Like A Moth To A Flame.

[rionaleonhart]

I've replayed The Last of Us, Part II! Here are a handful of notes on it.



Almost the first thing we see Ellie do as an adult is refuse to make peace with Seth. I'm not saying she was under any obligation to forgive him; she absolutely wasn't! The purpose of that tiny scene just struck me this time around; it helps to set up how Ellie has a hard time letting things go, which is an absolutely crucial aspect of her character in this game, both for her past relationship with Joel and for her future relationship with Abby.

Ellie's tendency to bear grudges is also illustrated when she complains about her sixth-grade history teacher in the museum flashback. She can't let anything go, and it's going to destroy her.

I love Dina going 'Let's just be smart about this' and Ellie snorting and going 'Okay, Jesse.' Those three are so fond of each other.

Encountering humans, in this game, is much scarier than encountering infected. I'm so on edge when I'm hiding from humans.

I love that you can sneak or run through most encounters without having to kill everyone. It's very satisfying when you manage to get away.

Found myself smiling at the space shuttle scene. Joel loves Ellie so much! I love the way he watches her here; you can feel how much he wants her to like her present.

Ellie's journal is a great addition, but I feel the writers don't always remember that this is written language, rather than dialogue. 'How do I... We just started... I shouldn't have said that to her', in a written journal, would make more sense as 'How do I We just started I shouldn't have said that to her'.

An enemy said 'Fuck!' and another said 'Roger that,' and I don't think this was intentional on the part of the developers, but I love it.

My heart is absolutely breaking for Lev as we row away from the burning island. Abby's all he has! I really like their relationship.

The Ellie fight is still absolutely terrifying. So proud of my girl and the ruthless murderer she's grown into.

I didn't cry this time around, but the dance flashback is still a beautiful scene, and I burst into tears at it on my first playthrough. I'd watched it out of context in the trailer multiple times, and something about suddenly seeing it in the context of everything that came afterwards hit me very, very hard.

I love the increasing desperation in Abby's voice when she's calling for Fireflies on the radio in Santa Barbara. Stellar voice work from Laura Bailey there.

(Terrible thought: given that the characters share voice actors, has anyone done fanart where Serah beats Snow to death with a golf club?)

I was terrified, the first time I played this game, that Ellie and/or Abby wasn't going to survive it. It's nice to be able to calm down and appreciate the scenery on this playthrough, without worrying so much about how it ends.

I'd like to see a third game, I think. I didn't think the original Last of Us needed a sequel, but, now that we have one, I wouldn't mind some sort of follow-up.



My controversial videogame opinion is that The Last of Us, Part II is fine. It's not a blight on the face of videogames. It's not a life-changing masterpiece. It's not somehow too bleak to justify its existence; I really disliked the 'this game is very dark, therefore it's Not The Game We Need Right Now and nobody could possibly appreciate it' response from some critical outlets. It's a good, solid game that tells the story it sets out to, and does it well, but isn't quite as good as the original.

I don't adore The Last of Us, Part II, but I like it a fair bit and I find it very immersive. I can understand why people dislike it, but it doesn't deserve the vicious hatred it's received. I'm glad I decided to replay.

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

I really disliked the 'this game is very dark, therefore it's Not The Game We Need Right Now and nobody could possibly appreciate it' response from some critical outlets.

I do not like that kind of reaction. Like if someone doesn't want something dark, or they only want something hopeful, or whatever, they can do that. But they don't need to treat their preferences as universal!

[rionaleonhart]

Polygon's review of the game really frustrated me on this front. 'Part 2 ends up feeling needlessly bleak, at a time when a nihilistic worldview has perhaps never been less attractive' - look, that may be how you feel, but that means the game isn't right for you. Different people respond differently to different types of fiction, and the fact that a game's tone might not suit everyone doesn't make it a bad game.

[pict]

I really disliked the 'this game is very dark, therefore it's Not The Game We Need Right Now and nobody could possibly appreciate it' response from some critical outlets.

I still haven't finished it (although I've spoiled myself to hell and back), and I did find it unrelentingly bleak, but, like - as I see it, that's not a criticism. It's an observation. I do want to continue it; I think I was just not in the right space emotionally for something so gutting when I initially started. That's not the game's fault, that's 2020's fault! I know how the game ends and I am excited for when I eventually pick it back up, because I think it will wreck me deeply. It's my own responsibility to make sure I'm emotionally and mentally ready to be wrecked.

And that criticism is ephemeral. It's not evergreen. You can't punish something that was in production for years before the world kind of tipped over on its axis for the fallout of the tipping. I understand that art is not made in a vacuum but art tends to outlive current events so I find it sad and inappropriate to irrevocably bind a piece of art to a current event (unless a) the context to bind it exists by Word of God or b) it is literally Adolf Hitler's paintings).

For me, my criteria for a good sequel tend to be: does it tell a new story; does it elevate the worldbuilding and character development; and does it not commit the heinous crime of repeating jokes. As far as I can tell, TLOU2 checked off all three.

... that was so many words for a game I only half-finished.

[rionaleonhart]

They're good words! It makes sense that a lot of people weren't in the right place to play The Last of Us, Part II when it came out, but, yes, it's just bad luck that this game about a pandemic happened to come out during an actual pandemic; it's not a fault of the game.

Also, your 'good sequel' criteria are spot-on.

I hope you enjoy it, when you do pick it back up! (If 'enjoy' is the right word.)

[pict]

I'm sure I will! I really appreciate what Naughty Dog was doing with the narrative, flipping the point of view on its head. I want to say I was nearing the end of Abby's Seattle scenes? So I know the Ellie fight in the theatre is rapidly coming up and I am just like



As in, I'm sure I'll die like sixteen times because I am so bad at this game's melee combat.

[thiefofvoices]

She can't let anything go, and it's going to destroy her.

This is such a fascinating character attribute. >:D

Also, your notes on this game have kind of singlehandedly put it on my list of "videogames to watch someone play sometime" (which might mean finding it on youtube buuut might also mean forcing my very jumpy friend who owns the game to be horrified by it in real time, always a bonus).

[rionaleonhart]

It's a great game if you enjoy fictional women being angry, complicated disasters! I hope you enjoy it, if you do check it out. Are you familiar with the original?

[thiefofvoices]

I do enjoy fictional women being angry, complicated disasters! /thinkyface

But yeah, I'm familiar enough with the first one, at least. I do think that in the event that I hunt down this Pt 2, that I'll probably also watch Pt 1 regardless, because as much as I've seen most of it played and basically learned the rest via internet nerd culture osmosis, I've never seen it all the way through.

[runicmagitek]

I'm just gonna co-sign all of this, because YES.

Especially that last paragraph about it not being a light on the face of video games and so forth. I had to listen to a shitty coworker last year go on and on about how bad of a game it was just because it Wasn't The Game We Needed Right Now (they also never played it and just parroted what Twitter was screaming about, but anyhow). It's like they forgot how long this was in development and Naughty Dog had zero control over it being released in the middle of a pandemic. Maybe it's not the game some people needed, but you can't make a blanket statement for everyone based on that. It was a good game with good writing. I still don't think it was a necessary sequel - The Last of Us ended on such a magnificent note and it hit so much differently in comparison - but by no means was it a trash game.

I do wish people in general would stop confusing "my fave was treated badly" for "bad writing". Then again, critical thinking seems to be in short supplies these days :\ love your notes for revisiting this game, tho! 💕

[rionaleonhart]

A lot of people wrote it off without giving it a chance, I think. As you say, 'my fave was treated badly' gets conflated with 'bad writing'. I can understand why people disliked the events of the game; I can understand why people disliked the game as a whole! But there seems to be a widespread belief that it's objectively a bad game, or a bad story, and I wouldn't agree with that at all. I was glad to have your more positive attitude to counterbalance that when I was playing!