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8-1-2 hours into "The Last Of Us". Almost at the radio tower with Sam and Henry.
Story and characters are incredible. Acting, visuals, sound all top notch. I just find the game kind of a slog to play.
The combat is kind of lame.
This should have just been a movie.
What difficulty are you playing on? I can imagine all the sneaking around (where the combat really excels) might seem a little pointless on easier modes. The gameplay really thrives when the systems (crafting, sneaking, gunplay) force you via a real sense of peril to think creatively in taking down mobs. It hammers home the game's themes of survival at any cost, and I can't even count the number of times amazing emergent gameplay happened--alerting guards by accidentally kicking pots, Ellie rescuing me, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by megladon8
It's easily some of my favorite combat in recent memory. It has the excitement of an action game but is way more tactical. Same goes for the multiplayer.
I think I'm playing on normal, I'm honestly not sure - I don't remember which I chose when I started.
My biggest problem with the combat is that I don't feel like I am getting any better at the game. With most encounters, I die and die and die and die and die, and then I will finally get through it...but I have no idea how or why. It felt like pure luck that I finally got through it.
It's a difficult game, which is fine. I love difficulty. But there's no tangible sense of progression. I don't feel any better at the combat than I did when I first started.
I'm pretty sure this is Naughty Dog's company motto.Quote:
Originally Posted by megladon8
"You must be playing it wrong." -D_DavisQuote:
Originally Posted by megladon8
Nah, I've gotten good at headshots, I've upgraded my favorite weapons, I've been tactfully using explosives and smoke bombs.
But I still only seem to get through encounters on pure luck.
Unlike games like "Hitman" and the "Batman AA" games where the stealth took time to master but when I got it, it was incredibly satisfying - here it doesn't really feel like that happens. One encounter in particular (where Joel gets separated from Ellie after falling down an elevator shaft, and he must make his way back up to her from the basement) I ended up just sprinting through to avoid confrontations, because I couldn't feasibly find a way to fight the creatures - particularly when the Bloater showed up.
Don't get me wrong, the story is keeping me moving along. It's truly incredible stuff, and I am anxious to see how Joel and Ellie's relationship develops and matures.
But I don't find the actual game very fun.
We're having an all-day game day this Saturday, and we'll be streaming it live on Twitch - just for funsies.
Video games and board games. Not sure if the board game stuff will get streamed.
It'll be streamed here:
http://www.twitch.tv/dobervich/profile
Sorry you're not getting better, I guess? Shrug.
I don't see a problem with skipping loads of enemies if the situation arises. It's part of the game. On survivor and grounded difficulties you almost have to because resources are so scarce. Last time I was in the basement of the hotel (scariest part of the game to me by far) I just wanted to get the fuck out, so I lured the bloater away from the door and then booked it. A stalker popped out and I just walloped him across the head with a baseball bat and kept running, got through the door as they're all coming down the hall, and that was that. It was thrilling, and furthermore in my mind totally fair.
There's a section at the university when you can sneak by everyone if you don't care about collectibles (I already got them all on a prior playthrough). Some clickers are sleeping, some are walking around, and there's this huge bloater just snoring like hell. I silently snuck past, woke it up going through a door, and then it just stood there yelling at me from the other side. Didn't get any loot, but it was fun to see if I could pull it off.
Meh. Not every game is for everyone, right?
I loved the "Uncharted" games (3rd was the weakest but still fun).
I'm liking it enough that I may check out the ReMastered on PS4 someday.
Just completed the end of Summer, with the section where you're held down by sniper fire while you try to make your way through the houses.
Now that was phenomenal. Tense, well-plotted, challenging without being frustrating. GREAT use of sound here as well.
And why is this game so relentless in trying to make me cry?? :cry:
I wouldn't expect that to change.Quote:
Originally Posted by megladon8
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurosawa Fan
I don't. It's just brutal.
I finished "The Last of Us" last night - I can honestly say its in my top 5 games of all time.
It really makes me want to play the Uncharted games, but alas, they arent available on the PS4.
I think the "Winter" section of the game might be the high water mark for any "chapter" of any game I've ever played. Absolutely phenomenal stuff from both a mechanics and story standpoint. Emotionally and logistically, the stakes were appropriately high and there were so many moments where I couldn't breathe from the tension.
Just a stunning piece of entertainment and art.
I agree with Meg8 about Summer, too. That moment with the sniper fire was when I started to think about the game in the larger picture of everything I've ever played.
This article is amazing.Quote:
Originally Posted by D_Davis
Great article. Thanks for the link. I sadly find it mostly true. I've been involved in a lot of different communities in different hobbies during my life, and the only one that has ever made be embarrassed to be a part of that hobby is the video gaming community at large.
Nintendo just announced some DLC for Mario Kart 8. See below. The price is $11.99 if you buy both packs. It's definitely a very attractive offer. I can't wait to try out the Zelda tracks.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5580/...17b09062_o.png
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3844/...efccf704_b.jpg
My friend, I have watched countless hours upon hours of Metal Gear play, from the Solid version on PS1 on. I say watched, because its me watching friends playing it. I love it...and I am HORRIBLE at it. Its just not in my ability set. I can't survive 10 minutes. But I'm a great co-pilot.Quote:
Originally Posted by megladon8
Then we jump to Tekken where I let my opponent choose who I play as and mop the floor with them for hours.
If every game was for everyone, gaming would be a boring world.
I just beat the Quaggled Mireclops, which is the fifth boss in Pikmin 3. It's the largest enemy yet: a terrifying leviathan of vertiginous height that lumbers (and charges) around on bulbous feet. It tramples hapless Pikmin into shallow, watery graves. :sad: If you can get its legs to buckle so as to attack its head, you're still vulnerable to its enormous kaleidoscopic tongue (the screenshot doesn't quite do it justice; it looks really spectacular in motion), which flicks out and swallows up your Pikmin if you don't call them back in time.
Somehow, after numerous tries, I actually managed to take it down with zero casualties. Of course, I saw a lot of pale blue Pikmin ghosts fading away on the battlefield and heard many of their shrill cries but, to my surprise, I was eventually able to keep them all out of harm's way. That was surely the hardest challenge I have faced in a video game since those amazing rocket barrel levels in Donkey Kong Country Returns (the experience also reminded me of some of the exhilarating heights of Skyward Sword). Nintendo's development teams really know how to deliver exceptional boss battles.
Also, in addition to the technical marvel of that bizarre tongue, I loved how everything looked so realistically wet and sodden.
I play as Pink Gold Peach but I'm definitely switching to Cat Peach. Super stoked for this DLC.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitty - formerly known as Goofy20202
Yeah, it looks like a great, substantial update. I never would have expected 16 new courses. Mario's Frog Suit ought to make a comeback, though, as the design is just as endearing and nostalgically potent as the Tanooki Suit.Quote:
Originally Posted by EyesWideOpen
I agree about the Frog suit but if they are only going to do one the Tanooki Suit is easily the most popular.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitty - formerly known as Goofy20202
Good God, apparently Anita Sarkeesian has gotten death threats that have forced her to evacuate her home for her own safety.
This shit keeps getting worse and worse.
Yep.
When I asked /r/darksouls2 to stop using the word "rape" as slang, as in "I got raped by that guy," or "I totally raped that shit!" my in box was full of people threatening to rape me in a variety of creative and violent ways.
I deleted that account have never again visited anything to do with gaming on reddit.
The gaming community can be seriously sick and disturbed.
Similar to what you said earlier, D, I frequently feel ashamed to call myself a gamer.
It's truly a disgusting community.
4chan is populated almost entirely by gamers, and is an incredibly telling look at what goes on in these sick peoples' heads.
The thing is, when it comes to the argument about whether or not the games themselves bring about this sick behaviour, I firmly believe the answer is "no". These are people who are sick and disturbed, and through the anonymity of gaming and the internet they have found a way to express all their sickness to the world with no fear of reprisal.
Anita Sarkeesian? Who? Am I supposed to know who she is?Quote:
Originally Posted by bac0n