The Last of Us - Busted Buttons Ep. 32 - Busted Buttons

Episode Transcript
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Hick (00:17):
Welcome to Episode 32 of the Busted Buttons video game
podcast. And boy, I am excitedfor today. All episode long we
are talking to 2013 Naughty Doggame, The Last of Us just an
absolute spectacular game. Iguess we got to reference it as
part one now since Part two isout but you know what? That's

(00:40):
the only time I'm going to saythat I'm just going to call it
The Last of Us because that'swhy I know the game is but I
think Ren I we didn't play thisgame until 2000. Well, me it was
2019 and there's a remaster Ibelieve in 2014 or whatever that
Yep, came out on the ps4. Soyeah, I didn't play till
recently, I believe reds in thesame boat. But yet really one of

(01:01):
the better games that I'veplayed in the last couple years,
even though it was released allthe way back in 2013. But we're
going to talk very similarstory, gameplay and then legacy
because that's really whatlegacy is not part of the game.
It's just what the game is nowto us. But storing gameplay.
It's a very, very simple game.
Linear, you just go through itin any Okay, first of all, if

(01:22):
you have not played this game,go play this game, the
remastered version on a ps4. Ibelieve it's a PlayStation hit.
So this remaster is like yeah,20 bucks at the most, and you
can find it on sale quite often.
And just ny dawg, a great gamestudio. They also did the
Uncharted franchise. So wellfirst if you're listening to his

(01:44):
podcast, and he not played it,just cut off this podcast. Don't
listen to us, but I go play thegame. But anyways, because

Red (01:51):
there will be spoilers there.

Hick (01:52):
Yeah. Oh, yes. Very good point. Very good point. We'll be
talking spoilers. Anything inPart one is like a fair game, we
will be talking abouteverything, even the ending.
We're going to try to stay awayfrom Part Two because it's a
game that just came outrecently. So we're gonna try to
not give any spoilers on thatgame I read. I'm gonna go ahead
and kick it to you story. What'syour opinion of this fantastic

(02:15):
story? You know, my opinion isfantastic. What's your opinion?

Red (02:18):
Well, it's funny, you know, when we've been talking about
games before, like when we whenwe pick a game to talk about
specifically on our podcast, weusually highlight like, what is
the star of that game, you know,like Breath of the Wild, the
world was the star for somethinglike Mario Odyssey, the gameplay
is the star when it comes to thelast of us. It is all about that

(02:39):
story. And I gotta say, thebasic premise of the story seems
so simple, but man, naughty dogsdelivery, and the like, journey
they take us through to get frompoint A to point B, in my
opinion, and also in the opinionof many, many gamers, reviewers
everything. It's more of thebest stories ever told in video

(02:59):
games, basically. I mean, it'sit's simple. You are a smuggler,
and you're charged with gettingthis girl across the United
States of America, because she'simmune to this infection that's
busted out and they think theycan use her to make a cure.
Boom. That's the whole story.
That's a pretty fucking simpleplot, if I'm not mistaken, but
it takes so many twists andturns as you go. Naughty Dog
does an amazing job of buildingrealistic relationships that

(03:22):
makes us care about thecharacters in the story that to
me, like, it's Yeah, it's a verycookie cutter type story. But
the relationships you build andthe quiet moments within that
story, or what make it so sostrong, and I'm with you, I
think it's a fantastic story.

(03:42):
totally believe it is absolutelyone of the like I said one of
the best stories. Yeah, videogames. It's something that I'm
shocked they have not tried toturn into like a mini series on
Netflix or Amazon or Don't dothat.

Hick (03:55):
Don't do that PlayStation Sony ny dawg, we ain't got
turned everything into a show.
Just let it be baby thehangover. We only needed one
hangover, but we that's all weneeded. So yeah, it could be a
great show. But we don't get thewalking dead. The Walking Dead
will work enough. But this isone of those games. I mean, you
talk about gut punches. I mean,this thing had the gut punches.
And bam right off the bat isstill a difficult topic of the

(04:18):
story for me talked about iswhen Sarah is killed with his
daughter. I don't know exactlyhow they might not even say how
old she is. But she's younger,which is one of those moments
with me being a father of threedaughters. That was very hard
for me to take and that's whatgreat games do they give you
story that you still have adifficult like I say still

(04:39):
because it was going back andwatch it today. Like I was still
struggling with it like day isjust a heartbreaking moment. And
they have that scene within likethe first 10 minutes of the
game. I mean really dead justset the rest of the journey in
the adventure for the game likeyou know that. I mean, that was
hard. That was me, but that wasReally hard for everybody how

(04:59):
many games show a kid dyingwithin the first 10 minutes
naughty dog does that not onlyshowing

Red (05:08):
the kid dying but like it actually did a pretty effective
job in just a 10 or 15 minutesstretch of it they're getting
you come home as Joel and youknow you're kind of walking
through the house your regularperson no and and like it makes
you care because there's littlememorabilia. Yeah, little things
scattered around the house. Itmakes you care even though you

(05:28):
literally only get to know Joeland Sarah for like you said like
10 or 15 minutes. Yeah, beforelike shit totally hits the fan.
Infection breaks out, you know,you're on the run immediately.
And then she gets shot. And tome I kind of compare it quite a
bit to like Game of Thrones,like the first season when I got
the last season. spoilers forGame of Thrones as well. So you

(05:52):
know if you haven't watched it,but you know, the first season
they kill off Ned Stark, whoeveryone thought is going to be
a major character. Yeah,throughout the entire series,
unless you've read the books andthen you know, you know,

Hick (06:02):
that's HBO man. They kill off the characters you love
though.

Red (06:05):
Yeah. And like so for me just like that really set the
tone for this game becauseNaughty Dog was not afraid to
kill off the characters that youcame to love. And that becomes
like a or not love necessarily.
But you know, you relate toYeah, relationships, their
interactions. I mean, we see itlater on in the game when they
have was Henry and Sam. Yeah,are these two brothers and Sam

(06:25):
gets infected. And Henry has tokill him. And then he commit
suicide because he's so griefstricken by the fact that he had
to kill his brother and wasn'table to protect him. I mean,
man, if that

Hick (06:37):
would have been a father and son relationship, though.
Oh, that point would hit so muchharder, but still be brothers.
It still hit hard. But go ahead.

Red (06:45):
No, for sure. It's just like, at this time in video
gaming and even in like popularculture. Like I don't think that
killing off characters like thiswas that popular? Not not
popular is not the right word.
But it wasn't done very muchlike said Game of Thrones
shocked. Yeah, when it starteddoing it. It started with Ned
Stark. It continued to like, youknow, the red wedding, of
course. And so all throughoutthe last of us, we see like

(07:08):
these characters in theserelationships that you start to
get attached to and then Nope,nope, boom. And it really drives
home how harsh of a world it isthat they're living in. So yeah,
I really loved the presentation.
Like it wasn't afraid to pull itexactly like but you know, in
the stairway. Yeah. And Ipromise I'll throw this back to

(07:31):
you. I really do. But

Hick (07:32):
I talked in the intro for a little bit longer than I want
to, but I got excited. So youknow,

Red (07:37):
it is and like, just and I don't have kids. So I'm dating a
girl who's got it who's got akid so I'm learning this whole
you know, developing arelationship with the kid thing.
So watching like Joel go themain guy go from this like
gruff. He's very hardened fromthe experience. He went through,
of course with his own daughter,and then just the reality of the
world he's living in to watchhim slowly build this bond with

(07:59):
the girl that he's supposed toliterally just be getting from
point A to point B. Yeah, Ithought it was really well done.
What did you think, though, oflike the relationship between
Joel and Ellie, and how NaughtyDog really

Hick (08:09):
put that together, which is worked so well together. And
we don't want to talk too muchabout part two. But like, you've
probably heard people complain alittle bit about the
relationships, just thecharacters. Yeah, and part two.
And that's what part one didwas, it just worked like it did
feel, you know, forcing I'm notsaying that. Part two is for
some prompts. I'm trying to getaway from part two. It's gonna

(08:29):
creep in a little bit here, butit's gonna happen. Yeah, it
just, it was so simple. And itjust it worked so well. And it
was believable, like, you know,yeah, he's very upset the
beginning, like, you know, Elliereminds him of his daughter,
Sarah. Yeah, he's very, likedefensive at the beginning. And
then over time, like, you know,gradually they start to get
closer and closer. And it's justthe relationship is very

(08:49):
natural. And I don't know whatit is about those two, but at
one I love them as, you know,characters being together, but I
also love them as characters ontheir own. They're just Yeah,
good characters. And, you know,I could say this about their
personality. I could say this,but it's just one of those
things that when it comes downto the simplest terms, it just
works very well. Like it's justa great combination. So I mean,

(09:14):
I just throughout the game, andthat's why I think I love this
game so much was thatrelationship but then we also
saw a strong relationship, youknow, with Tommy even though he
was there, in the beginning,very strong relationship there.
And then we see him later in thegame. You know, it's still a
good relationship, but just, youknow, like, said, Henry and Sam.
No, it was like a very shortlived relationship, but that was

(09:36):
good. You know, he had johntest, like every character that
they introduced in this game,they were believable. They were
natural, and they just fit intothe story perfectly. It's like
you said, one of the greatstories, you know, in videogame
history. I think, like this gamecould have had mediocre gameplay
and we will get to the gameplay.
It still could have been greatbut you know you say here and

(09:57):
say everything you want. aboutthe story, but it really comes
down to Joe and Ellie. And they,they just worked fantastic.

Red (10:06):
They really did. And just like, like you said, you do
mention some of the othercharacters we see like you had
tests, who was Joel's, likesmuggling partner and they had a
good bond and it like, and itmade her sacrifice, when like,
she sacrificed a sexual bond,right? I believe so cuz she, she
makes a comment. And I was, Iwas kind of reading up on all
this stuff, as I was, you know,putting together our outline.
Yeah. And like, she makes acomment right before she dies

(10:28):
that she's like, you know,after, you know, we, we we had
enough that you owe this to me,like, and I can't. It's about
like, you know, take take thekid and take Ellie and get her
to the fireflies was was herwhat she was wanting to do, is
like you we had enough that youowe me this. So it's like, it
wasn't like they were togethertogether. But there were

(10:49):
partners, and there wasdefinitely a little bit of a
relationship there. And theylike it was enough that they
didn't have to beat you over thehead with it. Yeah, Naughty Dog
did a great job of like, it wassubtle. It's like you can tell
their partners, but you can tellthere's a little more than that
there, you know. And then like,like, we're gonna leave it for
you all to figure it out. That'swhat they lay. Right? And then

(11:10):
of course, Tommy, you know, atthe very beginning there
together trying to get thedaughter Sarah, like when shit
is hitting the fan out of there.
And then we don't see him again.
And we find out like much laterin the game when you go to
Tommy's a village, hissettlement in Wyoming that like
they had a bit of a falling outTommy and in Joel, and Tommy

(11:31):
makes a comment, like, or Joelsays, You know, I did a lot to
keep you alive. And Tommy's,like all I have from those years
are nightmares. Yeah. So it'slike something happened. And we
never get the details. You know,but I mean, obviously, you can
imagine what it was like, ifyou're on the run, and the
world's going to hell around youwith a zombie outbreak. I mean,
yeah, you can only imagine thethings these people had to do to

(11:54):
survive. So like, even thingslike that, like we said, they
leave it for your imagination tofill in, like

Hick (12:00):
what? The answer every question, and a lot games try to
do, like not answer everyquestion. But they try to answer
a lot of questions in night dog,right? They didn't do that they,
like you said that there, we'regonna leave it here, we're gonna
let you all kind of figure itout. And that's what add to the
impact of the story so much,

Red (12:16):
it really did. And then even getting away from the main
characters, like, all throughoutthe game, and games have kind of
been doing this since. And oneof the first ones I could really
remember did this was theoriginal Bioshock, where you
find letters in recordings andthings like that throughout the
world that kind of fill in someof the backstory and like, just
tell smaller stories about stuffyou'll never see. And I thought,

(12:40):
The Last of Us, like you find somany like notes, people left for
each other, you see little signsand things like that, that
helped make the world feel veryalive because there's so much
more going on in the world thanjust what Joel and Ellie and
like said tests and Tommy andHaley and Sam are going through

(13:00):
and you get these little scrapsof it like as you go through in
the last was part two also did agreat job of that where the
world building is really in justlike these notes you find in
these scenes, you find themyeah, I find a corpse somewhere
like where it's just layingthere with a gun in his hand.
And you find a note where hesays, I was bitten, I'm not
gonna let myself turn into oneof these things. Yeah, you know,

(13:22):
when you know what happened? Imean, it's just they did such a
good job of filling in, like themargins of the world with just
these written notes everywhere.
So I did you, were you a fankind of like that? Or do you
kind of get I know,

Hick (13:37):
at that point. Like, I don't really sit there and I do
now. But I used to not sit thereand read everything in this
game. Or a note or, you know,whatever. I would always sit
there and read it, I think. Ithink I did do it in this game.
But other games that don'talways do it. Yeah, that's
something that actuallyencouraged gamers to do. Because
lately within the past maybethree months, that's a six

(13:59):
months, like I've really beenfocusing on reading stuff that I
find on my journey, even if it'swrong, right. There's usually
something great there that, likeyou said, adds to the story of
the game. So I think I did do itin this game. But yeah, I just
love those little thanks.
Because, once again, it wasn'tforced, like it was there if you
find it cool. Yeah, if you don'tfind it, like you really didn't

(14:19):
miss anything overall. I mean,you missed that. And yeah, a
little bit, but really, overall,you didn't miss too much. So
didn't take away from the mains.
Yeah, in these linear games,some of them you know,
Uncharted, you know, also beingfor naughty dog does a very
similar thing, where they'regonna give you the story, but
then they're going to have theselittle notes, these little

(14:39):
artifacts, these littlecollections here and there,
they're going to add to a storyand also make the story sad
because usually, it's found youknow, around or on a dead person
and you find out how they cameto their demise. So yeah, just
very great kind of gives you anidea of, you know, what's going
on in that world even as chaoticas Yo, yo, can we bring it back

(15:02):
to simplistic terms here? Thisis for me a horror game, you
know, zombie game a horror gamewherever you some people I know
we've argued don't call a horrorgame. I think it's a horror
game. I usually do not likehorror games or dark games or
zombie games. But this gameright here like, you know, I was
kind of reluctant to play it byheard so much about it yes like,

(15:22):
okay, I'll give this game ashot, start playing it in this
game absolutely blew me away.
And that says something for likehow great this game is. If you
sit there and you don't like agenre, and then you still play,
you know, maybe you do actuallylike that genre. He didn't know
it. But I don't think it's acase of me.

Red (15:42):
Like rushing out to play a lot more zombie games. Yeah,
yes.

Hick (15:47):
This might be the only zombie game I've played since
this game. Well. Yeah, it justsays a lot about this game that
you can play a genre that youhate. And still think it's one,
you know, I don't want to saveis one of the best games
definitely one of the beststories, but overall, a very
great game. So um, let's kind ofget, you know, we kind of talked
about the story overall, but Ikind of want to break it down.

(16:08):
You know, in the chat, there'sand we don't have to talk about
every single one. Yeah, readjust like the game. We'll see
what happens naturally, we'lltry to make this unnatural, you
know, can just go through it.
But um, you know, he said thefix is breaking out and they're
escaping, like, you know, hisdaughter shot, you know, early
on. That's, that's, you know,that's it's hard for me to talk
about. But um, first off, youknow, if first of all one thing
before we get going. One thingthat I really loved was the host

(16:31):
seasons in this game.

Red (16:33):
Yeah. Like I like to say the same thing. Go ahead

Hick (16:36):
and say, No, I

Red (16:37):
absolutely love the structure that they put together
for this. I mean, you got theprologue, of course, where the
outbreak is first happening. Andthen you have I think it's like
a 20 year break. Yeah. And theworld's gone to ship. And I feel

Hick (16:49):
like it's an understatement, man.

Red (16:52):
But they've got like people in these quarantine zones, and
then there's just people out outin the wilderness versus just
trying to survive. You got thefireflies who are trying to
resist like the authorities inthe quarantine zone. So it's a
fucked up world. It really is.
But the seasonal structure ithought was so well done. Like
it's a little thing. But you'relike it's you've got you know,
summer where you start the gameand everything is everything's

(17:16):
kind of shit and in that's like,I feel like a big bulk of it's
what starting your adventure.
Yeah, no fall, you're you'regetting a little deeper into the
adventure, you're getting closerto your goal. Winter is where
stuff is terrible. I mean, itwill kind of like so we'll get
into a little bit of details.
But in winter, like Joel ismortally wounded, and he doesn't
die, but he's very, verywounded. He actually had to play

(17:36):
as Ellie for a little bit. Yeah.
And that's something which Ithought was kind of a nice, a
nice change of pace, a greatgame. And the last was part two,
they take it to the extreme of

Hick (17:47):
the game. Yeah, we'll tackle that next episode.

Red (17:50):
But then and then spring is like, I don't want to say the
hope because and like I said,we'll kind of get to this with
with the whole choice Joe has tomake at the end, but it's like,
you get to a kind of happyending, I guess. I mean, so I
loved the seasonal structureplus it, it was a good way to
kind of let the player know howfar they're progressing through

(18:13):
the game. Yeah, I mean, becauseI know some people are, you
know, people are timeconstrained. You know, I don't
always have 100 hours to dropinto a game. I kind of like
knowing how far along I amsometimes and I know we've
talked a little bit lastepisode, like, or two episodes
ago, or something about how manyhours I had in the last party.
like hours wise, you're gettingclose, you know, and I know

(18:33):
we've talked about that in priorepisodes in general. So I liked
having that kind of naturalstructure to it and it did feel
like the seasons kind of wentwell with the gameplay though.
Yeah, like I said, summer you'rejust like you're in the dog days
of

Hick (18:49):
summer locations helped out with that too. They

Red (18:52):
really did. So I Were you a fan of the you decide I think
you said anyway you were

Hick (18:57):
on something you said earlier on. Were you talking
about the game is kinda like youknow, it's got that like crazy
chaotic moments. And thenthere's also those quiet moments
in the game. Yeah, and like youknow, I've always felt that fall
and winter are just more quietin general mostly because people
aren't outside as much right inthe game that fall winter kind
of add to that more quiet feellike yeah, it was still chaotic

(19:19):
there was still zombie effectedI guess is what you call there
was still there you know, aroundeverywhere, but there was a
calmness and a quietness to itthat went along great with the
story cuz really, I mean, whenyour game where you playing the
game, that's when the chaoshappens. And yeah, you also have
chaos during the cutscenes butmostly during cutscenes is

(19:39):
obviously where the game slowsdown. Yeah, it can get quiet
sometimes. here and there. Ithink it did great. Again, quiet
during those cutscenes. So Ithink foam winter, just kind of
contribute to that. But anyways,let's go back. Let's go back to
the summer. Kind of like said wedon't know people exactly how
we're gonna go back this. We'rejust gonna talk about all the
chapters. There's 12 chapters inthe gang, like we said broke up

(20:02):
in summer, fall, winter andspring, but I'm starting out in
the quarantine zone, you know,in the summer, like said 20
years after Sarah is killed bythat jerk by that whoever that
is soldier, whoever it was andso that so he was, yeah
basically the job here is like,you know, just to transport LA
to the Boston Capitol buildingand really just, you know, a

(20:24):
great simple start for the game.
Hey, you're in this city,Boston, you know, and you just
got to get to this CapitolBuilding because basically
you're just trying to escape thecity so I mean, like, I don't
know what how to go about this.
But um, you know, did you enjoywhat you think about it?

Red (20:38):
I did. I thought it was a good introduction. Like Yeah,
you meet you realize theconditions you're living in, in
this world and how bad they are.
Yeah, in this quarantine zone.
You know, there's a group youmeet a group called the
fireflies that are trying tokind of help rise up and maybe
fight back against the authorityfigures within the quarantine

(20:59):
zone. I don't because

Hick (21:00):
they didn't want to be you might said this, but they didn't
want to be in the quarantinezone.

Red (21:03):
Right. Right. And it's just it's one of those it's like,
okay, you see the internalconflict you like it's good
world building very early on,but like you said, years like
you at the beginning, you don'tknow why. Your they want you to
get LA to their group. Like youdon't know why they say Hey, get
Ellie to the fireflies at theCapitol building. And that's why
that moves as well to the nextchapter, the outskirts. That's

(21:26):
where we learn that she'sactually been infected. She's
been bitten, but I believe theysay it's like three weeks and
she is Yeah. At all. So that'swhen you learn that she's
immune. And like, how did thatlike in the outskirt section?
How did that kind of play outfor you? Were you like, a big
fan of that reveal?

Hick (21:43):
Yeah, exactly. Because we have purpose. Like early on in
the game. You're like, okay, wego we meet this girl who trains
like, they say, Hey, you got totake this girl somewhere. But
why? Like, we don't know whywe're doing it. So like, you
know, in the outskirts, youfinally get that answer like,
hey, yeah, she isn't mewed shegot bit like you said three
weeks ago so he finally havepurpose like we had that purpose

(22:03):
before then that's what thatchapter is really about is just
see like you know finding thatpurpose for why you're doing the
job you know, you can't find outyou know, the firefighters are
dead and kind of like from thatchapter you decide to find Tommy
and you'll kind of learn Where'slab is but it's just really a
great start because it's all tome it's a different area like
the cordon zone and theoutskirts but it's really one

(22:24):
area like it's the starting areaso yeah, first you know, you
meet Ellie and you kind of youkind of find out hey, if you
want these guns, you gotta gether somewhere but you don't know
why and then obviously secondchapter Hey, this is why you
have to do this so now he has apurpose and then we go to bills
I want to say bill easy no noit's bill we go to Bill's town

(22:45):
it Oh man. This guy right herethis characters then well I love
in a game and he know he owesJoseph favors but really this is
one my favorite areas in thegame. What about you?

Red (22:58):
Well for me it's where the game really opened up. Like the
first both the first twosections you're still kind of in
that quarantine even when you'rein the outskirts you're still
kind of in that quarantine zonewhen you finally get out of
there and you get to go to thiswhole village to explore that
yes bill has basically takenover and yeah it goes down which

(23:18):
is awesome by the way I'm prettysure if I'm saying here that
like painted on the damn watertower or something but yeah, I
could be wrong it's been a hotminute but like it was just a
cool like that's this is thiswas the game opening up to
finally have a big area that youcould explore and scavenge and
you pick off little pockets ofthe infected and everything and

(23:38):
Bill was a great character and Iwill say like the whole point in
this section was you're tryingto get a car you're trying to
get a car so that you can get toJoel's brother Tommy who is got
his settlement out in Wyomingwhich is a hell of a long way
away from Boston where westarted out but I liked like
like I said for me this is wherethe game opened up and really

(24:00):
started to give you some of thatI don't want to call it open
world but like a big area toexplore and Naughty Dog you were
outside the city right andnaughty dog has done a great job
with this as their games haveprogressed. They've remained
mostly linear in terms of theUncharted and this The Last of
Us but they have areas that youcan really explore Yeah, know

(24:22):
what the right term they're likepockets of open world within a
linear game. So I really likethis and

Hick (24:29):
you can also make those areas too big. And we'll talk
about also on the next episodebecause you're too did that but
you know, he talked about theareas and explored a little bit
like they did I think in thefirst part one The Last of Us
they did a great job of makingthose areas the right size like
they didn't feel too big likethey did in part two, though. We

(24:49):
said no spoilers or anything aretalking about part two, but
you'll naturally it justprogresses some into part two in
the next episode, but yeah, Imean, Okay, first of all, how
about Ellie's conversation Withbill in this chapter right here,
I mean she has some burners thatare on point and Bill is not put
up with that shit he go killer,you know, so I just throw

(25:11):
dialogue. I mean they were goingat each other. absolutely loved
it you had the whole startingthe car debacle like you know
you're trying to push this cardown a hill if you'd like so
let's start and then why you'retrying to do this there's
infected coming out ofeverywhere. So if I get this car
started and then you go to highschool gym and I think the
effects of bloat are there. Isthat the right I think that's

(25:33):
where you fight the bloat, orthe fun Yeah, Dad fight was
fucking intense as hell, man. Sojust that whole area, just you
know how big it was, like yousaid, Ellie and Bill's
conversation. Again, the carstarted. And then you go to the
high school gym, and there'sthis great fight with a bloater.
Just overall,

Red (25:52):
you have a fight like a church in a cemetery and
everything else in this sectionit really opened up in this
section but you do find like,one more thing on bills down
then I promise we will move onthe little backstory with he he
had a friend that was there withand I think his name Yeah, bring
in, like, he hints at me hintsat him. And you find a note at

(26:12):
the very end of this section,where Frank basically like he
had to he had to offer himselfbecause he was he got infected,
but he's like, I hated you thiswhole time. You know, I wanted
more than just holding up in atown like this. And, and it was,
it was weird. And and like justever build just like curls up
the note and throws it away islike Well, fuck you too. Yeah,

(26:35):
it's just like, it's a littlemoment. It's a little thing. But
it was kind of powerful. BecauseYeah, it was you have two
people. Like there's one morethere. And you know, there's
like So Bill wanted to hold upand and this friend is I think
it was Frank wanted to like domore with their lives. And it
was just it was a great littletouch right there. I really

(26:56):
thought it was but but

Hick (26:57):
you know, it hit bill even though he wasn't acting like he
didn't

Red (27:00):
act like it. But you know, he's feeling it down in there.
But yeah, moving on, likePittsburgh, I think Pittsburgh
is where we finally really gotexposed to the evils in this
world beyond the infected Yes,we start dealing with the humans
who are still monsters. So kindof take me through your thoughts
when you get to Pittsburgh, andyou start having to fight not

(27:22):
just the infected, but now youget a fight other survivors,
dude, you roll in, in a vehicle,and this guy jumps out to you
and like he's acting like he'shurt. And then Jones keeps on
going, man, and this guy pullsout gun and you hit him. And
that says right there. You enterPittsburgh in Man, these humans
are fucked.

Hick (27:42):
But you know, to survive.
In a crazy world like this, yougotta be a little bit crazy.
with ourselves, Joe and Ellieare not regular individuals,
they would not survive verywell, in our world. There's a
little bit of crazy to them. Andthen you get to Pittsburgh, and
you had these survivors calledthe hunters. I mean, this is
when shit gets crazy. And youstart to see, you know, hey, we

(28:03):
saw it early on in the game, butyou know, the first chapters,
but hey, the humans, okay, theeffect is not the only issue.
The humans are also going to bethe issue, which I think is
great for the game, because, tome, zombie games try to focus on
just that. The zombies like thisgame focused on Hey, there's
also these humans, they're alsosurviving and they got survive

(28:25):
the way they feel they had tosurvive. And this adds a whole
new element. And then you meetHenry and Sam, I absolutely love
that relationship between firstof all those two into the
relationship that Joe and Elliehad with those two. So that
right there I mean, we gothrough the game mostly with Joe
and Ellie so introducing two newcharacters and they weren't in

(28:46):
the story very long, but I justreally liked it and I think that
they were great for Pittsburghcuz I don't know it's like it
feels if you miss my randomanimal nowhere that won't feel
natural. But as we've beensaying, this game yeah, it feels
very natural. You would expectto see somebody other than the
hunters in Pittsburgh but howdid you feel about this chapter?

Red (29:08):
I loved it because you hit it on the head like you said,
this is where they introduceHey, the zombies are not the
only monarchs are the infectedare not the only monsters in the
world. People are assholes toeveryone trying to get by the
best they can I mean, I likenthis a little bit you mentioned
the Walking Dead earlier in thispodcast like that that was
something Walking Dead didpretty well it showed that yes,
the zombies are the infected area threat, but people trying to

(29:31):
survive any way they can are ahuge threat to and then getting
to meet Henry and Sam in betweenthis chapter and then the
suburbs. The next chapter, we'rekind of outside Pittsburgh, or
trying to get to a radio tower.

Hick (29:43):
Jump off that bridge, though, was awesome. It

Red (29:46):
really was it really was but like, you know, we get to
see like, Joel and the olderbrother Henry kind of bond. They
talk stories like

Hick (29:54):
Joel told me for Henry back then No, no because member
Henry we bailed on sruc and thenhe built On his ass man did he
bailed on him. But Joe ispunching though and in the
suburbs, and they're

Red (30:05):
like, and that shows like The mistrust between people,
especially when you're strangersbefore you really form a bond
like there was a deep mistrust,especially from Joe Lee was
willing to be a little more openand give him the benefit of the
doubt which I thought was a goodlike sign it shows like she was.
She's also immune though to yougot to remember that. She's not
as scared as everybody else inthe game, right. But I liked the

(30:27):
introduction of Henry and Sam,we had some traveling companions
for a little while, even thoughit's called the suburbs in the
next section, we they doliterally go through like a
sewer, where a whole communityhad been built up in the sewers.
And we we learn and we develop agreat relationship between Henry
and Sam and Joel and Ellie, likeI said, they bond, Joel and

(30:49):
Henry bond, because Joel istelling stories about like,
running motorcycles to go acrossthe country river, right, which
is, which is kind of what he'sdoing now trying to go across
the country. Yeah. And Ellie andSam, of course, being kids are
talking about what they'rescared of. I mean, they both
have their like, I think, youknow, obviously, Sam scared of
being infected. I believe inEllie's affected of like being
or is scared of being alone. Iguess it was kind of I got those

(31:12):
backwards. I know. Yeah. It'sbeen humming. And so like you
finally see this bond start toform. But the gutwrench that we
get, yeah, in the suburbs iswhen like they escaped, you
know, an attack by the infected.
It turns out Sam had gottenbitten on his leg. And he'd been
hiding it from everyone though.
And literally just like the nextmorning, you go upstairs to wake
him up. And he attacks LA. Yeah.
And it's it's you kind of theyforeshadow it when they show

(31:36):
that he was bitten. Yeah, thefact that it happened that
quick. And like normally youthink you have to have this
whole big conversation, like,what do we do with this guy's
infected? No, he's already afucking infected zombie The next
day, you don't get a choice. Soyou know, Henry kills him. Then
he commits suicide. I mean,because if you had to shoot your
own infected brother, and you'rein this world with so little
hope, because no one knows aboutEllie's immunity, I think I

(31:59):
mentioned it to Sam, but he hegone now. So it's it was a very
powerful chapter in the suburbs.
And that's where it's like, Hey,you know that you remember when
that daughter got killed at thevery beginning of the game? We
ain't done yet.

Hick (32:14):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, like a night dog.
It goes to places that mostvideo games don't. And that's a
great example right there that,hey, we're gonna have this guy
shoot his brother, and then he'sgonna shoot himself that says,
never happened in a game, butyou don't see it a lot in a
game. So just a very powerfulmoment, which is add to this
game. And then we get to falland everybody knows my feelings

(32:36):
about fall. I absolutely lovethe fall leaves my favorite time
of the month, which right now weare in October. So absolutely
loving it drinking Oktoberfest

Red (32:46):
even

Hick (32:46):
as we speak. Yeah. The lease also, like you said, but
just the beauty in this game,when you come to the fall. And
like Tommy's it's not so much inTommy's Damn it a little bit,
but we get to mercy. That's whenit really got to talk about
Tommy's damn real quick, becausethis is, we've not seen Tommy
since the beginning. You know,we've been trying to make our

(33:06):
way out there, like, you know,in Wyoming, and then like, you
know, he finally get there. Andwe find out that he's married
and everything and like, youknow, I don't know really where
to go with that. And theirrelationship was just kind of
happens, like, you know, getthat Maria up there. It's about
ready to shoot him. And thenhere's Tommy, out of nowhere,
saying, Hey, I know thesepeople. So it was it was weird,
because Joe was just plan onpassing through. I don't think

(33:29):
that he thought Tommy wasactually there. So you just
don't, I guess actually, youknow, now, I don't know to talk
about I actually think that's agood thing, because maybe you
weren't supposed to see Tommybeing at Tommy's dam I'm sure.
Well, it's

Red (33:46):
taking like the whole plan was to get to Tommy because he
was a he used to be a firefly.
Yeah, yeah. Used to be afirefly. So he's you're trying
to find him. So that like hemight be able to point you to
where you can meet up with thefireflies. And that was the
whole point. Back at the verybeginning of the game in Boston
was Hey, meet the fireflies atthe state capitol building.
Well, that obviously felt Yeah,definitely.

Hick (34:07):
Definitely. They weren't there.

Red (34:09):
Yeah, but you know, you like you get you know, you see
the strange relationship. And wetalked about that, obviously, a
little earlier in the podcast,we won't rehash it, but like it
again, it just shows a realisticstrain between two siblings.
Let's be honest, siblings fightand have issues all the time.
And when you've gone throughwhat these guys have apparently
had to go through. You get whytheir relationship is strained,
but they come together when likebandits attack this community.

(34:31):
But one thing I really likedabout this chapter, is that, you
know, we'd seen like the hunterswe'd seen the quarantine zones,
that Tommy's dam was like thefirst community that seemed like
it was trying to rebuild us andlike try to get civilization
back on its feet and you stillhad bandits attacking you still
had infected to deal with. Imean, it was still a lot going

(34:55):
on. But I did love that. Thiswas like where it shows Hey,
there is there are people outthere trying To rebuild society
so

Hick (35:02):
that wishes that is Tommy and Maria again married, like
Brian is a perfect example ofthat, like, Hey, we're trying to
get back to normal as a normallife. Yeah, this is what we're
doing. And then you know, I lovethe hole in that chapter when
Ellie runs off on the horse andthey got ranch. Just absolutely
beautiful area back by the way,I want to go back to the suburbs
real quick with Joe gets on thatgun in the house. And you can

(35:25):
just go crazy. One of myfavorite points in the game, but
what

Red (35:29):
a great part of this game, Tommy's game,

Hick (35:31):
you know, basically like you know, that kind of hope ends
with him saying it to firefliesare at the University of eastern
Colorado, go big horns, I'mactually had to look this up
today. To see this is a realUniversity. And you know that a
real University is a fakeUniversity, which is I just said
the same thing just backwards.
But it was based off of likeColorado State University, okay,
in the details behind thescenes. But anyways, fall we get

(35:53):
to this university, and my God,does this university look
amazing. And it's all out therein Colorado, and just probably
my favorite area of the wholegame just because of how
beautiful it was. I mean, just asimple concept here. We're just
going around trying to find thefireflies at this campus. And
basically what happens infiction broke out, we're trying

(36:15):
to search for them the wholetime. We can't find them, some
jerks, you know, assholes comeup, they attack us. And then the
ending of this chapter will likeyou know, is facing that one
guy, and he falls out and thatsteak goes through his stomach.
Oh, that is just so powerful.
And I really want to spend a lotmore time on the university but

(36:37):
as course is very simple,beautiful University trying to
find the fireflies. Joe getsreally really hurt. Which is
such a great cliffhanger eventhough it was you know, it's a
winner. But it was still such agreat cliffhanger because at
that time, you didn't knowwhether he was going to survive
or not. Which brings us towinter and dry sad resort where

(37:00):
you kind of want to talk aboutthat one.

Red (37:02):
Yeah, like I love the way they did it like fall ended with
Joel like falling off the horselike like literally bleeding out
from getting impaled by a bar.
And like, and then winter startswith Ellie out hunting. And you
really don't know. If by the

Hick (37:19):
way I want to cut in right here. Brett and I have not
played the DLC yet. But thereare basically two stories in the
DLC. Yeah, one takes placebetween that time in the fall.
And then also le taking care ofhim. Like that area right there
in between, like, how did Joeget to this place? Like, in the
mountains or wherever, like satwherever. Like, one of the DLC

(37:39):
stories kind of goes throughthat but go ahead.

Red (37:41):
But ya know, like, to me, it was a great cliffhanger.
You're right, because when youstart as Ellie in the next
section, she's just out hunting.
And you don't know if Joelsurvived or not. And it was a
good moment. You know, then shemeets you know, a group of
fucking cannibals of all things.
Not fun there. And like, but Ireally like the the winter
section because we reallystarted to see some evolution

(38:02):
from Ellie because like she getsshe you get to play as her first
of all, which is, like I said,Great. Earlier I said,

Hick (38:09):
I got cut in here real quick. I actually did not know
they were cannibals until today.
Like I know, there's that partwhere they're literally chopping
off body rocking as a human. Butlike, I guess I just didn't put
two and two together. And like,you know, it makes sense. But
like I was reading today on theoutlines, like wait, they were
cannibals. I just did not pickthat up. Even though it's right
there in front of you. But goahead.

Red (38:29):
No, but I really liked like a you get to play as her and
this is a tough section becausethere's a Yeah, there's a lot of
stealth and like one hit killsin the search ever being
actually frustrated playing inthe section because it was there
are some stealth sections thatwere really tough to go through.
But like you get to see Elliedevelop a little bit as a
character because you get toplay as her and like she fights

(38:50):
her way from getting kidnapped.
she kills a few people like thisis where we have her and I
believe it's David are stalkingeach other in like a bar that's
burning down. Yep. And you likeyou get a machete and just start
hacking at him. And that's whenJoel like has finally made his
recovery because he got somemedicine, you know, part of the
penicillin. Yep. And comes inlike Joel finds you as you're

(39:10):
like hacking away at this guy.
So you can really see that Ellieis becoming a much more hardened
and capable person he had to bethey'll make us look at David.
David's a crazy mother wasn't

Hick (39:25):
him and James are crazy and just kind of talking about
the characters. I mean, makingsomebody that psychotic like
that almost seemed worse thanthe infected like great
character. I won't call itdevelopment but just a great
character overall in the game,

Red (39:41):
and it shows you what a society like this will drive
people to do exactly. Literallyeating people. Yeah, for crying
out loud. So I mean, it's prettyfucked up. But like it ended
really well with like, like,Ellie is freaking out because
she just went freakin ham onDavid and like Joel's like
holding her in her arms and liketrying to like control Or a
little bit because Joel's Joe'sbeen through this for 20 years.

(40:03):
Like he knows how hard the worldis, but that is to spring like
Joel's healed up. Ellie's gottena little bit like she's more
capable. She's more hardenedsprings the the conclusion of
the game. And like it startswith the bus depot where you
find out that the the firefliesare in a hospital in Salt Lake
City. And as you're working yourway there you go through this

(40:24):
bus depot and it has one of myfavorite moments in all of
gaming and probably my favoritemoment from from this game. It's
got the giraffe scene, andanyone who's played this game
knows what I'm talking about,like Ellie spots one and she
just runs to get a good view andit's literally just you at a bus
depot. And like it's beenovergrown, and there's just a

(40:46):
herd of giraffes just walking.
You get to pet one like the damnscene from Jurassic Park where
you where they pet the dinosaur.
Yeah, and it's just it's such asimple moment. And a powerful
moment what it did it did kindof have that impact on you. Did
you like this scene that much?
Yeah, it definitely wasimpactful. And it just is one of
those things that was so randomand random really work well or

(41:07):
can really fire back to at thesame time and this is just a
situation where the game is sochaotic. He got the infected yet
these crazy people like Davidlike there's just

Hick (41:20):
so much chaos and he talked about the story being
quiet and I want to say slowingdown but you know slowing down a
little bit and being quiet. Butthen you get get this scene
you've been through all thischaos. You're getting towards
the end, and then there's justdrafts. Yeah, just it's a great
time to just slow down. Take abreath taking a few because that

(41:40):
view is amazing during thechapter. So it's just one of
those simple things like wetalked about simplicity where
you don't always have to try sohard all night dog did was put
some damn giraffes in the middleof a city and it was freakin
spectacular. So you know kudosto them. I agree. I absolutely
loved it but you know thatchapter salsa so elegant knocked

(42:02):
out basically under fire bysoldiers. I forgot exactly what
happened right there. I thinkshe they felt they went to an
underground tunnel and they'rehaving to swim through it and
Ellie doesn't swim so well. Andshe jammed her head. And and
they don't just do CPR and thena soldier comes up on Joe walks
Jolla, you're not Joe out, butthen la does recover. Which
brings us to kind of ending sortof the ending of the game. We're

(42:23):
in the hospital lab or theFirefly, Firefly lab, chatters
call, we're basically at leastbeen prepped for surgery, like
you know, and Joe basicallyfinds out that hey, you know, if
this surgery goes through, Ellieis going to die in this for me
and I think we're kind of gonnasee you know, cat talked about
behind the scenes, or you mightsee differently on this part.

(42:44):
But being a father daughters, Ican clearly on this understand
this part. He already lostSarah, there's no way that this
you know, daughter, like girland Ellie, he's not gonna let
her go. He's not gonna let herbe killed, you know, skirt, he's
seen how, look how people crazyare already in this world, you
think the fucking cure is goingto like cause these people to

(43:04):
not be in crazy? No, they'realready scarred for life.
There's no going back, you mightget rid of the infected in like,
you know, the disease andeverything. But motherfuckers
are still gonna be crazy in theworld. So, you know, the cat
decides that, hey, I'm notsaying that's his reasoning. You
know, I'm just saying that Icould understand. And maybe that
could be a part of hisreasoning. But basically, Joe
says, Hey, you know, this isn'tgoing to happen. He goes and

(43:27):
gets le like, you know, he getsit out of the hospital and
everything. Like, you know, notlike a, you know, a big chapter
or anything like that. Like,it's very simple. And then, you
know, it takes us like, youknow, basically that is the
last. There's more gameplayafter that. But basically,
that's the last gameplay. Whichbrings us to the final chapter.
And Jackson, you want go aheadand talk about it? Well, it's
just very simple. I mean, like

Red (43:48):
after he rescues Ellie from the hospital, there's they're
going back to Tommy settlement.
They're in Wyoming at the dam.
Yeah. Because that was the onesemblance of like, civilization.
And it actually leads well intothe last of us part two, because
that's where they start out thatone. But like, Ellie is still
not sure about what happenedbecause she was out cold like
she was drugged because she wasgoing to go into surgery. Yeah.

(44:09):
And she makes Tommy or Jesusmakes Joelle swear that like his
version of the truth was theactual truth. And, you know, he
had told her, you know, therewere they'd found dozens of
people who were immune, but theyhadn't been able to find a cure
yet. So there was no point in,in doing anything with her and,
and I do think that'sinteresting. Like, you
mentioned, the Firefly lab isnot a it's not a big section in

(44:32):
terms of gameplay. But thatchoice at the end, part of me
wishes the game would have givenyou a choice and had two
different endings. But as alinear game, of course, that
that's a little tougher to do.

Hick (44:44):
And the two endings in that game

Red (44:47):
they could have, but it wouldn't be making the part two
a little tougher.

Hick (44:49):
Oh, okay. That's a very good point. Right?

Red (44:53):
But But like, it's a very interesting choice, and you're
like, yes, it is the culminationof this. Great. We've talked
about about relationships. It'sa combination of the
relationship between Joel andEllie that he decides No, he
wants to keep her alive. And Ithink a lot of that, like you
mentioned, he lost his daughterat the very beginning of this
whole infection, and he doesn'twant to lose another one. I

(45:14):
don't have kids out of beinglike, save the human race. Yeah,
let's go with that one.

Hick (45:19):
Man, I always say the kids so yeah, we definitely disagree
on that. It's

Red (45:21):
easy for me to say that of course. I

Hick (45:23):
hear No, I mean, we see is dark Sarah die. And then like,
he knows, like, No, you can't dothat again. Man. You can't let
too. Even though one wasn't hisdaughter. She ain't like, you
know, she was he became adaughter to him. So now you
can't let two daughters go mad.
Joe, I feel you, man. I'm behindyou. 100% on that decision, I
understand. Like I said, peopleare already crazy. But um, I
guess go ahead and chime inhere. People, we probably are

(45:45):
going to go a little bit overthe 45 minute mark, we try
really well to be around that,you know, obviously, we're off a
minute here meant there. So wegot we get to ally, we know
where we're going. So we'regonna go a little bit over
today. Because we're talkingabout games. As y'all can see,
we love this game. We'repassionate about it. We're not
gonna wrap it up. I feel

Red (46:05):
like the what the episodes we talked about specific games,
we get going, man, like, we'repassionate,

Hick (46:09):
we're not going to just sum it up. Because we want to
keep our podcasts at 45 minutes,we try to do our best. But we're
really getting into it andtalking about game that we love.
We're just gonna keep on going.
So that's what we're going todo. And Ken, we've already
talked about some of our generalstory thoughts overall on the
story. You know, Joe's story.
That's the same thing. almostfull name right there. Not my

(46:30):
full name. Don't read, readread. My feathers are ruffled.
My feathers are ruffled. Butstory. Anyways, we can I think
we already kind of talked aboutall the points that we want to
talk about, is there anythingyou wanted to talk about?

Red (46:42):
I mean, not really. I mean, just it was such a strong story
because of the because of thoserelationships, like they care
about the people. I know, wetalked about that a lot at the
beginning. But that's that'swhat it is like, the story is
very cookie cutter. It's kind ofa generic story. But they made
you care about the charactersand not enough. Not enough of
any media, whether it's videogames, movies, TV, take the time

(47:05):
to build those relationships.
And I thought Naughty Dog did agreat job of making you care
about characters that you onlysaw. And they do that in their
other games, too. They do. Andyou may have only seen these
characters for a couple hours.
But you care about them. AndSam, you know, that takes good
writing. Yeah, it's very good,right? I don't care about David

Hick (47:23):
and James. You know, those two guys, you know, there can't
I'm sure they did.

Red (47:28):
But no, there was a DLC we've mentioned this a couple
times. We're kind of has twoparallel stories, like you said,
part of it is while Ellie iscaring for Joel and trying to
survive and how they get thereto that winter chapter, but
she's reminiscing about the timebefore the outbreak broke out.
If I'm not mistaken,

Hick (47:47):
or someone's stories, there's two stories. One is
stories is like where she'sreminisce. There's basically
like a three I think it's setthree weeks before the events of
that Last of Us. That's thefirst one where like, I think
you said, Uh, oh, no, that'sjust where she's a le, and she's
with her friend Riley in a baymall in Boston. And then the
second store is kind of wetalked about with the time
between fall and winter, but goahead.

Red (48:08):
Yeah, but the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway, I
mean, I never played the DLC, soI can't talk a lot on

Hick (48:13):
it. I didn't freaking know it exists until today.

Red (48:15):
Oh, and because those of us who bought the remastered
version, it's right there on thehomepage. Yeah, I can play it,
but I never did. Because once Ibeat the game, I was like, Ah,
I'm ready to go back toUncharted. But yeah, um, but it
did have a very important thingwhere it has like Ellie kisses
her female friend. Yeah, Riley,which was kind of lauded as even

(48:35):
though it's DLC. And then a lotof people probably never played,
it was lauded as an importantmoment in gaming, because you
just don't get gay relationshipsin relation in video games.
hardly at all. I mean, I knowBioware kind of hit on him with
with Mass Effect and Dragon Age,but even those are almost more
like on a sexual side of things.
And like, you could honestly gowith a girl or go with a guy you
can do whatever you want it Yes.

(48:58):
Like they're making it show likeEllie is explicitly there. She's
She's learning. She's learningher sexuality. I thought that
was a cool thing. Like I neverplayed it but like reading about
it. While we were researchingthis, you're like, Oh, that's
kind of a big fucking deal. AndI think a very good thing. Like
just anything that you knowbroaches, topics like that and

(49:19):
helps to bring them to themainstream, I think is a very
good thing. So you saidcontinues on with all that
groundbreaking that Naughty Doghad in the game right?

Hick (49:27):
Bam, gut punch, right the beginning. We're gonna kill a
kid. And then right in themiddle, ruin kill and other kids
don't get affected. And then hisbrothers showed him in bed, and
then bam, hey, we're gonna havethis DLC, which sadly, I didn't
get to play either because Ididn't know it existed till
today. But I am going to playbut um, you know, it would have
been nice to like go into PartTwo knowing that this whole up.

(49:50):
You know, kids between Riley andEllie happen because right?
Like, you know, they'll be Elliebeing gay I won't say was a
shocker in part two, but like,you know, it just wants things
that Didn't know what's coming.
You know? If you never playedthe DLC Yeah, you would have no
clue if you didn't play the DLC,you would have no clue. So it
would have at least for shadowdepth, but, you know, I kind of
like that, you know, they happenin part two, I did like that. So

(50:13):
and I'm not one like, I don'tcare that Ellie's gay like, you
know, in the first one, or thesecond one, it doesn't bother me
whatsoever, you know, cool.
Whichever way you want do I'mfine with it bothered

Red (50:24):
a lot of people who starred review, Metacritic, but like,

Hick (50:28):
if you're happy, I support you, like, I'm good with it.
That's how I look at it. So no,don't do doing this is cool
watch kinda, you know, it's niceto get it as a surprise and part
two, but you've been nice toplay as DLC, you know, kind of
get a little like, you know,foreshadowing or whatever. But
the good news is you can go backand play it. Yes. And I am going
to go back and play but um, youknow, that's the story right

(50:49):
there like you know, eveninclude the DLC. Obviously the
most important part of like, youknow, the game, but let's kind
of move on quickly here. Like,you know, cuz we know we're
going over, but Oh, yeah, I kindof wanna talk about gameplay.
And then I want to talk aboutthe legacy but gameplay. I'm
gonna kind of go to you hereread like, you know, overall,
what's your opinions on thegameplay?

Red (51:07):
To me the gameplay was was was solid, but not spectacular.
Like, where's the story wasspectacular. But the gameplay it
was solid. It was functional.

Hick (51:16):
It had to be good for it to be a great game, right? And

Red (51:19):
but my problem was, I came to this game from playing the
Uncharted. Like when I got thePlayStation four Pro, we were
both late to the PlayStationfour game. Yeah. And I burned
through like the first threeUncharted. And I was like, who,
before I jump into number four,I needed, like, I want to do
something different. Even thoughit's still Naughty Dog, it is
something different. And to me,the controls did not feel quite

(51:41):
as tight. And I get that, likeyou're playing a survival horror
game. Or however people wantedto find it, whatever. It's a
survival horror game. So havinglooser controls, that kind of
adds to the difficulty a littlebit and adds to that sense of,
of, you know, survival. Whereas,you know, I kept comparing it in
my mind though, to the Unchartedwhich is all about combat and
adventure. Yeah. And in theaiming and the movement all felt

(52:04):
a lot tighter. So I thought thecontrols were a little loose,
but I do think that was anintentional decision by Naughty
Dog because like I said, they'veshown they can do tight controls
with the uncharged. Yeah. So Ijust felt your your movement was
a little imprecise, your aimingwas a little imprecise, but just
the simple things like thecrafting the upgrading your

(52:25):
weapons, like and how so much ofthat happens like in real life?
It doesn't pause the game foryou to to build a health pack.
Yeah,

Hick (52:35):
to sort of understand the point of it, but I hate it

Red (52:39):
and I'll throw that to you then because like for me, I
thought it added to the suspensebecause you had to find a safe
moment to do things like that,but you clearly weren't a fan.
Oh, it does

Hick (52:49):
that it does add his suspense I can guarantee you
that. I'm excited. It's greatfor the game because here's the
thing with Uncharted where thecontrols are tighter Nathan
Drake chooses that life in thisgame right? These people don't
choose this life this issurvival so they had to do
things that they might not wantto do. So like you know if the
aim is not as precise whoeverthese characters aren't

(53:11):
professionals they're justtrying to survive so I think it
makes a lot of sense in thisgame and like you know like I
said like the kind of changingthe weapons out or ammo or
whatever crafting like you knowit not stopping time. absolutely
hated it. Because I tried to doit right in the middle of like a
big battle like you know, going,you would I am getting better at
stealth but when I needsomething I want to get right

(53:33):
there. I don't want go around awall or a bush or anything I
want to right in there. Andthat's usually when I die is
when I'm trying to craftsomething but um, I can't feel
the same way with you on thegameplay. You know, it wasn't
great or anything but I didn'tthink it had to be great. I
thought I just had to get thejob done but you know didn't it
didn't detract from No it didn'tbut you know, the crafting?

(53:53):
Yeah, that was cool. That addedto the survivalist like you
know, kind of mentality on theguns like you know, good guns.
You had a bow cool. flamethrower. I don't know how you
found one of those whatever,like you would take those come a
dime a dozen. Like those wouldbe very hard to find so much
about the flame thrower, but Idid think it was cool, but um,
overall, you know, you got youstealthwatch which makes sense.

(54:15):
And then there's also there wasnot a lot of ammo and stuff in
this game, which I absolutelyhate. I hate that I want to be
able to grab a lot of ammo andhave it on me. But at the same
time. I love it. It's a lovehate relationship because it
makes sense in a survivalistgame. It is not gonna be a lot
of ammo laying around. There'snot gonna be a lot of gun

(54:35):
especially 20 years that youcan't go to CVS and buy tape
like you know for a health kit.
So it didn't make sense in thisgame.

Red (54:43):
So especially like you're talking you're 20 years after
the infection broke out everygun store has been looted. Every
Bass Pro Shop that had ammo hasbeen looted by this point. So
now I'm in general like I saidthe gameplay was good enough
that it didn't take away fromhim. Amazing the story was I've
definitely heard some people onour discord say they really
liked the way it controlled. SoI'm like, hey, like, I think for

(55:06):
me, it was just coming from anuncharted game to this

Hick (55:10):
day how it went to the weapons, like we had to push the
directional buttons. Yeah, I hadto hold down x or whatever. I
did hate that, too.

Red (55:16):
I and that's one of my complaints with the second part
two because they they do thesame shit.
But you know,you know, we've talked story
we've taught gameplay andhonestly, those that that's all
there is to this game. I mean,some games we talked about
worlds or levels, but for thisone, either chapters. We did, we
did but you know, all in all, Imean, the last was part or
almost a part two, becausethat's what I'm finishing even

(55:36):
as we speak. But, you know, thiswas such an important game, I
feel like and it surprised me.
It really did. Because it cameout at a time when like The
Walking Dead was going on, leftfor dead. The multiplayer game
on Steam was hugely popular formultiplayer, like so zombies had

(55:57):
taken off already. And justseeing another zombie game, like
you mentioned earlier. Like,you're like zombies aren't
really my genre, either. I'm100% with you on that. But
Naughty Dog managed to show andthey've had some good franchises
and they had the Jak and Daxterthey had the Uncharted now
they've got the last of us. Andit really did I think cement

(56:17):
Naughty Dog as one of thepinnacles of game development
right now. And you know, theywere they're already kind of
there with the last or I'm sorrywith Uncharted. But this really
helped elevate them. But youknow, what's kind of your
lasting thoughts of you? What doyou think the last of us did for
like gaming in general, likelegacy if I talked about law,
this, but I mean,

Hick (56:38):
one of the best stories ever in a video game, I don't
want to say it's the best storybecause then I would have to
think about all the video gamesand the great stories that they
have. But this is one of thebest stories ever. And like I
said, if it can take if, if it'sa genre that you don't like, and
it can bring you in, and thenyou can can make you say, damn,
that was a good game. That'swhat the last of us did. And

(56:58):
just it did, you know, I don'twanna say is groundbreaking
because it didn't do anythinggroundbreaking, other than have
a great story, but right, itjust really showed that games,
they don't have to be thatdifficult, like you just heard
us talk about the gameplay isokay. You know, but if you have
a fantastic story, it can makeyour game great. And a lot. I
think a lot of companies try tofocus too much on the gameplay

(57:20):
in video games, which makessense because a lot of gamers do
complain about gameplay orcontrol, whatever, that aren't
good. But at the end of the day,when you're playing a video
game, you're playing the videogame, usually for the story.
That's what's important. Likeyou're going to this fantasy
land, or story or whatever,you're basically going into
somebody else's body. Yeah, andyou're experiencing the story.

(57:43):
But you know, they can't talk,Nintendo and Legend of Zelda,
they can't talk. So let's make atalk. I don't know. chime in
right there on link talk. Talk,it'll add to the future games,
but anywhere you go. It's justone of those things that I like
to say, when a game is great.
It's an experience they say thatevery game is experienced and
you will be right but when Iplay a great game I sit there

(58:03):
and I call it an experiencebecause I'm not just playing a
game I'm experiencing somethingthat is special

Red (58:12):
and you think about it last words like you don't put it down
and forget about it like yeah,finish it and you think about it
for a while like and this is oneof the games that definitely did
that like the blending of thelike chaotic action with whether
you're fighting other humanswhether you're fighting the
infected with the quiet likedevelopment of the relationships
and the story like the storydriven moments like is so well

(58:35):
balanced in this Yeah, it justto me, it is it is the pinnacle
of video. Like I said notnecessarily the best story in
games ever. But it's told aswell as I've ever seen in a game
so

Hick (58:48):
I'm high for part two so you know that it was a great
game but did you have anythingelse you wanted to send the
legacy or Final Thoughts?

Red (58:54):
No, I'm pretty good. It's a great fucking game and we've
gone wait.

Hick (58:57):
Yeah, we we do apologize for that we tell you all that we
do trust that around 45 minutesbut if we're passionate about
something, we're not just gonnawrap it up because night dog did
not just wrap the game they madeshows go good to go. And they
made sure that we got toexperience and Damn it. That's
exactly what they did. But he

Red (59:14):
was held in wrap up part two that in the

Hick (59:17):
next episode, we will be talking The Last of Us Part Two
basically talking about the sameway we did here probably won't
talk about as highly as we didthe first part. But anyways,
let's go ahead, let's wrap upall the links will be in the
description but you can supportus on Patreon or PayPal or if
you want to you can leave areview or a rating that helps us

(59:37):
out with our rankings whenpeople search for certain terms.
And then we also have twowebsites that has the
merchandise and with those areaffiliate shops. So we may earn
commercial commission. We won'tearn commercial I can guarantee
you that we might earncommission on purchases through
our links, but those websitesare two guys playing zelda.com
all Zelda merchandise and then tGPC dot com where we have all

(01:00:01):
kinds of video game merchandise.
Ready? Can we talk about whatelse we got going on?

Red (01:00:06):
Well, we're all over social media and YouTube as well. We've
got two YouTube channels are twoguys playing Zelda and TGPZ
Media both out there on YouTubefor the Zelda obviously we got
walkthroughs we got theories wegot gameplay, all that good
stuff. We're on discord one ofour favorite places to talk
about games, our Discord serverwe talk about everything we got
Nintendo Sony Xbox, we talkabout booze, we talk about TV

(01:00:28):
shows, we talk about sports, wetalk about everything on there.
And you can find us on socialmedia. We're on Twitter, we are
on Instagram we have both whatis Busted Buttons PC is the name
for both of those for podcasts.
That's what the PC stands forthere. But yeah, we're we're
everywhere. So look up look forus. And as we said next episode,
we're talking all The Last of Uspart two. Hope you guys enjoyed

(01:00:50):
talking about him quote unquote,part one. Keep on gaming and
have a great week.

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The Last of Us - Busted Buttons Ep. 32

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Last of Us - Busted Buttons Ep. 32