What So Many People Are Getting Wrong About The Last of Us Part II

What So Many People Are Getting Wrong About The Last of Us Part II

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WARNING: Unlike my review that is spoiler free, this article will feature minor spoilers for the story of The Last of Us Part II.   Before this gets too out of hand, the story of The Last of Us Part II is not “garbage”. The following article is not a defense for The Last of Us Part II itself, rather the developers right to create the story they felt necessary. Since the infamous leaks of months prior, The Last of Us Part II, along with its developer Naughty Dog, have experienced an outcry of verbal abuse and vitriol from the community at large. Mostly directed at the quality of narrative derived from the leaks, this criticism was met with a swift defense from Sony and Naughty Dog (whether you agree or disagree with the actions taken by the developer is not the topic of this discussion). Most of the levelheaded individuals who refrained from jumping on a bandwagon encouraged others to wait until the game was in their hands before casting judgement. Thankfully, many of those outraged did just that—or so it seemed—as the bandwagon is in full motion once again now that the game has released today.  Not even 4 hours after the initial release of the game, Metacritic was littered with 0/10 user score ratings. Subsequently, within the first 24 hour period countless articles and YouTube videos have exploded onto the Internet crying out how horrible and “garbage” the narrative of The Last of Us Part II is. Not factoring in those who have had reviewer access to the title (again, the topic of review score manipulation is not the driving force of this discussion), many individuals are casting judgement without completing the game in its entirety. How is it encouraged to broadcast vitriol towards a title when the one shouting from the soapbox is a hypocrite? I mean no offense to those who genuinely dislike the title, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however the problem lies when encouraging others to direct hate towards a product you don’t agree with despite not fully understanding it. This form of ‘cancel culture’ is ever present in all of society today, but with The Last of Us Part II it is crawling into the discussion of artistic integrity and developer vision. Cancel culture in the video game industry is a manifestation of gamer entitlement, and in 2020, this is rampant.

Ellie Captured

If one seeks to understand what gamer entitlement looks like, look no further than the individuals cursing The Last of Us Part II and its developers for the decisions they made. Since the leaks came out, gamers have been divided in terms of reception for the story of Part II. There have been those who decided to wait until they have experienced it for themselves to judge, and those who grabbed their torches and pitchforks because it felt like a slap in the face of the original game.  Look, I understand the frustration that can come with the tampering of a beloved IP. The Last of Us is one of my favourite games of all time, and one of the most influential of the industry. When I experienced the story of Part II to its conclusion and saw how Naughty Dog chose to handle the future of Joel and Ellie, I felt conflicted. On one hand, I was scared that Naughty Dog would play fast and loose with a story that meant something to those that experienced it. On the other hand, I understood that it is the developers every right to tell the story they want to tell.  When the game was first announced, Neil Druckmann stated that they believed there was still more to the story of The Last of Us to be told. At the time, I was devastated. The Last of Us ended with a perfect amount of ambiguity, where any future of Joel and Ellie was left for the audience to decide. By providing a conclusion to the narrative with Part II, Naughty Dog had robbed players of the satisfaction of whatever ending they decided on for the pair. Naughty Dog is not to be ostracized for wanting to finish its story, however. When completing a game, players can develop a sense of ownership of the product due to how it resonates with them. I know I felt like I owned the story of The Last of Us when I finished it seven years ago, however after finishing Part II, I now understand that it was my experience that I felt I owned. 
Ellie in The Last of Us Part II

Ellie in The Last of Us Part II

Let me explain.  Much like most of the people who played The Last of Us, I had never experienced anything as narratively sound as that game. I felt like I personally knew Joel and Ellie and relied on them as if they were a friend in real life. Every year I play through The Last of Us just to interact with that story again, because it is one that I believe should be experienced time and time again. Now that The Last of Us Part II exists; I do not look at the first game the same way I once did. That is not to say my feelings towards it have changed, things are simply different now. Now we have a full story to experience; one cannot exist without the other. Whenever I conduct my annual playthrough of The Last of Us, I now have to include Part II alongside it because of its continuous story. The ending that I had envisioned for Joel and Ellie is no more, and in its place resides finality. The ending we get with Part II is neither better nor worse—it is simply realistic.  When you read an article or watch a video on how bad the ending of The Last of Us Part II is, just know that you are being misled. The individuals that are making these claims exist in one of two camps. They either feel betrayed by the game as a whole for taking the narrative in a different direction than what they wanted, or they bought a ticket to the one-way band wagon of hate. If you want to know what that looks like, look no further than the user generated score on Metacritic. As of the time of writing it is currently over 5000, 0/10 user reviews. Either way, this is an immature assessment of the product that Naughty Dog produced. I mean no offense by this statement, but one has to understand that we do not own the stories told by developers. If a player dislikes a story because they disagree with its direction, then there is no harm in that. Again, I reiterate that it is okay to dislike a story or product as a whole. It is not okay to attack those who do and tear down their enjoyment of something.  The story that The Last of Us Part II tells is one of personal pain and hatred. It asks the question of how far is one willing to go to seek retribution if the end goal is self-destruction? With Ellie losing someone she loves to a new character introduced in Part II, players may feel like Naughty Dog does not care about writing. By playing through the game and seeing both sides of the story, it will become clear in the end why the story was told the way it is. Additionally, players can feel like the ending provides a lack of pay off for the characters they have known for almost a decade now. Again, by taking the time to understand the full story that Naughty Dog is telling, and the metaphors infused within, players will understand why the story concludes the way it does. 

Ellie Playing Guitar

As gamers, we have no right to dictate to the developers how they should tell their stories. All we can do is choose to support them and what they believe in or disagree and part ways. Either way, weaponizing hatred of a product and directing it towards those who genuinely enjoy the experience they have is not the way to go about this. Since the very first leak, I have argued that those who want to have an opinion on The Last of Us Part II’s story should play it for themselves first before speaking up and casting judgement.  Review-bombing a game before even playing it runs the risk of losing a potential fan who would have loved it, had the reviews not been so bad. We should be encouraging others to develop their own opinions of products while providing that of our own. Littering The Last of Us Part II’s Metacritic score with countless 0/10 reviews accomplishes nothing in articulating one’s genuine disappointment of a product. If you did not like The Last of Us Part II, then tell me what YOU did not like about it. If you want others to respect your opinions and the things you have to say, then experience the product for yourself before judging it.  The Last of Us Part II taught me that we, as audiences, do not own the narrative. We may want stories to go our way, but that does not mean they should. Regardless if moments happen in a story that we are against and hurt us as fans, we must understand and accept that these stories should be told the way they were always intended to be. Be kind to each other. Like what you like, dislike what you do not. In the end, it is a video game. If it means something to you, as it does to me, then that is awesome. If you loved the first one as I have, then I feel like you at least owe Naughty Dog the respect they deserve and play through the story they want to tell. If you do not like it in the end, that is perfectly fine, but at least you can say it with certainty and honesty.    If you want to see why I believe the game deserves the score it does, check out our review of The Last of Us Part II
About author

Daniel Pereira

From a young age I've loved video games and the power they possess in bringing different kinds of people together. I have forged many good friendships through this medium that would not exist without it. I love experiencing a new genre for the first time and finding out it resonates with me. Also, Conker's Bad Fur Day is one of the greatest games of all time. Fight me.

3 Comments

  • Muslimbacconator says:

    You have a laughable understanding of the backstage politics that allowed the large shift in tone and identity.

    It isn’t a continuation, it’s glorified fanfic. You’re dumb for not seeing it.

  • Noir D says:

    Bro your whole article literally says you don’t even like the decision the story went in. I feel like the whole “Well your entitled to your own opinion and truth” logic is just a loose defense. I get your point that yes people are over exaggerating on the games story and to review such a fine tuned piece of game that literally excels in almost all aspects of video game tech is asinine.

    But that doesn’t take away from the truth that the story direction is terrible. As a reviewer you have to be honest regardless of if you want to recognize that people worked really hard to make this product. Give credit where credit is due to the environment mappers, the battle designers, the sound architects etc but the writing from Neil Druckmann is just ridiculed with over zealous edgy shock value with a moral that feels entirely moot by the characters decisions. This is where we as gamers who have to endure this dreary mess of a game for 20 hours have the right to criticize what has been hailed as elite in terms of story telling for a video game franchise at least the first game.

    Again I understand your posture and how you want to at least even the playing field but this ain’t it. We need big companies to know tacking on and playing into huge societal events such as LGBT equality and racial equality is not something to one just be a mere addition, it should be heavily considered in how the story is written and that community is upset about that. That aside we have overall plain bad story telling, and we need to accept that no matter how much money was poured into this game. And for all the reviewers who are just eating the dollars they paid up, shame on them.

    I dont mind a slightly biased review but get this game out of the tier of legendary 10/10 games the first one surely deserves to be here because its a complete package but the story in this one can make this an easy 7/10 maybe high 7.5.

    • Daniel Pereira says:

      The intention of the article is to encourage others to experience the game for themselves before casting judgement. I actually enjoyed the story and feel like it does the first game justice as a continuation. If that wasn’t properly conveyed, then I will do a better job next time at properly articulating my stance.