I know this isn't the sort of thing that I usually write about on my blog, but with it taking up so much of gaming culture right now I have to at least bring up this nuts situation revolving 'The Last of Us Part 2', presently. It is quite impressive to consider the amount of absolute sky-raining faeces that fell down up this 'too-big-to-fail' title in the months surrounding it's release alone, to the extent that I cannot help but stare and ponder. As someone who was never that huge a fan of the first title, I pretty much had no expectations of what this sequel might lead too and even then I feel it's safe to say that none of the crap that has happened was even in my prospective peripheral for this title. Perhaps if the kickback had been more damaging I'd be more reluctant to cover this, but then that is also one of the most impressive factors of his whole affair as nothing seems capable of dulling this game's blade, and I find that as impressive as I do bewildering. But enough pandering, I wanna talk about the trails and tribulations that TLOU 2 had to drag itself through to get where it's at.
It's not exactly the most ground-shattering claim in the world to say that everything was looking up for 'The Last of Us Part 2' until the leaks earlier this year which rocked the fanbase. As a reminder, these weren't no small snippets of info, the literal two biggest twists of the game were dropped during this impromptu expo and that gave the entire gaming world the worst possible view at two horrendously pivotal moments in the plot. Many theories have sparked in the months since about who made these leaks, with the official blame still being levied at hackers, I do believe, but the underground consensus leaning more towards an in-studio power struggle. Apparently there were those that didn't like the direction the story had taken and took it upon themselves to 'Warn the fans' or something. Whatever the truth of the matter this pretty much eviscerated the veil of secrecy around a game which thrived on it for so long and ruined a narrative which literally laid it's weight on surprise. (Although, one might say that a narrative which leans too heavily on surprise is a poorly built one, but each to their own.)
Stemming from those leaks, came a discussion about just exactly what the strengths of 'TLOU 2's story could be in order to better contextualise it's moments. (As the Devs begged fans to hang on claiming that the context would make everything better.) When it came down to it, however, pretty much anyone who wasn't potentially at risk of straining their employer's relationship with Sony concluded that the plot was serviceable at best, and terrible at worst. (Those who were in such positions tended to give the game a perfect score and dance around singing it's praises. Funny how that works out, huh?) It seems that in every regard TLOU Part 2 failed to match the level of emotion, character and pathos which earned the first title it's many accolades, which wouldn't have been too big of an issue if the Dev's had gone the sensible route and not called it 'Part 2'. (Implying this was the second part of the story they started, instead of a brand new story with the same characters like it actually was.) It's far too earlier to say if this has hurt the reputation of 'Naughty Dog' as peerless storytellers, but it sure hurt fans of 'The Last of Us'.
After the game's release there came an online dogpile against the game for some of the most petty and moronic things. Perhaps the one which garnered the biggest attention, and I'll admit that shear embarrassment has limited my own study into this matter, is the apparent death threats that have been levied against eclectic VG Actress Laura Bailey for her work as the character 'Abby' in the game. Now I don't know what the deal is with 'Abby', I haven't played the game and don't care to, (Not a fan of the first title, remember) but I think I heard somewhere that she's transgender, which has stirred that vocal minority of morons on the Internet to mount a brigade. Again, I don't know how bad the issue is, but the very fact this is an issue in the first place is just a testament to the braincell-deficient folk you find on the Internet nowadays. If you wonder why it was maintained for so long that video games and action movies caused violence, then look no further than these gibbering apes that can't tell the difference between an Actress and the fictional character she plays. Just pathetic.
And on the other side of the Berlin wall we have the mindless automatons that guard the sacred gates of fandom to any who dare have a negative thing to say about 'The Last of Us'. It's truly surreal to see the extremes of fandom go head to- except they're not going head-to-head, are they? That's not how the Internet works. These folk are just spinning around themselves spouting their adoration or hatred for a game which, by most sensible accounts, is just alright; consequently these two-bit Seneschals of sycophancy have been riling themselves up over nothing and attacking any inbetweeners. I've heard stories of a certain forum which I shall not name, handing out bans to anyone who didn't salivate out the mouth for the game and it's a little surreal to see honestly. (Although, in fairness, Internet forums are hardly the place you go in order to interact with high-functioning individuals. They are mostly formed from torrents of obsequience wherever you go.)
Thus 'The Last of Us Part 2' got stuck right in the middle of this stupid war of philosophies that just has the worst reflection on the game itself. I know that as an outsider to this whole affair, if I were ever to put in a position to try again at getting into TLOU I will remember all this nonsense and opt against it, and I wonder how many other people feel the same. In a way this actually reminds me of the bevy of mudslinging which took over the internet once 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' came out, and the delirium was present on both sides of the fence. The fans, the director and movie bloggers all retreated to Twitter to have childish screaming matches against each other and even to this day you can just smell the immature loathing each side maintains for the other whenever the franchise is bought up. Yet through it all there is me, once a die-hard Star Wars fan, who just didn't want a part of any of it and thus hasn't seen 'The Last Jedi' or 'Rise of the Skywalker'; this is the effect that these aimless riots can have.
Yet with all that working against it, 'The Last of Us Part 2' has still been said to be the biggest launch of the Playstation 4's life-cycle and thus has made all the money in the world. A testament to the old adage 'it's too big to fail'. I'm being serious, this game was hit with a nuclear bomb's worth of hurdles and it still managed to wrack up a small fortune, pretty much proving once again that if you reach a certain level of fame and showmanship the actual details don't really matter anymore, you'll win regardless of little things like quality, heart and the ability to keep a secret. Right now, TLOU 2 is on track to win Game of the Year (because Cyberpunk 2077 has, I believe, successfully delayed itself out of the running for 2020) and I think the coming months and years will elicit a lot of conversations and raised eyebrows about whether it was all worth it.
There's not really much to say in conclusion to all this, no real way to neatly wrap everything up in a tidy bow and summarise the whirlwind of thoughts I have on the matter. All I can really say is that I'm fascinated with all of this chaos and wonder if this is going to become the new normal for all those future big titles. Will it be impossible to establish oneself a high-profile game anymore without initiating pissing matches across the Internet and making huge, headline grabbing, blunders? I certainly hope not, that's not the sort of behaviour which endeared me to the gaming fandom afterall. I miss the smart consumers who didn't take the follies and machinations of big business and put their efforts behind helping creators reach their dreams, can we get back to that? I hope so.
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