Zero Punctuation: The Last of Us

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Unrelated to the above: @Delcast - Did you really quote your own long-ass post only one post after you posted it? Really?

oh no that was a mistake I think.. did I post it twice? seems it was some forum malfunction.. maybe.. I thought it was a single post.. sorry about that...I'll check it out.
oh, there I fixed it.. must have pressed quote and then sent it immediately...I dont know how that happened... apologies again.

About your points..
I can see what you say... But I find that Joel is not really as unsympathetic as this might make you think.
I suppose it is really something that you have to inspect yourself. Without spoiling anything I found it hard to dislike him, because it presents some very hard situations for him, and he -does- try to make amends several times in the plot.

 

[dashiz94]

Wait, if Ellie is of bugger-all use in gameplay and essentially invisible to zombies then why is she even there?

So the devs could stick a female character on the front cover to score an easy win with the "moar female protagonists!" parade?

Play the game.

Eventually she'll get a gun and will fire if you start a firefight, she helps you clear a courtyard with a large amount of guys in an open area (which makes stealth very difficult,) she will give you health packs if you can't craft one and are low on health, optional conversation pieces that reveal more about the story and the characters, will throw bottles at enemies to stun them which gives you a chance to kill them if you're being hammered by infected/need to end the melee quickly.

She's a fully fleshed out character that adds a fun and unique dynamic to the game. It was not done to gain an easy win with "moar female protagonists!" (which, judging by the way you typed that, I can't understand why you think this is bad at all)

 

[Azure23]

Another great review Yahtzee, thank you.

Thank you for also calling out the biggest problem with the "zombie apocalypse" setting - that human life you'd think would be treated as something more precious in such a scenario. What was the line that President Roslin had in the BSG movie/series start? "The only way for us to survive is to start having babies." Nah, 6+ Billion people have all been wiped out, humankind is in serious jeapordy of being extinct, and the first thing we need to do is still killing each other because "reasons."

No more zombie games for me thanks.

Really? Thats the "biggest problem" with a zombie setting? That people aren't screwing enough? You're welcome to your opinion but don't you think that people living on the knife edge with limited rations and little to no certainty of safety would have other things on their minds than repopulating the earth? I mean take The Walking Dead, one of the most popular modern works of zombie fiction; when a major character gets pregnant, they're extremely worried, how are they going to take care of it? Babies need lots of specialized care (baby food, medicine for infants, diapers, etc.) that would be incredibly difficult to get post-apocalypse. Thats not even taking into account the low survivability rate of the caretakers.

Why would human life be more precious in the post apocalypse? When there are limited supplies and lots of mouths to feed people would inevitably turn bandit to ensure their own safety. In such a world where life is short and brutal, why wouldn't people look out for themselves first and foremost? Are these survivors really supposed to concern themselves with the survival or humanity as whole above the survival of themselves and those few who they care about?

I just think it's rather petty to abandon an entire genre for a reason that doesn't even really hold up to scrutiny.

 

[mjc0961]

Yahtzee is just frustrated because he is cursed with the ability to imagine better games. Or that he has to keep reviewing awful games as a career. He literally has the worst job I can possibly imagine for myself. I would rather do anything than have to play these games for a living, much less say anything about them in public. I'd rather be in prison.

If you disagree with him, you just have low standards. He is right on the mark.

Says somebody who's already admitted to not having played the fucking game yet. How do you know if he's right on the mark? Oh yeah, you don't. Come back when you've actually played the game and actually have an informed opinion rather than just blatantly agreeing for no good reason.

Wait, if Ellie is of bugger-all use in gameplay and essentially invisible to zombies then why is she even there?

So the devs could stick a female character on the front cover to score an easy win with the "moar female protagonists!" parade?

Play the game.

Eventually she'll get a gun and will fire if you start a firefight, she helps you clear a courtyard with a large amount of guys in an open area (which makes stealth very difficult,) she will give you health packs if you can't craft one and are low on health, optional conversation pieces that reveal more about the story and the characters, will throw bottles at enemies to stun them which gives you a chance to kill them if you're being hammered by infected/need to end the melee quickly.

She's a fully fleshed out character that adds a fun and unique dynamic to the game. It was not done to gain an easy win with "moar female protagonists!" (which, judging by the way you typed that, I can't understand why you think this is bad at all)

...What?

Play the game?!

How DARE you suggest something so logical!

 

[likalaruku]

I haven't laughed this hard at a Zero Punctuation in some time.

 

[Strelok]

Strange, I loved the ending, was very fitting with the rest of the tale. Can't believe Yahtzee didn't get it, I found the following on Reddit for those that finished it and did not understand it, doubt there are many though, I found it a pretty good comment on the game. Needless to say, MASSIVE SPOILERS incoming.

Spoiler

... you do realise that "Humans Are The Real Monsters (and the main character in particular)" is the oldest, most tired cliché in all zombie fiction?

Maybe you've been thankfully oblivious to that and could enjoy this "revelation" as something profound.

I did like the fact that Joel gets new superpowers from drugs. That's always worth a chuckle.

Thanks genius I got it, might want to explain it to Yahtzee though as the point appears to flown over the top of his hat. Thanks for the unnecessary explanation of the "cliche" the main theme of one of my favorite books and games as well, Metro 2033, was a wonderful read, once again though not needed, email Yahtzee perhaps? Not sure, might help him.

 

[Crazycat690]

I dunno, this "review" felt lame, he does have good videos but this one felt really boring. Having played the game, several times at this point, his criticism feels odd and that he has nothing good to say about this game, being that it isn't a shooter with health regen or 2 weapon limit or the fact that you aren't glued to cover all the time, kinda disappointed me. Also, for once this is a game which isn't about mass-murder, a group of 5 enemies are often plenty, and sneaking past people is often a very valid option.

Playing in Survivor just shows how much more handy it is to simply sneak past all the enemies rather than trying to kill everyone. One of the only valid things I think he had to say about it was about how awkward it is when friendlies can walk around and even bump into enemies without being spotted during stealth. But, I still prefer awkward situations before AI getting me spotted, which he also talked about, granted.

I dunno, it seems to me that he should've been more positive about it, it sounded like he didn't even try to be creative this time around. How about a comment on the very gruesome violence? What about the gay sex jokes that randomly appeared at one place? There was potential for funny with this, perhaps it was just me, but this Zero Punctuation was the most "meh" episode in a long time.

 

[Sarge034]

That's kind the part I agree with people not liking the review, the fact Yatzee found unimportant things to pick against the game.
If anything his video is saying the game is good by picking story and characters as flaws.

This is what I actually expected from Zero Punctuation, to talk about the actual game, not a sort of "story/characters" rant to make us look int he other direction...

I knew he was going to hit on those obvious flaws, but I also expected some talk of the good and a few funny jokes like normal. This just felt... subpar. It felt like he just saw "another zombie game" and let that attitude dictate the whole review. This was especially interesting because the game did so much that he said games need to try to do, like stealth with optional combat.

 

[v3n0mat3]

You know, I love Yahtzee and the reviews (which is one of the reasons why I joined this site in the first place. But, I have to call out a few things in his critique.

This really does come over as a very, very simplistic analysis of the whole game. Poor and actually quite disappointing review overall. The point of the ending seems to have completely sailed over Yahtzee's head. Especially since it's kinda similar to Spec Ops: The Line (except way better), which he really liked. That too was a game that had way more going on then just its familiar setting.

I'm glad you brought up Spec Ops. I feel that he only really liked it because you get to fight American soldiers (something completely different from "Russians" or "Brown people"). Which is unfair because that's just observing only one point of the game. The rest of the game really was just another 3rd person shooter. Albeit a really really good one, still. It was just Call of Duty with American soldiers.

Concerning this review, however:

1. The reason why Clickers are more powerful is that they have grown more powerful over time. The Cordycep Fungi basically grew out and hardened in that time, giving the carrier sort of plate-like armor (which is something that they mentioned in the game). So, having armor wouldn't make your punches effective, now, would it? You need something tougher like a melee weapon, or gun. This gave the combat a bit more variety, because it forced you to quickly adapt to new situations. Besides that; the Clickers/Bloaters are completely blind, requiring Echolocation to move around. Which gave the overall stealth gameplay a bit more intrigue. "OH SHIT, CAN IT SEE ME?!" is often exclaimed.

2. I'm sorry, but, killing someone aiming to kill you isn't "murder". That's ridiculous.

3. His critique on Joel is elementary, at best. He's only critiquing him on face value (a murdering, grim-faced asshole? Really?), which is a shame. That's not a good way to criticize something (or am I to take someone serious for only looking at something at face value? Obviously I won't) Joel has been on both sides before (again, something he mentions in the game.) He isn't proud of what he has done, and, has built up walls and defenses from people because he has lost what he loves most (which, you can see why he lets his guard down at several points towards the end as he develops a bond with Ellie, rather than have her become a payday for him). This adds a degree of humanity within someone that has, for so long, been a survivor, and, fighter. They never said he was a "hero", nor did they try to allude that he was any sort of Boy scout do-gooder. Something that was either unintentionally left out (which backs up the Anti-Naughty Dog theory), or, he's just become inept at the critiquing gig. Either way, it's bad.

4. The zombie Apoc thing has been done plenty of times before, we know. It's just that these kinds of zombies are entirely different and interesting (at least to me). A fungus that, may I remind you, ACTUALLY EXISTS IN THE WORLD, infects people through bites, or, as they mention in the game several times, THROUGH SPORES. The reason for the infection through the bite isn't because "of reasons" (sloppy, Yahtzee. For shame.) it's because the mouth has become ingrained with the fungal spores so much so that it goes into your bloodstream. This is evidenced by the bite becoming visually worse within hours of infection. The spores dominate the immune system, which disallows any response from antibodies. This makes the bite look worse and worse. Something that they have never, ever done in any zombie game.

5. The psychotic population only consists of a minority. They only show the raiders at certain points in the game (mostly urban settings). At one point: the raiders weren't "raiders", they were people looking for supplies, but, falsely believed that you were a part of a bandit group that murdered a bunch of kids, so, fearing for their lives, shot at you (University part of the "Fall" Chapter. Pay attention to what they are talking about.)

6. Smoke grenades aren't useless. Sure, not even I use them very often, but, in a pinch, they can be great at stunning enemies for a great egress. Or, you can charge at someone with a melee weapon when you're out of bullets. In online, it's especially dangerous, as you can shiv someone while they're stunned.

All in all, this was a horribly sloppy review of a perfectly good game. It had a good, but, predictable story. Just because we can infer what happens, doesn't mean that it isn't a good experience along the way. Which is something I think people are forgetting.

 

[machblast]

If there's anything I like the most, it's watching the people who screamed that this was the Citizen Kane of gaming but also somehow were Yahtzee fans getting incredibly mad and defensive.

The Last of Us will be forgotten as quickly as Bioshock Infinite, which also received 'Citizen Kane of gaming' praise not too long ago but everyone's played it and forgotten about it already.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Vaguely insult a game that people like and everybody loses their minds....

 

[Eric Tong]

Wow this review has the most comments out of any of his videos in a long time, that really says something.

 

[baconmaster]

I always let Yahtzee trash games I love, but... he had absolutely no major complaints that I can agree with at all. The only thing I totally agree with is the friendly AI not getting spotted, and that only happened because the gameplay would've been annoying otherwise. I feel like he completely missed the point of the ending, too. Even if you don't like the ending, you have to admit there's more to it than "FUCK YOU GOT MINE!" Also, the story is predictable? Name 1 AAA game that's had an ending like that. (I'll admit that many could find that everything before that is predictable) On a sidenote, I'm so glad they didn't turn that into some BS moral choice for the player. Choices can really screw up storytelling sometimes

He also spent a lot of time simply complaining that it's a third person shooter with stealth, while ignoring the actual quality of the gameplay. I personally thought the encounters were top notch. It gave you a lot of freedom and cutback on the handholding present in a lot of recent games. On top of this, the combat fit in with the universe quite well. In most story-driven games it's just kind of there in order to make it a game. But, then again, the PC gamer master race typically seems to think the quality of a game is determined solely by how much of an RPG it is, so...

 

[JonahNYC]

I think it's time for Mailbag Showdown 2!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/37-Mailbag-Showdown

In short, GO TEAM RETARD!

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Because the good things about the game are not safe and predictable. It's fair to say that it has a safe and predictable plot, but when you can play for thirteen hours with almost nothing happening except meeting new characters and character drama, it's time to reanalyze its intentions. It's about the characters, not the plot.

Yes and if I'm not mistaken someone at Naughty Dog did at some point outright state that the primary focus of the games was the relationship between the two leads.

Well what's "good?" I didn't say any part of the game was bad.

I was referring to both the plot and the characters, because I'd say the characters are predictable as well. That doesn't mean they're bad or badly written.

To the contrary, I liked seeing their relationship grow. I commend Naughty Dog for actually caring about how their characters are written (hence why the ending turns out believable instead of the moral choice bullshit that was thrown into Metro 2033).

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

Get stranded with Gearbox and you can spend the rest of your existence with some sort of witty joke. The idea of a zombie apocalypse has been (dare I say) to death. How about a cyborg dinosaur invasion for a change?

 

[MB202]

I think Pop Culture keeps dodging around the term "zombie" because most people, myself included, are getting sick of zombies being everywhere.

Except if that was really true do you think games like The Last of Us and Telltales The Walking Dead would be selling so well (which they are)? And do you think The Walking Dead television series would be one of the most popular shows on television (which it is)? For better or worse I think that the general public's love affair with the zombie genre is far from over.

Well, the fact that The Walking Dead is so popular has me intrigued (since I actually haven't seen it yet), and I consider the exception to the rule. Regardless, I can't think of one person I know who isn't sick of zombies by this point.

 

[A1]

I think Pop Culture keeps dodging around the term "zombie" because most people, myself included, are getting sick of zombies being everywhere.

Except if that was really true do you think games like The Last of Us and Telltales The Walking Dead would be selling so well (which they are)? And do you think The Walking Dead television series would be one of the most popular shows on television (which it is)? For better or worse I think that the general public's love affair with the zombie genre is far from over.

Well, the fact that The Walking Dead is so popular has me intrigued (since I actually haven't seen it yet), and I consider the exception to the rule. Regardless, I can't think of one person I know who isn't sick of zombies by this point.

And what about The Last of Us and Telltale's The Walking Dead video game?

Would they be exceptions too?

 

[EvilRoy]

I think Pop Culture keeps dodging around the term "zombie" because most people, myself included, are getting sick of zombies being everywhere.

Except if that was really true do you think games like The Last of Us and Telltales The Walking Dead would be selling so well (which they are)? And do you think The Walking Dead television series would be one of the most popular shows on television (which it is)? For better or worse I think that the general public's love affair with the zombie genre is far from over.

Well, the fact that The Walking Dead is so popular has me intrigued (since I actually haven't seen it yet), and I consider the exception to the rule. Regardless, I can't think of one person I know who isn't sick of zombies by this point.

Fun fact, in the television show The Walking Dead the word "zombie" is never used. Don't know about the game though...