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

[Migey]

I absolutely hated the Uncharted series with... not a passion. It's too by-the-numbers boring to be worth passion with which to hate it. That said, this game looks quite interesting, and I have never seen a game get such good reviews (excepting Bioshock Infinite), and I still havn't heard one single complaint about this game, so definately gonna look into it.

[Howdyphillip]

I absolutely hated the Uncharted series with... not a passion. It's too by-the-numbers boring to be worth passion with which to hate it. That said, this game looks quite interesting, and I have never seen a game get such good reviews (excepting Bioshock Infinite), and I still havn't heard one single complaint about this game, so definately gonna look into it.

The reason that I like this game so much is because of how much it resembles the Uncharted games in the production values. If you do not like a linear story told with top of the industry voice acting this might not be the game for you.

I am enjoying this game quite a bit, but I still prefer the Uncharted series for the simple fact that Uncharted contains puzzles. Solving puzzles and riddles are my favorite gaming experiences

[Jabronius Maximus]

Uncharted also had that Indiana Jones feel to it. Believable, but not realistic. Gun play was serviceable, but I liked the overall experience just a bit more than Last. This game is just way more intense than Uncharted ever hoped to be. I had to take breaks because at points it was just a lot to take in.

I might do a replay at survivor level difficulty, but as of now I'd put Uncharted 2 just slightly above Last, just due to the overall experience.

[The Ghost of Winter]

So my boyfriend and I just finished the game a couple of hours ago...

Joel is absolutely ruthless and I love it. The morality is questionable about what he did and how he lied to Ellie. But Marlene wasn't much better tbh. She could've been honest to Ellie too about what she thought needed to done.

Overall, I feel like a "cure" is a bit too late. Humanity is pretty screwed at this point. Lots of killers, cannibals, rapists, etc.

This game was great, I'm not sure if I'd say its fun but more like a breathtaking experience. I want to play again soon!

Rip Horsey.

[Howdyphillip]

I just finished, What a superb story line. The voice acting was once again phenomenal as is the case with anything that Naughty Dog puts out. This is by far the best game of the year.

[Jabronius Maximus]

That rapey guy scared the shit out of me. No wonder Ellie sliced and diced him like that.

Online is hard as hell, especially since not that many people seem to be playing it yet. The campaign itself took me a good 15 hours to finish off, so maybe there's still a lot of people who haven't made the trip yet.

[The Anti-Targ]

Just started it last night. Enjoying it a lot, playing on hard w listening mode on. It's a shame I saw a bit of gameplay footage in the months leading up to release because the beginning was spoiled for me, even though I had never seen any footage of the beginning.

[JonArryn]

The game has sunken in a bit now, but my opinion hasn't changed. I think it's actually my favorite game ever.

Joel and Ellie's relationship is by far the best relationship in any video game I've played.

[teemo]

Finished a couple days ago. I love the game the most during winter.

[The Ghost of Winter]

The game has sunken in a bit now, but my opinion hasn't changed. I think it's actually my favorite game ever.

Joel and Ellie's relationship is by far the best relationship in any video game I've played.

Me neither, I love it so much I can't shut up about it. I'm probably annoying the hell out of everyone.

[Kaldaur]

Final Fantasy 6 has now been supplanted at the top of my favorite games' list. I had to stretch every evening before going to bed to relieve the tension this game created.

[Pinkie Baelish]

I've been waiting a whole goddamn week till my uni exams finished so that I could get my hands on this game. But when I go to the store to buy it today, I find out that it's sold out in every single goddamn branch in the city, and I have to wait for another week or so to get a copy.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

[Francis Buck]

I've been waiting a whole goddamn week till my uni exams finished so that I could get my hands on this game. But when I go to the store to buy it today, I find out that it's sold out in every single goddamn branch in the city, and I have to wait for another week or so to get a copy.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

You could always get a digital copy.

[Jabronius Maximus]

After a busy schedule the past week or so, today I had a chance to reflect on the ending, and I'm just completely conflicted...(long spoiler ahead)

I don't have a utilitarian worldview at all, but man for a good 5 minutes or so (when Joel was carrying Ellie away), I was just going 'Fuck, Joel, calm the fuck down and let these guys save humanity!' I know the vaccine's not guaranteed, or they could just totally bungle the surgery, get overrun by infected, etc but it was the best chance to restore humanity.

Now the humanity part is where I'm conflicted. Is there even any shred of humanity left? There's raiders everywhere, every person we meet shoots to kill before asking questions, there's no mass communication method to get word of a cure out, and I'm pretty sure whoever controls the vaccine supply will have all the power. So let's say the surgery goes as planned and a cure is developed. Then what? There's no nationwide broadcasting that we know of, and cooperation of any kind with anyone seems out of the question. The Fireflies already have bad relationships with a lot of people and the army is after them. So the Fireflies could get wiped out in an attempt to get the cure out there. Also, where it could get ugly is if the vaccine isn't for free. By controlling the use of the cure, the Fireflies could gain supplies and weaponry. But the key is they'll have the power to decide who gets the cure, and who doesn't. I think by killing them and saving Ellie, there's a chance Joel avoided turning the US into a tyrranical regime headed by the Fireflies. All that said, this is an extreme scenario, and for all we know someone could kill the Fireflies and use the vaccine to their own ends.

Besides the fact that he saved an innocent girl (who wasn't even given a choice in the matter), this is the only thing I can think of to defend Joel's actions. Now, lying to Ellie, is indefensible imo. At some point she should have been given a choice, whether from Joel or the Fireflies.

The ending seemed very straightforward, and unlike BioShock infinite there was no questioning what had happened. But I'm at a loss when trying to argue whether it was right, or its implications. This game struck really deeply, and is right at the top of my best of all time list (I'm not a hardcore gamer though, so I don't know where you guys would rank it).

Anyone else want to take a stab at explaining the ending? (Implications, other thoughts)

[Ser Greguh]

Personally I think that Joel lying to Ellie was the only humane thing to do. In fact it's very puzzling to me that people are actually advocating that he tell her that by saving her he may have actively deprived her of providing the world with a vaccine. That to me would be an unimaginable cruelty, surely resulting in the sort of survivor's guilt she probably wouldn't come back from.

[JonArryn]

Barristan: both Francis Buck and I have written what we felt about the ending and I think there are someone else that has too. So if you want to see, check our spoiler tagged posts further back in the thread. Nice post though, it's always nice to hear some thoughts, especially on the ending.

I'll write down a couple of lines anyway:

I don't know what you mean with explaining the ending. There really isn't much to explain. What we see happens, Joel saves Ellie because he loves her. Now, if it's selfish or not doesn't matter at all to him. He doesn't care if the cure would save humanity. He'd blow the whole building if that meant saving Ellie. And you also write that his actions may not be justifiable, but I don't think they are meant to be either. Joel is a broken man who'd do anything to keep his "daughter" Ellie safe.

Now as for my opinion, I think he does the right thing. In no way is it okay to sacrifice a 14-year old without giving that person a choice. And even if they had given her a choice, would it be more okay? Indeed it would, because then Ellie would have decided for herself, but that wasn't the case now.

I don't think it's worth sacrificing one person to maybe get a cure which may or may not help a humanity which is pretty much screwed already. The person who is gonna be sacrificed is probably someone's child or brother or sister or parent, and who is the judge as to what life is worth sacrificing? It sure as hell ain't the Fireflies, or you and me. I don't think anyone can judge that.

So I don't think it's worth killing a 14-year old to get a cure. If you start doing things like that you have lost your humanity already, to some extent. They should hold out and try to find a cure which doesn't mean you have to kill a person. That's how I see it. And you make more good examples as to why she shouldn't be sacrificed. The cure isn't even a guarantee to a better future.

After the last scene we can only speculate what might happen. It's pretty safe to say that Joel and Ellie at least was gonna try and stick together, for now.

I forgot that too, as to continue with what Ser Greguh wrote:

I too think it's worse to lie to Ellie, mostly because she deserves to know, after everything they've gone through. But as Greguh wrote, it can be seen as him trying to make her not feel guilt, which is more humane. But she already suspects that he's lying, as you can see from the doubt on her face. Either way, she accepts that he lies, when she says okay.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Barristan: both Francis Buck and I have written what we felt about the ending and I think there are someone else that has too. So if you want to see, check our spoiler tagged posts further back in the thread. Nice post though, it's always nice to hear some thoughts, especially on the ending.

I'll write down a couple of lines anyway:

I don't know what you mean with explaining the ending. There really isn't much to explain. What we see happens, Joel saves Ellie because he loves her. Now, if it's selfish or not doesn't matter at all to him. He doesn't care if the cure would save humanity. He'd blow the whole building if that meant saving Ellie. And you also write that his actions may not be justifiable, but I don't think they are meant to be either. Joel is a broken man who'd do anything to keep his "daughter" Ellie safe.

Now as for my opinion, I think he does the right thing. In no way is it okay to sacrifice a 14-year old without giving that person a choice. And even if they had given her a choice, would it be more okay? Indeed it would, because then Ellie would have decided for herself, but that wasn't the case now.

I don't think it's worth sacrificing one person to maybe get a cure which may or may not help a humanity which is pretty much screwed already. The person who is gonna be sacrificed is probably someone's child or brother or sister or parent, and who is the judge as to what life is worth sacrificing? It sure as hell ain't the Fireflies, or you and me. I don't think anyone can judge that.

So I don't think it's worth killing a 14-year old to get a cure. If you start doing things like that you have lost your humanity already, to some extent. They should hold out and try to find a cure which doesn't mean you have to kill a person. That's how I see it. And you make more good examples as to why she shouldn't be sacrificed. The cure isn't even a guarantee to a better future.

After the last scene we can only speculate what might happen. It's pretty safe to say that Joel and Ellie at least was gonna try and stick together, for now.

I forgot that too, as to continue with what Ser Greguh wrote:

I too think it's worse to lie to Ellie, mostly because she deserves to know, after everything they've gone through. But as Greguh wrote, it can be seen as him trying to make her not feel guilt, which is more humane. But she already suspects that he's lying, as you can see from the doubt on her face. Either way, she accepts that he lies, when she says okay.

Oh ok I guess I missed those posts, I'll have a read. I wasn't asking about an explanation of what happened, because it was clear as day, but what the implications of it are and what would happen next. And I agree with Greguh about

Joel's lie

But then there's also this:

tommy is far from an idiot (and a former Firefly) so when he hears Joel's explanation of what happened, he may call bullshit right then and there, opening up a giant can of worms, possibly rendering Joel's efforts futile.

Aside from all this, I think when you consider the implications of the ending, the aftermath and whatnot, it becomes clear that they ended it at literally the perfect time. That's the mark of a great game.

[The Anti-Targ]

Damn I was in the room when my son got to a certain point:

Joel gets impaled, the you soon after get to play as Ellie. When TLOU was first announced I hoped that you'd get to play as both characters and I am so excited to know that you do. But I am totally bummed that I got spoiled regarding these developments in the game.

I also think it's ridiculous that Joel is impaled through the abdomen in a post apocalyptic world with no decent medical facilities or plentiful access to antibiotics and he lives. The impaling should have been through a less guaranted to be fatal part of the body.

But then again how can I complain about that when Joel can be shot and stabbed almost to the point of death and then be right as rain after the application of a few alcohol soaked rags. At least it's not auto-heal.

[Francis Buck]

Damn I was in the room when my son got to a certain point:

Joel gets impaled, the you soon after get to play as Ellie. When TLOU was first announced I hoped that you'd get to play as both characters and I am so excited to know that you do. But I am totally bummed that I got spoiled regarding these developments in the game.

I also think it's ridiculous that Joel is impaled through the abdomen in a post apocalyptic world with no decent medical facilities or plentiful access to antibiotics and he lives. The impaling should have been through a less guaranted to be fatal part of the body.

But then again how can I complain about that when Joel can be shot and stabbed almost to the point of death and then be right as rain after the application of a few alcohol soaked rags. At least it's not auto-heal.

Yeah that was definitely a little over-the-top. I guess they just really wanted to make you think he was done for, especially with the cut to Ellie gameplay afterwards.

And on the topic of realism, Joel really needs to invest in a decent knife. I mean the guy has a fucking flamethrower, but he can't manage to find a knife?

[teemo]

I've been waiting a whole goddamn week till my uni exams finished so that I could get my hands on this game. But when I go to the store to buy it today, I find out that it's sold out in every single goddamn branch in the city, and I have to wait for another week or so to get a copy.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

You probably got it by now, but there's always Redbox. My friend rented it and kept it. He's done it before and they just end up charging you about $60, same as retail. Or overnight Amazon.