Since we are talking about last gen yes, id say Ni No Kuni and God of War: Ascension.  

The Last of Us is a better game than both but its graphics isnt that great beyond the character models.  The character models on the other hand is astounding.

Lmao are they serious ? Last of Us Looks better than Ryse , Killzone, Battlefield 4, Crysis 3, NBA 2k14 ? LOOL

Awards are just someone else's personal opinion. Things can be over hyped. True measure of how good something is, doesn't come from an award. If it's so good how come 3/4 of all ps3 owners didn't buy it? 

It's confusing to name it Best Graphics - Technology. There are plenty of games on PC and next gen that are technically superior to Last of Us and use the latest technology to create some amazing visuals.

Not to diminish the amazing technical achievement ND managed in getting a game like Last of Us to look as good as it does on ancient hardware, but they need to make it clear what this award is shooting for.

There is no greater indication of somethings quality than the opinion of those who own it. ND's games aren't just praised by critics, but by the people who play them. Make a thread asking PS3 owners what they thought of TLOU and a staggering number of them will say they loved it.

As for the darkened part of your comment, that's just a silly question :P Quality doesn't directly equal sales. Metroid is adored both by critics and players, yet has never sold more than 3 million copies. Portal 2 was also adored by critics and players but barley sold 4 million physical copies across 3 platforms. On the the end of the scale Call of Duty Ghosts was disliked by many critics and players yet has already sold nearly 18 million copies.

Do you get my point? Sales are determined by much more than just quality. Adverting, brand recognition and accessibility are often more important than quality. Same reason shitty actions films like Transformers make so much money. They have multi million $ budgets and advertising campaigns and can be watched by any numnut. 

I know graphics and art style are two different things but situations like this make me think back to when Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time were winning graphics awards back in 2002 (or was it 2003?). As time passed, those games have become kinda irrelevant as their tech became outdated. Will TLOU hold up as well as something like Tearaway, Dragon's Crown, or Ni No Kuni?

Time will tell.

You don't know how happy I am for this post (and in the other thread). Now I haven't even played TLOU at all yet and I might change my opinion but I'm bothered that it's regarded as the second coming of Messiah while I can't see anything good about it in videos on YouTube (and it's not just based on about my critical stance about cinematic games, I just don't feel any sympathy for the characters Joel and Elly and the atmosphere in the game doesn't attract me).

I hope you keep this opinion after having played it through for real.

And your opinion about Beyond is interesting. I love the spiritual theme but bad reviews put me off from buying it, but I might give it a chance.

You best not be talking shit about Sands of Time

Game had such a magical feeling to it. One of the best of gen 6. It also transitioned really well from 2D to 3D. 

Skip it man. The game has like no monsters or beasts in it. They couldn't even put a dragon in there. Also the gameplay is much more visceral than any Elder Scrolls game. So, obviously you won't like it it. Did i mention no real dungeons too?