I'm really not far into the game, I have Tess and Ellie and I think I am traversing through the area Patrick showed in the quick look, so I am well aware I will start enjoying this much, much more in due time.

Saying that, where I am so far I am bored. I enjoyed the opening prologue, it was great. Then I started playing. For what it's worth, I am a HUGE stealth genre fan, probably my favourite genre in fact. However, being as stealthy as I can I am never able to keep it up. Either one of my AI partners will start shouting about the enemies and then start shooting them, alerting a horde to my area or the game actually takes the stealth element away from me, forcing me to go guns blazing.

This would all be fine if the controls didn't seem as bad as they do. Okay, they aren't bad, per se, and I guess it's kind of that way to not make it easy to blast through every encounter. I don't know, something just seems off about it.

I really want to be able to enjoy the story, but nothing has really gripped me yet either. I know I will start enjoying this somewhere down the line, but I've had it since wednesday of last week and I wish I could be more into it form the start.

I've played a bunch of the multiplayer too, it's cool for what it is, but I really think they could have done something less team deathmatch orientated and had a co-operative mode instead where you and a group try to survive over the weeks instead, you know? I'm not game designer so I obviously don't have all the answers, but yeah.

I won't be able to play until this Monday coming so hopefully after almost two weeks I can start saying I really enjoy playing The Last of Us.

Me neither but that's because I'm emotionally exhausted.

I didn't have any issues with the stealth over the course of the game, but it's important to note stealth is only an option. It doesn't sound like you've come across the bow yet either. Stealth is infinitely easier with that weapon.

@baillie: I can't say that it gets better. I also don't enjoy the gameplay as much but there are some really great story moments. Sadly I must say that some of the best story moments I've experienced were not only about 10+ hours into the game but interspersed among lengthy sections of creeping by infected or oftentimes being forced to kill "bandits" before before being allowed to move on.

From a narrative perspective I can tell you that some of the things that happen later on in the game are totally worth it. I haven't experienced such an emotional story in a while and the way it's presented can be without a doubt called masterful at times. From the gameplay side, it doesn't really get any better than what you experience in the beginning segments - if anything it gets a bit worse as the game begins throwing more and more enemies your way and forcing you into direct confrontations instead of letting you sneak by.

You are definitely not the only person who feels this way. Idk how the review scores came out as high as they did. This game deserves an 8 at best because of all the gameplay problems (not that an 8 is a bad score by any means). This is the kind of game that makes me question what is more important: consistently great gameplay or a phenomenal emotional story. I guess people think the story is worth ignoring all the flaws with the game, but I, like you, can't really bring myself to do so. That being said, you may love the game if you keep up with it, so my advice to you is to keep going until you get to some of the hard hitting moments in the story and then decide if the narrative is worth slugging through the gameplay.

@baillie: The AI can't alert enemies. They can shout and run all over the place all they want and nothing is going to happen unless they see or hear Joel.

GIVE THE GAME TO MEEEEEEEE

I don't know what you said in the OP because I don't want any spoilers so I assume you don't want it but I am joking because people don't give games for free over the internet unless they're Sony and you should give it to me and pooop doodly long sentence.

This. You are being seen. I've watched my AI friends run right in front of dudes with guns and have them not react at all.

As others have mentioned, the AI enemies won't respond to your AI allies unless they see YOU.

I know that breaks the immersion of the game, but once I found that out, the game became a whole lot more fun. I pretty much crouch everywhere and play the game like Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (that's what it reminds me of), and I've been having a blast. I thoroughly believe this game deserves it's 5/5 - 10/10 scores.

But, then again, I'm the person who was bored to tears with Bioshock Infinite's gameplay and thought that deserved a 7 or 8. So, different strokes for different folks.

I'm not trying to imply anything here, but I honestly think people who are bad at games, or don't click on with how to play this game will not be able to fully enjoy it. Also, you've not gotten to a point where anything storywise has really happened. The characters still haven't developed.

The game definitely picks up not too far from where you are. I wasn't particularly enjoying the gameplay until after about 3 hours in. Everything suddenly clicked and I found it to be immensely enjoyable from there until the end. Once I figured out how to manage the squirelly aiming and stopped trying to play it like any other third-person shooter, it became much easier. Not to mention the story gets very, very good and is worth seeing through to the end.

@zidd: Really, the AI can't alert enemies? I am sure I am sitting in a place when Tess has come running over and then randomly shoots an enemy. All the while I haven't moved. I don't know what that says... I know I've been caught at times, but this has happened a few times. I'll figure this out later.

@cale: That's crazy, I told you I absolutely love stealth games. Conviction was my game of the year in 2010!

I honestly think that I'm just at the part where I'm learning how this game plays and it doesn't really interest me, and I just need to get over that hump. Hopefully, anyway.

@onekillwonder_ said:

I can see this exactly how it will play out for me, hopefully anyway.

@baillie: If I remember correctly, there are a few moments early on where Tess will start shooting at enemies regardless of your actions. They're sort of tutorials for how to use guns, or how to sneak up on someone while Tess distracts them, or whatever. That stops happening pretty quickly. Like other people said, I've watched the AI literally walk against enemies without alerting them.

I really enjoyed the combat controls. It started feeling fluid for me (or at least more interesting) when I would stun enemies with thrown items and take advantage of the "Grab" prompts to do combat takedowns or use enemies as human shields. God knows there's enough bottles and bricks lying around. (On Normal, anyway.)

@baillie: Penny-Arcade seemed to notice. but @vorpal is correct about it being an early point in the game showing you the games mechanics.

@zidd: That's really good to know that only I can have any impact on the enemies, awesome news. Thanks for letting me know.

Yeah, and also Ellie grabs a brick and throws it at an enemy yelling "HEY ASSHOLE" sometimes. Usually it's once you've been caught already tho, restealthing is hard because of this.

I'm kind of having the same issue with this game I had with Uncharted 3. Enjoyed almost everything about the game except the enemy encounters. They just weren't fun at all to me and I felt they were poorly designed. With Uncharted 3 I didn't reach the point of being tired with it until about halfway. This game? Almost immediately. I'm going to force myself through to the end but I really hope it becomes more fun to play.

Right now I've reached the school to get the battery out of the truck.

I'm in a situation where I like everything about characters, world and overall story but I just don't like the part where I actually have to play it. The movement feels weird, the stealth gives me no satisfaction and I hate monsters as well as the way they build encounters (so far at least). The last three encounters I've done have been with the Clickers and I think they' re a terrible idea and nothing but frustrating to deal with. The human enemies are slightly more interesting to fight, but even so, I really don't think there's anything incredible about the gameplay at all.

I'm glad others are having such a great time with it but at this point I'm either going to force myself to play a bit at a time just to see the story or I'll give up and watch a playthrough of it on Youtube.

I find that this game and Hitman: Absolution have the same style of gameplay (with the exception of Hitman's elaborate executions.) The narrative from The Last of Us certainly blows away Hitman, but both games feel the same to me.

I felt the same way. DO NOT WORRY. It eventually gets crazy good. After the next section that you are in, it started to get really interesting, at least for me. I think it takes a while to become emotionally invested in the main characters.

I'm pretty far in, in the second big city, and the game is so boring I think I'm done with it. I just don't care about any of it, the controls suck, and I really hate the story. Bummer.

The AI never started an engagement with an enemy except for Bill in the High School basement.

It's not the AI's fault. Try bumping the difficulty of the game down.

I don't want to put the game down, I think it's a fine game, however I'm not really in love with it. I thought the gameplay was a little boring, especially with the narrative being so good. If I were you I would finish it if only to see the result of the story. For me it ran into the same issue that Spec Ops The Line did, by the time I was closing in on the games finale, I just wanted to get to the next story bit.

I played it obsessively from start to finish - the story was gripping, the action fluid and fresh, the pacing spot on, the characters interesting and the graphics gorgeous.

You people need to lower your standards. If this game can't please you, i'm not sure what could - it doesn't get much better than this.

I don't want to derail but in terms of pure gameplay mechanics it could be a lot better than this. Agreed on story and pacing (during story elements) it is outstanding. I just hated slogging through more sneaking sections to get to those awesome story beats after a while. Since Joel by design isn't meant to be a one man army and the sneaking isn't that sophisticated the game can become a little too slow at times. Still, one of those unique cases much like Bioshock Infinite where I can look past middling gameplay for the engaging storytelling.

@humanity: The last two sneaking sections were ROUGH. I had to use a video guide to hold my hand and tell me how to truck through it (AI paths aren't random). As for everything else, I love all of the battles you have against the hunters and infected. It's a great mix of melee and gun combat against enemy AI that actually put up a fight.

To be honest I don't think you should try for full stealth all the time. If you can get through an area without alerting anyone that could be good but the gameplay excels when you're using both. Hide, attack, and hide. It's easy to lose line of sight with the human enemies and the zombies need to be isolated. Use bricks to distract them and also as a melee weapon. You can take down most enemies with just 2 hits.

I really suggest not trying to stealth anything as that can be frustrating. It's an incredible game though. I hope you end up enjoying it as much as I did. I just beat it last night and I was floored by the last...10 hours haha.

@spraynardtatum: Yeah, this is how I played, on hard, and it was a fantastic experience almost all the way through.

Wow man, i'm honestly feeling the EXACT same lol. The prologue made my jaw drop from the moment it started, then once i got into the game play it just felt, boring. I'm a little past where you are, and haven't played in a couple days. It's like it's not bad at all, i'm pretty sure i just have to get past this and the game will start clicking gameplay wise I hope. I remember patrick did say, the game isn't really fun in the traditional sense, i guess it really tries to get you into the atmosphere by making things more frustrating than fun.

edit, I did decide to start on hard as well, haven't really felt the difficulty yet though.

I love the game's narrative and characters, it's atmosphere and moments completely drew me in. Enemy encounters pretty much ripped me out the experience as much as they could draw me in. Setting aside the game play issues I have there was one specific moment in the game that just broke it for me. At that point I no longer cared about how I was playing and just wanted to rush through it to enjoy the story.

There is an enemy encounter with Ellie covering you with a hunting rifle. Up to this point I have been doing my best to conserve through stealth actions and trying to sneak past enemies when possible. I managed to take down all the enemies in the location with stealth kills and a couple of arrows. Then the game spawns in a group of enemies pretty much right behind me almost in the same room even, from a location I was just at. So I take them out and come to understand that this won't end until Ellie shoots. What the fuck for? The story beat there wasn't even that resonate to conserve.

I know that might not seem like a big deal but that with the other issues I had ruined playing the game and would just rather have watched The Last Of Us movie. All that said, I'm glad this game exists. It's not an experience I'll easily forget.

Different strokes for different folks. I have plenty of games that I love and adore and play constantly, but as for Last of Us I've gotten to Fall and I'm finding it hard to find any motivation to go back. It does atmosphere really well, but the story so far has been completely predictable and I'm having a hard time seeing how anyone could argue how sections like the hotel key, car pushing and sniper have good gameplay.

Funny, I had absolutely no problem with the gameplay except for the one part in the snow storm.

I started playing on Survivor yesterday and it's amazing! I especially like the lack of the "spidey sense".

Stealth works fine for me, Ellie and other team mates always seem invisible to the enemy as long as I'm not spotted. It's a little annoying when they yell for no reason and stomp around though when I'm trying to listen and be quiet.

I know. A total fucking thrill!

I wasn't really feeling it either, I'm now playing Bioshock Infinite and enjoying it thoroughly.

I'm in the same boat, i love stealth, i love survival, just can't rev myself up enough to continue and i'll play almost anything.

Yeah, I still haven't progressed more. Man, this game just isn't interesting me sadly. :(

You need to keep playing. If you haven't progressed you're still in the weakest part of the game. I really think you should do your best to finish it. The combat is all about snap decisions. You're never going to succeed if you're trying for all stealth or guns blazing. Try your best to stay hidden but don't be afraid to make a little noise. I try to get through every encounter with melee or bombs and use guns only when I need to to preserve ammo. Make sure to have 1 full shiv at all times.

I also really recommend playing on Hard at the very least. It's a much more frantic and satisfying experience, you constantly need to be moving and maintaining the upper hand. There will be enough supplies to get by but you'll be forced to think on your feet. Once the combat clicks it really is some of the best out there.

@el_tajij:

It gets incredibly better than this game. This game is seriously perfect to you? Lol. Ok.

I loved the gameplay. Found it adequately challenging with the scarcity of resources and all, and for me the gameplay made the story that much more impactful. The story wouldn't have meant as much if I didn't at times feel like getting through it was a bit of a struggle. Survival horror done right IMO.

But I wanted to comment on the story, "the way it's presented can be without a doubt called masterful at times". It may not be the best video game story ever, but it's up there for me, and I think it's absolutely the best executed telling of a video game story ever. DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE GAME, but it does a really good job of describing the amazing, brutal, heart-wrenching, and yet understated ending of TLOU: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/422836/blog/the-last-of-us-alternative-ending-revealed-by-naughty-dog-spoilers/

My expectations were blown away in the best way possible, even if it was total emotional manipulation and abuse. The funny thing is, watching the developer commentary about the story, it almost never happened. They had a generic sh*t ending planned and sort of stumbled onto the brilliance they delivered instead. That's kind of scary to me. I wish I could feel like I could count on ND for such a powerful narrative, but the UC games and ND's honesty about the TLOU ending they thought they had planned kind of show you they just got lucky and had the artistic intelligence to take it where it needed to go.

Makes me think of Breaking Bad. I like to pretend there was a stinger after the credits roll: all it shows is Walt in a hospital bed, move in on him, his eyes open, you see disappointment, denied the easy out of a cheesy death. That's the only way I can be happy with Breaking Bad. Naughty Dog really nailed their ending so I don't have to make stuff up.

So I'v been playing the game for a few hours now (just gave Ellie the rifle) and I really have no idea why pepole make such a big deal about this game, other than the start everything has just been meh so far.

The stealth works perfectly fine, if you're breaking stealth it's entirely user error.

If the above statement was false Survivor Difficulty would be impossible.

You're playing the game poorly.

Here's what you do.

Shiv or crouch past clickers, making sure not to press the joystick fully in any direction.

Strangle zombies.

Utilize your melee weapons to their fullest potential with bricks and bottles, bricks and bottles open enemies up for one hit kills.

Aim for the head.

Use your listen mode.

The game plays perfectly fine, if you're struggling you need to change your strategy.

@baillie: Despite all the praise for it, the story can be a real drag in the first quarter or so of the game. After the dramatic opening it really needs some time to get going.

I recommend you push through it, there's some good stuff later on.

Regarding the gamplay, it works fine after some getting used to, although you're definitely not the only person complaining about it. I enjoyed it in the beginning but once the story gets going I just wanted to get through the combat scenarios as fast as I could.

I can understand that, playing that game was a drag...I ended up coming away sour toward it.

It's a matter of opinion my friend. I personally loved the gameplay. I thought the combat had a weight and brutality to it that was a ton of fun. I played the multiplayer for few solid months after release because of the combat, which surprised me because I thought the multiplayer was going to be awful when they announced it.

I had absolutely no problem with any of the gameplay aspects.

It almost seems to me that a lot of people just aren't using items to their advantage.

Maybe that was a glitch in your game, I stealthed that entire encounter and Ellie never shot, I just had to go back to her when I was done.

I'm in the same boat as you, but I always finish a game I start so I'm forcing my way through it currently. Just finished the suburbs section and while I don't think the game is bad is just not super interesting.

I have the same problem with this as I did with Uncharted, I just don't think Naughty Dog creates interesting combat scenarios. You enter a square room with a bunch of objects at waist height and fight waves of enemies until you can move forward, it's painfully boring at this point and gets very tedious when your game is 15+ hours. I couldn't help but roll my eyes when I saw a Bloater for the first time, an infected version of the armored guys from Uncharted...yay how creative.

The stealth sections are just ok, I think it's laughable how all the enemies have a mind link going so if one sees you they all flock to you. Best one was when I completed a section and at the end a guy shows up and I killed him not knowing I was supposed to let him walk by and that somehow alerted the entire area so then I just stood there and shot his 8-10 buddies that came running to me one by one.

I'm about 2/3 through the game and unless the story picks up big time I don't see all the praise for it, I've seen all this done in tons of other zombie/end of the world stories already. Aside from the interactions between Joel and Ellie which are excellent, I haven't seen anything story wise that The Walking Dead didn't do better a year ago.

Don't put that aside. The interactions between Joel and Ellie are what drives this game.