What games are you playing now?

Completely agree about the opening scene. I thought it was one of the best I've experienced.

The rest of the game that I've played so far (I'm about 30% in right now) hasn't quite lived up to the prologue, but it's pretty damn good.

Just wait till you get more into the story. You'll see why everybody praises the game as much as they do. Just the fact alone that I played the game, after hearing all the hype, and still came out very impressed is amazing. I just got goose-bumps thinking about it.
 
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I thought the Last of Us was repetitive and not much different from other AAA console games with high production values but at least they put an emphasis on stealth, made resources scarce, and are not afraid to challenge you.

I'd love to know what other AAA console games you think have characters and writing on par with Last of Us.

In terms of gameplay, I think the strength of the game lies in environment variety and exploration.
 
PS3. I wasn't willing to spend $450+ just to play the remastered version.

That said, I'm still impressed by the PS3 version from a visual standpoint. I think the developers did an amazing job of squeezing every last bit of processing power out of that system for it to look as good as it does.

I didn't know if you had a PS4 or not :)

The best part of the remastered version is the smooth framerate, in my opinion.

But the heart of the game is clearly the story and the characters. In that way, I'm sure the experience is pretty much the same on PS3.
 
In terms of gameplay, I think the strength of the game lies in environment variety and exploration.

After playing it on the hardest difficulty, I think the combat, as part of gameplay, is also very good. Every fight scenario has you playing cat and mouse with the enemies. It's impressive how flexible and how many tools you have at your disposal. And the AI is mostly very good at beating you down, and you never feel it cheats. Ok, maybe when you take out a guy that has a walkie-talkie, and then you hear his team-mates call for him, and he doesn't answer, which sends them in your direction. But, an impressive thing I noticed, was that if I took the guy out, after he confirms that the section he is in, is clear, you have a solid time window before the others asks for his confirmation again.

The only thing that is difficult is the shooting for me, on a controller. When the shit hits the fan, I usually have to reload, because I can't for the life of me, aim headshots when I have the hunters storming me. But, that sort of makes it more immersive for me, in that I think shooting should be hard. You shouldn't be able to fire off headshot after headshot, like some sharpshooter. Joel is just a civilian forced to adapt and learn to defend himself, but by no means a professional marksman.
 
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After playing it on the hardest difficulty, I think the combat, as part of gameplay, is also very good. Every fight scenario has you playing cat and mouse with the enemies. It's impressive how flexible and how many tools you have at your disposal. And the AI is mostly very good at beating you down, and you never feel it cheats. Ok, maybe when you take out a guy that has a walkie-talkie, and then you hear his team-mates call for him, and he doesn't answer, which sends them in your direction. But, an impressive thing I noticed, was that if I took the guy out, after he confirms that the section he is in, is clear, you have a solid time window before the others asks for his confirmation again.

The only thing that is difficult is the shooting for me, on a controller. When the shit hits the fan, I usually have to reload, because I can't for the life of me, aim headshots when I have the hunters storming me. But, that sort of makes it more immersive for me, in that I think shooting should be hard. You shouldn't be able to fire off headshot after headshot, like some sharpshooter. Joel is just a civilian forced to adapt and learn to defend himself, but by no means a professional marksman.

Well, I'd say the gunplay is decent - but I was never a fan of that kind of gameplay. If the game hadn't had the heart and soul of the characters, I'd never have bothered completing it.

But such a thing is subjective - and some people can't seem to get enough of shooting.

I've got the first Uncharted, for instance, and I gave up in disgust around one third of the way through. Oh, the story was charming and all, but the gunplay was excessively repetitive.

I LOVED that Last of Us had so many quiet moments. That said, I do appreciate the limited stealth implementation and, especially, the scarcity of resources. That made for a much more interesting experience.
 
Well, I'd say the gunplay is decent - but I was never a fan of that kind of gameplay. If the game hadn't had the heart and soul of the characters, I'd never have bothered completing it.
For me it was way more than decent. I loved how the weapons packed a punch. But what I loved more than the gunplay, was the hand to hand combat. It was just amazing how visceral and impactful it felt. The sound-design helped a lot in that I think. It might sound totally immature and something a teenager would say, but it just felt amazing when you could choreograph a fight, and switch between letting off a few gunshots, then taking to hand-to-hand, and finishing off someone by just ramming their head into a desk-corner or a door-frame. Or sprinting towards someone you just threw a bottle at, and just clobbering him with a lead-pipe or executing him with the hand axes you get towards the end of the game. Especially, after you've tried that fight for 10 times and kept failing.

I've got the first Uncharted, for instance, and I gave up in disgust around one third of the way through. Oh, the story was charming and all, but the gunplay was excessively repetitive.
I liked all the Uncharted games a lot also, but for very different reasons than Last of Us. I loved the amazing set-pieces they put together, the style and charm of Nathan Drake, and how good it all looked. The combat was serviceable, and difficult for me just because I was on a controller. 3rd person shoots are the only ones I can play on a controller, that's because of the extra spacial awareness you have, and because most also have cover systems, which allow me to, at least approximately, align my shots before popping out of cover.
I LOVED that Last of Us had so many quiet moments. That said, I do appreciate the limited stealth implementation and, especially, the scarcity of resources. That made for a much more interesting experience.

No argument, Last of Us is a much more mature and deep experience, which everyone should play through. It's subtle and intelligent. And I started looking onto a guide for all the optional conversations I missed. Some are very good. And the attention to detail is just fenomenal.

Some guy noticed that in the scene where Henry yells at Sam for trying to take that robot toy, and he drops it and you can see it on the floor, Ellie will stay by the toy, until you turn the camera from her, and if you quickly turn back, you see her leaving that spot, but the toy robot is no longer on the floor. And she later on gives it back to Sam.

Another impressive thing, was when you get control over Ellie, you can check her backpack for stuff she's kept over the years. You can also do that during the Left Behind DLC.

Oh, and btw, have you finished the Left Behind DLC? If so, what did you think of it?
 
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I am playing Gothic 3 with the latest community patch. First time playing Gothic 3 because I always heard it was a buggy mess.

Man what a great game. I love open world games where you can go out and do what you want. I have played so much this past week my eyes are about to fall out.

Why haven't you guys told me how sweet this game is? :)
 
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Oh, and btw, have you finished the Left Behind DLC? If so, what did you think of it?

Nope, I started it and played for an hour or two - and haven't gotten back to it. Looked good, but I guess I needed a break from that game. I'll finish it eventually :)
 
I'm finding the combat to be just "ok". The gunplay is definitely one of the game's weaker aspects, but some of that might have to do with the gamepad.

Also, while most of the dialogue is excellent, there are some weak points there as well - mainly with Ellie. The scenes where they have her cursing just sound awkward to me. I think it was an attempt to make her more "real", but it fails imo, and the scene where she finds Bill's gay pornography was just lame.

Other than those nitpicks, it's definitely *much* better than the average AAA console title.

As far as Naughty Dog's other titles are concerned, I own all 3 of the Uncharted games, but I've only played a little bit of the first one. I was disappointed to put it mildly. I was expecting Indiana Jones, but I got Rambo. ;)
 
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Also, while most of the dialogue is excellent, there are some weak points there as well - mainly with Ellie. The scenes where they have her cursing just sound awkward to me. I think it was an attempt to make her more "real", but it fails imo, and the scene where she finds Bill's gay pornography was just lame.

I think they're trying to get across what happens to a kid in a world like that. She's got a youthful playfulness still, but she's seen enough people get slaughtered, raped and what not that she's not really a kid at all. I think cursing is no longer cursing, but just the way people talk more often than not.

Personally, I think she's one of the most believable kids in any game I've experienced, but such is how we all differ.
 
I think they're trying to get across what happens to a kid in a world like that.

Oh I'm quite sure it's something like that. It's just not working for me.

I think the writing for Joel has been close to perfect so far though, and I was also impressed by both the writing and voice acting for Bill.
 
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Oh I'm quite sure it's something like that. It's just not working for me.

I think the writing for Joel has been close to perfect so far though, and I was also impressed by both the writing and voice acting for Bill.

That's cool :)

I'm curious to know what you'll think of the overall experience, once you're done.
 
I think it was an attempt to make her more "real", but it fails imo, and the scene where she finds Bill's gay pornography was just lame.

I remember cracking a good smile at that scene. I liked it.

Oh, make sure to explore every nook and cranny. You'll get plenty of small stories or optional dialogue that give context to the whole thing. Especially once you reach Pittsburgh.
 
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Finished Wizardry 8, although I might just go back and play it some when I ever get bored. What a good game, I missed out on a lot of those when I was so focused on EQ1 for years and years. I think my next one will be Blackguards, got a friend that raves about that game.
 
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I just reached the Fall chapter of The Last of Us, and it's really starting to pick up now. The neighborhood after escaping the sewers was my favorite area so far. Exploring those houses reminded me of Fallout 3 with a dash of The Walking Dead mixed in.

Everyone talks about how great the story is, but I don't think this game gets enough praise for the level design and attention to detail. It has the most convincing post-apocalyptic environment I've ever seen in a game.

*Edit* In the Winter chapter now...
 
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I'm still having problems keeping on with Baldur's Gate. For a bit of a different flavor, I fired up Icewind Dale. I've never played the two games so close together, but it's made me realize how superior IWD is in many ways. Yes, it's far more linear, but it feels much more like an old D&D campaign (it helps that I've been reading a lot of those lately), with lots of little details to give the areas a real sense of place. I still prefer the more sandboxy gameplay of BG, but it's nice to have an option that hews closer to the game's roots.

I've also started playing Dominions 3, which is an interesting mix of god game and 4x. It seems ludicrously complicated, but how often can you create a Lovecraftian horror to lead your civilization to victory?
 
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Destiny

I've played 10-15 hours total on my PS4 - both in beta and release.

I have to say I'm not that impressed. Sure, it looks great and it has the core "feel" of combat down cold. But that's about it for the good parts.

The character system is rather straightforward, though I've yet to try my specialised class.

The gear is simplistic and don't seem to have much that's too fun about it.

The story is minimal, which is a strange choice for such an expensive game.

The missions are all very similar, and you'd better enjoy shooting over everything else. There's not much story/adventure or anything like that.

The PvP is super familiar, and it's not really my thing.

The actual amount of content seems EXTREMELY limited considering the longevity they're suggesting. If it was just for a 20-30 hour shooter, that'd be fine - but a long-term MMOish experience? Hardly.

The massive hype and marketing is actively working against my opinion, naturally, but I guess it's done the job of selling the game - as I pretty much got my PS4 because this was an exclusive I couldn't play on my PC.

Thankfully, I got my hands on Last of Us Remastered - which justified my purchase all by itself.

Oh, this game isn't bad - and it's a fine shooter in many ways. But I simply can't see how it justifies the investment if we look beyond the profit it'll bring the investors.
 
I've also played about 5 hours of Destiny. It looks great, and has good art direction.
But in many ways it's very generic. As DArtagnan mentioned I was also hoping for it to be more heavy on story. And, again, I'm just rubbish at FPSes on controllers. And I can see the game targeting assistance trigger, which kinda makes me feel even more worthless. Anyways, I got it more out of curiosity. And they already have 2 named expansions on the way (and a season pass for that). I'll have to see how it evolves.
 
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I've also played about 5 hours of Destiny. It looks great, and has good art direction.
But in many ways it's very generic. As DArtagnan mentioned I was also hoping for it to be more heavy on story. And, again, I'm just rubbish at FPSes on controllers. And I can see the game targeting assistance trigger, which kinda makes me feel even more worthless. Anyways, I got it more out of curiosity. And they already have 2 named expansions on the way (and a season pass for that). I'll have to see how it evolves.

Yeah, I put in a couple more hours and it got worse instead of better. It's extremely repetitive so far, and I think I'm more or less done with the game. What a waste of money.

I'm too experienced a gamer to believe that they hid away all the good stuff until you've played for dozens of hours. There's just no way any modern developer would do that with this kind of budget.

It's a huge dud for me, frankly.

I'm curious about how the critics will respond, though. Obviously, there's a lot riding on this game - and there's little doubt it'll get higher scores than it really deserves - but they'll have a hard time justifying the usual 9-10+ shit.
 
Yeah, I put in a couple more hours and it got worse instead of better. It's extremely repetitive so far, and I think I'm more or less done with the game. What a waste of money.

I'm too experienced a gamer to believe that they hid away all the good stuff until you've played for dozens of hours. There's just no way any modern developer would do that with this kind of budget.

It's a huge dud for me, frankly.

I'm curious about how the critics will respond, though. Obviously, there's a lot riding on this game - and there's little doubt it'll get higher scores than it really deserves - but they'll have a hard time justifying the usual 9-10+ shit.

I find it amusing that everybody is calling it an MMO. Fat chance for that. A max of 6 vs 6 is not mmo by any long shot.

I personally was hoping for a good and decent space-opera, and wanted to get in on it from the beginning. They said in some interviews that as the story advances and they release expansions, the whole worlds lanscapes will change. Similar to what WoW is doing. But seeing as story is the least of their concerns, I might have to look for that elsewhere.
 
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