LunchCannon54 said:I'll definitely give it a go eventually as it's most likely a decent game but on the whole it seems to be massively overrated. The stealth sections seem interesting, but it looks like an incredibly generic game in terms of cover based shooting and quick time events, as well as the setting (zombies are getting a bit tired now), not to mention issues with the AI and enemies not even bothering to go for Ellie. I have no idea why it's being praised as some original masterpiece when there is nothing even remotely original about it.
Also from what I've seen it's got an issue with the interactive storytelling. Often when games do this it's in the form of slowing the game right down with maybe a slow walking section to get you interested in the story and characters. Now this is nice for your first run but it hurts re-playability when you have to go through these sections of down time again when you may just want to get back in on the action like you were. Often it's used as a substitute for loading and cutscenes which means essentially you can't skip them as they're directly integrated into the game; I would honestly rather a few loading screens and cutscenes so I could skip them on subsequent playthroughs and get back in to the game...
The DLC overload which started with Uncharted 2 is obnoxious as well (having to pay for the hardest difficulty?) not to mention the completely unnecessary PS4 remaster barely even a year after its release (at least maybe this will drive down the price of the PS3 version?)
So on the whole it seems competent but generic...
Erm, I think you should play the game before you judge it so deeply. No offence but the story and the atmosphere is pretty much what makes the game, so judging it without any consideration for that doesn't seem fair- you wouldn't judge the original resident evil or dead space games in comparison to third person shooters and nothing more.
You say the stealth sections seem interesting, but surely most of the game's encounters are stealth. There are times when you get trapped or rushed, and of course times when you're not around any enemies, but by and large this is not a cover based shooter at all. When you're in a fight you don't slam into cover, lean over when your health recharges and pop off a bunch of headshots. The human enemies shoot back and flank, or hunt you down if they lose you, while the infected will rush you regardless.
The health in the game doesn't recharge, and the aiming is deliberately unsteady, so poking your head out for an ambitious shot or two in the fray is generally a bad idea. It's also going to give away your position and bring everyone towards you. The ammo is also quite limited (depending on difficulty and looting) so the only time you'll shoot a lot is when you don't have a good solution and panic. The combat system is deliberately designed that you should stay in stealth and avoid enemies where possible, and if you go loud then the first thing you need to do is run away and find somewhere safer to hide.
The setting is not the focus of the story. The infected -or even the hunters- are not the focus of the story. They are just context: the game is at the very least about survival, Joel and Ellie trekking to the ends of the Earth to try and find some way of surviving, hoping and praying that it won't all be for nothing. It's about hope, trust, love, betrayal, and despair.
The enemy AI may not be revolutionary, but it is smart. Human enemies in particular will hunt sneak and flank when they can. Ellie not being a target is a debatable issue. Can you really call it a flaw if it was intentional and deliberate? Our preference may be otherwise, but if our preference was that they fire laser beams and fly gunships it still doesn't mean the designers were flawed. People also complain when the AI hogs resources, such as Sheva from Resi 5. It doesn't really make sense for Ellie to be any other way- she's not skilled enough to fight equally to you, and she needs to be following you on the times when you decide to sneak past a whole area. It's not like she can cloak up or just jump into the pokeball on your hip.
Okay, you can complain about having to wait for things, but on the plus side most of these segments are still walking and talking, and they do let you skip through the cutscenes straight away, and the loading times throughout the game are a non-issue due to the preloading structure. If you quit the game and load a save file then you do have to wait a while for loading, but during a session it's practically seamless. Although, and I don't mean to be sarcastic, but surely this complaint is a little bit unfair in a stealth game- considering how in almost all stealth games you routinely have to sit still and wait for enemy patrols to move to where you need them to be. A walking scene with dialogue (and often scenery) compared to that hardly seems like an issue.
I've got to agree with you on the DLC of course (apart from the new story DLC), it's not that I mind having a lot of DLC but the DLC trophies in Uncharted 2, 3, and TLoU are absurd and for me infuriating, serving only to spoil some of the most fair platinum trophy lists with some of the worst DLC trophies of all time. This game at least seems to lack the notorious grind of the previous two, but nonetheless pointless multiplayer trophies and even a new difficulty and not retroactive meaning that if you already platinumed the game (after two, three, or even more playthroughs) you'll still need to play the whole thing through once or twice again. Come on guys, I realise that repeat plays allow us to notice more of the little details in the game, try different approaches, and take on harder challenges, but that's too many friggin playthroughs for a game that is by no means short. Personally I'd really rather would be done with it by now, I've long since passed the point of maximum appreciation.
I too think the PS4 version is daft and irritating, but mostly because it's unnecessary and people should've just bought it on PS3 which is at an all time low price. Also because the idea of them putting out more crap trophy DLC not on the season pass instead of moving on to the next game is disturbing. But its existence doesn't detract from the quality of the original PS3 game. Also don't think that they removed the hardest difficulty to make people pay for it, there are already four in there (not to mention +) and they all serve their purpose (which is why I think the new one is not something that should've been included, better it should never have existed. It's superfluous).
I'm not sure you can realistically call this game generic, or if you could then compare it to others which you think are most similar and we'll see if they hold a significant resemblance, especially on a thematic level.
In any case thanks for your input, I was glad to read it and reflected on what I thought about the game