The Last Of Us

Sporky

What a load of contrived crap. Four pairs of scissors to make one shiv, which breaks the moment you use it? Bullhonky. And how come the dolt protagonist can carry a dozen pairs of scissors but only three shivs?

This is some of the most appalling design I've ever seen in a game. It's entirely artificial and utterly illogical. Why can't I use a pair of scissors as a freakin' shiv? And several times? I have never broken a pair of scissors, so how come they've become so incredibly fragile?

I hate every single person involved in the creation of this turgid, linear, derivative piece of crap. Any one of them could have pointed out that a pair of scissors makes an excellent multi-use shiv by plunging it repeatedly into the chests of the morons who came up with this idiotic design decision.

Though I suppose they're already proven to be plagiarists and copyright violators, so expecting coherent, innovative thought from them may be a bit much.

viz

What are we talking about again?

Sporky

A bizarrely highly-rated PS3 game.

viz

Ah! Ok carry on, thank you.

paulk

Dude, you got to firebomb zombies!

Sporky

Nope. No firebombs. Just ridiculous shivs. I don't think it's worth carrying on with it. I mean, how am I supposed to be making one shiv from four pairs of scissors? Is there a pocket forge in my rucksack? Why wouldn't I just stab the bastards with the bastard scissors? Who could possibly be so stupid as to come up with this system?

digitalscream

Dude, are you OK? You seem to be awfully angry of late...

monquixote

digitalscream said:

Dude, are you OK? You seem to be awfully angry of late...

He normally works out his anger by shiving people 

Sporky

Exactly! But I've run out of scissors!

Drew_TNBD

What happened to just accepting the challenge of limited resources and working with what you've got?

I thought it was a fantastic game.

Sporky

I don't mind resources being limited, what I object to is the completely illogical, unrealistic and frankly ridiculous design decisions used to enforce the limitations.

Also the tedious trial-and-error nature of the game, where information is only revealed about enemies once they've killed you, even though the protagonist has been surviving in the game world for many years. The painfully slow camera controls. The totally dark levels where turning your torch on means certain death when the zombies see it, but not turning your torch on means not being able to see anything - and then your idiot companion turns her torch on anyway or runs face-first into a zombie and you all die.

All these appalling design decisions means there's no tension whatsoever. Crouch in the darkness, shuffle a bit forward, die. Restart. Crouch in the darkness, shuffle a bit sideways, die. Restart. Crouch in the darkness, stay still for a bit to see what's going on, die.

And why do the bastard shivs break as soon as you use them, and why does it take four pairs of scissors to make a shiv? How do you make one shiv from four pairs of scissors? EVERY PAIR OF SCISSORS IS TWO SHIVS ALREADY!

I think this may be the worst game I've ever played.

jd0272

I think I'll just buy GTA V then. Not that I'll ever be allowed the time by the wife to play the fckr.

TimmyO

You are Sheldon Cooper in that episode where he argues the flaw in Superman catching Lois Lane midair without harming her, but is fine with a man flying.

TimmyO

(btw in a similarly contrived fashion you can later improve shiv durability, and get molotovs and whatnot)

stickyfiddle

I'm pretty sure it's an artificial constraint designed to make the game harder and more tense. 

I recommend hiding from the zombies rather than shiving them. Makes life much easier when possible

Jalapeno

You could always cut your toenails ! :P

Sporky

TimmyO said:

You are Sheldon Cooper in that episode where he argues the flaw in Superman catching Lois Lane midair without harming her, but is fine with a man flying.

Thing is, though, it's a zombie game, so there being zombies is fine. But how did metallurgy change so much? Why not let you stab them with broken bottles? I could understand a bottle breaking when you stab a zombie with it - that's believable. But a metal shiv made from four pairs of scissors that breaks when you stab a zombie? That doesn't make any sense on any level! Why have shivs? Why not something that's consistent with breaking on use?

stickyfiddle said:

I'm pretty sure it's an artificial constraint designed to make the game harder and more tense. 

I recommend hiding from the zombies rather than shiving them. Makes life much easier when possible

I've tried hiding, but the zombies (even the ones that are meant to be blind) seem to have an uncanny knack of boxing you in and then attacking.

I just don't get it. I like stealthy games - I hardly killed anyone in Dishonoured, fer example - and I don't mind limited resources. I do mind inexplicable design choices such as the shiv system. Even on easy the sneaking is impossible because your companions keep running straight into zombies with their torches on!

Seriously, can anyone answer why it takes four pairs of scissors to make one shiv? How is it possible to make one shiv from four pairs of scissors, given that you're obviously not melting them down and reforging them? The only way I can think of is to throw three pairs of scissors away and use the last pair as a shiv, and even then why does it break as soon as you use it? Has anyone here ever broken the metal bit of a pair of scissors?

Col_Decker

before I comment I'm off to google *shiv* to see what we're talking about

Sporky

It's a sharp bit of metal. Like a crude dagger. Or, y'know, like one half of a pair of scissors. ONE HALF OF ONE PAIR!

Col_Decker

I see. So if you had say a dozen pairs of scissors you could effectively have 24 shivs?

 

That's a lot of shivs

Sporky

Assuming you had some way of separating the two halves of the scissors, yes, otherwise you'd have a dozen (on account of you can stab someone with a pair of scissors).

Except in The Last Of Us, where having a dozen pairs of scissors means you can make three shivs. HOW? FOR PITY'S SAKE, HOW?