Pretty much, and the irony here is I personally didn't even find the story all that special or great. It's fine, it works, it's very well produced and fancy looking, and the performances are outrageously good, but it wears its intentions on its sleeve right from start and spends like 30 fucking hours beating you over the head with it. And this is an extension of ideas from the last game that was hardly subtle either. I'm just baffled at how much of this goes over peoples heads, particularly people who elevate Joel to this untouchable heroism yet detest Abby's intoxication with revenge.
You're not supposed to leave the credits rolling on "The Last of Us" thinking "MAN FUCK JOEL IS SO COOL WHAT A GREAT GUY HE'S A PERFECT HERO HOLY CRAP WHAT A MAN'S MAN TRUE AMERICAN COWBOY HERO HERE TO SAVE THE DAY HELL YEAH SHOOT THEM SURGEONS". You're supposed to feel conflicted that a person who has done many unforgivably awful terrible monstrous things to innocent people just also did something incredibly violent and destructive for reasons born of love rather than hate and it might have been the right thing or maybe it was the wrong thing but it is what it is. Abby is literally the same character framed under different circumstances; she abandons pursuit of a future and personal growth to become intoxicated with revenge which ultimately leads to violence, and only finds a personal salvation in reconnecting with a love for humanity and trying to return to her roots.
If Joel saved an innocent kid, Abby did too. And they're both murderers.
I know this post will sound condescending, but having read your thoughtful and detailed posts for years (even if I don't necessarily agree with all of them), bear in mind you're saying this as someone who's likely smarter than the typical audience member or gamer playing this game. Your understanding or analysis of narrative and character nuance, morality, conflict, critical thinking ability etc, is likely a bit more comprehensive than many out there.
As such, perhaps try and look at things from a broader, more casual perspective, which is the challenge Druckmann and Gross would have faced.
The reality is, TLOU2's story and writing is actually still
too nuanced and subtle for countless people out there.
Some still spectacularly missed the points and themes drawn, including those you referenced in your post, and yet your complaint is that the game wore its intentions too blatantly.
I think there's an argument to be made that actually, for some or many, it didn't wear them obviously enough. But then that goes down the rabbit hole of having to diminish writing quality or realism, in order to pander to less astute audiences, which I think would be the wrong move too.
Point is, some actually need to be spoon fed narrative context in a more on the nose way in order to have a chance at understanding it, and I think TLOU2 struck a pretty good balance between realism, informative delivery and allowing for subjective interpretation.
As I stated earlier, in the end, based on much of the reaction, it turns out Druckmann didn't over-sell Abby's destruction and redemption (not to mention parallels to Joel) to account for gamers excess of empathy, instead he under-sold it, failing to account for countless gamers
lack of empathy.
Likewise, he didn't over-sell Ellie's PTSD, breakdown and suffering. For many he still undersold it, as some were still seemingly incapable of understanding why she would continue to seek out Abby despite having what some deemed as a cozy, comfortable life with Dina and the baby, somehow completely ignoring the PTSD episodes, her not being able to eat, sleep, function etc.
And this sort of thing extends to many other narrative beats as well, eg the complaint about Joel being too trusting of Abby's crew. The whole living in a nice community for 4 years, having Ellie, trading with countless friendly outsiders, working with Abby to escape the storm etc, were all not enough for some to appreciate why Joel might be more trusting, instead they needed these things to be made more blatantly clear. The context was too subtle.
So whilst I understand some of the themes may have been a tad too on the nose for yourself and a couple of others on this forum I enjoy posts from, I think for certain broader audiences, ironically, it may not have been obvious enough.
