PlayingTheLastOfUs

A course at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland, Spring 2019, taught by @jjesseramirez

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

Thanks to the students who are already posting. This is fun! But for some reason I'm not getting everyone's posts on my feed. So the best way to follow the conversation is to click on the hashtag #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@ms24_TLOU It would be an interesting twist on gameplay if Ellie, unlike Joel, could survive an infected bite. I could imagine that she has fewer weapons but this additional "skill."

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@AStrotz What happens if you don't crawl?

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@Min08287009 Yes, I think it's the first time that he uses this phrase "baby girl," the same one he used for Sarah.

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@potato_syrup You should probably wait to finish TLOU first, but the DLC "Left Behind" answers your questions....

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@jordan_TLOU Now that you mention it, yes, it was harder to move.

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@LinusNiedermann From a gameplay standpoint it makes a bit more sense. Imagine that along with two pistols, a normal and shorty shotgun, a bow, a flamethrower, nail and smoke bombs, various melee weapons, and molotovs, Joel had an unlimited knife like Ellie. He'd be virtually unstoppable.

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

What happens? What do the effects of this action tell us about the dynamics of narrative vs gameplay? #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

In class we talked about conflicts btw the narrative importance of protecting Ellie vs her virtual invincibility during gameplay. Try this in the University. Shoot E with the flamethrower right as she enters this door.
#PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@LucaPlayingUs This should make sense after the end of the chapter. #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

Not sure how I feel about this. 🤨#PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@TLOUValentino There really isn't any reason NOT to, right? It's basically built into the diegetic tutorial. It's supposed to be the first time you use your gun. There's no real moral weight to it imo. #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@DennisThaa Right. Through objects like this TLOU often explicitly invites us to play it as an American game. #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@LinusNiedermann I always found it kinda curious that she and Joel don't seem to have any romantic relationship. In fact, Joel is sort of "sexless" in the game; he doesn't seem to have any romantic feelings at all. Maybe that would make him too "soft"? #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@Fabio52535381 Good point. And it's not a brutal kill, but a "humanitarian" choice about whether to fulfill the man's request to die cleanly. #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@NickMeinName Interesting. You feel that stealth makes the gameplay less tense and immersive? Even when you're trying to sneak up on someone? Or are you making a specific point about how NPCs function in stealth? #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@a_haefliger Excellent point. Are we supposed to think that J is an decent guy if during gameplay he's a brutally efficient killer? This isn't so troubling in chapter 2, but perhaps it becomes more of a problem later, when the narrative wants us to see J's "human" side. #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@LinusNiedermann @LucaPlayingUs Right. And they provide a kind of diegetic "cover" for what is essentially a machinic aspect of the gameplay, namely, that some objects are not actionable simply because the gamespace would be too big if you could enter EVERY room. #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@SGamelog @NickMeinName Maybe they're also useful for hunting or security? Technically, TLOU could be about J and a dog and their companionship after the pseudo-apocalypse. It's a common theme in videogames (Far Cry 5, Fallout) and literature/film (A Boy and His Dog). #PlayingWithTheEnd19

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@DennisThaa For context, see Pew Research Center, "America's Complex Relationship with Guns"
https://t.co/ej2gl6H3tz

[PlayingTheLastOfUs @PlayingUs]

@DennisThaa The availability of guns is taken for granted in most zombie apocalypses. In a way it's "realistic" bc of high gun ownership in US. Wonder what a zombie apocalypse would look like in a country with much tighter gun laws.🤔
#PlayingWithTheEnd19