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The Last of Us Part 2: Grounded and Grounded+ vs Survivor

BluRayHiDef

Banned
On my first playthrough, I attempted to complete the game on Survivor; however, I couldn't get past the part at which I was playing as Abby and got stuck inside a dwelling and had to fight waves of Infected while Lev attempted to free Abby from outside. I subsequently lowered the difficulty to "Normal" and completed the game that way.

However, I'm now playing the game again and want to earn all of the trophies (main set and additional set), which entails completing the game on Grounded difficulty.

I'm therefore playing it on Grounded+ (not regular Grounded), which means that all of the upgrades that I applied to the playable characters and weapons are enabled.

Will I still earn the trophy for completing the game on Grounded or can that trophy be earned on only regular Grounded (i.e. no New Game +)?

Also, thus far Grounded+ feels easier than Survivor (Jinx, knock on wood); I didn't expect the upgrades that I've carried over from my previous playthrough to mitigate the higher difficulty to the extent that it has done so thus far. I'm at the part just past the first two skirmishes with WLF soldiers (i.e. the part that takes place just after you hop over a fence to leave a motel).

Will the rest of the game remain as relatively less difficult than I expected it to be?
 

kyliethicc

Member
Grounded mode is the most difficult and realistic mode. Here are just some of the changes unique to Grounded difficulty.

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dDoc

Member
I beat it on Survivor and then on Grounded plus, the trophy popped. I am only missing the beat the game with no deaths. It's never gonna happen too much hassle :)
 

kyliethicc

Member
So, has anyone on these boards beaten the game on Grounded or Grounded New Game Plus?
I've beat The Last of Us Remastered on Grounded and Grounded Plus and of course Grounded Plus is easier than just Grounded. Both are quite difficult. Grounded Plus is still more difficult than Survivor IMO.

So far I've only beat The Last of Us Part II on Survivor with Permadeath by chapter. I have started a Grounded playthrough but am only at Seattle Day 1 so far. I love the game at this degree of challenge, recommend it.
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
I've beat The Last of Us Remastered on Grounded and Grounded Plus and of course Grounded Plus is easier than just Grounded. Both are quite difficult. Grounded Plus is still more difficult than Survivor IMO.

So far I've only beat The Last of Us Part II on Survivor with Permadeath by chapter. I have started a Grounded playthrough but am only at Seattle Day 1 so far. I love the game at this degree of challenge, recommend it.

I'm playing TLoU Part II on Grounded Plus; I'm currently on Seattle Day 2 as Ellie. Thus far, it hasn't been as hard as Survivor thanks to the upgrades that I've carried over.
 

kyliethicc

Member
I'm playing TLoU Part II on Grounded Plus; I'm currently on Seattle Day 2 as Ellie. Thus far, it hasn't been as hard as Survivor thanks to the upgrades that I've carried over.
Of course. New game plus is inherently easier
 
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kyliethicc

Member
You said that it's still harder than Survivor, tbough. I said otherwise, though I'm now feeling the pinch.
Yeah in some ways it is, some ways it isn't, I guess. Depends on what aspects to the gameplay you find challenging.

Normal New Game difficulties are harder early on due to no upgrades, unlike New Game Plus. That balances out over the duration.

While Grounded (Plus) vs Survivor, in Grounded you have less crafting resources, less upgrade resources, more aggressive AI, more challenging stealth, no listen mode, no hit markers, and more. Its by definition the hardest mode. But of course Plus lessens the challenge a bit, especially early on.
 
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BluRayHiDef

Banned
3090RTX and still playing Last of Us 2?! Damn!

Well, yeah. I still want to play PlayStation exclusives, which I obviously cannot play on PC. Console games may not look as good as the best looking games on PC (PC exclusives or multi-platform), but they still exceed the minimum threshold for what I consider to be great graphics and respectable/ enjoyable performance. Here's an analogy: some hand-drawn animated series don't look as good as others, but they're still enjoyable.

Anyhow, I've made it to Seattle Day 2 - The Seraphites in TLoU Part II on Grounded Plus. It's been grueling but fun.
 
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Self

Member
While Grounded (Plus) vs Survivor, in Grounded you have less crafting resources, less upgrade resources, more aggressive AI, more challenging stealth, no listen mode, no hit markers, and more. Its by definition the hardest mode. But of course Plus lessens the challenge a bit, especially early on.

I tried to play the grounded + mode, but I the enemy A.I is really killing me. These fuckers see and hear everything. TLOU remastered was way, way easier and forgiving in that regard. I have the feeling I'm just to old for that kind of challenge.

Does someone care to give some good advice, strategic hints?
 

Bartski

Gold Member
Does someone care to give some good advice, strategic hints?

My advice to get the best experience out of this game would be to play it on the hardest mode possible with aim accessibility features ENABLED, like aim assist or aim slo-mo.
Can't imagine going for grounded permadeath without it, that's the plan after PS5 HD drops.

Edit: arent these options disabled on "grounded"? Not sure
 
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Duchess

Member
I would never do permadeath mode in that game. Fighting Ellie when playing as Abby was so much harder than expected. She must've killed me more than a dozen times in that segment.
 
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Self

Member
aim accessibility features ENABLED, like aim assist or aim slo-mo.

I feel that won't help much, because the enemies are all over me in an instant. It's very hard to kill enemies without others noticing it. Maybe a pure stealth approach may help, but the lack of patience may be my weakness.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
I feel that won't help much, because the enemies are all over me in an instant. It's very hard to kill enemies without others noticing it. Maybe a pure stealth approach may help, but the lack of patience may be my weakness.
I hear you, while Survival was all about maneuvering and escaping back to stealth I guess Grounded is all about pure stealth and just avoiding combat whenever possible. I think you can't alter detailed settings from within grounded which means most enemies have an unrealistic superhuman aim and instantly snipe you from across the map and it sucks. You need flawless silenced headshots and that's where lock-on helps big time
 
Personally I find Last of us 2 is easier than 1 on grounded as you have way more resources is part 2.

That said I played a lot of factions so both are fairly easy for me. Really wish there was less resources in Grounded to force more stealth
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
I tried to play the grounded + mode, but I the enemy A.I is really killing me. These fuckers see and hear everything. TLOU remastered was way, way easier and forgiving in that regard. I have the feeling I'm just to old for that kind of challenge.

Does someone care to give some good advice, strategic hints?

How far did you get into your Grounded+ playthrough of TLoU Part II? For me, Hillcrest has been the most frustrating level on Grounded+ thus far. The level is densely packed with enemies, so sneaking through or trying to play like Rambo are both very, very difficult; if it weren't for the checkpoints therein, I probably wouldn't have made it through.

I'm now at the point where you have to navigate through a building filled with stalkers.
 

Self

Member
How far did you get into your Grounded+ playthrough of TLoU Part II? For me, Hillcrest has been the most frustrating level on Grounded+ thus far. The level is densely packed with enemies, so sneaking through or trying to play like Rambo are both very, very difficult; if it weren't for the checkpoints therein, I probably wouldn't have made it through.

I'm now at the point where you have to navigate through a building filled with stalkers.

I barely made it through the TV station and if I remember correctly I'm on my way to Hillcrest searching for Tommy. No dogs so far... I know they will screw me up big time. I just know it.
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
I barely made it through the TV station and if I remember correctly I'm on my way to Hillcrest searching for Tommy. No dogs so far... I know they will screw me up big time. I just know it.

So, you haven't given up? If so, that's good. The part that I'm really worried about occurs when Abby is the playable character and gets stuck in a decrepit dwelling and has to fight waves of various Infected while Lev tries to free her. That part was a pain on Survivor and made me drop the difficulty to Normal.
 

Self

Member
I did it on grounded, shit was tough. No idea if grounded NG+ will count towards your trophy though

Wait a minute... can somebody confirm that? But to be honest, screw it anyway. There is no way I'm going back to beginning.

So, you haven't given up? If so, that's good. The part that I'm really worried about occurs when Abby is the playable character and gets stuck in a decrepit dwelling and has to fight waves of various Infected while Lev tries to free her. That part was a pain on Survivor and made me drop the difficulty to Normal.

I paused it for a moment. Playing Star Wars Squadron right now to give me some 'space'. But I'll be back soon. I can think of several instances which will certainly lead to frustrations. Abby descending the infected building late in the game. Also the hospital chapter with Ellie and the infected boss gives me headaches.
 
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Neff

Member
The part that I'm really worried about occurs when Abby is the playable character and gets stuck in a decrepit dwelling and has to fight waves of various Infected while Lev tries to free her.
It's not so bad. Go into it with as much as you can supply-wise, and be ready to run and craft quickly. There are points where the enemies spawn that you can learn and take advantage of. Took me quite a few tries, but it wasn't the toughest section. Getting Ellie into the hospital and the final area were both way harder.

Wait a minute... can somebody confirm that? But to be honest, screw it anyway. There is no way I'm going back to beginning.
Apparently you will still get the trophy with NG+.

 
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kyliethicc

Member
My advice to get the best experience out of this game would be to play it on the hardest mode possible with aim accessibility features ENABLED, like aim assist or aim slo-mo.
Can't imagine going for grounded permadeath without it, that's the plan after PS5 HD drops.

Edit: arent these options disabled on "grounded"? Not sure
I would not recommend using the aim assist lock on thing (the one that turns on by default on the easiest difficulties) because it can prevent precise shots. It tends to auto lock the aim towards center torso or head. I have no idea if its even allowed on Grounded.

A useful tactic is to shoot an enemies leg or foot to down them and then either run and escape or just grab them as a shield.
 
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kyliethicc

Member
So, you haven't given up? If so, that's good. The part that I'm really worried about occurs when Abby is the playable character and gets stuck in a decrepit dwelling and has to fight waves of various Infected while Lev tries to free her. That part was a pain on Survivor and made me drop the difficulty to Normal.
That fight as Abby waiting for Lev is tough. Its just a timed thing though. I looked up some help online with that one and everyone has figured out you just have to survive long enough to trigger Lev helping you out.

Best advice for that section is save ammo before hand, use melee on the early runners, and then just keep moving and rotate around the place to force the enemies into choke points, but always keep moving. Its not about killing all of them, just wait out the clock.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
I would not recommend using the aim assist lock on thing (the one that turns on by default on the easiest difficulties) because it can prevent precise shots. It tends to auto lock the aim towards center torso or head. I have no idea if its even allowed.
but it does give you plenty of control with your right stick. I think the trick is to lower lock-on strength to around 6-7, I don't think I ever tried at full 10.
My problem with it is that it comes with that extra unnecessary reticle that you can't disable independently from your regular aim reticle, very annoying when you like to play HUDless.
 
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kyliethicc

Member
but it does give you plenty of control with your right stick. I think the trick is to lower lock-on strength to around 6-7, I don't think I ever tried at full 10.
My problem with it is that it comes with that extra unnecessary reticle that you can't disable independently from your regular aim reticle, very annoying when you like to play HUDless.
I just use the default aim assist thats on for all difficulties, but I never use that lock on aim option. Just felt awkward for me when I tried it in Uncharted 4 and in Part 2.

But whatever works for you or others is cool too
 

THEAP99

Banned
My friend has beaten tlou2 on permadeath Grounded twice, idk how he's done it. There's certainly a mastery to it.
 

nahcir

Neo Member
Both NG and NG+ count towards the trophy. As for the permadeath trophy, there is a setting that after dying, it only resets you to the beginning of the current chapter instead of the whole game. I got them all doing the following:

Played and finished the game on normal at release. After the patch, I was able to start a NG+ on Grounded difficulty with permadeath per chapter enabled. It was really annoying, of course, but there is one thing that you still can control independently of your difficulty settings - the accessibility settings. With them, you can basically toggle on a view that allows you to spot enemies at all times in red color and even complete invisibility when prone, except for a few scripted sequences. Good luck!
 
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BluRayHiDef

Banned
I've made it to the hospital!

Both NG and NG+ count towards the trophy. As for the permadeath trophy, there is a setting that after dying, it only resets you to the beginning of the current chapter instead of the whole game. I got them all doing the following:

Played and finished the game on normal at release. After the patch, I was able to start a NG+ on Grounded difficulty with permadeath per chapter enabled. It was really annoying, of course, but there is one thing that you still can control independently of your difficulty settings - the accessibility settings. With them, you can basically toggle on a view that allows you to spot enemies at all times in red color and even complete invisibility when prone, except for a few scripted sequences. Good luck!

After I beat the game on Grounded+ (hopefully), I will replay it again on the easiest difficulty with Permadeath enabled in order to earn the Permadeath trophy and in order to have fun playing like Rambo.
 

kyliethicc

Member
I tried to play the grounded + mode, but I the enemy A.I is really killing me. These fuckers see and hear everything. TLOU remastered was way, way easier and forgiving in that regard. I have the feeling I'm just to old for that kind of challenge.

Does someone care to give some good advice, strategic hints?

In general, the harder the difficulty, best advice is just avoid everything if possible and just sneak past entire fights, get to the next checkpoint (there aren't many so it isn't worth wasting time fighting everyone.) I had to get used to the simple quick throw a brick and strike. Save your resources, sneak, always use melee if possible, etc.

Main thing is to pick early on which guns and gear you wanna use for the whole time, follow those paths. Like damage upgrade Ellie's rifle because then its a one hit kill on most enemies. Maximize damage per bullet.

Don't bother crafting health kits, better to use the few resources you get on offensive crafting items. If you're gonna use a molotov or bomb, explosives of any kind really, make sure to use them on groups. Don't waste them. Even the shotgun can kill 2 enemies at once if used right.

A useful tactic is to shoot an enemies leg or foot to down them and then either run and escape or just grab them as a shield. One time I had no ammo but had 2 enemies on me, so I bricked one and grabbed him as a shield. I then pushed as close as possible towards the other guy, killed my human shield and was able to immediately start melee'ing the 2nd guy without getting shot. Other time I tried I got shot and killed. Gotta risk it tho, had no other option really.

And use the aggressive nature of the AI against them. Lure them into traps, easy kill zones, find choke points. Sometimes just gotta cheese angles or find simple blind spot paths to sneak past groups.
 
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Eternal21

Member
I feel that won't help much, because the enemies are all over me in an instant. It's very hard to kill enemies without others noticing it. Maybe a pure stealth approach may help, but the lack of patience may be my weakness.

You can basically crawl through the whole game on grounded+, if you enable the accessibility options.
 
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