It's really hard for me to believe that I've been sitting on this one since June. I guess I kind of reevaluated a lot of things after Ryan's passing and quit playing things just for the sake of them being the latest and greatest. So when I wasn't really loving The Last of Us right off the bat, I decided to shelve it.
Now that it's been getting so much attention for being one of the best games of the year, and I've heard people use the phrase "that ending" more than a few times, I think I've developed a genuine curiosity. I put it in last night because I just want to know what happens, and so that I can safely listen to the Bombcast without it being spoiled.
Had a pretty positive return because Naughty Dog was smart enough to include a place to view all of the cinematics that you've unlocked. That really helped me brush up on the first few hours that I wasn't really looking to replay. Aside from the huge swathes of narrative beats that were in gameplay, this almost felt like watching a non-shitty version of The Walking Dead show.
Holy shit I had a hell of a time getting back into playing it though. I could not remember the controls or strategies for the life of me. And I ended up attempting this encounter that I had left off on about fifteen times before getting a handle on shanking motherfuckers. In retrospect, that 'trial by fire' might have been a pretty good way to brush up. It was a contained environment with a few 'clickers' that I could practice against. I'd rather botch that a few hundred times than fuck up some story heavy segment.
Eventually things came back. I might be playing even smarter than I had before because the encounters have been going by fairly smoothly, which I don't remember being the case back in June.
Strangely enough, I'm actually really enjoying myself. This has turned from a curiosity to see the ending, to me just wanting to play the game 'cause I kind of like it. Naughty Dog is great at telling stories, but at this point I'm concerned that this will be a story that's not really worth telling. With ubiquitous tropes like zombies - come on guys, let's face it, they're zombies - it's easy to fall back on tired ideas and not really say anything interesting, or do anything that hasn't been done better a million times before. We'll see though. I'm cautiously optimistic. I do like the characters more than I like the characters in most modern, zombie things.
Also, is it just me or is the bow kind of garbage? Enemies move about so much it's hard to line up a shot. Hopefully it gets better with upgrades. I'd hate for me to remember the 'Year Of The Bow' with a terrible bow.
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