Cartridge Club #55 - The Last of Us

The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States.

 

Introductions

 

Panel  

Mighty Q Dawg

Twitter: @MightyQDawg

 

Kathryn

Twitter: @k_song

 

Ryan

Twitter: @itsrocketsauce

 

Cartridge Club Intro/Outro Music

Ser Flash

Twitter: @Serraxor

 

Cartridge Club Logo

Will Pruitt

Twitter: @willopruitt

 

Level 1  

P2(Mark) gives a quick overview of The Last of Us and panel discusses their memories of the game and first impressions.

 

• Developer: Naughty Dog

 

• • Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

 

• Director: Neil Druckmann, Bruce Straley

• Platform(s):

• PlayStation 3

• PlayStation 4

• Release Date:

• June 14, 2013

• Genre: Third Person Shooter

 

Level 2

Discuss story of the game: Set in the post-apocalyptic United States, the game tells the story of survivors Joel and Ellie as they work together to survive their westward journey across what remains of the country to find a possible cure for the modern fungal plague that has nearly decimated the entire human race.

 

Characters:

 

• Joel (Troy Baker) - The protagonist of the game. Joel is a survivor of the Cordyceps Brain Infection outbreak, taking residence in the Boston Quarantine Zone. Embittered and hardened by the death of his young daughter Sarah, Joel operates as a black market smuggler, dealing in contraband, taking numerous de-humanizing jobs over the years to survive in this new post-pandemic world. He has only few moral boundaries left to cross. Unfortunately for him, he is thrust into the middle of the nightmare that the world has become, when he is asked by the leader of the Fireflies, Marlene, to look after Ellie. Throughout the game, Joel slowly develops an unbreakable bond with Ellie and a desire to once again open up his emotions that he had suppressed for so many years.

• Ellie (Ashley Johnson) - The deuteragonist of the game. Ellie is a brave 14-year-old girl that has grown up in this harsh world and it is all she has ever known. Ellie is immune to the Cordyceps strain and because of this, the Fireflies, an anti-government organization, seek to reverse engineer a vaccine through her. She and Joel travel across the post-pandemic United States to reach the Fireflies. She helps the player through the game in many ways, lending a hand in combat and assisting through areas of the game that would otherwise be inaccessible. She frequently expresses curiosity about the remnants of a world that no longer exists.

• Tess (Annie Wersching) - Tess is Joel's 'partner-in-crime'. They operate in the black market of a city under martial law and have earned a reputation for their ruthless behavior. She and Joel have a trust that runs deeply between them. Tess goes with Joel to drop off Ellie to the Fireflies at the Capitol building in Boston, in exchange for getting back the guns that were stolen from them. Against all odds, the trio make it to the Capitol Building only to find that the Fireflies are dead, and Tess reveals that she was bitten by a Runner an hour before. She holds off some soldiers after she makes Joel promise to bring Ellie to Tommy, Joel's little brother.

• Bill (W. Earl Brown) - Bill is a paranoid survivor who appears early in the game and helps Joel and Ellie. Bill takes refuge in a town that he has completely booby trapped. He seems to be a bit eccentric, perhaps deranged, but offers to aid Joel and Ellie in finding a car. He is excessively bitter towards Ellie due to the fact that she was hostile towards him from the start. Bill possesses gay pornography, and showed heavy emotion for his friend Frank's death, implying that he was romantically involved with Frank.

• Marlene (Merle Dandridge) - The leader of the Fireflies and Ellie's surrogate parent. In exchange for their guns back, Marlene tells Tess and Joel to take Ellie to the Fireflies at the Capitol building in Boston. To Marlene, every unethical action she takes can be justified because of her pursuit to save humanity from the infection. She is absent for most of the game and only appears at the end, where she becomes the final antagonist.

• Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce) - Joel's brother and a former Firefly. The game starts with Tommy helping Joel and Sarah maneuver through the chaotic crowds of both civilians and infected during the initial outbreak. Tommy and Joel reunite later within the game and he reluctantly agrees to help his brother, establishing one of Joel and Ellie's reasons for coming to the University of Eastern Colorado. He is married to Maria.

• David (Nolan North) - A middle-age survivor and leader of a Cannibals group who appears later in the game and asks for help from Ellie. David is a very manipulative person, seeking to win people over with his superficial mild-mannered appearance, and attempts to convince Ellie to join him. Ellie doesn't buy his attitude and eventually breaks his finger. He finally reveals his true nature to Ellie and even attempts to kill her outright, sending a group of his men to capture her several times throughout the winter section of the game. To David, everything that has happened was for a reason; he believes faith brought him and Ellie to together, and that their encounter was meant to be. He has a very profound effect on Ellie throughout the rest of the game.

• Henry (Brandon Scott) - An adept survivor, who, with his brother Sam, helps Joel and Ellie in Pittsburgh. He and Joel are initially hostile towards each other, but in the end begin to warm up to each other. However, he commits suicide after having to kill his infected brother.

• Sam (Nadji Jeter) - Henry's younger brother. Upon meeting, he and Ellie get along almost instantly and continue their easy going relationship throughout the chapter. After he is bitten by an Infected, Ellie is the last person Sam talks to before he turns. He is killed by Henry, who immediately commits suicide out of grief.

• Sarah (Hana Hayes) - Joel's daughter. She is killed in the prologue when a soldier was instructed to open fire on both her and Joel. Her death causes Joel to become cold, cynical, and brutal over the years.

 

Discuss gameplay mechanics:

• Combat (look at all these shoulder height walls)
• Stealth (but not really it’s just quiet combat)
• Crafting (favourite items and least favourite)
• AI (Where did all the promises from E3 2013 go?)

 

Discuss sound:

• BGM - thematic and atmospheric or forgettable?
• Voice acting - Does it get better than this? (Needs more Matt Mercer)

 

Discuss graphics:

 

• Beautiful scenery

• Character design

• The zombies

 

 

Level 3

Lasting Impressions, overall rating and final thoughts. Did this make you want to play it again and if not, what would need to be changed? Would you suggest it to friends?

 

Level 4

3 Word Review #CC3WR from Twitter first followed by panel

 

Level 5

Outro (thank panel and plug)

Announce the game for next month (Kingdom Hearts)