The People Vs. The Last of Us Part 2 - A Messy Story, Fan Outrage & A Very Naughty Dog (Review)

[Music] and just say you know we're doing something we believe in and the hard thing that I was getting to is there's gonna be fans of the first game that aren't gonna like the second game and that we have to be okay with and they're gonna be vote that they should never play the first game we're gonna love the second game all we have to do is be all we can do is be true to ourselves and keep making what we believe it on June 14th 2013 Naughty Dog released The Last of Us a game that would go on to receive numerous Game of the Year awards with critics and users both alike applauding the compelling and sophisticated narrative for many this is one of the greatest games of all time not because of its gameplay or the graphics or the audio level and world design which were all indeed great elements of the experience but what stood out and made this game so special was the superb writing which started off by showing the heartbreaking trauma that Joel Miller suffered in the beginning of the end of the normal civilized world which resulted in the devastating loss of his daughter in his arms years later joel has adapted to the civilization that remains he serves as a smuggler in a quarantine zone in Boston Massachusetts eventually though through a series of events a young girl Ellie who appears to be immune to the infection ravaging the world is put in Joel's care what makes the last of us such a groundbreaking remarkable experience is the relationship of Ellie and Joel which grows as they make their way nearly cross country two delivered Ellie to the fireflies with a hope that she is the cure the cordyceps infection this journey is rough with learning loss betrayal and or but the growing bond of Ellie and Joel as they keep each other alive is beautiful which is why the ending of the game hits so hard does Joel let Ellie die for the benefit of humanity which could save the race of humans or does he save her as he has grown to love her as a daughter it's an interesting situation with no easy decision to be made but as most fathers or parents would do they save their child and that's what Joel does but there are consequences for those actions and Joel knows it which is why at the tail end of the game when he's confronted by Ellie about what happened at the fireflies hospital he lies for a long time with surviving no matter what you keep finding something to fight for now I know that's not what you want to hear I swear to me swear to me that everything that you've said about the fireflies is true I swear [Music] Naughty Dog and co-director of the Last of Us Neil druckmann revealed in an interview in 2018 that the whole concept of the Last of Us is trying to build a bond and trying to replicate the mechanics and storytelling of a bond of a father and a daughter it felt that was so important to pull off to feel Elly's panic to feel her starting to take charge that's the hand of a baton because the next sequence you're playing is Elly I felt if we drop the ball in that sequence when you're playing as Elly it wouldn't have turned out as magical as it was for a lot of players magical is what this experience was an emotional journey which is considered a masterpiece by many very little gaming experiences haver can come close to what Naughty Dog achieved here the feeling from a lot of players and critics was that the story was so well done that a sequel would be a mistake as all it would do is undermine the first games events but in December 2016 during the PlayStation experience the world was shocked with the announcement in first teaser trailer for the Last of Us part 2 [Music] [Applause] yeah if the first game was really like the Corvette the theme was about the love between these two characters and how we build that through story music interaction gameplay mechanics this story is the counter of that the stories about hate and how we use all those same things to make the player feel that so much thought went into this and I know there's a lot of people that feel this trepidation about coming back to these characters and revisiting what that ending means and hope and worrying whether that's gonna spoil the first game and you have to understand we feel all those things as well like no one loves these characters more than we do and we would not do this if we didn't feel like we had the right idea and the part-2 is really kind of doubling down on that to say we believe in this so much it's not we're not trying to avoid it and we were like I've played with so many of the ideas that had different characters and I'd never felt right the last of us is about these two characters specifically and all I ask is the fans of the first ones put some faith in us trust us we're gonna do right by you following this reveal event for the upcoming sequel one of the bigger surprises came actually a day later in which it was revealed one of the co-directors on the Last of Us an uncharted for Bruce Straley would not be returning to direct the Last of Us part two Naughty Dog would provide Kotaku with a statement confirming straily would not be involved Bruce recently decided to take much deserve time off after shipping two critically acclaimed games in the last few years he's looking forward to returning to the studio soon and jumping back in on his next project straily though would not return leaving the studio about nine months later saying his time away from the studio had him focusing his energy and other directions which made him realize it was time to move on and so he did the Last of Us part two this time around would be directed by Neil druckmann but also Anthony Newman and Kurt Marga no druckmann would write the game along with Halle Grass who most notably wrote a few episodes of the first season of HBO's Westworld for the next few years we would have new teaser trailers one of which included a bunch of unknown mysterious characters and one that teased the relationship of Ellie and Deena from these trailers and speculation had been rampant with some of the most popular predictions being that Joel is a ghost in the last of his part two and Halley's mother would be introduced in the sequel playing a critical role in the story The Last of Us - was originally set to release in late February 2020 but those plans changed as Naughty Dog announced in October 2019 if the release date would be moving to late May 2020 as they needed more time there would of course be another delay but we'll get to that in a few minutes now during the game's development which stretched from 2014 to here in 2020 some unfortunate stories emerged which painted Naughty Dog as a problematic studio that doesn't know how to treat their workers with respect or really just human beings at all these stories of crunch are not uncommon for this games industry many of the big players have been hit with these horror stories and fortunately in recent years outrage and negative PR has led to some of these big players that includes Rockstar Games and CD Projekt RED all vowing to do better and create actual change with how they go about the development process of their games but in particular with Naughty Dog damaging accounts from former and current employees have emerged in the last year or two with 12 former employees in 2019 telling cog connected their stories of 24 hour shifts low Peyman and the impossible expectations put on some workers which all contributed to a culture of crunch in March 2020 Kotaku published their own account of crunch culture at Naughty Dog with multiple former and current employees speaking out on the development process at the studio the Kotaku piece outlined long shifts the need for everything to be perfect no matter the cost and the revolving door of talent with 70% of non lead designers and the credits of 2016 uncharted 4 no longer being at the studio it was also stated that some current Naughty Dog employees were preparing to depart once the last of us two had shipped and they received their bonuses interestingly some of these employees also reportedly said that they actually wished for the game to fail to be a critical flop so it forces Naughty Dog's leadership to understand that they have to change their ways the day this Kotaku report went live former Naughty Dog animator Jonathan who left the studio in September 2019 publicly shared his experience at the studio which included his coworkers gameplay animators kneading recovery for weeks and one co-worker actually even having to be hospitalized because the crunch went on for so long Cooper also mentioned the revolving door of talent as well and how the studio has been relying on film animators who lack the experience and/or technical / design knowledge that is needed Cooper additionally mentioned leadership threatening to withhold his final paycheck until he signed an NDA stating he would not share their production practices these stories have been a cloud hovering over Naughty Dog in the last of his part two for quite some time now in recent months though these stories were brought up far more often because of the massive last of us two leaks that emerged in late April 20 2009 to be spammed all over the Internet after multiple YouTube videos popped up showing key story moments that happened in the game initial rumors indicated that the story leaks came from a disgruntled employee but Sony would later deny that claiming the leaks were actually the work of hackers who accessed a security vulnerability regardless opinions were formed as many decided to interact with these leaks and a lot of people were pissed with a narrative that Naughty Dog chose to go with due to the global pandemic in April the Last of Us 2 was delayed again this time indefinitely but it certainly put publisher Sony in an awkward position when these massive story leaks emerged and forced them to not push the game too far out so when April 27th 2020 when all the discussion was on these leaks Sony announced at the Last of Us parts who would now be launching on June 19th that same day Naughty Dog would also acknowledge the situation calling it disappointing asking fans to do their best to avoid the spoilers and finishing their statement by reassuring fans that the game would be in their hands soon and the final experience will be worth it earlier in the month Troy Baker portrays Joel discussed his character's role in the game to fandom klemming Joel will play a central role in the Last of Us part two if we have done our job right people who question everything about the Last of Us - I want fans to be able to challenge their own ideas about what this game is what the world is who the characters are every I want people to go in open-minded to this story and allow Joel and Ellie to tell their story not the story that people think they want to be told if people go and open-minded to this thing I think they will have a completely different experience than if they go and close-minded by the time a 20/20 came to be every in any last of us to related post was being hit with spoilers and angry fans lashing out at Naughty Dog for the decisions that they made with the game that had been leaked one of the loudest individuals against these leaks and biggest defenders of naughty dog was actually Troy Baker who on multiple occasions throughout the month of May spoke out about the accusations being levied against Naughty Dog the rumors and the speculations then the release and the celebration and then all of this controversy that's happened in the last couple of weeks yes sir which unfortunately has taken the spotlight what I love is that there's still by and large the majority of people are going I still want to know more about this story and Neil has taken the brunt of a lot of this and I respect him because he said look there's times when I receive you know from from from the public I'm gonna receive credit that doesn't go to me and I can't spend time fending off so I passed that credit along to the team he was like so I'm gonna take responsibility whether it's mine or not I'm like dude unfair credit or undue credit and undue blame when I was like I respect that someone said do you feel that they're disrespecting the characters but based on these leaks okay yeah and I said who's potentially disrespecting the characters the people that have spent six years paints they can leak Talent Lee creatively carefully curating this experience over years or the people that for kicks and credit threw it out there for over a few days I was like that's disrespecting these characters so and anybody that looks at them is is to me is feeding into that because there's still so much misinformation that's out there it's kind of funny when like is that what you think okay sure play the game find out for the number of weeks leading up to the release Naughty Dog and Sony would be hit with relentless attacks from angry fans forcing them to turn off comment sections on most of their social media posts related to the sequel these attacks ranged from people making fun of events that happened in the game but the use of memes others went so far to send ugly vicious messages to the game director Neil druckmann some called the studio out for getting political citing a speech that Druckman gave in 2014 in which the director gave controversial gaming figure Anita sarkeesian the Ambassador award at the game developers Choice Awards Druckman while introducing sarkeesian mentioned her work as a major influence on the studio's recent games Druckman support of sarkeesian has been a regular attack for years and was only amplified once various story events leaked for the last was too regardless pre-release things were very heated with Naughty Dog being under a microscope with many looking for any and everything to criticize the studio for although Sony's definitely did not make matters better by going out of their way to silence anyone talking about the story leaks this included blatant DMCA abuse as while Sony certainly rightfully took down videos including leaked material they also did not stop there going after various commentators who just discussed the mess of a situation which is covered under fair use law unfortunately much of games media ignored this copyright abuse and decided just not to report about it at all on May 13 2020 Naughty Dog released an inside the story video on the official PlayStation channel in which multiple developers explain the development and narrative process of the game specifically though game director Neil druckmann emphasized their aim for the game and how he expects a mixed reaction for the last most part - we're hoping to create a story that makes a commentary about the cycle of violence and how acts can beget other acts and show all the different aspects that could come out of it nothing's really good or bad just the different consequences of one's actions there's always the fear that you know when you made something great and go back to it you're gonna mess it up you're gonna mess what made it so special the test for us was like can we come up with a story that can one stand on its own and be meaningful and have weight the same kind of feeling we had when we came up on the story for the first one I know even within the studio we've had a lot of like philosophical arguments about some of the events and what happens in the game and I thinking this one might be more divisive in the first game in a very kind of exciting way that I think it raises those interesting philosophical questions and asked the players to interpret some of the material that's there and see where they stand on those questions fast forward to June 10th 2020 just days before reviews of the game were set to go live Wired published an interview with Druckman who once again stated his expectation that there are fans that will not like the narrative that they chose to go with Druckman cited from his hours of watching play testers that he knows some of them did not like it and some absolutely hated it some of them are not going to like this game and not like where it goes and not like what it says or the fate of characters that they love I'd rather have people passionately hated and just be like yeah it was okay nine days later on June 19th the last of his part to it finally released so we finally arrived now to the most important question one that has been met to a wide array of responses differing perspectives and that is whether or not the Last of Us part two is a worthy sequel to one of the games that define last generation Last of Us part 2 is simply put a game that probably should not have been made because in my opinion it does exactly what Naughty Dog claimed that they did not want to have happen in this game it undermines and really does degrade the events and journey that occurred in the first game The Last of Us part twos tale of hate starts after a traumatic event happens and sends Ellie who is now the main protagonist and company to the ruined City of Seattle which is in the middle of an ugly war between two rival factions vying for control throughout the experience we see Ellie's romantic side explore her past four to five years and confront unfortunate truths the sequel definitely has some surprises in store especially in regards to Ellie and Joel's relationship although I'm not sure if these surprises ever feel satisfying or justified enough everything is at the very least improved in terms of gameplay and graphics although don't expect a drastic difference compared to the first entry the structure of the game is also kind of a surprise as Naughty Dog makes a bold change halfway through the game which has proven to be kind of controversial so if you want my very simple review of the game it's just fine and that's largely because the narrative this time around never really delivers how the first game was able to so for my much more detailed take let's first dive into all of the non spoilery aspects before we cut this story apart without a doubt one of the most impressive parts of this game is all of the different options presented to the player the accessibility options and level of customization and the game's menus is truly groundbreaking while some may not see this as being important it really is as Naughty Dog went out of their way to make the game beyond just playable for almost any and everyone there's just so much here like the choice of various audio cues that can be turned on to help gamers that are blind or vision issues there's also many combat accessibility options which further reduce the difficulty of the game like in turn on slow motion make yourself invisible while prone reduce enemy accuracy and perception and more beyond just combat and audio there's also navigation options which adds markers that makes travelling through the levels easier you can customize the heads-up display changing its color and large in its size turning certain things on like the health bar or damage indicators for full-on immersion you can map out the controls to your liking I understand many have issues with motion sickness and games like this and again there's an option to help with that and many games subtitles can be really small and hard to read but again Naughty Dog went out of their way to give choice as players can customize the size color and more some have said this is the most accessible game ever and I firmly agree with that the Last of Us part two is the gold standard in this respect with players being able to edit just about every part of this experience except you know maybe the story now the overall gameplay experience isn't very different than the first game and I think that's fine because once again it is done so well one of my favorite parts of this games various levels is just the tension that you can feel as you try to slowly make your way around an enemy or when you take them out depending on what difficulty mode you are playing on this drastically changes how you have to go about things for example as you make your way through the hill crest level on the Hard difficulty enemy AI is extremely responsive to your every move I often was relying on the games listening mode which helps make out where enemies are located and moving towards you'll find yourself relying on throwing objects like bricks or bottles or stun bombs as distractions often as a gunfight in this difficulty just isn't usually worth it even silent combat options like a silencer or bow and arrow can prove to be a bit of a challenge at times on other difficulties like light mode the experience is much more easier which is obvious as you can often breeze through the levels as long as you don't you know make dumb decisions in total there are five difficulty modes available with very light light moderate heart and survivor there is also a new game plus mode available which can be unlocked once you finish the game story in terms of enemies you face there's the usual non friendly factions of humans that you'll encounter that come with their own unique way of going about things like the sera fights aka the scars will make whistle call-outs to your position or just really that's their form of communication and many of these enemies have bow and arrows at their disposal the Washington Liberation Front aka the wolves have guard dogs which can track your scent if they get close to you forcing fast decisions and reactions with infected the runners stalkers clickers and are all back but this time around there is a new type of infected this being shamblers which are probably just under bloaters in terms of difficulty there is additionally some other mutations including one abomination but for the most part the enemies are not really that different from the first game but I really do like how human enemies communicate their actions so if you're in a gunfight you'll hear them strategizing in real time their attack on you like if you're outnumbered three to one you'll hear these human enemies telling one of them to try and flank you if you run out of ammo they will notice that and they will take advantage of the circumstances if they notice you attempting to sneak by they will shoot and also call out your position to others overall just a very neat detail that adds to the intensity of battles enemy AI is indeed improved this time around in terms of responsiveness on more difficult modes like hard they feel like an actual threat but unlike they can get pretty stupid with most other actions Naughty Dog did freshen things up by adding a new feature in which opposing human enemies will call out the names of their fallen or missing friends so like a lot of the time you'll silently take down an enemy foe and as you're making your way around the level you hear someone yell out is mark okay or mark is dead and it's clear nutty Doug was trying to add some identity to these individuals and you'll actually notice that enemy AI will move away from their normal patrols if you take out one of their own they will actively search and use clues investigating to try and find you at least for a short period of time this is why distractions can be so important as it draws the attention away from your position but unlike other popular stealth games this is really about as far as stealth goes you can use silent weapons or takedowns and throw some bricks but like the first game that's just as far as it goes which being that this is a survival horror title that relies on this play style much of the time I kind of find it disappointing that Naughty Dog did not expand this further now in terms of weaponry at your disposal you have of course your typical melee weapons such as a hatchet or a pipe which this game has some extremely bloody and satisfying animations for when you land a hit you can also restore and improve the melee weapon with a crafting upgrade as usually pieces of wood are only good for about three hits and then it breaks another new feature which is added to help melee fights is the ability to die which most of the time you'll find yourself timing attacks because landing a hit are not getting damaged it really depends on your ability to dodge first besides melee there's of course some handguns which one of them can have a silencer attached to it there's also the bow and arrow crossbow shotguns bolt-action rifle semi-auto rifle and a few others all of these weapons can be upgraded at workbenches and you can do that by collecting scrap that allows you to improve things like stability capacity and fire rate I think what I found impressive or a nice detail is the actual animation that goes into these upgrades as you can watch Ellie very quickly make the adjustments to the weapon being upgraded one of the things that kind of drives me a bit nuts is how the best weaponry or the most enjoyable guns always come late in the game that was the case with the first game and it again kind of happens here that's personally just a pet peeve of mine there's nothing wrong with the weapons you have early on but it certainly is not as satisfying of having a silenced submachine gun so I guess what I really would have liked to see is more variety this time around but unfortunately you don't really get that speaking of upgrades supplements are back in this system has been somewhat overhauled with more detailed and extensive options available there is also an emphasis on exploring levels as picking up certain magazines will unlock a new skill branch and then you'll find new holsters or straps that allow you to carry more weapons making switching to these guns faster and smoother than having to set your backpack down and grabbing set gun out this is especially useful in the various tense gunfights you'll find yourself in whether that be humans advancing on your position behind an overgrown car or the infected chasing after you in the underground dark tunnels of Seattle that only feature light from a red flare like in the first game as you explore the world you'll find crafting materials which you can use to make things like health packs Molotov cocktails and certain ammunition like arrows or incendiary shotgun shells gunplay overall is better than the first game which I personally never really found too satisfying if anything it always felt a bit too clunky in this time around it is better but still not very enjoyable one of the newest features hyped up is jumping and it's there I suppose and a bit strange that Naughty Dog hyped up something that I consider so basic you can also now roam around Crone which does have its uses especially when you were sticking to the dark shadows of a level and crawling through a hole in a wall the game features a lot of QuickTime events throughout some are forced because of story and others just happened because of combat very similar to how it was again in the first title one of the biggest gripes I suppose with the first game was the amount of ladders and it's quite clear that Naughty Dog heard that criticism as there isn't too many situations where you'll find yourself looking for a ladder to climb most of the levels you'll find yourself trying to just go from one point to another although the levels are built a bit more complex than that as you'll find yourself traversing down a broken-down skyscraper that is various floors missing or searching an infected hospital for supplies but having to explore a bit to open doors that can only be unlocked through power I guess that's one of the bigger parts of the game and that's just discovering how to advance forward most of the time it is pretty straightforward but there is some times where you'll have to move a dumpster to access a hidden door use the dumpster to climb an obstacle slowly walk around an area full of Claymore traps or sometimes throw a rope over a metal bar to climb up in the early part of the game there is this one section where you'll find yourself turning a generator on and then using a wire to open a gate and then going back to throw the wire to the other side to turn the power on to get the main gate working but that's really about as complex as it ever gets and actually I'd call that a one of a kind moment which yeah these quote-unquote puzzles feel underwhelming there is the occasional forced script events that ties directly into pushing the story forward like early on you'll find yourself running past wards of infected that are closing in on you or in another situation you'll take part in a shooting gallery of sorts in which the wlf will be chasing your car and you'll shoot endless amounts of bullets at them that just emerge from nowhere maybe I'm getting a bit too nitpicky but I did find that moment a bit comical but hey this is still just a video game despite that though I've already made a few mentions to the overall level design and it's absolutely one of the best parts of the game while the first game gave you a decent amount of avenues to go about moving around a level this time around there's just a lot more freedom with how you can go about sneaking past a group of scars whether that be traversing through broken-down buildings which often have holes in the walls we're tall grass which is your best friend for stealth takedowns went out in the open next though let's touch on audio design which is once again phenomenal [Music] [Music] all right all right damn it [Applause] perhaps one of the more underappreciated aspects of really any game is audio getting that right is important in can make encounters that much more tense or emotional Elly's sitting down in a theater or walking into a music store and playing the guitar is also so well done as you kind of get insight into our feelings the emotion that she is experiencing whether that be anger or love as I hit on earlier stealth has improved just because of sound whether that be used silently walking around a clicker or sham blur to accidentally stepping on a broken piece of glass and hoping that they did not hear that you definitely feel claustrophobic in some of these levels but I have some other thoughts on stealth that we'll get into in a minute but overall Gustavo Santo ala I probably said that wrong Ally's pronounce these names wrong the musical composer once again delivers big time arguably the Last of Us part two is the best-looking PlayStation 4 a game yet there could be a case made for horizon zero dawn but the environments are just so well crafted and I found myself quite often just stopping to appreciate the beautiful overgrown buildings of Seattle or the snowy town of Jackson there's a great deal variety here as you'll find yourself in a dark underground tunnel surrounded by the infected or riding on horseback as the Sun comes down or sneaking through grass as rainfall pours down or making your way through a blizzard with little to no idea of where you are or even more simply exploring broken-down abandoned houses that show their age it's truly remarkable the amount of detail that went into these environments like of course the textures are great but even the physics of rope and wires phenomenal and groundbreaking or in a cutscene when Ellie takes off her shirt revealing her bruised and bloodied body the realistic appearance of that shirt coming off is just such a small but impressive detail talking graphics there also has to be an acknowledgement made of facial animation and how realistic they look some games have struggled with this in recent years some of excelled and Naughty Dog definitely excels with showing realistic expressions beyond just that when Ellie interacts with you can see her breathing in and out the cold air or when Ellie goes for a swim you can see the water dripping down her face diving a little bit further into the actual world at one point the game toys around with a semi open world section of sorts which I thought was interesting but it's very limited and really serves the purpose of getting you used to the gameplay mechanics in the world as is with most the locations in the game you'll find collectable cards or coins and notes full of information / stories some of sad tales before and after the infection some of Locker combinations which unlocks gear specifically though at one point when you first arrived to Seattle you have the option to go and explore a bank in which you'll encounter some runners and clickers but it's also a note inside the vault which tells the story of some serious bad luck in which a group of people tried robbing a bank on outbreak day they assume because cops are busy with the sick that hitting the bank would be easy but they did not plan for the infected so one of them got in the vault and the others locked him inside and abandoned the place leaving him to die he did leave behind a very useful pump shotgun though which is a nice reward for exploring this location interestingly though game director Neil druckmann actually has his own collectible card modelled and named somewhat after himself the card makes mention of what appears to be the controversial crunch associated with the studio and game just a bit kind of odd and surprising honestly seeing this so one other aspect that I really found nice was the often seamless transition of a cutscene to gameplay it helps the story flow much much better a game like Dave's gone was hurt without this which really took me out of the experience but another game that actually used this seamless transition and did it well was Red Dead Redemption - really though the way scenes are shot and presented the cinematography is so well done here also with the added development time that Naughty Dog had without a doubt this is one of the most polished games at release with very few if any bugs or glitches that I've seen which maybe that should be expected but that obviously is not always the case in this Triple A games industry now putting my thoughts together on the overall gameplay experience if you enjoyed the last of his gameplay you'll enjoy this if you did not well it really is more the same I was personally never a huge fan of the last of his gameplay it certainly wasn't bad but it was just fine for the sequel I share that same opinion for the most part actually another Sony game I played recently was days gone and this may prove to be an unpopular opinion but I found the gameplay experience far more satisfying with that stealth which is the primary encouraged way of going about combat while improved stealth still doesn't feel as good or as smooth as it does in a game like Deus Ex mankind divided or Metal Gear Solid 5 are really most assassin's creed titles almost every aspect of the Last of Us too has seen improvements but in some areas it just doesn't feel enough in particular I would have prefered seeing gunplay overhauled as it does feel a bit dated but what for sure deserves to be praised is how Naughty Dog once again creates one of the most gorgeous games ever featuring top-notch environments detail atmosphere physics animations graphics levels performances and music finally though let's now advance to the main driving force of the game and that is the characters and storyline of the Last of Us part 2 you know I really do love a good revenge story but this is just not bad this is a ten-hour game dragged on for another ten hours with content that feels similar to an optional standalone DLC that expands on the main story to do this justice there's just no way of not talking about spoilers so let's get to the beginning of the game and one of the big lies or things I really am starting to hate from this entertainment industry see when Troy Baker claimed Joel played his central role in the game he's not necessarily lying I guess as he serves as the main driving force for Ellie and Tommy but Naughty Dog giving him the Terminator dark fate John Connor Tremont really did not anger me but it just annoyed me thinking about this more this is actually worse than dark fate it's like having Mackenzie Davis's character in the film going to the Past killing John Connor and then the rest of the film trying to humanize and understand the decision years ago right after the release of the first game Naughty Dog floated the idea of doing a sequel without Joel and Ellie and I kind of wished now that they would have chosen to go that route the returning characters in this game just makes some of the dumbest decisions ever like Joel suspicious nature of the first game which he actually teaches Ellie a valuable lesson about not trusting strangers it appears that he has forgotten that this time around while Danny kind of forgot about the iron flea that or I guess maybe he's just changed as he's all about introductions after barely surviving an attack from infected he's more than willing to tell hit this mysterious group his full name which just comes off as a plot hole and lazy writing especially considering he has to assume that eventually people are going to come after him for what he did regardless ABI the bodybuilder who has a voice that doesn't really match her body golf clubs Joel to death as Ellie is forced to watch this horrifying event after failing to save his life see I'm not so much annoyed because Joel died there were hints of that dating back to the first trailer and it actually made sense but how Naughty Dog went about it wasn't emotional just really ruined my want to proceed forward it's been seven years since I've seen this character and unfortunately he's killed in the first two hours the tutorial stage of the game which doesn't allow me at all to reconnect with this beloved character other games have gone about building up to these shocking and sad deaths far better but Naughty Dog went a different route doing it almost immediately fries suppose maximum shock I guess he'll at that point in the story I think Ellie and Joel had maybe one conversation together which is disappointing because based on the marketing I was misled to believe that this was another adventure of these two characters together which clearly it wasn't some of the trailers and images were also edited to make that seem like what was happening regardless that's where the revenge story for Ellie begins and it takes us to Seattle Washington because for some reason they kept ellie and tommy alive even after ellie screamed that the shoe had killed them all additionally again for some odd reason this mysterious group was wearing their Washington Liberation Front patches on them because I guess reasons anyway we see Ellie and Dena connect as they make their way to Seattle together Dena serving as Ellie's love interest eventually Ellie slowly but surely starts tracking down these WLF members that kill Joel and she makes them pay but part of the early mystery or question is where is Tommy as he left before slash without Ellie and started tracking down these WLF members that killed his brother Ellie and Dena do come upon some of Tommy's work graphic work pretty standard revenge story thus far now one of the best parts of the actual story which is prominent in the early chapters is flashbacks filling the gaps from the four-year time gap that separates the end of the last of us to the beginning of the sequel these flashbacks mainly concentrate on the consequences from Joel's big lie which saved Ellie first we have this really heartwarming birthday surprise in which Joel takes Ellie to the Wyoming Museum where she learns about dinosaurs in the outer space this is probably my favorite part of the game because it hits back to what we saw in the last game and it was these two characters forming a bond like a father and daughter Joel actually even has Ellie where an astronaut helmet and a space capsule as he plays the actual recording of the Apollo 11 lifts off without a doubt this is the brightest moment of the game in my opinion and Naughty Dog truly made this scene come alive but before it ends we see one of the big purposes of this scene and that is a former Firefly who left behind graffiti calling the group Liars for failing to restore humanity which was one of their promises as Ellie advances she eventually finds the fireflies dead body in which a letter is left behind revealing this soldier off themself as the group is now disbanded and they cannot live with what they have become in this world that really sets the tone for those flashbacks as they advance in time leading to the start of the game we discover that le does get curious wondering why nobody else immune has been found and why Joel took her away while she was unconscious from the hospital Joel again lies holding on to his secret but eventually le couldn't let it go so she returns to the hospital in Utah and finds out the devastating truth these are the moments that really make this game story interesting and compelling helping it stand out a little bit it's just so unfortunate we don't get more than that le for a long time feels betrayed by Joel and is angry with him which gives some context to the beginning of the game where you can just sense that all is not well between the two anyway now I think it's best to talk about what I think really destroyed this experience and why I'm honestly not sure it was ever smart to continue this franchise so ABI is the new playable character we're with her a lot of the game at the beginning we spend time with her traversing and getting introduced to various gameplay mechanics as she makes her way around Jackson Wyoming for some time it's mystery of her groups intentions but suddenly we find out that her father was the surgeon that was trying to save humanity and evil Joel killed him to save Ellie much of the time we spend with ABI is trying to humanize her and make us understand her reasoning for revenge which I suppose makes sense but it just never works as she's Ellie's for me just an extremely unlikable character the story hits its climax with Ellie being held at gunpoint after Abby teleported across the map because Ellie for some reason left a map with their location on it after killing some wlf members Abby then proceeds to kill Jessie a mostly forgettable character and muscles Tommy down to the ground conveniently missing his head with her gun shot but that part comes later then we get a nice long backstory of Abby and these WLF members at that moment I was really praying that this would be limited but nope nearly half the game we play as this character and it's all really just flashbacks and I just barely ever found myself caring the game literally reaches this boiling point and then hits to give this long tale of how great these wolf members are WLF members actually were I'm sorry to say it just never works at least for myself I get what Naughty Dog was trying to do or accomplish but I found a B storyline closer to finding it was not needed now another character that's introduced is love which is the victim of transphobic attacks and often you'll hear levs former faction the scars dead naming him as he was originally supposed to be a child bride nutty dog attempts to create a relationship of Abby and left somewhat similar to that of Ellie and Joel so we can empathize with them but again it just doesn't work it just feels way too forced largely this game is about hate and revenge but neither Ellie or Abby can ever commit to it fully which doesn't exactly add up Abby has two opportunities to kill Ellie one at the beginning and one in the theater I thought it was rather captivating having the game supposed antagonist a be in our control trying to hunt down and kill what's supposed to be the game's protagonist with Ellie it felt conflicting or kind of weird doing these actions which I'm certain that was Naughty Dog's intention they do something a bit similar earlier as we unknowingly are being sniped at by Tommy Naughty Dog's trying to play with our emotions a little bit trick us and they do this at the start of the game as we're playing as this mysterious unknown character being assisted by Joel and Tommy and then obviously we find out this mysterious characters true mission which is supposed to be a huge shocker either way eventually in the theater she has a knife at Dina's throat and Ellie's trying to stop her by revealing that Dina's pregnant Abby says Good Witch okay I mean I get it another forgettable character Mel was pregnant another wlf member and Ellie killed her anyway Abby stops when sweet little Lev tells her not to the kid she met like two days ago why she still lets Ellie live is beyond me but she does and then surprise surprise Ellie a number of months later is living the easy life in a farm with Dina and their baby but Ellie can't get over Joel's death suffering from PTSD so she goes by ourselves seeking revenge once more Dena warns her that if Ellie goes they are done as bull le then goes to Santa Barbara where a B and Lev are being kept as prisoners le massacres dozens of these soldiers just to get to Abbey and once she does she has a melee fight with a weakened ABI after le loses a few fingers she's inches away from drowning ABI but can't go forward with it a bein left leave the end a revenge story that tries telling us the player after killing hundreds of soldiers and enemies the killing actually isn't good and revenge or veg ins is really not the answer strange the game tries to be a commentary on the cycle of violence and how I guess le has an epiphany after traveling hundreds of miles and killing already so many but of course the game doesn't go straight to credits we do get one more flashback set right before the beginning of the game in which le reveals to Joel in an emotional moment that she's willing to try and forgive him for what he did four years ago then fast forward once more to present-day Ellie returns home in Jackson Wyoming to find Dena gone another symbolic moment as wounded Ellie leaves the guitar Joel gave her behind as she moves on with her life looking forward not backwards now credits then finally hit overall I didn't hate the story I just didn't care for it we've seen dark stories with a message like this before a good example is spec ops the line which in my opinion is done far better than this there were for sure some great moments as simple as Ellie smelling Joel's jacket after his death were like Joel playing and then passing his guitar to Ellie in the beginning of a game just after the events of the first games ending a beautiful symbolic tender moment between the two that stays with Ellie throughout the journey more importantly though Ellie then becomes the main playable character after the scene but it really just wasn't enough of these compelling moments mainly with the hours we spend with Abbie I just never feel any of that but even just Ellie she was this character of Hope in the first game giving light to this dark world and now that's pretty much gone it's just a bunch of miserable people in this miserable world with a miserable story and honestly a miserable outcome the newly introduced characters also are not very relatable like jessie is just kind of there having a previous relationship with Deena that got her knocked up Manny is just a Hispanic guy who has a way with women I guess oh and used to have a relationship with Abby and still has feelings for her honestly I really wish we would have spent more time with Elly rather than Abby that pause at the theater to give Abby's backstory and show how things had gone for her in recent days leading up to that encounter with Elly just killed all momentum for me and I truly found Abby story arc just flat out boring and uninteresting if you want my verdict on this entire experience it's not bad or a masterpiece it's just fine which for one of the best games last generation in my eyes it's a disappointment wasn't as good the last of his part too is easily one of the most divisive games in years you have critics raving about this game one reviewer comparing it to Schindler's List when calling it the greatest game of all time on both Metacritic and open critic this sequels received universal acclaim but for fans this is a different story with many really just unhappy with the narrative decisions that Naughty Dog chose to go with on Metacritic specifically the game has been review bombed by users dropping it all the way down to a 4.2 user score with over 41,000 negative ratings game director Neil druckmann did make light of this review bombing in a very cool way just pointing out how happy he is the game has received double the amount of user review scores compared to the first game on Metacritic but critics journalists and even some game developers are making some very baseless accusations that people unhappier disliking this experience are just a bunch of bigots unhappy that Ellie is a lesbian although for some reason these individuals fail to recognize the first games Left Behind DLC was universally acclaimed by both users and critics one journalists took to Twitter declaring the hate for the last of his parts who is incredibly reminiscent of Gigi in so many ways but mainly in that the most vocal detractors say that they hate it because of the story when really it's because they can't handle diversity in the medium they define their lifes by just like GG wasn't actually about ethics and games journalism most of the barage in the games Metacritic with low user review scores really aren't upset about the last of us part twos narrative another journalist chimed in it's super gross super depressing and sadly super predictable lead character is not a straight white guy oMG there's politics and my video games do these people spend any time in the real world at all as I roll my eyes to the back of my head god of war 2005's game director also said about the negative user scores I would argue that you really are not seeing the consumer side I assume 95 percent of the people who buy and play The Last of Us part two assuming there were fans of the first game will be anywhere from satisfied to over the frickin moon happy with part two what you see here are mostly vocal minority morons cliffy B the lead designer in the first three Gears of War Games said on Twitter in a mocking tone le into girls this is sjw nonsense half riot off with that and then he also mocked again we aren't mad at that we are mad for other reasons goes to Metacritic slash YouTube etc to complain about the alleged sjw agenda games apparently a masterpiece which cliffy B is not wrong with those getting upset about Elly sexual orientation that's not new news that was already explored and they left behind DLC but nobody is really saying that as far as I have seen and focusing on that stupid criticism takes away from the real issues people have with the game many streamers such as PewDiePie and xqc as well as popular youtubers such as angry Joe and scallop have been critical of the experience on Twitter and reddit you have many absolutely livid with what Naughty Dog produced there's tons of memes mocking the key moments of the game such as Joel's death and Abi's very adult scene upset fans have even started a petition demanding the sequel be remade or at least the storyline so far it has close to 15 thousand signatures a conversation surrounding this game has already reached a point of exhaustion and for years you will see this game debated just like other controversial pieces of entertainment whether that be Game of Thrones season 8 or the recent Disney Star Wars trilogy of films I made a prediction weeks ago that this would be a controversial release and I certainly was not wrong fortunately though all of these heated opinions on the Last of Us part two has not hit the games sales as it has been reported the bug game is currently the fastest selling box PlayStation 4 game in the UK ever additionally Sony has reported that the Last of Us part two has sold four million copies which makes it the fastest selling first party PlayStation release ever and there's also been reports of strong sales in Japan which considering this was a highly anticipated title and the lack of entertainment being released due to the ongoing pandemic it should not be surprising to see this game do so well not entirely too sure if there ever was a movement to boycott the last of his Part 2 or if this was just a narrative invented by games media but regardless I think I just am glad to have at least experienced this game for myself it's just unfortunate that the sequel did nothing for me one can assume based on how the game ends but it's very likely that the Last of Us franchise is not over and it's very likely a B and ellee's past will reconnect once again with the fireflies tease to be returning after a bee makes contact with the faction near the end of the game but for now I really am okay with saying goodbye to this franchise as this rollercoaster has just love me underwhelmed and I know the already exhausting divisive fan outrage will rub soon when the last of us to inevitably get showered with warts maybe even down the road when the Last of Us part 3 gets teased but was the last of his part to a mistake or a masterpiece or just all right opinions seem to be drastically different on that question but for now let me know your thoughts on this experience down the comment section below but thank you for watching make sure to leave a like if you did enjoy this video or if you found any informative value and make sure to follow my other social media accounts for updates on new videos links are always down the description below a most active on Twitter giving opinions on news that I do not always get into video form so make sure to follow me over there big shout out to my patreon supporters who make this content possible and I'll also check out my discord for all sorts of conversation on games and again thank you for joining consider subscribing for more videos like this and I'll see you later

Channel: LegacyKillaHD

Views: 892,724

Keywords: Naughty Dog, The Last of Us 2, The Last of Us 2 leak, The Last of Us Part 2, Sony, Playstation 5, PS5, Naughty Dog Agenda, TLOU2, TLOU2 leak, Naughty Dog Crunch, The Last of Us 2 Gameplay, Last of Us 2, The Last of Us, The Last of Us 2 Ellie, The Last of Us 2 Joel, The Last of Us 2 Review, The Last of Us 2 Ending

Id: WTDJJ5VlZ0A

Length: 53min 2sec (3182 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 26 2020