The Last of Us -- Quickly becoming my favorite game ever.

[JonArryn]

Francis Buck: I was thinking of writing the same thing, hehe. It's like watching ten minutes of The Sopranos, and calling it just a mob show. And I agree wholeheartedly on the story in Last of Us being up to par with Oscar winning movies. And I was sceptic at first, but I had to eat my socks there. And I didn't think it was predictable at all. I couldn't see that end coming. I was thinking in different scenarios.

Another interesting thing is where the game has taken inspiration from. Sure, it may not be a very original story, but when it's better than all the inspiration, and it is, then it doesn't even matter. I mentioned that it was similar to Children of Men, but Last of Us is a much better story than that, so it doesn't matter that they share some aspects. It's only on the surface.

But the games best achievement in my eyes, is the two main characters, and how they interact and react. Joel and Ellie are probably the most layered characters I've encountered in video games. They feel real, and it feels like many people could react like them, if they were in a post-apocalyptic world. And if you compare LoU with Bioshock: Infinite some more. Where Bioshock: Infinite was a great game, that really showed what a video game can do with a relationship between two characters, Last of Us breaks any pre-conceived notions about games, and does it a lot better, and more heartfelt. I teared up a few times during the game (even though I've done that before with games). It was because of a recurring theme which is:

Joel not wanting to be reminded of his daughters death, which means he doesn't want to form a bond with Ellie, because he knows how much it will mean to him if he does, and furthermore he knows how much it will completely shred him if something happens to her. He shuts her out, because he seriously can't deal with anymore loss. And it's not like he drops this attitude quickly, it's a long process for him, which makes it even more moving and feeling real when it does happen

Most of all, it's amazing how far this game goes, with themes and concept. It really tells you a lot about humanity and human nature, which I don't think another game has made, to me. Through the eyes of the two protagonists we see sides of human nature, and it can show us things. And the moral complexity and greenness is well-realized too.

In my eyes, the ending made me think even better of the game. Not your regular ending, I'll tell you that much.

Anyway, I may write more about it later too. Just wanted to air these things a little. But this is certainly in my top 5 video games, and it may very well be the best game I've played. It does need to sink in a little, I guess. It's like I'm all wired up because I've just played the game. But as I mentioned before, I thought Bioshock: Infinite was gonna be impossible to beat this year. But The Last of Us beat it, and not by a little margin either.

About the ending:

Damn, the ending was brutal. And the look on Ellie's face was not one of trust, that was clear. She doubted Joel a lot, when he told his lie. I did see someone mention that they think they will make a sequel, or get some DLC out. While the ending was great, it does feel like it needs more resolution. So I would very much like if we got to see some more of this story. And someone else mentioned that since you get to play as Ellie the very last bit, they think that means you're gonna play as her in the DLC, or sequel. It just feels like they can bring it further, ending the game with Joel feeding Ellie such a big lie, was brutal. Although it may undermine the point of the whole ending, but I just want to get more of the world, so I'd definitely be open to a sequel. Pretty doubtful though, I don't think they'll make more in this. It feels very stand alone, but I'd like if they did though.

It's hard to stop thinking about the game now too :D. Nice when more people finish it and gets into the discussion.

[JonArryn]

Apparently there are some DLC's planned to be released. What it'll be, we'll see later.

[Commodore]

That's like watching the first five minutes of The Godfather and saying "seems like a standard gangster movie".

agreed, not drawing any conclusions, just not blown away yet

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte]

Man I wish I could really play this game somehow without the console :( PS3 prices in my country are still friggin high so no point getting one when I have PC .

[JonArryn]

Man I wish I could really play this game somehow without the console :( PS3 prices in my country are still friggin high so no point getting one when I have PC .

Hmm, maybe they will release it on PS4 too, they probably will. In that case you can buy that, since it'll be a big step in hardware and get a lot more games further on.

If I were you, I'd wait for the PS4 and se if TLoU gets released. There is no guarantte it'll come to PS4, they have no plans of it at the moment. But the success it has had, should mean they'd benefit from a PS4 version too.

Maybe wait and see for now? The PS3 may drop in price later on as well.

[The Anti-Targ]

Really want this game. Been looking for something to play since I finished Bioshock. But I don't have a PS3.

Anybody know if this will come out for PS4? If so, might have to wait 6 months and get it then.

No, not as a regular release title. But Sony hafve said they will put the best of the best PS3 games onto their Gaikai service once that's up and running, which means TLoU will probably be playable on PS4 at some point in the future. I pre-orderd my game from an online mail-order site. But it still hasn't arrived. So damned frustrated right now.

I always play first through on Normal and then again on Hard (makes hard less hard, and I'm a wuse so I need hard to be not as hard as it would be when playing through for the first time), and then again on Normal to mop up the last of the trophies. I feel I will be trying to platinum this game because of it's awesomeness.

[Mexal]

I am frustrated this game isn't on Xbox...

[Ser Greguh]

Picked it up Friday, marathonned through Winter on Saturday, finished it off this morning. It's unreal how good this game is. Lots of standout features, but the real exclamation point was how expressive the characters' faces were. This is the first game I've seen where the in-game rendered CGI goes past the uncanny valley. Incredible story, great script, and top tier voice acting too.

[The Anti-Targ]

I am frustrated this game isn't on Xbox...

You'll get to play it on PC, in about 10 years time when there's a PS3 emulator available.

[The Ghost of Winter]

I also want to say that this game honestly scares the shit out of me. Every single time a clicker or bloater comes at me I scream like a little girl.

[Jabronius Maximus]

I also want to say that this game honestly scares the shit out of me. Every single time a clicker or bloater comes at me I scream like a little girl.

near the end where there's like 3 Bloaters in the tunnel at Salt Lake City, I had to shut off my system, take it from my basement and hook it up in my living room, open the windows and max the brightness, AND have a decent song playing on the radio just to get through it lol. And I'm a grown ass man. At least I thought I was before I played this game.

[The Ghost of Winter]

near the end where there's like 3 Bloaters in the tunnel at Salt Lake City, I had to shut off my system, take it from my basement and hook it up in my living room, open the windows and max the brightness, AND have a decent song playing on the radio just to get through it lol. And I'm a grown ass man. At least I thought I was before I played this game.

Ffs! Now my boyfriend will scream like a little girl too! I am NOT playing that part, he can do it.

[JonArryn]

I finally got around to beating it last night. After thinking about it for awhile, I can pretty confidently say that it has the best story of any video game that I personally have played. The ending was just...amazing. Not just the events, but even down to the cinematography and editing and climactic scenes, it was genuinely on the level of an Oscar-winning movie. The was indeed pretty predictable throughout, and even up to the end I kind of saw where they were going with it, but then they added one little wrinkle (and executed it brilliantly) that completely changed it up. I'll write more later when I have time.

It'd be interesting to hear what you mean with "one little wrinkle". Although I think I know what it is you mean with it.

[Grip]

It certainly looks like a very entertaining game, I am currently watching Day[9] having a go at it.

Edit; I always think how good it would be to wear chainmail, or a gorget or something, in these kind of games. You know when the "zombie" comes to bite you in the neck your all covered. I suppose it might however be a bit troublesome to find chainmail/gorget in your average 21th century city.

[KiDisaster]

I just got up to Fall last night, probably about 4 or 5 hours played so far.

Everything about this game is awesome, there's only one minor complaint I have and it annoys me a lot more than it should.

We're short on supplies, having to make every bullet count, digging through trash and searching old, destroyed houses for anything we can make improvised weapons with. So when I sneak up on and stealth kill a guy who's holding a shotgun or a pistol or something, why the fuck can't I take his ammo? I mean I guess in a practical sense it would make it too easy because you'd be getting ammo all the time, but I find it kind of immersion breaking that (in-story) Joel would just leave a gun with the bullets in it and keep on trucking. He wouldn't do that, he'd pick up every round he could find. I know I would anyway.

But that's it, that's the only thing I can find to fault this game on. Well that and the FPS drops sometimes but I expected that and it's not really an issue.

[victim]

I don't really venture outside of the ASOIAF or GOT sections of this site often, but I wanted to to discuss this game. Mind you, I somehow knew there would be a thread on it, because well, how could there not be? It's just that good. I just finished the Winter section of the game, and I'm completely blown away. It's already in my top five games of all time*, even without having beaten it, and just about on par with Red Dead Redemption as my favourite game of the past decade. It hits on every single emotional level. The way this story is told reminds me of one of my favourite Billy Wilder quotes (and a great tip for budding screenwriters and storytellers): "Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go."

Joel and Ellie really are wonderful, exceptionally-voiced characters, who I really care for. I wouldn't call them cliché, they just share a lot of tropes with other characters in the same genre, but they're more three-dimensional and engaging due to the performance of Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson. It's not just them too. The supporting cast has been outstanding; Tess, Henry, Sam, Bill, David and Tommy are all amazingly written, memorable side-characters that you really come to love. Speaking of David, I was on the game's IMDb page a few hours ago and he's actually voiced by Nolan North (Nathan Drake himself), which is just too cool. The man is a master of voices, did you know he also voiced the Penguin in Arkham City? Or that Troy Baker voiced Two-Face?

Back on the topic of the characters, I'm not sure if I have ever felt as emotionally drawn to a cast as quickly as I was with The Last of Us. I mean, I was tearing up during the introduction level, and for that to happen in a videogame is a truly great accomplishment. Whereas Red Dead Redemption took it's time to build-up the mysterious John Marston and make you legitimately care about him and what happens to him, the Last of Us thrusts it on you from the very first second... and it actually succeeds. I'm sure many are aware just how fickle video game audiences are, or rather, how fickle video game developers think their audiences are, but it seems Naughty Dog doesn't. Someone above mentioned how this game isn't for everyone, which is why I think it's perfect. So many AAA developers feel the need to cater for everyone and end up with games that are a sort of amalgam of ideas and wasted potential.

Just so everyone knows, the reason the game will never come to Xbox or PC is because it's published by Sony, kind of like how Halo is published by Microsoft and will never (ever) see a release on Playstation. It's sad because everyone should experience this, but that's just the nature of business.

*If anyone cares, I'd put the list in order as:

1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

2. Red Dead Redemption

3. The Last of Us

4. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

5. Max Payne

Edit: Also wanted to add that I'm playing on Hard, and will definitely replay on Survivor+. I mean, it's difficult enough, but I love a challenge, and hate coasting through video games. Too many are easy these days.

[Zupoleon]

I'm a couple hours in and really like it so far. Definitely not a game to rush through, although you can play that way, should you chose to (stealth tactics are far more rewarding IMO). I think they've done a great job of conveying the 'feel' of a world decimated by a pandemic. Great send-off for the PS3...

[Underfoot]

I'm really frustrated that this is PS3 only, because a) I'm horrible at console games and b ) and I don't have a PS3 (or the money to buy one). I really really really wish that this could be released for PC too, but alas, doesn't sound like that will ever be possible.

I also want to play Beyond: Two Souls, which is going to be another PS3 exclusive so I might have to save up and buy one. I don't have a bluray player either, and I'd love to be able to stream Netflix on my TV so it might be worth it...

[Hallyington]

Damn PS3 over heated a few years back, pity, this sounds like a great game.

[The Ghost of Winter]

I'm really frustrated that this is PS3 only, because a) I'm horrible at console games and b ) and I don't have a PS3 (or the money to buy one). I really really really wish that this could be released for PC too, but alas, doesn't sound like that will ever be possible.

I also want to play Beyond: Two Souls, which is going to be another PS3 exclusive so I might have to save up and buy one. I don't have a bluray player either, and I'd love to be able to stream Netflix on my TV so it might be worth it...

No way will they ever release it for PC, Naughty Dog is owned by Sony.

Beyond: Two Souls sounds very appealing, plus its made by the studio that made Heavy Rain, another favorite PS3 exclusive of mine.