-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Does it bother you that the puzzles in The Last of Us are ass.
- Thread starter ToddBonzalez
- Start date
Have you considered: I realize this but find even doing nothing better than these OG Tomb Raider-ass tasks. I get why you would want your game to not have loading screens, but I do not find the trade-off of doing pointless & uninteresting stuff instead worth it.
They're there to mask loading screens and these sections make up for less than 5% of the game so they don't bother me. I would ratber have them than the portal in God of War or loading screens in most games.
No. It slows down the pace but also let the characters interact with each other while you do something different than just walking. It also fits some situations authentically, not every obstacle is take by walking only.
There are no real puzzles, though. It's simple item/object interaction. And seeing it like this, there's no problem with it.
There are no real puzzles, though. It's simple item/object interaction. And seeing it like this, there's no problem with it.
It's like less than 5% of the game though and allow for some good character moments. Are they really a deal-breaker?
The fact that some of you are actually under the impression that these are puzzles is insulting the intelligence of ME, right now...
It's an action adventure game, so I really didn't care that the puzzles were basic, as it's not a puzzle game and having hard puzzles would stop the flow of the story, which would suck.
Well, maybe I should not have said I disliked the game as a whole because I did enjoy the last of us despite the environmental puzzles (actually the immersion breaking companion AI was its biggest flaw in the end) but it just always made my eyes roll every time they occured.
Maybe it's because I like puzzle games a lot but, imo, either you think of a clever puzzle to place in your action game or don't place any.
Even Zelda sometimes does very simple puzzles that are also way too superfluous and obvious but, at least in the case of Zelda, they serve the purpose of showing you a simple puzzle mechanic that they will develop further in subsequent puzzles so it is all justified.
Naughty dog have the people and the budget to think of something better to fill in between the action sequences than moving a pallet from point a to b.
They do what they are supposed to as grounded and meaningful story progression segments, downtime from intense - perhaps stressful - action, and as others have mentioned they are there to mask loading screens like a lot of slow walking sections are designed for. If it were a puzzle game, I think them being bad would ruin the experience.
Yeah, I'd say their puzzle design got progressively more interesting over the course of the series. In the first game it was "oh, here's a puzzle, let me look in the journal to find out exactly what I'm supposed to do"
They remind me of the forced walking sections in Gears of War . While I don't think they are they are there to mask loading , I do think they are there to allow for extended dialogue
I understand that they used it as a narrative Device and I guess a loading screen. But it doesn't excuse the fact that I hated them every time they came up. A great game can still have flaws we can discuss. This was a huge one for me.
Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy puzzles are pretty good. Especially the ones in The Lost Legacy
I never thought they were puzzles. I'm pretty sure they are loading "screens". (But they are indeed boring - much like the crate in Uncharted 4.)
I knew this. It doesnt change what I said. I'd rather take a load screen where I can grab a drink or answer a text than do busy work
And Im pretty sure if they just showed loading screens the next complaint would be "Why does Last of Us have so many damn loading screens??"
As others have said it doesnt make up a large part of the game so I highly doubt that would be true.
It bothers me that I started and played the game twice up until I got stuck in a dark basement with one-hit kills and never could get past it.
RE4 doesn't exactly have good puzzles but is a fun game. The thing is, TLOU isn't a fun game, it is an experience yes, but not that good of a game. For me, it is definitely recommended as a rental game.
I am hoping the sequel fixes this.
The level design and these sections were the worst part about the game and made it way worse than it should be.
The level design and these sections were the worst part about the game and made it way worse than it should be.
This is true, the balance could be improved upon for sure. Still I applaud them for actually masking pretty much every loading screen. This thread is testament to people not even noticing that these "puzzles" are actually mostly used to mask loading screens. Hopefully ND is a bit more creative with masking them with part II.
This. When I first read the thread title, I thought to myself... There were puzzles in the last of us?
Most apologize for Naughty Dog and all these story driven games for having extended sessions of absolutely nothing of merit happening for hours (commonly mistaken for quiet time).
Personally they aren't game breakers for me in The Last of Us, because they are spread out enough in between genuinely good action gameplay.
Now were that game paced more like Uncharted 4, I would be far less forgiving, because it frustrated me how long you would go doing so much nothing between the linear as hell climbing and the baby puzzles.
Ideally it be nice if these puzzle segments had more just going on. Not hard per say, just more involved and requiring a bit of lateral thinking.
It speaks to a bit of a problem that these super talented studios seem to only know how to make the violent interactions have some meat to them. A lot of them do the bare minimum for the non-violent interactions.
I find it ironic how cats will meme it up about press F to pay respects, but adore the last of us press triangle to feel.
Personally they aren't game breakers for me in The Last of Us, because they are spread out enough in between genuinely good action gameplay.
Now were that game paced more like Uncharted 4, I would be far less forgiving, because it frustrated me how long you would go doing so much nothing between the linear as hell climbing and the baby puzzles.
Ideally it be nice if these puzzle segments had more just going on. Not hard per say, just more involved and requiring a bit of lateral thinking.
It speaks to a bit of a problem that these super talented studios seem to only know how to make the violent interactions have some meat to them. A lot of them do the bare minimum for the non-violent interactions.
I find it ironic how cats will meme it up about press F to pay respects, but adore the last of us press triangle to feel.
Yeah I know games do this....both options I gave would still allow this.
Loading is not an excuse for boring af gameplay. In God of War you fucking row a canoe and the characters talk. That is way more engaging than the boring puzzles TLOU has you do. It's a bad excuse
In Mass Effect, the long-ass elevator rides were the loading screens. Characters chatter.
In Dark Souls 2, a lot of areas are separated via small tunnels with lever activated gates to mask the loading, and you have to activate them everytime you wanna go between these areas.
In God of War, the fast travel loading takes the form of walking around a long tree corridor until the area loads. Characters chatter as well.
In TLOU, these ladder "puzzles" act as a loading screen, there's chatter as well. I say, the last of us masks the loading the best in the way that 99% of people don't realize it.
In Dark Souls 2, a lot of areas are separated via small tunnels with lever activated gates to mask the loading, and you have to activate them everytime you wanna go between these areas.
In God of War, the fast travel loading takes the form of walking around a long tree corridor until the area loads. Characters chatter as well.
In TLOU, these ladder "puzzles" act as a loading screen, there's chatter as well. I say, the last of us masks the loading the best in the way that 99% of people don't realize it.
I wouldn't call them puzzles at all, but I would call it unnecessary padding but it's not a big issue in an otherwise well paced game.
The puzzles in the Uncharted games on the other hand, are a fucking joke though. Their only saving grace is that at least they're better than the puzzles in the recent Tomb Raider games. IMHO, get a talented puzzle designer on board to do them properly or don't do them at all. Talos Principle, QUBE, Turing Test, Portal etc, all show how good and engaging puzzles can be in a 3D world when designed by a talented team.
The puzzles in the Uncharted games on the other hand, are a fucking joke though. Their only saving grace is that at least they're better than the puzzles in the recent Tomb Raider games. IMHO, get a talented puzzle designer on board to do them properly or don't do them at all. Talos Principle, QUBE, Turing Test, Portal etc, all show how good and engaging puzzles can be in a 3D world when designed by a talented team.