#also the apocalypse one because tlou is one of my favorites games ever and a zombie apocalypse au with the bros would break my heart | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dreemchara · 1 month

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I love creating au.. I love post apocalypse...

So I created a JJK zombie apocalypse Au ^^ (it's kinda inspired by TWDG and TLOU.. Because those two are my favorites post apocalypse games (in third place is Left 4 dead 2))

Of course gotta also add the Yuji and Sukuna brother au in this apocalypse au (because how else am I supposed to add sukuna since curses and sorcery doesn't exist ?)

So the apocalypse in this au started during Gojo last year of high school. (since its a no curse energy au, it was a normal rich high school)

Gojo and Geto were surviving together (with Shoko) until Geto gets bits and Gojo has to kills him but since it's young Gojo (like 19-20-21) he couldn't bring himself to kill his boyfriend (because in this au they got together.) So he let Geto turn into a zombie/curse.

Gojo is nicknamed the 'Strongest Survivor' since no matter how close curses get to bit him, Gojo always kills them before they get the chance. One got even close enough to be in kissing range and Gojo was still able to kill him. He still finds way to kill them while he's tied up.

In this au Gojo finds Megumi later than in canon, when Megumi was 8.

So Megumi and Tsumiki had to survive by themselves longer, they were in a groupe, but they didn't really take care of the two. Toji taught them how to survive before he disappeared. (In this Au, he didn't leave them in purpose.) Megumi wasn't sold, since money doesn't matter anymore. But there was mutliple attempted Kidnapping on him, but not to the zenin (they aren't important here) but to a community who wanted kids young enough to not remember the world before so that they could be brainwashed to be soldiers. Gojo meet Megumi by finding him and Tsumiki fighting off the attempt. (If Gojo didn't step in, they both would have gotten kidnapped !)

When Megumi was 14, Tsumiki got bitten, and Gojo wasn't present and they were too far away from the community. So Megumi was forced to mercy kill Tsumiki.

Nobara's parents died early on in the apocalypse. So Saori took care of her and Fumi. She protected the two and taught them how to survived (Because Nobara keept asking.) They mostly stayed the three of them. Sometimes joining groups, but always leaving and ending up only the three of them.

That was until Nobara was around 13 than her and Saori and Fumi get separated because of bandits. So ever since then, she hasn't given up on trying to find them. Even after Gojo finds her and also takes her in to his communities. She joined only because she was hoping that maybe these two were in it. She stayed even after seeing that they weren't, but she still want to find them both, and she won't accept that they were most likely both bitten and turned.

Now on the subject of Yuji and Sukuna in this au (kept them for last even if in my mind, this au follows them both.)

Their grandpa is the one who took care of them even after the apocalypse started. He is also a certified Badass and taught the both of them how to survives. The grandpa did survive a while but since it's the apocalypse, he gets bits and Sukuna is the one who shots him since he's the older between him and Yuji. (And since between him and Yuji, he's the one who likes killing, he's the one who kills most of the times.)

After the grandpa's death, they mostly stay surviving alone, because Sukuna is against being in a groupe. But Yuji did convince Sukuna in joining multiple groups (mostly in the beginnings since they were both young and so vulnerable, no matter how strong they were) but it always ended in tragedies with Yuji (and Sukuna, to a lesser extent) getting traumatized.

One time, when Yuji was around 8, he gets bits by a curse. He hids it from Sukuna because he didn't want Sukuna to be forced to kill him like he was for their grandpa. Yuji was able to hide it for a few days, because Sukuna was to focused on survival, he didn't notice Yuji acting weird. When Sukuna did found out, it had been way too long, since people turned after at max a day of getting bitten by a curse. So Sukuna figured that Yuji might be Immune. That was proved when over the years, Yuji got bitten more times and didn't turn into a curse.

At one points they were also taken by cannibal to be eaten (Yuji was like 9 and sukuna was 12), they survived and the cannibal didn't, but this did start Sukuna cannabilism! Yuji hates it, so Sukuna only eats humans when they really have no other choice. (or that's what he told him. Most of the time Sukuna will eat humans when Yuji won't notice.)

Sukuna has a few 'tattoes' because some communities that Yuji forced both of them to join uses face tattoes to mark their member who are old enough to fight. (At that time Yuji wasn't part of the 'old enough' so that's why only sukuna got them and not Yuji)

They continued to survive together with no one else, while hiding Yuji's immunity (and Sukuna's cannibalistic tendencies) until they stumble into Megumi while hunting for food, and Yuji decided that he was gonna befriend Megumi because its been too long since he interacted with anyone other than Sukuna. (Megumi and Sukuna were both too dumbfounded to object)

Then Gojo appeared after having killed the surrounding curses and so Yuji and Sukuna had to join his community. (Yuji was okay with that because no matter how much community traumatised him, he really needed human contact that wasn't his cannibal older brother. Sukuna was not okay with that since he knew, that if they learned about Yuji, they would try to kill him.)

Yuta and Rika and Choso are also important in this au but I haven't drawn them yet-

First Yuta and Rika.

They both mostly survived by going from groupes to groupes, tho both were sickly childrens so some groupes just though of them as useless mouths to feed. (But they never said it to their face. Still both of them noticed, and they both bonded due to how the groups thought of them.)

Sadly, since they were considered burden, someone from the groupe decided to kill Rika ! In front of Yuta. Not a head shot tho, so Rika turned into a curse. And ate the person who killed her. Yuta was frozen so he expected her to eat him too but Rika just walked toward him and stop. Rika is a weird curse, because she is somewhat conscient. At least conscient enough to know that she doesn't want to eat Yuta. So she spent her death life just protecting Yuta. After he noticed that, Yuta also try to prevent other Survivor from killing Rika, even if that means Rika kills them. Yuta keeps trying to prevent her from killing them, but she's not conscient enough to understand what she is doing, only conscient enough to know she doesn't want Yuta to dies.

Gojo did end up finding them, and made them join his community, even Rika. Because he's like 'eh, she not dangerous.' He's silly like that.

For Choso, he'll appear way later. Him and Yuji and Sukuna are half brother because Kaori/Kenjaku cheated on Jin. Choso is the middle brother. None of them knew each other existance.

Choso always thought he only had 2 younger brothers, Eso and Kechizu. (Choso is 1 year older than both and they are twins (Kenjaku/Kaori just has good genes in having twins.)) So he survived with them both.

That was until the three of them get kidnapped by some crazy people (totally not Kenjaku *cough*) who tries and inject them with a lot of curses bloods to see if it does anything and maybe create immunity (they got the wrong one. Should have kidnapped the youngest. (Not that Sukuna would have let them)) sadly that didn't work since both Eso and Kechizu dies by getting bites.

Choso runs away before the groupe tries again with him.

Anyway might do more about this au, I just wanted to talk about it. Maybe i'll turn it into a comic or a fic.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk au #jujustu kaisen Au #jujutsu kaisen fanart #jjk fanart #gojo satoru #yuji itadori #ryomen sukuna #megumi fushiguro #nobara kugisaki #jjk apocalypse au #jujutsu kaisen apocalypse au #yuta okkotsu #choso kamo

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mariatesstruther · 8 months

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Tbf as much as I don’t trust TV writers, I have no doubt Maria will be fine. Part of Tommy’s storyline is that he actively chooses to leave her when he goes on his revenge quest and when he returns a broken man, the one thing he has left is his marriage, and he ruins that too and without that, and that pain will only be doubled with a 4 year old kid as well.

It also makes the contrast to Ellie leaving Dina and JJ more poignant, and maybe even backs up Tommy’s decision to go to the farm more as in ‘I left my wife and kid for you, you can leave yours for me’.

So even though it would set Tommy down a darker path, I actually think it’s pivotal Maria is alive for the revenge quest because of that choice to leave, which is easier if she’s not there and I think a lot of Part 2 is about choices and if the costs are worth it and if his family are dead, Tommy doesn’t really have any ‘costs’ left but if they are, his choices can actively haunt him since they’re alive but he’s still lost them

these are very awesome and legit points!!!! i think its been a while since i last watched a tlou2 playthrough as well so thank you for the reminder of how his game/season 2 story kinda reflects ellie’s in those ways

i think part of the reason im just major major offput about them adding a pregnancy for maria in s2 in it just makes things so much more sad and stressful for maria????? like her whole life has just been loving people and then getting left behind. imagine finding a husband you love and having a child with him and then losing them BOTH to a goddamn zombie apocalypse. id already be devastated. joel lost his child and it completely ruined him; maria lost a child and their father, who as far as we know she had a happy life with. fucking brutal

but THEN she picks herself up, dusts herself off, and finds the strength to keep going. builds a place that she would’ve been maybe happy with raising kevin in, if she could, and she opens her heart up to tommy. she falls in love, and theyre happy, and now shes pregnant. shes having another baby that she gets to raise and lose with a husband she adores

THEN HIS BROTHER GETS MURDERED AND NOW HES JUST GONNA LEAVE HER THERE????? WITH A WHOLE ASS TINY CHILD??????? for REVENGE??????

like im sorry, i love me some good ol revenge as much as the next guy—i really do. the glory was my favorite show, and the first time i watched a tlou 2 full play through i was rooting for tommy and ellie to honestly take out EVERYBODY in joel’s name—and i also know firsthand what kind of distorted thinking tommy’s level of grief can cause. but i just HATE the idea that tommy would leave a CHILD to go after anyone, even the people that killed his brother. and i think if joel saw him do so, he literally would smack him upside the head and drag him back to jackson

it also just doesnt fit what i imagine tommy would do in the instance that he has a kid???? like this is the same tommy that watched joel devote his whole entire life to his own daughter from jump, who wouldve done anything he could to protect his first daughter and DID do everything he could to protect his second. tommy knows from joel that when you’re a father, you’re kid comes fucking first. fuck everything else

so i just can’t imagine tommy leaving both maria AND his child???? like tbh i could understand him leaving maria in the game, as much as i didn’t like it—but his own baby???? he knows joel wouldnt ever want him to do that, no matter what happens to him. to me it just wouldn’t make sense for tommy’s grief over joel to take him so far that he makes a choice he knows joel would hate

(and i know ellie made the choice to leave jesse and dina, but i think a big reason she did that was bc she had the additional guilt of having jesse on her conscience and knowing that tommy wouldn’t physically be able to do it after being shot. tommy’s circumstances for leaving his kid would be different)

so like for those reasons on tommy’s side, it doesn’t make much sense to me that he would go after joel unless his own child was out of the picture, and i don’t see his child being out of the picture unless maria i also out of the picture

NOT SAYING ID RATHER MARIA BE DEAD THAN PREGNANT BTW I WANT HER TO BE ALIVE AND HAPPY AND SAFE. i am just so confused about the hbo writer’s intentions with making her pregnant like!!!!!! feels very sus to me!!!!!!

especially bc of the track record for the way nonwhite tlou characters are brutalized in the game/show too. like @clickergossip ur tags on the reblog were so so so so so so so SO right on point. them making maria a PREGNANT black woman just makes me so nervous that something terrible will happen, esp considering what we’ve seen happen to the other Black characters in the game/show

and i totally understand brutality and gore and death is all part of tlou anyway, but i feel like with joel and ellie, the violence is almost always balanced out witth a degree of love/humor/lightheartedness. unfortunately rutina wesley’s maria hasn’t had much opportunity at all to partake in those lighter moments, which makes me think either the writers have a LOT of good stuff coming up for her or that they think she’s expendable. idk idk idk idk this does even have a point, im just rambling and thinking about it a lot aand very on edge as a maria-truther 😭😭😭 as much as i want to have confidence, i have many many doubts she will be fine

#i refuse to talk about the possibility that they lose that kid #nope nope nope #not possible just choosing actively to not think abt that ever #asked and answered #tysm whoever u are for trying to reassure me im so sorry that this was my response 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭#i am made of anxiey #tlou #tlou hbo #tlou hbo spoilers #tlou 2 #tlou season 2 #maria miller #rose tag

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swinging-stars-from-satellites · 1 year

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can i ask why you like zombie fics? :0 and like. what tone/tropes/ect you like?

WELL. I generally just enjoy apocalyptic stories. I read the Left Behind series when I was like, 11, just because my dad happened to have all the books (hilariously, I don't think he ever read more than the first two or three lol but we had the ENTIRE series. 12 books. and I later collected the Left Behind Kids ones too skskdnfnskfnsk. hashtag just church kid things???) and it kind of just... grew from there. I don't think I ever really gave zombie stories in particular a second thought until I was like... 14 and a friend had mentioned that she watched the show The 100 and I just. got curious about it, bc it's already a post-apocalyptic story, which is enticing to me personally, and in the midst of my secondhand fandoming via that friend, I came across this one fic that made it into a zombie apocalypse AU. it's called "This Is A Song About Somebody Else" and the worldbuilding is just... AUGH it's just such good worldbuilding?? like the way zombie infection works in that story is SO interesting and the way it's shaped the world the author places the characters in is so well fleshed-out. (I will say, fair warning, there is some sexual content in the middle of it, but the worldbuilding and character arcs are good enough that I just kinda scroll really fast as soon as I hit that and continue reading once the scene is done skdcnskfnskfn). basically I attribute my love for zombie stories to that really well developed fanfic I read when I was 14 and then last winter spent literally two days scrolling back through AO3 to find again. and I've still never seen the source material!! I've never watched The 100 and honestly idk if I ever will!!! but I secondhand fandomed for a while and that fic gave me an interest in zombie stuff that continues to this day akdkxkanfndskfn

so the thing with apocalypse stories in general, including zombie ones, is that action doesn't cut it for me?? like my favorite apocalypse stories are Station Eleven (the book, not the HBO adaptation. I have thoughts on that that I might share at some point but idk.) and Gracie's (@imissthembutitwasntadisaster) apocalypse-verse and those are both... very quiet. almost mundane even as the world is ending/has ended. there's a calmness to it that I can't totally explain, but it's really just... life. living in the midst of things. and that's the thing that got me about This Is A Song About Somebody Else, too! there's calm. there's a sense of stillness that's fallen over the world and it's kinda chilling but also draws you in!! THAT'S what I think I love the most in apocalypse stories. (also — TLOU definitely gets the balance of action/mundanity right as well, even though being based on a video game there's a lot more action required than a lot of the stories I'm discussing here.)

and obvs when I'm talking about this stuff, there isn't just ONE THING I'm into regarding apocalypse/zombie stories. I like all kinds! I'm not picky tbh. but my favorites are when the worldbuilding is interesting and presented well, and also when the horror of the circumstance is very present in a way you the audience can really feel. I LOVE the horror of it all. but also, what it comes back around to is the perseverance and what makes it WORTH persevering.... the HOPE.

#worldbuilding can get me in a way very few other things can #like... I got obsessed with pacrim by proxy via a hecking mcu pacrim au of all things #just bc the worldbuilding was presented in such a fascinating way #idk #Lu rambles #asks #songs about somebody else #<- which is actually my general zombies tag BECAUSE of that fic!!!!

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elbracco · 4 years

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LiS2 Fanfiction recommendation list - updated

I updated the ff list I made a few months ago. As before, if anyone has any suggestions to add, I’m all ears. I divided the stories into three categories (Post-ending, AUs and Missing Moments) and all the ffs on this list are either completed or still actively updated.

POST-ENDING

Blood Brothers: To Puerto Lobos - And Beyond! by SerratedCucumber, in progress. It starts as the brothers break into Mexico and follows them as they try to build a life for themselves. I swear that I hear Gonzalo and Roman every time that Sean or Daniel say something: the dialogue is that good. 11,000 words for now.

Lone Wolf: The One You Feed by zeldanerdster, in progress. This work follows the "Lone Wolf" path immediately after events unfold at the border. Following that, it will chronicle Daniel's experiences for as far as they take him in an effort to reconcile the various open-ended resolutions of Life is Strange 2. Because LW didn’t break our hearts enough. 20,500 words for now. Lone Superwolf by Dreamprism, in progress. The ff begins with Sean’s death at the border and aims to show how Daniel got from the car to the “six years later” scene. The fanfic is written from the perspective of Daniel Diaz, similar to how Sean shares his internal thoughts with the player throughout Life is Strange 2. 17,000 words for now.

Parting Ways: After by koldtbold, one-shot. Sean gets to Mexico, Daniel doesn’t. Sean has a lot to do and think about. What I love about this story is that there’s much bitter and little sweet, but like in the game there’s an undercurrent of optimism, a feeling that tomorrow can still turn into a better day. 6,000 words. When There’s Nowhere Else to Run, by Autumnyte, in progress. It begins right after Daniel yeets himself from the car and follows Sean as he tries to build a life for himself in Puerto Lobos. I told Autumnyte that this story feels like a blanket: it’s warm and comfortable. No matter what issues Sean has to deal with, there is a pervasive undertone of "tomorrow will be better" that I think really captures the spirit of the game. He is done running, and he can now start to look to the future with hope. 31,000 words for now.

Redemption:

The Bravest Wolf in the World by RoodAwakening, 2 chapters left. Ask anyone for reading suggestions, and they’ll inevitably point you to this story, for a reason. Sean finds out he can use his sketches to time-travel, much like Max did with her photos, prevents Esteban’s death, and has to deal with the consequences as he tries to navigate the new life he made for himself. Wonderful characters, a realistic depiction of trauma, and golden dialogue. I love this Sean, I love the people in his life, I love his interactions with all the characters. 160,000 words (!) for now. A Howl in the Night by Bracco, one-shot. Sean is in prison, and Daniel is free: it’s everything that Sean had wanted when he surrendered. That means he can be happy… right? 28,500 words. Tomorrow's Horizon by AlariOdonell, in progress. A mysterious stranger recruits a post-bay Max Caulfield with the promise to bring Chloe back to life and to right a few wrongs along the way, like those suffered by two brothers. I am very partial to this story because it ticks every box in my list of narrative kinks: a well-written OC, an incoming threat, superpowers, misfits teaming up, IC characters, action and fuzzy feelings... 52,000 words for now, updated bi-weekly. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by DarkJaden825698, one-shot. After his sentence, Sean reconnects with some old friends and says some things he didn't get to say when he had the chance. This story is a warm, fuzzy thing where everything goes well for a change. I may also be very partial to the title: that song is tied to some of my fondest memories, so extra points to the author. 4,000 words. Spirit Realm: Road to Redemption by Sombraguerrero, completed. Sean has served his sentence, abbreviated by a lack of success on the authorities' part to attain burden of proof on the supposed major crimes. The public has run out of patience and has allowed Sean and Daniel to try and pick up the pieces, with as much help as they can get along what is once again a rough road. 21,000 words. Stay Strange by DarkJaden825698, completed. Dr. Bright is assigned to Sean Diaz as his therapist in prison, and walks him through his trauma while trying to find him a lawyer to challenge his sentence. Crossover fic between LiS2 and The Bright Sessions podcast - you don’t know anything about the podcast? Me neither, and it’s not an issue. 32,000 words.

AUs

And All These Empty Streets by Riona, one-shot. After the apocalypse, Sean and Daniel have a run-in with Joel and Ellie from TLOU. I think that this is the story that made me realize how I love Sean and Daniel so much that I’m willing to read the weirdest AUs and crossovers so long. It flows really well and it feels natural. 2,000 words.

Riona has written a lot of stories that start from an unexpected premise and draw a little vignette. They are all different from each other and I loved them all. Check out her AO3 profile! Can you give me a hint by Idnis, completed. Teenage Daniel/Chris. If you like “mutual pining” and “dumb idiots in love”, this story will make your day. It’s just... fluffy and sweet and innocent, a tiny bit of teenage drama that Daniel and Chris deserve after everything they’ve been through. 22,500 words. Closer to the Heart by darkjaden825698, in progress. After the shooting, Sean waits for the police to arrive. He’s cleared of all charges and sent to live to Beaver Creek, where he must come to terms with what happened and rebuild a life for himself. A teen drama where nothing bad happens to the boys and they get to live normal lives? Hit me with it. 4,000 words. Double exposure by Riona, completed. It draws inspiration from *Your Name*: Max and Sean begin swapping bodies at random. If the premise doesn’t turn you away, it’s a beautiful bittersweet story about two people trying to help each other while their own worlds are falling apart. 11,000 words. Faithless by HollowK, in progress. Six years after the failed heist, Sean wakes up from his coma and has a brother to find. Exactly: oof. 6,500 words for now. I Took Both Roads, series by owlmug. AU where Esteban isn’t shot. Sean/Finn (with some Sean/Cassidy in the first story). It’s a coming of age story, and I really loved how the author mirrored some situations that are found in the game by giving them a new twist. I won’t lie, these stories hurt, because they made me think about what could have been. The characters are spot on, and the interactions of the Diaz family are golden. Bonus points for having Sean behave like a teenage brat at times, because the boy deserved to have temper tantrums and getting into fights with Esteban over stupid stuff. There are also a lot of beautiful images across the series, a lot of lines that feel raw and powerful, and a lot of healing. At times it’s like having a heart-to-heart with the author. Sometimes I felt that the sex scenes were too long, and some of them I found unnecessary, but that’s just my personal taste. I really liked all the four stories, but the last one is my favourite for sure because it follows Esteban’s point of view and it’s *chef’s kiss*.

1. A Way to Reappear (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19096837), 18,000 words. Sean’s POV

2. A Piece of the Puzzle (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19386670), 26,000 words. Sean’s POV

3. A Little left Behind (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19852561), 24,000 words. Finn’s POV

4. (I’ve Been Going Through) a Change (https://archiveofourown.org/works/20562086), 28,000 words. Esteban’s POV.

If I Lay Here by owlmug, completed. Diverges from canon after episode 3. Sean and Finn try to track Daniel down. Sean/Finn, 46,500 words. I can repeat here most of what I wrote for the earlier series: wonderful characterization, beautiful imagery, touching themes, characters that find themselves along the way. Something that makes you go “Please, sir, can I have some more?” at the end of every chapter. i just don’t know how i’m doing (i’m so curious about you) by Larrymurphycansteponme, one-shot. Another High School AU, another wonderful coming of age story for Sean. I wish I could make it justice without repeating everything I said about owlmug’s series: spot-on characterization, a beautiful narrative about growing up and finding one’s way, wonderful imagery. It’s the story of what Sean deserved to have, and one of my favorite ever. 28,000 words.

MISSING MOMENTS

A Night With Misty Mice by That_one_internet_lover, completed. It follows Sean and Lyla’s concert night that is mentioned in his phone chat in ep.1. It’s the first fanfiction I read after my endgame heartbreak: it gave me all the happy Sean I wanted, and even a bit more. The dynamic between him and Lyla is exactly what I pictured from their interactions in the game, put into words by someone who knows what they’re doing. 10,000 words. Astray by Riona, one-shot. Daniel leaves Sean behind after the events of Wastelands. It’s probably more of an AU than a Missing Moment, since it was written before Faith came out and so it’s not entirely canon-compliant, but it’s still a very good window on Daniel’s state of mind after the heist. I’m eternally grateful to Riona for filling some of the gaps that the game left in the development of these wonderful characters. 1,500 words. Fire and Floods by Riona, one-shot. Sean and Daniel go on the run, and this fic covers the first day of their journey. A spot-on dissection of Sean’s feelings after the shooting. 1,500 words. life is strange 2 poems by Spotsuns, an ongoing collection of one-shots. These stories have all the oooffness of the game. The stories in here hurt. In the good way, but they hurt nonetheless. Beautiful character studies, and some heavy-duty, post-ending feel unpacking. 11,000 words. Never Stop Shining by CorazonDesnudo, in progress. During his stay in Away, Sean receives a letter from Finn with an offer to help him and Daniel cross the border. It’s a chance to come to terms with a lot of things he didn’t really process before. 11,000 words for now. Torchbearers by Riona. Ep.1’s Sean and Daniel run into Max and Chloe among the ruins of Arcadia Bay. I can definitely see this story being a moment of quiet in the game. 2,600 words. What Remains of the Diaz Family by That_one_internet_lover, completed. Lyla sneaks into the Diaz household after the brothers have disappeared. Heartbreaking oofness ensues as Lyla walks through their memories and faces her own pain. 6500 words.

#life is strange 2 #lis2 #life is strange 2 fanfiction #lis fanfiction #sean diaz #daniel diaz #i'm terrible with tags

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fyx-ation · 4 years

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My Thoughts on The Last of Us part II

If you have any desire to play the first game, do not read further.

So, The Last of Us 2...

This is a game I had been anxiously waiting to play since it was announced, as I’m sure all TLoU fans were. The first game was such a well-paced narrative work that it remains one of my favorite games in the last decade. A complex man named Joel goes on a journey he wants nothing to do with because deep inside his utterly broken exterior is a thread of decency that might stitch him back together, even if he’s unwilling to sew it himself. A young girl who has never had control over her life gets sprung head-first into a mission she believes will give her life—or her suffering—meaning. The pair slowly bond. He starts to see her as her own person, and he starts to care for that person, which is something Ellie has rarely received. She spends their journey proving to him and herself that she’s capable, smart, and worthy of being in control of her own life.

-Do not read further unless you have played parts 1 and 2 or you enjoy spoiler discussion-

The long and the short of it: man with painful past turns into uncaring monster to survive the cordyceps apocalypse (fungal infection that turns people into zombies), ultimately pushing away even his brother. Girl who discovers she’s immune to cordyceps infection, after she and her girlfriend are bitten, is ordered by her guardian to go get studied by rebel doctors. Guardian can’t take her because she’s been injured in rebel vs. military conflict. Guardian asks man to take her. They go on journey, face severe hardships, bond, and eventually find rebel scientists. Scientists and guardian (who also made it there separately) decide to split her head open, without even talking to her about it and therefore removing all agencies she, as a fucking person, has. Guardian even says “it’s what she would have wanted.” Man murders them all to pluck unconscious girl from their plans (which they decided in a single day after a few tests), takes her away, and lies to her about what happened. He, too, took away her choice because he sees himself as her guardian. He wanted to save her even if it meant forsaking the “cure for mankind.”

(Side note: I personally believe the scientists were too incompetent to truly utilize her immunity and find a cure. Given all the information we learn from notes and voice recorders, cracking her head open after having her one day just so they could study the cordyceps in her brain and find out why it didn’t spread to other parts of her brain… It just seems really stupid to me. They also think they can reverse engineer a vaccine with the fungal samples in her head, but how can they know it’s the fungus that’s mutated and not something about her that makes her immune? It doesn’t make sense to kill the one immune person they’ve ever found after a single day of study. Furthermore, there are no vaccines against fungal pathogens in the real world. None for treatment. None for prevention. Yet we’re supposed to believe that a handful of doctors in a post-apocalyptic world—and not even the best doctors, considering one let himself get infected by a monkey—are going to manage it after collecting samples from an immune girl’s brain? The ONLY sample they will ever have? To make a vaccine against a fungal infection? Which we couldn’t even manage to do in a non-apocalyptic world with actual specialists studying it their entire lives? When this game first came out, there were people arguing over Joel’s actions. I see it as Joel saving her because he cares too much about her to let her die. They’ve been through too much, and he’s bonded to her like a father. He cannot let her be sacrificed for any reason. He makes the choice for her. Oh, and apparently there was only ONE doctor who could possibly make a vaccine, and it’s the surgeon you are forced to kill at the end of TLOU.)

(Side-side note: a lot of people struggle with accepting why Joel saves her. It’s purely selfish. That’s it. He’s not thinking about the Fireflies or the science. WE do, as the audience. We are critically thinking about the what-ifs and whys. He’s thinking “Oh hell no.”)

Annnnnyway, TLOU was a good game. Most of the impact came from playing it, so I’m super apprehensive about it being turned into a TV series. “The medium is the message” applies heavily here. It’s good because it’s a video game. The experience is what makes it good. Will it translate well to just a show? I am cautiously optimistic. (I feel the same way about Uncharted. I’m not sure a movie could ever do Amy Hennig’s work justice.)

On to Part 2…

I don’t want to go through scene by scene and dissect what works and doesn’t work for me. Rather, what’s on my mind is how grossly manipulative the whole experience was. And that was the goal.

Before writing this, I gave myself a few days of distance so I could ruminate on TLOU2; otherwise, I’d have immediately sat down after finishing it and written a disjointed rant—as I am wont to do. Maybe I’m not the best person to write about this, but I still want to write about it because I feel that strongly. I’ll try not to meander too much now.

“Kill your darlings.”

Writing is hard. Sometimes you have to argue with yourself or get a second/third/fourth opinion on a piece or idea before you axe it and start over. This game feels like it has several darlings that could have benefited the story as a whole if they’d been gutted and tossed on the pyre. With them left in as they were, pacing and flashbacks disturb the flow of tension and catharsis. Actually, there’s no catharsis in this game. Every segment builds to the edge of a knife and then stabs you with it.

If you’ve seen the phrase “misery porn” tossed around, that’s because it delights in it… in graphic detail that designers had to spend twelve hour+ work days making. And if you’ve heard “ham-fisted,” that would refer to the narrative smooshing your face against the screen going “SEEEE?” like Francis Dolarhyde (sweet Red Dragon reference) every time it wants to you feel gross for actions you’re driving the characters through. There are several moments like that. They don’t spring to mind when you’re stealthing through the grass and sniping soldiers or religious zealots and patting yourself on the back for choosing more stealth traits for efficient murdering. For all the dogs yelping as you murder them, you don’t exactly feel sorry for them afterward because the game trains you to be annoyed by them. You don’t feel sorry for any of those deaths, which leads me to yet another term you’ve probably heard or read in regards to this game: ludonarrative dissonance.

(I’d suggest googling it if you’re unfamiliar with this relatively new term and the interesting origins behind it.) In short, it’s the clash caused by video game protagonists (the heroes) mowing through enemies or NPCs without a second thought for the sake of the story.

At the beginning of TLOU2, nearly five years after the incident at the hospital, Joel is tracked down and murdered by the daughter of the doctor he shoots at the end of TLOU to save Ellie. That daughter, Abby, was accompanied by handful of other young ex-Firefly rebels who probably also lost parents in Joel’s murder spree through the hospital. So began the cycle of revenge, and Ellie sets off to track down these people without even knowing who they are.

As the story progresses, only a handful of moments give Ellie the opportunity to weigh the cost of her revenge. In each case, she determines the cost isn’t high enough to keep her from continuing. She doesn’t weigh the lives of soldiers or zealots she’s killed, even though they had nothing to do with Joel’s death, simply because they were trying to kill her. The game forces you to brutally beat a woman for information and then makes you watch Ellie recover from it because it was monstrous. Killing all her militia buddies with bullets and bombs and a machete wasn’t. Killing her with a pipe was. Later, Ellie’s mortified to discover she’s killed (as Jim Sterling so eloquently puts it) a visibly pregnant woman. She’s slain numerous women up to that scene, some of which most assuredly would have been pregnant statistically. No shits given. Visibly pregnant? Oh, no, I’m the bad guy.

I want to slice the game into four parts. The first part swaps back and forth between Abby and Ellie while in Wyoming. The second part begins with Ellie’s mission into Seattle and covers three days there while she finds the crew behind Joel’s death. At an enormous cliffhanger, the game stops and rewinds three days to show you everything that happens to Abby up to that cliffhanger. Many people were immediately turned off by being forced to play as this character whose introduction has her murder Joel. Beloved monster, murder-dad Joel. She’s presented to us as someone to revile and slowly given humanity. If you’ve read other feedback on the character or ventured into youtube comments (only the brave or the masochistic do—sometimes I am both), she is absolutely despised for a long list of reasons. Most of them are petty and even more don’t reflect anyone taking in her story as it was meant to be. You can blame that on Ellie/Joel fans, but a lot of that blame should fall on the editing and pacing.

Through Abby’s three days leading to the cliffhanger, which we’re anticipating will be the climax of the story, the motive for her revenge is revealed. This third chunk of the game also provides a character arc which exposes who she is outside of her revenge. Like Ellie, she’s given the flashback treatment. Where Ellie’s are treated as insight into why Joel’s death mattered, Abby’s are a quick and dirty way to explore why we should care about Abby. Both sets can sometimes feel cheap and downright manipulative, but the story nearly demands they exist; otherwise, you might disconnect Ellie from her mission of murder and Abby from being sympathetic in any way.

I enjoyed the pacing of Abby’s three days, despite dreading the inevitable and gut-wrenching scenes I knew were coming as a result of Ellie’s unavoidable actions. However, because of the abrupt cut to Abby’s rewind, the tension leading to her day three made them grueling. Abby’s not a complete piece of shit; “Do you see?!” Abby’s not a monster; “Do you see?!” Yes, great Red Dragon, I see.

We do get a climax of sorts at the end of part three. Abby and Ellie face off. Much violence, much cost, wow. Part four starts after the encounter resolves. Back in Ellie’s shoes and jumping a year or so into the future, we’re sauntering through what could be a resolution to this horror show of human stupidity. We’re dealt a heaping spoonful of Ellie’s PTSD. At this point, the writers were probably salivating over how conflicted we’re supposed to feel about her actions. She’s still Ellie! You still love her, but you’re torn over her actions and the conclusion with Abby! Look how traumatized she still is over Joel’s death (and the shit that went down in Seattle…. If you read her journal). Look at these brutal flashes of Joel dying! Look at this flashback of one of the last times she got to speak to Joel… isn’t it SAD? “DO YOU SEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?”

Yo, thanks. I got it. It’s still grim dark grim suffer pain dark ouchie ouch miserable. Yeah, I get the connection to Joel’s complex grim dark grim suffer pain dark ouchie ouch miserable life. Yes, I saw it in both Abby and Ellie. Can you please stop smooshing my face against the screen now?

It was here that I started getting LOTR Return of the King-like multiple endings vibes. And yet, the game continues, because Ellie still wants Abby dead. Even at the cost of her current, decent life with the person she’s most lucky is still alive. Abby spared Ellie and her girlfriend, despite all the people Ellie killed—everyone Abby was close to. She killed Joel for killing her father, taking away the “cure for mankind,” and causing the downfall of the Fireflies. Ellie killed all of Abby’s friends and had every intention of killing her—even after learning she was a Firefly—for Joel’s murder.

Again, we’re put in Abby’s shoes as she searches for some light in the darkness. The search is brief and ends with another cliffhanger. We’re swapped to Ellie with another small leap forward in time. By now, with where I was mentally, I wanted it to be over. But the misery never stops on this pain train! Choo choo! Ellie’s traveled alone all the way from Wyoming to California for some sweet, sweet relief via murder.

And so (after seemingly rescuing Abby from a slow death) she beats up an emaciated, broken Abby in a laborious fight that goes on for a painfully long time with meat-slapping, finger-cracking sound effects to pucker your butthole. I was emotionally exhausted and exasperated by this chapter. And still no fucking catharsis in sight. Even as Ellie suddenly sees the cost of her actions, it was immensely hard for me to care. I didn’t care that she finally found her “enough is enough” moment after all the detailed, ham-fisted misery she went through and caused. Any rational person, PTSD or guilt or not, would have focused on surviving over vengeance. The world they live in is pretty shitty, but Ellie had managed to carve out something safe and even happy. To see her, the character we have a stronger bond with, fuck it all up for closure… Well, it sucks. PTSD is a powerful thing, and it would probably leave Ellie screwed up regardless of her conclusion that ending Abby would somehow help. Killing Abby’s not going to undo anyone’s death—not Joel’s, not visibly pregnant Mel’s, not dog #5, and not her close friend Jesse’s (who followed her from Wyoming a day later just because his “friends’ problems are my problems.” RIP, ya good egg) ; it’s also not going to soothe the guilt Ellie feels for her treatment of Joel when he was alive (she suspected all along that something went wrong with the Fireflies, so after she finds out the truth, she distances herself from him for a few years because she’s so hurt/angry. Just as she’s about to begin forgiving him, he’s killed in front of her). She has this epiphany while nearly ending Abby, so it’s poetic in its own way. Ellie goes home to an empty house, feels the weight of her journey, and wanders off. It’s implied that Abby makes it to an island off the coast of California where some Fireflies have set up. (This fact can be completely lost on you unless you remembered the Firefly on the radio talking about a “large, domed building,” and you notice it on the new start screen after finishing the credits. I just assumed they got away, but a friend pointed out that the building is on Catalina Island.)

The story is also bloated with coincidences throughout. Don’t make a drinking game out of it or you’ll go blind. If you can’t connect tab A to tab B without a coincidence (let’s be generous and say, idk, five times), maybe rewrite it? This is a nitpick, I know. It’s not the biggest, glaring problem. Still shines, though.

I’m meandering, after all. I hope I’ve conveyed how bothered I was by the writing, pacing, and editing.

This game also stumbled through some hurdles before it even came out. We heard about the “crunch” to finish the game, which pushed employees to work ridiculously long hours. We heard about contract disputes that some employees felt were in peril due to the pandemic. Lotte Kestner, a singer who covered New Order’s “True Faith” ten years ago, had her version completely ripped off for a TLOU2 trailer. As far as I know, that’s still not resolved and probably won’t be. And then, we have the leaks. Several hours of pivotal cutscenes were dropped on the internet like a bombshell. I avoided them as best I could because I was so hyped to play the game. With the internet being the internet, I inadvertently learned the absolute biggest spoiler, and it soured my excitement. Ultimately, it didn’t influence my opinion of the game, but thousands of people do not feel the same way. They couldn’t get over Joel dead, Abby bad.

I only have a few gripes left, I promise. Before I get to those, I want to acknowledge the amazing work on the technical side. It never fails to stun me when I see how far games come from the beginning of a generation toward the end of one. Visually, this game could be held up above some other current titles and hailed as an example of what the PS4 (and other comparable systems) are capable of. The textures are gorgeous, the lighting is superb, the environmental details (snow physics, rain physics, gravity) are nice to look at and appreciate… It’s all really good video game eye candy, if you’re into that sort of thing.

The level designs/arenas are put together well and really increased the methods of dispatching enemies through stealth compared to the first game. Even when I screwed up areas I wanted to completely stealth my way through, recovering wasn’t impossible due to the terrain or the number of enemies. Most of my deaths were from flat-out stupidity or taking the worst approach possible to a situation (like having the wrong weapon drawn and engaging… then fumbling through the controls to get to what I actually wanted equipped). Weapon-swapping is a bit clunky, especially in a heated encounter (lookin’ at you, Rat King). Crafting and the variety of ammo feels good. The skill trees and weapon upgrades have a good balance, too, as does the amount of parts and pills you get to explore those perks. I played on moderate, so I imagine those are scarcer at higher difficulties…. I’m not inclined to find out any time soon.

Aiming sensitivity at max still felt slow as hell. I know it’s part of the game’s mechanics to make you choose upgrades to improve that, but I’d just replayed HZD before this, so I was spoiled with accuracy and speed. When I play any kind of shooty games with a controller, the first thing I do is turn up aiming sensitivity. In some games, it makes a world of difference. In TLOU2, it doesn’t really help.

The soundscape was bonkers and makes me wish I had surround sound. A minor detail that either doesn’t exist or I failed to notice while it was happening: when the Seraphites/Scars/zealots whistle at each other, you would think that it would illuminate them brighter in listening mode. I’m pretty sure it didn’t, but I’ll try to pay attention to that if I remember to the next time I play.

I missed some of the atmospheric music from the first game. It felt like it had more, which is strange since 2 is much, much bigger. There are new themes for this game, but they’re much more subdued and don’t swell when you’d expect them. I’ll consider turning the BGM up next time I play, too, cuz I’m deaf as a post and can’t process too much stimuli at once (which includes reading subtitles, listening to the dialog, reading facial expressions, and trying to appreciate the BGM). What music I did notice is very good, especially during tenser moments. It adds to the atmosphere without obnoxiously dictating how you should feel.

The voice acting and mo-cap animations are top notch. Games like this which focus on a smaller scale narrative can do so much when it comes to realism, and it warms my nerdy heart to see how far voice acting and mo-cap have come in this media. That said, I don’t think realism makes games better. Style over substance never wins. But when it’s done well, when you pause just to look at the scenery and idle animations… Man, I just love video games. All the animations in TLOU2 look very natural--from the environmental weather to the dogs crying over their fallen keepers.

Here come the last few gripes:

The Seraphite/WLF conflict serves as a backdrop for Seattle and left me severely wanting. Through bits of dialog and notes, we learn a little bit about each side’s history—enough that I wanted to know more about how and why this cult popped up around a single doomsday prepper. I wanted to know why WLF (Washington Liberation Front, which was essentially another rebel group like the Fireflies) had successfully taken Seattle from FEDRA (US’ martial law answer to the outbreak) yet still had deserters willing to die rather than go back. I need to know more about the Seraphite’s prophet! I need to know why Isaac, the leader of WLF, was basically set on wiping them out. I swear, all this felt like it should have been a separate game or a mini-prequel to TLOU2. It could have easily been as 20 hour story on its own.

For some reason, the writers thought it was very important to include the gay experience of facing bigotry. You can’t even escape that shit twenty-five years into the apocalypse. Ain’t life grand?

They also decided sending a very pregnant woman, the group’s medic no less, on patrol was totally fine. On the surface, you might think, “Sure, I mean she’s a medic and a member of this militia. Every person counts and has to do their part.” I can respect that idea. I have problems with this part because 1) she’s patrolling with two of her closest friends, and 2) if she’s injured in combat, they are absolutely going to be distracted to help her. The distress of a grave injury could send her into labor, and the possibility of popping out a baby while bleeding to death and bullets/arrows are flying and infected are present….? That’s not fine. I think they wanted to portray a case for “bodily autonomy” as she gets to make the choice of taking the patrol or not. But that’s not going to stop her friends from jumping in front of her to save her or getting hit when they stop to aid her. Even if they weren’t friends, I think most people would do that. It’s the same reason Ellie gets sick to her stomach with guilt after she kills her.

It’s not just the possibility of the baby dying that’s horrific, and it’s not the possibility of the mother dying that’s tragic… It’s that if you lose one, you’re probably going to lose both in that situation. The game even has her get injured (not mortally, obviously, since Ellie has that job) solely to stoke that fear in us.

Lev. This is a much talked about topic, so I really don’t have much insight to add to it. I think it’s sad that a trans character in a game has to suffer so much because they are trans. I enjoyed the development of his story with Abby (when it wasn’t at its absolute darkest), and I think it did its job of endearing us to Abby well. I just wish it hadn’t been written that he was fleeing his Seraphite cult because he was trans, and they had apparently made up their own weird religious reasons for marrying off children and not accepting transgender people.

Again, I want to know how this cult developed in roughly 25 years. We learn that their prophet was a doomsday prepper through a single damaged note. We’re also told that she’d written her own religious texts and explanations for the CBI outbreak. Other than that, the only thing we know is that some elders in the group began justifying violence toward WLF, even though the prophet’s texts don’t mention disemboweling trespassers. I guess, like most cults and fundamentalist religions, they managed to make up their own convenient interpretations of her words after she died. As Abby says in the game, Isaac made a martyr out of her. It just makes me wonder more what kind of society they were building before she died. What flavor of religion was she basing her new religion from? Was she anti-LGBTQ+? Was she a fundie? I suspect we’ll never know.

I’m over 4,000 words into this rant, so I’m feeling like this is going on a bit too long (kinda like TLOU2). If anything, the discourse this game has caused is interesting. Even without the leaks and controversy, the game itself sparked a variety of opinions. Some are good, some are bad, some are deluded, and some are dismissed for not praising the game like it “deserves.” Even the creators behind it are poo-pooing criticism. I won’t mince words: I think it reeks of Oscar-bait levels of self-indulgence. Not enough darlings killed (unless you count all the NPCs and dogs we meet explicitly to feel sad when they die), too much emotional manipulation delivered mostly through flashbacks, and pacing only the writers could love (because the editor’s off crying in a bathroom somewhere).

I give it a 6/10.

When I finished the game, @an-hour-killed, was sitting beside me. She’d finished it the night before. As the credits rolled, we launched into a discussion about what we disliked about the game. This only happens when we’re both on a wavelength of dissatisfaction that causes us to resonate like two prongs of a tuning fork. It’s been days since then and since I started writing this, and we’re still talking about bits and pieces that got under our skin. It’s like a pebble in your shoe that you can’t quite get out no matter how many times you take it off and shake it. She also gave it a 6/10. We wanted to like this game, love this game, rant about how crazy good it was to our friends and make them play the first one so they could play this one. Instead, I’m writing this and suggesting friends and family lower the game on their priority list.

Aw, man, I just remembered I was going to talk about Tommy’s re-characterization… Fuck it, I’m done.

#TLOU The last of us #the last of us part 2 #the last of us II

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