So we've had quite a few updates into this little Last of Us leak situation, now haven't we? You could say that this whole debacle has practically ballooned out of control. So much has come out and the worst of it? Because we're all stuck inside on the Internet all day it's practically impossible to avoid any of these spoilers for oneself. But aside from the spoilers there is one key aspect of this story that is widely different from the original tale that was told, that same story which did the rounds across the Internet; that of the origin of the original leak. Back a mere week ago I was foolish enough to believe the mass consensus that this was a striking out from a former employee over a pay dispute,(despite the logic not really adding up) but there was one world-changing detail that we all had just callously brushed over; that this leak had come from 4-Chan.
Well, dang, if I had known that I'd have questioned the validity of everything. Heck, I would have expected even the leaked footage to be home-brew, because literally every little whisper of information that even passingly brushes by those boards gets perverted in a matter of nanoseconds. Point in case, this debacle right here, as we now know that no Naughty Dog employee, current or former, was involved in this scandal (at least not knowingly) and that this leak was acquired by an unaffiliated person through means of 'hacking'. Which probably just meant someone called up their offices and impersonated an employee. (Maybe he just got really into the role, forgot he was really a nobody.)
So there's that cleared up. Naughty Dog still isn't entirely clean of it's sins, mind you, but they don't quite have themselves to blame for one of the worst leaks in modern gaming. (I mean, maybe their security measures are at partial blame) So that's the end of this matter and we can all get back to looking excited for TLOU 2, right? This should be extra easy seeing as how Sony dropped the release date for this game the second that the leaks dropped, almost as though this was a calculated way to draw attention. (Which definitely didn't work.) But people aren't getting excited like they should be, in fact, wherever I go I see little more than pessimism and anger. And I mean everywhere. Even completely unrelated Reddit boards have seen such disgruntled pessimism, (What the heck is Last of Us hate doing on my Pokemon Reddit?) and I was left kind of taken aback. Apparently people found themselves really affronted by whatever was in these leaks to the point where they had to let the world know just how bad they were. Heck, I even saw one fellow revive the long dead 'Twilight' meme format just to dis this game's leaks. (Are things really that bad?)
Neil Druckmann was the one of the firsts to publicly talk about the leaks 'mentioning how heartbroken he was' as well as take a somewhat defensive approach to the critiques. (That's never really a good sign) In fact, all of these 'you'll get it when the game comes out' Tweets was what alerted me to this backlash in the first place, else I would have remained completely unaware as I am to most Internet chatter. (Streisand effect much?) Cries rallied about how TLOU part 2's story was shaping up like "bad fanfic" and was reasonable enough grounds not to buy the game. And I've never been the biggest fan of The Last of Us but even then I had to stop and go: "Really? How freakin' bad were these leaks?" I mean, short of pulling the 'it was all just a dream' card out of their sleeves I couldn't imagine what the issue could possible be. Then I got spoiled.
When I first got through The Last of Us Part 1 my prevailing thought was how it was a powerful story that wasn't quite matched by the gameplay, but still great nonetheless. It was also a self contained one-and-done. I mean, Naughty Dog could have never done anything in this universe with these characters ever again and no one would be sitting there going "I don't quite feel satisfied yet." Now that doesn't mean that they automatically weren't allowed to make any more stories with that material, but that they had to be careful and clever with anything they did in order to make sure that it wasn't just milking, this would be a story that moved forth the characters and felt like it deserved to be told. Coming away from the leaks I will admit one thing, it doesn't feel like this story needed to be told. I'm getting serious 'Godfather Part 3' vibes of a sequel that exists merely to be a sequel. Events do move forward, to be fair, characters do evolve, but at the end of the day none of it enriches the first game's narrative at all.
When it's all added up there are perhaps three big 'twists' that these leaks focused on, two story twists and one gameplay one, although the first 'twist' is admittedly the most predictable thing in the world. It was so predictable, in fact, that I'm unsure why they bothered to even put in this game and didn't leave it for the in-between, (Just feels like it draws the pace down) but then, out of context it's hard to fully come to terms with just how effective this story moment would be. The second twist is where the real meat lies, because it's going to test every ounce of the writing staff's ability to pull it off properly. It's actually rather funny to see them attempt such a story point, you know, considering how only last year we saw another huge property completely fall on it's arse attempting something similar, but I will say that TLOU's writing team does seem pretty darn talented so if anyone can pull it off, it's them.
The only twist which sort of makes sense for all the backlash is the gameplay twist, and forgive a little bit of spoilers here as I mention how this game intends to pull the ol' bait'n'switch on players. Okay guys, seriously, who thought this was a good idea? Just look around at literally every other game who's ever tried this to get an idea of how a bait'n'switch usually plays out. It didn't work out for Metal Gear Solid when they tried it. Both times. It didn't work out for Halo when they did it. Both time again. Why would you think it would work here? Even worse, for such a significant part of the game to be dedicated to the control of someone who'll have such a deep... first bad impression, let's say, is truly bizarre from my point of view. It's the gaming equivalent of framing a movie from the perspective of a truly unlikable character, only for this game they'll be stuck with them for several hours as opposed to just two. What will be player's draw to keep coming back to this game? It's a brave move, undoubtedly, but also a head-scratching one.
At the end of the day, however, it must be stressed that right now all of these leaks are presented in the worst possible light and severely out of context. I don't think that anything here, besides the bait'n'switch, is inherently flawed to the point where it will be trash, so I'm not sure why these leaks have garnered such universal hatred. I'll be worried to see if this will have an effect on the game sales when it actually launches, which was revealed to be only a month later than the original date. (Wait, so what was all that 'indefinitely' business about? Is this game going to drop unfinished?) I've never been the best supporter of The Last of Us, exclusivity-culture really rubs me the wrong way, but I hope this doesn't sink a title which so many people worked their butts off for, no one deserves that just because of some poxy leaks. Either way, this has really put the pressure on the team to get things absolutely pitch perfectly right. Fingers crossed.
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