I dunno. I side eye people who were cheering for Ellie to murder her in the last fight, or people who think Joel was a hero that needed to be avenged John Wick style.
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[Poll] After finishing The Last of Us Part II: which team are you? [SPOILERS]
- Thread starter lunanto
- Start date
I dunno. I side eye people who were cheering for Ellie to murder her in the last fight, or people who think Joel was a hero that needed to be avenged John Wick style.
I'm on team #ILIkedBothAndSplittingPeopleOnEitherSideCompletelyDefeatsTheMessageOfTheGame
I'm also team #ThreadTitleIsASpoilerForPeopleWhoHaven'tPlayedYet
I'm also team #ThreadTitleIsASpoilerForPeopleWhoHaven'tPlayedYet
Abby's quest for Joel was exactly what Ellie's was for Abby. They even showed that in flashbacks. Abby became toxic and obsessive with it. It was meant to be a parallel.
Not even in flashbacks. In the opening of the game Owen is trying to talk her off the obsessive ledge that puts the whole team in peril. Abby leaves on her own to do the job. Very much mirrors Jesse's talk with Ellie when it's clear she has no plans to save Tommy and leave Abby alive. Ellie leaves on her own to do the job.
They kind of bungled Ellie at the very end by having her try to kill Abbie again. Ellie should have found Tommy hanging dead on one of those poles, and that could have been what softened her up to let Abby and Lev go.
Tommy could barely walk around, no way could he get all the way to california. Ellie was losing her mind at that point, and she was already there. Joel's beaten head flashed and she just couldn't leave at that point knowing Abby was right there and not in good shape to fight.
I ended up really liking Abby. ND did a fantastic job overall contextualizing her and providing her depth. Conversely, I ended up disliking Ellie more as the plot progressed. Though at the same time, I understood her motivations, despite personally disagreeing with them at times.
Gameplay wise, I liked how ND differentiated their playstyles via their loadouts. During the Abby vs. Ellie fight, when I got nailed with the proximity bombs, I was so salty. Which then made me sympathetic to all the enemies I killed using them LOL, brutal way to go.
Gameplay wise, I liked how ND differentiated their playstyles via their loadouts. During the Abby vs. Ellie fight, when I got nailed with the proximity bombs, I was so salty. Which then made me sympathetic to all the enemies I killed using them LOL, brutal way to go.
The second half of the game is stronger than the first, but I care for both characters equally.
Though, at the end, if I had to pick between them, if one had to die, I would have had Abby defend herself and kill Ellie at the beach.
That was just brutal of Ellie. And at that point I had a hard time caring much for her.
Though, at the end, if I had to pick between them, if one had to die, I would have had Abby defend herself and kill Ellie at the beach.
That was just brutal of Ellie. And at that point I had a hard time caring much for her.
? The whole reason he visited was because he couldn't go there himself due to how physically messed up he was.
I think the second half might be stronger, but while playing it i couldn't focus on it because i just wanted to get back to where i left the story at the end of Seattle day 3.1.
And that's also because I could never bring myself to care about Abby at all, until the very last confrontation with her when i felt some sympathy I just wanted her to die horrible ways all the time after that Joel beating.
The attachment to Ellie and Joel was way too strong, I just wanted Abby to die and die she did !
When I had to fight Ellie in the theatre I let Ellie kill Abby a dozen times and made that my headcanon, fearing what was going to come.
In the end things went...uh...somewhat better than i expected
#FuckAbby a million times. Lev is alright I guess.
And that's also because I could never bring myself to care about Abby at all, until the very last confrontation with her when i felt some sympathy I just wanted her to die horrible ways all the time after that Joel beating.
The attachment to Ellie and Joel was way too strong, I just wanted Abby to die and die she did !
When I had to fight Ellie in the theatre I let Ellie kill Abby a dozen times and made that my headcanon, fearing what was going to come.
In the end things went...uh...somewhat better than i expected
#FuckAbby a million times. Lev is alright I guess.
I really did not like Ellie all that much in part 2. But that's the intention. We knew before that Joel was not a good person. And then Ellie goes on this killing spree in Seattle. That scene with Nora... Sheeeeesh.
And then Abby's half starts and you discover that all these people that get killed by the most fucked up way are super likable characters and maaaaaan that's when I started hating on Ellie lol.
Also Abby's Half has the better setpieces and pacing and made the game on of my favorite games to experience ever. The way ND created this story and both perspectives is just perfect.
And then Abby's half starts and you discover that all these people that get killed by the most fucked up way are super likable characters and maaaaaan that's when I started hating on Ellie lol.
Also Abby's Half has the better setpieces and pacing and made the game on of my favorite games to experience ever. The way ND created this story and both perspectives is just perfect.
Yeah it's a shame Tommy is a real person who was actually injured.
Not even regular likable, SUPER likable characters in the wlf group? Like... who? The dog...? This is the polar opposite to my experience
Like, both of them take horrible dicisions that only serves to hurt themselves and others, but ethically I think Abby is more justified........... But damn, I can't bring myself to choose her over Ellie. Too much history with her and Joel.
(also the pacing issues of the game meant I enjoyed the Ellie half and Ellie "post-second-half" more than the Abby half)
(also the pacing issues of the game meant I enjoyed the Ellie half and Ellie "post-second-half" more than the Abby half)
Right? They did all they could to make people feel like they were having more fun with Abby by making her segments actually interesting. How could you not absolutely love her reaction to the Seraphite Bridges?
Lev and Yara are also great. Running through the middle of the WLF and Seraphite battle was amazing.
Ellie's sections are downright boring by comparison.
Team Neither. No one is a nice person in this game. Protagonist wise I mean. Both are sucked into a cycle of revenge and hatred. Come to the end I was prepared for both of them to die. If I had to pick I would be Team Abby. I was expecting Ellie to blow her brains out at the end. She had done so much killing and has nothing to show for it but PTSD. She found no meaning to her life. I hope she goes off and has a quiet peaceful life somewhere. Abby has at least something to work towards. But I only finished this last night so it's still raw. I might come to different conclusions down the road.
I was team #FuckJoel already at the end of TLOU1, so when he got killed I just felt he had simply reaped what he sowed. Obviously that would make me #TeamAbby by default, but she's also the more interesting, human and sympathetic character. I especially don't like that Ellie understands that he should have let her die, but then goes on a no hold barred roaring rampage of revenge when what went around eventually comes around. When it is revealed that she did know about what Joel did, I felt her actions up to that point were a lot harder to justify, making me lose quite a bit of empathy towards her.
That's not to say Ellie is not otherwise very well written, like almost every character in the game, or that it isn't fucked up that Abby tortures to death the guy that saved her five minutes ago. The game is entirely about gray morality, so like lvl 99 Pixel says, I'm quite freaked out by people cheering for the murder of any of these characters which are first and foremost tragic victims of their circumstances. In another thread I saw someone cheering when Ellie murders a pregnant woman and tortures another to death, literally saying "fuck them" because they were there when Abby killed Joel. What the fuck is wrong with people?
I agree; he's just a videogame character, he should just have grabbed a chicken and healed, then get a Super Mario cape powerup and fly all the way to California.
That's not to say Ellie is not otherwise very well written, like almost every character in the game, or that it isn't fucked up that Abby tortures to death the guy that saved her five minutes ago. The game is entirely about gray morality, so like lvl 99 Pixel says, I'm quite freaked out by people cheering for the murder of any of these characters which are first and foremost tragic victims of their circumstances. In another thread I saw someone cheering when Ellie murders a pregnant woman and tortures another to death, literally saying "fuck them" because they were there when Abby killed Joel. What the fuck is wrong with people?
I agree; he's just a videogame character, he should just have grabbed a chicken and healed, then get a Super Mario cape powerup and fly all the way to California.
Just finished it this morning.
I preferred the exploration and immersive sim aspects of the first half (I really wish there were more areas like Downtown Seattle - this was my favorite part of the game). But during Seattle Day 3, the incredibly slow pacing and increasingly dreary setting was starting to wear on me. Once it was clear there was still a lot of game left, I was definitely concerned that this game might turn into a slog.
But I thought the combat encounters and overall pacing were superior in the second half. I also felt the supporting characters were way more developed and fleshed out in Abby's portion of the campaign, and I applaud the game for taking a character I wanted to see dead and making her sympathetic and, eventually, likable.
So put me down for #TeamA, but it's close!
I preferred the exploration and immersive sim aspects of the first half (I really wish there were more areas like Downtown Seattle - this was my favorite part of the game). But during Seattle Day 3, the incredibly slow pacing and increasingly dreary setting was starting to wear on me. Once it was clear there was still a lot of game left, I was definitely concerned that this game might turn into a slog.
But I thought the combat encounters and overall pacing were superior in the second half. I also felt the supporting characters were way more developed and fleshed out in Abby's portion of the campaign, and I applaud the game for taking a character I wanted to see dead and making her sympathetic and, eventually, likable.
So put me down for #TeamA, but it's close!
Abby needed a full game for me to even think about joining her team. It's hard to shake off my shade towards her even through her section. And I'm sorry but I can't stand anyone from her circle of friends. It's a hard nah. We already have so many smart ass, dick-ish but a sweetie characters in TLOU, can we mix it up please. And a personal take here that's very subjective, but I think their casting for those characters are a bit off. They look cheap to me.
Neither poll option. I preferred the second half as it felt paced lots better but I liked both Ellie and Abby. The order of events was so jarring that deaths etc would happen with some characters that were meant to be shocking that I just didn't care about. Some worked with the new context, others didn't. I wasn't able to get over how phenomenally stupid it was for a pregnant woman to willingly go into battle against zombies, guns and arrows then climb up all sorts of shit, balance of beams 30m high etc. Unbelievably stupid.
Ellie was fucking selfish whenever there wasn't a gun pointed towards her head. Abby always put her friends first. Ellie said to Jesse it was ok to let Abby go and just look for Tommy but 5 minutes later completely go back on her word, even though Jesse just displayed how he would go to the ends of the world for his friends.
Abby sucked until Lev and Yara showed up. Ellie was great until she walked out on Dina and JJ. I like Ellie's move set and equipment better than Abby's, but I thought Abby had the better gameplay sections. Ellie at the museum is the best character/story section.
Ellie throwing it all away in the end loses it for her though. Voted team Abby. If there is a sequel I want it to be Abby and Lev.
Ellie throwing it all away in the end loses it for her though. Voted team Abby. If there is a sequel I want it to be Abby and Lev.
Surprised the poll isn't more one sided actually, pretty cool to see.
My own opinion (I went full blackout on this game too so bad no idea you played both, apart from the special edition Steelbook heavily hinting at it which sucks but that's beside the point) was that the Abby section really dragged. I felt no real connection to her narrative or the characters in it, and honestly felt that entire "see the other side" could have been slimmed down into an hour or so at most. It soured my view on the game which was otherwise very positive until that point. I did enjoy her combat style and gameplay, but just didn't care about Owen or Mel etc. In fact I felt visually they appeared way more wooden and video gamey too than the game's other characters. That whole portion for me just felt like it'd been added mid-way through development.
My own opinion (I went full blackout on this game too so bad no idea you played both, apart from the special edition Steelbook heavily hinting at it which sucks but that's beside the point) was that the Abby section really dragged. I felt no real connection to her narrative or the characters in it, and honestly felt that entire "see the other side" could have been slimmed down into an hour or so at most. It soured my view on the game which was otherwise very positive until that point. I did enjoy her combat style and gameplay, but just didn't care about Owen or Mel etc. In fact I felt visually they appeared way more wooden and video gamey too than the game's other characters. That whole portion for me just felt like it'd been added mid-way through development.
I wish Team Neither was an option. They're both bad people, but Abby I guess has the better chance of redemption... because Ellie is long past that. Had her chance and threw it away because she has a death wish.
I guess Team Abby? It's so hard. Her need for revenge got all of he friends killed. Idk. Team Abby I guess.
I guess Team Abby? It's so hard. Her need for revenge got all of he friends killed. Idk. Team Abby I guess.
Abby: *unnecessarily tortures Joel before killing him*
OP: "For the things she goes through you just have to love her because she is a genuine good human being."
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For me this whole story was super depressing and I don't think I can go back to the game for the New Game+ ever again. Which is very sad because TLOU was my favorite game ever and finished it like 3-4 times.
OP: "For the things she goes through you just have to love her because she is a genuine good human being."
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For me this whole story was super depressing and I don't think I can go back to the game for the New Game+ ever again. Which is very sad because TLOU was my favorite game ever and finished it like 3-4 times.
I definitely didn't want either character to die or really "succeed" over the other, but I'm gonna go with Abby. She still lets Ellie live twice, and her half of the game is more varied, more exciting, and has better sequences and set pieces. The sky bridge, getting rescued in the forest by Lev and Yara and desperately fighting infected to escape, the quarantined hospital basement with the Rat King boss fight, the sniper encounter with Tommy, fighting through the war zone in the Seraphite Haven, and eventually fighting Ellie like David from TLOU1... All so, so awesome. Ellie has some great sequences too like the underground segments with the Shamblers on Day 1, the boat traversal on Day 3, and the incredibly tense fights against the Seraphites and WLF on Day 2, but a lot of her sequences aren't as thematically inspired by the story or as emotional as Abby's sequences. The first fight against the WLF as Abby after Yara dies is a pretty guerrilla-warfare style Ellie-esque encounter, but the context and momentum of the story leading up to that part as Abby give it a totally enhanced flavor.
OP
OP
Joel killed her father.
Do we really need to list the number of Ellie´s "missteps" in her (totally unsuccessful) quest for revenge?
Ellie has the stronger campaign; while I liked Abbys as well, the structure of the gameplay (talk/walk, then ambush/fight) got insanely monotonous by the time I was midway through Abby.
however, I liked Abby more towards the end and even wanted her to kill Ellie especially during the final beach fight.
however, I liked Abby more towards the end and even wanted her to kill Ellie especially during the final beach fight.
Yeah. They did everything they could to manipulate the player into empathizing with and liking Abby.
