Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2019-10-03 08:06 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2019-10-03 08:06 pm
Entry tags:
You Keep Finding Something To Fight For.
The Last of Us Part II has a release date at last! And it's the 21st of February. I can't believe this game and the first instalment of the Final Fantasy VII remake, by far my most anticipated upcoming games, are coming out within a fortnight of each other.
I'm so nervous about The Last of Us Part II! Ellie is one of my all-time favourite fictional characters, so I'm simultaneously excited to see her again and very concerned. Just... please don't kill her off or ruin her character for me, Part II.
The announcement of the release date actually came when I was in the middle of a Last of Us replay, so I'm in an extremely Last of Us mood at the moment. I've just finished the replay; my notes are under the cut!
Ellie's bite is three weeks old. It hadn't really hit me that The Last of Us starts only three weeks after the trauma of the mall incident. Poor kid. It must have happened just before her birthday, too. (I think Ellie's still thirteen during Left Behind, although it's possible I'm misremembering.)
Joel picking up comics for Ellie is still the cutest thing. And the fact he always calls out to tell her about it! 'Hey, Ellie, think I found another one of them comics you've been reading.'
I wasn't looking forward to the Winter section, because all I remembered of it was wandering lost in the blizzard and then having THE MOST TERRIFYING BOSS FIGHT. I'd forgotten there's more to the Winter section than that, and it includes some really great storytelling.
I can also now enjoy being horrified by David. I don't like him at all (as opposed to, for example, Ardyn, who I love while also hating), but he's interesting to watch. My attitude around David during my first playthrough was 'can I trust this guy?', my second playthrough was a terrified 'OH NO, IT'S DAVID, STAY AWAY FROM ME,' and by now I've reached 'it's David! what a genuinely horrendous piece of shit! hi!'
Still dreading the fight against him, though. He's really scary! Pyramid Head's got nothing on this guy.
...I wrote the above and then actually played further, and I MISREMEMBERED THE WINTER CHAPTER. I THOUGHT ELLIE RETRIEVED HER BACKPACK AT SOME POINT BEFORE THE SCARY DAVID FIGHT. I was wandering around the town going 'hmm, where could my backpack be?' and suddenly I realised I was in the David fight location and my heart just dropped. I hadn't had a chance to brace myself!
I'm still so impressed that the ending of The Last of Us pulls away from everything you'd expect. It's a zombie apocalypse story! Of course Ellie or Joel or both are going to die or end up infected! And yet they don't. They're not even separated by the end. It's not a happy ending, but it's not happy in a much more interesting way than the expected one.
I just listened to the main theme of The Last of Us again, and it's such a haunting, beautiful piece of music. What a game. It's probably one of the strongest stories I've ever experienced, in any medium.
I don't know if Part II can possibly live up to The Last of Us. Honestly, even if Part II matches the first game in quality, I don't expect to love it as much; the first game's 'strangers being forced to travel together and slowly learning to care about each other' concept is my catnip, and that presumably won't be a theme in Part II.
But I want to see more of Ellie, and I want to see more of this horrible, fascinating world.
I'm looking forward to it.
I'm so nervous about The Last of Us Part II! Ellie is one of my all-time favourite fictional characters, so I'm simultaneously excited to see her again and very concerned. Just... please don't kill her off or ruin her character for me, Part II.
The announcement of the release date actually came when I was in the middle of a Last of Us replay, so I'm in an extremely Last of Us mood at the moment. I've just finished the replay; my notes are under the cut!
Ellie's bite is three weeks old. It hadn't really hit me that The Last of Us starts only three weeks after the trauma of the mall incident. Poor kid. It must have happened just before her birthday, too. (I think Ellie's still thirteen during Left Behind, although it's possible I'm misremembering.)
Joel picking up comics for Ellie is still the cutest thing. And the fact he always calls out to tell her about it! 'Hey, Ellie, think I found another one of them comics you've been reading.'
I wasn't looking forward to the Winter section, because all I remembered of it was wandering lost in the blizzard and then having THE MOST TERRIFYING BOSS FIGHT. I'd forgotten there's more to the Winter section than that, and it includes some really great storytelling.
I can also now enjoy being horrified by David. I don't like him at all (as opposed to, for example, Ardyn, who I love while also hating), but he's interesting to watch. My attitude around David during my first playthrough was 'can I trust this guy?', my second playthrough was a terrified 'OH NO, IT'S DAVID, STAY AWAY FROM ME,' and by now I've reached 'it's David! what a genuinely horrendous piece of shit! hi!'
Still dreading the fight against him, though. He's really scary! Pyramid Head's got nothing on this guy.
...I wrote the above and then actually played further, and I MISREMEMBERED THE WINTER CHAPTER. I THOUGHT ELLIE RETRIEVED HER BACKPACK AT SOME POINT BEFORE THE SCARY DAVID FIGHT. I was wandering around the town going 'hmm, where could my backpack be?' and suddenly I realised I was in the David fight location and my heart just dropped. I hadn't had a chance to brace myself!
I'm still so impressed that the ending of The Last of Us pulls away from everything you'd expect. It's a zombie apocalypse story! Of course Ellie or Joel or both are going to die or end up infected! And yet they don't. They're not even separated by the end. It's not a happy ending, but it's not happy in a much more interesting way than the expected one.
I just listened to the main theme of The Last of Us again, and it's such a haunting, beautiful piece of music. What a game. It's probably one of the strongest stories I've ever experienced, in any medium.
I don't know if Part II can possibly live up to The Last of Us. Honestly, even if Part II matches the first game in quality, I don't expect to love it as much; the first game's 'strangers being forced to travel together and slowly learning to care about each other' concept is my catnip, and that presumably won't be a theme in Part II.
But I want to see more of Ellie, and I want to see more of this horrible, fascinating world.
I'm looking forward to it.
no subject
I totally know what you mean! It's complicated and interesting and it sounds like the good kind of not-predictable.
no subject
It is! It makes perfect sense with the story that leads up to that point; it doesn't achieve unpredictability by suddenly going 'THEY WERE ON THE MOON THE WHOLE TIME.' It just doesn't end in the way you'd guess if someone said, 'Okay, this is a dark story about a man and a teenage girl slowly developing a father-daughter relationship after the apocalypse; how does it end?'
no subject
no subject
Yes! I'm looking forward to getting to know her again.
The first game was so good at capturing occasional moments of beauty and peace in the midst of the horror, so I'm really hoping this one keeps that up, and the more peaceful moments aren't just confined to the beginning.
no subject
The 21st of February is my 30th birthday! Maybe I should play the first before it comes out, and then it'll be a gift to me :)
no subject
Hey, congratulations on your upcoming thirtieth! I definitely recommend The Last of Us, if you have access to a PS3 or PS4; it's got one of the best stories and one of the best characters I've ever seen in a work of fiction, and the world is extremely well-drawn.
no subject
This is so cute. I definitely had the same reaction the first time encountering that character. Especially because Ellie is so great and she's on her own at that point so it's like, trust no one.