Optional conversations are side conversations that the player can choose to either participate in or ignore in The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. Although they do not impact the plot of the game, engaging in every conversation in The Last of Us yields the I Want to Talk About It trophy.
List of optional conversations[]
Below are a list of optional conversations, their contents, and where to activate them in The Last of Us.
- The Quarantine Zone (20 Years Later) - Between a man and a woman near the Area 5 gate. They mention how a woman they know has been "taken" probably by the military, suspected of being a Firefly. They worry about talking about the Fireflies, as people might hear them.
- The Quarantine Zone (20 Years Later) - A couple of guys near a building will be annoyed with Joel if he walks too close to them. One will get angry, but the other recognizes Joel and tells the other to be quiet.
- The Quarantine Zone (Beyond the Wall) - Tess, just after emerging from the tunnel. Joel notes that he hasn't been outside the Zone for a while, Tess says it's like a date, Joel jokes he is the romantic type, and Tess agrees that he has his ways.
- The Quarantine Zone (Beyond the Wall) - Dead body in the tunnel. On the source of the spores, Joel remarks "There's our culprit". Tess reminds him that they'd "better keep our eyes and ears open."
- The Quarantine Zone (The Cargo) - Dead bodies after killing the first soldiers. Marlene finds that her friend Warren has been killed, along with two more Fireflies.
- The Outskirts (Outside) - Tess at the start of the chapter. Joel asks if Tess thinks it's strange that the Fireflies are getting them to do their smuggling, Tess knows the Fireflies are desperate. Joel hopes someone will be around to pay them.
- The Outskirts (Downtown) - Dead soldier upon entering the Goldstone building. Tess notes he has been "ripped apart" and died recently. Ellie asks if that's bad, Tess says it might be and that they shouldn't stick around.
- The Outskirts (Museum) - Tess, after the fight with the runners. Joel asks Tess how she is holding up, she tells him she is fine, "just a bit winded." (but she was actually bitten at this time)
- The Outskirts (Museum) - Ellie, after talking to Tess. Joel asks Ellie if she is okay, Ellie asks "define okay" Joel asks if she's still breathing, Ellie asks if small, panicked breaths count, and Joel says they do.
- Bill's Town (Woods) - Ellie at the arcade machine in a building. Ellie looks at the machine in awe and Joel asks if she has played it before. Ellie tells him she hasn't but she had a friend who knew all about The Turning, and Ellie wishes she could play it.
- Bill's Town (Safehouse) - Chess board in Bill's safehouse. Joel looks at the chess board, Ellie asks if he can play it, and Joel tells her he can, but not well, Ellie tells him that she always wanted to learn and goes to touch a piece when Bill shouts at her not to touch it and calls her "Bobby Fischer," a famous chess champion.
- Bill's Town (Graveyard) - Ellie, upstairs in the house with the large, dry pool. Ellie tells Joel she's sorry about Tess, Joel says she doesn't need to worry about him.
- Bill's Town (High School Escape) - Ellie, in the car at Frank's. Joel lets Ellie know she's doing a good job, Ellie promises she won't let him down with this.
- Bill's Town (High School Escape) - Bill, after giving him Frank's note by the car. Bill reads the note and crumples it up.
- Pittsburgh (Alone and Forsaken) - Ellie, inside the garage. Ellie looks at a pile of shoes and clothes, Joel curses the hunters and tells her it could have been them.
- Pittsburgh (Alone and Forsaken) - Ellie, at a car just past the bus with the comic. Ellie asks if the hunters killed the people, but Joel bets it was the military, Ellie wonders why the military would kill their own people, Joel tells her they reasoned "you sacrifice the few to save the many." They agree that this is "kinda shitty."
- Pittsburgh (Alone and Forsaken) - Ellie, just before jumping over the bus. Ellie decides it's time to lighten the mood with a few puns. (She reads from this book later in at least two other scenes.)
- Pittsburgh (Alone and Forsaken) - Ellie, at the "Give us our rations" graffiti, after jumping over the bus. Ellie asks "Why wouldn't they give them their food?" Joel explains that they sometimes ran out, but mostly the soldiers held onto it for themselves. Ellie never knew this happened in Boston, too.
- Pittsburgh (Alone and Forsaken) - Ellie, upstairs in the library if the player kills every hunter in the area. Ellie gets out her book of puns again. Gems include "I used to be addicted to soap, but I'm clean now" and more. (This is the second time the book is read from.)
- Pittsburgh (Hotel Lobby) - Ellie, looking at a poster of a woman before Joel heads towards the hotel. Ellie comments on the model being skinny; she is confused because she thought there was plenty of food in Joel's time. When he tells her that some people chose not to eat it "for looks," she thinks that's stupid.
- Pittsburgh (Hotel Lobby) - Ellie, hang around the back area before heading towards the hotel. Ellie will get out her joke book once again. This one can be awkward to trigger and easy to miss.
- Pittsburgh (Hotel Lobby) - Coffee machine on the left side of the hotel lobby. Joel misses coffee a lot.
- Pittsburgh (Hotel Lobby) - Ellie, in the hotel lobby just after climbing the ladder. Ellie lightens the mood with her trusty book of puns.
- Pittsburgh (Hotel Lobby) - Ellie, bathtub in the hotel suites. Ellie sees that the people in the tub killed themselves and calls it the "easy way out." Joel tells her that it was better than letting a clicker or hunter get them and that it is not easy.
- Pittsburgh (Hotel Lobby) - Ellie, Hawaii photo backdrop. Joel tells Ellie that it is a backdrop for taking pictures in front of, but Ellie defensively tells him she already knows.
- Pittsburgh (Hotel Lobby) - Ellie, Hawaii backdrop again. Joel asks Ellie if there is something on her mind, she tells him she wasn't trying to disobey him, she was just worried about him.
- Pittsburgh (Hotel Lobby) - Ellie, in front of the backdrop again. Joel tells Ellie that it doesn't matter what she thought, he needs her to listen to him.
- Pittsburgh (Financial District) - Ellie, by the dead body hanging from a tree. Ellie is shocked at the harsh punishment for the thief, but Joel doesn't see much difference from what the military does in Boston.
- Pittsburgh (Financial District) - Ellie, under "Death or freedom" graffiti. Ellie sees that the soldiers have been killed and why the Zone fell. Joel says every battle has a losing side. Ellie wonders if they had families, Joel tells her that everyone has a family but it's best not to dwell on it. Ellie asks "how can you not?"
- Pittsburgh (Financial District) - Ellie, in front of the military preparatory school. Ellie tells Joel she stayed in a school like that in the Boston QZ. Ellie wonders what happened to the kids there; Joel reminds her that they aren't kids anymore. Ellie supposes they are either dead or became the hunters that are trying to kill them, and Joel adds "or they got away." Ellie doesn't think even he believes that.
- Pittsburgh (Financial District) - Ellie, under the Dawn of the Wolf poster. Ellie asks Joel about the movie; he tells her it's a "dumb teen movie." When she asks who dragged him to see it, he just says that he doesn't know.
- The Suburbs (Suburbs) - Henry, outside a house that has "Will shoot on sight" painted on it. Henry asks Joel if he remembers how people barricaded themselves in their homes shortly after the outbreak; Joel tells him he does and that when supplies started running low, you see what people are really capable of.
- The Suburbs (Suburbs) - Ellie, by an ice cream truck. Ellie asks what the truck is, Sam tells her it's an ice cream truck that Henry told him about. Ellie doesn't believe him and asks Joel, who describes kids running up to it to buy ice cream; she still barely believes him.
- The Suburbs (Suburbs) - Ellie, by the edge of the area near the Firefly graffiti. She reads from the pun book for a fifth time and Sam says they're stupid, but then says one of his own.
- The Suburbs (Suburbs) - In one of the houses, Ellie and Sam are throwing darts. After watching the scene, Joel can approach the stool. Pressing triangle allows him to throw a dart and Henry talks about the kids.
- Bus Depot (Highway Exit) -
- Bus Depot (Highway Exit) -
- Bus Depot (Highway Exit) -
- Bus Depot (Highway Exit) -
- Bus Depot (Highway Exit) -
Notes[]
Note that you need to engage in conversations 32, 33, and 34 in order to get Ellie to read her jokes for the fifth and final time, and ultimately receive the That's All I Got trophy.