THE LAST OF US 2 was flamed. But it is not garbage. [No spoil]

"The Last of Us Part II" (TLOU2) was released on June 19th in 2020.
Previous title was highly evaluated. So more than 4 million people bought TLOU2.
Then it was flamed in user reviews.

Is it garbage game ?
No. Even it was flamed, it is not a garbage.

But it has problem.
This article introduce the problem without spoiling.

What is "The Last of Us" ?

"The Last of Us" is a game that stage is USA suffering zombie pandemic.

Describing without spoiling, main character Joel lost his daughter at the beginning of the pandemic. In destroyed world he lived as illegal transporter.
One day he was asked to transport a girl Ellie. She is so important to save the world.
Through journey, they cooperate with each other. And their relationship is developped little by little.

Unique point of this game is that focusing to survive.
Not only zombies, but also humans like army or robbery are enemy.
In the broken world, they could not live with fine-sounding things. Sometimes they attack or betray somobody else.

Pandemic was spreaded all over USA.
So nowhere is safe.
We cannot think like "Out of Lacoon city, it is safe".
We can feel end of the world.

And finally, we can feel parent-child love that is created through the survival.

TLOU2 flaming

"The Last of Us Part II" (TLOU2) was released on June 19th in 2020.
A lot of people bought it.

We’re delighted to report that The Last of Us Part II is now the fastest-selling first-party PS4 exclusive ever with more than 4 million copies sold through as of June 21. This milestone would not have been reached without the support from our amazing fans, so on behalf of everyone at SIE, thank you!
Refference: The Last of Us Part II sells more than 4 million copies – PlayStation.Blog

Then it was flamed in user reviews.

Not only negative reviews, there are also positive reviews.

The Last of Us Part II for PlayStation 4 Reviews - Metacritic

Reason of TLOU2 flaming

Why it was flamed in TLOU2 user review.
It may be bacause of the story.
People are not convinced about the story.

Just to Finshed The Last of Us Part II, Final thoughts -
Phenomenal Graphics even for Console (ND’s most beautiful game yet)
Story was absolute garbage. Hate the direction they took.
Gameplay wise, it was Okay and I like the addition to new weapons and more traversal #TLOU2 pic.twitter.com/WyFv4AMxTF

— BrøkėnKïngž💭🔌 (@SkilledGamesFTW) June 28, 2020

#TLOU2 is a failure when it comes to story, who wrote that garbage?

— Its just A question (@its_a_question) June 26, 2020

Now that the dust has settled, MY final thoughts on #TLOU2:
Storywriting, gameplay, graphics, sound and acting all brilliant.

Storytelling/direction is utter garbage and probably the worst I've ever seen.

You should alter Ellie/Abby throughout the whole story to fix it, imo

— Antsamon (@AnttonMonster) June 26, 2020

#TheLastofUsPartll what a shame we waited 7 years to get this garbage and the ending is horrible Iam going to replay the first the original one as joel so I can clear my eyes from this terrible story #TLOU2 pic.twitter.com/paLOiosGuO

— Islam alaboud ❼ (@islamalaboud) June 25, 2020

Graphics and game system are good

It seems that people are not convinced about the story.
But they didn't say badly about graphics nor game system.

Its graphics is beautiful.
Its game system is also good because we can make path by breaking glass, we can update arms. Its system is updated.

So we can say "It is not garbage".

Problem is difference from user expectation

Quality of the game is good.
Problem is about its story.

And its quality of story is not bad.

According to official information, it is revenge story of Ellie.

4 years has past from TLOU1.
Then Ellie's community is attacked by unknown team.
Ellie travels to revenge them.

If story fucus on Ellie side, player can think that Ellie side is justice and attacker is evil.
But they live in destroyed world.
Everyone has own sin to live.

TLOU2 also focuses attackers. Player has to know their reason.

So player can't consider whick is evil. Even revenge is proceeded, player would feel bad.

This is intended by developpers.
"Justice is depend on personal sense of values."
"Player might feel that they are doing bad."

Player wanted some hope like parent-child love in TLOU1.
But TLOU2 gives bad feelings that players are bad.

This difference made flaming.

Developper's problem

Its game quality is high.
So are serious reviewers bad ?

No.
Even its game quality is high, there is a problem in developper side.

The problem is selling different product that user expected.

Graphics is good.
Game system is good.
Quality of story is good.
It is ethically very good that focuses both side.

But users expected "hope", not "painful ethic".

TLOU1 focused one side.
But TLOU2 focuses not only players but also attackers.
So player would wonder their justice.

Ethically it is correct.
But it is not expected experience that users pay money for.

It is unmatch of product direction.
Even delicious Chinese dish was served, customer who wanted to eat French would not be fulfilled.

This kind of difference is developpers mistake.
It would affect next sales.

Problem of TLOU2

In this article, we thought about reason of flaming "The Last of Us Part II" (TLOU2).

Quality of TLOU2 is very high, it is not garbage.
But it focuses not only on revengers but also on attackers.
So players would feel that it denied TLOU1.
This bad feelings made flaming.

Customer would like not only game quality.
If it is so different from their expectation, they might got angry.

In next case, we hope developpers to make "according to" user expectation.