(Some) of Your Last of Us Criticism is Bullshit
It’s a good game and I’m tired of seeing these cold takes!
I should probably start out by saying I was ready to call this game garbage when some of the leaks (a lot that turned out to be absolutely made up) were sent out, but I held off. I played the game myself (not watch someone else play it - I played at my own pace for my own experience) and a lot of the “reasons why it sucked” just…don’t hold up lmao
I honestly don’t know what people were expecting with this one. From the very first teaser people expected Joel not to make it. IT was clear Ellie was on a path of revenge, and there was only one person that both Ellie and the audience would do it for. (Then we were worried it was Dina, then really worried it was Dina, but other clips and stills kept pointing more and more to Dina sticking around, and Joel dying.)
It’s okay if you felt mislead by the one trailer. I don’t think they should have done that either. But that’s your problem with the marketing. Not the actual game. (Personal note, I didn’t want Joel to tag along. Then it would just be the first game over again, and we wouldn’t get to really know the new characters. I’m glad we got different allies)
It was necessary for the story. For Ellie to really be able to go off on her own, learn to forgive Joel for the Fireflies in her own way. And it was also the way Joel’s mistakes come back in a meaningful way, not just Ellie being angry. You were supposed to feel torn at the end of the first game, and this is that struggle realized - some see it as the right one, the selfish violent one. I for one, am glad there was actual consequences.
????? Did you play the first one??? Ofc it’s violent, and shocking. Moreso than the first because this time we see Ellie as the antagonizer. Ellie is increasingly and increasingly more horrified by her actions, so we should be too.
“But I have to kill a dog!!!” You also have to kill people, which should be worse. I also hated killing the dogs, but it’s a video game. I looked away when I had to. It’s an interesting mechanic and you can absolutely get over it like - that’s the game babe
Ellie won’t act like she did when she was 14. A shitton has changed. Tommy was in the first game for like 30 minutes. Ya’ll claim to love complex characters but actually seeing someone act irrationally for trauma?? Suddenly inconceivable to you lmao
Even at the farmhouse, when Ellie left Dina - she still hadn’t fully moved past what Abby did to Joel. We saw that in her journal (again, if you actually played the game by yourself, took time to take the story in) and in her panic attack. She doesn’t know how to move past it, and still thinks that killing Abby is the way to go.
“Well Tommy wanted to go home but then at the farmhouse he wanted to go after Abby!” Tommy wanted to go home because Ellia and Dina were there to bring him back and Dina was sick. That was the only reason Ellie agreed to go back too. But oh shit! Abby literally crippled him and shot him in the face, of course Tommy would still want to go after her! He’s traumatized too guys, only now he can’t physically finish his journey like Ellie can.
(and, with the glory of an open ending, once Ellie gets back to Jackson, he probably does move on. He forgave Joel for whatever their falling out was in the first game, he might be able to do it again - up to interpretation)
“Joel would never give his name to a stranger!” Again, probably not if we were still in the first game. Hell, Joel probably would have shot them on sight if we were still in the first game. But again, the time in Jackson has changed him. There is a part later on in the game that shows Jackson tries to help as many straggles as they can. It’s an open community. Joel had no reason to think the group would be immediately violent because they knew his name.
4. “Abby is a bad person!” “I hate Abby!” “They tried to make me feel bad for Abby!”
Abby is an amazing beast of a woman and again, I ask you to actually play the game at your own pace and explore the sections where you play as Abby. If you’re raging still by the time you get to her section, you are going too fast. You are ignoring how Ellie is learning more and more about the Wolves and how they are people too - the things she is doing is not justified.
Abby is a bad person, but just as much as Ellie is. Just as much as Joel is. She’s a survivor, and was traumatized by her loss (and yeah, losing your dad is traumatizing. Losing an organization you called home to find a new one is traumatizing). She, just like Ellie, thinks the only way to feel at peace with it is to take down her father’s killer.
But even after! She feels terrible! She knows it didn’t do what she wanted - she has nightmares of her father’s death, she sees the impact it has on her friends, and she knows it’s wrong! That’s like, the major reason she goes back to save Yara and Lev - she knows what she did was wrong. She tries to make up for it.
Yara and Lev change her, and you would notice if you actually looked. Even after Ellie killed all of her friends, she lets her go. She knows that revenge didn’t work the first time, and would not work again.
“I’m supposed to feel bad for her just because her dad died?” No, you’re supposed to start to understand her. That’s the jumping off point for this character, and ultimately, her father doesn’t play a huge part in her arc. Not to mention, this argument is pretty heartless coming from people who claim to have such deep empathy for people
If you’re willing to let Ellie and Joel’s mistakes go because you feel so attached to them, but refuse to even give Abby a chance - at the very least, admit you’re being hypocritical. This does not make the game or the story a bad one because you ignore a part you didn’t want to be true.
A. The thing about Abby being trans isn’t true. it’s not an explicit part of the story and the “leak” about her being so was absolutely made up. Ya’ll just can’t handle a beast of a woman. (Though if you are trans and HC her as so, completely in your right to do so
B. There is a trans character who is treated badly by their people. This is shown to be wrong. I cannot speak for trans players, so depending how much deadnaming bothers you, this could be another, personal problem. Lev is deadnamed twice (maybe more depending how long it took to finish that encounter, but twice is all I heard) and it is shown to be wrong. And as a way for him being trans to be brought up later, in a more respectful setting. If this fact wasn’t brought up, and then Lev was said to be trans, ya’ll also would’ve called bullshit. By the characters you’re supposed to root for, Lev is treated with respect, protected, not fetishized and all in all, makes it out better than most characters.
C. “It’s violence against lesbians!” First, Dina is bi. And really? There’s violence against everybody. It is understandable to be uncomfortable with tragedy surrounding queer characters, but this game makes clear that that is not an option. I, as a bi woman, am ecstatic to see queer woman at the forefront of a game where their sexuality is present, but not the driving force.
There is one character who harasses Ellie and again, this is shown to be in the wrong. Ellie and Dina’s romance is never a factor in the actual violence against them, only their actions.
D. “But Dina and Ellie don’t even end up together!!” The magic of an open ending, bud. Ellie’s journal when she’s in Santa Barbara shows that she misses JJ and Dina a lot. I immediately assumed that when she found left the farmhouse at the very end, she was going back to Jackson to be back with Dina - now finally ready to heal without revenge. Dina did tell her not to go after Abby, but Ellie’s line does imply that there is a chance Dina will forgive her too
Really, these ones are reaches and if you want fluffy queer media, that’s awesome, but no where was that promised here.
There are absolutely critiques of this game that are valid. Nothing is perfect. I thought the pacing at times was absolutely killer slow, and there’s only so many large areas filled with enemies I can take out before it gets a bit repetitive. The characters of color (aside from Dina and Lev) always being killed is super sus and could have been avoided most times. But for the main criticisms I’m hearing, ya’ll are just reaching. Just because a story is not what you wanted does not make it bad
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