ShenGCH wrote:I liked The Last of Us (first time I played it was on PS4), but the stealth became really tedious and the gameplay in general (especially the 'puzzles') was a little too standard for my liking, and that really soured my experience. By the time I'd reached chapter eight, I just wanted the game to end, honestly. I wasn't expecting the world out of it, or anything, but for the amount of praise it received, I think I was expecting more than what it delivered. Based on the characters, narrative, and performances (on all fronts), however, they're probably the best I've ever encountered in a game. Friggin' phenomenal in that regard.
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I kind of skipped most of the hype, luckily. I knew it was highly-praised, but I never really delved into the specifics. I just let myself discover it on my own.
Now that I've played most of it (I'm guessing I'm near the end now), I will say it's actually less of a stealth game than I was initially expecting. At first I felt like you do; that it was too basic and tedious. But after a while, after a few fuck-ups trying to sneak my way through the whole thing, I found that the game really shines precisely when you fuck up.
It's not the kind of game you're supposed to ghost your way through. It's not supposed to be a Sam Fisher-esque sneak-em-up. It's designed exactly so that things just get more intense when you make a mistake. The game is about people struggling to survive, and that sensation is most clear and evident when an enemy has his forearm against your throat and the camera zooms in, showing every grimace and gritted tooth while they attack eachother. That's where the game differentiates itself from anything else out there, and it's a very important place that ties together the gameplay and story/character in a way that many games never quite achieve.
Personally, I think if there's any problem with the game, it's that the autosave points are a little too close together; it takes away some of the intensity when you know you can just restart a minute earlier. They should have spaced them out.
Either way, as you said, most of the praise was for the narrative and presentation, and it deserves it on that front. I was fucking shock to find that Troy Baker actually managed to play a perfect Texas accent for Joel. Not Kentucky, not Alabama, not Georgia; Texas. Most actors, even in movies and tv shows, don't give a shit about specifics like that; a southern accent is a southern accent. But Joel specifically sounds Texan, and that's incredible to me, that such care was put into a videogame performance.
Main thing I remember back from when the game was first out was Kenny talking about how much of a dick Joel is... but I'm not really understanding that sentiment so far. He's hardheaded and overly-sensitive about certain things, but that's to be expected after the intro. I don't blame him, and it's not like he goes out of his way or gets in peoples' faces about stuff.
I dunno. Matter of perspective, I guess.
