re: New trailer for 'The Last of Us'

***MAJOR SPOILERS***




****YOU ARE WARNED******





I think one aspect of what makes both games brilliant is that the answer to almost every act of violence is both yes and no.

The Joel/Ellie story is basically like a thought experiment turned into a story of the old philosophical question of: "If you could press a button and kill one innocent person to rid the world of a devastating disease that is swallowing up the world, would you do it?"

The story explores that question but injects "now, what if you knew and cared for the one being sacrificed?"


Yes, Joel is (maybe, depending on your philosophical beliefs)justified on one level in terms of protecting an innocent life from essentially human sacrifice for the greater good(though his actual justification is more selfish). And you can empathize with his choices. On the other hand, he is also killing a ton of innocent life himself on the way out. And as Part 2 explores, doing so against Ellie's own choices and robbing her of her own agency in the matter.

Part 2 naturally explores the question of: "what would a group of people that just had dozens of their members slaughtered do?" And the question is some would seek justice in a world without an organized process for it, I.E. vengeance.

And their reaction to that is also justifiable on one level(and not on another), as is Ellie's response, and Abby's response to her retaliation.

A major point of Part 2 is putting the player in the shoes of a tit for tat, eye for an eye dynamic.

Part 1 largely asks would you do what Joel did? Part 2 looks at the larger collective choice and its effect on Ellie, explores the consequences of Joel's choice, and how that has a cascading effect and path dependency with real human costs for everyone.