Not bothered. The Last of Us is one of the best games I've ever played and nothing about the occasional "push this crate" or "help this character across the water" impacted that in any sort of negative way.
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Does it bother you that the puzzles in The Last of Us are ass.
- Thread starter ToddBonzalez
- Start date
It's quite hard to hear as I normally just run away from whatever NPC is yammering to complete the puzzle as soon as possible, and the NPCs continue to talk like they're in some delusional fantasy.
I don't remember all the specifics, but I believe Left Behind eschewed that type of gating and replaced it with one-off character building events that used the more general LoU mechanics (like throwing bricks at cars or water gun fights). I would suspect that this points more in the direction of where LoU2 will go.
My theories on why the LoU puzzles are the way they are:
1) ND likely wanted a way to interact with the world that didn't come out the barrel of a gun (the game was developed in the heyday of "the mechanics of your game define the true narrative and theme of it")
2) they are likely a vestigial organ of the game's Uncharted roots.
3) you can't put real puzzles that might stump someone on the critical path of your game that has the macro design of a movie, it's antithetical. Any puzzle that is interesting, by design, needs to be at least somewhat challenging. But LoU is a game looking to convey very specific feelings in the player and "can't figure out this puzzle, so I guess I'll turn it off for the evening" is not one of them.
My theories on why the LoU puzzles are the way they are:
1) ND likely wanted a way to interact with the world that didn't come out the barrel of a gun (the game was developed in the heyday of "the mechanics of your game define the true narrative and theme of it")
2) they are likely a vestigial organ of the game's Uncharted roots.
3) you can't put real puzzles that might stump someone on the critical path of your game that has the macro design of a movie, it's antithetical. Any puzzle that is interesting, by design, needs to be at least somewhat challenging. But LoU is a game looking to convey very specific feelings in the player and "can't figure out this puzzle, so I guess I'll turn it off for the evening" is not one of them.
I didn't really have an issue with the "puzzles". I appreciated the downtime between encounters. I don't understand what else people who complain about them want in those parts of the game.
Simple enough to not be too disruptive, just enough to keep you interacting.
Simple enough to not be too disruptive, just enough to keep you interacting.
"They're supposed to be bad."
Considering there's higher difficulty levels and trophies, they clearly want you to replay the game to at least some degree, and moments like these make replaying this game more of a chore than it should be.
Considering there's higher difficulty levels and trophies, they clearly want you to replay the game to at least some degree, and moments like these make replaying this game more of a chore than it should be.
Not at all. They're a nice change of pace from all the fighting/scavenging IMO.
Also I wouldn't even classify them as puzzles.
Also I wouldn't even classify them as puzzles.
This couldn't be repeated enough considering all the reactions here.
Makes me think of how people notice the very long loading time at the start, but totally forget that there is no visual loading time after that initial one.
i dont think boring the player is an intended choice...unless it is then...i guess.
It's a very minor part of the game that is arguably there just for exposition and increasing the feeling of immersion in the world. I'd hardly call them puzzles, and if they are they are like 5% of the game. Frankly, it's...odd how often it's been brought up ever since the game released.
Basically this.
I hope they put a couple of ladders/pallets/wheeled boxes into TLOU2 just as a tongue in cheek nod.
They're mini puzzles and they're fine and help the pacing of the game and provide slower moments for character interaction. And there aren't too many of them in the game.
Compare this to the puzzles in RE4, which are a bit more challenging such as the color puzzle at the church or the Ashley sliding puzzle. RE4's pacing was sublime but, I was a dumb kid when I played it and had serious trouble with the puzzles which really disrupted the pacing of the game for me.
Compare this to the puzzles in RE4, which are a bit more challenging such as the color puzzle at the church or the Ashley sliding puzzle. RE4's pacing was sublime but, I was a dumb kid when I played it and had serious trouble with the puzzles which really disrupted the pacing of the game for me.
1) It's not Ucharted so it wouldn't make any sense to have them in there. TLoU isn't about treasure hunting so it'd be odd to have puzzles in there.
2) TBH I'm glad. They're OK the first time but to me often spoil any replays in action adventure games because you've already done them and it's often just tedious to do the same 'turn this statue this way, turn this statue the other way' again and again.
I'd love to see an option to skip them pop up if you've already completed the game.
2) TBH I'm glad. They're OK the first time but to me often spoil any replays in action adventure games because you've already done them and it's often just tedious to do the same 'turn this statue this way, turn this statue the other way' again and again.
I'd love to see an option to skip them pop up if you've already completed the game.
These replies are laughably bad takes. They are loading screens. They're not time wasting because without them you'd be staring a loading bar for just as long. The fact that so many of you don't know this proves how well they hide as much.
The game had puzzles? I don't remember that. I remember some busy work like moving conveniently placed ladders and such but that doesn't really take away from the masterful experience which was TLOU.
It's not an excuse it's a fact. If you'd rather be looking at a loading bar, that's a completely separate awful opinion.
Most "Puzzles" in action games are ass. in DMCV there is a quote from Dante where you literally have to look left or right see where you are going and he says "been a while since I have had to use my brain" since RE4 most puzzles have been like those simple maze puzzles you used to play as a kid. with the rare exception of course.
It's not a fact, there are puzzles in that game that aren't masking loading and they're still bad
And there are more options than doing a mundane, unfun puzzle and a loading screen. It's a bad excuse
They're not really puzzles, they're just sequences that have minimal mechanical engagement because they want you to focus on the story and whatever other technical reasons.
It's a creative choice that I understand and appreciate but that doesn't mean that I enjoy it and it certainly hurts replayability.
It's a creative choice that I understand and appreciate but that doesn't mean that I enjoy it and it certainly hurts replayability.
Well they aren't loading screens since then we actually would be looking at a loading bar.
Terribly boring puzzles aren't really an excuse. They could have been more interesting or engaging or hell I would have taken walking thru a small but cool looking environment while the characters continued to talk over them.
You have no clue. A lot of games mask their loading screens with stuff like this. You think God of War never loads? TLoU hides their loading screens with this stuff, just like other games mask it with running through tunnels, etc. You're not going to get full fledged gameplay while the game is loading. They're interactive loading screens.
They are in part masking a loading screne, but "you'd be staring at the loading bar for just as long" is not true. Some of the ladder/swimming obsticles are a few minutes long, and somehow i doubt that's how it would actually take the game to load the next section. Furthermore, sometimes a static 30 second loading screen could be preferred over something mechanically mundane.
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It doesn't bother me, but of course it affects my opinion of the game. It's just one of the many game elements that I thought prevented The Last of Us from fulfilling its potential.
I barely noticed them so they weren't that bad to me. They certainly weren't as bad as Ellie's terrible, immersion breaking AI. Trying to sneak past a group of clickers while she did her ballet recital in front of them destroyed that game for me and turned it into a joke. Let's hope ND studied Bioshock Infinite and learned how AI partners should behave.
I never seem to mind them for some reason. Only one that grates is the Salt Lake City stuff because that whole last level is so anti climactic after 'Winter'. You can do the whole level by only strangling 2 runners, bow shot one more and shoot 1 clicker and 1 soldier.