“The Last of Us Has Ruined Games for Me”

Twinfinite: "Even though I’m sure you’re all aware, I have to say it, The Last of Us is a marvelous game. It excels in almost every way: storytelling, gameplay, design, and even the multiplayer..."

[ape007]

" I have to say it, The Last of Us is a marvelous game. It excels in almost every way: storytelling, gameplay, design, and even the multiplayer"

absolutely, I've been playing games since i was 4 on, i started on famicom and indeed the last of us is one of the greatest games of all time

it's one of the few games that combines incredible narrative/story telling with GREAT SUBSTANCE

[Ezz2013]

well said, that's how i feel about it too

[HebrewHammer]

A game hasn't hit me this hard since Half-Life 2 in 2004.

[sprinterboy]

Disagreed cause heavy rain was awesome but half life 2 was great too bra

[itBourne]

Finally see an article talking about the horrid aiming system from uc3, and good god that mp was bad.

[itBourne]

Dang why so many down votes, its not opinion, it is an absolute fact that the aiming system was broke in uc3 single player on release..

As far as the mp, well I wasnt sure if I was playing CoD in 3rd person or Uncharted. Such a shame, UC2 was one of the best mps this gen too.

[crxss]

I agree the sp aiming mechanics are still "broken" unless you turn the sensitivity all the way up, then it's manageable. For those that disagree should google "uncharted 3 aiming". As for the MP, it wasn't terrible and was still fun but not polished. Gunplay is still unbalanced in that game

[itBourne]

Well it wasnt just how slow the aiming is, the aiming system was literally on a grid, you could not go in a diagonal direction. The mp was nothing like UC2, it was yet another CoD inspired shit multiplayer.

[mistertwoturbo]

I know I'm part of a minority. But I was bored to death with the last of us. I ended up trading it in towards killzone merc. Strange because uncharted is my absolute favorite this generation and love naughty dog.

[Jamaicangmr]

I agree with the quote except for multiplayer i didn't enjoy multiplayer. Way too much grinding so i got bored and went back to BF3.

Excellent game though most engaging and riveting i have ever played. Even more so than Uncharted, i don't remember playing a game that made me forget it's a game more than TLOU, even better than Uncharted and we all know that's pushing it.

Game of this generation in my opinion.

[ironfist92]

It was a great game yes but, its not the second coming of jesus christ :/

[ginsunuva]

It's the third.

UC2 was the second.

[90Supra]

lmao...

bubz

[friedricr]

F**kn Gold! BUBZ!

[PoSTedUP]

'glad i wasnt drinking milk XD

[JoGam]

Brilliant!

[ion53]

Just out of interest, what's the first?

[perdie]

@ion53 um... the first coming of christ would be the first time he came.... so... yeah.

[pkb79]

I think the 2nd coming of Christ has way to much hype and we will be disappointed if/when it finally gets here.

[Xsilver]

Last of us makes allot of games feel lacking.

[ape007]

exactly, especially the linear games of today,Last of us feel like old great game but in nextgen

games like Resi 4, half life 2, turok 2, silent hell 2, bioshock(a modern one) etc..........

those old masterful games

[scofios]

you may add RE1&2 , shadow of the colussus , Ico, metal gear's ,gta, to your list of great games .

[ifritAlkhemyst]

It's not that good. Really it isn't. Games on the PC from the 90's were playing with adult themes and mature storylines long before this game. Many of them are better told than TLoU too.

God, TLoU and it's praise pisses me off.

[hulk_bash1987]

Why? If you don't like it then don't play it. No point in trolling any praise it gets.

[showtimefolks]

Think about it you said 90s on PC yet many of those same experience were never brought to consoles till now, but don't take anything away from ND please show some respect

Studios like ND,Kojima,RS etc, do excellent work

Don't be a hater

[ifritAlkhemyst]

Actually, I never really considered that. I guess what annoys me is the lack of gaming history the average gamer has. That and the increasing focus on narrative over gameplay.

[showtimefolks]

You know I kind of agree with you, I had a lot of fun with heavy rain,indigo prophecy and asura wrath but when I finished B2S I felt like there wasn't enough gameplay. And that's coming from someone who is ok with QTE, story and gameplay should go together we shouldn't have to choose one over another

That's why I liked the last of us so much, it gave us best of both worlds

[KillerPigeon]

@ifritAlkhemyst

The problem isn't to do with a more/less focus on narrative or gameplay. It's to do with a loss of perspective. A failure to empathize with the user and actually deliver truly powerful emotions and a clearly defined experience.

Don't get me wrong, new mechanics and revolutionary dynamics are great and now and then become imperative. But in the end, they're nothing if you can't spring forth these emotions in players.

[Heisenburger]

You're pissed because people enjoy something?

Is your life that friggin miserable??

Holy freaking crap.

That's the saddest thing I have seen in a while...

[ifritAlkhemyst]

Oh Heisenburger. Are you pissed because someone else is pissed that people enjoy something?

[HolyDuck]

You actually saw him being pissed off at people liking something?

What's with all your paragraphs

Holy freaking crap.

Typing for you must be pretty arduous to keep hitting enter every 5 words.

Anyway, I read it, I didn't actually see it happen, would love to talk about how you saw someone being pissed at people liking something.

[Pintheshadows]

'God, TLoU and it's praise pisses me off'.

Reading comprehension. It is important HolyDuck, I was about to say they'll teach you it in school but you are in Humberside so I am not so sure.

[PoSTedUP]

@pintheshadows- i tried to gives you a burn bubble but dare wuz no bubbles for burn. -_-

[MysticStrummer]

What does Duck's comment even mean??? The guy said he was was pissed off, so people take it at face value. What does that have to do with seeing it happen? Damn, trolls are weird sometimes.

[Majin-vegeta]

-_-/.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/...

[hulk_bash1987]

Thank you for the nightmares. I've hated Pennywise since I watched It as a kid.

[Bathyj]

We all float down here

[FriedGoat]

Oh yes Georgie, they float.

[andrewer]

Yeah indeed there is too much praise. I understand it's a good game, but in my "top games of all time" the most recent one that joined was Assassin's Creed II, the rest are all at PS2/Gamecube generation or before it. I judge a game for the fun I have while playing it, not graphics, music, plot or anything specific haha, just the overall fun itself. And I just didn't have as much fun with TLoU as with Contra or even Dig Dug rofl. But that's just me :D

[90Supra]

stick to Wii Sports buddy...

[MysticStrummer]

You might want to consider the possibility that what you think is fun might differ from someone else's idea of fun. I think the Assassin's Creed series is one of the most overrated of all time, but you have as much right to put AC2 in your all time list as someone else does to put TLoU in theirs.

[andrewer]

@90Supra *sigh*
@MysticStrummer
1 - "MY 'top games of all time'...
2 - "I judge a game for the fun I have while playing it"
3 - "But that's just me :D"
I am talking about myself. I think there is too much praise indeed, but never said one shouldn't do it, I just think that this lets other good games down. For example, for me Watch Dogs is better than TLoU, but whenever I try to say that I'm decapitated lol, there is no space for other games, and that pisses me off, but I don't care what you like, I mean, you can like whatever you like and it's not my business, I know that. Just stating me and my opinion.

[FriedGoat]

So your saying a game that you have never played and is not even released is better than TLOU? Great.

[andrewer]

@FriedGoat Yeah, my hype for Watch Dogs keeps it way above TLoU. It's this. The idea behind it...hell I have fun only by watching gameplay of it. Problem?

[McScroggz]

You're entitled to your idea of fun, and I'm not even trying to imply I think you're opinion is wrong. However, one can easily counter your argument.

To people who love Horror movies, they don't have fun in the traditional sense. The build up of tension, release of tension, then build up of tension again is an emotional roller coaster that a lot of people enjoy a lot. The Last of Us, for many, is fun in this sense. You cannot distill fun into one specific emotion, and regardless not all games have to be fun.

For me, I play games to be engaged. Whether it's an exhilarating, arcady shooter, a suspenseful survival/horror game or a thought provoking indie game I just want something out of a game. For me, The Last of Us was incredibly fulfilling in this regard. So if you didn't think it was fun that's ok, but don't project your idea of fun as the end all, be all definition for our medium.

[andrewer]

@McScroggz rofl I get your point, but I actually have a lot of fun when I'm scared, I love horror games when they really get me. For me it's funny the tension sensation haha. But I get you, each one has a playstyle and a reason for why they play. I'm just saying that mine doesn't match TLoU...

[Heisenburger]

Damn... Heisenburger feels so sorry for you.

:/

[Pintheshadows]

Haha, if you say so you useless troll. Nothing on the PC throughout the 90's even comes close to this level of emotional engagement or mature and well constructed story telling. And I played almost everything in the 90's. Everything.

You clearly have issues within if the praise it is getting actually annoys you. I guess you haven't actually played it. It wouldn't surprise me. A stupid statement born of ignorance.

Maybe you could flesh out why you think this or maybe you can't as it will reveal your deception.

[Dante81]

Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers and Blood Omen Legacy of Kain would like a word with you.

[itBourne]

Movies played with all that before games, and books before that. Does that mean we should never praise anything ever again? Lol, so i take it you dont like a single book or movie made in the past 10 years as well?

[Pintheshadows]

Originality is pretty much dead in the water at this point across all form of fictional media. Sad but true. Even the very best use cliches that have existed for years. What you have to do is identify the ones that do it brilliantly and give them the credit they deserve for making something that has been overdone feel fresh and different. I feel TLOU achieves this goal and then some. Yeah, on the face of it, it is a zombie outbreak game, but dig, and it is so much more than that. In fact the main premise only really acts as a canvas for the drama between Ellie and Joel to unfold.

[Bathyj]

Well I've finally convinced my pc fanboy friend to buy a Ps3 and play last of us. He was shocked at how good the graphics were,I was surprised at that. But more than that he was just amazed at the story line, great performances and intense gameplay.

He actually rang me yesterday and thanked me for talking him into getting it.

You get rave about pc all you like and dismiss consoles if you want to, but the two games that are going to get all the GotY awards this year are console only.

[Ezz2013]

like always, Bathy
nothing but the truth
and truth hurts .....badly

[FriedGoat]

this is so true, My pc rig is beastly, and I've hardly used it for gaming this year, the PC has nothing special.

[Allsystemgamer]

The vast majority of respectable reviewers and gamers strongly disagree with you.

Clearly you have not played it.

[Am_Ryder]

Nah, man.

I was a hardcore PC gamer in the '90s. I've probably played all the games you're referring to.

None of them have commented on the human condition, and been as utterly and realistically playable as The Last Of Us. No game has done that before, or since.

I compare it to the videogaming equivalent of Of Mice And Men. A similar message on humanity, just as perfectly, sublimely evoked as the great novel. No PC game from the '90s did this. No game has ever done this (though some have come close), except for TLoU.

Did you play it to the end?

[FriedGoat]

That was the 90's, and you are wrong. I cant even count the games I played on PC in the 90's it is so many, the PC was fantastic back then. I remember installing the first Glide graphics card when they first came out and playing me some Quake 2. Now it's all MMORPG, ARPG, Console ports and Indies.

The Last of Us is a brilliant game, I can't even remember a game that can match it.

[LoveSpuds]

Can you name some of those PC games please? I have been a gamer on all formats for years and cannot recall a better PC game from the 90's?

[showtimefolks]

Last of us is my game of the decade

GTA5 I if signed afterwards

Now diablo 3
ThanSR4

And than next gen. Please don't let one game ruin your gaming experience and here is why, not everyone is as good as ND or as great of a publishing attention as Sony who were willing to take a huge risk on a new IP niche type game

But the are some excellent studios which I respect and enjoy their games so there is hope my friend.

CD red project
RS
ND
Sony Santa Monica GOW3 sig team
David Jaffa
Valvle
Bungie
343 studios, look at the list of people within this studio, MS hired the best people possible to work on their most important IP
PD
Kojima off course

IMO if ND were free agents in gaming business you would see publishers going crazy over them and the going price would be huge. Think about how far this team has come along starting with Their blockbuster Crash to now last of us.( I know they worked on many other games before doing crash and some were excellent games in their own rights)

Biggest credit for ND goes to mark Cerny who was the president of universal interactive who brought in ND and started work on Crash

I don't think Cerny gets enough love from gamers like the guy from ID gets or gabe gets from valve fans. Cerny is very under rated and I feel like under appreciated

[itBourne]

You really think Jaffe is up there? Dont get me wrong the guy is hilarious and tells it like it is, which is awesome. But he has done nothing in the past decade. Calling All Cars was fun, but nothing amazing. Same with Twisted Metal. GoW was the last great thing he did and that was ages ago.

[showtimefolks]

Yes I do consider him very talented, and for twisted metal his team didn't want to do single player TM game, but Sony said they wanted complete package

He want online TM game so he can move on to other products, calling all cars was meh

But talent alone puts him on my list

[xKugo]

People talk about this game like it's a miracle that rained down from the heavens. Yes, it's very good but gosh it's not THAT good. Give it a break already...

[fsfsxii]

I'm seriously thinking that people are worshipping this game.

[WitWolfy]

I worship this game, I cant believe I actually grew so attached to the characters Just goes to show how the game tricked my mind into think that these were real people with emotions and fears.. THATS HOW GOOD ND IS!!!

Thats why everybody loves this game, BECAUSE IT MADE YOU CARE FOR THE CHARACTERS.

[iceman600]

"absolutely, I've been playing games since i was 4 on, i started on famicom and indeed the last of us is one of the greatest games of all time"

lol ok stay off those drugs now.

[fsfsxii]

Well, personally no. What made me lose interest in gaming was Persona 3 a couple of month ago, and it was backed by Persona 4 Golden. TLOU seemed lacking compared to Persona or any SMT game.
P3 started my hate for the AAA industry and fueled my love for niche games.

[TheFutureIsBlue]

Good, good...

http://www.troll.me/images/...

[corvusmd]

Dude seriously....it was a good game, but this is ridiculous. It's not the god-send that some are pretending that it is...if this game HONESTLY ruined gaming for you, you haven't been playing many games. The voice acting was the best part of this game, and while the other aspects (except MP which was a complete waste of disk space) were really well done, there are other games that do each individual aspect better. I have a theory why some gamers are latching onto this game so much, but still....

[paranoid1971]

Wow, for a self confessed Xbox fan you do seem to spend a lot of time in PS3/PS4 threads.

[filipakos]

blu-ray doesnt understand these words "waste of disk space"

[PinkFunk]

Hehe. I lol'd. Good response, sir!

[Austin48]

It's a masterpiece of a game it's my favorite game to the people that hate it go to hell

[arronax-1]

It's not perfect. You go to hell you bastard.

[Austin48]

F#ck you you piece of shit of a gamer go play your call of duty

[franko]

It's the best game of this gen, there's no argue about it, but people forget easily. There will be more great games next gen...

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Beyond: Two Souls is the only thing that could rival TLOU.. They're equal in brilliance but TLOU is a slight inch above

[WitWolfy]

Agree to disagree TLOU is still a better game, but that doesnt mean BTS didnt make me shed some manly tears every here and there.

[bocajbee]

The Last of Us is miles above Beyond.

[DoNNiEDaRkO50]

I Played all the Uncharted Games and Uncharted 2 was my favorite game ever.Now I bought the last of us 2 weeks ago.finished it 2 times. And I just can't think I can play any other game for now. literally every person that sees me playing this game goes like '' WOW!. what's the name of this game ?'' ..after finishing TLOU I Don't want to even play Uncharted. Don't get me wrong Uncharted is an amazing game ( Like mentioned above it is my favorite game ) but after finishing TLOU I just feel something is missing from the other games.And I know I'm not the only one who have this feeling.

[Zizi]

Yeah, I know that feeling.

[Am_Ryder]

Totally.

I think it's about how grounded and realistic the mechanics are. No other game has mechanics around stealth, enemy AI, combat and crafting that are so utterly believable. It just feels real, and is ultimately satisfying because of it.

So now whenever I go to play another game- even GTA V which is almost just as realistic graphically- I just can't get past how stupid the mechanics are. Getting shot millions of time, firing hundreds and hundreds of bullets, not needing to think with strategy or tact on a moment-to-moment, true-survival basis...

Everything else just has a hole in it.

[PinkFunk]

I feel ya. Man i'm just going through The Last of Us for the first time, and i've never played a game that has me play so safe. It is so tense, and frankly stressful, that I find myself playing as though I care about my own life. That means smart and slow.

I understand now why some reviews said sometimes the experience isn't fun, because it's just so damn tense. That's what makes it amazing, and what carries it to another level. Combine that with the story which, as you said, deals with the human condition, and it's really an excellent package.

Can't wait to get back into it...

[pody]

Couldn't agree with you more PinkFunk. That's exactly the feeling I had as well.

[YodaCracker]

I agree. TLOU has the most natural stealth mechanics in any game I have played. The way you naturally flow from cover to cover without sticking to it is very satisfying. It doesn't feel like trial and error like Splinter Cell. I don't feel like I need any visibility meters or other HUD elements, I can just use my senses and the little audio cues while examining the environment. And if worse comes to worst and I'm spotted, the combat is incredibly satisfying as well. I don't feel the need to restart the checkpoint and try to remain a ghost.

Some people complain that there is too much combat and by the end of the game, they just want to rush through it to see the story wrap up. I didn't feel this way at all. I thought the combat remained tense and enjoyable from start to finish, with great pacing and highly enjoyable mechanics.

The other thing that impressed me about TLOU, aside from the obvious (story and characters), was the downright absurd level of detail and original art in every inch of the world. It's just oozing with detail. Although I believe it has already been surpassed by GTA V when it comes to detail, which is insane considering GTA V is a massive open world. I don't know how Rockstar did it, but they crammed a mindboggling amount of detail into every block of Los Santos. The completely handcrafted world is truly a marvel to behold.

Rockstar and Naughy Dog have got to be my two favorite developers of this gen. The sheer level of quality and polish in their games is unmatched.

[MysticStrummer]

Look at all the people who can't take someone else's opinion. Hint - Saying "It's not THAT good" is your opinion, not a fact. The Last of Us is a strong contender for Game of the Year. Try not to lose sleep over that. I didn't play it until recently, after finishing GTA5's story, and in my opinion The Last of US is indeed THAT good.

[Inception]

My personal GotY along with Rain and Dragon's Crown ^^

[Double_O_Revan]

Id be shocked if TLoU doesn't win GotY. It is easily my favorite game this year, if not my favorite gaming experience in Many years.

[clouds5]

It's a good game, but not one of my all time favorites. What stood out for me was the story and the overall atmosphere/art design/graphics. But the gameplay was nothing special for me, just not really fun... This is one of the games I would prefer to play on the easiest difficulty, because i want the "combat" scenes to be over as fast and smooth as possible, to get back to the exploring and story.

And one minor thing: As a PC gamer who borrowed a PS3 for this game, the resolution/textures/framerate are actually quite bad and did annoy me too. Don't get me wrong the game is beautiful, it's just the limitations of the ps3.

[byeGollum]

I couldn't agree more with your opinion on the gameplay. It was hardly any fun. I did my best to try and enjoy it.
What kept me going was the story. I came to like the characters, and world itself.

majority are lying to themselves. . exaggerating, as they do with playstation exclusives.

[Am_Ryder]

See my comment @clouds5

[Am_Ryder]

Regarding the combat gameplay, here's how I found it fun:

If you put the game's difficulty up to hardest- Hard or Survivor mode, the whole point is just TRYING TO SURVIVE.

The game is bluntly saying to you: here's what you can do. You can do what you can do in real life. Men are coming and they will kill you if they find you.

Can you survive?

Because surviving in it, at a hard difficulty, isn't easy. You have to watch your resources constantly. Plan the next 30 seconds ahead and get ready for the situation to change or escalate. It forces you to improvise- REALLY improvise, depending on your situation, something I've never had a game do before to me. And more importantly- even if surviving itself isn't TOO hard, the challenge comes from surviving and using as few resources as possible, because you might need them for an emergency later.

The issue people have with the gameplay is that it doesn't use the usual videogame feedback loop of giving you pickups or upgrades from killing enemies. Killing guys doesn't net you progression. You don't even have to kill them.

The reason it has possibly the greatest gameplay ever, for me, is that it is just a question of forcing you to try and survive. On Survivor difficulty it's unbelievable. A masterwork of gameplay. And narratively the gameplay is ingenious too, as you're forced to BECOME Joel in your quest to survive and protect Ellie.

Instead,

[clouds5]

Comes down to personal preference i guess. I started out on the hardest difficulty that was available when you first start the game (not sure what it's called).
And I switched down to easy about half way through the game. This is the FIRST time to do that in any game, as far as i can remember :) I usually enjoy challenges, demon souls/dark souls are some of my favorite games ever.
But the gameplay just didn't do it for me. It didn't motivate me - it annoyed me. And I felt like it kept me from what I enjoyed most in TLOU. The characters, the exploring and the story.

But this is nitpicking :) I really really liked the game. It's amazing. But for me, not the perfect game some feel it is. Maybe I give it another try sometimes when I'm in the mood for it ;)

[Am_Ryder]

I can't reply to your new comment, which is weird and it sucks.

One other thing which I forgot to mention is that the gameplay doesn't really pick up (even on harder difficulties) until after Petersburg. As situations get increasingly larger, more complex, more challenging, the high difficulty levels really come into their own.

It's very similar to how the latter half of Uncharted 2 on Crushing difficulty is really the only way to play the game.

I mostly say this cos you said you swapped to Easy relatively early on- if it was around or before Petersburg, you definitely won't have seen the gameplay's full potential on Hard/ Survivor! Survivor's amazing too, minimal HUD and no "Listen Mode" so you can't cheat basically ;)

But I totally understand what you're saying. If the gameplay is no shakes for you, that's fair enough man! The story is still a wonder.

[clouds5]

Yeah I'm definately gonna give it another try sometime next year. Maybe now that I'm not so eager to find out how the story continues I can focus more into the gameplay :) I wanted to do that anyway, but too many great games coming up now for my WiiU!

Btw1: great to see someone that can actually accept different opinions on this site... thumbs up for you :D

Btw2: The reply system on this site is just the worst. I had so many discussion that lost itself because you don't get notified or people can't reply anymore...

[MyWordIsGospel]

Lent it to a friend, he didn't rate it said it was boring....we don't talk anymore.

[byeGollum]

ehehehehe

[arronax-1]

Why, because he had an opinion?

[NeoTribe]

Naughty dog does have a way of spoiling you. I remember I played and beat uncharted 2, than later that month rented enslaved. I couldn't believe people thought enslaved was even remotely good. It was so much like uncharted 2 but without.... well.. anything impressive about it lol.

[noctis_lumia]

ppl can hate all they want that wont change the last of us been one of the best games of the generation nuff said.

[Gardenia]

To be honest, i never understood the hype of this games when it came out. Yes i played it and it was a good game. I'm starting to think that gamers who say it is one of the best games ever made don't play a lot of games.

Best story? No way. MGS 1998 and Vagrant Story are way better
Best gameplay? What about SotC or Silent Hill 2?

The best games were made in the PS1, PS2 era

[TheFutureIsBlue]

I don't get the hype...really, this game isn't THAT good! Psh, who am I kidding? Naughty God ftw!

http://oi50.tinypic.com/24o...

Be jealous xbots.