DF's Spoiler Thoughts on The Last of Us Part II

Spoiler thoughts on The Last of Us: Part II

HEAVY SPOILERS BELOW - SHOULD ONLY BE READ BY THOSE WHO FINISHED THE GAME
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
FINAL WARNING.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


Gonna be real, 30 hours of playing only for Ellie to let Abby go is a big mistake. Sure I get the game is gunning for forgiveness, learning to let go, loving so much its okay to be hurt, loving so much it hurts to live, regrets and all that, griefing process and trying to heal/cope/live/struggle on after losing your loved ones is brutally hard. And by an unhealthy process of hurting others except your loved ones, I get that. I’ve gone through similar heartache in loss, grief. But the way Ellie goes through the process I feel is incredibly unhealthy. Trying to exact vengeance on the ones who lifted Joel into the afterlife abruptly isn’t the way through pain and constant death and suffering to reach those responsible. There’s a brutal amount of violence throughout I feel was needless compared to the first games brilliant pacing where we are invested in a journey to take our ‘cargo’ across the country that somehow turns into a mentor and mentee(ellie) that somehow transforms into guardian and parental figure. It was moving and the emotional attachment tugged at my heartstrings to genuinely see their journey to the end and what arises just before the end credits roll.

The first game evoked a sense of learning to love and live again while the sequel rips and tears off that loving attachment quite viscerally in ways that the perceived message for a large majority of the game is continued vengeance/retribution where the main goal of our protagonist Ellie has been consumed by hate.

Hatred is a core facet of revenge, humans emotionally hate and revenge after a catalyst is all too common in history and even so in the videogame medium there are allegedly 130 games featuring it in major/minor ways. Though I disagree with some entries inside the wiki article thats a story for another day.

What I'm trying to get at through the video game medium featuring revenge as a core aspect is I think its difficult juggling revenge stories in a compelling manner. To make the lesson and moments be so powerful it sticks with you for a long time. And Last of Us Part II fails in almost every regard. I’ve played over 30 games featuring revenge all with their highs and lows, and Druckmann’s sequel horribly drags me to the end credits with six glaring issues.

1 - Silence - There’s an ungodly amount of silence in the game. Sure there are moments where we are with someone either in Ellie’s point of view(pov) or in Abby’s, but good god after exploring 95% everywhere and backtracking dialogue is mostly banter in the latter’s case and the former discussion about her goals and remaining true to it, even when shocked to learn about Dinah’s condition Ellie initially is shocked and hurt to know before deciding to go back, then doubles back on the decision once she learns how close she is to her goal. Even when both parties delve into the plot’s in the former its avenging Joel while the latter tries to find salvation after her goal was gone. The duality of both leave me both disliking the same parties from beginning- middle to end. I would’ve liked more dialogue, conversations between protagonists between party members on questioning her, to talk things out, stand up and confront each of their views/goals instead of being a good friend, dramatize the sh^& of these encounters and essentially make the party in each route more spicy. Internal monologue’s could’ve been helpful too. I’m not talking whole yapping everytime for every second. Maybe one meaningful conversation between our party after a harrowing escape? Doesn’t have to be long, but it’s better than “oh thank god we made it.” “OH CRAP OH CRAP OH F-” exclamation points. The absence of these suggestions makes the whole journey nearly unbearable when I'm running, gunning, stealthing, foraging my way across the land.

2 - Character Interactions - To extend on the topic of meaningful character interactions I noticed there’s a substantial amount of time when both protagonists are alone, more so in Ellie’s case and this could’ve been easily solved by making encounters and sequences memorable, in the case of sequences I'll discuss more on that later on. But the first day where we are alone with Dinah exploring Seattle in a huge area was a nice intro and exploration and bonding with her. Showcasing how eerie the place was, how dangerous going without a buddy is, and how teamwork with a partner simply works wonders when caught. The camaraderie is alive and this peter’s off sadly when she becomes alone. Abby at least has the comfort of her ‘family’ along with the Scar siblings, but when Abby is alone she suffers the same problem with Ellie. Both protagonists could’ve used more grey characters involved where we can decide to help them or betray them, in a sort of sidequest of sorts. Meeting other’s could’ve helped enriched our perspective like in the first game when we meet Bill, the young sibling duo, Tess, Marlene, Riley(from Left Behind dlc) and Tommy among plenty of others who harbor a different set of values/morals than our titular protagonists. They provide a meaningful perspective beyond the bleak, post-apocalyptic world ruled by lawless individuals and factions with an iron-if not dictatorial grip or insane views. When you have someone carrying ‘cargo’ the world speaks and breathes these interactions to the player creating hostile, dangerous occasions and at times beautiful moments amidst the ruined world back in the Last of Us Part 1.

We don’t get that in Part 2. Aside from Jackson being a bright life for Ellie along with joining her, Joel and living life as she pleases with valuable friends Dinah and Jesse. And flashbacks of good memories. The majority of the game’s runtime is constant violence on repeat. If we had more ‘light’ interactions as I suggested earlier then I wouldn’t have been so harsh on this ‘dark’ game.

3 - Flipping Perspectives and Pacing - this leads me to my third point and where I have a big issue with the flip in perspective half-way through the game. I DID NOT WANT TO PLAY AS ABBY. F that. I was so so so close in quitting the game right then and there. And I admit I was attached to Joels character that I was nearly in sync with Ellie in hunting their killer down(to my shame.) And while I do like seeing her perspective especially to see her more human side especially when she’s trying to heal and recover from her ‘goal’ ultimately i’m just a human too and I simply cannot stand her character from start to finish. I understand why the writers wanted her perspective to draw sympathy/empathy from a person you wouldn’t otherwise gain from simply killing them in a 1v1. But the way the 2nd route is introduced immediately after their confrontation in the 1st half of the game isn’t right in my honest opinion. You’re literally asking the player to hold off the biggest cliffhanger and say “hey why not see things from her perspective right from the very beginning.” This may not seem as a big issue for those who like the game and hey more power to you and that’s fair. But for me if you had asked me to embrace the antagonists’ point of view in a film/movie half way through its runtime just before a climactal scene i’d shout “HELL NO” It’s like asking me to hold off on the climax if Peter parker can save Gwen just to see my antagonist point of view or god forbid mephisto before one more day. JFC people! We need to seriously talk about perspective changes and non-linear storytelling cause I have a mountain to sell you. In my honest opinion the game would’ve benefitted far better if we had played as Abby first then move onto Ellie. Probably a hot take to say that, but if they included the chronological mode in the remastered version and not in the original version. Then what do you know? The developers themselves saw reason to go back to a traditional chronological order of events. GOD. But hey im a cheap skate and im not shilling sony more moolah so i can play the other mode. However, for those who have bought the remastered version, it's nice have im sure. You have an extra feature I wish the playstation 4 version had.

4 - Repetitive Sequences - If there is one pet peeve I hate in video games. It must be copy pasting and repeating. And Part II is rife with this. Here’s the formula in the 30 hour game. Aside from the large zone in the beginning of the game the plot moves forward one location at a time from an apartment complex, underground buildings with no light, moving across the streets in an urban neighborhood, alleyways, highways, and recreational buildings. We are literally moving through these areas sometimes mixed with humans or infected and very rarely does the game switch things up like the boat sequence for Ellie and Island for Abby while on horseback. Then the game flip flops between these areas multiple times coupled with some minor puzzles of hitting switches/restoring power, etc treated in very linear sequences that I kid you not bore the hell out of me when the added 3 points above are joined into the equation. Resulting in a boring, predictable pacing. Clear out enemies, chase sequence, stealth our way out, scavenge, goodness it’s like I’m stuck in a loop!?

5 - Collectible context - Ellie’s Journals by Means of Exploration - In-game there are moments aside from trading cards we can collect and that are moments Ellie can write in her journal. These offer a fascinating personal reflection of Ellie’s true thoughts in the game as we progress to find Abby. My dilemma with this collectible is that its been delegated as an optional collectible. By the end of the game after I explored 95% of every location I was in I was extremely shocked to learn I only filled about over half of her journal entries and to add insult to injury I still missed a solid 25% of all trading cards?? This doesn’t seem right because I like to explore in games and especially if I miss required backstory/lore I go back to activate the requirements to log them in. I primarily played Part II without a guide/walkthrough so I'm puzzled why I missed a good chunk in my collectibles when I was very thorough in checking every nook and cranny. If I had the full journal texts of Ellie I think it could’ve helped me as a player understand her character more. So its sad to see my effort was in vain. If a game puts emphasis on the importance of a journal then it should be on the designer to make it as painless as possible to receive it, especially if its crucial in understanding the inner thoughts of our character. FF8 and Lightning returns have internal monologues not as a collectible and are all the better for it by making it mandatory for the player to read. Similarly for non-jrpgs the AC Ezio games, Soul Reaver 1+2, Kotor II: Sithlords, fit into this internal monologue from revenge as mandatory too. And see how that was in my opinion effectively done than here in Last of Us Part II.

6 - Journey’s end, Two Sides of the Same Coin, The final themes - I mentioned earlier “forgiveness, learning to let go, loving so much its okay to be hurt, loving so much it hurts to live, regrets.” To add to this concerning Abby’s side of the equation. Healing through family, redemption, salvation and finding purpose once again by taking care of the Scar siblings is a good reason to live for in the broken world of the Last of Us where violence is everywhere in lawless lands. The flipside of looking at both protagonists at each of their beginnings and end create an nice contrast from one who has completed her goal of revenge and looking to heal while the other one has just started her goal of revenge after her life was ripped apart after just healing from Joels confession of the true events at the Firefly hospital. One could say they’re both mirrors of the same shades with different origins, but similarly the same fatherly love they both have to their parental figure in their lives. Its why I find it utterly disappointing that the messages the developers try to impart isn’t working in the execution. When you’re trying to heal i dont think constant violence is the way to go by killing others to save/protect yourselves for a better tomorrow or by laying waste to countless bodies to ultimately tear away everyone you loved for the sake of revenge. We see that with Ellie forsaking everyone due to her PTSD in the end and right until the very last ounce of her strength and willpower decides not to take her eye for an eye and lets Abby and the Scar kid go. By contrast Abby’s new purpose to take care of the siblings(well one of them now) after her life of revenge and after her friend have died also sends a powerful message where she has shown mercy and continues it by pleading with Ellie in the end. Choosing life over death. While the other has chosen to forsake her bonds for death over life. But narrowly accepts life over death as well. Despite ‘losing’ everyone close to her, Ellie continues on, because forgiveness is a process and how she rebuilds her bonds with others is ultimately how she will find the ‘light.’

And trying to find this precious ‘light’ amongst the countless ‘darkness’ the game posits makes it an incredibly torturous experience. I felt manipulated, in ways I couldn’t escape from. Felt betrayed, where I had to deal with constant spiraling struggle and drenching my eyes in more suffering repeatedly in a cycle that doesn’t break away. If the developers of Naughty Dog are trying to subject me into a negative abyss full of hate, revenge, and very small redemption/salvation of how violence permeates the body/mind/soul and causes irreparable damage to our psyche. The message is muddled, the execution poorly done and don’t get me started how music could’ve been used to be further effective in the narrative. What remains is a dark, ugly game seeking to capture hearts and minds of yet another tale of vengeance when other games, media, books, documentaries can fare so much better. Even though I'm not an expert in Ludonarrative Dissonance, the term has sent my suspension of disbelief into a blackhole. According to Danny Paez it means

[“basic idea is that some video games present their main characters as endearing heroes during cutscenes, but then require players to slaughter hordes of computer-controlled enemies to progress through the narrative. In essence, the gameplay doesn't match up with the story.”](https://www.inverse.com/gaming/ludonarrative-dissonance-meaning-video-games-origins-definition)

Or a wiki term: [“conflict between a video game's narrative told through the non-interactive elements and the narrative told through the gameplay”’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludonarrative_dissonance).

For those who are dumb dumbs like me who could care less about the term, it does at the very least get to the heart of the matter. **If my character who I like conducts actions I don’t like in gameplay then it doesn’t match the overall narrative.** In layman’s terms, the ludonarrative dissonance for Last of Us Part II was shot to bits and buried 100 feet deep. And I'm sure you can find plenty of defenders/attackers of Last of Us Part 2 from the world wide web. A casual search on your preferred search engine will illuminate the ping pong issue quite readily over the years since the games launch. But I'm not here to spout a summarized take on all those issues. I’ve given my thoughts, and will let the reader decide if they should try it out or not. I’ll leave you with a classic answer.

It’s all subjective at the end of the day. Those who love the game, that’s fair. Those who don’t. That’s fair. Those who are mixed. That's perfectly valid.