.S0lidSnake

Can you even counter melee attacks in this game?

Also, nice impressions Grammaton. Be sure to give the Survivor difficulty a try. The limited supplies COMPLETELY change the way you play the game.

July 4th Supply Drop Weekend! Yay!

The Last of Us Supply Drop event will see an increase to the parts to supplies conversion. This will help you grow your clan to be healthy and large. Also, since some very cool unlocks are tied to clan size, youll be able to unlock that multiplayer content more quickly. However, we didnt alter the number of supplies an enemy will drop when they are killed. Youll have to play well and strategically to maximize the supplies youll earn during this event.

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Let's do this. I am in week 12 and have 95 alive clan members though 50 of them are hungry. Only a few days left!

I was discussing this game with a friend the other day and my opinion was, outside of the visuals, which are clearly predicated on the Uncharted engine, there is nothing that would identify this game as a Naughty Dog title given their past endeavors.

Grammaton-Cleric

Also, Gamespot dolling out an 8 for something this polished, lengthy, and well-made flatly makes them look foolish if not downright ridiculous.

Grammaton-Cleric

An 8 for this is just asinine and it's really the first of their reviews that's really had me question their critiques and credibility.  A 9 is perfect, but TLoU is not an 8 effort in any sense.MirkoS77

I don't get why the number is such a problem. It's a number. I could understand if people were up in arms over Tom's crticisms for the game -- that would be sensible -- but the score? Come the f*ck on, guys. You're an intelligent bunch. You're better than this.

[QUOTE="MirkoS77"]An 8 for this is just asinine and it's really the first of their reviews that's really had me question their critiques and credibility.  A 9 is perfect, but TLoU is not an 8 effort in any sense.c_rake

I don't get why the number is such a problem. It's a number. I could understand if people were up in arms over Tom's crticisms for the game -- that would be sensible -- but the score? Come the f*ck on, guys. You're an intelligent bunch. You're better than this.

[QUOTE="MirkoS77"]An 8 for this is just asinine and it's really the first of their reviews that's really had me question their critiques and credibility.  A 9 is perfect, but TLoU is not an 8 effort in any sense.c_rake

I don't get why the number is such a problem. It's a number. I could understand if people were up in arms over Tom's crticisms for the game -- that would be sensible -- but the score? Come the f*ck on, guys. You're an intelligent bunch. You're better than this.

Why bother with a number at all if it's irrelevant?  Would you say the same if it had gotten a 5?MirkoS77

It getting a five would have definitely caught my attention (I'm sure it'd be a very fascinating review), but yes. Yes I would.

Only reason it's there is to serve as a shorthand for the lazy. Criticizing reviews for their scores is ridiculous (unless it's a case where it clearly doesn't match up with the tone of the text) because it ignores the actual "review" -- the part everyone's really taking umbrage with.

[QUOTE="applesxc47"]

[QUOTE="MirkoS77"][spoiler] Undoubtedly an act of selfishness, but in doing so he also saved Ellie's life, and I don't know if she knew she would have to be sacrificed for it to happen so he did it for her as well. Plus, the world had pretty much gone to shit by that point. 20 years on and the damage has been done. There would be no effective way of distribution of the vaccine to any meaningful measure without a functional government, plus a vaccine wouldn't keep people from getting killed by the infected but just keep them from GETTING infected. I think it made more sense to save Ellie and salvage what life they had together. [/spoiler]

CarnageHeart

[spoiler] I don't think it was inherently selfish, although it's definitely a major portion of the decision. I think that when Joel and Ellie saw the giraffes he realised that maybe the world is better this way, starting back at square one.

Also, Joel is more or less completely dependant on Ellie for his stability, she's the only thing keeping him alive, just as he is to her. [/spoiler]

[spoiler]

I think it was impossible for Joel to stand aside and let another daughter be murdered. Its worth keeping in mind that while their goal was a wonderful one, the Fireflies aren't completely on the side of the angels and that might be what screwed them up. They planned Ellie's death from the get go but never bothered to tell her (probably because they were afraid she's say no, though it was clear from her final conversation with Joel she was willing to die). Joel might (though his lie at the end makes it clear that he desperately doesn't want Ellie to die) have relunctantly gone along with the decision to sacrifice Ellie if they'd let him talk to her (which of course, would make her aware of their plans for her) and he could have seen that it was what she wanted.

[/spoiler]

[spoiler] Joel made the smart decision imo. What good would been gained from telling Ellie the truth about the Fireflies intentions after all she's been through? Especially after the David incident in the diner. Better to let her salvage whatever part of her childhood she could.

Granted Ellie would  be angry at Joel if she ever found out her death could have saved mankind, nothing beats having some form of parental figure in your childhood who would fight to the death to keep you alive and happy as best as they could. [/spoiler]

Can't agree with that. Visuals aside, the entire narrative structure and presentation of progression, the interaction and dialogue between the characters during play, the little details (such as Joel putting his hands on the environment he's moving through as Drake also did) give TLoU a very Uncharted flavor. Hell, even the chime to tell you to hit the L3 button to look at where you need to go is the same as it was in Uncharted. If the visuals were different this'd still easily be identifiable as Naughty Dog's work.

MirkoS77

From my perspective those are such mundane details, entirely incidental to the broad strokes of this game, that I wouldn't necessarily designate them as Naughty Dog DNA markers. I guess you could make the argument that those elements, along with the visuals, do give this game a certain ND feel but TLOU is so entirely disparate - both mechanically and thematically - from Uncharted that it feels like a different team put this game together.

[QUOTE="MirkoS77"]Why bother with a number at all if it's irrelevant? Would you say the same if it had gotten a 5?c_rake

It getting a five would have definitely caught my attention (I'm sure it'd be a very fascinating review), but yes. Yes I would.

Only reason it's there is to serve as a shorthand for the lazy. Criticizing reviews for their scores is ridiculous (unless it's a case where it clearly doesn't match up with the tone of the text) because it ignores the actual "review" -- the part everyone's really taking umbrage with.

The text of his review was excrement as well, specifically the manner in which he tried (feebly) to downplay the visuals of the game.

He can doll out whatever score he likes but that 8, which really is low given the quality of this game, reflects the credibility of Gamespot. (or lack thereof)

 both mechanically and thematically - from Uncharted that it feels like a different team put this game together.

Grammaton-Cleric

technically it was a different team. Sony built Neil Durkman and Bruce Staley a new studio within Naughty Dog after they finished Uncharted 2. I am sure there was some crossover, but ND now has two teams. 

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

both mechanically and thematically - from Uncharted that it feels like a different team put this game together.

S0lidSnake

technically it was a different team. Sony built Neil Durkman and Bruce Staley a new studio within Naughty Dog after they finished Uncharted 2. I am sure there was some crossover, but ND now has two teams.

I did not know that.

[QUOTE="S0lidSnake"]

technically it was a different team. Sony built Neil Durkman and Bruce Staley a new studio within Naughty Dog after they finished Uncharted 2. I am sure there was some crossover, but ND now has two teams.

Grammaton-Cleric

I did not know that.

Sony seems to be doubling down on their successful studios instead of just buying/acquiring new studios and funding their B or C grade studios like Zipper, Liverpool and BigBig studios. Guerrilla Games is not a three team studio. One working on KZSF, the other (formerly Sony Cambridge) KZ Vita and another working on a PS4 RPG. Sony Santa Monica also has two teams. The second team is being led by God of War 3's director. Media Molecule has two teams as well, one making the PS4 game, the other Vita's Teerway. Looks like the second ND team had 80 people.

I found this Eurogamer article very interesting on how Sony/ND basically went about retaining their talent by not forcing them to do sequels. Compare that to MS (Bungie), UBisoft (Patreace D ) and Nintendo (Retro Studios working on f*cking Donkey Kong ;p ) and it becomes clear that some smart guys are leading the charge at Sony.

The team's passion for and belief in the project is palpable. Having made one of the outstanding games of this console generation, it would have been natural to expect Druckmann and Straley to dive straight into Uncharted 3. But they wanted to do something different, and so, for the first time, Naughty Dog became a two-team studio.

"Over the years we've staffed up an incredible team - these people at any other studio could be leads," says studio boss Evan Wells. "When you have a franchise like Uncharted you become a target for headhunters and recruiters - basically everybody in the company's been asked if they'd like to come some place else.

"We were afraid that if we didn't give these people the opportunity and the responsibility to try something different in their career, one day one of those calls might stick. So really we just wanted to embrace the talent we have here and give it a shot."

........

And yet, defying the odds, news of two-years-in-the-making The Last of Us, created by an 80-strong Naughty Dog team no-one knew existed, was met with that rarest of emotions when it broke cover at the weekend: genuine surprise. But, oh, how close it all came to unravelling as the big day approached.

Two months ago, Neil Druckmann, creative director and writer on the project, left his iPad on a plane. An iPad with the debut trailer for the game stored on it. Frantic calls to the airline ensued, but the device was gone. Naughty Dog waited nervously. And, to its considerable relief, nothing happened.

Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley began work on The Last of Us after completing Uncharted 2. No-one outside the company realised this, until a friend of Druckmann's noticed his name wasn't in the credits for Uncharted 3. But, once again, he managed to shake off suspicion.Eurogamer

Welp, I've tried to go back to other games after putting in over 30 hours of the single player, but I've pretty much lost all interest for the time being. Look at what this game has done. Thanks Naughty Dog :P

One of the things that has stuck with me since beating this game has been the ending, and how many different ways it can be interpreted regarding the motivation of the character(s). I had a 35 minute discussion/debate about the ending with others who beat it, and we all had different takes on what it all meant, and that's because the story isn't conveyed in the typical cutscene/playable section/cutscene that most games are. The story and character development are conveyed so subtly, that it leaves a lot to the imagination in the right areas, but is crystal clear in others. I can't say enough how much I enjoyed not just the story itself, but how it was conveyed to me as a player. I really felt like a stepped into a real world whenever I played that game. And yeah, while there ARE things that break the immersion (like some wonky friendly AI and the tendency for important optional conversations to continue to play out while you are busy scavenging for resources in another room) the rest was just so incedibly well done. 

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

both mechanically and thematically - from Uncharted that it feels like a different team put this game together.

S0lidSnake

technically it was a different team. Sony built Neil Durkman and Bruce Staley a new studio within Naughty Dog after they finished Uncharted 2. I am sure there was some crossover, but ND now has two teams.

Only a few members from the original ND team initially moved over. Around the end of Uncharted 3 ND's B Team had about 40 people on it. After production ended on UC3 they moved about half of the Uncharted team over to TLOU.

Finished my 12 weeks with the Fireflies. I have no idea how people fail to keep their clan alive. The missions are so damn easy you have to be an idiot to get them all killed. My final stats said that I was ranked 34K out of 850K, and I kept an average of 55 extra people alive than my friends did. 

Started my Hunters run. So much easier since you keep all your upgrades. I just hit Week 2 and I already have 65 survivors. Played some no party games and people truly suck at this game. It was like playing with BlackKnight again. F*cking people just run off and do their own thing. 

Finished my 12 weeks with the Fireflies. I have no idea how people fail to keep their clan alive. The missions are so damn easy you have to be an idiot to get them all killed. My final stats said that I was ranked 34K out of 850K, and I kept an average of 55 extra people alive than my friends did. 

Started my Hunters run. So much easier since you keep all your upgrades. I just hit Week 2 and I already have 65 survivors. Played some no party games and people truly suck at this game. It was like playing with BlackKnight again. F*cking people just run off and do their own thing. 

S0lidSnake

MP tonight guys? MP tonight guys.F1Lengend

Ive been playing all day. You're welcome to join.

No idea why people would pick the toughest challenges. Makes no sense to me. 

[QUOTE="F1Lengend"]MP tonight guys? MP tonight guys.S0lidSnake

Ive been playing all day. You're welcome to join.

No idea why people would pick the toughest challenges. Makes no sense to me. 

[QUOTE="MirkoS77"]

Can't agree with that. Visuals aside, the entire narrative structure and presentation of progression, the interaction and dialogue between the characters during play, the little details (such as Joel putting his hands on the environment he's moving through as Drake also did) give TLoU a very Uncharted flavor. Hell, even the chime to tell you to hit the L3 button to look at where you need to go is the same as it was in Uncharted. If the visuals were different this'd still easily be identifiable as Naughty Dog's work.

Grammaton-Cleric

From my perspective those are such mundane details, entirely incidental to the broad strokes of this game, that I wouldn't necessarily designate them as Naughty Dog DNA markers. I guess you could make the argument that those elements, along with the visuals, do give this game a certain ND feel but TLOU is so entirely disparate - both mechanically and thematically - from Uncharted that it feels like a different team put this game together.

On a side note, considering the scope and detail of this game I'm astonished that it was created by only 80 people (if I read Dvader's post correctly).

lol The last few games were awful. I wonder how many people actually left. The game seemed to be doing a good job replacing everyone. We destroyed everyone. Game after game. Im glad dvader started handing out items. It must be the first time someone has given me an item. I have the perk that lets you gift stuff after crafting only two items so I have been going nuts gifting everyone stuff. The mp is fantastic. I like it more than the sp. Much more 'fun'.

[QUOTE="S0lidSnake"]

lol The last few games were awful. I wonder how many people actually left. The game seemed to be doing a good job replacing everyone. We destroyed everyone. Game after game. Im glad dvader started handing out items. It must be the first time someone has given me an item. I have the perk that lets you gift stuff after crafting only two items so I have been going nuts gifting everyone stuff. The mp is fantastic. I like it more than the sp. Much more 'fun'.

dvader654

I can write a dissertation on the number of ways TLOU mp is better than Uncharted, but I'll just say that I prefer TLOU because it allows you to play it anyway you can. Uncharted is a shooter and that's it. A shooter with no silenced weapons btw. No medics either. U2 pre 1.05 patch maybe was better than TLOU, Uncharted 3 was way too fast paced. All of that maneuvering and out thinking your opponents from U2 Pre-1.05 is gone from uncharted 3. It's become mostly about reflexes and bum rushing our opponents. The ridiculous grenade and RPG boosts made it way too hectic as well. Clustrer bombs really?

It's still a whole lot of fun, but TLOU is undoubtedly deeper and more strategic.

We are playing tonight and thats that.F1Lengend

lol I got half day off today and have been playing all day. 129 survivors now! Hunters dont get attacked much so it's easier building a clan with them.

[QUOTE="TheFallenDemon"]The Last of Us alternate ending sort ofdvader654

That's what I did when I played that section.TheFallenDemon

Same. Brutal stuff.