Is TLOU2 on highest difficulty one of the most intense, challenging and rewarding campaigns in modern gaming?

[Nothing Loud]

The answer is yes.

I'm currently stuck at a part but I've beaten it once before on Grounded and I'm trying it again. I'm never bored of how relentlessly brutal, realistic, and rewarding the combat scenarios are. How intelligent the enemy AI flanks you and calls out to its support. The way enemies seek you out and outsmart you and you have to lie on your back in the grass and dart between points on the map using scraps of ammo and gear to get you by 1 HP and 1 bullet at a time. It's an intense, gripping experience that can play out enormously differently each time you approach a combat scenario. The campaign has some of the most interesting TPS arenas and enemy load outs I've ever played. It's exceedingly regarding to conquer an area of enemies and the combat is so fluid and gorgeous to witness that it feels like I'm watching an action story unfold at my fingertips.

Is anyone else just absolutely captivated by TLOU2's gameplay improvements to TLOU1? I hope they bring some of the enemy AI and combat improvements to the TLOU1 remake.

 

[Ahti]

First time coming to Hillcrest on highest difficulty and encountering the dogs:

 

[BenjiBurltz]

What's the difference between Survivor and Grounded again? I have done it on Grounded and it was indeed amazing, some of the best stealth gameplay in any game. It really makes you use all the tools at your disposal and make every shot count. Can't wait to do it again on Part 1.

 

[Nothing Loud]

What's the difference between Survivor and Grounded again? I have done it on Grounded and it was indeed amazing, some of the best stealth gameplay in any game. It really makes you use all the tools at your disposal and make every shot count. Can't wait to do it again on Part 1.

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Which ones the highest? Lols I might have mixed them up. I definitely meant the highest one. I guess that's grounded? It's awesome. Honestly yes the best stealth ever

Edit: it's grounded, Oops wish I could change the poll Haha

 

[CHC]

First time coming to Hillcrest on highest difficulty and encountering the dogs:

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I have honestly never been so happy to kill animals in a video game in my life. It was horrible. I was disturbed by how much I hated those dogs and fed off of their death yelps thanks to all the stress they caused me.

 

[Nothing Loud]

I have honestly never been so happy to kill animals in a video game in my life. It was horrible. I was disturbed by how much I hated those dogs and fed off of their death yelps thanks to all the stress they caused me.

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It's also the first time I've ever actually been afraid of dogs, which I think is the intended reaction to justify killing them to save yourself

 

[Temascos]

I love the combat on the hardest difficulty in those games, especially since you can break line of sight and flank your enemies which makes all the difference.

The final part of TLOU2 was so freaking intense, but I think in terms of level design it's a bit too easy to bottleneck enemies.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

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Is this TLoU1

 

[Mocha Joe]

I still think Sekiro is

 

[Teeth]

I found LoU2 to be substantially easier on harder difficulties than LoU1, but that might just be because it's got much better and more intuitive mechanics (and no, i don't consider it being easier as a negative).

 

[Shock32]

First time coming to Hillcrest on highest difficulty and encountering the dogs:

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I was cruising along until the dogs entered the picture. It literally changed the entire combat mechanic. Wonder why more games don't use dogs this way.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

In TLOU1 i distinctly remember feeling like survivor was much much more fun than grounded. Grounded gave me the super meat boy effect (which is where i feel like i was just running in and dying a bunch until i got the perfect line) which dispelled a lot of the tension and turned it into a much more gamey experience.

Survivor on the other hand was insanely tense and I loved every minute of it. Because everything felt survivable and doable it felt more immersive, my instinct was just to play each scenario out as well as I could and fighting as hard as possible for every inch because it never felt like I could put myself at such a disadvantage.

I haven't tried playing above survivor in part 2, mostly because of my experiences with part 1 but I loved every minute of survivor in part 2.

 

[KalBalboa]

TLOU2's gameplay definitely begs you to increase the difficulty to get that extra immersion.

 

[Alek]

I found LoU2 to be substantially easier on harder difficulties than LoU1, but that might just be because it's got much better and more intuitive mechanics (and no, i don't consider it being easier as a negative).

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I think you have a lot more options and stealth in particular is a lot easier because of how stages are less linear.

 

[horsebite]

First time coming to Hillcrest on highest difficulty and encountering the dogs:

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Currently stuck here on my Grounded playthrough. I have zero ammo...so it's been super rough and I'm out of ideas haha.

 

[snausages]

That neighbourhood level had a very Snake Eater feel I thought, and the way they place the patrols and different line of sight/different elevations made it a really cool bit of stealth action/blowing motherfuckers up gaming (depending on your approach)

I would sort of like ND to make a game that has more of this stuff and less of the cinematic stuff. As well as implement VR, cause a lot of the systems in it are very VR friendly

 

[Kadzork]

Currently working my way through Grounded and I think it is sublime.

Getting through an encounter with hardly any resources used or coming out ahead is bliss.

 

[Teeth]

I think you have a lot more options and stealth in particular is a lot easier because of how stages are less linear.

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Yeah, that's basically what I meant to imply. Like Spaceghost said above, I found LoU1 incredibly constricting on most of the enounters. Not so much in the way of stage linearity but in actual tactical linearity; on harder difficulties it played more like a puzzle with one solution and I found it un-engaging.

 

[HiLife]

Isn't the first gif TLOU1? The Abby disrespect.

 

[TulioHenriqueBC]

I keep replaying the encounters trying to save as much ammo and resources as possible, it's tough but it's fun.

 

[finalflame]

holy hyperbole batman

 

[Alek]

Yeah, that's basically what I meant to imply. Like Spaceghost said above, I found LoU1 incredibly constricting on most of the enounters. Not so much in the way of stage linearity but in actual tactical linearity; on harder difficulties it played more like a puzzle with one solution and I found it un-engaging.

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Yeah I agree with that. It always felt like you were supposed to find a particular route or a particular order to address enemies.

I think because of how dynamic the AI is in Part 2 it plays a lot better in this way. In part one you learn that you need to do things in a very precise order because the AI behaves the same way each time, but in Part 2 there's a lot of flexibility to how your actions will affect how quickly other AI respond to you and whatnot. Things like breaking line of sight have a real impact, in part one they just seem to know where you are once alerted.

 

[Zebesian-X]

TLOU 2 on Grounded is the main reason why I'm Day 1 for the Remake. More of that gameplay = a slam dunk

 

[Kyuuji]

holy hyperbole batman

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What would be your pick(s)?

 

[Loudninja]

 

[Shemhazai]

It's also the first time I've ever actually been afraid of dogs, which I think is the intended reaction to justify killing them to save yourself

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So you've never played Resi 1? :P

 

[snausages]

You can really listen really close and pick up certain cues that are handed to you automatically by the detective vision mechanic (I cant recall if you can fully disable the detective vision or not, I think you can)

eg, here some dude asks 'Evie' did she find anything, so now you know there are two people nearby headed in opposite directions, the dude outside and 'Evie' in the house.



Also the way you can have bursts of noise due to your rambo-ing in one part of the map act like a diversion to attract patrols to that area, then quickly yet silently circulate back around to pick them off

 

[nihilence]

Are enemies more sponge, is the player more squishy?

I hate when difficulty just makes you get one shot anywhere on body, while enemies take multiple naked headshot.

 

[Incubuster]

It's absolutely one of the best. Doom Eternal is up there as well.

 

[Patitoloco]

I've never played any of these games in hard mode, because Naughty Dog games (Uncharted, mainly) are horrible above normal.

Are they really that good / game changing in TLOUs?

 

[snausages]

Are enemies more sponge, is the player more squishy?

I hate when difficulty just makes you get one shot anywhere on body, while enemies take multiple naked headshot.

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Dunno about grounded but I'm pretty sure on survivor a stray bullet can completely main people (which makes them scream a lot and bring attention to you)

It's not really a tanky enemy kinda game

I've never played any of these games in hard mode, because Naughty Dog games (Uncharted, mainly) are horrible above normal.

Are they really that good / game changing in TLOUs?

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imo TLOU1 mostly sucks, but TLOU2 is close in quality to MGSV when it comes to weaving between action and stealth and making the game more difficult heightens the importance of knowing when silence or violence is appropriate

 

[Arex]

It already is on normal difficulties lol

 

[Ahti]

I was cruising along until the dogs entered the picture. It literally changed the entire combat mechanic. Wonder why more games don't use dogs this way.

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Same. Literal game changer, lol.

Currently stuck here on my Grounded playthrough. I have zero ammo...so it's been super rough and I'm out of ideas haha.

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You don`t need to kill anyone in this area. If you don`t have any ammo, just focus on reaching the red door (northwest from the starting point) without getting attacked while opening it (takes a few seconds). I´d recommend keeping left, moving from south to southwest to west distracting foes by throwing bricks/bottles if you need to. It takes some time, practice and patience but you can do it.

 

[Nekyrrev]

I've never played any of these games in hard mode, because Naughty Dog games (Uncharted, mainly) are horrible above normal.

Are they really that good / game changing in TLOUs?

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Yeah it's not really comparable to uncharted in my opinion.

In Tlou2 the difficulty add so much tension and really forces you to use every tool at your disposal. It's maybe the most tense I've been while playing a single-player game and in a good way.
You must really think before you act, until all hell breaks lose and you have to run/hide/improvise for your life.

 

[Kill3r7]

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Fantastic gameplay but runs like this hurt realism and show the boundaries of game design. A person going through the scenario the first time wouldn't know all the enemy location and their responses.

 

[s y]

Hillcrest

What a level

 

[Antrax]

I could never do it, but I watched my wife play through all of the Dragon Age games on Nightmare and that shit was insane. Unbelievably tactical; one party member out of place or a spell not used at the right time, and you wipe in seconds. There's a boss in DAO DLC that's famously hard in general, and watching her beat that thing on Nightmare was crazy.

 

[Dr PeterVenkman]

I love the gameplay in this game. I really need to try grounded mode on PS5 in glorious 60fps

 

[shadowsdarknes]

It's one of the best experiences in gaming.

The AI is so good and relentless. I love that they essentially never stop looking for you. Each movement needs to be incredibly deliberate. The game gives you many tools at your disposal from arrows, stealth kills, going prone, creating distractions using environmental elements, etc. The tension I felt just praying I'm not caught was unlike anything I had played.

There were times I met death when I least expected it and was just exasperated because of it.

Having watched a friend play through on normal difficulty, it was almost a completely different game. And that's fine. To each their own. But I felt like I had to really master each encounter and use every tool at my disposal in order to survive.

And like someone else says, if your stealth goes wrong, you're probably dead. But if you do manage to survive, there's a huge moment of relief. But also a moment of frustration knowing you could have done better. But those moments of chaos are an absolute thrill.

 

[Siggy-P]

It's also the first time I've ever actually been afraid of dogs, which I think is the intended reaction to justify killing them to save yourself

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The security at my work had dogs for a week. Dogs trained to attack are no joke. It cleared a 5 foot fence in the dark in a single jump chasing someone the security hadn't even seen. Terrifying.

 

[Sande]

On grounded it edged from intense to a little annoying for me. Stuff like immediate high alert when your ear peeks an inch from cover is not the pinnacle of TLOU for me.

I loved grounded in TLOU but in TLOU2 survivor is where it's at.

Fantastic gameplay but runs like this hurt realism and show the boundaries of game design. A person going through the scenario the first time wouldn't know all the enemy location and their responses.

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I don't know if challenge runners have ways to manipulate things, but in general enemies don't always behave the same way. Also, I don't think it's a mark against a game that repeating a scenario dozens of times gives you a pretty good picture of how it'll play out.

 

[AngryPuppy]

I've been meaning to go back and replay TLOU2, but I was thinking of trying the permadeath setting rather than jacking up the difficulty - probably just on the per chapter setting because I'm not crazy. I really loved the game but I want to offset my save-scum instincts because the game is so good when things go sideways.

 

[Incubuster]

I've never played any of these games in hard mode, because Naughty Dog games (Uncharted, mainly) are horrible above normal.

Are they really that good / game changing in TLOUs?

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Higher difficulties in the last of us is the only way to play them in my opinion. Do you actually want to feel like you're trying to survive? Then hard is the baseline.

 

[mogwai00]

Played at the highest difficulty available at launch, avoiding that abortion of Listen Mode and with bare minum HUD elements.
Yeah, is among the best gaming experiences of the last 10 years.

 

[Nothing Loud]

Is this TLoU1

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LOL oops it looked like Ellie to me from behind, my bad

 

[Kyuuji]

LOL oops it looked like Ellie to me from behind, my bad

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You're gonna need to book an opticians appointment after that.

 

[horsebite]

You don`t need to kill anyone in this area. If you don`t have any ammo, just focus on reaching the red door (northwest from the starting point) without getting attacked while opening it (takes a few seconds). I´d recommend keeping left, moving from south to southwest to west distracting foes by throwing bricks/bottles if you need to. It takes some time, practice and patience but you can do it.

Click to shrink...

Good call. Thanks for the tip!

 

[AIan]

Really need to try TLOU1/2 on Grounded mode sometime.

 

[JoJo'sDentCo]

The security at my work had dogs for a week. Dogs trained to attack are no joke. It cleared a 5 foot fence in the dark in a single jump chasing someone the security hadn't even seen. Terrifying.

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Did they live?

 

[Siggy-P]

Did they live?

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They had a car parked on a street, got in and drove off. Had they been on foot though it would have got them. The distance from were the dog was to were the fence was is like 300 metres and it crossed it in seconds.