I now Understand The Last of Us Part Two
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- čas přidán 14. 05. 2024
- Being new to The Last of Us Franchise, playing the first game last year and loving it to death, I played the 2nd entry as you do.
However I knew much of the what the story was about and controversy when it first released back in 2020, so I decided to stay wary.
But my god was I impressed, the graphics are amazing, the story is so emotional and heavy, the performances, the gameplay,
but when you mix these together something is not quite right...
Its the perspectives, which are both the games greatest strength but also its greatest flaw.
0:00 - Intro
3:00 - Perspective
11:00 - Final Thoughts
#comporio #thelastofus #thelastofuspart2 #gaming #ps5 #sony #sonyplaystation #playstation #thelastofusremasteredps5 #lastofusreview #bestgameplay #joel #ellie #abby #tlou #tlou2 - Zábava
One of the games of all time
one of the comments of all time
I really wish it wasn’t
This game sucks from the story to the character development lol
@@emjay834fr
@emjay834 Don't forget the outdated game play mechanics. Also sucked.
This game has the most realistic rope physics I’ve ever seen.
I wanted more, why, why was the rope thing not a bigger part of the gameplay, imagine you could just throw up a grapple hook and climb a couple levels of a building.
@@Comporiofuck the Tommy dlc everyone wants, I want a rope dlc please naughty dog 🙏
@@lil_cunnithey could do some kind of orange box portal like add on but with rope
You can tell a game is really bad when you have to complement the rope physics.
@@CrazyEight-art so bad you like to watch videos about it and give attention to it 🤣
The fact that people STILL misinterpret the story when the opening line of the song that Joel sings to Ellie in the opening details the main thematic throughline of the narrative baffles me
"If I ever were to lose you, I'd surely lose myself"
Just because you interpret it correctly, doesn't mean it is a good execution of a story. Or a good story for that matter.
@@gabrielchavarria22 I think it was a great story
@@gabrielchavarria22 I thought the story was great
@@bugrasevinc9696same bro i rlly don’t understand the hate
@gabrielchavarria22 exactly. The fact that people still misinterpret the story completely wrong confuses me because it's just game about revenge except that rings hollow once you completed the whole thing. People try too hard to explain in such detail yet it doesn't make it any better.
I love how The Last of Us pt 1 shows us what love can do to someone 😊 and The Last of Us pt 2 shows us what love can do to someone 😢
for a second i thought you were saying love/hate but how you said it works too
Yeah, pretty much.
LOL
Underrated comment here ❤
Easily one of the most traumatic games I have ever played, the whole ending from Ellie’s Farm to the final showdown with Abbie is just pure emotion and catharsis.
Goddamn that last edit with Ellie playing the guitar hits hard.
She lost him, and in her vengeance she lost herself :'(
True. Hits even harder at the end though when she’s in the house alone and can’t even play the guitar anymore because she lost her freaking fingers! Ugh. I never liked being punched in the stomach so much
i love the take on me guitar scene cause its like ellie is literally telling dina and us what will happen. in a day or two, shes gone, shes lost herself in her quest for vengeance
She almost lost herself, she would have done it if she killed Abby, but she ended up losing a lot along the way, she herself was all she had left
For me the hardest part was Ellie pushing herself to the point of losing her digits. The people I've lost live on through me by the lessons they've thought me and they skills they've shown me. You always carry a connection to them this way. Seeing Ellie lose her ability to play the guitar was like she lost him all over again.
I'm sure she'll adapt and learn to play guitar with her new limits and heal through music(loads of people can), but the games ending made it feel like thats still a long way to go, to be able to think about joel again and smile first. Thats when she will be able to play it again, sans digits and all.
Expect she only lost her finger because she hesitated to kill 💀
Last of us 2 was supposed to make you hate it but then make you realize that wow this game is a masterpiece
it's not a masterpiece, but neither is a complete trash can, the story had potential to be something great, but due to the pacing, some of the narrative choices, the deaths of certain characters, and the ending, it maded the game some kind of mess.
@@Agus_Black_716.I guess it’s all about perspective. It’s honestly one of the best story games I’ve ever played. I have never played a game that made me feel the way I did while playing. It’s definitely a masterpiece in my eyes and many others.
@@Agus_Black_716.Just like humanity and real life is! That’s at least what I loved about it, at least.
@@Agus_Black_716.omg a balanced perspective on a controversial piece of media??? Kudos to you sir ❤
@@Agus_Black_716.I respect your opinion.
In the first game, when Ellie gives him the picture of him and Sara, Joel says, “Well, no matter how hard you try, you can’t escape your past.”
Exactly! His past caught up with him. Joel had done many bad things to innocent people, in the name of surviving. He admitted to Ellie he was a former hunter in the first game. He’s always known that someday, someone might come for him. He could get caught with his guard down. He could walk into a trap. Living in Jackson could make him soft. And then it finally did happen: a large group of ex-Fireflies from Salt Lake City went for him, wanting to avenge their friends and family massacred there by Joel. They knew his name and his ex-Firefly brother. He didn’t push for the answer to “who are you”, because it could have been so many groups or individuals he’s hurt in the past, that he didn’t care.
Joel remained true to his character. He remained defiant and wasn’t going to give his executioners the satisfaction of begging for his life or “please tell me who you are” or “what did I do to deserve this”. Instead, he sneered and said “Then get whatever speech you’ve rehearsed and get this over with.”
Haters of this game who said “Neil Cuckman did him dirty, Joel would never give up his name freely” didn’t study hard enough in school or read enough classic literature in high school. They’ve never studied the tragedy genre. They simply can’t fathom how their beloved Joel could make a human mistake at the end. They’ll prove me right when they reply to this comment and start arguing “how dArE you cALL mE sTuPiD”.
And they’re naive to think it was solely Neil: ignoring all the other writers or even VA’s who helped shape this masterpiece of a story. It’s hilarious to see them focus all their hate on just one person.
@@rieyuki 💯
Well said
@@rieyukisomeone cooked here
Joel basically got a massive life shock after Sarah's death but he went on and on moving and never stopping permanently somewhere which made him kinda "forget" what had happen years back. Since he settled in jackson tho its like he got into a routine which he had a job and plenty of time to relax and think. Too much thinking about his past broke him so much that you can see his sadness in part 2 and how lonely he is. Guy is litteraly holding on by a string. He is broken af. At least that's how i see it comparing tlou1 and part 2
@@greekproductions4198 Joel had time for hobbies in Jackson! Hardly a broken man at that point. Very much rebuilding his psyche after SLC.
Graphically it is still the best looking game of all time.
Not when it couldn’t run at native 4K
Thats a stretch there dandyfan.
Looks great. Yes. But clearly is a PS4 era title.
Lots of games have objectively better graphics, and art style which doesn't just aim for gritty realism.
Huh? Excuse me ?? You haven't seen ANYTHİNG okay go explore more
Name a better looking game@@turanbirligi6969
@@phant0mdummyname a game with better looking graphics
This game has more emotional layers than any media I have ever consumed. Loved every second, and couldn't stop thinking about it when it was over. I know it's subjective, but to me, it is perfect.
that’s exactly why i love this game and world as a whole so damn much. i can never stop exploring the themes, messages, perspectives and overall layers of it all in my head
@@random_internaut exactly, it's been almost four fucking years and we're still here
I completely agree. I just can’t believe the emotional roller coaster this game brought me on, I didn’t know a video game could do that to me. I’ve never experienced any media that made me feel as deeply as this game, my heart aches every time I think about the first time I played it. Truly a masterpiece, in the most tragic yet beautiful ways possible.
Best game ever made❤
I’m with you brother
It’s brutal and I loved it.
@KarlRock loves LoU2 👀
Ellie and Abbie were in a perpetual circle of revenge. Abby killed joel, ellie killed everyone abby care for. Ultimately abby realized it wasnt worth it anymore and tried to walk away. Ellie couldnt let go of the hurt of losing joel. Ultimately that hatred cost ellie the family she was building. Its a rough story and one that took me a bit to fully understand.
I haven't played the game nor do I know what exactly happened in the middle of it, but wouldn't Abby die if Ellie didn't come for her? Like it's a good thing Ellie came to untie Abby and Lev?
Not to mention by the end her revenge cost her another connection to Joel, her fingers which affects how she can play the guitar. Ellie really loses everything.
@@GoldenLeafsMovies yeah, it's a "good thing for the wrong reasons" scenario I think. Ellie looks for Abby to kill her but, although she tries, ends up saving her.
It wasn't hatred or revenge, it was just bad writing to have Ellie consistently forget she has a gun in cutscenes.
@@crazyinsane500 Ellie wanted a rematch so she forced Abby to fight.
Actually, the real reason why Ellie spared Abby was because Abby still owed her a pizza
Dunkey Reference 😝
Playing this remaster recently, hits hard when you realize the opening of the game, the last time we play as Joel is literally him riding off into the sunset.
Never thought of it like that…….damn
seriously one of the greatest games ever created. nobody can tell me otherwise, it hurts so good.
Preach!
I like how visceral it is, it really puts you in the shoes of a survivor in this terrible world. The gameplay, the tension, the gore. That's why I prefer Tlou 2 over tlou1
I agree. This was one hell of a game and compares to nothing I've played in the past 20 years storywise. Just brilliant. Can't wait to see how they'll adapt it for the show.
Nah that’s reaching
easily the worst story of any game ever made
I like your take on it but I disagree with Joel getting some time to shine before his death. I believe that the shock of it is what makes you hate Abby just as much as Ellie did. As the game progressed your own emotional connections to each character changes to the point where you understand Abby's perspective and why she did it. In the end you just want the revenge killing to stop. I think that was the intent of the writers.
Fucking facts. It's ridiculous how many people I think miss the point on why the writers chose to kill Joel off early, whether or not they like it. There's multiple reasons, but the biggest was directly tying the audience's emotions to Ellie's grief. Ellie's chance to forgive Joel and let him back into her life was ripped from her by Abby and that drives much of her hate. So as the audience, having him die early on before we really get to spend time with him leaves us feeling robbed of that experience as well. We empathize with Ellie during this section of the story as the audience and Ellie both grieve for Joel much in the same way. But like you said, later on in the game we drift apart from Ellie, which is such a cool concept
@@UncleFiggy This is the reason why I consider it a masterpiece. They took your emotional investments and made you question their validity.
That's exactly how I felt. I love this game but oh boy, it broke me.
@@UncleFiggyyou mean the way they assassinated Joel’s character and made him r3tart3d
@@turtlebot323 Sick of this criticism... You really don't understand character arcs if you think he should have been the same paranoid and standoffish Joel we saw in Pittsburgh 4 years earlier.
Joel has once again let love into his life following Part 1, he's a changed man. Somehow you seemed to have missed that even with him singing right in front of our faces, (from the very beginning showing a side of him we've never seen before). Joel is no longer the untrusting, walled off, husk of a man who is always assuming the worst of people that we had been introduced to. Ellie's childhood innocence had changed that within him during the events of Part 1.
Now accounting for that, if you also read some of the notes you'd realize that Joel had been spending much of his time in Jackson patrolling the borders. Him and the other patrollers would run into survivors on the regular and help integrate them into Jackson's society without issue. After helping people for so long, Joel seemed to have let his guard down.
So after surviving a near death experience with Abby and her friends, and seeing them in need of help, he introduced himself, as he would do at this point in his arc. This incidental slip up cost him his life.
In the world of The Last of Us, no one is safe.
I've never before fight a final boss where I felt so much like i didn't want EITHER of them to win.
Like, "You guys! Please just stop!!" 😭
Just being asked to press buttons feels like too much at that point.
Fr when I first got into that fight I didn't do anything at all. And Abby killed me. It was a "I guess we're doing this then" moment 😆
“A story in which its central message seems more relevant now than ever.” So true!!!
Wait 4 years? Fucking what? The whole drama that surrounded this game with the leaks and controversy still feels fresh in my mind that it makes it feel like it just came out last year or something
fr, probably cause it was released during the pandemic, it doesn't feel like 4 years ago at all
i will NEVER forget scrolling through twitter and seeing one of my mutuals post "GET OFF TWITTER THE LAST OF US 2 LEAKED"
i click on the post, scroll down to see joels brutally battered body.. and seeing the moron who posted saying that his death happens 2 hours into the game and you gotta play as his murderer.. felt like my heart stopped for a couple minutes LOL. i couldn't believe it.
That conflict you feel playing is a feature, not a bug. It's THE feature. My personal favorite game of its generation.
Fuck yes!
Why are all of the overly brutal death scenes in the operating room so funny?! The flame thrower almost made me spit my coffee out.
I think you pretty much nailed it for the most part, but I'd add a couple of bits to the part about why Ellie lets Abby go at the end.
1. The last thing Ellie says to Joel in that scene she flashes back to is "I don't know if I can forgive you, but I'd like to try". At that last good moment with Joel, she was a person willing to forgive. The entire narrative of her side of the game is her working through her grief at having been denied that opportunity to arrive at the point where she can be that person again.
2. That scene is a nearly exact parallel to the end of her first confrontation with Abby. After Abby wins that fight, she threatens a now helpless Dina, after which she certainly would have killed Ellie, but Lev gives her that look of horror, she relents and spares them, a symbolic act of forgiveness. Ellie threatens a helpless Lev as a prelude to attempting to kill Abby, then relents at the last moment, a symbolic act of forgiveness, or at least a first step in that direction.
3. Ellie isn't aware of this, or at least not consciously aware of it because she doesn't hear anything after the moment of Joel's death, but that is the second time Abby spared her. Some of the others want to kill Ellie and Tommy, and Abby is against this. She wasn't out solely for revenge; she wanted what she saw as justice. Killing the man who killed her father, her friends, and the friends and families of her current group of allies is, seen through their eyes (and I happen to agree with them), justice. Killing Tommy, who they know is Joel's brother, and Ellie, whom they may or may not know is the girl he killed for, was outside of Abby's plan. Killing witnesses to keep them from talking isn't justice, it's just murder. This is what the flashback to Joel's death from Abby's perspective is supposed to show us. It was revenge, but it was also (from the POV of the surviving Fireflies) justice.
Take all this together, and you have Abby as a person who could have killed Ellie, but spared her, twice. The flashback shows us that Ellie wants to be the kind of person who forgives, even when the harm she feels she's suffered is enormous.
My main gripe with the ending is that I didn't think the boss fight was necessary. I get that it's a nice parallel - Abby wins the first boss fight and spares Ellie, then Ellie wins the second one and spares Abby, with each one having the helpless companion character being threatened and also spared. But I don't think it was necessary. It would have worked better had she had the flashback after threatening Lev, and just let them go without the fight.
I mean, ideally, I'd have had the farm sequence be the end, with Ellie blowing off Tommy and staying with Dina, but I can see that giving Ellie a happy ever after doesn't really fit with the games themes.
I loved this game, went into it blind, and it hit me emotionally exactly as intended. I was heartbroken for Ellie at Joel's death, wanted her to get revenge, then became increasingly disapproving of her actions as she went about it. I wanted her to find and kill Abby. Then when Abby's part of the game was about saving a couple of innocent kids, risking her life and turning against "her people" to do so, I was gradually won over to liking her more and more. When Lev says "You killed your own people" and she tells him, "You're my people", I was fully on board. I was rooting for both Ellie AND Abby to get a good ending by the last part.
YES. YOU GET IT. I was so upset near the end because i didnt want them to fight i didnt want them to have this sad ending and i most definitely didnt expect ellie to go home to nothing and be unable to play the song that she knew joel for. It all crushed me and i felt that was the goal i felt everyone being an abby hater was not seeing it through equal and fair eyes and they were just protecting their view of "joels my favorite hes a badass" . Youre explanation is so on point and i feel so glad to not be the only one that supports abby. I hated seeing ellie have to force abby to fight by threatening to take away abbys last reason to live, lev. It was cruel totally human though. i disagree on the not letting them fight. I think the fight was necessary, taking away from those who wanted abby to die and seeing ellie switch up, and giving to those who believed abby shouldnt have to fight.
I have to say I fully agree with you, except for the final boss fight. I can see what you mean, but for me and what I think naughty dog were trying to get you to feel, was a sense of you not wanting Ellie to kill Abby. I distinctly remember throughout every moment of that fight, as the player, having this intense internal conflict of whether or not I still wanted Abby to die, and then moments before Ellie makes her decision to not kill Abby, I as the player, had the same conclusion.
If I hadn't have been controlling Ellie and forcing the fight to happen to continue the story, I don't think I would've fully known if I really wanted Abby to live or not. If it was instead, as you said, Ellie having a flashback and then letting them go, I think it would've robbed us of that short, emotional journey where we really have to think about what outcome we truly want. If it had been a flashback, to me, it would've felt more like an, "Oh... okay then..." moment. I don't think, as a player, that I would've truly discovered how I felt about whether Abby should die or not unless I had gone through that fight.
Of course, that's the beauty of this game and also what makes it so controversial; we all find different meanings behind different plot points. None of us are right and none of us wrong. I think you're perspective is wonderful, but this is just how I think about this moment specifically.
Much love ❤
This comment is underrated af. You sir, have the emotional and mental intelligence to fully appreciate this game.
Great points. I think in addition to what you said, I think there's something interesting in the parallels between 1 and 2. Like Joel picking up Ellie and saying "I got you" - same as Abby and Lev at the pillars. Ellie, Abby, and Joel all share something in the moment each of them are at their most brutal. They all use a blunt weapon against a helpless adversary as a form of torture. Remember after Joel does the knife interrogation, he kills the second guy with a pipe.
So I think it's interesting that Ellie's first kill (of a non-fungal person) is when Joel is being drowned and strangled in shallow water. It's the same circumstance at the end, except she's the one doing the drowning and this time the kid (Lev) can't help.
HUGE AGREE!!! beautiful explanation@@KBibbler
For me, the moment that hits is Abby having this reoccurring nightmare of finding her father dead, until she saves Lev, and she finds him alive.
Vengeance did not bring her the closer she was seeking. She turned herself into a literally machine, built for one purpose, revenge. She sacrificed her relationship with Owen, and lost herself in the process.
Only to learn that vengeance was never going to bring her the closure she sought.
Self-sacrifice did.
When she says to Lev: "You, are my people", it gets me every single time
Yeah Abby is such a great character. You see her develop during the game. I was so pissed to see who they casted to play her for season 2. A small barbie like type girl lol. The opposite of her
I love Abby and Lev so much. Their relationship is absolutely wonderful.
One counter argument: The player never actually has a choice, and the game never pretends to either.
Everything Ellie does is her choice, the player merely serves as an actor. The weight of things that Ellie does are on her, we just experience her story in a more personal way.
no one is mad about choices. The problem is that the story makes no senses. From Ellie's perspective, she knows practically nothing about Abby, and she basically decides to spare her enemy no reasons.
" and the game never pretends to either." one of the many things why this game is badly written. i dont think this serves as the point u thought it would be if i have to be honest.
@@edward3190 No reasons? Then you did not follow Ellie's story at all. Ellie doesn't spare Abby for Abby. She spares Abby for herself.
She did what Abby couldn't do (and as we find out did actually not help Abby move on at all). Ellie was able to spare Abby and through that, also able to move on.
Abby had nightmares after killing Joel. She had to meet Lev and get away from the WLF to find a purpose in life - a reason to move on. Hell, Abby needed Lev to stop her from killing Dina and Ellie.
That's why, despite everything, Ellie is actually stronger than Abby. She fucked up many times, but in the biggest moment, she was able to let go by herself.
@@X5J2UY Then why did she not spare the other 2000 people for herself? Did she rolled a 2000:1 dice, which just so happen Abby was the lucky one while everyone else need to die?
@@edward3190 What? All the other people tried to kill her just as much as she tried to move past them. And she was in a very different state in that last encounter. Ellie would've killed Abby in the theater if she could.
But in Santa Barbara, she was even starting to question why she was still going after Abby (it's written in her journal). Its very obvious that bu the end, she really just wanted to beat Abby. Ellie was powerless, nailed to the floor when Abby killed Joel and she was beaten handily in theater. Both times Abby spared her from a position of power.
Ellie never got that.
And Abby was her GOAL. Everyone else was just an enemy, just how the NPCs would instantly shoot at you, because you ate their enemy.
And at its core, it remains a video game.
I thought the story was BRILLIANT at making the player FEEL the themes. Especially the theme of how hate is poison. Forcing us to play as Abby, whom we've been wanting to kill for hours, and then showing us her humanity was a great choice. Handing the reins back to Ellie makes it beyond brilliant. Because now we've seen that humanity and it seems like the game is going to force us to kill her or vice versa. The game makes you feel that hate in the beginning, and at the end, you're just exhausted with it and you just want Ellie to go home to Dina. I don't think I've ever played a game that even remotely manipulated my emotions like this one did. I've played things that made me feel a whole lot, but this was a notch above. Not because it made me feel more, but the way it managed the shift in my perspective and how THAT felt. I game exclusively to be immersed in a great story with compelling characters, and because of that, this is my favorite game of all time.
I’m replaying this at the moment. Third play-through since initial launch. I stand by my initial opinion of it being one of the most engaging and impacting stories I’ve ever played through. The time-jumps may not be played out perfectly, but, in light of pacing a 30hr tale it comes across as insanely well executed (pun not/intended).
I get that people were put off. It’s hard to stomach. But, Joel’s death in early game provides the rational for Ellie’s rampage of revenge. And, in turn, helps you align her pain and quest of redemption with that of Abby’s.
I still think it’s an incredible experience now as I did four years ago. (Was it four years ago??)
I’m on my third play through now. It’s very good. I like the game more every time I play it. First time I hated it. Second time I liked it and when I finish I think I’m going to love it. I’m very busy though so it’s hard to find time to play the game.
Goddamn, I didn't realize it's been four years already. In my mind it was just the other day I was playing it. I guess it's just a testament of how good the story is that it has stuck with us throughout all this time that even people are still talking about it.
@@melekimutuanene9430 I still think about it a lot.
I respect everyone's right to their own opinion, but I don't understand how this can be anyone's opinion. The writing in the second game is such a major step down from the first game.
"It’s hard to stomach. But, Joel’s death in early game provides" It's not just hard to stomach, it's complete bullshit. The way Joel goes out is completely disrespectful and not true to the character. Those people are staring death daggers at Joel, and all he does is just stand around there saying "looks like y'all have heard of us or something." Fuck no. Joel and Tommy would have stood back to back with their guns raised. No, they couldn't have fought their way out of there. But they would have tried, that's who they showed us the characters to be. And don't give me the typical BS response of "Jacksonville made them more trustful." Not to the point that they wouldn't be cautious when surrounded by a whole bunch of strangers when away from safety. It's just a complete character assassination.
There's also the major plot convenience at the start of the story. Abby goes off alone. There are multiple patrol teams and multiple patrol routes. She stumbles upon footprints that just happen to be Joel's. The worst part is that if they spent just a few lines changing things, they wouldn't need such plot convenience. Then Abby makes a completely nonsensical choice that also makes no sense for the character. Deciding to let Tommy and Ellie live, despite them being witnesses. They were able to track down Joel and literally nothing but a name. Meanwhile, Abby and Tommy saw their faces, heard their voices, know their names, and have seen their outfits so they know where they are from. And yet Abby isn't worried that they would track her and her friends down with that information? Give me a fucking break.
Then there's the fact that for it to be effective, they have to give us a likeable group of characters for us to invest in, in regards to Abby's friends. But they're all assholes and pieces of shit. Cheaters, naggers, and an 8-month old pregnant woman who thinks it's okay to still go out in the field.
And finally, the game uses one of the worst fucking tropes in action media of all. "I'm on a quest for revenge, on my way there I kill hundreds upon hundreds of people who haven't done me any wrong. And when I reach that one person I want to kill, standing on that giant pile of corpses, I'm not going to kill that one person. Me not killing that one person after those hundreds of people shows I've changed." It's such a shitty trope, and they're all in on it. The worst part is that ND has recognized this ludo-cognitive dissonance in Uncharted with a trophy of that name. But then they don't give a fuck and completely and totally do that in the actual storytelling.
To be fair, Joel and Tommy literally had no other choice than to go with Abby to the cabin given the massive horde behind them. Abby is also around Ellie's age and they were colaborating with one another. Not to mention it's Jackson's policy to recruit more people to their town. One week prior to the start of the game a group of survivors came by and Joel traded with them.
People also forget Joel slept in the same place as Sam and Henry when they met, even though they just tried to kill him and he didn't know them
I strongly disagree. Joel did not just drop his guard around Sam and Henry, he only gained a bit of comfort around them once they had spent enough time together that he allowed them to stay, and even then it would only have been a gesture from them and they would've been dust.
Jackson's policy wasn't Joel's policy. And we don't know, but I'd suspect that Joel only traded with those people after they had been vetted in some manor. Remember, Jackson was initially hostile to Joel and Ellie in the first game. Joel had decades of trauma that caused a certain sensitivity around those he didn't know. That doesn't just go away or subside after living in a community for a few years.
Yet Joel barely meets Abbey, and allows himself to be surrounded by a group of men he doesn't know, without any weapons?? NO WAY! They had to break his character to allow this plot point to occur. Even with the distraction of the horde, the moment Joel saw that group his flight or fight trauma instincts would've kicked in and he would've backed away with Tommy by his side asking questions, even if subtly. Just saying.
@@Thejoshuacarter01 Joel got old and soft, he had 5 years of (relative) peace, there's a saying every 10 years you become a completely different person, even all your cells have been replaced; nuff said.
Dude, you literally uploaded this right after I finished the game, couldn’t have picked a more perfect time to post this
I think you've got it for the most part, I do have a slightly different interpretation of the end though. Up to the point of the fight on the beach, if you're a person with any reasonable sense of empathy, you don't want either of them to kill each other. Elle let's Abby go-- and you're like-- "Thank god! But why?" This is why that last scene with Joel is so important to be placed where they decided to place it because it informs you that her vision of Joel while holding Abby down wasn't a reminder of her hipocracy or that she had to break the cycle and be the bigger person. She had to forgive Joel and in that moment she finally forgives him.
In that last scene you see where she starts in her emotional journey in finding forgiveness for what Joel did and what he did was kill her spirit and her purpose. To forgive Joel for killing her spirit is to accept the choice, whether it being the right one or not, Abby made to kill Joel for killing her father along with her spirit and purpose as well. Forgiveness, to me, and especially in this narritive is to accept that the horrible things people have done and the mistakes they have made cannot be changed and the moment she accepts that and forgives Joel's choice everything else that came along with that needed to be let go, too. Then for the first time, you finally see Elle sit there and let all the emotional pain pour out alone on the beach. It's so incredibly sad, but still oddly hopeful as you get to see she's finally finding her humanity and healing.
i agree, i also think that so much of the reason she gets lost in her quest for vengeance is her survivors guilt shes felt since game 1, which only increases when joel dies. so she hates herself and hates joel for taking away her purpose and hates abby for taking away the chance to forgive joel. in that last fight, she forgives joel and in remembering his love for her, i think she also forgives herself. in seeing herself and joel in abby and having remembered joel in a loving light, she can let that hatred and need for revenge go.
There was nothing to forgive Joel, She was just tired
IF you saw your 'father' get murdered in cold blood, your Uncle was shot in the head, crippled for life and his marriage ruined, your friend was killed, your pregnant wife (who was already terribly sick) was beaten and concussed, you were beaten and had your arm broken, you had to survive a hellish nightmare back to Jackson, you abandoned your wife and baby boy in the zombie wasteland to pursue revenge, travelled 1,000 miles to Santa Barbara (for several weeks), killed many other people along they way, engaged in a battle to the death, and had your fingers bitten off, THEN would you spare your mortal enemy??? DOUBTFUL. IMPROBABLE. UNBELIEVABLE.
The chances would be unbelievably low. Ellie had so much emotional momentum and personal vendetta to outright murder Abby. Joel and Abby had done nothing to help Ellie grow as a person, understand the situations, measure the complexities, and make a decision to forgive, spare or grant mercy to Abby.
Neil Druckmann publicly admitted that LoU2 was a revenge story where Ellie killed Abby for most of the game production. Druckmann flipped the script late in the process. He also publicly revealed that he had heated arguments with John Sweeney, one of the production leads. Why? Because Sweeney told him that the entire game's production was setup for Ellie's revenge and it wouldn't work narratively (given the massive content that was already produced).
Why do people pretend to forget about this
To be honest, I think that Eli not killing Abby gives a lot more of a emotional impact and growth than killing her , by that point it just seems like unnecessary violence to create another person on a revenge quest ( especially considering hoy many people have already died) and honestly I think that sometimes letting go is much more healthy and effective than going through the whole bloodlust killing. Although I wouldn’t have minded if Eli did choose to kill Abby in the end
you’re halfway there, as you said ellie’s whole “revenge” thing is just her coping mechanism of the guilt for taking away a what could’ve been 3 years of memories with joel, and giving him the chance to rekindle too late. as we see on her journal entry, she got guilty when she was happy for a moment with dina and some wild horses
naughty dog showing us the flashback scene where ellie says she’ll give a chance to forgive joel wasn’t shown to make ellie forgive joel (not directly) nor forgive abby thus sparing her but to forgive HERSELF, to allow herself to move on and she did, and she spared abby too, she finally found herself again despite losing her fingers and by extension the ability to play guitar which joel taught her and her mom’s knife
but the moth in the last frame of the game shows that ellie can still move on without those, joel isn’t defined by her finger or a guitar, her mom isn’t her knife, and losing those things doesn’t redefine ellie as a person
OO this is good
Spot on. Have been reverberating this for years since release, sadly it seems few ever give it the chance it deserves.
TLOU2 is probably my favorite game of all time, and I always emphasize to people who have only seen season 1 of the show that the impact of the story comes from playing each perspective. I think your point about it playing more like a movie than a game is interesting. we’re not given any real choice, but the weight of the characters actions weigh just as heavily on us, if not more because we’ve held the controller and felt control of them for the entirety of the game. great video and perspectives!!
Finally someone says it, it's a game about forgiveness. The amount of people who didn't realise this at the time this game released was immense. Now granted, the game's pacing could be better, maybe shortened by a couple of hours at least. About ending, with the new remaster, there's commentary by the actors and Neil Druckmann about the cinematics and they briefly discuss the ending.
True. when I realized that Ellie represented me, Abby this grotesque fanfiction, and Joel the significantly better predecessor? I shed a tear. I chased that psychopathic, plot armored creature across the country to avenge the IP. And when I had my hands around its neck, I saw Druckmann, Bruce Straley, Factions, 2013. No repeated releases of the same title, movies or TV spots. Good writing, better times. Killing Abby-sue won't bring ND back. Go, just take the IP. I forgive you.
It's not about forgiveness, smh. That's just one of it's themes. The game is about revenge and the cycle of violence, and it failed pretty hard at it. Just because a bunch of pretty cutscenes, expressive and emotional characters, and horrific events are present throughout the story doesn't make it good and well written. Ellie's revenge storyline is nonsensical, from her pointless and unacknowledged murder spree all the way to letting Abby go after all that. (Fun fact: 60% of the development time Ellie did kill Abby, but they changed it mid-development, and yall would have ate that up too.) Abby's redemption arc... lmao, doesn't even need an explanation; a poor (wo)man's Joel arc, where she seeks forgiveness through protecting a random ass teenager, going far enough to EASILY steal from her own group AND SOON AFTER betray and murder them (she grew up with these people), and never remorse's over a single bad thing she did in the game, including killing the man (Joel) who saved her life and screwing her friend's boyfriend that was soon to be a father to said friend's unborn child. The most redundant "redemption" arc I've ever seen in a story; obviously some external agenda-pushing nonsense that had more to do with identity politics than telling some kind of story with depth and sense. Then Joel and whatever were victims to retcons and disingenuous continuity aspects that absolutely does not build upon the foundation of the first game but pretends to be faithful to convince the idiots who think they know/remember the first game better than they think.
It's like people just see the Naughty Dog logo and see a bunch of shit happen in a story and deem it good without really understanding/digesting/analyzing it. First game has always been overrated, but it was written really well at least. Still wasn't the best story in gaming, but it was great enough. Second game is atrocious, and it's not even surprising consider some of the original staff didn't work on it, Druckmann took control (too much), and the man responsible for the first game actually being good had no involvement in this game. If the characters had different names, faces, and ND's signature was removed from this game, the vast majority of yall would have never thought it was good. Days Gone is the "real" and good TLOU2 of the generation, and Ghost of T is the good first party game of the generation that had an actual good revenge storyline.
But then it's really not about forgiveness because the game literally focuses on revenge the most. You spend your whole time as Ellie killing mofos everywhere and looking for Abby especially at the end.
It's so ironic that so many people still hold onto their burning hatred of this game. It's like you just experienced a story that perfectly encapsulates the folly of revenge and your first thought is "cool, time to DM death threats to Laura Bailey". Idiots.
@@windy3935womp womp
The editing is ace in this all the cuts to Joel in the hospital with the flamethrower had me dying
What I love about this game and story is the fact it forces you to see the other perspective. I absolutely HATED that I had to play as Abby when I first played it and actually stopped playing for a whole week when her story started up but, after going back in & soldiering through it, I began to understand her life more. I thoroughly enjoyed it despite the emotional trauma it causes and am currently playing the remaster. I can’t wait to see if there will be a part 3.
Right when it switched over to Abby i literally was like are you fucking serious i have to play as this bitch. Then after the first couple of hours i felt sympathetic for her and the story really started to click. The final mission where ellie is hunting down abby was just dreadful. It was like i just wanted ellie to stop. As the player it was like "do we really have to keep hunting her down". Never had game actually make me feel emotions like this.
And the constant just horrible things happening to both of them. I was just like damn they're literally destroying themselves and getting everyone they know and love killed for what?
Your perspective (heh) on Joels choice to save Ellie and show how she could see that bringing a "cure" wouldn't save humanity is SO refreshing.
I see so many people who say the second game is a masterpiece also say that what Joel did in saving her was stupid. That the fireflies were gonna fix the world.
They wouldn't and they can't. People won't go back to the old world 20+ years past, all they can do is try and make this one better (or far, far worse)
That’s the missing component to the Abby character preventing the player from adopting her perspective: at no point does she consider how haphazardly and recklessly Jerry was in taking Ellie’s life: there was exactly no immediacy to harvesting the specimens from Ellie, yet you’re gonna kill the only immune subject ever after like 12 hours of study? You’re a terrible scientistJerry, and Abby at some point should have at least considered that
@@hellfish2309exactly, she can't see how she and her dad were in the wrong, how they were truly the villain, Joel killed Abby's father for protection and self defence, that makes Abby killing Joel only REVENGE but justifing Ellie killing Abby as JUSTICE not revenge, because Abby reason was totally malicious and unprovoked, predictable yes but totally malicious
Just finished playing this game for a third time as well a few days ago :)
When I first beat the game on my ps4 I understood the ending and everything. Game is one of my favorite games of all time;its right there with RDR2 and modern warfare 2007.
WHY DID YOU KEEP SHOWING JOELS DEATH 😩😩😩😫😫😫😭😭
Each person gives a meaning to the end of the game, or to the reasons why Ellie did what she did in the end, and I don't think there is a definitive answer, because the brain of a person who went through what Ellie went through must be a chaotic mess.
What I learned during my game was that a cruel attitude can cause a chain reaction of suffering, but so can a good attitude.
And each person may or may not break one of these cycles and start another at any time, but for some this change comes before others.
For Joel, it wasn't worth sacrificing Ellie, because perhaps the world as it was was already doomed. Change has to come from people first, change has to happen internally. Ellie is the light in the darkness, she is the kind of person the world needs, she needs to live and find a purpose for herself.
She only understood this at the last second before killing Abby, because I think Ellie saw Joel in Abby. Ellie saw how similar Abby and Joel's purposes were: Saving someone you love.
Understanding this, added to the fact that Ellie gave Joel the chance to forgive, also gives him the chance to forgive Abby, breaking this cycle.
The first thing Ellie says to Abby after letting her go is, "go, take him," and this reinforces my theory that Ellie saw Joel in Abby.
Great comment, for me I didn't understand why Ellie let Abby go until my second play through. When Ellie's at the farm, she finally has peace and her idyllic life. Yet we see she's barely holding it together. She's rightfully traumatized and haunted by Joel's death, Tommy's visit pushes her over the edge because inside she's dying. She feels like if she can just finally kill Abby her trauma, guilt, and pain can stop.
She leaves everything behind to pursue Abby one last time and when she's wounded, stumbling to the beach, "Abby Abby Abby" under her breath like a mad woman, it's clears it's become an absolute obsession. Then she does it. She has Abby in her hands, life slipping away, she's reached her goal, the goal she's sacrificed everything for, yet nothing has changed. Her trauma hasn't left her, her pain hasn't subsided, Joel isn't coming back. Much how killing Joel became Abby's obsession, we see that after killing him her nightmares about her father don't stop, she's still haunted, killing Joel has led to the death of almost everyone she holds dear. I'm not sure Ellie ever "forgives" Abby, but I think Ellie finally realizes that she can't heal herself by killing Abby.
Last of Us 2 is about how bad things can get when the people you hate become more important than the people you love.
Agree 100% apart from your opinion about how TLOU2 may be told in the wrong medium. I think it’s absolutely genius that the game forces you not only to watch but to play, to literally take over the perspectives it made you despise before.
You sort of kind of touched on it, but mentioning how Abby is essentially the exact same as Joel is so on point; it’s incredible how perspective can change whether or not we love or hate a character. We were supposed to love Joel. We were supposed to hate Abby. The only thing I’ll add is that this game seems to be about meta emotions; not just what emotion you feel, but how you feel about those emotions. Once we can learn to forgive the story for taking away someone we love, we can see what we love once again. Like how Abby can finally see her father again without it being a nightmare, you can learn to love this story for something beyond a single character. And that first line of the song, “if I ever were to lose you, I’d surely lose myself” is so apt. Abby ended up not losing herself. Ellie did. She lost everything because she could never move on. She lost Dina and their child, she lost Joel, and she lost a gift Joel gave her: the ability to play music. And it all started because she lost her ability to forgive him before he died.
Great video, great editing, great everything. Keep it up!!
The ending is perfect to me. It had to happen. Somebody had to break the cycle or torment and revenge. The whole point is it’s nuanced, was Abby ever right to kill Joel? Was Joel ever right to kill her dad? It’s all about love and what it brings us to do, regardless how similar we all are. We all fight for love, that’s it.
I thought id hate it. Was installed on my ps5 for the longest time. After playing part I and going into part II, I couldnt accept that they killed joel off so early. But with the release of the remastered, making me play it to justify my 10$ upgrade purchase, I have to say this is one of the best games I've ever played so far.
"WLF or WOLF." Your visual aid is bananas and I love it!
The story and writing in this game is Oscar worthy.
easily the worst written story of any game ever made.
What are you talking about! The story was all over place! It was so bad that I stopped playing half way through Abbie’s section. I tolerated Ellie, because it was Ellie, but Abbie’s part I didn’t see any reason to continue.
@@richardcarson3596 It's because you didn't like the story. The writing and acting was top notch, like really top notch. A good sign of excellent writing is when it elicits strong emotion. Even if wasn't the emotion YOU wanted, I bet it had you feeling some kind of way. That's what good writing and acting does.
@@ashkanpower Take a deep breath and play it again. It's trying to teach you something you may have missed. Ellie and Abbie have the exact same motivations and they don' have a clue that they do. Their vengeance to avenge someone they love is changing them into the very monsters they are trying to survive from. The irony, Ellie is immune the virus but not immune to the virus of vengeance and hate. This is a reflection on our society. We hate others without realizing that we have more in common than not in common. I hope you can again and pick up on the beauty of the story. It is unbelievably well written. You're missing out. If not, I hope you find joy in the next game you play.
@@richardcarson3596you’re a weak minded child. I just feel sorry that your child brain is holding you back from understanding this masterpiece
Editing's great. Love it.
This game is incredible.
Great video and pacing! Keep it up
Keep up the good work. I can see this channel growing into something really big one day. Just keep pumping out great videos like these.
Thank you my man that means a lot.
You are hella underrated, great video with superb editing and humor, subbed!
This game unironically taught me a really important lesson that I still apply when dealing with people. And that's to Allways TRY to put yourselves in the shoes of the other person and try to think about it with as few biases as possible.
After I learned and applied that to my life. I actually finally felt like I became an "adult"
Alright, apply that to Robert Cogburn of Naughty Dog studios who would prowl the offices grabbing people by the chest and groin.
Should you put yourself in his shoes? Is his perspective valid?
@@crazyinsane500 WHAT DID MY COMMENT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING YOU JUST SAID. I DON'T KNOW THAT GUY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU TALKIN ABOUT. BUT I WAS TALKING ABOUT A GAME, AND YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A SLIMY EMPLOYEE TO PUSH AN AGENDA. IM NOT DISCREDITING ALL THE HARD WORK OF THOSE VICTIMS THAT WERE GRABBED BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS OF A MONSTER. SHAME ON YOU FOR USING THIS AS AN ARGUMENT ON A COMMENT THAT WAS TRYING TO BE WHOLESOME.
@@jddesmore Neil Druckmann, writer of the game, fired Cogburn's victims for going to HR.
Seems he disagrees with you and thinks that Cogburn's point of view is valid, certainly more valid than his victims.
Kinda makes that "put yourself in other people's shoes" nonsense look more like victim blaming when the rationale for *why* that was the message is laid bare, now don't it?
@@crazyinsane500 Bru, Ima be clear with you. I commented about the story of the game. Not about the shit that happened behind the game. I'm not saying you're wrong with anything. Just saying WTF DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH MY FREAKIN COMMENT... I'm sharing my feelings on the art that's on display, not about the working conditions or anything else. Do you just hate the game so you bombard horrible shit about it to everyone who found enjoyment out of it. I just wanted to share what this game did for me. I didn't say it to endorse any horrible acts that happened behind the scenes. OK... Don't have to be a prune to everyone ya know.
@@jddesmore You say you don't endorse it, but do you still maintain this "put yourself in other's shoes" idea now that you're shown you've made no consideration that this would *and has,* uniquely, benefit evil people?
This is probably the best review of the game I’ve heard. Changing the order that events in the game are shown would’ve probably made the game easier to understand, but I personally am ok with how messy it was. People’s stories in real life are messy. Also you made a great point about games being interactive storytelling, and I think one of the main reasons people hate the game is because it forces you to do things you don’t want to do. Video games are generally meant to be fun and let you do what you want, so TLoU2 taking a different approach was bound to upset people.
Your use of the word 'messy' is interesting. I think it's meant to be a game about trauma, which is messy.
First and foremost - awesome video man. I tell people all the time, TLoU2 is the greatest game I'll never play again. A rollercoaster of emotion that elects strong opinions in me to this day. And please keep in mind, what I type here is simply my humble opinion, this is not to trigger anyone who disagrees.
Before part 2 was ever announced, we ALL KNEW Joel's decision to save Ellie, while dramatic and "heart warming," was the wrong move - condemning humanity for one life. When Ellie made Joel swear at the end of 1 and he lied, we were all mad at him. It's funny how short everyone's memories are and the way we revise what we remember for the sake of justifying our anger in learning of Joel's death in 2.
Everything you said regarding gameplay, graphics and brutality are spot on. Easily the best action/stealth game I've ever played in 40 years of gaming.
Yet the story itself had a very unpopular effect on me...I sided with Abby. By the time the credits rolled, I hated Ellie...so much to the point that when she couldn't play guitar because of her injuries - instead of feeling sorrow in the way Druckman obviously wanted gamers to feel, I felt no remorse whatsoever. In fact, if I'm honest with myself, it almost felt like a sense of justice. It was truly a miserable feeling walking away from this experience lol.
Why? Ellie had it all...she had the house...the partner...the child...she literally had "happily ever after" (or at least as close as you could get to it) in a post-apocalyptic world. She had the happy ending that 99% of the world was never going to get - and she spit on it (don't even get me started on how dirty they did Jesse.) Getting through the final fight scene for me was rough because I had long abandoned my care for Ellie.
Its a video game. It's not real. Yet, this is the kind of response that's garnered after experiencing it. Kudos to Naughty Dog :)
Everything would've been fine if they just let Ellie wake up, and then had Joel, Marlene, and Ellie sit down and just talk. Ellie definitely would've gone along with it, and she'd be the only person capable of convincing Joel to let her do it. Then everything would've been relatively fine. But they had to completely disregard her personhood.
Awesome video, hilarious editing. Keep it up 👍
Wow you just had to end the video by pulling out my heart again 😭
What made the sequels story so easy for me to accept is that I played the first game a month before the sequel, so i didnt have that 7 year bias and it allowed me to be wayyy more open minded. I still think naughty dog had BALLS with the way they told the story
Played both games at release, and was open minded as well. Somehow, this game exposed players nature and filters those with empathy and those not with. Those who can look at the perspective of others and those who can't. I'm a father, and I'm 100% with Joel at the end of the first game, but it does't mean It wouldn't have consequences. People Just saw Joel as a hero, completely blind to the good and bad things his actions were generating at the same time.
@@RafaPai84That and also because of the matpat video (not dissing on Mat but man that video caused a lot of problems)
@@Aiman-yu6qg Don't know, what video?!
@@Aiman-yu6qgyeah please elaborate
I think you just nailed it. Rarely has a game left me so divided on my opinion of it. Loved the exceptional gameplay, the world building, the relationships between the characters and the stellar dialogue writing. But the story made me feel like I was a voluntary victim of some sort of sado-masochistic psychological abuse. I still admire what ND were trying to do, and after having watched the Grounded documentary, I realize what it cost all of them to make this game. Still... I can't help but think the narative could have benefited from more reflection, more care. This studio went to such elaborate lengths to make us emotionally invested in these characters, only to scrap all of that in pursuit of their narative, and all other considerations be damned. I don't know. This game, in the end, is equal parts awe-inspiring and disapointing, all at once. TLOU3 had better make up for all this.
This was a superb video. Loved your use of The Social Network’s score.
That was one Hell of a breakdown & such a good one that I had to subscribe to your channel. Dope video & great work 👍🏿
Finally people coming to their senses
If someone kills my dad they’re getting murked no matter what
Personally, I like it a lot when the media I consume makes me think and feel. The shifting perspectives and timelines were perfect, injecting the game with emotional moments that weren’t just anger/rage.
You’re supposed to feel conflicted, you’re supposed to think about what has happened, and what is happening.
In my opinion this isn’t a game for mindless consumption.
Its 2020 its the first day of release and i watched it all. I was SO AMAZED AND CONNECTED TO THE WHOLE GAME like i was seeing this live. Its so amazing how this game made me feel. Feelings i have never felt with any other game. Not just a memory but an experience i can never forget. Overall the ending kinda disappointed me quite a while i must say. I was like "that's it? After all those fucked things we went through thats how it ends?" I don't know what exactly i expected but since the devs said a part 3 is coming if you think about it the ending make sense. It's like they already knew after the release of part 2 they were going to make a part 3. I don't know at least that's how i see it. Even tho i knew the ending and after having it on my library i managed to buy a ps4 3 years after i bought the game. Nothing but greatness. 10/10
"Gamers are not exactly the smartest individuals."
Season 2 of the show probably wont have Ellie stacking bodies the same way you can do in the game, so all the main kills in the story will hopefully have more impact
Indeed. TV is a passive medium. It won't make sense to kill thousands of riders, WLF soldiers and scars just because they are occasionally enemies on your way to find the real goal (viewers will eventually get bored). That's a plot for a game (active medium).
I don't mind if in the show we get Ellie killing only Jordan, Nora, Alice 💔, Mel, Owen and a pair of random WLF soldiers and scars
100% agree. Thankyou. 💜
Still distinctly remember that part traversing reaaaally high up between skyscrapers and being terrified of heights. Moreso than the clickers lmao.
Abby Day 2 was my favourite chapter in the whole game, and that Hospital level... god dam.
Troy Baker says to anyone who suggests that Joel shouldn't die needs to propose an alternative story line and how that would be better at driving the arc of this story.
That's a classic deflection. People don't need to fix or propose alternate scripts. Everyone can debate how and why Joel should or should not have died. We can discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the existing script. Nobody has to write alternate versions. Troy Baker needs a flashlight to see how far he has traveled up his own azz. Lol
You can have him train her, then they argue about the lie he told her, you can show how people in Jackson are managing to survive the zombies, you can actually show how she develope the relationship with her new friends, Joel tells her the true intentions of the fireflies and She realizes She is more useful alive than dead, maibe Ellie start studying how to make people immune
5:56
Part me feels like ellie would have agreed if marleene took the time to explain it to her. But they wasted no time an started operating on her the second they got her into the building. These people couldn't wait for a child to wake up.
It hurts that joel count be that well of truth after,
This! This video explains what I've been trying to say since this game came out. This hits pretty much every beat I've been saying. Especially that it feels more like a TV show than a game.
Top tier edit man ! I loved this game since day one, never understood the overwhelming hate, especialy when it completely overshadowed the awesome gameplay. No game ever gave me such emotional rollercoaster and i find it awesome. I find it kinda funny that lot of people considered this game too depressive for them and story made them feel angy or whatever, like duh you are playing game about end of the world where people are eating each other and kill each other daily to survive or to simply have fun. And ALOT of them took problems with this game too seriously.
Also something I noticed not long ago, Tommy and Joel didn’t get enough sleep on the day they met Abby, maybe that clouded their judgment aswell
your hilarious! I'm subbing
Man I think you got a point there, you enlightened my vision about the end, now I can play the game with a new perspective, a more reliable one, befitting the creator's thought line.
this is probably the most grown up and healthy perspective on the story of that game. And its short too. Really Great.
This is like the best, non bias and professional way to review a video game story.
part of me definitely wishes they did it like the opening where you get part of abby part of ellie throughout the entire game
BUT, Ive actually grown to understand and like the game
We're still talking about this game 4 years since it's launch. Just proves that it's one of the best games of all time.
Hey, great vid man
Your editing is hilarious made me bust out laughing multiple times
Really well made video!
This game is probably one of the most brutal, deep and beautifully done stories I'll ever play. Every time it reminds me of how powerful art can really be.
This game changed me, man
I can't wait for part 3
As a side note, the seriousness of the analysis coupled with the visual comedy gameplay quick cuts is super jarring lmao
I loved this game. And at the end of my first run, I appreciated the nuance of the ending. It wasn’t meant to be satisfying, it wasn’t meant to be joyful, it’s the last of us people. The friction caused by losing Joel then having to play with Abby goes back to what you said about our selfish intentions, as a player, we selfishly needed Joel to live, but as life and the game makes it plain: things are never clean and pretty. And especially for this setting. It’s a masterpiece in storytelling.
i like that game 1 gave me some warm fuzzies, and 2 left me feeling like shit for a week. and that's a good thing. that the direction made me feel something new
Finally smart people here
If it wasn't meant to be satisfying, why are people that are unaatisfied by it shamed?
Playing this game made me speedrun through more emotional growth than I had in my 32 years prior to it. I think the order in which the events are presented to us was perfect. TLOU2 and RDR2 are the absolute best pieces of media I’ve ever had the privilege to consume. ❤
One of my all time favourite narratives in a game and one of those rare points for the arguement of gaming being the best storytelling medium to date.
You are not supposed to like it. That was the whole point. You were supposed to hate it until the end of it. Ppl just plain hated the game for it. I feel like most people directed the way the game set out to make you feel, at the game.
I will die on the hill of this game being true masterpiece but id never pay this game again. It was torture to play it, as was intended
Best perspective I’ve seen for this game. Hoping the show changes the order around to digest easier
Thank you!
I’ve been telling people this game isn’t about right and wrong, or revenge, or salvation. It’s about perspective.
About putting you in the shoes of others.
unrelated but ever since i heard the RDR2 bar music play in the background of this video, all I'm thinking about now is "LENNNNYYYYYY"
Wow, as a guy who has had a long time thinking about this game and how much I (in this order): Loved it, Hated it, indifferent to it and then just passively critical (like when i think of a bad example of story telling I think of this) I got to say you've honestly done a great job with only 12 minutes.
Like the amount of 2 hour long retrospectives about how this story doesn't work as a game you did like in 3 minutes.
And for the longest time I've thought, TLOU2 great on paper, terrible in execution
Yeah the story you described in the perspective is the one i wish we got and yeah it is there if you look hard (like the game doesn't tell you Abby isn't better after taking revenge you have to infer it from her dreams which can be quite subtle) but the conflict of player choice and narrative really does cripple the story where in a cutscene Abby's now trying to get over killing Joel but in gameplay shes mowing down dudes like shes doomguy.
Without bigging you up too hard, I wish the game we got was a more concrete version of your interpretation said as I feel like the game does try a bit too hard to be a didactic tale of the dangers of violence while being very interpretative to allow differing perspectives which often leads to mess of different ideas of the what the game is instead awesome discussions on what it could mean.
😂😂 the lev punch gets me every time
Seeing as how this is a review, I thought I’d provide my overall thoughts on the game. I have a lot of them, so a long comment incoming…
Now, first off, I absolutely don’t hate TLOU2 at all, as I know many fans of this series do. As a matter of fact, I think it’s an overall great game. I think the game is fundamentally and technically a masterclass triple A title, and found it loads of fun to play. That said, it is not without criticism on my part. Again, I don’t have a burning irrational hatred for the game like many do. One of the things I wasn’t a fan of was the pacing and constant cutting back and forth in the timeline. Playing it felt like I had whiplash at times. This aside though, my biggest complaint was that I feel Neil Druckmann (the game director for TLOU2) did some things solely out of personal spite, not to benefit the overall story they were telling with the game. This is why it seems that Joel and Ellie were made to be looked at as the true villains to a certain extent, and why Joel’s death was executed the way it was and essentially used for shock value. Let me explain:
Now, Neil had relatively little involvement with TLOU1 compared to the rest of his team, and what little involvement he did have, some of his ideas were discarded as they didn’t coincide with what the team wanted to do with the project. One of his proposed plot points was having Tess track down and murder Joel in the name of revenge after he had supposedly left her at the mercy of a pack of Clickers or something. Sound familiar? He has been pushing a revenge story from day 1, and seeing as how he had the reigns over part 2, it was the perfect opportunity for him to execute it. As a result of his limited involvement in the first one, I can’t help but feel he had somewhat of a hate boner for Joel and even Ellie to an extent given how they were handled in the story. The idea of killing Joel doesn’t bother me, it was actually expected on my part. I even accept how it was done, despite how brutal it was, but the fact that I feel Neil did it solely to spite TLOU1 and the connection we formed with Joel and Ellie just felt like his own personal projection as it seems Joel wasn’t a character he was particularly fond of anyways. I mean, Neil LITERALLY modeled himself after and I believe mo-capped Manny, the character who spat on Joel’s corpse. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, he just never liked Joel, and I hate feeling like his personal opinion is the sole reason everything happened the way it did, not as a creative decision to benefit the story as a whole in a respectful way, but just a huge unnecessary and petty middle finger to fans of Joel and TLOU1. Just go look at the scrapped concepts for Joel’s death, it gets VERY brutal and unnecessary, to the point he even proposed having Abby cut off Joel’s hands as well as one of his arms, stabbing him in the back with a large knife, and gouging out his eye. When you have a new director take charge of making a sequel to an already beloved game, and he doesn’t even like or respect the main character, it isn’t going to end very well. Joel was obviously NOT a character Neil cared about, that just isn’t something you do to a protagonist, regardless of what they did in-game. That isn’t how you handle a character. Just look at Kratos, he literally directly destroyed Greece in his pursuit of vengeance, something worse than ANYTHING Joel has ever done, but Santa Monica would never handle him like TLOU2 handled Joel because they respect their work. Neil looked at Joel as a representation of the old crew who worked at ND, and this was his way of undermining them by ending their beloved character in the most brutal fashion he could, not to benefit some story he wanted to tell, but as a personal message to his old crew. That’s my issue with it. Again, the concept of Joel dying is not the problem here, it is the way it was handled and the fact that the events surrounding it are very hastily put together and don’t make much sense for the characters of Joel and Tommy, but I’ll get to that. Anyways, Neil also went ahead and introduced Abby and Lev, which would normally be perfectly fine as they’re great together, but it felt like Neil was practically saying, “Fuck Joel and Ellie, I’m going to give you something better and my own with Abby and Lev.” Joel was an absolute masterpiece of a character, and I just don’t like feeling that his potential in this young franchise was wasted just because of Neil’s own personal grievances or disdain for the character and the team who created him. It also really feels like they rushed Joel’s death in order to hastily fit it into the first hour to set the plot in motion when the events surrounding it and the writing around it could’ve been executed so much better. Joel and Tommy’s actions in that particular scene don’t even coincide with what their characters were in TLOU1. Joel and Tommy were two guys who have fought and scrapped to survive for 20+ years in the apocalypse, why on Earth would they be so welcoming and transparent with the WLF when they didn’t even know them that well at all? They told them the location of their town, their real names, and their reason for being out. Especially after what Joel did in the first game, which Tommy was well aware of, why in the hell was Tommy so eager to be like, “I’m Tommy, and this is my brother Joel” to a group of complete strangers that, for all he knew, could be out there specifically for Joel, or even be hunters looking for a town to raid. They might as well have given them their social security numbers and bank details.
Now for Abby. I don’t even have as big of a problem with Abby like some of the fan base does. I found her overall likable, a bit bland but she was okay. I understand her motive, but one complaint I have is that the game tried too hard to force us to be like, “Look, Abby’s not so bad and Joel and Ellie were kind of being pieces of shit” from showing Jerry saving a Zebra, to Abby petting the dogs that Ellie had just previously killed, and then to Abby rescuing Yara and Lev. For a series that is big on showing us moral ambiguity in their characters, Abby and her crew were displayed as saints for literally the rest of the game after they tortured Joel. It felt very forced and unrealistic at times for a large group surviving in the apocalypse to be all hunky dory/family friendly and likes getting drunk and watching anime (I’m looking at you, Manny). The game even had the nerve to have one of the characters be like, “You’re a good person, Abby” but continue to make Ellie look like shit when both Abby and Ellie are equally wrong for what they did. If the game had shown us more of, “Abby may have had her motives, but what she did was ultimately wrong because if she had just let her desire for revenge go, none of this would’ve happened” the same way they did with Ellie, I would have enjoyed her character much more and even viewed her as more of an equal to Ellie rather than feeling like she was meant to be a blatant replacement. Because let’s face it, motive or not, traveling half-way across the country to torture an old man to death isn’t a particularly noble act, and is very contradictory to the saint that they made her seem like for the rest of the game. She literally put a tourniquet on Joel’s leg to stop him from bleeding out so he would be alive long enough for her to torture him, I don’t care about motive that just isn’t something a morally stable person does. This goes both ways though of course, as it obviously isn’t a good act either in Ellie killing Abby’s entire friend group. They could have done a better job at showing the fact that both Abby and Ellie have become somewhat shitty people due to the trauma they had both endured, instead of feeling one-sided in a way to just looking at all the bad Ellie’s done. I don’t find it particularly fair that Ellie is the only one who had to realize in the end that revenge is bad and forgive, but Abby never had this same moment of realization. It’s almost as if we are meant to look at Ellie as the ultimate bad guy in the whole ordeal and gloss over what Abby did to Joel just because the game keeps hammering home the point that, “Joel deserved it.” People shun Ellie for what she did, but using that same logic, everything is also Abby’s fault for seeking out Joel in the first place solely in the name of revenge when he was clearly no longer a threat to anyone.
Just think about it, neither Joel or Abby are justified for what they did. Both Joel and Abby acted out of selfishness. Joel killed Abby’s father for selfish reasons, and Abby killed Joel for selfish reasons. Neither are in the right.
Joel was definetly justified, you can't fall on that after this good analyses
Great analysis
Love to hear the Social Network music!!
Only 5000 subs was surprising. Very high quality video and had me invested he whole time. Great editing and skits, as well.
I loved Last of Us 2 and was very happy when Ellie let Abby live. I had grown to like Abby and related to her side of events, too. Imagine someone killed your parent that also happened to be trying to find a cure to a plague that's devastated your world. And the game even shows Abby is whole-heartedly for the cause as she says she would've also died for the cause.
Anyways, I could also go on and on about how great this game is. But also wanted to commend your editing and let you know I've also happily subscribed. Looking forward to hearing your opinions on more games