How difficult is Grounded Mode?

[warpsmith]

I'm seriously debating whether to play TLOU now and go for the platinum... OR to wait until the PS4 version before I play it again.

Personally, waiting would be my recommendation if you are not too far along towards the platinum. It is *wonderful* to be back in the world of TLOU, but playing through the PS3 version again was not my top choice. Revisiting the post-pandemic world in the Remastered version after a year away would be undoubtedly amazing. In my case, I want my 100% back and haven't decided whether to platinum again on Remastered (there is a *lot* of MP involved - although MP is quite good, it is a serious grind of deathmatches, which is not for everyone).

[FluffyAssassin64]

Personally, waiting would be my recommendation if you are not too far along towards the platinum. It is *wonderful* to be back in the world of TLOU, but playing through the PS3 version again was not my top choice. Revisiting the post-pandemic world in the Remastered version after a year away would be undoubtedly amazing. In my case, I want my 100% back and haven't decided whether to platinum again on Remastered (there is a *lot* of MP involved - although MP is quite good, it is a serious grind of deathmatches, which is not for everyone).

 

Great cheers mate, just the kind of response I was looking for! I reckon the MP player base on PS3 would have dropped quite a bit now too (not to say that there aren't still lots of people playing; just not as many, so it would probably take longer), so waiting for PS4 seems to be the way to go

 

It's one of my favourite games of last-gen, so I want to treat the game with the respect it deserves, haha

Edited May 8, 2014 by FluffyAssassin64

[dimonemt]

Use brick(bottle)+melee combo to quickly finish off the runners: throw a brick in to one and deliver a killing blow. Run away pick up another brick and repeat, the key here is not to get overwhelmed. Also upgrade your health first so you can survive at least one runner hug. Other than that it's stealth, stealth, stealth. I'm making my way through the cemetery now and the real fun is still ahead.

[SaltySoph]

I'm upto the part where Ellie takes the horse and runs off. It felt challenging in the beginning because you pretty much die in one hit. But I try to not use my guns at all and just stealth kill or avoid enemies. Some parts you need your guns so I try save ammo for those parts. Now it's not so bad you just have to play smart.

[justyz2014]

Finished grounded yesterday and am working through grounded+ more leizurely. Grounded is definitely a challenge. If you're on this forum I'm sure you're aware you (SPOILER) don't have a visible life bar in this mode. Surprisingly, this didn't really impact me at all and actually kind of felt better. More realistic you know? It's definitely more difficult than survivor mode and enemies are notably more perceptive (especially infected and DAVID!). It is a great challenge that'll probably get you frustrated at certain parts. I'd recommend playing through survivor mode first because getting used to no listening mode and no life bar at once might seem daunting. There are also probably even fewer supplies than in survival mode. When I played it through I was being super conservative and I didn't have enough materials to craft a health kit from (SPOILER) making it to the Capital building with Tess to approximately running into Henry and Sam! You just gotta get used to being super conservative and learning how to take down each situation in the most effective and conservative way (e.g. brick/bottle + melee, etc.). Hope this helps. Really recommend this mode!

[Doudyx-X-xDubs]

Brick/bottle + melee is your best friend.

Only use shivs on shiv doors

Upgrade your max health before anything else then weapon sway(that's all you'll have enough for).

Get secondary holsters then focus on Fire Rates and Reload Speed.

 

Hardest parts for me:

Downtown Runner Room

Beginning part of The Financial District in Pittsburgh with the Hunters

The Stalker Room in the Sewers

The Hunt with Ellie (brick/bottle + melee don't work on clickers with her.)

 

Besides those, you usually can stealth or evade your way through most areas.

[TheMassaEffect]

Start NG+ on any difficulty.

complete first chapter

when 2nd chapter starts, save the game and exit to main menu

choose chapter select and pick the 1st chapter

choose the difficulty that you want (Grounded in this case) and play to the end

 

*It hasn't been confirmed that the GM and GM+ trophies will both stack and unlock

 

Confirmed that they do stack on the playstation.org forums, so for anyone still wondering there you have it.

 

Not too bad so far, just some hiccups due to the stupidity of Bill's AI.

[maur1c1o_X]

Haven't played this in a while and had no plans to since i had the plat its a great game but 4 playsthrough's is too much i thought survival+ wasnt too bad it had one or two tricky bits, will try this at some point when i can pick up the game for cheap as i got rid of it will have to force myself to play it again looking forward to ellie's dlc though not so much the multiplayer and having to replay the game 2 more times to keep 100% probably wont bother with that

[Veridis_Quo]

I really enjoyed playing survivor, so I'll be looking forward to the challenge of Grounded mode; however I'll be dreading some sections of the game like the high school, hotel basement (keycard generator section), ellie and david's escape just to name a few

[Saltyie]

From the people that have completed /played enough of Grounded Mode, what would you say the difficulty out of ten is? I'm making a guide (On how to maximise supplies and get through areas with minimal difficulty). The vanilla games difficulty to platinum is 6/10, so based on that, how hard is grounded mode?

[Dark_Tooth69]

From the people that have completed /played enough of Grounded Mode, what would you say the difficulty out of ten is? I'm making a guide (On how to maximise supplies and get through areas with minimal difficulty). The vanilla games difficulty to platinum is 6/10, so based on that, how hard is grounded mode?

6.5/10

[Flail]

I did a stealth walkthrough on survivor difficulty and I don't think grounded is much harder... There is no HUD imo that's the main difference...

Edited May 12, 2014 by Flail

[TwilightSpira]

I just got Sam in the party. Grounded is indeed a step up from survivor. The lack HUD doesn't bother me at all, although you die in one hit from the infuriating enemies you at least know how they react by now.

I can definitely say The last of Us is the best ps3 game Imo and I can't wait to see all perfect on ps4 and off course witness the sexiness of ps4 trophies popping, lol.

[Mog]

I thought it was pretty frustating at some points because there were a few sections in Survivor that i'd just run to the cutscene trigger or to the door that has an animation (makes me invincible) so i had to re-think my strategies on the go. Although at the Joel part just before the end of the David secton, i was able to just run past everything, pretty amusing.

 

It's also hard because you die in only two hits or so, but if you played the game a bunch of times like i did for the plat and know your shit, then you can make it for sure. I'd say the Ellie + David part is the hardest part.

[killerJAZZ420]

Not all that hard,.

 

Took me around 10 hours. i did the Easy+ glitch of course. But is there really a reason not to?

[yellowwindow7]

i finally bought the grounded mode!

 

i'm at the university " Go Big Horn " part, as far as i see

 

- the HUD is gone!

 

- reason why enemies can kills you in one hit is due to joel skills will be reset on grounded, meaning your health meter is small and you need to unlock the ability to shiv clickers or fully upgrade joel all over again.

 

- enemies them self's is a bit stronger even when they hit you by melee, plus they took's more bullets before they die especially the infected.

 

- in some area's they added extra more enemies, especially when enemies detect you while you're hiding.

 

- some of the enemies became more sharp shooters than before, also they can hear you from far if you kick a bottle or bumped on a crate or something by accident and one of them is lurking around.

 

the A.I did not really changed much, but some enemies will not get fooled easily by waiting for someone checking on their dead or blocked out teammate so you can choke hold them, as they'll first check the surrounding for you instead, some enemies also change the direction of their searching line.

 

- also i just notice that enemies drop ammo's after been killed more often than on a lower difficulties.

 

- checkpoint's is less in the game now and some of them will takes you way back if you died or restarted a part.

 

though i'm glad that all my survivor difficulty skills and tricks is still working with grounded    

Edited June 10, 2014 by yellowwindow7

[TwilightSpira]

Grounded is the best way for The Last of Us.

Since launch I thought that anyone who didn't play this game on Survivor, never had the full experience from this masterpiece.

[nenugalimas]

From my experience, grounded mode is slightly harder than survivor (something like survivor++). HUD is the only noticeable difference.

[Juzota]

I've played like 48% of the story on Grounded-mode and it has been real fun. I just met Henry and Sam, so the scariest part is still coming. Yes, I'm talking about the sewers. I am sure that I'm going to die. Many time.

 

In this Grounded playthrough, bricks and bottles has became my new best friends. Thankfully there are lots of those items layin' around. It would be real pain in the ass without those really. And of course you're friends are going to be more important than ever. Bill especially was a real bulldozer when I played those parts. Bill's deathtoll was lot higher than mine, lol.

 

I love TLoU

[KingCuervo88]

Not sure how many people know this but if you beat grounded (or glitched into grounded+ like me for 1 playthrough) it unlocks other difficulty trophies i.e. hard+ and survivor+ for me... could save people time when they buy it for the PS4...

[darkram13]

I'm at the Ellie section just after partnering with David for a bit.

Grounded is a little harder than Survivor. I never found Survivor that much tougher than Hard, though. I think the game's challenges are in the difficulty level per se. I think that I just suck at a few sections in general. I'm terrible at the room when I get the revolver. I'm terrible at the hotel generator. I'm terrible at the sewers sequence with Sam.

Human enemies are tougher but fun and fair. The infected sequences, especially the stealth ones, seem finicky and cheap as hell.

My advice - let your AI companions do as much work as possible, and take a break if the game is kicking your ass. I'm amazed how much breaking for a day or two helped me. And of course there are the obvious tricks like use stealth and fists as much as possible, while sparing your bullets and melee weapons and supplies. Bottles and bricks are plentiful enough.

[Mythify]

Grounded + Is kicking my ass I've died 17 times and I'm only at the part where you push Ellie in the truck. The first bloater was the hardest part so far. Just one of his little pink bombs can kill you  

[soniq]

I have started Grounded Mode on Friday and finished Saturday late at night.

Except for the chapter where you play as Ellie I didn't find it too hard because you can mostly ignore enemies and just run past them.

 

The only parts I thought were challenging were the ones where you actually have to kill every last enemy in a bigger area (Financial District, Sewers), where they spawn infected runners just to troll you (mostly in Bill's Town) and of course the parts where you play as Ellie. That cabin and the elevator room probably took me around 2-3 hours.

Edited August 5, 2014 by soniq

[greeves96]

So... Is it safe to jump from normal to grounded mode?

[StrickenBiged]

So... Is it safe to jump from normal to grounded mode?

 

Yeah, it's fine. Having played normal, you'll be familiar with the missions and where to go to escape each encounter, which would be the main barrier to entry with Grounded mode IMO.

 

On grounded, pretty much anything will kill you in one or 2 hits. So gameplay is all about stealth; silent takedowns only, conserve your ammo and only shoot when there is literally no other option. There are pretty much no sections which cannot be completed using pure stealth, you just need to figure them out. Concentrate on upgrading the Bow, it's your best friend in the later sections of the game.

 

I really recommend Grounded mode. My gaming highlight of 2014 was my 2 playthroughs of TLoU:R on Grounded and G+.