(Posted this in a thread but kept from making a topic due to too few having finished it, but if you haven't read it: here it is!)
The following will contain heavy spoilers from The Last Of Us:
Where do I begin? I honestly don't know. It has been a little over 9 hours now from when I finished the game. I completed it at 6 in the morning and I have not been wanting to go to sleep ever since. As I am typing this, my eyes are red as a result of not only the absurd amount that I have been up for but also the tears that I shedd on this journey with Joel and Ellie.
The Last of Us cannot possibly be a video game. Why? Because never in my life time of video games has a game ever left me with such an impact and such a feeling of love towards a fictional character. And that is the strongest aspect of The Last Of Us in my opinion.
Previous titles have touched me. The Metal Gear Solid franchise along with the Uncharted series has truly inspired me and had me care for the characters. But none of them hold a candle to what The Last Of Us accomplishes. I simply did not think it was possible.
The game begins with Joel being a rather young father, watching television with her young daughter Sarah. As Sarah falls asleep on the couch, Joel carries her into her bed and the game begins with you taking control of Sarah as the infection is starting to spread within your city. This eventually goes on to launch one of the greatest intros to a video game, ever. It ends with Joel carrying Sarah through this whole apocalypse until Sarah is shot and dies in Joels arms. Fifteen minutes in and I was weeping already...
I am not here to tell you about how the game plays, what I think about the stunning visuals and so forth. I want to talk about how those mother fuckers at Naughty Dog went out of their way to create two of the most interesting and well developed characters, and then use these characters to constantly toy with the players emotions.
You see, the first few 8-10 hours of the game is getting to know this little girl called Ellie as you are tasked to escort her to a group known as the Fireflies. Early on, we get to know that Ellie has been infected but she's somehow immune to the transformation which essientally makes her the only person who could save the world from this fungus infection by the creation of a cure. You bond with this little girl. She's witty, has a very innocent outlook on the entire world, she just lightens up the mood and makes your journey all that much more enjoyable. She also saves your ass during combat by jumping on others with her knife and throwing objects. Ellie is amazing putting it simple and she only continues to grow on you.
But after the 8-10 hour mark, the setting goes from Summer to Fall and this is where I personally feel the game goes beyond what is a standard video game. Having established their relation (although while still not rock solid), you can feel the tension start to build up between them. At one point, Ellie takes a horse and simply rides off by her own. Instinctively, I as a player felt insanely scared and intimidated of the thought that she might've gotten hurt. I rode after her in the fastest way I could as if there was no tomorrow. Upon finding her, Joel and Ellie had a little moment that was really touching.
After they re-unite, we are presented with one horse for the both of us where we continue to search for the group that could use Ellie to create a cure.
This is where it all goes to shit. Or rather said: The game starts to really agonize you. In middle of a combat scenario, Joel is grabbed.You don't necessarily dwell too much on it as you're struggling to tap square as it happens several times really. Suddenly however, the both of you fall from a rather long fall and Joel gets pierced in the torso, from the back by a small yet sharp piece of metal. Ellie helps you up and you both struggle to get out of there. During this particular scenario, being so helpless and watching Ellie fight trying to save your life was freaking me out. I constantly wanted to help her as I didn't want her to go through all of that alone. The Last Of Us makes you care in ways that I thought this medium was incapable of.
Shortly after Ellie fights her way through the enemies, Joel is breathing heavy and the camera fades to black.
Suddenly, you're Ellie, hunting a deer. I lost it at this point. I should've seen it coming, I really should have. Was Joel dead? I had no clue. What I did know was that the brilliant masterminds behind this game just decided to allow me to play the character who'm I had been growing so fond of.
As I took control of Ellie, I instantly noticed that the feeling of the character is very much different.
Don't get me wrong, Ellie is a capable person but she lacks the physical power of Joel and it shows. (She's one heck of a marksman though).
Fast forwarding a while:
Ellie comes across two hunters who want to split the deer meet she just caught.
Ellie says that she'd trade it all for some antibiotics which has me draw the conclusion:
God damn you Naughty Dog, Joel lives. Praise the lord!
After Ellie "bonds" with one of the hunters as the other is t
o go and get the supplies from the camp:
It turns out that the person who'm you've been working together with is actually the leader of the specific group whose men you and Joel have killed together for the previous oh I don't know, 2 hours or so.
Turns out that the hunter is aware of a man running around with a little girl, taking the lives of his friends. As soon as I heard this: I started fearing for my life. You can see Ellie starts to shake as she backs up.
Honestly: I thought they were going to kill Ellie right there and have Joel die as he wouldn't be treated properly. However it seemed fate had other plans as this leader for some reason lets Ellie go.
After taking care of Joel and putting him back to rest, it turns out that the hunters have tracked Ellie down. Ellie then has to sneak out in order to lure them away from Joel who is resting in one of the many houses. In the midst of all of this: Ellie gets captured and a number of events follow which ultimately leads to Ellie refusing to cooperate with the lead hunter which really has you question how much she values her own life.
I had to pause the game at this point and just take a breather because we are constantly reminded of how brutal and lethal this world is. Nearly everyone we know has died aside from the two of us.
The more I thought about it and the possibility of Ellie and even Joel dying: The more intimidated I got and every section was a real pain in the gutt to play.
I wasnt playing because it was fun (albeit it was though). I was playing because I felt like I had an obligation to help Ellie get through this, to the end, regardless of the price.
This feeling drove me throughout the whole game and I must say that I absolutely loved it.
Joel wakes up and is on the look for Ellie. Ellie manages to break through and has a fight against the leader of the hunters who'm seal the exit and starts to torch the place. Once Joel gets there, Ellie is repeatedly slashing the leader of the hunter with a machete, as tears drop down her face and Joel kind of hugs her, trying to hold her calm. During this whole section, my heart was racing and I kept thinking I was going to lose one or the other. Luckily that was not the case.
Later on Ellie doesnt entirely feel the same from the get go atleast. You can tell she's distant. She starts to soften up a bit and Joel and her discuss what they will be doing after all of this. Ellie says that Joel should teach her how to swim among other things. These kinds of banter between the two characters really immerse you more and add so much to the characters themselves.
Eventually we finally make our way to the escort location. Here we are told by the leader of the fireflies that in order to create a cure, they will essientally need to perform surgery on Ellie that will ultimately lead to her death.
So what does Joel do? What does the player feel we should do? Well...
The player as Joel quickly run through a section of killing fireflies that are in the way towards Ellie. Once you enter the room where Ellie is prepped for surgery:
I quickly took my revolver and put a bullet in all three of the surgeons. The upcoming part is by far the most memorable moment of the game:
Joel carries Ellie as he rushes trying to find an exit. Ellie seems to be completely dazed as you are running with her through the halls, as the fireflies are creeping closer and closer, their flashlights emitt lighting all over the place and the beautiful yet saddening and tragic soundtrack is being played. The whole ending sequence is alluding to the intro where Joel is running with Sarah, his daughter and she is eventually shot to death.
At this point, running through those halls with Ellie in my arms, hearing the fireflies getting closer: My eyes were dripping and I was bawling like never before in a video game. It was excruciating to think that the same scenario might take place again only this time: I have gotten to truly feel and care for Ellie beyond what I ever did to Sarah. The mere thought of it happening had me weeping.
I see an elevator and make my move towards it. ...We made it?!
This is when I physically cannot sit still anymore and decide to stand up, knowing that this is it. The door opens as I prepare myself for bullets being pumped into the elevator
with Joel dying along with Ellie in his arms...
Yeah, that did not happen.
Instead it is the leader of the fireflies that claim that they have no choice but to do this and that Joel should hand her over for the greater good of mankind. The leader goes on to say that Ellie would want this herself which does indeed sound like the Ellie that I've gotten to know.
I understand where the leader is coming from, but I pleaded to Joel (as if he was hearing me) to not give her over. She's just a child! I shout at around 5.30 AM infront of the TV going along the lines of "DON'T YOU DARE DO IT!". And the next thing we see is a cockpit view inside a car of Joel driving away...
We see him behind the wheel, making expressions and closing both eyes for a second. The player is to assume that he indeed gave her over. As soon as I realized this, I collapsed on my knees. My pillow being squished to death by my arms and the carpet and bed soaked with tears from my eyes.
Yeah, the whole thing was unbearable.
So what? I felt like I had lost something major. Words cannot express the feeling Naughty Dog managed to capture with this game and during this moment. They continue to surprise me and in the heat of the moment, you do not really have much room for thinking for yourself.
And thats when I heard her...
Ellie is in the backseat, slowly waking up from the drugs they've been giving her. She's alive! She's with Joel, she's ...with me.
We see how Joel kills the leader of the fireflies and puts Ellie in the backseat and drives off. I recall kissing the Naughty Dog sticker on my PS3 whispering Thank you. Never in my life have I ever been this invested in the life of a fictional character, especially in a video game. There were times I was afraid to play because I was fearing just where this game would go. It really is a powerful tale of the bond between two people.
Ellie doesn't know what happend and Joel explains telling her how there were more than just Ellie that were immune to the transformation and that the fireflies gave up on finding a cure. As we get to stroll to the base of the remaining hunters (who'm are being lead by Joels brother) where we assume they will live happily ever after doing all sorts of father and daughter things:
Ellie stops Joel for one last conversation.
"Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true."
"I swear." says Joel and so we are presented to the "The Last Of Us" logo, marking the end of the game.
Incase you didn't understand it:
He lies. Joel just outright lies to Ellie in order to protect her. He doesn't care about the world, about mankind. Ellie is his world, his reason to continue living. He lost his daughter once and he sure as hell aint going to let it happen again. I thought this was utterly brilliant and while it presents oppertunities to really debate if what he did was right or not, I sure felt completely satisfied. I suppose if you really think about it, what he did could be seen as rather selfish as I am sure if he would have told Ellie the truth, she would have returned. But in order for the decision Joel made to still feel right to the player, one has to truly make you care about the actual life and person in question. And it is without doubt that Naughty Dogs ability to write a good character is by far the best in the industry and hence why this works.
It is currently 4:20 PM here. I have been awake for about 30 hours and I still can't process what a journey I went through. I will most absolutely write a review on this game down the road.
The game is truly amazingly crafted which allows for one to immerse himself as deep as I did. Instead of writing a review which would consist of endless praise, I had to write about my feeling towards Ellie and Joel and what they have been through. I just had to write about it in order to gather my thoughts on how much of an impact it had on me. I am currently drifting between sleep and being awake. So I think I'll get some sleep now.
I hope your experience with Joel and especially Ellie was as magical as mine was.
Even if it is half as good as mine:
You are in for a very powerful tale.
