The Last of Us Part II (2020)

I am confused on what to think about this game. As a game, it’s extremely well-made and completely destroys the spectrum. Everything, the graphics, the atmosphere, the sound design, it’s extremely impressive even coming from a AAA game.

But, I don’t know what to think. The Last of Us 1 had such an impact on me and continues to stay as one of my favorite games of all time, and The Last of Us Part II had so many moments that live up to that, moments that brought me to legitimate tears.

But, the story tries to pretend to be something it’s not. It uses so many cliché tropes, jumps back and forward in time with no deliberate pace, has moments that go on for far too long and run itself in the mud.

Honestly, I’m not upset Joel died. That’s not the reason I dislike this game at all like the people defending this game claim it to be. Joel was never supposed to be a human you were supposed to root for, and I understand that. My problem was how they executed it.

It’s laughable how this game presents itself to be this emotional and groundbreaking storytelling experience and it upsets me more when I realize that it could’ve been. This game is not bad by any stretch, but this game is the most frustrating gaming experience I’ve had in years.

Holy mackerel, what a ride.

LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD

PROS:

Narrative is well crafted packs a mighty punch

Characters are fantastic, well-acted, well-written

Holy emotions, Batman

Collectathon feels rewarding

CONS:

Combat. I mean, it's fine, but it's not great. There are only a few types of enemies, and a few "types" of encounters. There's only so much you can mix and match. Which brings me to what is, in my mind, the biggest flaw of the game...

The Rat King. Fuck this battle. Fuck it completely. No, not because it's difficult. Because the game doesn't BUILD to this boss battle. Take Sekiro for example. Everything you've been building on in combat all comes to a head in the Genichiro fight. Here, with the Rat King, it's a brutal run-and-gun battle, which has not really ever been a viable option in TLOU2. In regular battles you can run and get more supplies, and keep fighting, etc., but you're always allowed (at least on Moderate) the time to reload, etc., after you find a bit of cover. With the Rat King, you basically have to pepper him with a shot or two, run away, grab some crafting materials and/or ammo (which is hard to find, btw, because it's so damn dark, so maybe you turn on enhanced listening, which takes another second or two to locate the items), continue running away, craft or reload, run some more, and then shoot him or bomb him a couple times, rinse and repeat. And God forbid you don't turn around fast enough to run away (because the characters feel clunky and slow in general), and he one-shots you. This was just all around the LOW LOW LOW point of combat for me. It did not feel intuitive or a natural build of gameplay. #rantover

Gameplay loop gets stale

The first half of the game doesn't do much for me narratively--it feels relatively simple, especially when compared to how the second half ramps it up.

End Pros & Cons. Review time...

Okay so you might be like, "Well look at all those cons. You gave it five stars? You crazy." And you'd be right. There are things wrong with this game. OW! I got shot through the shoulder with an arrow! It's all good, though, I'll just rip it out and then bandage my arm and I can continue to crawl through grass, draw my bow, punch peoples' faces off. Hah! I know, I know, it's a video game. It's just a little incongruous with a game that is so grounded in reality and brutality. Anywho.

I absolutely LOVED this game. Despite the gameplay loop getting stale, despite combat be just okay, despite the slightly boring narrative in the first half... I still would sit and play this game ALL. DAY. LONG. And then when, halfway through, things swing for the fences. Man oh man.

This game does so much PERFECTLY, and surprisingly, and gut-wrenchingly emotionally... that I can't help but forgive the flaws.

This is likely my #2 game of 2020, just sliiiiightly behind Final Fantasy 7 Remake. oooooo that stings......

Thanks for reading!

I'm off to NG+ to mop up trophies for that platinum! Hoo boi!

Okay, reached about 17 hours in. I think at roughly the halfway point (I go very slowly and methodically). So far I have some mixed feelings. I'll stay spoiler-free.

Pros:

Absolutely gorgeous to look at.

Well-written, well-acted.

Sound design is incredible.

Cons:

Story isn't as strong as I expected. I am thinking that the second half of the game will develop things more than the first half, and tell the story it's wanting to tell.

Pacing is off. The best moments in this game, to me, are the quiet moments, the story moments. These are sprinkled between long (sometimes too-long) battles and exploration sequences.

Not a fan of the combat. I understand it's designed to make you feel vulnerable, but it just doesn't feel intuitive at all.

TL;DR -- Impressed with some things, while others are either middle-of-the-road or a hindrance. We shall see how it all wraps up.

This replay is very rewarding. What was distracting can more easily be ignored, and what was engaging is more so for being better at the game.

I still think the rage of Achilles incompatible with multiple perspectives. However, it is enjoyable to closely re-read each scene to watch the puzzle come together. To the story's credit, it makes clear the hubris of the Fireflies, the susceptibility of the WLF to the same failing, and the role of this failing in the story. Despite the most horrific of Ellie's actions, it remains possible to side with her perspective.

The game play quality that I found most jarring in my first play through was how the serialisation of the game undermined the player's watchfulness. Many doors and gaps are hidden loading screens so that listen mode is ineffectual. Too often the character is jumped after crossing such a threshold. The game was greatly improved for me by simply giving up on being watchful. No matter how good Naughty Dog's level design, the flip side is that it has almost no space for systems. Rewarded watchfulness is a feature of playing Far Cry 2 that I miss in almost every other game that I play.

Warning: Vague, but Still Present, Spoilers ahead.

The Last of Us Part 2 is both a game founded on ambition and incredibly missed potential. It is a game that feels as if it has to apologize for its predecessor's existence and the kinds of narrative it has given us. On the whole, I almost like it more than it's predecessor because it sticks a finger at what the first game represented: dry, hypocritically violent, droll fest saved only by the craft of those who created it. I respect it more (well, you know, besides the mindnumbing crunch involved) for making a game this unpleasant, this almost unpalatable, this incredibly empty feeling to play. Because by the end it succeeds in what it set out to do: cycles of violence are neverending and disgusting and the only way to stop them is to avoid partaking in that violence. That violence will crawl up and eat away at whatever good you have left in your soul. In that respect, perhaps I am in the minority in knowing by the end I felt a huge sigh of relief that it was over, that it didn't end how it could. Perhaps that is not something that this game should be celebrated for but in a video game industry built on this kind of shit, it is nice to see it be refuted.

YET, it is also a game that is held back by the lofty, grandiose, head-engulfed-in-butt pretensions of the people at the head of the creative team. I do not wish to bash them as bad people or untalented but this is a case where they clearly felt that because of their pedigree they were somehow too good for others, that they were "telling the truth" and "showing us the horrors of violence in video games" and it is pervasive throughout the entire game. Characters often doing what the plot wants solely for the creators to make a point. Long-drawn out sections meant solely to make you think about your actions. Pretentiousness in general in its loftiness. It is a game that suffers from its own existence. It feels as if the heads of production had a specific goal to address violence in video games instead of telling a new story in the same world, just told the bleakest one with characters not meant to exist in such a story other than being excruciatingly forced into it. If you want to get the intended message of The Last of Us Part II just play Spec Ops: The Line instead or Undertale for that matter. Yet I cannot call this a bad game because of truly outstanding moments in the game (The Flashbacks, the Farm, sections of Atlanta, The Fire, Etc.) My rating would be closer to a 3 1/2 star out of 5, it's so close to being better and so closer to being much much worse.

What should this game has been about? To me, if it really wanted to consider what Joel's path of violence meant to Ellie, it could've easily been about Ellie discovering Joel's lie then trying to find the Fireflies to make the decision for herself and see how Joel's selfish act of love/possessiveness has affected the lives it has. Imagine a game where you made combat a part of it but also how you can try to deescalate situations unlike how Joel forced you to do so? Imagine a game where Ellie rejects Joel and decides for herself her own journey instead of tying her entire identity around her father figure. Wouldn't that be better? No? Well, I think it would've been neat :(

Interesting Takes on the Game Worth Considering:

Purposeless Rabbitholes (aka the only good YouTuber):

Wow, what did I just play? The Last of Us Part 2 is an experience and I commend Naughty Dog for their fantastic presentation and pushing the envelope. This studio is one of the reasons I always end up getting a PlayStation each generation.

I don't know that I like the story but I am certainly glad I experienced it. Man I wish more games had the depth of these characters and were able to show subtlety in their expressions and dialogue. It is fantastic to see a game about the driving motivations and internal torment of the characters and not some magical maguffin they pursue to solve the problems of the world.

I admire a game that doesn't have a "neat and tidy ending". This game manages to find some kind of resolution to Ellie's pursuits even if she doesn't accomplishing her main goal, and there are consequences to her pursuit of it.

That last fight scene...

I am not a big gamer, but this was the best thing I have come across in 2020 (be it books, movies, music, tv, or games). If all games were like this I would be a massive gamer. The experience was unparalleled. The story, the graphics, the pacing, the tone, and the acting are all incredibly good. I felt like I had an experience by playing the game.

My one critique is the shift from Ellie to Abby. It came so far into the game that I did not feel like building up another character. If it was me I would have done away with upgrades/looting for that portion of the game to improve the pacing. Viewed in its entirety though, you needed the Abby section for everything to come together as remarkably as it did.

My only issue is what to play next? Everything feels like a waste of time compared to playing The Last of Us. Any tips for a similar experience?