After being introduced to Marlene, we're out of the more traditional tutorial section of the game and moving into the "real" beginning. Not only are you pretty much equipped with the basic skills you need to get through the levels, you're also at the true start of the story. The Robert subplot is just an introduction, and while it is meaningful to some extent, it's primary function in the narrative is simply to introduce Joel and Tess to the leader of the Fireflies and give them a reason to undertake this mission.
Before we can really get the story underway proper, we follow Marlene through a series of alleyways and buildings, avoiding military detection and encountering more heavily armed opponents. At this point, we've been introduced to the three basic kinds of enemies that we will regularly face. First, there's the normal infected. On the most part, slow and easy to sneak up on. Second, Robert's crew introduces us to thug enemies, mostly armed with melee weapons. Some of them are armed with guns, but on the most part, it's close range combat, should you be unable to get the drop on them. Third, we've got the military. While not prominently featured, it puts us in a situation where we're dealing with more enemies with ranged weapons, increasing the difficulty of sneaking, and your ability to recover if discovered.
It's also interesting to note that the military are not the "good guys" here. They're not necessarily the "bad guys" either. To be sure, the game doesn't present them in same light as your typical thugs throughout the game. Still, there's no secret that the people's opinion of the military and government in general are jaded, and rightfully so. Keep in mind that, especially from Joel's perspective, the military has been pretty controlling. They shoot infected on the spot. The opening news reports mentioned them hanging people suspected of being Fireflies. And, of course, Joel's own daughter wasn't killed by infected, or by thugs, or by desperate people. No, Sarah was shot by a soldier operating under orders. So while the soldiers in the game aren't presented as particularly "evil" in the same way that, say, the Pittsburgh pirates were (heh heh), it's also clear that they are threatening to Joel and Tess and people around them too.
This could be an easy excuse to justify the violence, of course. If everyone is a dangerous prick, then it makes killing or beating them more reasonable an action. We don't think much about it. It's a very "gamey" thing to do. It's why we see a lot of video games where the enemies are Nazis or aliens or zombies. If the enemies are inherently dehumanized, killing them doesn't make us feel uncomfortable. The Last of Us is guilty of that, especially later in the game. Still, I would just note that I personally always made it a point to either just knock out or sneak by military guards, while I certainly never had many reservations about killing the thugs.
We also get access to another important gameplay element: crafting. In the first open area after dealing with Marlene, you find a bunch of supplies. These supplies can be used to craft specific items, such as shivs, med kits, and Molotov cocktails. Again, they give you this introduction in a low-stakes environment. Though the story involves being hunted by military, you can't actually get caught. There are no other enemies around, so you're free to take your time shifting through items and thinking about supplies. Odds are, you'll be doing a good amount of this, especially in combat, so it's nice to get the opportunity to play around with it, without the added pressure of possibly getting killed. Seems like a small thing, but this is good tutorial design. The argument in favor of The Last of Us is that it does a lot of these little things really well.
Though this isn't truly the tutorial section, it's still an easy part, designed to let you ease into everything. Even on the hardest difficulties, these segments aren't really that difficult. That's not the point. They've given you the information. Now they're presenting a simple scenario in which to use it.
It also reaffirms a few things in terms of the pacing and world building. First, it reminds us that this is a pretty dark world. After all, we're accustomed to the military or police or security forces to be the unequivocal "good guys." Here, it's a little different. There aren't really any "heroes." Second, it gives us a reason to dislike the designated safety zones. Joel and Tess may be safe, but we can see why Marlene and others would form the Fireflies to resist. Most of the time spent walking back to Marlene's safe house, we can hear the PA system dictating orders to civilians, and basically threatening those who don't abide. Third, it continues to build the ebb and flow of the pacing. After a somewhat tense moment of trying to sneak by guards, we're right back to walking. This game is every bit as much about the in-between moments as it is the action. (I'd argue that my favorite moments, and the parts I like the best, are the parts where you're not fighting, but walking around the maps.)
And then there's Ellie's intro. Man, if these characters aren't just incredibly well-written. So much of what the writer's do in this game is give a good amount of insight without simply dumping in-your-face exposition about it. Tess's introduction is a good example. When we meet her, she's coming back from a deal wherein she got jumped. We know Joel didn't go with her, and Tess just seems to be acting in charge. We find out she killed the men who attacked her, and she is setting out to find the man who sent them. Without spelling it out in annoyingly specific detail, this interaction tells us that if anyone is in charge here, it's Tess. It informs us that she is smart, tough, and capable. We don't need a moment where she specifically states that she is in charge. She does say to Joel that she can take care of herself, which maybe spells it out a little too much, but the way she delivers it is telling. When she says that, Tess seems annoyed. She's more irritated in that moment that Joel is condescending to her, acting like she can't defend herself. And she moves on to the next piece of information, because that's all that matters.
What does Ellie's introduction tell us about her? Well, literally the first thing we see her do is attack Joel with her switchblade. That action alone tells us that she is a fighter. She is a firecracker, and she won't ever just take things lying down - a trait that we see a ton of throughout the game. Tess steps in and grabs Ellie's arm to stop her attack, and Ellie's first line of dialogue is, "Get the fuck off me!" Again, this establishes her resistant nature. Plus, she doesn't shy away from the F-bomb. She cusses quite a lot, and quite consistently. While not a major aspect of her character in general, it is a marker that we can use to highlight consistent writing of her character.
Marlene tells Ellie that she won't be able to accompany her to wherever they're going, to which Ellie states that she's staying then. Again, in just one simple line of dialogue, we can already see that she's also fiercely loyal - another trait we see regularly. She has a history with Marlene and won't abandon her. There's then that great moment where Marlene comes up with a plan that involves Ellie going with Joel somewhere, and both characters freak out. Joel with his, "whoa whoa whoa, I ain't doin' that" kind of old school Texan attitude, and Ellie with her, "This is bullshit!" modern youth flair.
What makes the cutscenes so great is the attention to detail. They play out just like the best movies do. You can tell that this stuff is motion captured, with the actors on sets. You can see it in the way Ellie gets defensive, or the way that Joel holds his arm just before rubbing his forehead. The voice acting is so perfect because it's done with real world acting as well. This, of course, heightens the realism of the game which, in effect, heightens the emotion.
And then we set out with Ellie. We'll be working with her for the remainder of the game, pretty much. Again, they make it clear that a lot of the character relationship will unfold through conversation that happens during the game. You don't get interrupted from moving forward through the level for the sake of dialogue. Instead, you hear banter as you progress.
In this case, we can tell right away how annoyed Joel is. Ellie is inquisitive and interested in knowing a little about Joel and the world around her. She'll ask questions, and Joel is super grumpy about it all. He doesn't even make any effort to hide it. At that first dumpster you have to move, you move Joel to jump up to the stairwell. Ellie won't really advance up there until you progress a little farther up the stairs. This highlights how cold this relationship is right now.
It is kind of funny that the player, controlling Joel, is sort of in this weird position where you're not leading, but you're also not totally following. Whenever Tess is in the picture, she's in charge. At the same time, you as Joel are still responsible for taking care of Ellie. The stipulation for Joel taking on Ellie as a partner is that she stay close and do what he says. He orders her around, even. Yet Tess is the ultimate boss here, as she orders Joel around.
The big reveal at the end of this section, just before getting into Boston proper, is that Ellie is infected. After you're caught by guards, Tess and Joel take care of them, killing them. It might be the first time Ellie is involved in killing, and she's freaked. "Oh fuck!" she exclaims. "I thought we were just going to hold them up or something." Ellie is a force of innocence. She's fourteen years old and doesn't really understand how brutal the world is, especially outside the QZ.
This scene also finally establishes the real story here. Ellie is infected and claims to be immune. It's easy to disbelieve her. The conversation even includes some more subtle world building. Tess rejects her claim by stating that everyone turns within two days of infection. This is one of those little moments that functions perfectly fine within the discussion. She's stating why she doesn't believe that Ellie has been infected for three weeks. At the same time, that one tiny line of dialogue fills the player in on a little of the infection itself. We already know that it can spread via spores, and the wound on Ellie's arm is clearly a bite mark, so it can spread that way. Now, we also know that the infection spreads quickly. If you get bit or inhale the spores, you're basically screwed.
The next part can be a little tricky. Where the earlier sections with enemies might offer a range of options for how to handle it, they largely force you to deal with them somehow. You can kill them in a straight up fist or firefight, or you can sneakily take them out one by one. Here, you're presented with a situation where you can't actually take them out. There is just not enough ammunition to shoot them all, plus you don't have enough health to stand much of a chance. Plus, there are some soldiers that are in positions that you cannot reach. No, your only option is to go around them. For new players, this will likely be the most challenging part of the game so far. I think this section is primarily trying to teach you the value in tossing bricks and bottles as distractions, but the game itself doesn't make it particularly clear.
Unrelated, I was thinking about those doors you have to lift, and how it seems kind of pointless. The first couple of garage doors, you just hold triangle. You don't get to do anything else, so it seems like just a brief little scene to get you through to the next section. This is accomplished by "taking away control" of the player. After all, you can't really do anything. Yet you are interacting with the door. It doesn't happen unless you're holding the button. So it's a bit of both player agency and lack of control simultaneously, which is kind of interesting.
We'll end this section having just gotten away from the soldiers and just about to enter Boston. We've already established that Tess is more optimistic than Joel. Here further proves it. While Joel is agitated at this whole thing, feeling like this is all just more nonsense from the Fireflies (again, they don't spill what exactly has happened in the past twenty years, they give us some idea), Tess is beginning to transition from this being just a job to being more of a moral mission. "What if it's true?" she asks. Suddenly, she's starting to think that this isn't about them anymore.
Joel is still reluctant, even though it's clear that Tess already has her mind made up to go on. It concludes with Tess looking back at Ellie, then simply saying, "I get it." This makes it pretty clear that she knows about Sarah, indicating that they have a pretty meaningful relationship. (Joel will not offer that information easily to Ellie.) It's the first hint we get that twenty years later, Joel is still thinking about everything that happened with his daughter.
And that reluctant sigh is a perfect way to conclude that.
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