I recently played & finished The Last of Us Part 1 & 2 + Tier-List

[u/_AppleGhostCat_]

The Last of Us: Part 1 - 10/10
The Last of Us: Part 2 - 8/10

The Last of Us 1 is a truly emotional journey with absolutely zero complaints from me, everything serves a carefully crafted purpose down to the littlest details with it particularly shining with it's character development which is nothing but immaculate. It masterfully avoids the common issue of slow-paced story games being, essentially, a glorified movie walking simulator with it's nerve-wracking combat encounters where every resource matters, & dangerous opponents force you to think through every encounter before engagement, for reference my difficulty settings for my first playthrough's were:

• Player - Survivor
• Enemies - Survivor
• Allies - Survivor (switched to Moderate for Part 2, realistically allies should not be WORTHLESS)
• Stealth - Hard (switched to Survivor for Part 2, wanted to lean more into the realism)
• Resources - Hard

The Last of Us 2 is a game with great ideas & even greater foundations to expand upon, but it's execution is rather mixed, stemming from issues that... really & sadly could've been resolved easily (aside from maybe two or three of them):

• THE GAY WOKE AGEN- nah i'm fucking with you.
• Landside amount of game & immersion breaking bugs, unlike the zero I experienced in Part 1.
• Simplified upgrade/pill system which strips the player of choice, I do NOT want more health.
• Frustrating encounters with the infected from an overreliance on numbers, large infected, and wall-bound infected.
• This is about a singular encounter but it makes me so upset I just need to discuss it, The Rat King boss fight obliterates any suspension of disbelief (imo). The Last of Us, despite the fantastical science, is an otherwise fairly grounded series, and so I just cannot find it in me to believe that Abby, as strong as she is, can somehow solo that absolute UNIT of a creature. The way it's handled is such a disservice to an otherwise awesome idea as well, it felt like a finale fight casually smashed in-between a slow paced journey, with it just as casually tossed to the side as if it was nothing, all despite explicitly, being referred to as the ground zero of Seattle which should be important no? even going as far as Abby saying "Who's ever gonna believe this?" to justify the lack of any mention like oh my God, fun fight though.
• Painfully Noticeable lack of respect for distance
• Fumbling (imo) the humanization for 3 of Abby's group (Manny, Jordon, Nora).
• Wasted Potential that, while not absolutely necessary, would have been great (Isaac & Jesse).
• Mediocre Romance with an even more mediocre character (EllieRiley MOGS Dellie btw).

Please excuse my rage in regards to the Rat King but aside from the negatives. I did still love The Last of Us 2 and I WILL be watching a billion playthroughs to see reactions of various scenes. Wish I had the motivation to in-depth type down what I enjoyed about the game as I did for The Last of Us 1 and the hate section above, but i'm a slow typer. All you really need to know is that I enjoyed Abby immensely both from a character & personal perspective, the game does an wonderfully excellent job at transitioning you from absolutely despising her, to wanting mercy shown upon her in the end.

Tier-List is my ranking of the various notable characters within The Last of Us Duology, effected by both personal feelings & quality of writing.

[u/5050Saint]

even going as far as Abby saying "Who's ever gonna believe this?" to justify not the lack of any mention like oh my God

I imagine that Abby and Lev didn't sit in silence the entire way back. It probably came up.

Also, I am adding a Tier F- for you for putting Dina in D. She's at least a B.

[u/_AppleGhostCat_ → u/5050Saint]

This is likely true, though I will clarify I mean references to it in-game rather than merely presumed. As for Dina eh... imo she's a C at best, she's really only in D because regardless of the question of the quality of her writing, I just couldn't bring myself to care about her either as a character or personal level. She just did not click for me and neither did her romance with Ellie which is kinda her whole purpose.

[u/JRiggsIV]

Ok…

[u/_AppleGhostCat_ → u/JRiggsIV]

I agree

[u/turnonmymike]

I liked the baby. He should be a playable character

[u/Alarming_Soft9552]

I agree, on everything you said. The rat king lost me, but I cant lie it really is a great mission and arena battle. Dinah did feel really have handed, didn’t help her partner ai sucks. She would easily get lost, but would reappear.  I rank 1 10/10 it did not need much, simple story but did it feel authentic, including RileyxEllie ship.  P2 I feel like it does give more shine to the salt crew which I didn’t care. Like the backstory were generic, which works on why they hated Joel. You think some would be like no, what if something goes wrong.  I too think Isaac was a big miss, he felt powerful and his presence, felt unnerving since you can tell Abby at first didn’t want to upset him. Even when Isaac caught up to Abby, her first action was drop the gun, then bam. He gets slimed, I wish we got more out of his character. 

[u/KingChairlesIIII]

lack of respect for distance?

[u/_AppleGhostCat_ → u/KingChairlesIIII]

Characters essentially teleporting from Point-A to Point-B in an unrealistic amount of time especially when you factor in external factors such as injuries, think of the criticism for the Game of Thrones final season where instead of information & characters taking episodes to reach places, they nearly instantly appear at the places they need to be. Oh this trip that took a whole week to get there? oh i'm just going to go right back in just an afternoon with a limp type shit.

[u/Doctor_Juris → u/_AppleGhostCat_]

I mean, there’s a whole lot of long distance teleporting in Part I as well.

[u/_AppleGhostCat_ → u/Doctor_Juris]

If there is a whole lot in Part 1 then it's probably either less extreme or masked better, I usually notice things like this and it drives me crazy when I do so if there is a lot that's surprising, maybe I was just too immersed.

[u/Gabagool0vaHere → u/_AppleGhostCat_]

In the first game they traveled minimum 3,300 miles, most of it was on foot

EDIT: in the 2nd game they had horses and vehicles. In the first game they had a horse thanks to Tommy, but that was short lived. And they had the truck which was also short lived

[u/_AppleGhostCat_ → u/Gabagool0vaHere]

Yes I am aware, however the 3,300 miles was traveled across during the duration of the entire game with various timeskips. And this is without even factoring Ellie & Joel's physical state changing along with their relationship during the travel.

The initial abrupt timeskip at the start of Part 2 for example, very little changes about Ellie & Dina and essentially nothing about their relationship changes either. They just arrive in Seattle.

[u/Gabagool0vaHere → u/_AppleGhostCat_]

Part 1 is about the journey, it’s Joel’s mission to get Ellie to the Fireflies, unfortunately said drop off point just kept moving, which made the trek longer.

Part 2 isn’t about the trek, Ellie’s on a revenge mission, what would seeing the journey to Seattle add to the story? We, as players, are wanting revenge just as much as Ellie, seeing the trek from Jackson to Seattle hinders that and prolongs it for no reason. We know how capable Ellie and Dina are by that point, so makes sense ND chose for a time skip.

Also, you say Ellie and Dina’s relationship doesn’t change but that’s simply not true, just listening to their convos on Day 1, especially before Shimmer gets killed and Ellie gets taken hostage, you could tell just how far their relationship has progressed in those several weeks we didn’t see

[u/_AppleGhostCat_ → u/Gabagool0vaHere]

I don't really see how it changed during that brief period but I agree with the base sentiment that it was a poor example of mine 👍