'The Last Of Us' Isn't A Game About Choices

Forbes - The Last of Us isn’t a video game about player agency or compelling choices—it’s about emotional involvement.

[ArchangelMike]

Play the game on survival, and you discover that you have to make ALOT of choices. Molotov... or health pack? Shiv... or bomb? My favourite though, brick... or bottle?!

Great game!

[dedicatedtogamers]

Agreed. Survivor is how the game is meant to be played.

[Thatguy-310]

I'm playing in plus hard and I'm doing a lot better than my first playthrough. I literally tackle my combat with stealth and its helpful because i have so much stuff gathered up that I'm able to use when I'm against a hoard of enemies. Love how the skills and gun upgrades still transfer over when starting a new game difficulty. I want to platinum this baby so badly

[brodychet]

Yeah I'm on Survival Plus, and to be honest, the only parts that are hard are... The End, and.. In the library. O_O

Oh and under the Hotel, with the generator and those Stalker Infected.

[ChipChipperson]

I think the most kinda annoying part, really for me is that not all parts can be stealthed and avoided, so you could save up your supplies for later. Like Metro Last Light, you could literally stealth through most encounters without having to use up any of your supplies( which was great for Ranger Mode), but eh, whatever. The Last of Us is probably my best game of this year and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it yet.

[CrossingEden]

choosing between a molotov or a health pack is not a compelling emotional choice -_-

[brodychet]

It is on Survival. XD High Gamble!

[pixelsword]

Forbes can't even get business right, now their game experts all of a sudden?

[Rockefellow]

I'll probably get slammed here, but Forbes has a dedicated gaming writer who knows what he's talking about. He put out the best review of Bioshock Infinite I read-- he wasn't afraid to criticize the game's monotonous gunplay, unlike every other review I found.

[pixelsword]

Because everyone else is wrong... got it.

:)

[lnvisibleMan]

@Rockefellow
I don't think you should let on reviewer dictate your preception of a site. Could be wrong but chances are he didnt even write this article

[pixelsword]

LOL Yeah, because Solid is like, what, sperm in MGS5?

Instead of Solid maybe he's chunky or runny.

[Skizelli]

Did you even read the article? I'm guessing no. There's decisions in the game, yes, but not real choices that effect the outcome. That's the point he's trying to make, and he's not saying it's a bad thing at all. He's basically just disagreeing with a colleague's review score and some of her reasons for it, while also citing that he thinks the game is at least a 9 or 9.5.

[tigertron]

I seem to remember making a hell of a lot of choices.

[Skizelli]

None of which impact the outcome of the story. That's the point he's trying to make. He's not saying it's a bad thing either. Quite the opposite.

[squallcloud9]

Then he should change his title to 'The Last Of Us' Isn't A Game About Choices Which Impact The Outcome Of The Story. Look at Telltale's Walking Dead. That game is all about choices and did it change the outcome? Hell no. The Last Of Us don't need to be a clone of The Witcher and criticizing it for what it's not is pointless. For what it tries to do it does perfectly. I finished the game playing almost non-stop and started a new one, that's how good it is. And i made a lot of choices to survive.

[Skizelli]

He's not criticizing the game at all! Why is that so hard to understand? He's making a counterpoint to a colleague's review of the game. She gave it an 8, while he believes it deserves a 9 or 9.5. What he's basically trying to say is that it's not a game of choices like TWD or Mass Effect 3, and that the game is actually better for it contrary to what his colleague thinks.

You're comparing apples to oranges here. TWD still had choices that affected the people around you (who lives and dies early on for example). It's a game of multiple paths that lead to the same ending. That's not the case with TLoU, where nothing you do effects the story at any point in the game. Every choice is combat related. AND THAT'S NOT A BAD THING. Read the damn article.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Just finished this game.
Didn't expect it to be as good as all of the reviews were saying. It is that good though. 10/10 one of the best games I've ever played.

[Imalwaysright]

Yeah I was thinking that it was probably overrated because Uncharted also go great reviews and I think its overrated but TLoU is the real deal and one of the best games ever made.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Agreed. I was very wary of the game being overhyped with all of the 10/10 scores and so on but this is one of the very few games where I can see why people would give it top marks. Even after I've finished it I just can't stop thinking about the epic journey I had!

[Blacklash93]

Not in the story context, but every game has you make choices in gameplay. TLoU happens to offer more in the way of strategy and approaches than most games.

[TechnicianTed]

This article has been submitted already, I saw it the other day on here.

[PerryCaravello]

We got choices, man!

We got walkers out there. We gotta get outta this prison!

Im on episode 3 of season 3.

NO SPOILERS

[ltachiUchiha]

Some of the reviews that gave the game lower then an 8 said there weren't choices & there was only one linear path to take which obviously was bs. The thing that makes the game so special is u can choose to go into certain areas either defensively or offensively. I love that when u create a shiv supplies are scarce & the shiv is one of your bread & butter moves for stealth kills but there will be times where there will be doors u want to open to see or u can find anything useful & u have the choice to use a shiv to unlock the door or save it for combat. These are choices that make u think because the shiv is a really good stealth weapon. Also if u die there are usually different approaches u can take & trust me they always play out differently. Its not like uncharted where it was scripted & the enemy reacts the same way. Its definitely about choices & decision making on the go. Amazing ai system naughty dog created, despite a few minor issues with ellie breaking immersion, the ai is the best ive seen.

[Maldread]

Fantastic game and i feel there was some cool choices in terms of if you wanted to go in guns blaszing or being stealthy and using bricks/bottles etc.

The combat system is so awesomely brutal and smart that you use the environment to you advantages too. You can also go on small adventures to explore and search for supplies and other goodies.

If i had any complaints though, it would be cool if we could`ve made a choice at the end and during the game actually and that would`ve given two or more endings as well.

I also wished there was even more places to explore becuase it was so much fun. Reminded me of Fallout 3 in the beginning where you serach desperately for anything to defend yourself with, only that the Last of Us was much more intense because of the great combat and creepy sound effects.

But i guess they must have something to add to the next game too ;) I can`t wait for a possible sequal and can`t wait to see it on PS4. It`s gonna be fantastic and scary to see the infected again. If you havn`t bought the game yet, get your ass up and buy it now. Game of the year easily, even with GTA5 not out yet ;)

Giving this a 8 is beyond stupid if you ask me.

[assdan]

Did people think it was? This isn't a pick your own adventure game.