NPR praises The Last of Us storytelling

A movie game for non gamers.

Haven't played it, though if it's like Uncharted in terms of storytelling, it's a massive fail as a video game storytelling.

The 8/10 meme is such horseshit. The GS scores matter for hype purposes, not for a game's quality. lostrib and inb4uall know this yet they bring it up just to make Cows mad. Ignore them.

It's just fun

I actually really liked the game

LMAO

The game was enjoyable though the massive over-hype in some ways killed it for me, plus I had watched videos before playing it thinking I'd never own it. Stupid I know, but yeah. Story may be "revolutionary" for gaming, but being exposed to excellent post-apocalyptic movies for years kind of killed the unique aspects of the TLOU's plot. Great, but not as creative as it could have been. I felt bad for Joel, but I personally wasn't a huge fan of Joel, Ellie wasn't bad, but I wasn't too overly attached to her throughout the game. In some ways, I enjoyed the multiplayer a lot more than the singleplayer. Great game nonetheless.

12 hour game.... less than 2 hours of cut scenes... yep... movie game indeed.

it obviously isnt like Uncharted at all.

Uncharted lives on the super cinematic epic set pieces. TLoU doesnt even have that.

Cows still kicking the dead horse

Fantastic, I think some of his praise comes from sheer ignorance of the rest of the medium. The Last of Us is relatively well written and well acted, but the actual plot it tells is a generic post apocalyptic plot that is heavily borrowing from The Road and Children of Men. It's not compared to it just because it's an easy comparison, it's compared to those works because what the Last of Us is pretty blatant.

In contrast there were plenty of video game stories that used their actual interactive elements to convey their plot as well, if not better than The Last of Us. Regardless still a great game, but some unwarranted praise in that article as well.

Definitely enjoyed TLOU a lot more than Uncharted

I thought the interactive parts conveyed the desire to survive fairly well.

EDIT: And I think there is a pivotal difference between The Last of Us, Children of Men and The Road. Both, Children of Men and The Road, end in a act of selflessness where The Last of Us ends in an act of selfishness. I agree that The Last of Us is largely inspired by those books/films, but I think that there is enough substance to not be considered a carbon copy.

TLOU had an amazing story. My wife watched me play through that game and loved it! I prefer the Mass Effect story personally but can't find many faults with TLOU story wise. Game wise it was a mess at times. TLOU featured some of the worst AI I have ever seen in a video game and Naughty Dog should not get a pass on that like they have. Also the graphical downgrade is more than obvious. But the story was very effective and very memorable. And for that it should be commended.

The intro doesn't really reflect the Joel in the actual game. That was twenty years in the past, he wasn't a bad person then, but he is when the actual game begins.

It is about being good or bad in the world of The Last of Us. The people you fight in the TLOU are hunters, thugs who have banded together to take advantage of the weak. Joel mentions that he was a hunter in the past, and he even says that he killed many innocents when he was one. Joel's brother left him because he couldn't stand the nightmares caused by Joel's inhumane acts. It might be a post apocalypse story, but that doesn't mean there is a moral grey theme. The fireflies are definitely good guys, and the people preying on the innocent are definitely evil.

The world always had a chance to rebuild, but it would be impossible with the infection. Ellie had the cure, but Joel snatched it away because he is selfish.

great article about a awsome game

haters gonna hate

quality games XposBone only players will never see

See that's where you are bullshitting because a game with the greatest story ever told with messy gameplay is a messy game plain and simple. To define a good game, it must have good gameplay. The Last Of Us has good gameplay with more scope and options than your average third person shooter. Paced almost to perfection too.

I'd say it's an overrated game that probably wouldn't be recieved so well as a multiplat, but I do see what people are saying about it's quality. In no way was the game a mess outside of some AI and glitch issues here and there. In terms of what was designed and put into the game (story and cutscenes aside), it's a very good game. Perhaps topping it's genre.

@JangoWuzHere:

@lglz1337: have you even played it?

The worst part is how bad they lied at E3. remember them saying the AI would be dynamic. that people would act like other people just trying to survive? instead we got enemies that did nothing but run right at you with a wooden board when you had a gun out. I am alone had a million times better AI. We were promised that and instead got boring scripted enemies

I thought the story and "acting" was pretty cool too. The gameplay however, I thought was average.

An act the game chickens out of with the tapes basically being a dead give away that the scientists themselves think it won't work. Plus it's a minor twist, that yes does a good job working with the player and their expectations and desires, but it wouldn't change the reality of what that over all plot is. You don't want to call it a carbon copy, that's fine, but lets not kid our selves like we don't know where the Last of Us borrows its story beats from in the first place.

That is a noble motivation.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/1/8523939/the-last-of-us-cinematic-playthrough-tv-style-series

awesome.

Yeah I am honestly sick of hearing about this game.

Personally I thought the storytelling was pretty poor, the plot was incredibly generic and predictable.

Also those random huge jumps in time just ruined the pacing and impact of some scenes in my opinion.

@jg4xchamp: Yeah like I already said the game is heavily influenced by other work. I guessed the majority of the plot before the game came out on this forum (it's archived). However there is a fundamental difference in these stories that shifts the tone. Of course this is another champ is absolute in his opinion thread; however, I don't find retelling a story or variations of the same story any less impactful. Sure The Road made a better book, but I think many people in this thread claiming the last of us is a carbon copy aren't familiar with the original source and are referencing the movie.

well when you have nothing else, cows need to brag about something lol. Sad part it, its one of the worst sony exclusives, just a bunch of journalist who suck at games and like the story, overrated it

" The Last of Us is a video game that breaks the traditional narrative form of storytelling in games."

Yeah, no.

It's a good game, but not that good.

Get off its cock for a second for ****'s sake.

Well I trust lostrib and champ when it comes to TLOU, so I will try it once I get PS4, despite how much I despise Uncharted. Which will not happen any time soon.

you a powerful butthurt fanboy if you didnt like TLOU..either play games..OR get a new hobby because being stupid AND a fanboy are really bad combinations..

I thoroughly enjoyed TLoU, but this is a pretty stupid post.

of course its a stupid post to someone that dont agree..cool beans..its a game that everyone should have liked..period. There is nothing bad about it. IF you dont like it..you are a butthurtfanboy..simple.

@VanDammFan: and yet it flopped

You're not very smart are you?

Hahaha...ha.

Real life and this board, the two got divorced long ago.

Damn right

To be fair nothing you actually said was a real disagreement with what I said.

My wording was "The Last of Us is relatively well written and well acted, but the actual plot it tells is a generic post apocalyptic plot that is heavily borrowing from The Road and Children of Men." Which means I was never calling it a carbon copy, more so that the actual story being told is actually pretty derivative.

More so "In contrast there were plenty of video game stories that used their actual interactive elements to convey their plot as well, if not better than The Last of Us." Would imply that I actually think The Last of Us conveys itself pretty well, just that I think the are superior examples of what the Last of Us is able to pull off

@AgentA-Mi6: I'm well aware

Cows sure get crazy defensive if you even suggest this wasn't the greatest shit ever made . Must be because there's nothing for them worth defending this gen except BB.

Funny coming from a station that's often like "...and next we'll be talking to Cleveland widow Anabel Harrison who has 53 cats and how she remembers all their names, next on All Things Considered...".

The absolutist Gerstmann-esque attitude becomes grating after awhile, and the overall response of boiling the game down to being derivative is very discrediting. Most stories/narrative are derivative. I think The Last of Us being able to convey its message in a different medium using advantages of the medium while changing a major theme of what it's derived from makes it unique and novel. My argument is really that being derivative isn't really something that discredits a work because you're always going to have a foundation that work is derived from. The Last of Us takes its foundation and fleshes itself out to make interesting interactions and unique experiences. Again I think the tension evoked in the Last of Us, especially in combat situations, is superbly handled, so I think The Last of Us definitely ranks among the top of games conveying its message through gameplay.

What do you think are the superior examples in the medium?

LMFAO at those who don't know what NPR is. There is a world outside your google bubble. Go out and find it.

That is a cheap cop out, most things aren't great either. Because the generic knock wouldn't apply to The Wire, wouldn't apply to No Country for Old Men, wouldn't apply to Breaking Bad, wouldn't apply to Apocalypse Now, I could keep going. "Everyone else is the same" is not a defense, it's cheap, and you're better than that. And where TLOU deserves its credit I'm more than willing to give it, but let's stop ignoring a cold hard truth about that plot. It actually tells nothing of its own making, it takes a pretty much tested plot line and character types and then makes a game with them. There is a massive difference from how Children of Men is inspired by The Road vs how many different cues The Last of Us out right takes from The Road and Children of Men. It's own twist is ultimately inconsequential to the bottom line, the end result is still a similar run on questioning humanity and all that jazz.

More to it if we're really being honest purely as a story telling device TLOU definitely has moments where it breaks its immersion and rules and exposes itself to be more game than anything. Be it shit like Ellie's contrived no swimming section, the bad ai, or the invisible sniper man in the window. Those short comings have just as much impact on the story, because they compromise the immersion and suspension of disbelief of the game. Then there is shit like how completely hamfisted the opening stretches of The Last of Us, and that includes the stuff with his daughter. There are stretches where the game's plot will have the players attention only for the game to present a contrived combat sequence (for instance the fight right after Ellie and Joel have their talk after Ellie runs away).

If the game is going to get all this credit for its ending; then it must also be blamed for every bit of tension and immersion that gets broken by aspects that are entirely down to the gameplay. Because in this medium that shit is totally part of the story Because the environmental design and sound design does a brilliant job building up tension, but so many times it just gets lost either because of shit support AI, because they didn't want to go through the trouble of making Ellie a real part of the gameplay. Which really what's the excuse? A lot of those sequences are set piece areas, there is no reason the characters need to be as loud as they are, etc

The gerstmann esque attitude works both ways, lets not claim to have wings on when we don't. I am not the only one not willing to budge on my stance mate, you are just as willing to overreact to me saying that some of the praise for TLoU is undeserved while acknowledging it's a great game. All because one of my knocks happens to be a matter of it taking all its plot cues save one (one that the game chickens out of) from pretty noteable source material. Something that is beyond even being opinion and is straight up fact.

Which brings us back to me not calling the game a carbon copy, me not acting like the game is anything short of great (and I use that word sparingly), but instead you having a disagreement with whether or not I can hold it against the game for being generic. Which it is. It's the truth. My point in my initial post was that the article (which it out right says) comes from a place of ignorance and gives the game some unwarranted praise as some unique achievement, when the only thing unique about it is that it's been awhile since a triple A game actually delivered a consistent narrative/gameplay experience like The Last of Us. Which again I'd like to know where I'm wrong about either statement?

Silent Hill 2, Planescape Torment, The Souls games, Metroid Prime, Majora's Mask, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, quite a few actually.

@JangoWuzHere: Whilst it might have been a worthy sacrifice within the initial outbreak period, many years later you can see humans have adapted to the virus and can fend themselves against it quite well, the virus was a threat during the initial outbreak but was no longer so so many years later because humans adapt. Humans were the biggest threat to each other, there would have been little to no difference whether they had the cure or not and Joel decided to do what any human being would have done in the circumstances.

All of those books/tvshows/films have their roots in something. Yes, the degree of derivation varies among those works, but, for example, Apocalypse Now is a retelling of Heart of Darkness, as you know. This doesn't discredit Apocalypse Now which is fucking amazing, but it's roots are derived from other works (as a side note The Road probably didn't inspire Children of Men as the novel was released more than a decade after The Children of Men (Novel) and a year before Children of Men (film).)

I think there are some immersion breaking aspects of The Last of Us, especially the segment after the intro with the waist height ventilation ducts used for cover shooting. Ellie AI can be a problem, a problem I peg on hardware/software limitations, although the banter between the two characters during combat scenarios does break some immersion.

I'm glad that we're having this discussion because it's allowing me to better understand your original post which sounded much more abrasive and discrediting, despite your high regard for the game. I agree that I think the article was written in a place of ignorance. I neither agreed with his interpretation of the ending, his disregard for the emotion the gameplay creates, nor his disregard for other games in the medium. His tone came off as condescending to the medium, 'I can't believe I'm saying it but video games are goo, yes video games. I bought one for my kid 5 years ago because I would never want one, but it turns out they're okay.' I would rank the Last of Us up there with all the games you mentioned because all of those games are truly worth the praise and some of the defining games of the medium, The Last of Us included.

And I am more than willing to acknowledge that there is a difference between inspired by versus being straight generic. And I lean towards generic with The Last of Us. I don't know how much the AI is entirely a hardware failure, because okay lets say the goal was they didn't want to make her feel like an escort mission like Ashley from Resident Evil 4, regardless of that fact I still think what was done with Ashley was plenty productive. Apocalypse Now from my understanding was always upfront about being an adaptation, might be wrong about that one.

She's joined to the player at the hip, protecting her is an actual part of the gameplay experience, and all of this adds up to you being the guardian figure. A lot of the characterization of Ellie in gameplay is banter between her and joel (which wouldn't have been lost) or when she acknowledges specific things in the environment, which lets be real are scripted sequences that wouldn't have been lost. It would have been a simpler more gamey way of doing Ellie, but it wouldn't have compromised other elements of the immersion. It's a form of video game logic the player can meet the game half way on, the other stuff is like "come on?"

I wouldn't really disagree too much, it didn't rank too highly for me, but it's a great game.