The Last of Us (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Tino,


Have to cancel. A bunch of movies just arrived that I need to watch.


Maybe we can reschedule for Sunday.

 

[Tino]

Sure. No problem Ron.

 

[Barton Lynch]

Wow, my first post in nearly a decade, and I used to come here daily since the early days of the forum.


Well, this game is awesome, better still on the PS4 with the added 60fps effect and resolution.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Barton,


Welcome back.


What turned you away?


I enjoyed THE LAST OF US immensely. Just finished it two weeks ago.

 

[Barton Lynch]

Barton,


Welcome back.


What turned you away?


I enjoyed THE LAST OF US immensely. Just finished it two weeks ago.

I don't know what turned me away Ron, maybe that the world of Audio and HT in general began to bore me as there was nothing new and exciting after the BD format entered the market. All that low quality streaming, cinematography distorting 3D that came afterwards -and other factors- contributed to my growing disappointment.


Also I felt we were a dying breed, the real HT enthusiast that filled this forum with rage since the late 90's. Like we are 'The Last of Us' (pun intended), as more and more people steer away from this fascinating world of fidelity for a more convenient one with wireless bluetooth speakers, soundbars, tablets and mini boomboxes for gadgets, all of which are trying to normalize as the real deal. Don't get me wrong, as an open minded and tech embracing guy I have iPods and iPhones and iPads, but they will never be a true substitute for the real audio and home theater enthusiast who wants the best experience possible.


I also felt betrayed somehow by the failure of SACD and DVD-A, leaving me in a position of distrust towards new technology as the early adopter that I was. I truly believed that was the next step in audio fidelity, not iTunes and iPods. Like when you realized that LaserDisc was dead after supporting it since 1980 and amassing a large collection, only to start over again with DVD (with it's subpar dynamic range in the sound department compared to LD) and then again with BD. It gets tiresome and with each generational transition, and the leaps in improvement are less pronounced proportionally. I used to embrace all that but from the beginning, but after a long while you begin to think in more practical terms. Like my huge skepticism towards impractical and unnecessary new home formats in both audio and video namely 4K and Object Based Surround (ATMOS, DTS-X). But this is content for another subject.


I still kept my gear up to date during all tis time, HDMI, Dolby & DTS HD, PS3/PS4, BD, 1080p, this and that, etc. But only as a mandatory thing to stay current as long as the upgrade was worthy an improvement in perceptive quality (picture, sound) to justify the trouble. Something I felt is not happening with ATMOS, 3D and 4K in home applications, contrary to commercial applications were a feel it's warranted and justified. For instance, the jump to 1080p BD was huge from standard NTSC anamorphic DVD, something I have a hard time trying to find with all the marketing BS surrounding 4K. Sure, we can all noticed with a 80+" screen at the proper distance, but can we fit this in practical terms at home? can you notice the difference with the average 46" screen? My experiences tell me a different story. No wow factor, just food for the spec hunters and the short crowd than can fit such a large screen in their theaters. I'd rather take the same sufficient 1080p but with better display technology, like OLED and better color profile in the codec (like 4:4:4 24bit with a high dynamic range contrast), I'll take that every day instead of more pixels.


But hey! I'm still in and to prove it last year I added the Ps4 (I'm a heavy gamer), replaced my main speakers after 18 years, finally tried adding front effects channels to my Yamaha receiver to test the presence DSP and came out pleased, and started buying more music that ever in the last 5 years. I'm digging BD-Audio editions to get back to were I was before SACD & DVD-A died on me: HD Audio in surround with BDs.


I love HT, I love Audio, I love movies, music and video games as an artistic expression, I think we all agree that The Last of Us is a testament in this matter. Thank you for caring and keeping this forum alive Ron. I'll try to come by more often to enjoy serious debates, healthy discussions and of course, taking a tip or two from other experienced enthusiasts alike, here is where I learned most of what I know today and I'm grateful. Sorry for the long post, I got carried away, but I felt I needed to say something about it.


Cheers!

 

[DaveF]

I started The Last of Us last December. But then, Destiny.


I restarted TLOU this afternoon, from the beginning on Easy mode. I'd like to get through it by the end of the year. Because, Fallout 4 (or maybe Uncharted).


Even on second viewing, the introductory sequence through the narrative hook -- Joel learning what the smuggling job is -- is impressive.


Game-wise, I still struggle with the controls. I don't really understand when bottles/bricks are available or when they'll vanish after picking them up. Likewise, how to use a shiv after finding one. It feels a bit random how manual weapons are used or exit inventory. With that comes a general difficulty with the stealth aspect of the game: i sneak around, only to find the bottle I'd picked up to distract an opponent is gone. Or I sneak up on someone, but the 'grab to drag' action doesn't appear. Or the shiv I thought I had is nowhere to be be used.


Hopefully it will become clearer as I continue to play.

 

[DaveF]

Wow. I played the last two thirds of the game this past week. The Last of Us lives up to expectations. That was a potent experience.

 

[DaveF]

I'm playing the DLC "Left Behind". I guess I got two thirds through it tonight. It's more an interactive movie, and as such even more potent than the base game.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Wow. I played the last two thirds of the game this past week. The Last of Us lives up to expectations. That was a potent experience.

Really fantastic game. Miss playing it. Glad you enjoyed it, Dave!

 

[DaveF]

I finished Left Behind on Wednesday. That was, in its way, even better than the core game.

 

[DaveF]

It's page seven of this thread, and I'm 2 years late to the game. I'm assuming anyone playing it for the first time and reading this thread this far is fore-warned. So I'm proceeding without spoiler tags.



Some miscellaneous thoughts:

The Incomparable discussed TLOU in 2014. It's worthwhile.


I was surprised by the relatively small number of opponent types and weapons. My formative years are Doom, Quake, UT where a game had a dozen different bad guys. TLOU had, I think, Runners, Clickers, Bloaters, and Humans. Basically, four enemy types. The weapons were basically: melee, pistol, shotgun, rifle, bow, and explosive. It was Bio-shockian in that while there were a number of weapons to choose from by the end, the system pushed use to pick two or three favorites and stick with them.


Thematically, it hit me that as bad as the mycotics (zombies) were, the humans were worse. The shift in tone when I entered Pittsburgh surprised me: almost no mycotics; it was all humans. And the humans were worse because they were volitional and turned on their own. That feeling remained through the entire game and into Left Behind. The zombies were a plague, but the humans were what were destroying humanity. This isn't a new theme: I read a handful of apocalypse books the past year, both new and classics, and a theme is always how society falls apart and people revert to tribalistic violence. This was deftly presented in TLOU.


The music.


TLOU is a very hard game. Too hard. I started on Normal. I gave up and restarted on Easy. Even that was annoying difficult the first half of the game. Easier it got easier or something clicked for me, because the second half wasn't as hard. But throughout, I never thought, "I hope there's more combat after this set piece". I always thought, "Please let this be the end of the combat section so I can return to the story." Similar to Bioshock Infinite, I wanted more story and less "game". Ultimately, i wonder if TLOU would be better distilled into a movie or mini-series.


Everyone wants to be a movie. TV shows aspire to create season-long movies. Video games crave the artistic respect given to movies and mimic cinematic styles and story-telling techniques. Part of me loves this, because I love the long-form narrative combined with the high-budget craftsmanship.But for video games, I think it also reveals the intrinsic weaknesses: Imagine a movie that requires a test of skill every 15 minutes or it won't continue. Or a book that requires a reading comprehension test every 25 pages or you can't read any further. Insofar as studios are making games like TLOU, it's counterproductive (possible antithetical to the art) to make it so difficult to complete the story. I think it's time for the experiment of a 'machina' mini-series from a studio like Naughty Dog.


The performances behind Joel and Ellie are tremendous. The voice actors, mocap actors, and animators deserve kudos. As a whole, this rivals what's coming out of movie and TV.


TLOU, Bioshock Infinite and HL2:E2 are my favorite story-driven video games with favorite characters. I've not played broadly or deeply and there's no doubt I've missed seminal games. But that's what I've got. In this list, I'll re-play Bioshock (and have already). It's fun. I don't know if I'll ever replay TLOU. It's not fun. It's potent, powerful, impressive, scary and emotive. It was a tremendous story I'm glad I enjoyed. But a couple days after playing, once seems like enough.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I remember THE LAST OF US being quite difficult to play, even in easy mode.


I could just imagine how impossible it must have been to play on any of the more advanced levels.


I need to get back to the PS4 at some point. Haven't been on it for months. I have TOMB RAIDER to play.

 

[Tino]

I'm 3/4 done on the hardest level. It's pretty much a stealth game at that point. Still the greatest game I have ever played.

 

[mattCR]

I've replayed TLOU several times, and I have to say, it is one of the few games I can do that with.. a big reason is because it naturally breaks up into chapters and because the story behind it is so emotionally rewarding.


The first time I played this game, when I got to the last third may be the first time where I felt so attached to a character that I felt emotionally invested in saving them. It made the very end one of the most emotionally satisfying moments, not just for a video game but for many films I've watched. The entire play out in the hospital - especially if you listen to the audio tapes is like a giant freaking gut punch, and I have thought that if the movie version of this (which is coming) can capture that sentiment, this could be powerful in a film format.


Other games have tried to capture this.. I just finished Fallout4 and Rise of Tomb Raider.. and they are good, but I never felt connected to the characters in the way the script to TLOU sucked me in. There are games I've enjoyed the story too, enjoyed the gameplay that goes with them. I gladly will replay Dishonored, Rise of Tomb Raider, Fallout4, but I can do it with the goal to just shoot stuff up or try a new strategy. Undertaking TLOU again is like an agreement to go back into a world so well realized that you're just sucked into caring about it.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

In some games, the challenge and frequency of combat sections works against the experience. Uncharted 3 and Bioshock Infinite are two prime examples of that. But in The Last of Us, I think it worked well (most of the time) because the tactics that you would start to use (primarily, stealthily sneaking around) would put you in the mindset of the characters (being scared of the bad guys catching you, having to carefully plan every move) and that helped you sympathize with their life and experience more. It's one of the few games where you are NEVER the all-powerful badass who can mow down everything in your path. In fact, some of the most memorable sections are the ones where you're pushed to overcome insane odds and are at your weakest.


It's definitely not the kind of game that you can just play casually to get the story, and it's not really perfect. But the way it mixed the game-y aspects with its movie/story aspects worked incredibly well.

 

[Derrik Draven]

Hey Morgan Jolley! I remember your name from back in the day. Sorry, I just don't post here hardly at all anymore. Just like Barton Lynch, from a few posts up, I was one of the early adopters, and forum members. Just ended up mostly at Lcvg.


Anyhoo, I thought TLOU was one of THE best game I've ever played. One of the very few that I ever restarted immediately after finishing it. Just enjoyed the characters and story that much.


Was wondering what you guys thought of the very end of it? I know it's kind of a divisive ending for many, and I have to say that after all the time invested into the characters, I felt that the end was a letdown. Just needed more than that cold, sharp, done...sort of thing. Some say it was the perfect end, I just feel that they should've gave us a bit more.


Can't imaging Naugty Dog not working on a proper sequel, or possibly telling the story of Joels brother from the same time line. Could be cool to see how he ended up where he was, and to see how brutal it must've for him and Joel to survive the fallout of society that was only hinted about in some of Joels comments.


What would you guys like to see for a followup?

 

[Tino]

Hi Derrik. I thought the ending was perfect. I couldn't love The Last Of Us more. It was the most emotionally satisfying game I have ever played. Nothing comes close.

Don't know if I want a sequel. It would have to be a great idea to continue Joel and Ellie's story.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I liked the ending because it was such a shocking and sort of downer ending, which is uncommon. It's also brutal and represents the world the characters live in and how it has changed their humanity.


I believe Naughty Dog is developing a sequel but it might not necessarily be a direct follow-up of Joel and Ellie's story. I liked Uncharted 1, loved Uncharted 2, then was pretty disappointed with Uncharted 3, so I have no idea whether The Last of Us 2 is going to be a great thing or just an okay thing. My hype is pretty well kept in check.

 

[BerginiusAandahl]

the game is awesome and it's one of the best i've ever played.

not your typical post apocalyptic plot. although there are more sad sequences in the story

i wonder if they'll ever make a movie out of it. and if she will ever forgive him for not telling the truth.

 

[Tino]

Terrific news confirmed!

‘The Last Of Us’: HBO Hands Series Order To Video Game Adaptation From Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann

HBO has given a series order to The Last of Us, the adaptation of the Playstation video game, from Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann.

deadline.com