First of all let's make one thing clear: More diversity in gaming is great. This needs to be said again. Not only because it's the simple truth, but because you can't say or point out how much you hate the awful storyline and the ending in TLoU2 without being grouped together with the alt-right jackasses who hate the game for diversity and political reasons.
It's difficult to even describe how disappointed I am. A weak storyline with errors and characters doing things that made no sense whatsoever. I'm not only talking about the parts or characters in the storyline where you can use 'PTSD' as some kind of bailout. The biggest issue for me and a huge part of the fanbase is an ending that leaves the player with nothing, just to point at some ham-handed symbolism and try-hard deeper meaning.
Yes, Joel got killed. We saw this coming when the first teaser trailer dropped. Sure I hoped that maybe Neil Druckmann wouldn't do it because it was so obvious and because Joel is the favourite character among TLoU fans. But it still happened.
Killing him wasn't the worst part of TLoU2. Even though it made absolutely no sense how Joel got killed. Chilling with a bunch of strangers in the TLoU world, with his guard down? And Tommy too? Fo sho Neil! Joel's gruesome death kickstarted Ellie's mission to find and kill Abby. So this isn't the reason for my anger and disappointment.
It's the fact that Neil Druckmann is forcing us to play the awful character who tortured and murdered Joel. Even after Joel saved her life at the start of the game, as many have already pointed out. For one half of the game.
The fact that we have to fight Ellie with her!
And mostly the fact that only Abby got her revenge and survived!
I was going to write an even bigger post but another user here already summed it up pretty good:
#####
It doesn't make sense though.
From beginning to end, the only interactions Ellie has with Abby were fighting, someone close to her got killed/hurt by Abby and then she got spared. She barely knows Abby and Lev as characters, she doesn't care either. Ellie's feelings should be reconciled with the players who were uninterested in / dislike Abby's story/campaign and rushed/speedruned Abby's portions. From Ellie's perspective, Abby is no different than the thousands of WLF/cultlist/Ratters NPCs she killed on the way. She just hates her even more. There is a dissonance between character's perspective and character's action. She only forgives Abby because Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann or Halley Gross told her to do it because they wrote the story. That's why the ending doesn't click with many players. #####
Neil Druckmann's or Halley Gross' attempt to make us like, feel for, or 'understand' Abby failed miserably for a huge part of the fan TLoU fanbase. They tried hard. Letting us play Joel's murderer for one half of the game. Abby getting the better boss fights in TLoU2. Abby spares Ellie's life once. Abby tries to save two teenagers. Yada yada yada.
Druckmann or Gross gave Abby a morality injection with Lev's plotline to help players empathize with her. But it still failed. The latter half was honestly a massive chore as the game beats you over the head with the idea that Abby and the Wolves were largely decent people by the standards of that world. Nothing works, because we can't and won't forget what she did at the beginning. Overall the extra 10 hours of Abby were just completely unnecessary because what Neil tried to achieve simply didn't work and only dragged the story to a halt for no payoff. In the end Ellie leaves the farm and her girlfriend to chase down Abby (PTSD and hate) so the player gets teased one more time for a small hope of revenge or a little bit of redemption. Only to get slapped in the face one last time after seeing Ellie letting Abby go. Seconds after Abby bit off her fingers so she can't play the guitar anymore and loses her last connection to Joel.
Nobody I know or anyone I watched playing the second half of TLoU2 online wants to play as Abby or liked to play her. Fanboys online and some members in the Reset Era bubble being the usual exception, because they desperately want to see and point at the symbolism of each scene. And if you don't like it, you simply 'don't get it', or you were 'expecting a fairytale ending'. These people want to believe or 'get it' because Neil and Halley pointed at it in their latest interviews.
Just like the small group of the Game of Thrones fanbase who defends the ending of Season 8, or some of the Westworld fans defending Season 2. 'Hey man, you simply don't get it, man!'
Rushing through the second half of the game in easy mode is the way to go for many fans, because they can't stand playing as TLoU2's 'Roose Bolton' (GoT reference). They just want to see it end. Especially not hearing more obnoxious 'Owen. Owen! Where are you Owen' for hours.
You didn't want to let Ellie kill her? Well then Tommy should have done it. And he almost did. But they had to ruin this too.
For the most part Neil Druckmann wrote a story for people who don't really care for the characters and the first game.
A huge part of TLoU fans, who love the characters, hate the story and its ending. You know, the poor suckers who cared for the characters and actually paid $59 or more, only to get slapped in the face.
I'm sure there are some people here who think the idea behind the twist and its ending was 'so bold by Naughty Dog'. Letting us see 'both sides'. "tHe sYmBoLiSm is gOoD'. That we simply don't 'get the idea behind the overall message of the game'. That 'no one here is actually the good guy'. That 'letting Abby live ends the cycle' and 'Ellie is finally letting go'.
If you don't give a flying shit about the TLoU characters, you may believe this. If you don't give a damn about giving the player of a video game anything in return after 30 hours of torture, sure. But if you love the characters of TLoU, if you cared about them for so long, TLoU2 is just a colossal dumpster fire and makes me hate its ending.
If Neil Druckmann made a new IP to tell us his hate story about 'rEvEnGe bAd. cYcLe oF vIoLeNcE bAd. bOtH sIdEs nOt gOoD. tOo mUcH hAtE yOu lOsE eVeRyThInG' I wouldn't even be mad. But to kill and ruin the characters of a beloved franchise in a sequel and make her life miserable without giving the player just a little bit of satisfaction, redemption or revenge is just awful and pointless. But hey, it 'shocks like Game of Thrones Season 8, right'?
Neil, the story isn't 'divisive'. It's awful. You and Halley Gross mentioned that for more than 50% of the production, Ellie used to kill Abby at the end. You changed it. And this was a mistake.
So Neil Druckmann, here we are. Don't make another The Last of Us game. All that is left is a broken Ellie who's biggest fear came true, because she ended up alone. A wounded and angry Tommy. And a terrible character almost everyone hates with a passion. And in ND style, Neil would let us play Firefly Abby again in TLOU3, to show us how 'nice" she can be. Maybe even the typical cliche story where she becomes Ellie's partner to fight a common foe and where Ellie dies in the end for a cure. To go 'full circle' in the story and point at the symbolism again. Just like ND desperately tried to sell us Nadine in Uncharted Lost Legacy as 'nice'. Another bad character that almost no-one liked or wanted. You want to go 'full circle' again and tell us more about the 'cycle of hate'? There is still a character left who is out for revenge because he's mad. Give one-eyed Tommy a sniper rifle and let him end Abby's life after she killed his brother, a friend and made Ellie's life a living hell. She escaped alive while he ended up without his wife, with one eye and a damaged leg. There you go.
Overall I'm glad Nate's Uncharted journey ended. We don't want to see Nate, Sully, Elena or Chloe die. And we already know that you were pushing your idea to kill Elena.
TLOU2's story tried to mimic George R. R. Martin, but it ended up becoming a David Benioff and D.B Weiss plot. Creating the Game of Thrones S08 of videogames. Spitting on TLoU fans faces and ruining TLoU2 and TLoU1. Now that we know what will happen with our favourite characters in TLoU2 and after letting the murderer of Joel go both games are unplayable for me. And I'm seeing this sentiment everywhere online (ignore the alt-right jackasses).
You told us 'TLOU2 is about hate'. In the end, this was true. But not like how you imagined it. A lot of fans hate you and Naughty Dog now because TLoU2's story was so unsatisfying and made no sense whatsoever.
Neil you should have pitched this script to Sony Pictures for a spiritual successor of the movie 'Hostel'. Another gore fest, but worse. You can say about Eli Roth what you want, but at least the ending of 'Hostel' gave us something back in return. Some satisfaction. TLOu2 though gave the player and fans nothing but disappointment.
This game will have huge sales because the TLoU1 fanbase bought it, not knowing that the majority will hate it with a passion a few days later. It was all for nothing. A pointless story with a pointless and disappointing ending, just to get a cringy message out.
Congratulations to the rest of the ND team for the gameplay. TLOu2 has the best stealth gameplay I've ever seen. The combat, no matter the shooting or the melee attacks, feels great. Can't get much better than this. Great gameplay ruined by a horrible storyline that ruins the whole series.
Neil Druckmann once said they love Joel and Ellie and that both are the heart of the franchise. Sorry but I don't believe you. Look where Joel and Ellie ended up.
Hell, Neil even once said Ellie will being the only playable character in TLoU2.
Fo sho!
polygon.com/e3/2018/6/14/17464810/the-last-of-us-2-e3-2018-trailer-ellie-joel-playable
Sorry, but all I can think about right now is that clearly the wrong guys left Naughty Dog. I miss Amy Hennig and Bruce Straley.
Summary:
I can't get over the fact that Abby survived. Knowing that she still wanders around in the TLoU world, after all the terrible things she has done, makes me hate my once favourite video game IP. You could even say that one of the most hated video game characters got a happy ending. Even though bruised and her muscle mass almost all gone, she escapes with Lev and ends up in San Catalina. So back to 'her people' the Fireflies, even though we know that the Fireflies are terrible people. All Abby deserves after all she has done is her death.
The game starts with a huge letdown, drags it on for hours and right when it starts to pick up, they switch the character to drag it out some more, all to finish with a whimper.
TLoU2's weak plot about hate with an unsatisfying and pointless ending ruined the IP. It was so bad and disappointing for me, that I won't and can't buy any Naughty Dog games anymore after 'suffering' through Neil Druckmann's terrible TLoU2 plot and its ending. As long as Druckmann works there. 7 years of wait, only to get a sequel to my favourite game, which ruins the characters and gives the player nothing in return. Not even the smallest bit of revenge or redemption. Yes my disappointment is immeasurable. Yes, I know, 'drama'.
The final verdict and the one perfect review for the The Last of Us Part 2 ending is right here in a 30 second video review:
And this was my farewell post to the TLOU series and ND.
It's difficult to even describe how disappointed I am. A weak storyline with errors and characters doing things that made no sense whatsoever. I'm not only talking about the parts or characters in the storyline where you can use 'PTSD' as some kind of bailout. The biggest issue for me and a huge part of the fanbase is an ending that leaves the player with nothing, just to point at some ham-handed symbolism and try-hard deeper meaning.
Yes, Joel got killed. We saw this coming when the first teaser trailer dropped. Sure I hoped that maybe Neil Druckmann wouldn't do it because it was so obvious and because Joel is the favourite character among TLoU fans. But it still happened.
Killing him wasn't the worst part of TLoU2. Even though it made absolutely no sense how Joel got killed. Chilling with a bunch of strangers in the TLoU world, with his guard down? And Tommy too? Fo sho Neil! Joel's gruesome death kickstarted Ellie's mission to find and kill Abby. So this isn't the reason for my anger and disappointment.
It's the fact that Neil Druckmann is forcing us to play the awful character who tortured and murdered Joel. Even after Joel saved her life at the start of the game, as many have already pointed out. For one half of the game.
The fact that we have to fight Ellie with her!
And mostly the fact that only Abby got her revenge and survived!
I was going to write an even bigger post but another user here already summed it up pretty good:
#####
It doesn't make sense though.
From beginning to end, the only interactions Ellie has with Abby were fighting, someone close to her got killed/hurt by Abby and then she got spared. She barely knows Abby and Lev as characters, she doesn't care either. Ellie's feelings should be reconciled with the players who were uninterested in / dislike Abby's story/campaign and rushed/speedruned Abby's portions. From Ellie's perspective, Abby is no different than the thousands of WLF/cultlist/Ratters NPCs she killed on the way. She just hates her even more. There is a dissonance between character's perspective and character's action. She only forgives Abby because Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann or Halley Gross told her to do it because they wrote the story. That's why the ending doesn't click with many players. #####
Neil Druckmann's or Halley Gross' attempt to make us like, feel for, or 'understand' Abby failed miserably for a huge part of the fan TLoU fanbase. They tried hard. Letting us play Joel's murderer for one half of the game. Abby getting the better boss fights in TLoU2. Abby spares Ellie's life once. Abby tries to save two teenagers. Yada yada yada.
Druckmann or Gross gave Abby a morality injection with Lev's plotline to help players empathize with her. But it still failed. The latter half was honestly a massive chore as the game beats you over the head with the idea that Abby and the Wolves were largely decent people by the standards of that world. Nothing works, because we can't and won't forget what she did at the beginning. Overall the extra 10 hours of Abby were just completely unnecessary because what Neil tried to achieve simply didn't work and only dragged the story to a halt for no payoff. In the end Ellie leaves the farm and her girlfriend to chase down Abby (PTSD and hate) so the player gets teased one more time for a small hope of revenge or a little bit of redemption. Only to get slapped in the face one last time after seeing Ellie letting Abby go. Seconds after Abby bit off her fingers so she can't play the guitar anymore and loses her last connection to Joel.
Nobody I know or anyone I watched playing the second half of TLoU2 online wants to play as Abby or liked to play her. Fanboys online and some members in the Reset Era bubble being the usual exception, because they desperately want to see and point at the symbolism of each scene. And if you don't like it, you simply 'don't get it', or you were 'expecting a fairytale ending'. These people want to believe or 'get it' because Neil and Halley pointed at it in their latest interviews.
Just like the small group of the Game of Thrones fanbase who defends the ending of Season 8, or some of the Westworld fans defending Season 2. 'Hey man, you simply don't get it, man!'
Rushing through the second half of the game in easy mode is the way to go for many fans, because they can't stand playing as TLoU2's 'Roose Bolton' (GoT reference). They just want to see it end. Especially not hearing more obnoxious 'Owen. Owen! Where are you Owen' for hours.
You didn't want to let Ellie kill her? Well then Tommy should have done it. And he almost did. But they had to ruin this too.
For the most part Neil Druckmann wrote a story for people who don't really care for the characters and the first game.
A huge part of TLoU fans, who love the characters, hate the story and its ending. You know, the poor suckers who cared for the characters and actually paid $59 or more, only to get slapped in the face.
I'm sure there are some people here who think the idea behind the twist and its ending was 'so bold by Naughty Dog'. Letting us see 'both sides'. "tHe sYmBoLiSm is gOoD'. That we simply don't 'get the idea behind the overall message of the game'. That 'no one here is actually the good guy'. That 'letting Abby live ends the cycle' and 'Ellie is finally letting go'.
If you don't give a flying shit about the TLoU characters, you may believe this. If you don't give a damn about giving the player of a video game anything in return after 30 hours of torture, sure. But if you love the characters of TLoU, if you cared about them for so long, TLoU2 is just a colossal dumpster fire and makes me hate its ending.
If Neil Druckmann made a new IP to tell us his hate story about 'rEvEnGe bAd. cYcLe oF vIoLeNcE bAd. bOtH sIdEs nOt gOoD. tOo mUcH hAtE yOu lOsE eVeRyThInG' I wouldn't even be mad. But to kill and ruin the characters of a beloved franchise in a sequel and make her life miserable without giving the player just a little bit of satisfaction, redemption or revenge is just awful and pointless. But hey, it 'shocks like Game of Thrones Season 8, right'?
Neil, the story isn't 'divisive'. It's awful. You and Halley Gross mentioned that for more than 50% of the production, Ellie used to kill Abby at the end. You changed it. And this was a mistake.
So Neil Druckmann, here we are. Don't make another The Last of Us game. All that is left is a broken Ellie who's biggest fear came true, because she ended up alone. A wounded and angry Tommy. And a terrible character almost everyone hates with a passion. And in ND style, Neil would let us play Firefly Abby again in TLOU3, to show us how 'nice" she can be. Maybe even the typical cliche story where she becomes Ellie's partner to fight a common foe and where Ellie dies in the end for a cure. To go 'full circle' in the story and point at the symbolism again. Just like ND desperately tried to sell us Nadine in Uncharted Lost Legacy as 'nice'. Another bad character that almost no-one liked or wanted. You want to go 'full circle' again and tell us more about the 'cycle of hate'? There is still a character left who is out for revenge because he's mad. Give one-eyed Tommy a sniper rifle and let him end Abby's life after she killed his brother, a friend and made Ellie's life a living hell. She escaped alive while he ended up without his wife, with one eye and a damaged leg. There you go.
Overall I'm glad Nate's Uncharted journey ended. We don't want to see Nate, Sully, Elena or Chloe die. And we already know that you were pushing your idea to kill Elena.
TLOU2's story tried to mimic George R. R. Martin, but it ended up becoming a David Benioff and D.B Weiss plot. Creating the Game of Thrones S08 of videogames. Spitting on TLoU fans faces and ruining TLoU2 and TLoU1. Now that we know what will happen with our favourite characters in TLoU2 and after letting the murderer of Joel go both games are unplayable for me. And I'm seeing this sentiment everywhere online (ignore the alt-right jackasses).
You told us 'TLOU2 is about hate'. In the end, this was true. But not like how you imagined it. A lot of fans hate you and Naughty Dog now because TLoU2's story was so unsatisfying and made no sense whatsoever.
Neil you should have pitched this script to Sony Pictures for a spiritual successor of the movie 'Hostel'. Another gore fest, but worse. You can say about Eli Roth what you want, but at least the ending of 'Hostel' gave us something back in return. Some satisfaction. TLOu2 though gave the player and fans nothing but disappointment.
This game will have huge sales because the TLoU1 fanbase bought it, not knowing that the majority will hate it with a passion a few days later. It was all for nothing. A pointless story with a pointless and disappointing ending, just to get a cringy message out.
Congratulations to the rest of the ND team for the gameplay. TLOu2 has the best stealth gameplay I've ever seen. The combat, no matter the shooting or the melee attacks, feels great. Can't get much better than this. Great gameplay ruined by a horrible storyline that ruins the whole series.
Neil Druckmann once said they love Joel and Ellie and that both are the heart of the franchise. Sorry but I don't believe you. Look where Joel and Ellie ended up.
Hell, Neil even once said Ellie will being the only playable character in TLoU2.
Fo sho!
polygon.com/e3/2018/6/14/17464810/the-last-of-us-2-e3-2018-trailer-ellie-joel-playable
Sorry, but all I can think about right now is that clearly the wrong guys left Naughty Dog. I miss Amy Hennig and Bruce Straley.
Summary:
I can't get over the fact that Abby survived. Knowing that she still wanders around in the TLoU world, after all the terrible things she has done, makes me hate my once favourite video game IP. You could even say that one of the most hated video game characters got a happy ending. Even though bruised and her muscle mass almost all gone, she escapes with Lev and ends up in San Catalina. So back to 'her people' the Fireflies, even though we know that the Fireflies are terrible people. All Abby deserves after all she has done is her death.
The game starts with a huge letdown, drags it on for hours and right when it starts to pick up, they switch the character to drag it out some more, all to finish with a whimper.
TLoU2's weak plot about hate with an unsatisfying and pointless ending ruined the IP. It was so bad and disappointing for me, that I won't and can't buy any Naughty Dog games anymore after 'suffering' through Neil Druckmann's terrible TLoU2 plot and its ending. As long as Druckmann works there. 7 years of wait, only to get a sequel to my favourite game, which ruins the characters and gives the player nothing in return. Not even the smallest bit of revenge or redemption. Yes my disappointment is immeasurable. Yes, I know, 'drama'.
The final verdict and the one perfect review for the The Last of Us Part 2 ending is right here in a 30 second video review:
And this was my farewell post to the TLOU series and ND.
