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As for the differences between how 1 and 2 present the state of the world of the importance of the vaccine - I think, putting the actual timescale aside for a second, in 1 the game really needs to flesh out how hosed everything is so they focus almost entirely on that to sell Joel's dilemma. In 2, that dilemma isn't the story anymore, Ellie's immunity is pretty much irrelevant, and it's a different story about a group of people that live in a world scarred by cataclysm. I can see how going just by one you would think that humanity is about to go extinct, but in 2 it seems like a new era is already in its nascent stages. Jackson is a completely functional community where people could live out a lifespan, going by what they show. It is precarious due to the threat of invading forces human or infected (although the latter seem pretty much under control), but has grown a lot in a few years, and there's nothing to say that it is the only one. There might be dozens of settlements like Jackson in the US alone, hundreds around the planet. So maybe the human population is reduced from 7 billion to like 500 million or something, with a few million scattered in organised enclaves, I don't know. There are still plenty of people around, just not heaving cities of them anymore. Life will go on despite the destruction, and 2 is more interested in dealing with the implications of that than 1 is. I think this might be why I like 2 so much more than 1. I'm playing 1 again now. I only thought it was okay back when it came out, and this time I care more because of 2, but it's much more simplistic and preoccupied with the post-apolypse genre. A cool direction for part 3 might be that the end of the world isn't actually the end of the world.
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Jul 20, 2021 06:42
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veni veni veni posted:I don't think Joel had a dilemma. It was a pretty cut and dry "I am not going to let them kill her and anyone who get's in my way is DOA" scenario. It's not like he was the weighing pros and cons. You're right - poor wording. I meant the ethical dilemma for the player rather than Joel. He never even considered doing otherwise. BeanpolePeckerwood posted:Yeah, this is why I'm always yammering on about it not being the end of humanity but rather the end of civilization, I think it's an important distinction and an interesting read re: the narrative intent of the devs. Look, I know we all exist within a cultural context that is hard to imagine parting ways with, that feels immense and all-consuming and invincible and forever, but the very nature of climate fiction calls forth that little spectre in the back of our heads to remind us that humans once existed without civilization, that we were not always the apex godkings usurping and demolishing the natural lifecycle, and that many of our finest nurturing traits as a species were honed during a murky past that predates the sort of extractive hedonism of the anthropocene. I've been thinking lately about post-apocalyptic fiction in general. I've seen the phrase 'it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism' often enough to know this isn't remotely original, but I think it is clear that beyond the power fantasy of being totally free in a world without institutions, I think there's also an abandon and relief component to the appeal of this setting. The idea being that not only is our cultural existence suffocating and monotonous, but it's also so lopsided in terms of equality and excessive in consumption that having the problem being removed from us by force of disaster is enticing of itself. Almost feels deserved. People blow up their own lives to escape them all the time, this genre is just that on a civilization scale. It's not even worth untangling; just blow it the gently caress up and we'll start again. I don't think society actually has a death with but I think the problems we have are so entrenched that it's actually fun/relaxing to sit and imagine a world where most people were dead and the remainder had a blank slate on which to start all this poo poo over again. The violence and grimness of these settings is a kind of revenge on the world before you move on. I wonder what the progression of it will be, because like I mentioned I think you can see just from last of us 1 to 2 a progression from 'blow it up' to 'now what?' - but at least this series, they haven't gotten to a suggestion for the latter yet. BeanpolePeckerwood posted:Look, I know we all exist within a cultural context that is hard to imagine parting ways with, that feels immense it's getting easier as time goes on
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Jul 20, 2021 10:00
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