"this story has simply been done before in a more interesting way"
As someone who hasn't played either TLoU game, is there a particular exemplar you'd recommend?
Sorry, accidentally posted a blank comment. I didn't even know you could do that. And it seems they can't be edited either.
The idea of having two separate campaigns is an interesting one, but I don't think it's entirely practical in practice. The story works by having you see things from Ellie's perspective at first, then switch over to Abby's perspective to see the other side of the story, including gaining new insight on past events. If they were separate events, not only would a lot of context be lost, but some players might not even play one of the campaigns, and likely miss out on a good chunk of the story.
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Uninteresting and Unfulfilling
The first Last of Us was alright. It had some interesting characters, an interesting world (though a pretty cliche one) and some interesting ideas for gameplay. Even if it was a Cliché Storm, it did those cliches well enough that it was hard not to get invested.
Part II is, by and large, boring. It has dull, lifeless characters doing horrible, uninteresting things. It takes the most interesting elements of the setting, like the cordyceps infected and the decayed cityscapes, and sidelines them in exchange for telling an even more Cliché Storm story that fails to be interesting. Even pushing aside the horrible issues with the pacing, the unnecessary Anachronic Order, and the plain lack of charisma among the cast, this story has simply been done before in a more interesting way. At the same time, the narrative's desperate attempts to create sympathy for it's characters fails when so many of them just are not compelling. And if you think that this is about the Grey-and-Gray Morality nature of the plot, think again- I absolutely understand that the whole cast is meant to be questionable in their motives, and I understand that the conflict is meant to be seen as pointless. But what I can't understand is why the plot has to be so boring and predictable. You can have morally questionable characters, characters that are straight up unlikable, and characters that are outright HateSinks, but you can't expect me to be engaged in the plot when none of these characters are actually interesting to watch.
There are some really good moments in here- I particularly like the depiction of trauma and how that manifests among the characters, causing them to act in unrealistic ways just to get their trauma to stop hurting. The gameplay is also super solid, with the sound design in particular being incredible and really adding to the punch of firing a gun. The game also looks absolutely astounding at times, with the cinematography and framing of the broken landscapes being just gorgeous. Unfortunately this is a plot-heavy game, and these great elements choke under the weight of a flawed story.
Last of Us Part II is a real mess, and it's left me confused about the quality of the script and the production of it's story. It reeks of inexperience making this sort of thing (seriously, why not just make Ellie and Abby's story two individual campaigns you can play in either order?), which coming from Naughty Dog of all people is shocking. This is a script that needed a once over before production, and the lack of editing or revisions in places that obviously needed them is kind of ridiculous to me.