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The Last of Us Demo (GoW:A Exclusive) Discussion Thread

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fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Short demo, but it was fun. Graphics are good, though seemingly less impressive than UC2/3, downgraded from what I remember earlier videos looking like though my mind may be sprucing it up more in my mind. But the atmosphere is GREAT, goes very well with the sound design.

The demo barely has enemies, but I had a decent amount of ammo already(18 for the one gun and 6 for the other), and the runners seem to be very easy to melee. Didn't die at all though I was running away for a bit as I had the lower ammo gun out and ran out, which can make for a tense situation as there isn't an instant gun switch. Still VERY disappointed to not see human enemies here as that is what I want to test around with, and as expected the clickers/runners literally just beeline at you.

There's a door in the demo that uses a shiv to unlock and has a lot of supplies inside, so that type of thing is likely prevalent throughout. It's otherwise a super linear demo and there is not much to replay here or even play really. Weak area to demo, especially for a hyped up tie in to a game.

Oh, and out of combat Joel has the slowest fucking sprint ever, lol.

Cheers for the impressions. Also good to hear about Listen Mode. Too many games have shipped with game breaking modes recently (I'm scowling at you Hitman: Absolution).

It is impossible to tell from the small scale area here if listen mode is able to be easily ignored entirely. Still hoping, atleast.
 

Loudninja

Member
The infected are very twitchy so melee is the best instead of wasting your ammo.

Stealth is needed as well, you cant just run and gun with these guys
 

spannicus

Member
All I can say is I am quite impressed. The demo actually managed to pull me into the world.
Figured I would shoot someones head off from the rear, oh was that a mistake.
 
Wow really loved this demo, I'm so happy it doesn't play like Uncharted! Joel has a completely different feel than Nathan Drake without feeling sluggish. Played it on hard and died 3 times, gonna play it again right now. And probably again after that haha.
 

Vire

Member
Short demo, but it was fun. Graphics are good, though seemingly less impressive than UC2/3, downgraded from what I remember earlier videos looking like though my mind may be sprucing it up more in my mind. But the atmosphere is GREAT, goes very well with the sound design.

The demo barely has enemies, but I had a decent amount of ammo already(18 for the one gun and 6 for the other), and the runners seem to be very easy to melee. Didn't die at all though I was running away for a bit as I had the lower ammo gun out and ran out, which can make for a tense situation as there isn't an instant gun switch. Still VERY disappointed to not see human enemies here as that is what I want to test around with, and as expected the clickers/runners literally just beeline at you.

There's a door in the demo that uses a shiv to unlock and has a lot of supplies inside, so that type of thing is likely prevalent throughout. It's otherwise a super linear demo and there is not much to replay here or even play really. Weak area to demo, especially for a hyped up tie in to a game.

Oh, and out of combat Joel has the slowest fucking sprint ever, lol.



It is impossible to tell from the small scale area here if listen mode is able to be easily ignored entirely. Still hoping, atleast.

Hmm, what about the graphics is downgraded specifically from UC2/UC3?

I wonder why it doesn't look as good, is it more open/bigger environments?

Guess I'm better off just skipping the demo like I thought.
 

The_Monk

Member
I'm not sure if others agree but I did not find this demo filled with many spoilers.

I mean, if you are on a Full media blackout to the point that, you don't even know what type of enemies you are facing then yes, the demo will spoil that but I've been ignoring all gameplay videos for this game and decided to play the demo.

It's also a bit short to be honest so if you are one of those GAFfers that don't want the game spoiled but you are very tempted I would say play it for 5 minutes just to scratch that itch! ;)
 

MDSLKTR

Member
I did, amazing sound work! The clickers are incredibly terrifying while active. Was there a special mode for the headset?

And I thought the graphics were pretty incredible, some great texture work all around. Great IQ for the most part as well, the only time I was distracted by aliasing was with one of the fences on the outside. Rain droplets look good as well, but could be considered almost cartoonish at times.

Cool, thank's for the impressions. I really hope there is a setting for this game, bioshock infinite had one.
 

Dr Dogg

Member
It is impossible to tell from the small scale area here if listen mode is able to be easily ignored entirely. Still hoping, atleast.

Well fingers crossed. In the latest Dev Diary vid that Eurogamer did, Neil Druckmann stated that after feedback that it can now be disabled in the options
(also the hardest difficulty has it disabled by default)
. Hopefully this hasn't been botched in and won't cause any problems.
 

-Plasma Reus-

Service guarantees member status
That was the most tense few minutes I've played in a long time.

Demo is about 15 minutes long.
Graphics are not spectacular, but good.
Sound is off the chain.
There are QTE's, but they're all fun.
The game punishes you for not being strategic in how you handle enemies.
Clickers can be taken out, if you shiv them quick enough you can get them off of you. Giving you enough time to shoot them in the head.
Zombies are terrifying. The demo drops you in the middle of 5 or six zombies. One of which is a clicker.

My scenario:

After getting killed about 3 times trying to rush through them from different angles, I decided I needed to do something else in order to succeed. I decided to take one of the zombies out stealthily, this failed. The clicker and others started rushing. I managed to take down the clicker, but that left me with no bullets. Since my fists weren't working well enough against 4 zombies, I had to run away. I ran away and found a pipe, which I used to take the rest down one by one. 'Ambushing' them and running away every time I killed one of them. You can't take more than one enemy at a time. Maybe, you can take two zombies, but if there are more, or if one of them is a clicker, you have to run away from them.


Demo is way too short! Every other demo they've shown was longer. Also, unlike the E3 segment they showed, you can't really re-play this, as the clickers/zombies are not nearly as clever as human AI.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Hmm, what about the graphics is downgraded specifically from UC2/UC3?

I wonder why it doesn't look as good, is it more open/bigger environments?

Guess I'm better off just skipping the demo like I thought.

It mostly stuck out at a QTE segment where a clicker jumps on you, and the intro. The camera gets a lot closer to the models than UC does, so it makes imperfections stand out more. And yeah, it's more open, and could also be the setting. Still a great looking game, though.

Well fingers crossed. In the latest Dev Diary vid that Eurogamer did, Neil Druckmann stated that after feedback that it can now be disabled in the options
(also the hardest difficulty has it disabled by default)
. Hopefully this hasn't been botched in and won't cause any problems.

Yeah, you can disable it in the demo as well.
 

Vire

Member
It mostly stuck out at a QTE segment where a clicker jumps on you, and the intro. The camera gets a lot closer to the models than UC does, so it makes imperfections stand out more. And yeah, it's more open, and could also be the setting. Still a great looking game, though.
Thanks, appreciate the feedback.

I'll take your word for it, I'll be playing soon enough. :)
 
The demo was kind of lackluster for me personally. I'm still super excited for the final game. The section they decided to pick just wasn't that exciting. Especially after seeing the Pittsburgh and Lincoln level that was at the press events.

I played on normal. I didn't die once. I felt like it was over way quickly. I stealthed past one clicker and then fought four more, end of demo.

Seems like this section will be towards the very beginning of the game. I think I spotted a quarantine zone in the distance when I was on top of a building.


Btw, anyone have any trouble with the movement controls? When I played Joel would kind of move forward and stop quickly again and again. Maybe I need to switch out a controller.
 
Was the games contrast really poor when you got inside the building, especially in the dark parts for anyone else? Im pretty sure it isnt my tv..

Demo was neat! Was less inpressed with the visuals, but examining the individual assets they were impressively constructed and placed. I think the issue was with the lighting used at night, dulled everything out. It will look stunning in daylight ect.

It was much easier than I expected, even on hard. But there was only like 6 enemies and 3 couldnt see you. I was sad the clickers werent that difficult...

The controls feel really solid and I never felt like I was fighting it. In tense situations it really holds up... Listen mode is ridiculous though, incredibly cheap and defeats the entire point of the game. Yes you can turn it off, but its still there as a crutch while playing and during design. It should have been less effective...
 

antitrop

Member
I'm not sure if others agree but I did not find this demo filled with many spoilers.

I mean, if you are on a Full media blackout to the point that, you don't even know what type of enemies you are facing then yes, the demo will spoil that but I've been ignoring all gameplay videos for this game and decided to play the demo.

It's also a bit short to be honest so if you are one of those GAFfers that don't want the game spoiled but you are very tempted I would say play it for 5 minutes just to scratch that itch! ;)
The official trailers are far more informational and "spoiler" filled than this demo, in my opinion.
 
I liked it a lot. I wanted a nice short demo just to get the feel of the game. I've been on a total media blackout so had no clue crafting and whatnot are in the game.

- Graphics are beautiful
- Great sound
- Controls are good so far. Finally a decent melee system.
- Lack of jump through me off. I guess you'll never need it but still felt weird.
- Listen mode is pointless so i guess that'll please a lot of you. But i can totally see why they put it in the game. Not everybody is hardcore.
- Was hoping to get a feel of the girls AI but they didn't really do much besides talk and hide.

Pretty solid demo. Starting to wonder why all the delays for such a short demo. Hopefully all the extra polish was worth it.
 
My scenario:

After getting killed about 3 times trying to rush through them from different angles, I decided I needed to do something else in order to succeed. I decided to take one of the zombies out stealthily, this failed. The clicker and others started rushing. I managed to take down the clicker, but that left me with no bullets. Since my fists weren't working well enough against 4 zombies, I had to run away. I ran away and found a pipe, which I used to take the rest down one by one. 'Ambushing' them and running away every time I killed one of them. You can't take more than one enemy at a time. Maybe, you can take two zombies, but if there are more, or if one of them is a clicker, you have to run away from them.
Lol, they all caught me and I just kept spamming melee (had the pipe) and managed to survive. Maybe I just got lucky.
 
Awesome demo thing: Open your backpack and check out the Military Pamphlet - it shows the four stages of Cordycep infection.

Stage 1 - Runners, hunt in packs

Stage 2 - Stalkers, hide and wait to ambush you

Stage 3 - Clickers, blind, use echolocation, devastating attacks

Stage 4 - B----? (rest of the page is torn.

I love this shit.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I had all of them after me, you can sprint to break through when they surround you and just kite them in circles as you quickturn and shoot them in the head or melee one that gets separated and keep running. They didn't seem very hard to me. :p

Oh, and nice mention of the pamphlet. Forget to mention that the documents in game can all be examined and you can make out the text all over it without hitting the button to display generic text. So instead of a clipboard with scribble it's actually modeled out. I love little things like that.

Is there an easy mode in the demo? I have a feeling that I will need that mode in the final game.

Yeah, there's an easy mode.
 

Lasdrub

Member
For people who have played through the demo: One of the things that I really disliked in the the Uncharted series was that you would have to stop and kill about fifty guys before moving on. It got tired fast for me, and that's why I have never been a big Uncharted fan. Does this game do this? Do you have an obvious "now you fight guys because it's the time to fight guys" moment that stops what you were doing?
 

Vire

Member
How was the aliasing/framerate?

Those were really the only two things I have been concerned about the visuals based off the behind the scenes footage.
 

The_Monk

Member
Do I need to be on the latest patch for GoW:A to download the demo?

No fellow GAFfer. At least you do not need it Installed.

As a PS Plus member they downloaded the Patch for me when it was live but I've never installed myself. I deleted the "bubble" patch and today got the demo without problems (regarding the Patch, I mean).
 

-Plasma Reus-

Service guarantees member status
I had all of them after me, you can sprint to break through when they surround you and just kite them in circles as you quickturn and shoot them in the head or melee one that gets separated and keep running. They didn't seem very hard to me. :p

I didn't use quick turn. lol
 

Drachma

Banned
Just started the demo and now I apparently have to wait 20 minutes while it downloads some more.

What's the sense in this approach? Gimme something I can background download ffs.
 

-Plasma Reus-

Service guarantees member status
For people who have played through the demo: One of the things that I really disliked in the the Uncharted series was that you would have to stop and kill about fifty guys before moving on. It got tired fast for me, and that's why I have never been a big Uncharted fan. Does this game do this? Do you have an obvious "now you fight guys because it's the time to fight guys" moment that stops what you were doing?

I don't think so.
You can get past some of the zombies without ever provoking them.

Just started the demo and now I apparently have to wait 20 minutes while it downloads some more.

What's the sense in this approach? Gimme something I can background download ffs.

You'll be super pissed to find out its only about 10 -15 minutes long!
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
For people who have played through the demo: One of the things that I really disliked in the the Uncharted series was that you would have to stop and kill about fifty guys before moving on. It got tired fast for me, and that's why I have never been a big Uncharted fan. Does this game do this? Do you have an obvious "now you fight guys because it's the time to fight guys" moment that stops what you were doing?

The game does have human enemies but I don't foresee the game ever turning into that as the focus is very different. But from the demo it only has a literal handful of enemies and they are all the infected, meaning it's more stealth/melee based.
 

R0nn

Member
Oh god, this is one of the most impressive things I've ever played. It's so incredibly intense!

The game looks absolutely amazing. It's possibly the best world design and without a doubt the best animation I've ever witnessed in any game ever. It's just crazy how talented the guys at Naughty Dog are. Not for a second did I think: "well, I wish this would've come out for PS4." I play mostly pc nowadays, so it's just crazy to think that this game still managed to impress me so thoroughly on 7 year old hardware. Just the way the flashlight shines on the environment, the way the character's bodies interact with the environment, the way the rain looks, the way every single room and location in the game is totally it's own seperate thing...it's just incredible.

It's not just the world design and animation mind you. The sound design is top tier as well. The unsettling screams and cries of the infected, the incredibly atmospheric ambient sounds and then there's the voice acting. The best of the business right here. It's not just the way it's acted, but especially the way it's implemented into the game. The way the characters talk to eachother while you walk around, it just sounds so natural. Small details like the main character's tense voice after he just got harassed by an infected really make the experience.

The entire presentation notwithstanding, the controls are really convincing as well. They complement the atmosphere of the game perfectly. It feels very heavy indeed, but that's just the way it should be. It feels natural and is a perfect fit for what this game is trying to achieve. I was honestly surprised by the amount of ammo you find lying around, but in the end firearms aren't that useful anyway. Shoot one infected down, and they swarm to you from all corners and all you can do is fight them of with the most brutal melee attacks ever conceived in a game.

All in all, this demo did not disappoint me in the least. It's everything I expected it would be and more.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
No fellow GAFfer. At least you do not need it Installed.

As a PS Plus member they downloaded the Patch for me when it was live but I've never installed myself. I deleted the "bubble" patch and today got the demo without problems (regarding the Patch, I mean).

Hmmm, I'm at the main menu right now but I see no option to download the demo =/
 

Order

Member
No fellow GAFfer. At least you do not need it Installed.

As a PS Plus member they downloaded the Patch for me when it was live but I've never installed myself. I deleted the "bubble" patch and today got the demo without problems (regarding the Patch, I mean).
So the disk doesn't need to be in the system while playing the demo?
 
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