LogFAQs > #957519531

The Last of Us Part II (PS4)
So I was both excited and cautious going into this. Obviously excited because I loved the first one, but cautious because I know that, upon release, this one was the subject of an incredible amount of vitriol, and, am I being controversial in saying I think it was unwarranted? Obviously it wasn't as good as the first, and had some very glaring flaws, but I think the hate was really, really overblown.

Obviously the emotional turmoil was a lot more disturbing in this one, particularly the protagonist killing a pregnant woman and later the final boss fight being entirely provoked by the protagonist against someone who didn't want to fight anymore are things that make you question whose side you really should have been on (the latter of which actually had me saying out loud "this is fucking twisted" while it was happening). And while these are kind of extreme I also think that players ought to know what they're getting into with a game of this caliber. To a lesser degree, it was kinda difficult playing through Abby's part of the story and seeing her friends in a different light already knowing full well what happens to them.

Speaking of which, was it playing as Abby that got so much hate? I guess I can see that. It wasn't particularly compelling and certainly felt like it artificially extended the length of the game by at least 5 hours, but that part of the game did have some fun gameplay, including by far the toughest boss fight in the game that felt so fucking satisfying to finally finish it.

Was it the strained relationship between Ellie and Joel? I'll admit that that had me really questioning why she would go through all this for someone she was long estranged from until the final moments of the game when it all kinda paid off. I'm not sure how the LGBT community responded to the LGBT characters and themes in the game, and I'm not going to comment on it because I don't think it's my place, other than to say that if they had issues there and felt that they were misrepresented in any way then that's fair enough. But otherwise I think the hate for everything else I mentioned was overblown.

But the gameplay was the same good old gameplay that I knew and loved from the first one. The constant fear of running out of supplies at a crucial moment. The suspicion when a quiet part of the game is riddled with ammo and supplies. The new, tougher enemies that had me going "fuckfuckfuckFUCK!" (in a good way). The thrill of wiping out a hoard of enemies with Molotovs, or whacking some unsuspecting thug with a pair of scissors duck taped to a 2x4. The Uncharted-like adventuring as you go down the rabbit hole of whatever environment you're currently exploring. The constant worrying of the survival of the supporting characters (I was very surprised that Tommy survived the struggle in the theatre). Problems with the story aside, I really can't get enough of this kind of gameplay, even if some extended parts of the game were needlessly slow, I can at least see why they had to be that way. And to be honest, I think this series portrays pretty well how people and society would behave on a wide scale post-zombie apocalypse.

One last thing I want to address - the guitar segments really made this something special for me. As a musician who often finds solace during tough times in creating and listening to music, I thought it was implemented pretty perfectly. Maybe my favorite use of a musical instrument in a non-rhythm game, and yes, I'm even including the Zelda series. Overall the game wasn't perfect by any means but the hate it got on the internet was really overblown and I for one can't wait for the series to continue.

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darkx
Games beaten in 2021 - 33; Most recent - The Last of Us Part II