The Last of Us Part II

Five years after their dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, Ellie and Joel have settled down in Jackson, Wyoming. Living amongst a thriving community of survivors has allowed them peace and stability, despite the constant threat of the infected and other, more desperate survivors.

When a violent event disrupts that peace, Ellie embarks on a relentless journey to carry out justice and find closure. As she hunts those responsible one by one, she is confronted with the devastating physical and emotional repercussions of her actions.

I picked this up on release date and am making my way through. Joe and I are kind of switching off playing it since we’re both invested in the story, so I’m not quite binging through as I would if playing alone. We are up to Seattle Day 3 heading to the hospital (~14 hours in, which I think is a little past the halfway point).

There’s of course been a lot of controversy surrounding this game, which first (I think) sprung up after their E3 2018 showing because it showed on on-screen kiss between two women. A few weeks ago, some leaks came out about the game devoid of any context, which featured twists that upset some people. In the few days since release, the game has been review bombed for various reasons that are hard to get into without spoiling anything.

I have mostly successfully avoided spoilers, which I am happy about because I am very invested in the story and seeing how things play out. I was concerned in the days leading up to release after hearing some commentary from various outlets and folx on Twitter about just how violent and gory the game was. I also read that the game may reinforce the kill your gays trope and treat a trans character poorly, but I have not encountered either situation yet and can’t really comment on them yet. I spoilered those out just because I don’t know what everyone’s tolerance is for what is and is not a spoiler; they are very general statements. I am generally really sensitive to spoilers, but knowing those two things prior to playing the game I don’t feel has really affected my enjoyment besides making me concerned for Dina and Ellie, but I think I would have been concerned about them anyway.

So far however I have not been at all bothered by any of the violence or gore in it. Don’t get me wrong: it is a violent game, and there’s blood and limbs flying and peoples’ necks getting bitten by some nasty creatures. It’s not pleasant by any means. For a little context, I don’t fuck with horror at all and can be a little squeamish. Video games however have never really gotten to me. I’m kinda questioning if maybe I just have a really high tolerance for that sort of thing or if the whole This Video Game is About Real Violence thing was just an overblown marketing gimmick. Similarly, I don’t feel like this is an unbearably brutal game that I’m having trouble playing through. Again, the violence and brutality is there. I’m concerned for the characters, both physically and emotionally. But there are also moments of (extended!) humanity and levity that help ground and soften everything.

The gameplay is generally solid. I don’t think it’s anything revolutionary, more that it’s like the first game: doing basic things (stealth and gunplay) well. There is definitely a weight to it that makes you consider how you approach combat situations, which they also did well in the first game. I do feel that the combat sequences can drag a little bit – there are some really big areas in this game that have a lot of enemies in them. Maybe I’m just excited to move forward in the story, though. The dogs are a real pain in the ass.

I am enjoying the story so far, too. I like the way they’ve grown Ellie’s character, and I think the new characters are generally interesting and well-written – mostly Dina so far, because I haven’t seen too much of Jesse and Abby yet. I do want to talk about a major moment that happens in the first few hours of the game, so here is my fair warning that a big spoiler is coming up and even if you’ve clicked the others and said Cassie that’s not a spoiler, this one is going to piss you off if you haven’t played the game yet. Joel dying was of course shocking in its brutality but not something that really surprised me. To me, it seemed inevitable given the marketing of the game and the Death of the Mentor stage of the Hero’s Journey. I do know that people are being babies about this online, too, but I also really fucking hate Joel. I’m not rejoicing in his death, but I think he’s an ethically and morally fucked up dude not just for the whole “endure and survive” thing but also for lying to Ellie and robbing her of any agency. I am glad that they seem to be grappling with the weight of what happened at the end of the first game, and I think that Ellie will learn the truth from either the WLF, who I imagine went after Joel for what he did to the Fireflies/Marlene or from finding something in Seattle, since iirc that’s where the hospital was at the end of TLoU.

Anyway, tl;dr is I think I’m halfway through and I’m enjoying it so far. I was really skeptical of some of the things I read about the game prior to release re:violence and brutality and handling sensitive issues, so I’m happy to answer any questions for anyone considering picking up the game who has similar reservations (without spoilers of course).

I just finished the game. It really drags in the last third and I’m going to share some thoughts on the ending.

Maybe this is just my fanfiction way of making the story more palatable for me, but I just didn’t feel like the game really did justice to some of the characters we grew invested in throughout the game. It also avoids fully reinforcing the kill your gays trope by giving them a difficult but hopeful ending. I don’t know. I still think the game is an incredible effort. I’m just not happy with where it ended and some of the decisions they made. The music was phenomenal though.

I finished this game a few days ago and I’ve been sitting on my thoughts about it. I am currently doing a New Game+ playthrough and, this usually doesn’t happen, but the game is more enjoyable on a second run. The flashbacks work more without the constant expectation of trying to “get to” the revenge resolution which obviously is an issue in terms of pacing of the game. I think some of the flashbacks are questionable but still needed for overall context, so I don’t really have a solution to that. My first run through also only took me 18 hours which, at least from what I’ve been reading, is a lot faster than what people are averaging.

Just on my general thoughts though on the overall game.

As a tangent to the story content in the game, People going like “wow the game is just about how revenge is bad” are like those people who think they are very clever because they spent a few hours reading TVTropes. And a lot of those same people seem to conflate the cycle of violence as being that all violence is bad. It’s not about being a pacifist or even that violence is inherently bad. It’s that people can get caught in this self feeding loop of destruction and suffering and not even realize it. Which also I didn’t think the level of violence in this game was any higher than the first game. Which isn’t to say the game isn’t bloody, gory, etc. but it doesn’t feel gross and is honestly pretty reserved outside of Joel’s death because that is something that needed to be shown. I suppose you can make the argument that the increased graphical fidelity, improved animations and sound design make it feel more violent but I dunno. It never felt more brutal than what we got in 2013.

And on another tangent. The accessibility options in this game are sublime. It’s crazy how much you can customize the game to suit your needs. While there were a lot of options I didn’t enable because I didn’t need to, stuff like customizable difficulty, the ability to automatically pickup resources when you get near them, and the enhanced listening mode were all things I used on my playthrough. I hope more video game developers (or at the very least Sony’s first party studios) take what Naughty Dog has done and implement it into their own games because they’ve set a real high bar when it comes to video game accessibility. More people playing games the better.

Interesting that you were able to get through the game so quickly! I didn’t have that same experience. I don’t remember the exact timestamp on my save, but we were at 27 hours when playing as Abby on the Seraphite island and the game goes on for some time after that. I’d estimate around ~35 hours for us. We definitely had to take multiple attempts at some combat sequences, and we were really thorough about looting and picking up collectibles. Still missed stuff though!

I think it’s possible that I would also enjoy the game more on a second playthrough. I was definitely driven by wanting to know how things would resolve and so I did feel compelled to rush as things went on. Honestly I was ready for the game to end several hours before it actually did. I like to think maybe I will play the game again and have that experience, but it’s such a difficult game–not in terms of like, combat challenge, but it’s so heavy, especially right now. It’s hard for me to imagine wanting to re-experience it right now. Maybe one day when I’ve had some space and distance from it. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s excellent. But it’s difficult.

I’ve heard a lot of folks echo that this game is superior to the first–or at least, has more depth to discuss. I think I’m still partial to the first, though. Part of that might be because it’s such a tight experience, but I think there is a lot to talk about there beyond just the last scene. I know I have a colored view of the first game because it is about a father/daughter relationship and mine own is fraught, but I think it raises a lot of questions about how Joel consistently disrespects Ellie’s agency and personhood and trauma well before they reach the Fireflies. I think it mirrors how men fail to understand young women unless it’s through their relation to them. And I think it just tells a really consistent, compelling, heartbreaking, and focused story, especially Left Behind. I absolutely love the final scene of the first game. I love that they switch control to Ellie in those final moments to force the player to see Joel’s actions through her eyes. I love the way it’s true to the way shitty fathers treat their daughters. I love the way it’s left unresolved. There’s a bleakness to it that absolutely hammers you when the music kicks in and when the hard cut to the logo happens, but I think there’s also a hopefulness, too. For Ellie, at least, because she finally understands Joel for what he is and can finally begin to take her own path. I definitely have a very different read on the Fireflies and Joel’s choice than you, though, which might be because it’s been a long time since I last played the game.

This game by contrast has no hope for Ellie. I do like your commentary on Ellie’s trauma, sense of worthless, and survivor’s guilt, and I think the theme of cycles of violence is presented really well through some of Ellie and Dina’s early conversations about when they first killed someone. I know the game needs to have a heartbreaking ending because it wouldn’t make sense otherwise. I just think there’s a way for them to straddle that line like they did in the first game (for me). I just feel like the ending of this game dips a little too far into misery porn. I believe there’s a way for Ellie to still have to live with her grief and her PTSD without being left completely alone and destroyed. She needs to lose something, definitely, and face the consequences of her actions. But I need hope that people aren’t just fucked forever because they’ve been through difficult shit–that they can break cycles of violence and find even a bittersweet happiness.

I agree that Abby’s side of the story was one of the highlights of the game, even if I think it needed an editor. It reinforces the idea moving through the series that we do what we do to protect the people we care about. In Abby’s case, that’s the WLF, and while we recognize that they are a terrible, violent organization, we don’t necessarily fault her. We don’t agree with the violence Abby and Ellie perpetuate, but we understand it. It’s human. Abby fortunately gets to have her awakening to it earlier than Ellie. I love when she tells Lev that he’s her people now. What a great scene.

I’m curious which flashbacks you felt were questionable, though. I generally liked all of them, but they’ve also kind of blurred together. I know we already saw it in the E3 trailer, too, but I absolutely love the dance scene with Dina and Ellie. It’s such an incredible performance by the actors with such phenomenal music. I’m not sure that I love the context it was presented in in the game itself as I felt they made it more about Ellie and Joel than Ellie and Dina, but I guess that could be said for the entire game. I guess I just give way more of a shit about Dina than I ever will about Joel.

The accessibility options were definitely awesome. We toggled on the aim assist and maybe one or two more things. I’m happy that more people will get to experience the game. In that vein, though, I do wish that they were maybe more careful about providing trigger warnings for some folks, particularly about a trans character being deadnamed. I’ve seen a lot of folks on twitter who were kinda blind-sided by that and it can be triggering.

also i got the soundtrack with my special edition of the game AND I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO JUST DOWNLOAD IT ON MY COMPUTER

i’m assuming it works like other soundtracks i’ve gotten through playstation where i can pull the mp3s off the ps4 but still

Yeah I think I went through it fast because, like the first game, I decided my first run through the game would be on Survivor. About 5ish hours in I started to get a little bit frustrated with playing so I ended up enabling a custom difficulty option (another cool thing in this game) where basically I had all the settings still set at Survivor except for option that controls how much damage the player receives, which I put that on moderate. The enemy AI was still incredibly aggressive and accurate as fuck so encounters were still tense but the lowered damage output made it much more enjoyable for me. I only had to replay a handful of encounters with that horrific boss fight in the hospital as you play as Abby being the one I had to replay the most. God that entire fight is just…something alright lol.

(I was initially going to strategically spoiler parts of my message so it wasn’t completely unreadable to people peering in but then it became 2AM and decided the easy thing to do was just spoiler everything because I am tired lmao)

Still planning to write a longer reply to you @nicknames, but I found this an interesting read: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jgxjxx/problems-with-last-of-us-part-2-ending

Particularly this section. Spoilers to follow so I’m going to hide them.

Also liked this post someone on their forums wrote disagreeing with Rob’s take. Again, hiding it for spoilers.

I’m not sure I could disagree with Rob’s assessment more. I think the final section is key to closing this chapter of Ellie’s story.

@Cassie I was actually linked to that article earlier today, though it was in the context of this excerpt

Which is patently absurd. The downplaying, or sometimes the complete disregard to social progressivism to try and make a point the series has some conservative anti-government agenda may be one of the silliest things to come out of the discourse around the game lol. But this kinda goes to discussions we’ve had before when it comes to the quality of work that Vice puts out. And I’ll admit I don’t particularly enjoy Zacny’s writing in general, sooo lol.

Having said that though, I don’t think Zacny’s overall analysis in the article isn’t without merit. It’s not hard to argue the point is to villainize Ellie and make you question her. He comes to the final conclusion that she’s typical in her motives and actions for a video game character going out and killing people which I feel seems to miss the point entirely but I also think that’s fine. He traces back his argument and comes to a different conclusion based on his interpretation of what he played. But adding in a bunch of noise, like the above, that takes away from his overall point because of how silly it is.

I agree that that was a silly take. Nothing about the farmhouse scene evoked conservative middle class America to me since it’s all in the context of a post-apocalyptic world. And if it does, I think that reflects more on Dina than on the narrative as a whole; it’s her yearning for what’s been portrayed to her as the peaceful ideal – the pastoral and peaceful – because she’s grown up in a fucked up decaying world. I think if anything it’s about how we romanticize that image when there is pain and trauma wherever you go (and whenever you go)

Something that just occured to me though at 4:30 in the morning is another separation I feel between the first and second games. It’s another pacing complaint basically, but the

Sorry if incoherent and/or repeating things already said. It’s 4:30am