The Last of Us EP28: Triangle Harder

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Dec 10, 2014

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 43 comments


Link (YouTube)

I know a running joke on the show is how we constantly make fun of Josh for playing so bad, but I think we need to drop that gag for a minute and talk about these goofy mechanics. What is going on here? In the first few minutes we can see:

  1. The game gives you a triangle prompt. Press it, zombie dies. Whee.
  2. Game doesn’t give the prompt, no matter how you position yourself, how long you wait, or how close you get. It gives no feedback as to what you’re doing wrong.
  3. The game doesn’t give the prompt, but you can kill the zombie anyway.
  4. The game gives you the prompt, but when you hit the button it insta-kills YOU instead.
  5. Sometimes you can quicktime event out of getting grabbed. Sometimes you just die.

I have no idea. On one hand, I love this game for its characters, story, and gorgeous visuals. On the other hand, it looks like a completely annoying pain in the ass to play.

See, Shamus. If you had PLAYED the game you would understand. The stupid, random, unexplained, and unfair mechanics just reinforce the stupid, random, unexplained, and unfair nature of life in the post-apocalyptic world. This isn’t broken mechanics, it’s an integral part of the storytelling and besides I didn’t have any trouble and I beat the game on hard while drunk.

Goofy gameplay aside, this entire section is completely fantastic. Best videogame photobooth since SBCGFAP.

 


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43 thoughts on “The Last of Us EP28: Triangle Harder

  1. silver Harloe says:

    @9:30 so THAT’s where Ellie learns to ride a horse :)

    1. Endymion says:

      And the cars they through bricks at was how she learned to drive a stick.

      1. Grudgeal says:

        And that book taught her how to punish zombies.

      2. silver Harloe says:

        nah, she learned to drive a stick @19:20 ;)

  2. Andrew says:

    I haven’t seen the episode yet but I really hope you guys made it ALL the way through the many, MANY, puns in the pun book…

    =D

    1. tmtvl says:

      Yes, and Ruts calls ’em.

      1. Andrew says:

        Just watched it – my favourite moment in the whole DLC!

  3. KingJosh says:

    “Do the Zombies have Zombie Hospitals?” –Josh, about 3:35 mark

    You see, Josh, in some editions of D&D, Zombies are healed by “negative energy.” So, the Spoiler Warning crew’s commentary IS their hospital.

    1. SpiritBearr says:

      The “of the dead” series has the concept of the dead continuing to attempt to do what they did when they lived. All Hospitals would become Zombie hospitals filled with zombie patients and zombies doctors trying to fix them. Although in the “of the Dead” series, trying to fix them would be applying gauze and using defibrillator paddles for maximum comedic effect.

    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Ive seen only torchwood deal with undead in a (somewhat) realistic manner,meaning no regeneration of tissue,no matter how shallow a wound.So for such undead,hospitals would be a must,just to stitch up the regular day bruises and grazes.And plastic surgery would be even more profitable than it already is.

      1. So you’re saying “Death Becomes Her” was a documentary?

      2. James says:

        There was a BBC series that was very good about the dead coming back to life and trying to reintegrate to society.

        It was called In The Flesh,

      3. HeroOfHyla says:

        I never understood Miracle Day. Why does it matter that the food is going to run out? People don’t need to eat anymore!

        1. Daemian Lucifer says:

          Wasnt talking about that one.But to answer your question:
          Because people still go hungry.And perpetual hunger pains would be a nightmare.People would riot.

        2. Gruhunchously says:

          They kinda do though. In Miracle Day, people can still get sick, become critically injured, age and starve. The only thing they can’t do is die. Mass starvation would still be a thing, it would just leave thousands of people in perpetual agony as their bodies wither away before their eyes.

  4. Viktor says:

    I really can’t deal with how good these 2 are together. I doubt I could make it through the game, my heart would give out.

  5. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Rutskarn,you are a couple of years younger than ellie,so how come you arent as cute when telling puns?

    1. Rutskarn says:

      Because instead of a borderline illegal reproduction of Ellen Page, I was apparently based on a Burger King Kid’s Club nerd minus the ethnic diversity.

      1. Aitch says:

        Don’t play coy, we all know you’re John Carmack’s illegitimate clone with the math and programming and rocket science swapped out for english, writing, and the ability to one day craft a pun that causes delayed brain hemorrhaging. I’m sure I’m not the only person who considers this a vast upgrade from the original model.

        Respectfully,
        The Eighth Letter of the Alphabet

        1. Grudgeal says:

          So if they join forces they can make MST3K a reality?

        2. Ivan says:

          “and the ability to one day craft a pun that causes delayed brain hemorrhaging.”

          Wow, and I thought that only a 15th level monk could pull something like that off!

      2. I thought you were based on that kid who shilled for Encyclopedia Britannica back in the early 90’s.

        Perhaps you were synthesized from multiple sources, making you a kind of nerdier version of Serpentor. Did they give you some kind of hover-cycle, too?

        1. Peter H. Coffin says:

          Donavan Freberg. He does wedding photography now.

          1. That’s cool, but I would’ve kept my legal name as “Serpentor.”

  6. Paul Spooner says:

    +1 for the “‘armless” pun

  7. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Not on topic,but are these new?

    “30 comments. (A twenty-sided die has 30 edges.)”

    “15 comments. (Fifteen is the smallest natural number with seven letters in its name.)”

    1. Tizzy says:

      Nah, they’ve been around a while, but they’re easy to miss, given the usual rate at which comments come in. Not sure why this particular post has generated so few comments so far…

      1. Ivan says:

        I think it was broken earlier today, whenever I clicked on the comments I would get some sort of error. I think it said something about not being able to connect to the server though I didn’t really know how to go about letting Shamus know about it.

        In any case it looks like it’s sorted out now.

  8. Phil says:

    I guess the lesson of this video is that, if at first you don’t succeed, triangle, triangle again.

    1. MichaelGC says:

      This originally made me cross, but I circled back on it, and now we’re all square.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        That was really plane.Your puns lack depth.

        1. I still respect them, for they R1 pun among many, and yours R2.

          1. Grudgeal says:

            I would have asked you all to please, please don’t start, but it seems like you’ve already selected the regular procedure. Oh well, let’s rumble.

            1. Joe Informatico says:

              I knew this exchange would trigger something.

              1. Von Krieger says:

                I wish you guys would stop pushing my buttons.

                1. Phil says:

                  It really has gotten out of control. I guess it’s too late for me to stay just a wee remote from the situation.

              2. lucky7 says:

                It’s finally clicked.

  9. Corpital says:

    The dog on the Pet Noura poster on the cover in the beginning looks so happy. I like him.

    What? Rest of the episode? Yeah yeah, praise character interaction, be unhappy with mechanics. But the puppy is really really excited to be there.

  10. MrGuy says:

    Remember back when in the main game Joel needed to explain what a clicker was to Ellie?

    1. mwchase says:

      Wait, I missed it. Does she talk about clickers in the flashback section, as opposed to the “save Joel” section?

    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

      I think he was explaining a bloater,not a clicker.

  11. Target182 says:

    The mall in Brandon, Florida has a really nice carousel

  12. Thomas says:

    I have no idea whats up with that stealth kill prompt

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