The game has been out for five days and we have all been laughing, crying and smashing Clicker's heads for a while. Some ninjas have already finished as well and while we all enjoy the journey and reflect on everything this game speaks of, let's revisit the first game in another episode of the official The Last of Us podcast, featuring host Christian Spicer, writer and creative director, Neil Druckmann, the stars Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker and UI designer Alexandria Neonakis.
Neil Druckmann retouches the end of the Summer section, mentioning that Joel and Ellie's relationship changes because now he has seen a reflection of it through Henry and Sam and how working on this can make him suffer again, so he changes the way he interacts with Ellie, becoming more cold and distant again and Troy remembers the small grave Ellie and Joel end up finding on the way to the dem and how it is a reminder that children die so much in this world.
About the relationship between Joel and his brother, Troy and Jeffrey Pierce, the actor for Tommy, much like the characters, have different versions of what happened between them and upon meeting again, Joel expects Tommy to send him off, but he's met with kindness instead. In Joel's head, this mission is gonna end up as a tragedy and he doesn't wanna be anywhere near Ellie when she inevitably dies. Baker doesn't know where Joel would go back to, there's nowhere to go, no one is waiting for Joel in the QZ, so he's lost.
The strong, powerful scene between Joel and Ellie is what brings him back to it. One which Ashley considers one of the most important scenes in the main character's relationship, where they're both sharing heavy feelings as they try to figure out how much they care for each other. She finds interesting that Joel assumed that Ellie didn't know what loss is, since that's impossible in the world they live in.
Ellie knows what Joel's going through, despite being young, she's smart and realizes what Joel's doing and how he's hiding inside himself. So she questions "I'm not her, you know?"
She doesn't wanna go to the rest of the journey with anyone else, because she trusts him.
Next we have the University section and Druckmann jokes about how the writing team in The Last of Us is "cruel", for they give Joel and Ellie a moment of levity where they really open up to each other about what were their hopes and dreams (Joel wanting to be a singer, Ellie wanting to be an astronaut), only for Joel to be impaled and die in the next scene, as far as the player knows.
To Druckmann, this game was always about having this shift in perspective. You play through most of the game as the stereotypical character being the protector of the younger, weaker character, and then there's a switch and you play as the small "damsel in distress" character, who now needs to protect the stronger one.
Ashley points out that Ellie learned a lot from Joel and in the Winter section of the game, we see it firsthand. We also see how loyal she is and how much she cares for him. She's also now responsible for him and that makes her grow up a lot.
Johnson always knew there was gonna be a DLC, but not what it would be like. She was initially nervous about it, but Neil calmed her down, however, what finally made her sure that was the story that needed to be told was a piece of concept art of the Carroussel scene.
She says Ellie's life had a routine before and it's very unlikely the life kids have in the real world, which to her doesn't make such a difference, but for us as players, it makes us think of how much better her life could have been.
UI designer Alexandria Neonakis says she works more on the art side than the programming side. She worked on every little detail of the HUD and the UI, including the multiplayer. She's also behind all the logos and twitter accounts for the stores in Left Behind. She has also worked on some art for ND's official twitter, presenting Ellie and Riley and she understands how much seeing their relationship meant to people, since lesbian couples are not usually presented in AAA games.
Ashley's favorite moments in the DLC are the kiss and the little section where Ellie plays a game in her mind. It was interesting to her because she was indeed, just pretending to be playing a game in her mind, much like Ellie. She loves the DLC because of how it uses game mechanics for silly things, like using a brick to break car windows or a water gun fight. And how we can see what Ellie's life was like before she started being defined by being immune.
Ellie will always carry the weight of not turning, of leaving Riley behind, and of how she was her first kiss, her first crush and her first loss.
Next week, we'll touch on Winter and David's section! Stay tuned! ;)
COMMENTS