Background Characters in The Last of Us

There are quite a few things The Last of Us for the Playstation 3 do particularly well, but something I am exceedingly impressed with is the way it builds up background characters. We're talking characters the player will probably never meet, who have likely died long before Joel and Ellie arrive in the area.

These relationships, if you will, are built entirely through notes. I think one of the best examples is of a background character the player first meets through a note outside of the sewers. From there, from finding a series of notes, the player watches his story unfolds and becomes excited. It makes the player wonder if they will meet the character. Or if they will be able to read to the end of his story. Of course, this depends on how thorough you are while exploring.

I don't think that any video game has ever made me quite so interested in, not only a background character, but a character that is essentially a "ghost" since he is not a main character and, if you do meet him, it is never stated outright. But with every bit of exploring, and every Infected I found, I had to wonder, "Is this him? Did he die?"

That very small story arc was extremely interesting, I was so amazed by the game's ability to do this.

So, do you get the opportunity to meet this character, or will you read the end to find out? I am unsure, so you'll need to play for yourself and found out.

Why Garry?

Today, I pose a quick question to you all, and it surprises me a little that I never asked this question sooner.

Why, in Ib, does Garry also end up in the fabricated museum? My thoughts were always that Ib was picked out special by Mary, though I could not tell you why I believed such. It just seemed that such a lonely little girl would seek out another. Also, the fact that the messages to Ib in the museum are friendly and maybe a little playful in the beginning of the game always made me assume it was her (though, I suppose it is possible it was another painting, or even the dolls).

However, while Ib purposely ends up in the painting world, it seems obvious that Garry was not someone to be desired. There are messages strewn throughout the fabricated museum that talk about being away from adults, and Garry is certainly an adult (in comparison to the girls if nothing else). Mary, of course, also talks about how Garry is a "grown up" in a negative way. Though she may or may not have minded him being around in the beginning, it still seems that she wanted Ib to visit her most of all (because, once again, they are of the same age).

So why does Garry end up in a world where adults are unwanted? I have heard many fan theories that Garry is in some way related to Guertena, but I do not believe that for a few reasons including that Guertena is clearly long dead by the beginning of the game, Garry does not recognize his name, Garry does not say he is related (and if he were related to an artist, it seems likely he would know and be proud), and it just seems to coincidental. Though, if he were related, he would certainly be drawn into the painting world.

But if he is not, then why him? Why does Garry get summoned there, too? There was at least one more child in the museum, though she appeared to be much younger than Ib. Perhaps that is the reason why she did not get pulled into the fabricated world. On the other hand, was Garry really the next youngest person out of everyone in the museum? 

I have no ideas, theories, or any background information that might make the answer even somewhat clear. All I have is this question: Why Garry?

It just seems strange that out of a museum full of people, Garry was the other person to be dragged into the painting world. Some food for thought.

...Though, coming back to the question, there is this:

In Mary's room, you find a diary where she remarks about the above. Perhaps Garry was chosen because Mary only wanted to take his place, something she did not want to do to Ib, who she wanted to be friends/sisters with. Still, that does beg the question of why Garry? Why peg him as her victim when there were so many others?

The more I think on it, the more I wonder if it really was Mary who got Ib and Garry to come into the painting world. Perhaps it was one of the paintings or dolls, but that still does not make sense since none of the paintings wanted Mary to try and leave in the first place.

The Last of Us: A game of survival in an apocalyptic world

The Last of Us is a survival horror game released only for the Playstation 3 as of June 14, 2013. This is a cool game, which is why I'm writing about it, but I'm not writing a review; I just want to make a small post about it.

The game features a character named Joel, a man who lives in a world teeming with infected and dangerous bandits, who is on an escort mission to take a foul-mouthed teenager named Ellie across the United States to a resistance group called the Fireflies. The game features Joel surviving in an apocalyptic world, fighting against the "Infected," people who have been turned to monsters by a disease, as well as humans who have turned violent to survive in the upside down world.

The game is interesting and good for many reasons. It has certainly subverted my expectations a few times where I expected one thing to be the norm only to have the game destroy whatever I expected. The beginning of the game (i.e. everything before opening credits) is a pretty good representation of this.

There is literally an armory of weapons to choose from. I was amazed by the sheer amount of weapons that can be used. One of the coolest ones that I did not expect to see is a normal bow. The large amount of weapons really helps because supplies are generally sparse, so it is not unlikely to have little to no ammo on one weapon, and a bit more on another. Having so much to choose from means that there will always be something to fight with.

The game, however, does require a lot of stealth, which has to be one of my least favorite parts of any video game. Stealth is a big part of the game. For that reason, I will be watching at least one playthrough for the game on Youtube because I'd like to see how it plays out. I just happen to be poor at stealth and dislike it a lot. Nonetheless, I like that stealth is in the game. It seems only to make sense given that the setting is in a post-apocalyptic world and, if that were a realistic situation, it would be necessary to sneak around humans and zombie-like creatures, if one could get away with it.

On the whole, I think the game is realistic to what a post-apocalyptic world would be, and that is why I like it quite a bit (also why I am still going back and forth on whether or not I should play it completely). The characters are all fleshed out at least a bit, which is always a nice thing to see in games. The plot in general is also just plain interesting.

As I mentioned, Ellie is a foulmouthed character and, again, this is a survival horror taking place in the post-apocalyptic world. As such, this game is rated M for Mature, for the language and, of course, the violence. Do not play this game if you are sensitive to violence.

 I would highly recommend this game because it is one of the better examples of a post-apocalyptic setting, in my opinion. If you are not a stealth person, this one may not be for you, just keep in mind that the more weapons you have, the more you may be able to get away with fighting more than sneaking (though, I think playing much of the game that way would be impossible given scarcity of items and whatnot).

Special side note: Joel is voiced by Troy Baker, whose voice you may recognize immediately as Booker DeWitt's from Bioshock Infinite. Ellie is voiced by Ashley Johnson, who played one of my favorite characters, Terra, from Teen Titans. 

You can find the game's website here: http://www.thelastofus.com/

You should be able to purchase it wherever games are sold. In fact, the website has a list of where you can buy the game. Just remember that it is exclusively for the PS3!

*On another note, I have not yet seen enough of the game to determine if it is "female friendly," so to speak, though there have been a few female characters so far, including the leader of the Fireflies, Marlene, Tess, and, of course, Ellie. I would say it is doing at least somewhat well on the friendly front so far.

Something so obvious that I cannot believe I forgot to add it, yet I did. The graphics in this game are absolutely beautiful. Some shots are so breathtaking. Many of the city shots look wonderful. Really, so far, there is nothing to complain about in the graphics department. This game is extremely polished.

Baptism in Bioshock Infinite

While Bioshock Infinite came out a few months ago, I recently rewatched the ending, which prompted me to think about the subject of this post. Of course, there are going to be devastating spoilers in this post, so do not read on if you've not finished the game!

If you could not tell, baptism is a big deal in Bioshock Infinite and a recurring theme throughout the game. In order to enter Columbia, Booker Dewitt must be baptized, leading him to remark that the priest needed to learn the difference between baptizing and drowning, foreshadowing for the end of the game.

But that is not what this post is about, not really. I wanted to discuss the interesting idea that a baptism can create two different selves, even though the idea of a baptism (at least, later in life) is to erase sins and, in the game, to erase Booker's past.

After Wounded Knee, Booker feels as though he has sinned so much that he may never be forgiven for what he did, so he decides to get baptized. The Booker that agrees to the baptism becomes Comstock, who makes it his life mission to create a "sinless" city above the clouds, as close to heaven as one could get, where he teaches people the alleged "word of the Lord" and punishes those who sin.

The Booker that does not agree to a baptism remains feeling sinful for his entire life but has a daughter.

Right up to the point of the baptism, there is one Booker. Once he goes through with it, he creates two identities and many different men in many different worlds, as seen by the multiple Elizabeths at the end of the game. At the end of the game, it seems like Booker is about to be baptized again, instead he finds out two identities resulted from his original baptism. In order to destroy the evil Comstock, Booker has to be smothered in the cradle, as it were. It seems like he is going to be baptized but, instead, three Elizabeths hold him down until he drowns, effectively "smothering" him. All other Bookers disappear, as is apparent by all of the Elizabeths, aside from one, the one we see after the credits.

A side note: The only thing I'm still not able to make sense of is what happens to the final Elizabeth. With one Booker left, it seems like she should not exist, especially since we hear baby Anna crying in the epilogue.

I think it was an interesting take on baptism, certainly a unique one, which is fitting for a pretty unique game. I would highly recommend it. I may eventually do a write up on it. Very, very fascinating stuff.

Afterthought: I rewatched the scene one more time and it's interesting to know that the Elizabeth who comes to the baptism with Booker is not the same Elizabeth. Booker's dialogue hints as much. It still does not answer why she remains there after the others disappear, but it is interesting to know that Booker's Elizabeth is gone when he enters the area.