The Last of Us
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This episode of All Kinds of Philler is all about The Last of Us: a tense, bloody, emotional, and morally complex video game. In other words, it’s the feel-good hit of the summer! Earl bands together with Brent and newcomer Stephen to discuss the critically-acclaimed survival horror game, the theme of partnerships, violence, enemy AI, and executing post-apocalyptic tropes. They also end up talking about Tomb Raider, and why Ellie looks a lot like Ellen Page. (Spoilers on the entire game.)
Guests:
Brent Peckham
Stephen
Supplementary Notes:
Story Trailer
Audio notes: (1hr. 8min. runtime)
00:30 – Intro to The Last of Us
01:40 – The prologue, Sarah, Joel’s morality, and evoking post-apocalyptic fiction
07:45 – Partnerships, Ishmael, Bill, Tess, Sam & Henry, and Joel & Ellie
17:25 – Realism, AI and level design, Uncharted, and game mechanics
29:20 – Emotional weight to each kill, Joel’s brutality, and the killcams
34:06 – The four seasons as chapters, and the Utah scene
38:10 – “It’s not a fun game!”, emotional drain, The Walking Dead, and cannibalism
42:55 – Threat of sexual violence, lack of female enemies or child clickers, and David
48:35 – The Firefly battle, dissonance between player & Joel, and the final scene
58:35 – Graphics, glitches, voice acting, and Ellen Page
61:20 – Comparisons to Tomb Raider
66:00 – Stephen and Brent’s playlists
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