The Last of Us: Part 2 : Journey Series - Part 3 (Until Tracking Lesson)
*Spoilers Ahead*
Welcome back to our ongoing adventure with the Last of Us 2 that we are calling the Journey Series. On the third leg of our Journey, we are covering the game up until the start of your tracking lesson. A word of caution spoilers are ahead, so please proceed with risk. Sit back, relax and enjoy.
After reliving a memory from the past at the end of Day 1 in Seattle, Ellie is forced to track down Tommy on her own as Dina is in no condition to be of help to her at this point. I am also intrigued where Dina’s storyline will be heading from here, since it’s unlikely that she will be in any condition to help moving forward.
It was very clear after the chalet scene that either Ellie was going to see imaginary people or Naughty Dog had pulled a bait and switch in one of their trailers to throw the viewers off the actual events of the story. With the way spoiler culture is nowadays, blockbuster movies and games are forced to mislead us in their trailers. The first friendly face that I was expecting to see in Seattle felt like was going to be Tommy but Naughty Dog is always very misleading that I should’ve seen it coming.
Pushing deeper into Seattle towards the hospital, a fire burns in the distant woods. I have a feeling brooding inside that we are about to meet a new type of danger and my suspicion has been vindicated as we finally meet the seraphites or scars as they are referred to. There have been plenty of hints and cues about this faction with graffiti, notes and overheard conversation. Foliage is deep and fire burns in the distance as it becomes obvious that stealth will be very important in these unknown parts. The whistles throughout the woods put you in a state of unease as you are no longer able to understand what the enemies are thinking with this new language they have crafted in this new world.
I am curious where the story telling will take the seraphites and if we will find out why they worship this one lady. Why is there graffiti throughout the city that says “feel her love?” I could easily see many cults similar to this starting in this kind of world but what are they rallying behind. Is it possible that she is a chosen one and is also immune to the virus? It could also be possible that she is just a false prophet praying on weaker peoples need to have some type of deity or northern star in times like this. There is a strong chance that Ellie isn’t the only one with immunity to the virus just based on odds of probability. We have seen the WLF track Ellie down into areas with spores and be very concerned and using masks but as of now we have only seen the SCARS outdoors.
Making my way through Seattle I can’t help but wonder how it’s possible that a teenager is able to completely infiltrate and eliminate members of the WLF and the Scars so easily. I can understand that anger and hate can drive you beyond normal means, pushing you beyond your limits and the game did make a slight hint at the museum about Ellie being an apex predator but it does seem a little far fetched that one person is able to undermine half a decade of what these factions have been doing, especially in the so called wolves den.
After leaving the hospital and doing what I went there to do which was find, interrogate and kill Nora I don’t fully understand why Ellie seems affected from the killing of Nora as much as she is. Her hands can’t stop shaking and it’s clear in her body language back at the theatre, that it is lingering with her. Ellie has been on a rampage since she got to Seattle killing plenty of both humans and clickers.
I thought to myself for a minute that maybe it was due to how intimate this was and maybe killing someone so closely feels different but then I remembered how many people she had beaten with a pipe, mace, machete or anything else found in the world or the dozens or so that I have stealth killed from behind with a knife. Similar to the end of the TLOU, the game provides you no option during your finale with Nora. There is no amount of time that will change the outcome or alter it in any way. You are forced to press the button and you are forced to go through this event and come out changed on the other side.
While discussing the stealth kills, for a game that adds so many little touches to make you forget that you are playing a game like different sounds for a locker or how the enemies say different names to each other, Ellies stealth kills become very repetitive when you are playing the game as it has been designed. It would likely be a lot less noticeable if you were approaching the combat slightly differently and using more weapons and traps but my first plan is always stealth. This is so far the first problem technical problem that I have found with TLOU2 as so far from Naughty Dog seems to have thought of all the small things.
In the 2013 entry, Ellie’s biggest fear was being alone. Being so young, one of the only things Ellie truly knows from this world is loss from the moment we meet her. She has lost her mom,Tess, Riley, Sam and probably countless others that we never got a chance to meet. This world has forced Ellie to put up walls and keep people out, until she meets Joel and across their journey, discovers someone worthy of trust again.
We learn at this point, during on of their flashbacks searching for guitar strings, that the one person she truly trusted in this world has lied to her but I think she understands on some level that the reason Joel had been lying to her was to keep her out of harms way. Ellie needs time to digest what has happened and why the only person she has trusted in this harsh, unforgiving world has betrayed her trust. Joel had become a father figure to Ellie and it’s this loss at the start of the game that sets her on this path of revenge.
In the first game, there was nothing that Joel wouldn’t do to keep Ellie safe. In TLOU2, there are no lengths she won’t go to to seek revenge for taking away this integral person from her life. Even so much as to put others she loves in harms way by leaving Dina alone at times and abandoning Jesse as he goes his way if it affects her quest for revenge. I feel like it is only a matter of time before something happens to either of these people who are close to Ellie.
The amount of people that have died as a result of Joel saving Ellie in the original cannot be understated. The fireflies are left extremely vulnerable after the mass casualties at the hospital. They are also set on tracking down Ellie to try to save the world and Joel to seek revenge that they are eventually left with no other options but to join forces with the WLF. The people at Jackson that have died as a result of the WLF looking for revenge and all of the casualties that Ellie has left in her wake so far throughout TLOU2. All of these lives have been lost in exchange for one single life. Then there is all of collateral damage that happened due to lack of cure as we are constantly finding notes on our journey from people never getting the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones.
On the third day in Seattle, Jesse agrees to join Ellie and help her find Tommy who they are assuming will be on the same course as them which means that he will likely end up at the aquarium looking for Abby as well. Jesse and Ellie agree that the best and only option is to find Tommy and return home to Jackson as Dina needs proper medical care. Thunderstorms have set in making traversal to the aquarium much tougher combined with the already tough task of having to go through the WLF infested city.
Jesse and Ellie decide that finding a boat they spotted will be their best course of action for getting to the aquarium. Before they acquire the boat, they overhear WLF communications that a sniper is taking out a lot of wolves, and based on the rifle training flashback with Tommy, we can assume he is the unidentified marksman. Jesse decides that the best plan is to change course and go after Tommy since they know where he is and also now has the full attention of the WLF . Ellie can’t be swayed from her path of revenge much to the shock and dismay of Jesse as she pushes on alone towards the aquarium, while he changes his path to try to help Tommy.
After making her way through blocks of flooded Seattle alone, she arrives at the Aquarium near dark. At this section of the game we can really see how Naughty Dog and their environmental clues have evolved from yellow ladders and worn walls to the way that a lightning strike cascades through a window shining light towards the next part of your journey. Not only is this incredibly smart as is doesn’t break immersion but it is also stunning the way lightning strikes and crashes through the windows illuminating the near dark building.
At the end of the aquarium we find that there is more than just Abby staying here. We also find Cole, who was also once a firefly and was the first member of the WLF that we met back in Jackson as well as Mel, a medic who was also in Jackson. It is here that Ellie tries to use Joel’s interrogation method of asking two people the same question and seeing if the answers match to try to find Abby whereabouts. Unfortunately, things don’t go quite as planned as this is Ellies first time using this tactic and she is still very young and inexperienced.
The situation quickly becomes unmanageable for Ellie and more lives are taken accidentally than initially planned. Ellie is also unable to get any information regarding the whereabouts of Abby. It is in this moment Ellie has become affected by the outcome and breaks down. This is a psychological change that can make sense for many reasons vs the affect that was shown after leaving the hospital.
At what point do the ends justify the means for Ellie. Once back at the theatre, Tommy and Jesse agree that although they didn’t get the end result they were looking by bringing Abby to justice, they feel like they have done enough to send a message to the WLF. Jesse and Tommy agree that the smartest thing that can be done at this moment is to return to Jackson in good health. However, you get the feeling from how Ellie is acting that she might decide to stay and finish what she came to Seattle for. There is noise heard from the front of the theatre and in the blink of an eye everything has changed.
This is the end of the third leg of our journey. I hope to see you on the next one.