What Is Causing Zombies?

[rionaleonhart]

More of The Last of Us! I'm in the school, I think.

I've started saying 'Ellie?' aloud when I'm not sure where Ellie's got to. Ellie, of course, cannot hear me because she is a videogame character, but I can't stop myself. I just want to keep an eye on her.

There was a terrible bit where she opened a gate and then waited by it and wouldn't follow me until I went through it. I went to investigate a building first and she just stayed back there by the gate where I couldn't make sure she was safe! I got so nervous!

(Later, I watched th_esaurus play through the same part. Turns out that Ellie goes into the house with you if you haven't opened the gate first, and then there's a weird blowing noise and OH NO, IS IT A ZOMBIE? NO, IT'S JUST ELLIE TRYING TO TEACH HERSELF TO WHISTLE AT THE WORST POSSIBLE MOMENT, bless her. I was quite sorry to have missed it.)

I had to smile when Ellie started humming to herself while we were wandering around. The first time she really captured my heart was probably when we went into the museum; Tess stayed on high alert, clutching her gun, but Ellie went around looking at all the displays. I forgot about searching for supplies and just watched her for a while. Her curiosity is incredibly endearing.

I love it when AI companions in games are a real pleasure and comfort to have around. Companions like Ellie and Tess, like Elena in Uncharted, like your horse in Red Dead Redemption (levels of emotional attachment may vary, I suppose; there are probably people who'll just grab the most convenient horse and don't really have one they think of as 'theirs', but I loved my horse). You sometimes have to protect your companions in The Last of Us (whereas in Uncharted I'm fairly certain your allies can't be harmed in shootouts), but they never feel like a burden.

(Speaking of protecting your companions: in Uncharted, you simply can't crouch in the same place as a partner. In The Last of Us, if you and Ellie hide against the same wall, Joel will try to sort of shield her with his body. It is the loveliest thing.)


The SA Let's Play forum paywall has come down, if any Dangan Ronpa readers on my flist haven't yet snapped and bought an account! Here's the ongoing translation of the second game (and here's the completed translation of the first, if anyone new wants to dive in). Both threads have links to all the actual updates in the first post, so you don't have to read the discussion between updates; reading the discussion is, in fact, strongly discouraged. I have found recent developments very distressing.

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

Okay, now I've played past the university, and oh my God

AND NOW I'M GOING TO BE AWAY FROM THE PS3 FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS

SUPERB TIMING, VERY WELL DONE

(Please don't even hint at anything that's yet to come! I don't think I'd even be able to cope with 'THERE ARE EVENTS AND THEY MAY OR MAY NOT INDUCE ONE OR MORE EMOTIONS' at this point. It's winter and I've hunted down a deer and met two guys and NOTHING BEYOND THAT POINT EXISTS.)

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

EXCELLENT TIMING INDEED

ANY OTHER READERS LOOKING AT THIS BE AWARE THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING RIONA HAS SAID

I won't give you even the slightest indication of events, then! But the stuff you've already gotten to is pretty great, right? Even watching other people play the bit where Joel is slowly collapsing but still has to fight is very stressful. Every Let's Player I've seen was severely vocally distressed. JOEL, TRYING TO WALK AROUND AFTER HAVING BEEN IMPALED BY REBAR IS NOT A GOOD THING. I watched a "making of" video and the writer said originally he'd had a montage of Ellie patching up Joel and getting him to the house, but then decided it would be more effective to not let the player know for a while, so the reveal--"Medicine!"--would be more effective. On one hand, that's excellent writing; on the other hand, that's pure evil.

[rionaleonhart]

OH NO, NOW I KNOW THERE'S A HOUSE, EVERYTHING IS RUINED

I was so, so tense when Ellie was helping Joel up after his impalement. And then that amazing sequence where you're controlling someone who's basically slowly dying. You're so, so helpless, and for once you're the one who has to rely on Ellie. I was strangely proud of her, watching her come into her own, even though 'shooting a load of guys' probably isn't something I should technically be proud of.

I should probably have anticipated some sort of 'controlling someone who's in a seriously bad way' sequence in this game, given Naughty Dog's precedent. Uncharted 2 has you control Nate while he's simultaneously bleeding and freezing to death; Uncharted 3 has a couple of sequences where he's drugged out of his mind. This was more effective than either of those, though; the swaying of the screen, the way the visuals and audio kept fading and blurring, the moment when I tried to aim and Joel just couldn't keep his arm raised. It was really, really well done.

The reveal was also very well done! I wasn't expecting it; I'd been convinced since Ellie told Sam she was afraid of being alone that Joel would end up dead and we'd end up playing as Ellie. I'm glad to have been only half right! ...so far. oh God please don't say anything

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

AUGH SORRY SHOULD HAVE REMEMBERED YOU WEREN'T THERE YET although it really is a very minor spoiler in the scheme of things

Honestly, it was the falling over after getting through a window that really got to me--it's a move you make all the time, you're used to it, but now it isn't working. Hits you right in the "oh shit everything's really fucked isn't it".

Having not played Uncharted, my only experience with this sort of thing is from one of the Mass Effect games--you're bleeding all over and limping and alone and you can barely lift your gun to kill the (thankfully weak) enemies that still keep rushing at you. It's actually really effective, and I got flashbacks when the same thing happened in TLOU. TLOU didn't make me want to scream and punch things afterwards, though, so I think I know who the winner is.