The Last of Us is definitely a great game, it accomplishes a lot. That said I've a lot of gripes too.
- First off, today's update introduced a savegame related bug, and I've lost all of today's progress (roughly 4-5 hours, so that's been rough) - especially since I don't find the game mechanically *fun* to play. It's not really about fun.
- Its greatest accomplishment for me, is how real the world and its inhabitants feel, which makes all the concessions to game mechanics all the more painful. Having accomplished such a believable world (despite being a corridor for the most parts) makes illogical gamey things stand out so much more. Such as...
- Cannot loot enemy's guns and gear and ammo. In a game that's all about scavenging and survival, it boggles the mind.
- Ammo is kinda rare, yet enemies never run out of ammo. Again - can't loot their ammo or guns after taking them out either. Ammo drops, or it doesn't.
- Bulletsponge enemies. Typical Naughty Dog-style one-hit-kill headshot immunity through gasmasks and such. Foes often take hits, but don't stagger. And so forth. As if all rounds are short loaded (using little gun powder).
I don't understand it really. Naughty Dog accomplishes such a high degree of believability with their world and character building, as well as making the protagonist play like a real non-superhuman being with shaky hands and such. A flawed character, a survivor - but not an unstoppable force of nature, as game protagists are wont to be.
What it does in service of gameplay does hurt it all the more for how successful it is at that - and the results definitely could be achieved much more elegantly, without artifice. There is no need for artificially forced ammo scarcity. Forced bullet spongy enemies. Forcing specific solutions to much more broadly solvable problems. Why not make the AI adhere to the same rules as the player? Like AI carrying limited ammo, expending it in combat, and consequently running out of it too? Guess it must be system memory restrictions or something. I can't explain it otherwise.
It wouldn't change the game much, other than getting rid of the stark juxtaposition between gameworld and game mechanics. The former feeling eerily real and the latter being artificially fabricated.
What say you? And what are your gripes?
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