First of all, a small disclaimer, I have not played any of the games, I don't even own a playstation. But I have seen the full gameplay from both games on Youtube, (shout out to "my boy" RicFazeres for sharing his gameplay with everyone). So far I still didn't see/read any reviews of the game, will get to it after I've finished writing this text. I absolutely loved the first game, and the second... well lets get into it.
**Warning: Spoilers for "The Last of Us- Part II"... obviously...**
**Disclaimer: All of this is purely my personal opinion. That means that it's not worth anything for anyone but me.**
Focusing on the story itself, I think the game is good, but it has some big issues, specially towards the middle of the narrative. My main intention with this rant, is to maintain the story of the games, while changing it's pacing and structure.
Currently the game begins with some small playable scenes with Joel, Ellie and Abby. Then Abby, and her group, kill Joel. Then we follow Ellie in her path for revenge against Abby for more or less half the game, then they meet and we "go backwards" to follow what Abby has been doing while Ellie was hunting her (taking more or less the same time as we took with Ellie), then when Abby's "timeline" meets up with Ellie's we get a confrontation between the two. After that we return to a bit of PoV changes between Ellie and Abby, where Abby tries to get reunited with the Fireflies and Ellie goes, yet again, on the path for revenge. Then we reach the conclusion of the game.
For someone that didn't play/watch the first game, this seems to be a good story, but for the millions of fans that experienced the first game, there was a great problem. I totally get the messages that Naughty Dog was trying to transmit. The messages where good, they worked! What didn't work was the way that they where delivered. In my opinion, it is very important to, not only transmit said messages, but make sure that the reader enjoys receiving them.
So, what to change? Where to start? Well I suggest that we start before the beginning, let us go back to the "story board" stage and make a few simple tweaks to fix the problem a bit. Let us pretend that we work for Naughty Dog, and it's been a few months since the first game was released; what are the three main things we can take for granted?
1- The game was an absolute success, so "our" brand now has the "guarantee" that people will buy the next title no matter what.
2- Everyone now loves Joel.
3- Everyone now loves Ellie.
Ok, now lets advance to the first "mistake" (in my opinion) that Naughty Dog committed with this game, the announcement of the game itself. I hear people complain about Naughty Dog "abusing" the first point that I mentioned above. Things like: "Oh they knew that everyone would buy the game, so they just did a shitty story and sold it anyway." I think that Naughty Dog didn't stretch this first point enough! The fact that Joel dies and Ellie is on a constant path for revenge "surprises" the player in a negative way because everyone loves Joel, and everyone loves Ellie. And now, most people hate Abby. Naughty Dog clearly saw that the players would hate Abby as soon as she killed Joel, and all that love for Joel would be transferred to even more love for Ellie. And then, while following Ellie on her path for revenge we get to know her even better... and love her even more! And then, when the time comes to switch to Abby's perspective, the player is completely on Ellie's side, we want Ellie to succeed, we want her to go back home with Dina, Jesse and Tommy and all be happy, we don't want Abby to win! But the game forces us to try to understand Abby's side, and there lies the problem. Some players understood her reasons, others didn't, some just gave up on the game on this part... but almost certainly all had some difficulties with being in Abby's PoV. I understand that Naughty Dog wanted to give us a view of the opposing side but, for most players, it's already too late because everyone has already taken Ellie's side.
Now, lets get to my idea to how of fix this. To start, Naughty Dog should have used and abused of the fact that everyone already knows that their game would be special. Starting by the title, ditch the "The Last of Us - Part II", name it "The Last of Us II". What difference does that make? Well the "Part II" implies a continuity to Joel and Ellie's story... it's the "second part of their story". "But that's what everyone wanted!" - you say. Yes, and that's why we should not have it, or better... they should not give it to us in a "silver platter". (Does that expression exist in English? I don't know... in Portuguese it makes sense).
For me the game should advertised as "The Last of Us II", all the trailers and advertising would focus on one character: Abby. The producers would say that this was a story of a new character in the same world. "Oh but people would be disappointed because of the lack of Joel and Ellie" Yes, people would be sad, but lets be honest, people would buy the game anyway because it's Naughty Dog and "The Last of Us"! Gamers would feel a bit disappointed, but would still feel curiosity towards the new story and the new characters, so all would go somewhat smoothly, and Naughty Dog had nothing to fear, because they would know that they were hiding a trump card!
The story and themes would remain the same with the game starting with Abby setting out with a group of friends in search for the people that killed her father (we don't know who). We follow them, and get to know each character better (Mel, Owen, Manny, etc), but specially we start getting attached to Abby. The entire plot line with Lev and Yara can also be adapted into the story, maybe instead of being a local religious sect, the Seraphites could be a nomad religious sect, so the story would remain the same, but the entire plot would elapse during Abby's journey towards her father's killer. She would still save Lev, Yara could still die in a similar way, etc etc (so no message would be lost in this new narrative). But the main point is, by the middle of the game, the players would care and love Abby!
At this point we can now add a fourth point to the things we can almost take for granted (as "fictional game developers and story tellers working for Naughty Dog):
1- The game was an absolute success, so "our" brand now has the "guarantee" that people will buy the next title no matter what.
2- Everyone now loves Joel.
3- Everyone now loves Ellie.
4- By the middle of the new game, everyone now loves Abby. (and potentially other members of her group).
Now everything is set, all the pieces are in place, and we can shock the players, while surprising them and giving them a treat. The player gets shocked, because the character that they now love, care about and "helped" reach their destination, ends up killing Joel! But now, the player gets to play as another character that they love, and thought that they would never see again: Ellie!
Now everything is balanced, the love for Abby was nurtured during the first half of the game, part of said love was shattered when Abby killed another character that the players already loved, Joel. And now the player must follow another character that they love, Ellie, on her path for revenge. In which, Ellie ends up killing most of the characters that where in Abby's group (and that the player probably also cared about). Leading up to the exact same outcome has we seen in the game, but by different means.
This way, in my opinion, the messages of the story would be even stronger, the player would be completely divided between siding with Ellie or with Abby, because both had the time to be developed as interesting characters. I believe that most players would not want either of them to die, and would immediately understand that the entire "revenge plot" is wrong and leads only to a unending cycle of despair and violence - which is the same message that the game presents, but some players have just taken sides (most hating Abby).
Ellie had one game and a half of development, Abby has to manage to be as relatable in just half a game. For this, the only way is to "play" with the emotions of the players even more than the game did. Making Abby the face of the game, and hiding Ellie behind the impact of Joel's death. This is almost Pavlovian... Be sad that there's no Joel and Ellie - Play with Abby - Care about Abby - Be shocked that Abby kills Joel - Get rewarded with playing with Ellie.
Anyway, nothing else is coming to my head right now, I think I made my point. The game is good, but it could have had a lot more impact and meaning, at least for me... now I'm off to read/watch other people's review's.
(Maybe I'm starting to abuse this "colour" thing.... meh)
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