The Last of Us 2 - Ellie Can Swim (Spoiler thread)

Thing is though it’s still a solid 20-30 hours of Revenge plot, and that can honestly be a lot to stomach compared to some other forms of media. And unlike the plot of the first game, the second game’s violence and plot is deliberately way more “in your face”. Given different people have different tolerance levels for it I can’t really blame someone if they found it exhausting, end up disconnecting emotionally (as some have), and as a result did not resonate with the deeper elements.

Given the gratuitousness of it at times, perhaps it works better consumed over many shorter sessions rather than fewer longer sessions. However, that is not that way that myself or many other people consume consume their media, for better or worse. How you wrap up your messaging can be just as important as the message itself when it comes to actively engaging your audience.

I played the game and now I have watched the video. And no, there isn’t much more to the story than revenge. The problem wasn’t that I wanted the satisfaction of Ellie killing Abby. The problem was that I wanted Ellie to learn to let go of her anger and not go after Abby in the first place. It’s worth noting that Abby was able to do this in the theater, after Ellie killed Owen and Mel. I found it hard to believe that after everything, after Abby spared Ellie and Dina (and, it turns out, Tommy), Ellie still needed to leave her family to go after rumors of Abby in California.

Separately, I also found the last fight scene hard to believe. We are told that Abby had been left on the pillars for weeks or months, effectively crucified. I assume that everyone else out there was dead, or else it was pretty shitty for both Ellie and Abby to not cut any of them down. Hard to believe she was able to walk, let alone put up that much of a fight. It’s a long time since I expected videogames to be “realistic,” but a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is necessary.

That part is a bit simpler though. She was haunted by the dreams of Joel dying and thought that tracking down Abby was the only way to get past that. Maybe the town simply doesn’t have good grief counseling available that can handle PTSD. I think Ellie was worried that she’d eventually harm their son by accident if the episodes continued.

Maybe. Although she notes in her journal that Dina thinks she could just talk about it more. Maybe try that first?

Ah, some people…

(That’s the voice actress behind Abby.)

These people shouldn’t be allowed in society.

What’s the reference to filming with Neil mean?

I assume it was in reference to Neil Druckman, who actually wrote the thing.

And the response was that she, the actor, ruined the game and should die for it. Not, you know, the guy who wrote the thing that everyone hated (which is still stupid, but at the very least would be directed at the person who actually did the thing).

Just finished it. Gotta confess I just kept letting Abby kill Ellie in that final fight and hoping that would be the end.

I felt this way as well, but then ended up finding Abby’s story much more compelling and didn’t want to switch back to Ellie.

There was also the armored truck filled with notes at the Gate of the Martyr and Abby commented about how Jeffrey Wright’s character made the prophet a martyr.

Man this cast:

  • Dina is Elsie from Westworld
  • Owen is Patrick Fugit of Almost Famous fame
  • Abby is Nadine from Uncharted 4
  • Mel is motherfucking Ashly Burch

I can’t honesty say the blacklash isn’t expected. It is. Actually. 100%.

The ending to TLOU1 was perfect and complete. It never needed a sequel…which I think any attempt ultimately just drags us all through the mud that is this whole ugly ordeal.

Making a sequel based on the one guy Joel kills at the end of the first game, a nobody…given how the first game ended…

Yeah, fuck that. Creatively speaking…

I’m sorry but no, you are in danger of getting into “she shouldn’t have worn that dress” territory. While some level of critical backlash can be expected we should not be normalizing death threats and hate speech because of a creative story choice.

No. Full Stop. What are you even talking about? Death threats and hate speech?

I am not espousing those things. I am saying “Fuck any sequel” to the perfect ending of TLOU and the creative choice to do one based on a NOBODY from the ending is actually complete shit.

The death threats and hate speech were already discussed somewhat in this thread, and is how I read “the mud that is this whole ugly ordeal” because that’s not how I would describe some folks just not liking the game but more this bullshit.


You read me wrong then I guess. Whatever.

Seriously. The stance that any criticism of this game is part of the bullshit misogynistic hate is dumb. You can legitimately not like a thing without it being an argument against women or LGBTQ causes, and you can have that discussion without taking part in death threats to the creators.

No fucking duh. But he was specifically talking bout “backlash” and “ugly ordeal”.

I can’t speak for @roguefrog, but yeah, in this day and age, with innumerable examples prior, how could anyone not expect backlash against this game? I think that’s an honest assessment of the sad fact that this is what passes for discourse on the internet.

I imagine Naughty Dog was bracing for it, and the leaks didn’t help.

PlayStation has announced that The Last of Us Part 2 has sold over 4 million copies as of June 21, making it the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation 4 exclusive ever just three days after its release

FreshBackBlesbok-size_restricted