Multiplat The Last of Us

[Igloo]

Multiplayer guys

If I pick a faction does this mean I can't team up with people if they are on the other side?

Will be up for team stuff if others are tomorrow night.

I'm not sure. I think that's right. I went the safe way and joined the Fireflies like everyone else did, so I can party up with them fine.

 

[The Big Sauce]

I'm not sure. I think that's right. I went the safe way and joined the Fireflies like everyone else did, so I can party up with them fine.

Success, picked the right team!

Inb4Adelaidejoke

 

[beta_condition]

Either way if you kill your clan off, you can pick your side again.

 

[Mister Carlton]

Can't even remember picking a side.

 

[The Big Sauce]

Yeah I just ran around for 2 matches getting killed and grabbing loot out of tool boxes.

Game clearly needs team work to succeed, which I like.

 

[beta_condition]

Can't even remember picking a side.

I don;t either the first time, I think I spammed X too many times.

 

[Mister Carlton]

Singleplayer on the mind.

 

[Jeba]

There has already been some fantastic games in the first half of the year. this one might be my favourite so far!

Spoiler

Please don't read the following spoilers if you have not completed the game or if you don't like reading posts by fat bald men with patchy beards who don't have spouses.

*The winter level was as good as anything i can remember playing. it was the culmination of some pretty great character building for the protagonists with ellie finally earning joel's respect by becoming a bit of a savage (was discomforting hearing joel finally being openly appreciative of her in the next level, after what she did for him). Having control of ellie, showing how she could handle herself almost as efficiently as joel (with her own spin on things, sneaking through holes, taking out grunts with her knife) was simaltaniously brilliant and a bit disgusting, shades of Hit Girl from Kick arse about it. as an aside, the bloke who was being nice to ellie, his voice actor reminded me of the ominous mechanic from southpark for some reason. lot of history down that road...

*Pacing reminded me a little of Half Life 2, in the way it mixed up the horror and soldier shoot outs. Had a nice mix of exploration and scavaging as well obviously.

*nailed the balance between open world and linear corridor style game; liked how not all areas had something worth exploring but it was generally worth going off the beaten track just in case. not really a big fan of the bethesda kind of scavaging for instance, given that it's initially a bother to work out what is useless fluff and what will be handy later, here it was stripped back a bit while still maintianing a wasteland survivor atmosphere.

liked the fighting. the slugging mechanics worked well with the limited supplies to ensure that many of the fights were improvised, making me work with what i had rather than settling on a favourite weapon and sticking with it. and the fire mechanics were always fun.

liked the resident evil 4 style upgrades to the weapons, although i feel you were supposed to really do up your favourite weapons completely; i only upgraded bits here and there as and when i had the resources. will try harder next time!

also i reckon it does a good job of justifying the violence within the narrative, often in games like bioshock infinite or uncharted i felt like half the fights were there because the game needed a change of pace rather than something that would actually happen within the game world. there was only once or twice where i felt the fighting was hacked on (eg: escaping from the univerity).

kinda on that topic, i'm not a fan of ultra violent games when they have predetermined bits where the protagonist is incapacitated with some injury ie: in this case joel skewering himself like he was reenacting a baraka fatality from mortal kombat 2. seems a bit odd when he's being shot and beat up non stop during the game and can heal himself within like 5 second etc. but it lead to my favourite bit in the game so i don't care in this case! hell i wish he got beat up more in cutscenes if it meant more levels like winter.

*how good was that opening!

*props to naughty dog for not hating women - a whole bunch of strong female characters who were treated with respect - no henchman calling ellie a ****en bitch or incessantly talking about how much they want to nail tess or whatever. classy!

*i reckon naughty dog are good at mixing sound or whatever that process is called. i don't know how many games have expository dialogue drowned out by obnoxious sound effects/hans zimmer music. can't recall it happening on one of these peoples' games. a little thing that more folks should get right but don't.

*don't think there's much to say that hasn't already been said about the visuals. who needs next generation?

*not much to criticise really. the swimming bits were a bit average i guess?

frame rate was a little slow every now and then, wouldn't mind seeing a 60fps version on ps4. don't care if its 1080p or whatever, can't really tell the difference between that and ...whatever this is.

i was happy with the ending in what it was going for but thought it was a little clumsy ie: why didn't ellie wait around and say goodbye to joel when she agreed to the operation? how did joel justify having ellie dressed in one of those... surgery gown thingies... if the fireflies were supposedly not interested in her, never mind the anesthetic? did ellie remember nothing at all about the hospital ie: seeing marlene? wouldn't she find it wierd that marlene didn't say goodbye? what if she wants to go back and see her, i mean they are practically family.

didn't notice it at the time, but why did ellie have to go with joel in the first place? marlene managed to get to the fireflies way before them. as i said i can't remember the details, but it seemed a bit odd at the end.

*as an aside, i feel like an absolute jerk for bursting out laughing when i read bill's (or bob, that crazy guy you meet early in the game) best mate's suicide note. oh god that was harsh


*mmm that's all i can thing of.

Spoiler

Here is what i want to believe about the ending, ellie wasn't given a choice and she was unconscious last time we saw her. we have no knowledge if she saw marlene or consented to the Op.
Marlene was injured and the fireflies were under attack/undermanned and i think she knew where to go,took the most direct route, where as joel and ellie got sidetracked a bit.also marlene only wanted her smuggled out of the QZ.not taken halfway across the country

 

[Mister Carlton]

Yeah I just ran around for 2 matches getting killed and grabbing loot out of tool boxes.

Game clearly needs team work to succeed, which I like.

You need 4 competent team mates with mics. Can see myself putting serious hours into multiplayer with bigfooty parties. Very addictive.

 

[Glenno23]

Valentino Dmitri

Here are some of my thoughts about your lats few paragraphs:

Spoiler

Ellie didn't question Joel at the end because the trust had been built up over the year of their travels. She really wouldn't have much reason to doubt him.

As for the hospital gown, Joel knew they would be operating, but he didn't know they'd have to kill her due to it being an infection of the brain. He just thought they would cut out the bit of her arm and use that for the vaccine

Marlene didn't take Ellie because she was shot and was injured, and not in a good way. There was doubt she'd survive

Only thing hat bugged me was the clumsy AI. But its a small quibble on a brilliant game

 

[Cruyff14]

Yeah AI is a bit dumb.

 

[HBK619]

Multiplayer guys

If I pick a faction does this mean I can't team up with people if they are on the other side?

Will be up for team stuff if others are tomorrow night.

It don't matter.

 

[Valentino Dmitri]

Cheers for the replies jeba and glenno

Spoiler

especially re: clearup up why marlene didn't smuggling ellie herself. couldn't for the life of me remember exactly what happened there! Thanks

Couple of interesting articles here for those who have finished the game. Please avoid if you're yet to finish or don't mind spoilers.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/sexism-sells-the-last-of-us-begs-to-differ/

http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-last-of-us-the-definitive-postmortem-spoilers-be-damned/

The second link is especially interesting;

Spoiler

the ending now seems a fair bit darker and well thought out than I gave it credit for last night, at any rate.

 

[Elixuh]

You need 4 competent team mates with mics. Can see myself putting serious hours into multiplayer with bigfooty parties. Very addictive.

As long as your team mates aren't completely terrible and incompetent usually you can win the 4v4 TDM's with just one other person (unless you're vsing a 4 man GIMP clan on the other team).

If you're solo the easiest mode is definitely the 4v4 (round by round) survivor mode.

 

[KeilorUnder9s]

Has anyone received there game from Ozgamers yet? I haven't

Mine arrived 3 days after Aussie release mate. Dunno what the go is there.

 

[Summer Nights]

I agree HBK619. The multiplayer pace is spot on and is IMO the best third person shooter I've played in multi. It's clear that some great minds at Naughty Dog have put a lot of thought into how they can make this balanced, and also they have been able to do away with some of the stale elements of COD playing culture. Example, Kill/death ratio is not a focus, the focus is earning parts (points) with the player needing to keep their clan size and health in mind. Dying is not so much a big deal, it's more about kills and how you get them and how you help your team that you get rewarded on. I love how working together as a team makes such a difference. I love how playing smart is just as important as playing with skill, like using your ammo conservatively; like running away from a battle you can't win is not looked down upon if it's for the betterment of the team; Like purchasing upgrades and ammo quickly in scenarios when needed; And little things, like picking your moments to go for the kill, being aware of what enemies are around, if you go for the brutal execution, will it get you killed? And a more subtle consideration, in a way, you end up competing against your teammates for kills, because supply raid is not just about time but limited in kills, and if you have a big clan size, you need as many parts as possible, and if you go too slowly, you won't get the parts you need.

 

[Drummer_19]

Finished a couple of days ago, amazing. Def the best game Naughty Dog has done.

 

[The Big Sauce]

Are people keen for a few games tonight?

 

[Summer Nights]

Y2rusty is my psn. Keen for a few games.

 

[SpaceCow]

Thinking back, I can't see too many ways this would have been classified MA15+ under the old ratings...

 

[Cruyff14]

Would have had to been edited for sure.

-----

Slightly off topic but they are editing Saints Row IV even though we have R18 now. Wtaf.

 

[Summer Nights]

I'm starting survivor mode and going to see how far I can get without dying. I'll keep y'all posted'

 

[giggler99]

Mine arrived 3 days after Aussie release mate. Dunno what the go is there.

That's pretty quick mate when was yours dispatched? Mine was dispatched on the 12th, usually it does take one week two max, its two weeks today and I still don't have it. Getting worried. Hanging to play.

 

[KeilorUnder9s]

That's pretty quick mate when was yours dispatched? Mine was dispatched on the 12th, usually it does take one week two max, its two weeks today and I still don't have it. Getting worried. Hanging to play.

I think I remember ours got dispatched on the same day I read it here.

 

[Cruyff14]

That's pretty quick mate when was yours dispatched? Mine was dispatched on the 12th, usually it does take one week two max, its two weeks today and I still don't have it. Getting worried. Hanging to play.

Was it worth saving $10 and having to wait nearly 2 weeks?