I completed The Last of Us 1 like 5 or 6 years ago. I didn't read any news, leaks, or comments about the sequel going in. So my perspective is completely untainted.
At first, I was very shocked and upset about what the devs decided to do to Joel. I didn't have a problem with him dying. He did kill a bunch of innocent people in the first game, so I wasn't surprised karma would bite him eventually. I have a problem with him dying so soon. It's an enormous waste of a character, that was built up so meticulously from the first game. To me, he was the main character. The back bone to the story. I felt they could have done so much more with Joel, before killing him off. Maybe he gets captured, or something like that. Anything to build on his character more, and it could have increased Ellie's desperation and urgency. I felt it was a missed opportunity, story-wise.
After his death, I had a lot of doubts for what they could possibly do to keep me interested. Just like how I can't watch Simpsons without Homer, or Family Guy without Peter. Last of Us without Joel? How? As I progressed, the flashbacks Ellie had of Joel felt absolutely endearing. Bittersweet. A large part of that feeling stems from knowing Joel's gone. It was sad, but in a good way. Kind of like Game of Thrones, minus the ending. People died. It was a tragedy, but it made me love it more. Ellie's flashbacks heightened my need to pursue the killers, and find out why they did it. When I finally got to Abby, I honestly felt a bit sorry for her, after what Ellie did to her friends. At this point, she honestly had nothing. Killing her would have felt empty. I was ready for some answers. Then the game throws me in the shoes of Abby. Instead of a dramatic cutscene, the game put me directly in her shoes so I could see her side. And after seeing it, I completely understand where she's coming from. She went to kill Joel, to avenge her father. A logical reason. Not ethical. But reasonable. I didn't hate Abby anymore. Suddenly, I didn't know whose side I was on. And in the final chapter of the story. The showdown. I was shocked to see the condition Abby was in. I was extremely curious to see how this would affect Ellie's actions. The way it played out was perfect. Heartbreaking. So much emotion evoked in that fight. A fitting climax to the amount of shit that has transpired. By the end, I didn't like Ellie or Abby. They both were flawed. But yet, so human.
And now on to the more technical review...
Good
- hand-to-hand combat is good. The enemies attack animation slows down so that I could react with an input in time. This added a reflex test. Unlike a lot of other games where the hand-to-hand combat window was so small that it was usually not possible to react to, and I have to just pre-emptive block, or attack.
- clickers are so well designed. They make the stealth gameplay so much more tense because you have to walk extra slow behind them, but at the same time you have to make an action quickly when you are within their close proximity or else they will notice you even if you stay still. So it kind of forces you to plan ahead a bit, and when I decide to strike I must go through with it. And if things turn south I have to quickly adapt, either with a stun object, shoot, or run away. In areas with regular infected and clickers, it really adds diversity to the stealth. Infected could see but clickers couldn't, which forced me to use cover cleverly, and choose my targets wisely based on enemy position.
- the stun and strike combo feel satisfying to land especially when I got it in a tight situation.
- the distraction to molotov combo is a great alternative to the stealth strats. Since I had to try and gather the infected into a close proximity before I can pull off the group kill. But when I do manage to bait them all together, then Molotov them all, it's a satisfying feeling.
- the narrative, and voice acting is impeccable. The beginning where Abby and the dude found a city, the story didn't tell me who they were looking for or who Mel was, and what was the history behind these two. It's a mystery that drew me into the story, making me want to find out what what's going on.
- the balance between defense an offense is perfect. Clickers are one hit KO, and the infected do a decent chunk of damage. So the game does encourage stealth. But if things go south the game also gives ample offensive abilities for me to survive.
- checkpoints are really well placed. It doesn't bring me back all the way to the beginning but rather the last major encounter which is perfect, because it doesn't forced me to backtrack unnecessary gameplay.
- I like how for most objects that interact with, my partner automatically chimes in.
- power generator cord physics was really realistic. The way Ellie would move her arms around so that the cord wouldn't get tangled and the cord being moved around if I intersect with it was the most accurate recreation that I've experienced in the game when it comes to interacting with a rope-like object.
- its cool how the infected can kill off human enemies. Sometimes fun to make them fight. That part in the underground Subway where there were a bunch of clickers and a bunch of WLFs, and throwing a bottle in the open causing the clickers to kill them all was pretty awesome
- Dina calling out blind spots is really useful since the analog stick restricts the speed of turning, sometimes I can't look fast enough.
- the generator button prompt feels good
- the consistent facial expressions based on what was happening in real time was impressive. Really organic.
- I think what makes me love the interaction and gameplay between Joel and Ellie was there father-daughter dynamic and relationship. My parents had an ugly divorce when I was young, so I never really got to have that relationship with either of my parents. Playing through last of Us and the segments with Joel and Ellie in The last of Us 2 allowed me to indirectly experience that bond between parent and child that I missed in my youth. It's an endearing form of experience only the last of us has ever been able to allow me to feel in a video game. In these segments I sort of unconsciously put myself in Ellie's shoes, and Joel kind of became that father figure that I longed for. It's a bittersweet feeling, because I wish I had this relationship with my father, but by the time I was ellie's age, our relationship had long deteriorated.
- the guitar design is actually pretty damn awesome. And a brilliant use of the PS4 controller's pad
- utilizing flashbacks to do some tutorials was clever
- I'm impressed with how organic the devs made the movement, the dodging, the attacking capabilities for Ellie. In most other games of this type the actions are rarely this organic. They usually have very rigid movements, but The last of Us 2 isn't it like that
- I like how Ellie can run backwards quickly without having to turn around. It keeps the action flowing and allows for higher evasion while still being able to keep my eyes on the enemy. Its also convenient when navigating normally
- I'm really glad the characters verbally confirm when all enemies are killed in an area, allowing me to explore the area without having to crawl around
- so many small alternative routes that make the linear progression feel open.
- it's crazy to think about the dilemma Joel had to face about first off whether he should kill a bunch of people and save the person that matters to him the most. He lost his daughter before, would he be able to lose her again, and the answer from the ending of the first game is no. It's so sad to know that in the end he still lost ellie emotionally because she found out what Joel did. Joel knew that Ellie would have chose to give her own life to save the world, but Joel didn't want to lose her. It's sad knowing that Ellie wasn't able to say goodbye before Joel died, and on top of that, he died without them being able to patch things up. At first, I disagreed with Joel dying so early, but if he didn't, a lot of these flashbacks would have had much less impact. It's knowing that he already died that makes these flashbacks so much more emotional to watch.
- the choice Joel made is objectively outrageous. It makes sense objectively, to kill one life to save millions. But Joel didn't do that and technically he should be hated for that. But a parent's Love for their child is irrational. Joel loved Ellie like she was his daughter. And he was willing to give up millions of lives for the life of Ellie. And somehow it's crazy to think. We can relate to that, and that is actually a reasonable choice. Because if I asked myself would I sacrifice my own child's life to save millions? The game really takes this question to the extreme. And I find myself liking Joel and finding his decision reasonable. what does that say about myself if I was put in that situation? I think it tells me that I would not sacrifice my own child's life for millions. It sounds almost sadistic, but reasonable as a parent
- I love how they actually show the animation of Ellie building the weapon mods
- the settings are so diverse
- Abby getting vertigo expression was interesting. Every time she's near a big drop, I could hear a shiver in her voice, and she'd be grabbing her sides. Little things like this really made the characters feel organic even outside of the scripted cutscenes.
- There was a strong lesson of revenge breeding revenge.
- I like how the story writers decided to kill ppl off first, then tell their back story. Making the whole part where I follow their past more depressing
- interesting how in some flashbacks, there's stories about other people during that time that I learn through notes
- the areas were designed very well. rarely was there a safe spot you could just camp in a corner waiting for enemies to come. Many times I found myself having to check a blind spots. And the AI was smart to usually, they would go for flanks quietly, and come from multiple directions, forcing me to have to keep on the move.
- that vertigo feeling was recreated very well in that part with lev
- I think Abby decided to help Yara because it's what her father would have done. Especially when I think back about the flashback where his dad went out of his way to save the zebra. And also the dream where Abby saw her father under glimmer of light in the surgical room
- I keep thinking the game will end soon, but there's constantly more. It's a surprise.
- they've never explained why Ellie is immune. So here's hoping to part 3.
Bad
- sometimes your partner can get in the way
- the checkpoints are so close that it pretty much obsoletes the Endure ability. Why need to endure a hit when I can just retry immediately?
- I felt like devs should've kept Joel alive for a bit, they could have done more with the plot and built up Ellie's anger more. Maybe Joel could have been captured and tortured, while Ellie, dina and Tommy go find him. I felt like they killed them off way too early. It's a lost opportunity to build on the story, and a throw away of a deep character without having done much with it. The only good thing that came from his early death was the extra sadness felt in Ellie's flashbacks. Knowing that he's gone makes them so much more depressing, which is good for the emotional narrative.
- if I'm holding a throwing item after a stealth kill, my throwing item is automatically unequipped, which isn't what I want. After the stealth, I plan on throwing the brick then going for a melee finish on the second enemy. But because my pistol got auto equipped after, I'm trying to press R2 but nothing happens. And why would I want to shoot them at close range when I can throw a brick and do a finisher. And it doesn't make sense that the game equips something else when I didn't even make that command
- it's unrealistic that Mel could've climbed that rope to the hatch and dropped that height while pregnant.
- sometimes there's lag when making an interaction
- there's was one part where I couldn't detect the enemy when I was right beside them on other side of wall, yet when I was further away I could. It didn't make sense. This happened rarely though.
- sometimes I'm scared of exploring because I might being going on the intended path and end up triggering a scene that forces me to progress and not go back. This made exploring a bit troublesome.
- big human enemies can survive a bullet to the head. I understand that they're supposed to be more durable then the regular human enemies, but I don't care what type of human you are and how big you are, a headshot is a headshot. And if you're not an infected, then youre going down after a point-blank headshot. It would have made so much more realistic if the big enemies had some kind of headgear, which would have made sense, and wouldn't have affected the narrative. They did have enemies like that much later in the game but not for 90% of it.