!!SPOILERS!! The Last of Us Part 2 SPOILER thread of !!SPOILERS!!

[Aftrunner]

2 hours ago, STICK3Rboy said:

Also, those moments where you're choking Ellie as Abby or stabbing/drowning Abby as Ellie were harrowing. You really don't want to do it but the game makes you do it anyway. f**king brilliant!

 

Mechanically the final fight of Abby and Ellie was such an awful bit of gameplay.

 

But thematically it is absolutely f**king brilliant. The constant motif of the game was Revenge is a vicious unending cycle. And the final scene fits in very nicely with that theme. The story started with a person out for revenge murdering a parent infront of a child for that revenge. It ends with a person out for revenge about to murder a parent infront of their child for that revenge. I think Ellie realizes that just at the cliffs edge and breaks that cycle. But it costs her everything to understand that.  

 

Abby on the other hand understood it much earlier from her experience. Which is why she lets Ellie live midway through. 

 

Like I said previously. Some really good f**king writing in this one. 

[Aloy]

Completed the game yesterday but I can't seem to get it out of my head. This game affected me so much that I had to uninstall the 75+GB game from my PS4 (Digital download so yeah..). 

 

Don't really know where to start. That shotgun to Joel's leg still hurts. I still remember my reaction to that scene, I shouted so loud "madarchod". The game was able to invoke emotions in me which have never been touched by any other form of entertainment media, whether that be books, movies, music or games. This was probably due to my attachment to the characters 'cause of the wonderfully crafted TLoU part 1. 

 

I understand what Neil wanted from Joel's death. He was able to invoke the reactions he wanted from the players. I still remember the anger and pain when Abby swung the final shot of the fooking golf stick at Joel but as a fan of his character I think he was used just as a prop to tell a bigger, more complex story. This is not necessarily wrong but I can see how some people would hate the game for this point. Personally, it was tough to get over but now I see it.

 

As for Abby, I initially hated the first day as her. My hatred for her was so strong at that moment, it was basically physically revolting for me to continue as her. I even joked the idea of leaving the game but I pushed on for Ellie. The game does a wonderful job of making the player connect with Abby. I think it was intentional that Abby's part was more enjoyable in terms of setpieces and emotional moments than Ellie's, 'cause the point was to make the player sympathize with Abby. It didn't grasp me tightly at first but by the end I was somewhat able to accept Abby's point of view.

 

The ending....oh man I wanted Abby to be killed so much but after sleeping on it and thinking about it so much I guess Ellie did the right thing.Abby had already lost everything by that point so making life of yet another person (Lev) miserable was inhumane after everything both had been through. The thing is, it hurts to watch Ellie's state at the end. She lost her father, her lover, her hope for a normal life, even the goddamn guitar skills in the quest for revenge which she couldn't get in the end. I know I know she did the right thing but the game could have ended on a bit lighter tone, like Ellie waking towards Jackson and meeting with Dina, or perhaps finding the fireflies and "making a difference". This game is just too gaddamn depressing.

 

My final opinion is that this game is going to be remembered as a classic and pivotal point in game storytelling a few years from now on. I can't really compare TLou1 and 2.  They feel so different and yet so same. It's impossible for me to rank one game over the other. 

 

Sorry for the rambling. I'm not great at putting my thoughts on the table but I wanted to let the steam out.

 

 

 

[Mr.Copyright©]

 

After reading the article, it seems like lot of people presumably, has missed that the Main Menu screen post-credits, it’s actually the Catalina Casino, thus, Abby and Lev reached Santa Calina with the Fireflies.

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2020/06/30/the-last-of-us-part-ii-post-credits-scene/

[STICK3Rboy]

16 hours ago, Snake said:

The need for revenge made her lose everything.

 

Tommy, Dina, JJ, Jesse, and everyone back in Jackson and her ability to play the guitar.

 

Yup. Which is why I prefer the current ending with Ellie getting at least some redemption for her character.

 

15 hours ago, Aftrunner said:

But thematically it is absolutely f**king brilliant. The constant motif of the game was Revenge is a vicious unending cycle. And the final scene fits in very nicely with that theme. The story started with a person out for revenge murdering a parent infront of a child for that revenge. It ends with a person out for revenge about to murder a parent infront of their child for that revenge. I think Ellie realizes that just at the cliffs edge and breaks that cycle. But it costs her everything to understand that.  

 

Yeah, I think Joel's memory also played a part in pulling her out with the fact that she was unable to forgive him until it was too late. So she decides to take the path of forgiveness in the end.

And yeah, the writing is f**king excellent.

[STICK3Rboy]

 

This is really good.

[Snake]

53 minutes ago, STICK3Rboy said:

 

This is really good.

Couldn't have said it better

[pArth]

56 minutes ago, STICK3Rboy said:

 

This is really good.

Came here to post this.

I like the story even more after watching this video.

[Aftrunner]

Here is a far more detailed critique of the story, themes and gameplay. 

 

 

If you have a couple of hours to spare, I cannot recommend this (and Noah's channel) enough. 

 

[STICK3Rboy]

 

[STICK3Rboy]

Quite pleased with how this one turned out.

Photo mode pic edited on instagram and lens distortions app.

 

[Snake]

Ellie channeling her inner John Mclane

[STICK3Rboy]

17 hours ago, Snake said:

Ellie channeling her inner John Mclane

 

That's what I was reminded of too.

The outfit was already pretty badass. But once it got covered in blood, it was hard not to think of Die Hard.

[KnackChap]

Loved it. The game does what it sets out to be. Felt sad , wanted revenge, felt miserable while playing as Abby etc etc but where it really got me is when it looked like the game will end at the farmhouse chapter with dina and baby and yet I wanted revenge but 2 hours later when you finally get to meet and fight her again i didn't mind letting her go. The cycle of violence is broken not only just in the game but also in the player's playing it. Even if a few playing it fell the same way, I think they achieved what they set out too. And that guitar scene at the end, I thought I was strumming the ds4 touchpad incorrectly only to realise what the game was trying to do. 

 

Gameplay wise too I think this is the strongest ND game yet. Abby's chapter imo is much better than Ellie's and has some phenomenal sequences like the sniper, hotel descent, hospital etc. Huge props to ND's level and assest designers, every single section or even encounter has multiple ways to approach even if they all later coverage and flush you into a single path. While it is all smoke and mirrors, no other game gives you this illusion of freedom unless they go full open world.every single room, every single encounter, every building etc feels different. These guys truly are wizards. 

 

As for the characters, I really didn't like Ellie's character arc in this game. From being pissed off on Joel to being in  revenge mode & then feeling jealous when Jesse meets dina. She looks like the confused teenager who doesn't know what she wants. Her issue with Joel is also something I fail to understand. You're the one who came close to him in the first part and when he started caring again you expect him to let you die. Loved the scene where he flatly says to her that if he gets that chance to go through it again, he would save her again. Dina, I didn't like her either. Jesse, Tommy were ok. 

 

Abby on the other hand will grow on you by the time the game ends. This part also has much more likable characters like lev, yara, Owen etc. Her charcter also shows no regret for what she did. Would have been easy for ND to ease it out and gain fake sympathy for the character but they avoid it. 

 

And finally Joel, Troy Baker puts in an incredible performance everytime he appears on screen. You can feel the pain in him in his scenes with Ellie or the lighter moments he shares with her in the zoo. His whole death scene and the scene which follows is also so well done.  Goodbye friend you'll be missed. 

 

 

Tbh I would've preferred if they had bumped off Ellie and had Joel go on the path of revenge, this would have felt even more personal for us as we had played as Joel for the majority in the first game. 

 

 

 

 

[PhantomShade]

13 minutes ago, KnackChap said:

Loved it. The game does what it sets out to be. Felt sad , wanted revenge, felt miserable while playing as Abby etc etc but where it really got me is when it looked like the game will end at the farmhouse chapter with dina and baby and yet I wanted revenge but 2 hours later when you finally get to meet and fight her again i didn't mind letting her go. The cycle of violence is broken not only just in the game but also in the player's playing it. Even if a few playing it fell the same way, I think they achieved what they set out too. And that guitar scene at the end, I thought I was strumming the ds4 touchpad incorrectly only to realise what the game was trying to do. 

 

Gameplay wise too I think this is the strongest ND game yet. Abby's chapter imo is much better than Ellie's and has some phenomenal sequences like the sniper, hotel descent, hospital etc. Huge props to ND's level and assest designers, every single section or even encounter has multiple ways to approach even if they all later coverage and flush you into a single path. While it is all smoke and mirrors, no other game gives you this illusion of freedom unless they go full open world.every single room, every single encounter, every building etc feels different. These guys truly are wizards. 

 

As for the characters, I really didn't like Ellie's character arc in this game. From being pissed off on Joel to being in  revenge mode & then feeling jealous when Jesse meets dina. She looks like the confused teenager who doesn't know what she wants. Her issue with Joel is also something I fail to understand. You're the one who came close to him in the first part and when he started caring again you expect him to let you die. Loved the scene where he flatly says to her that if he gets that chance to go through it again, he would save her again. Dina, I didn't like her either. Jesse, Tommy were ok. 

 

Abby on the other hand will grow on you by the time the game ends. This part also has much more likable characters like lev, yara, Owen etc. Her charcter also shows no regret for what she did. Would have been easy for ND to ease it out and gain fake sympathy for the character but they avoid it. 

 

And finally Joel, Troy Baker puts in an incredible performance everytime he appears on screen. You can feel the pain in him in his scenes with Ellie or the lighter moments he shares with her in the zoo. His whole death scene and the scene which follows is also so well done.  Goodbye friend you'll be missed. 

 

 

Tbh I would've preferred if they had bumped off Ellie and had Joel go on the path of revenge, this would have felt even more personal for us as we had played as Joel for the majority in the first game. 

 

 

 

 

 

No lesbian gay & female main character points then

 

Also no sequel with Ellie-Abby, why do you think they let her live and have you play half the campaign as her  ?

[STICK3Rboy]

46 minutes ago, KnackChap said:

As for the characters, I really didn't like Ellie's character arc in this game. From being pissed off on Joel to being in  revenge mode & then feeling jealous when Jesse meets dina. She looks like the confused teenager who doesn't know what she wants. Her issue with Joel is also something I fail to understand. You're the one who came close to him in the first part and when he started caring again you expect him to let you die.

 

Seems like you're just not looking at it from Ellie's point of view.

If someone had been constantly lying to me about something that really mattered to me, even I'd be f**king pissed. Add to the fact that that thing happens to be something that is unique to her and has the potential to save the whole f**king world. It's like a super-hero having a super power and not being able to do anything with it. When you have something like that, you want it to matter and to have some purpose. Heck, people even without superpowers want their life to matter and have purpose in some way. Joel snatched that away from her.

 

Now, most of the deaths that have been happening in the world are on her and on Joel. This is shown in that Hotel segment in one of the flashbacks where they find that dead couple. That feeling of guilt keeps adding up. At least Joel got to make that choice for himself where as Ellie had that choice taken away from her. Not saying that Joel was wrong in what he did. That is why these characters are as good as they are. Conflict has been created without having the characters stray away from what makes them true to themselves. 

Joel had his reasons for what he did as Ellie herself comes to understand but forgiving someone can still be hard. That's her whole arc.

 

Also, why do you find it strange for her to be pissed off on Joel and then directly going into revenge mode? It's pretty clear that she still cares about him. People can and do get pissed off on family members and still care about them.

And she behaves like a confused teenager because she is a confused teenager.

 

1 hour ago, KnackChap said:

Tbh I would've preferred if they had bumped off Ellie and had Joel go on the path of revenge, this would have felt even more personal for us as we had played as Joel for the majority in the first game. 

 

As much as I like Joel, I'm glad they didn't do that. If they had, this game would probably have felt like an entirely separate chapter, just with the same characters.

Now because the plot of this game and also Ellie's whole character arc take off from the implications of what was done in the first game (in perhaps the best way possible, I might add), both parts feel like a whole. 

 

[KnackChap]

I understand her reasoning but personally as a father of a baby girl IRL I cannot look at it from any other pov. Nothing matters more, not even the whole world. 

 

1 hour ago, PhantomShade said:

 

No lesbian gay & female main character points then

 

Also no sequel with Ellie-Abby, why do you think they let her live and have you play half the campaign as her  ?

 

Only way their stories are interconnecting again is if the fireflies still want to make that cure and send Abby to get her. Otherwise her (Ellie) story is over. 

[VelivolusDas]

Finished it today. Superlative writing and narrative. Excellent.

 

All my thoughts are pretty much covered by multiple posts in the last page or two, so I won't ramble on for too long, but I absolutely loved the game, especially the ending.

 

Ellie almost going through with killing Abby and just at the right moment, she gains control (after that split-second vision of Joel) and breaks that cycle of violence. Somehow, it just reminded me of "An eye for an eye, will make the whole world blind." The sooner you realise this quote, you simply become "okay" with not getting that revenge.

 

Also, I love the fact in the writing that none of the characters are perfect. Everyone has certain flaws, a certain past, certain things they've done that they're not proud of. It's what makes them so true and believable.

 

I had not seen a single spoiler at all and Joel's death was very difficult to take in. It just shook me emotionally. I was weeping like a little child and I just had to speak to someone for sometime. I called my wife (coz she was at work that day) immediately and spoke to her for a while to calm down (nothing about the game). It was a harrowing experience.

 

If a game makes you feel certain emotions (sadness with Joel's death, anger when you start controlling Abby, compassion for Abby when you find her background/story) by the narrative and that's all intended, that is peak writing, IMO.

 

Masterpiece in storytelling. Druckmann and team.

 

Pretty sure there'll be a DLC and eventually a sequel, both of which I'm looking forward to exploring.

[Snake]

Warning: Lots of anti semtic, racist, homophobic tweets

 

 

[VelivolusDas]

7 hours ago, Snake said:

Warning: Lots of anti semtic, racist, homophobic tweets

 

It's just so sad to see those messages. Those people really need help.

[KnackChap]

A few of them still think Abby is a trans. It's one thing to believe them pre release but even now after the game is out.