I've been playing this the the last day and change and I've just made it to the part where
Henry and his brother ditch you. Like assholes. Like literally after that point, opened the gate despite the fucking truck pushing in, go into the next combat arena, sighed, saved and turned it off.
The game is almost goddamn draining to play because I'm constantly worried about my ammo and supplies even though I've never been out of any of it even that far into the game. And I don't really use any of it, instead opting for stealth/melee to conserve ammo until I invariably get seen by someone somehow which calls in reinforcements even though goddamnit that was the last fucking guy I needed to kill.
Admittedly, maybe I should've not started the game on Hard even if that's kind of what I do with Naughty Dog games. (because I actually enjoy Crushing in Uncharted games, but I imagine a Survivor run on TLoU will be.....not fun.)
I really just have a couple questions at this point.
Will there ever be a significant stretch of game where I -don't- have combat? No goddamn Hunters, no goddamn Runners, no goddamn Clickers, just sort of enjoying the story and characters and drama?
And
Regarding supplies: Have I been training myself for late game, or are things still fairly easy to come by even in the late game? I pretty much always have one of everything (First-Aid Kit, Molotov, both bombs and a brick) while keeping good stock of supplies, plenty of ammo in my guns and 2 shivs (been rolling 3 lately because I haven't come across a clicker or a shiv door since the last shiv door which had shiv supplies in it, I think). Will I get to a point where I look upon these days of luxury with want, or is it pretty much what I'm looking forward to?
Combat is pretty much a constant, as I recall. It kinda thins out in parts and just lets you vibe, but there aren't really any hour+ stretches of puzzle-solving and character-interaction.
If you're playing on normal, I'm under the impression that you will be fully stocked at all times. On higher difficulties, ammo conservation can be more relevant if you're a shit shot, but otherwise the only things you'll really have trouble keeping on hand are your shivs and explosives.
If you're playing on normal, I'm under the impression that you will be fully stocked at all times.
I played on normal and towards the end of Summer I was running low on basically everything. Fights were constant efforts to snag ammo and parts while not expend any if possible. Though this might have been caused by liberal applications of bullets earlier.
If you're playing on normal, I'm under the impression that you will be fully stocked at all times.
I played on normal and towards the end of Summer I was running low on basically everything. Fights were constant efforts to snag ammo and parts while not expend any if possible. Though this might have been caused by liberal applications of bullets earlier.
Now that I think about it, I do remember being low on ammo during the end of Summer on my first run.
The first DLC chapter for Naughty Dog's The Last of Us is set for a Valentine's Day release, according to a PlayStation Store promotional image captured by GameTrailers.
Pricing the upcoming "Left Behind" chapter at $14.99, the image claims that the DLC will be available on February 14. The pack's Sony Entertainment Network listing has also been updated to reflect the new release date.
Actor Ashley Johnson revealed earlier this week that "Left Behind" will star a younger, more playful version of pandemic survivor Ellie. "Left Behind" is included as part of The Last of Us' Season Pass.
Nintendo Console Codes
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
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HAIL HYDRA
+1
zllehsHiding in a box, waiting to strike.Registered Userregular
Going to try this on Playstation Now
I cant go back and use a PS3...
Finally finished this myself. Holy crap, what a game. That brilliant ending had me staring at the wall for quite some time.
I can't quite decide if this game or The Walking Dead does a better zombie apocalypse, though.
Switch: 3947-4890-9293
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
So about Riley!
Did Marlene ever allude to her? Cause they seem a lot alike in terms of their mannerisms, the way they move and phrase stuff - "I disappeared and you're mad" at 2:00 was Marlene verbatim. I was all ready to assume she's her daughter, but then that seems like a thing that would've got mentioned a lot.
Finally finished this myself. Holy crap, what a game. That brilliant ending had me staring at the wall for quite some time.
I can't quite decide if this game or The Walking Dead does a better zombie apocalypse, though.
I personally give the nod to TLOU for putting more effort into making the fungal/clicker infection something a little off the beaten path for zombies, for having both a great story and gameplay, as well as a really bravely non-bombastic but still incredibly depressing and affecting ending. The Walking Dead's ending is powerful, but, well, it does kind of take the obvious dramatic path.
I can see why someone would prefer the Walking Dead though, especially if you aren't big on stealth gameplay.
Just started playing this game. So far it's pretty great, but I now have this constant fear my PS3 will die on me. The thing's fans go straight to 100% maybe 5 minutes into the game.
I play for an hour or two then I shut off my PS3 for the day.
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Ov3rchargeR.I.P. Mass EffectYou were dead to me for yearsRegistered Userregular
Finally finished this myself. Holy crap, what a game. That brilliant ending had me staring at the wall for quite some time.
I can't quite decide if this game or The Walking Dead does a better zombie apocalypse, though.
I personally give the nod to TLOU for putting more effort into making the fungal/clicker infection something a little off the beaten path for zombies, for having both a great story and gameplay, as well as a really bravely non-bombastic but still incredibly depressing and affecting ending. The Walking Dead's ending is powerful, but, well, it does kind of take the obvious dramatic path.
I can see why someone would prefer the Walking Dead though, especially if you aren't big on stealth gameplay.
I feel like this is an unfair comparison. They are two completely different games and only tied together by the fact that they both have zombies.
Man, I can only afford to play this game for a bit at a time. It gets quite intense.
So far, I absolutely love it. One of the absolute best games of all time.
I just finished winter, and wow
That whole season was just non stop heart pounding action. I wasn't expecting to get to play as Ellie but it was my favorite part yet. I loved the hunting section. That that segues into the hardest part of the game yet for me, the endless infected attack inside that abandoned lumber mill or whatever. And you have almost no resources to pull it off. I am playing on hard and I died over and over again. You have so little ammo and so little health you pretty much have to be picture perfect. Definitely imparted a feeling of desperation.
Then you're being chased by those goons through the abandoned campground...I think this is probably the time in the whole game where I felt the most lethal. And I think it's also because I felt the most scared. I had nothing, pretty much, and was very low health and died in 2 punches so I was trying to stay out of melee and just decided to lay waste with my bow. But hearing all the hunters desperately trying to find me while I nailed them all with perfect stealth long range bow shots was amazing. I also feel her reactions to all this are picture perfect, cussing out her attackers in fear even as she's killing them. All the little things she says like "What do I do now?" and "How do I get out of here" carry the inaudible subtext of "What would Joel do in this situation?" and sometimes she says things like "I must be careful not to get trapped in here" which is clearly her remembering things Joel has taught her.
Then after you get captured and are escaping through the literally blinding snowstorm with nothing but a knife against an entire town of pursuers..terrifying! And yet Ellie feels amazingly lethal here. Her back jumping knife stabbing move is amazing - combining terrified desperation and lethal grace and determination all in one animation. It feels much more visceral than Joe's choke out. She's really come into her own. The way it would switch between Ellie and Joel was brilliant. You know exactly how much danger Ellie is in as she desperately runs and hides with nothing more than a pocket knife to protect her, so then it switches to Joel with his full load of guns and ammo and molotovs and flamethrowers and you feel like an avenging angel, dealing fiery righteous retribution to all in your path. You're badly wounded and in pain but that only makes you seem MORE determined and MORE deadly. The way it cuts back and forth between the two of them desperately searching for each other in this blizzard shrouded town of murder and then as Joel you finally see the burning building you KNOW Ellie inside and you know he finally found her and you feel the same sense of loss and desperation he does but now you know it's going to be ok... wow. Just wow.
How do Dads with young daughters even bear to play this game? I felt like my heart was about to explode and I'm not even a parent
There were also so many of the little things I loved...everything about the characters is superb. Spot on voice acting, perfect dialog and interactions...so many times during a visceral fight sequence Ellie would react and say the exact same things I was saying. One time while I spent too long exploring a house looking for loot the kids spontaneously started playing a darts game. Ellie's body language after you have been mean to her is accurate and vastly different from the rest of the time. The reactions of the bandits is amazing too. You only have two bullets left, but you pop out of cover to nail a perfect long range head shot on the lead goon bearing down at you with a metal pipe and his craven buddies scatter to the winds squawking out "Look out he's gotta gun!". Now you only have one bullet left but it was worth it to put the fear of God into those murdering bastards.
I feel like in general the scary parts of this game are very scary but at the same time you feel you are playing a very powerful, very dangerous character. When the
hunters in the city where you wiped out an entire team of theirs
are scared of you, you feel it's pretty justified. Joel is objectively a pretty fearsome and scary person. At the same time, I am scared to death of clickers. That's a hard balance to pull off.
The only part I've thought was goofy so far is when I'm having to creep along agonizingly slowly to avoid clickers and I've got Bill in his giant ass boots stamping back and forth as he dashes incessantly between various corners of the room and none of the 7 clickers in the room even notice but if I so much as sneeze I get instabigged.
I've heard people complain about the controls but they are fine for me. My characters do what I want them when I want them. Far less frustrating than in AC or UC. I like the combat too - the trade off between trying to stealth it and conserve resources vs just mowing your way through is a good one. There are so many great opportunities for the nailbombs and molotovs as well.
Saddest part so far...
the sewers. Definitely the sewers. Here is group of nice, kind hearted, honest people had survived, found each other, and built a functioning community. They were taking care of and raising their kids and doing their best to educate them and create a good life for them. They had a great water supply system set up in a defensible location. They were doing everything right. And just one slip up and they were wiped out (almost entirely). In a way looking at the detritus of their ramshackle camp was much more sad than looking at the destroyed homes of families who got caught up in the initial wave of killings, because these guys had survived and thought they made it...
That and Tess was unexpectedly great as a character. I was sad when she died
I also thought they made two great gameplay choices that really helped realize the tension
-no minimap
-you have to physically pull out your backpack and rummage through it for stuff. If your gun you have out runs out of ammo and you know you have another one in your pack SOMEWHERE and you pull it out and desperately try to pull out your revolver while they are closing in on you...
compare that to just pausing the game and leisurely scrolling through your inventory.
If you want it to be even more brutally real survival gameplay, try out Survival difficulty. You don't have access to listen mode, and supplies are even more scarce.
In my current playthrough attempt, I'm running around desperately looking for bricks to use for melee if my stealth attempts go bad.
My only complaint really is that your companions aren't really detected when sneaking, but I can understand that from a gameplay perspective.
Yeah. Certain sections would pretty much be literally impossible on harder difficulties with scarcer resources if your companions were incapable of sneaking by clickers.
On hard, I think the game does a pretty good job of keeping you feeling desperate for stuff. As soon as you start feeling cocky and gloating at your huge piles of ammo and crafting reserves, the game throws a bloater at you, or endless waves of angry clickers or runners (or both at the same time!) and in a frenetic gun battle your carefully built up reserves that took weeks of scrounging and saving are instantly depleted.
Yeah, the biggest mistake in the game I made was starting off on Normal. I really should have started on Hard. Resources were easy to come by in Normal.
I was still amazed how fast you can burn through ammo when it was available.
i found it surprising that there are firearms ALL over, but no knives. all we get is the last dregs of broken scissors.
In a world where for the past 20 using a gun draws every zombie for 20 miles onto your head so people favour melee weapons, it's actually not that farfetched at all.
The far fetched part is that the military is using guns instead of something like repeating crossbows - pretty sure they would have adapted at this point.
I know this is in response to a super old post, but it was just one of the ways I thought the game world was surprisingly coherent.
All right, I finished! I thought the ending was great, particularly as it dealt with Joel.
Let's talk more about Joel. I feel that though this game is a little bit reminiscent of The walking Dead, the attitudes and characters of the protagonists are very different. Part of this is that TWD takes place in the immediate aftermath of a zombie attack. TLOUS takes place 20 years later - twenty years in which everything has fallen to pieces. Violence is an umremarkable and ubiquitous presence. It's twenty years and humanity is still losing, their enclaves falling, one by one. Everyone feels that this day could be their last - that they survive only on luck, which is one day bound to run out. It's a much bleaker, more callous, more indifferent world.
Joel kills swiftly, efficiently, with little provocation, and with absolutely no remorse. Although he is generally killing people who may well deserve it, and doesn't go around slaughtering innocent people for kicks, in many ways
he is an absolute psychopath. But we can see how he became as he is. Consider the prologue: he and his brother are doing everything in their power to save his daughter..and at the end, just as they feel they've escaped...Sarah is murdered by the soldiers that are supposed to protect her. You can see what kind of impact that would have. But I think it goes even deeper. Consider Tommy's role in that night to Joel's. Tommy not only heroically offers to sacrifice his own life to stay behind and give Joel and Sarah a chance to escape, he kills the zombies, escapes himself, then arrives in time to shoot the soldier who is trying to murder Joel and Sarah. He's a goddam super hero. Joel by comparison does nothing and can't prevent his daughter from dying in his arms. He is manifestly the less competent of the two brothers in this situation. He seems to have decided to not let that ever happen again and has became a brutally proficient killer. (It also makes somewhat more sense when Joel is initially considering having Tommy escort Ellie to the fireflies - it's a throwback to his own feelings of inadequacy when under pressure compared to his younger brother, combined with a desperate desire not to face that loss again.)
At the beginning, when Tess and Joel are torturing/murdering the low life black market dealer who sold them out, what they were doing was making me physically uncomfortable. But as the game goes on..you start to sympathize with Joel's attitude more and more. Look at who you run into! Hunters who waylay innocent people, murder them, then steal their meager possessions. Psychotic power hungry militaries determined to not let people escape their clutches. 'Freedom fighter' terrorists who attack the last few remaining bastions of safety and order. Cannibalistic rapists. You start to realize that Joel's violent tendencies are not only explained by his
surroundings, they are absolutely necessary for his survival in these surroundings.
I've seen some people comment on how the zombies seemed kind of boring and not much of a threat - this is true, and also, I think, by design. It is probably intentional that the biggest threats come from other humans -
Bill (a great character, by the way) outright states as much. Yes the zombies are a threat, but they can almost be treated as a fairly predictable force of nature. The intelligent malice of humans is far harder to protect against. Look at what menaces Tommy's group - not zombies, but maurading bandits and murderers. You might be afraid of the zombies. But you actually hate the hunters and cannibals and soldiers and everyone by game's end.
And this I think makes Joel's decision, which is supposed to be a big weighty decision, almost inevitable. I think he made the only choice you could make. Humanity is already destroyed, by its own hatred. A cure will do almost
nothing, even if it were guaranteed (which it is not - it seems to be a long shot at best). It would most likely become another weapon in petty power struggles. If I had been in Joel's position I would have made the same choice
and would never have lost a single moment's sleep over it. The idea that "if we just kill this one person it will solve all our problems" has been hauled forth in times of crisis throughout all of human history. It has always been a lie, it will always be a lie. I think any time some power makes this argument, that we have to murder someone for the greater good, it must be met with an immediate and overwhelmingly violent response - which is exactly what Joel deploys. Let humanity look after itself. Your job is to look after her. You are the only one in the entire world she can count on to watch out for her - you cannot betray her trust. Anyway, what is this humanity we are supposed to go to such lengths to save? The hunters? The cannibals? The power hungry soldiers who murder civilians in the streets? The power hungry terrorists of the fireflies? I think Joel is entirely justified at looking at that and concluding "Hey you know what? Fuck humanity. I can only guarantee to save one life here, and that's hers. And that's what I'm going to do".
If he had chosen otherwise it would have been deeply immoral and a betrayal on the most fundamental level. What has 'humanity' done for them so far anyway except be their most implacable and poewrful enemy? Ellie should die so cannibals dont' have to worry about eating infected meat? I think it's missing the point in a grand fashion to say "Oh, selfish Joel, he chose his daughter over the world". The takeaway is - isn't it wonderful to have someone who loves you and will stand up for you against the whole world? Someone who has your back no matter what? Even if it's not entirely rational? (And who said love was always rational?) If you love someone, you will stand up for them against the whole world. And if the person doing the standing up is Joel, the world better watch out.
Now, there is a second question that I think is more interesting: would Ellie have been willing voluntarily to die for the chance at a cure? Throughout human history, people have been willing to risk their lives for the greater
good and might voluntarily do something incredibly risky for the betterment of mankind. This is generally regarded as highly noble and praiseworthy endeavor. There are two objections to this: one is that Ellie is a 14 year old
child, and thus easily manipulated and lied to. In such a case I would absolutely support her parents putting the veto on her dying. What if she were, say, 42 years old? I think the dynamics would be far different. While that
would have probably weakened the overall story I think it would have made the choice at the end for Joel more ambiguous. It doesn't matter if Ellie wants to die at this point or not, she's not old enough to make that decision. We rightly don't let teenagers commit suicide. This is no different.
The other aspect is that there is a great deal of difference in doing something that MIGHT get you killed, and something that will definitely get you killed. The former is engaged in all the time by brave and noble people -
such as astronauts. However these people undertake great precautions to minimize the risk as much as possible. They are willing to die if necessary for progress, but want to avoid it if at all possible and in fact - will probably
not die at all. This is contrasted with cultures where people have been sent to their certain death 'for the greater good'. Even if it is a completely willing arrangement, such cultures have almost universally been sick, twisted, and depraved: think of the Japanese kamikaze pilots or the various human sacrifices of occult religions.
Given this, I think the "Well what if Ellie was *willing* to die?" argument is easily disposed of. Veto it, and find a way to help her not feel guilty afterwards (she absolutely shouldn't, though I think it would be natural to
do so. You couldn't help but feel selfish). Humanity has lasted 20 years, despite its own best efforts, it can last a few more. See if it's a hereditary trait and if her kids are immune. Maybe you'll discover something else. If
not, she can revisit the idea later if necessary. I would say that in that situation, whether you give up your own life on the possibility of an amorphous greater good depends very heavily on how much harm you deal to specific
individuals. Obviously a mother with 3 young kids who depend on her deciding to give up her life is much different than a 99 year old man with no living relatives or dependents doing so. Not so much from the nobility of their sacrifice, but as to whether it is appropriate in terms of who else it harms. In this case, Ellie dying would have destroyed Joel. I don't think you build the foundations of a hypothetical glorious new future for humanity by dealing out real specific harms to real specific individuals who love and trust you to do right by them. And this is what Joel realizes. There's not much we can guarantee in this world. We can't save humanity. But there is one thing he can do, so he does it. He puts a specific good thing he knows he can do for a specific individual for an amorphous hypothetical good thing he could do for humanity. He lies to Ellie so that the guilt of that decision, such as it is, will be on his shoulders - or at least be shared between them.
In this particular case, the Fireflies obviously thought Ellie would NOT have chosen this or they would have asked her. It is clear they were going to kill her whether or not she agreed. In fact it sounds like they would have gone ahead whether or not Marlene gave the OK - you get the sense the Fireflies are spiralling into madness and desperation and losing all sense of cohesion, purpose, and morality. Marlene's decision to kill Ellie isn't the produce of sober reasoned judgement, weighing the risks and balances. It is the despairing last desperate hope of a self admitted exhausted, tired, defeated, broken woman, who just wants it all to end. It's clear from one of the recordings you find in the lab that there were others apparently immune - although Ellie sounds like the most promising candidate.
Given all the often questionable (though I think entirely necessary) things Joel and Ellie had to do to survive, I think this game does a good job driving home that life rarely consists of choosing between good things and bad
things. Those are easy choices to make. All too often life consists of a struggle of choosing the least bad of several horrific options. You choose the one that does the least harm to your loved ones and move on. What else can
we do? It's the human condition. Yet I don't think, overall, the game's message is one of bleak despair, but one of hope. It would be very easy, in such a terrible world, to just give up and say "What's the point?" Yet because of
love, Joel is willing to fight and bleed and suffer and die just so that one girl can live one more day, in a world where death is always right around the corner. He can't know what the future holds. Maybe their luck runs out
tomorrow and they're both killed by clickers. But until then, he's willing to give it his all, just to keep her alive one more day. And I think that hope and tenacity, and desire to salvage whatever scrap of good you can from
the wreck of civilization, is very human, and very inspiring.
All in all, what an incredible game, and incredible story. I laugh at people who say "Oh, it was just some of the usual tripe about love and loss and struggle and redemption. PFFFFFFt boring! Overdone!"
There are only seven stories you can tell, and we've been telling them for tens of thousands of years. You can tell them poorly, or tell them well. You can bore us with stories we've heard before, or amaze us with characters so
lifelike we can't believe they aren't real, and remind us of truths of our shared human condition. The Last of Us Knocks it out of the park.
So...maybe not the best video game of all time, but certainly the best story of any video game I've played. If I had to pick one videogame to have ever played in my life, I think this one would be it. In a way the themes of hope and trying to rebuild after a catastrophe and odd air of peace and nostalgia at times amidst ruin reminded me of Valkyria Chronicles.
You know who Joel reminded me of?
Horn rim glasses guy from Heroes. That guy was also extremely competent and extremely ruthless in protecting his family. The way Joel killed the two captive cannibals, and killed Marlene at the end, were quite chilling. (Less so for the cannibal rapists, who were lucky to get such a clean death as far as I'm concerned). But from his perspective, it was the only thing he could do to protect Ellie
All right, kind of confused here. I finished, the game, but apparently I can't start New game +? New game just shows easy/normal/hard/survivor.
Also the chapter select only shows me hometown and quarantine zone. Meh?
I was told there was a way to do New game+ on survivor difficulty without having to go through the whole game on survivor difficulty - so you could grab everything in two playthroughs instead of 3.
i found it surprising that there are firearms ALL over, but no knives. all we get is the last dregs of broken scissors.
In a world where for the past 20 using a gun draws every zombie for 20 miles onto your head so people favour melee weapons, it's actually not that farfetched at all.
The far fetched part is that the military is using guns instead of something like repeating crossbows - pretty sure they would have adapted at this point.
I know this is in response to a super old post, but it was just one of the ways I thought the game world was surprisingly coherent.
Ammunition manufacturing under difficult conditions isn't impossible. I mean, the Soviets were able to do it. I don't know exactly how big the safe zones in Last of Us are, but it's not impossible someone could have set up some manufacturing of some kind. You just need some pressing tools, the powder itself, and casings. Powder would be the main limiting factor, but again, I don't know enough about the setting to comment.
Plus there's like, A LOT of bullets in the world. I doubt very much they'd run out even after a few decades of sustained combat with a zombie menace.
I got a fair way into this and while playing it was fun, the story gave me every reason to quit. Has anybody else had a similar experience?
I stopped right at the encounter with bandits after leaving Bill's town. Every character has been a jerk or a psychopath or both and the sheer number of bandits in this one little place says to me that yes, absolutely, everyone I have yet to meet will be the same. Curing the zombie fungus suddenly seemed like a pointless endeavor.
I got a fair way into this and while playing it was fun, the story gave me every reason to quit. Has anybody else had a similar experience?
I stopped right at the encounter with bandits after leaving Bill's town. Every character has been a jerk or a psychopath or both and the sheer number of bandits in this one little place says to me that yes, absolutely, everyone I have yet to meet will be the same. Curing the zombie fungus suddenly seemed like a pointless endeavor.
I'm not entirely clear, you don't want to play the game because there are lots of bad people in it?
I got a fair way into this and while playing it was fun, the story gave me every reason to quit. Has anybody else had a similar experience?
I stopped right at the encounter with bandits after leaving Bill's town. Every character has been a jerk or a psychopath or both and the sheer number of bandits in this one little place says to me that yes, absolutely, everyone I have yet to meet will be the same. Curing the zombie fungus suddenly seemed like a pointless endeavor.
If you're playing The Last of Us for a happy go lucky experience, you're playing it for the completely wrong reasons.
Not so much bad people as actively repulsive people.
As far as I can tell, the story presents the cure as Joel's motivation for putting up with all that he does - the cure is the reason the game goes on after Tess dies, because she clearly can't order him around if she's dead, but everyone gives Joel such a hard time I just couldn't believe it anymore. Why would he pursue a cure for the sake of people who are universally awful to him? I wouldn't.
At that point I weighed my enjoyment of the playable parts against my tolerance for the characters. I can't just skip every scene, because sometimes they told me what I needed to be doing in the next area, for example.
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
He's not doing it for those people.
He's doing it for Tess - it's her final request to him, and she was someone he cared enough about to try and do it.
Without spoiling too much, the problem you're talking about, humanity not being worth saving at that point? It gets addressed. ;D
Oh brilliant
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TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
Not so much bad people as actively repulsive people.
As far as I can tell, the story presents the cure as Joel's motivation for putting up with all that he does - the cure is the reason the game goes on after Tess dies, because she clearly can't order him around if she's dead, but everyone gives Joel such a hard time I just couldn't believe it anymore. Why would he pursue a cure for the sake of people who are universally awful to him? I wouldn't.
At that point I weighed my enjoyment of the playable parts against my tolerance for the characters. I can't just skip every scene, because sometimes they told me what I needed to be doing in the next area, for example.
Ohhhhh you should definitively play this to the end then and watch the cut scenes.
I got a fair way into this and while playing it was fun, the story gave me every reason to quit. Has anybody else had a similar experience?
I stopped right at the encounter with bandits after leaving Bill's town. Every character has been a jerk or a psychopath or both and the sheer number of bandits in this one little place says to me that yes, absolutely, everyone I have yet to meet will be the same. Curing the zombie fungus suddenly seemed like a pointless endeavor.
IF that's how you feel, I think you should definitely play to the ending. I'm serious.
Also you do meet people later who don't start shooting at you on sight, so that's nice.
If you want it to be even more brutally real survival gameplay, try out Survival difficulty. You don't have access to listen mode, and supplies are even more scarce.
In my current playthrough attempt, I'm running around desperately looking for bricks to use for melee if my stealth attempts go bad.
My only complaint really is that your companions aren't really detected when sneaking, but I can understand that from a gameplay perspective.
My only real problem is that the game is incompetent with your companions and the game is blatantly player-centric about it. I threw a bottle to attract two clickers next to each other. Then I use a Molotov to help clear some space. Then one my 'companions' starts shooting at one of the new ones and I'm just standing there motionless in a corner because "Hey, he's the idiot attacking the clickers." Except they make a beeline right for me instead of him.
I know why the game does it, but it's still stupid.
I also like how the inventory is 'live'...even if it very rarely matters. I am a bit disappointed in the 'size' of the inventory. I guess I should have started on Hard as well, because I ended up not stockpiling bullets any more because I reached max ammo before I had fired anything outside of the tutorial-esque first 'mission'. How can he only carry 22 bullets. Seriously.
Also, a pretty good game if AI hiccups are the only real complaint to muster.
Sad to say I was about ten seconds from quitting this game forever. It was very, very early on... First time you see the clickers. Ellie and Tess waited up above while I jumped down to kill the guys... I must have died about 13 times trying to do it stealth then I said "fuck it" and killed the clicker first and took care of the other guys.
Then realized that the clicker could ONLY hear you, not see you. That would have been great to know before that fight. Plus the shiv is the only way to silently kill them. Didn't know that either. But after I got through that part then it started getting easier to play. I'm not all into stealth gameplay but so far it's not TOO bad... Other than that first encounter.
Sad to say I was about ten seconds from quitting this game forever. It was very, very early on... First time you see the clickers. Ellie and Tess waited up above while I jumped down to kill the guys... I must have died about 13 times trying to do it stealth then I said "fuck it" and killed the clicker first and took care of the other guys.
Then realized that the clicker could ONLY hear you, not see you. That would have been great to know before that fight. Plus the shiv is the only way to silently kill them. Didn't know that either. But after I got through that part then it started getting easier to play. I'm not all into stealth gameplay but so far it's not TOO bad... Other than that first encounter.
The first solo clicker encounter is a major difficulty spike for everyone who's played the game - but you're right, taking it out before it notices you is the way to go. Protip: You can also melee a clicker to death if it doesn't know you're there, and you have anything better than your fists - so you can sneak up on it as if you were gonna' shiv it, and then bash it to death with a brick just like any other chump.
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
That would be useful to know too, thanks @Chance. I'm really, really digging the story so far. But I'm a sucker for "a virus wipes out half the Earth" type stories.
I did die like 5 times trying to figure out a proper way of silently murderizing everything in that room.
Early game pretty much combat spoilers:
First the straggler on the 'right', then the guy who comes out of the office in the hallway, then the guy near the pillar on the 'left', then the straggler right in front of his clicker friend. Then the clicker.
I feel like the only hard part before that is when there's tons of people shooting at you early on. Because they're apparently wearing body armor and shooting anything in the face doesn't seem to kill it in one shot. Looters and 'runners' seem to usually die with a headshot. Clickers and the early military people do not. Someone said the fungal plates on the clickers act as armor, but I don't think I actually have anything accurate enough to aim for non-fungal head parts.
Yep, I died in a ton in that room trying to figure out the correct order to stealth kill them in - I think I may have stealth killed half of them, flubbed it, then had to gun down the rest, and decided that was good enough!
The other big hard part for me was that soldier patrol early on. I kept trying to fight/kill them all, and the guy with the MG up on the ledge just wrecked me every time. Eventually figured out you could shiv the right most guy and then just stealth past all the others. Up until then I'd been trying to kill *everything*.
Glad to know I wasn't the only one that had an issue with that room. I felt like an idiot after-the-fact. I killed the guy on the right, then the office one, then the right one near the clicker, but for some reason the right one ALWAYS spotted me when I snuck up behind him so the Clicker always came right at me.
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
My method for the last area:
After a few failed attempts I Just sprinted for the exit and every time too many people were shooting at me I threw a smoke bomb. Just sprinting and smokebombs all the way... It was silly but worked.
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That said, I'd have loved a new unrelated story to fill in some background color, but I'll take whatever.
I've been playing this the the last day and change and I've just made it to the part where
The game is almost goddamn draining to play because I'm constantly worried about my ammo and supplies even though I've never been out of any of it even that far into the game. And I don't really use any of it, instead opting for stealth/melee to conserve ammo until I invariably get seen by someone somehow which calls in reinforcements even though goddamnit that was the last fucking guy I needed to kill.
Admittedly, maybe I should've not started the game on Hard even if that's kind of what I do with Naughty Dog games. (because I actually enjoy Crushing in Uncharted games, but I imagine a Survivor run on TLoU will be.....not fun.)
I really just have a couple questions at this point.
And
Regarding supplies: Have I been training myself for late game, or are things still fairly easy to come by even in the late game? I pretty much always have one of everything (First-Aid Kit, Molotov, both bombs and a brick) while keeping good stock of supplies, plenty of ammo in my guns and 2 shivs (been rolling 3 lately because I haven't come across a clicker or a shiv door since the last shiv door which had shiv supplies in it, I think). Will I get to a point where I look upon these days of luxury with want, or is it pretty much what I'm looking forward to?
If you're playing on normal, I'm under the impression that you will be fully stocked at all times. On higher difficulties, ammo conservation can be more relevant if you're a shit shot, but otherwise the only things you'll really have trouble keeping on hand are your shivs and explosives.
I played on normal and towards the end of Summer I was running low on basically everything. Fights were constant efforts to snag ammo and parts while not expend any if possible. Though this might have been caused by liberal applications of bullets earlier.
Now that I think about it, I do remember being low on ammo during the end of Summer on my first run.
The Sewers were a bit of an issue.
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I cant go back and use a PS3...
I do wish I had started on Hard rather than Normal. Going from Normal->Survival is brutal
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I can't quite decide if this game or The Walking Dead does a better zombie apocalypse, though.
I STILL haven't played this game.
FFFFFFFFF.
I can see why someone would prefer the Walking Dead though, especially if you aren't big on stealth gameplay.
I play for an hour or two then I shut off my PS3 for the day.
I feel like this is an unfair comparison. They are two completely different games and only tied together by the fact that they both have zombies.
So far, I absolutely love it. One of the absolute best games of all time.
I just finished winter, and wow
Then you're being chased by those goons through the abandoned campground...I think this is probably the time in the whole game where I felt the most lethal. And I think it's also because I felt the most scared. I had nothing, pretty much, and was very low health and died in 2 punches so I was trying to stay out of melee and just decided to lay waste with my bow. But hearing all the hunters desperately trying to find me while I nailed them all with perfect stealth long range bow shots was amazing. I also feel her reactions to all this are picture perfect, cussing out her attackers in fear even as she's killing them. All the little things she says like "What do I do now?" and "How do I get out of here" carry the inaudible subtext of "What would Joel do in this situation?" and sometimes she says things like "I must be careful not to get trapped in here" which is clearly her remembering things Joel has taught her.
Then after you get captured and are escaping through the literally blinding snowstorm with nothing but a knife against an entire town of pursuers..terrifying! And yet Ellie feels amazingly lethal here. Her back jumping knife stabbing move is amazing - combining terrified desperation and lethal grace and determination all in one animation. It feels much more visceral than Joe's choke out. She's really come into her own. The way it would switch between Ellie and Joel was brilliant. You know exactly how much danger Ellie is in as she desperately runs and hides with nothing more than a pocket knife to protect her, so then it switches to Joel with his full load of guns and ammo and molotovs and flamethrowers and you feel like an avenging angel, dealing fiery righteous retribution to all in your path. You're badly wounded and in pain but that only makes you seem MORE determined and MORE deadly. The way it cuts back and forth between the two of them desperately searching for each other in this blizzard shrouded town of murder and then as Joel you finally see the burning building you KNOW Ellie inside and you know he finally found her and you feel the same sense of loss and desperation he does but now you know it's going to be ok... wow. Just wow.
How do Dads with young daughters even bear to play this game? I felt like my heart was about to explode and I'm not even a parent
There were also so many of the little things I loved...everything about the characters is superb. Spot on voice acting, perfect dialog and interactions...so many times during a visceral fight sequence Ellie would react and say the exact same things I was saying. One time while I spent too long exploring a house looking for loot the kids spontaneously started playing a darts game. Ellie's body language after you have been mean to her is accurate and vastly different from the rest of the time. The reactions of the bandits is amazing too. You only have two bullets left, but you pop out of cover to nail a perfect long range head shot on the lead goon bearing down at you with a metal pipe and his craven buddies scatter to the winds squawking out "Look out he's gotta gun!". Now you only have one bullet left but it was worth it to put the fear of God into those murdering bastards.
I feel like in general the scary parts of this game are very scary but at the same time you feel you are playing a very powerful, very dangerous character. When the
The only part I've thought was goofy so far is when I'm having to creep along agonizingly slowly to avoid clickers and I've got Bill in his giant ass boots stamping back and forth as he dashes incessantly between various corners of the room and none of the 7 clickers in the room even notice but if I so much as sneeze I get instabigged.
I've heard people complain about the controls but they are fine for me. My characters do what I want them when I want them. Far less frustrating than in AC or UC. I like the combat too - the trade off between trying to stealth it and conserve resources vs just mowing your way through is a good one. There are so many great opportunities for the nailbombs and molotovs as well.
Saddest part so far...
That and Tess was unexpectedly great as a character. I was sad when she died
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-no minimap
-you have to physically pull out your backpack and rummage through it for stuff. If your gun you have out runs out of ammo and you know you have another one in your pack SOMEWHERE and you pull it out and desperately try to pull out your revolver while they are closing in on you...
compare that to just pausing the game and leisurely scrolling through your inventory.
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In my current playthrough attempt, I'm running around desperately looking for bricks to use for melee if my stealth attempts go bad.
My only complaint really is that your companions aren't really detected when sneaking, but I can understand that from a gameplay perspective.
On hard, I think the game does a pretty good job of keeping you feeling desperate for stuff. As soon as you start feeling cocky and gloating at your huge piles of ammo and crafting reserves, the game throws a bloater at you, or endless waves of angry clickers or runners (or both at the same time!) and in a frenetic gun battle your carefully built up reserves that took weeks of scrounging and saving are instantly depleted.
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I was still amazed how fast you can burn through ammo when it was available.
In a world where for the past 20 using a gun draws every zombie for 20 miles onto your head so people favour melee weapons, it's actually not that farfetched at all.
The far fetched part is that the military is using guns instead of something like repeating crossbows - pretty sure they would have adapted at this point.
I know this is in response to a super old post, but it was just one of the ways I thought the game world was surprisingly coherent.
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Joel kills swiftly, efficiently, with little provocation, and with absolutely no remorse. Although he is generally killing people who may well deserve it, and doesn't go around slaughtering innocent people for kicks, in many ways
he is an absolute psychopath. But we can see how he became as he is. Consider the prologue: he and his brother are doing everything in their power to save his daughter..and at the end, just as they feel they've escaped...Sarah is murdered by the soldiers that are supposed to protect her. You can see what kind of impact that would have. But I think it goes even deeper. Consider Tommy's role in that night to Joel's. Tommy not only heroically offers to sacrifice his own life to stay behind and give Joel and Sarah a chance to escape, he kills the zombies, escapes himself, then arrives in time to shoot the soldier who is trying to murder Joel and Sarah. He's a goddam super hero. Joel by comparison does nothing and can't prevent his daughter from dying in his arms. He is manifestly the less competent of the two brothers in this situation. He seems to have decided to not let that ever happen again and has became a brutally proficient killer. (It also makes somewhat more sense when Joel is initially considering having Tommy escort Ellie to the fireflies - it's a throwback to his own feelings of inadequacy when under pressure compared to his younger brother, combined with a desperate desire not to face that loss again.)
At the beginning, when Tess and Joel are torturing/murdering the low life black market dealer who sold them out, what they were doing was making me physically uncomfortable. But as the game goes on..you start to sympathize with Joel's attitude more and more. Look at who you run into! Hunters who waylay innocent people, murder them, then steal their meager possessions. Psychotic power hungry militaries determined to not let people escape their clutches. 'Freedom fighter' terrorists who attack the last few remaining bastions of safety and order. Cannibalistic rapists. You start to realize that Joel's violent tendencies are not only explained by his
surroundings, they are absolutely necessary for his survival in these surroundings.
I've seen some people comment on how the zombies seemed kind of boring and not much of a threat - this is true, and also, I think, by design. It is probably intentional that the biggest threats come from other humans -
Bill (a great character, by the way) outright states as much. Yes the zombies are a threat, but they can almost be treated as a fairly predictable force of nature. The intelligent malice of humans is far harder to protect against. Look at what menaces Tommy's group - not zombies, but maurading bandits and murderers. You might be afraid of the zombies. But you actually hate the hunters and cannibals and soldiers and everyone by game's end.
And this I think makes Joel's decision, which is supposed to be a big weighty decision, almost inevitable. I think he made the only choice you could make. Humanity is already destroyed, by its own hatred. A cure will do almost
nothing, even if it were guaranteed (which it is not - it seems to be a long shot at best). It would most likely become another weapon in petty power struggles. If I had been in Joel's position I would have made the same choice
and would never have lost a single moment's sleep over it. The idea that "if we just kill this one person it will solve all our problems" has been hauled forth in times of crisis throughout all of human history. It has always been a lie, it will always be a lie. I think any time some power makes this argument, that we have to murder someone for the greater good, it must be met with an immediate and overwhelmingly violent response - which is exactly what Joel deploys. Let humanity look after itself. Your job is to look after her. You are the only one in the entire world she can count on to watch out for her - you cannot betray her trust. Anyway, what is this humanity we are supposed to go to such lengths to save? The hunters? The cannibals? The power hungry soldiers who murder civilians in the streets? The power hungry terrorists of the fireflies? I think Joel is entirely justified at looking at that and concluding "Hey you know what? Fuck humanity. I can only guarantee to save one life here, and that's hers. And that's what I'm going to do".
If he had chosen otherwise it would have been deeply immoral and a betrayal on the most fundamental level. What has 'humanity' done for them so far anyway except be their most implacable and poewrful enemy? Ellie should die so cannibals dont' have to worry about eating infected meat? I think it's missing the point in a grand fashion to say "Oh, selfish Joel, he chose his daughter over the world". The takeaway is - isn't it wonderful to have someone who loves you and will stand up for you against the whole world? Someone who has your back no matter what? Even if it's not entirely rational? (And who said love was always rational?) If you love someone, you will stand up for them against the whole world. And if the person doing the standing up is Joel, the world better watch out.
Now, there is a second question that I think is more interesting: would Ellie have been willing voluntarily to die for the chance at a cure? Throughout human history, people have been willing to risk their lives for the greater
good and might voluntarily do something incredibly risky for the betterment of mankind. This is generally regarded as highly noble and praiseworthy endeavor. There are two objections to this: one is that Ellie is a 14 year old
child, and thus easily manipulated and lied to. In such a case I would absolutely support her parents putting the veto on her dying. What if she were, say, 42 years old? I think the dynamics would be far different. While that
would have probably weakened the overall story I think it would have made the choice at the end for Joel more ambiguous. It doesn't matter if Ellie wants to die at this point or not, she's not old enough to make that decision. We rightly don't let teenagers commit suicide. This is no different.
The other aspect is that there is a great deal of difference in doing something that MIGHT get you killed, and something that will definitely get you killed. The former is engaged in all the time by brave and noble people -
such as astronauts. However these people undertake great precautions to minimize the risk as much as possible. They are willing to die if necessary for progress, but want to avoid it if at all possible and in fact - will probably
not die at all. This is contrasted with cultures where people have been sent to their certain death 'for the greater good'. Even if it is a completely willing arrangement, such cultures have almost universally been sick, twisted, and depraved: think of the Japanese kamikaze pilots or the various human sacrifices of occult religions.
Given this, I think the "Well what if Ellie was *willing* to die?" argument is easily disposed of. Veto it, and find a way to help her not feel guilty afterwards (she absolutely shouldn't, though I think it would be natural to
do so. You couldn't help but feel selfish). Humanity has lasted 20 years, despite its own best efforts, it can last a few more. See if it's a hereditary trait and if her kids are immune. Maybe you'll discover something else. If
not, she can revisit the idea later if necessary. I would say that in that situation, whether you give up your own life on the possibility of an amorphous greater good depends very heavily on how much harm you deal to specific
individuals. Obviously a mother with 3 young kids who depend on her deciding to give up her life is much different than a 99 year old man with no living relatives or dependents doing so. Not so much from the nobility of their sacrifice, but as to whether it is appropriate in terms of who else it harms. In this case, Ellie dying would have destroyed Joel. I don't think you build the foundations of a hypothetical glorious new future for humanity by dealing out real specific harms to real specific individuals who love and trust you to do right by them. And this is what Joel realizes. There's not much we can guarantee in this world. We can't save humanity. But there is one thing he can do, so he does it. He puts a specific good thing he knows he can do for a specific individual for an amorphous hypothetical good thing he could do for humanity. He lies to Ellie so that the guilt of that decision, such as it is, will be on his shoulders - or at least be shared between them.
In this particular case, the Fireflies obviously thought Ellie would NOT have chosen this or they would have asked her. It is clear they were going to kill her whether or not she agreed. In fact it sounds like they would have gone ahead whether or not Marlene gave the OK - you get the sense the Fireflies are spiralling into madness and desperation and losing all sense of cohesion, purpose, and morality. Marlene's decision to kill Ellie isn't the produce of sober reasoned judgement, weighing the risks and balances. It is the despairing last desperate hope of a self admitted exhausted, tired, defeated, broken woman, who just wants it all to end. It's clear from one of the recordings you find in the lab that there were others apparently immune - although Ellie sounds like the most promising candidate.
Given all the often questionable (though I think entirely necessary) things Joel and Ellie had to do to survive, I think this game does a good job driving home that life rarely consists of choosing between good things and bad
things. Those are easy choices to make. All too often life consists of a struggle of choosing the least bad of several horrific options. You choose the one that does the least harm to your loved ones and move on. What else can
we do? It's the human condition. Yet I don't think, overall, the game's message is one of bleak despair, but one of hope. It would be very easy, in such a terrible world, to just give up and say "What's the point?" Yet because of
love, Joel is willing to fight and bleed and suffer and die just so that one girl can live one more day, in a world where death is always right around the corner. He can't know what the future holds. Maybe their luck runs out
tomorrow and they're both killed by clickers. But until then, he's willing to give it his all, just to keep her alive one more day. And I think that hope and tenacity, and desire to salvage whatever scrap of good you can from
the wreck of civilization, is very human, and very inspiring.
All in all, what an incredible game, and incredible story. I laugh at people who say "Oh, it was just some of the usual tripe about love and loss and struggle and redemption. PFFFFFFt boring! Overdone!"
There are only seven stories you can tell, and we've been telling them for tens of thousands of years. You can tell them poorly, or tell them well. You can bore us with stories we've heard before, or amaze us with characters so
lifelike we can't believe they aren't real, and remind us of truths of our shared human condition. The Last of Us Knocks it out of the park.
So...maybe not the best video game of all time, but certainly the best story of any video game I've played. If I had to pick one videogame to have ever played in my life, I think this one would be it. In a way the themes of hope and trying to rebuild after a catastrophe and odd air of peace and nostalgia at times amidst ruin reminded me of Valkyria Chronicles.
You know who Joel reminded me of?
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Also the chapter select only shows me hometown and quarantine zone. Meh?
I was told there was a way to do New game+ on survivor difficulty without having to go through the whole game on survivor difficulty - so you could grab everything in two playthroughs instead of 3.
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Ammunition manufacturing under difficult conditions isn't impossible. I mean, the Soviets were able to do it. I don't know exactly how big the safe zones in Last of Us are, but it's not impossible someone could have set up some manufacturing of some kind. You just need some pressing tools, the powder itself, and casings. Powder would be the main limiting factor, but again, I don't know enough about the setting to comment.
Plus there's like, A LOT of bullets in the world. I doubt very much they'd run out even after a few decades of sustained combat with a zombie menace.
If you're playing The Last of Us for a happy go lucky experience, you're playing it for the completely wrong reasons.
Nice write ups, Vorpal.
Without spoiling too much, the problem you're talking about, humanity not being worth saving at that point? It gets addressed. ;D
Ohhhhh you should definitively play this to the end then and watch the cut scenes.
I think I'll give this another go.
IF that's how you feel, I think you should definitely play to the ending. I'm serious.
Also you do meet people later who don't start shooting at you on sight, so that's nice.
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My only real problem is that the game is incompetent with your companions and the game is blatantly player-centric about it. I threw a bottle to attract two clickers next to each other. Then I use a Molotov to help clear some space. Then one my 'companions' starts shooting at one of the new ones and I'm just standing there motionless in a corner because "Hey, he's the idiot attacking the clickers." Except they make a beeline right for me instead of him.
I know why the game does it, but it's still stupid.
I also like how the inventory is 'live'...even if it very rarely matters. I am a bit disappointed in the 'size' of the inventory. I guess I should have started on Hard as well, because I ended up not stockpiling bullets any more because I reached max ammo before I had fired anything outside of the tutorial-esque first 'mission'. How can he only carry 22 bullets. Seriously.
Also, a pretty good game if AI hiccups are the only real complaint to muster.
Then realized that the clicker could ONLY hear you, not see you. That would have been great to know before that fight. Plus the shiv is the only way to silently kill them. Didn't know that either. But after I got through that part then it started getting easier to play. I'm not all into stealth gameplay but so far it's not TOO bad... Other than that first encounter.
The first solo clicker encounter is a major difficulty spike for everyone who's played the game - but you're right, taking it out before it notices you is the way to go. Protip: You can also melee a clicker to death if it doesn't know you're there, and you have anything better than your fists - so you can sneak up on it as if you were gonna' shiv it, and then bash it to death with a brick just like any other chump.
Early game pretty much combat spoilers:
I feel like the only hard part before that is when there's tons of people shooting at you early on. Because they're apparently wearing body armor and shooting anything in the face doesn't seem to kill it in one shot. Looters and 'runners' seem to usually die with a headshot. Clickers and the early military people do not. Someone said the fungal plates on the clickers act as armor, but I don't think I actually have anything accurate enough to aim for non-fungal head parts.
The other big hard part for me was that soldier patrol early on. I kept trying to fight/kill them all, and the guy with the MG up on the ledge just wrecked me every time. Eventually figured out you could shiv the right most guy and then just stealth past all the others. Up until then I'd been trying to kill *everything*.
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