Giving The Last Of Us 2 One More Chance! 

Your single comment did a better job of breaking it down than my 40 minute video 😅 thank you for taking the time and picking up on what I was trying to achieve with this essay. TLOU2 is such a polarizing game and will be talked about for years I feel.

@@TheGh0stType Don't worry bud. I've had about 2 years to digest the themes of this game and have wrote a similar coment on many other videos. You made a great video and earned a like and sub from my part. Hope to see more of you in the future.

@@TheGh0stType I just finished the game for the first time yesterday and I feel it waas polarizing for all the wrong reasons. I heard so much about the "wokeness" of the game and how it ruined it, but that couldn't be further from the truth, in the end you don't care about that stuff because the story is so much more than if Ellie likes girls or guys. I felt the same as you about playing as Abby, it was a huge shock and I felt completely disconnected from her at first, I was just thinking I still wanted her to die, but during the final fight I was just thinking: why is Ellie doing this? Why can't both live and have happy lives? And almost shocked at myself for beating up Abby. Such a genius thing to make you connect to both sides. Also, we get another glimpse at how this cycle of violence ruins lives with Tommy. When he comes to visit Ellie and Dina at the farm he's clearly obsessed with finding Abby so much so that Maria has left him.

Great comment and breakdown, i personally loved both parts, the way these games draw on your feelings is something i never experienced, ellies rage sends her on the same path that abby had just took, and the game shows how it changed both women, i liked how it shows abby trying to regain the humanity she lost with her rage for joel, and losing all her friends was the conciquence she paid, and ellies rage leaving her on her own, a similar fate to abby, it did a good job of the back stories to make you have a better understanding of how thier paths were forced to cross by revenge for a kinda selfish act due to the bond joel felt with ellie and couldnt bare to let her die for the greater good, but losing his daughter years before had broken him and he couldnt do it again, , cant wait to see where part 3 goes with the continued story!!!!

@@shanespeller7702 pains cycle of hatred

I think it’s also hating Abby for literally bashing Joel’s head in right in front of her…

@@walterrosales8025 lmao that gave me a good chuckle

Yup, reading the journal basically shows how much she hates that she isnt grieving enough for Joel or agree enough of killing enough. She is super angry that she never got that chance to really work through her issues with Joel.

@@walterrosales8025 Eh, I dont think so. She had two chances to kill Abby and didnt. Her anger is more at herself and not getting the chances to fix her relationship with Joel.

yeah totally not for abby bashing him in the head with a golf club infront of her. ellie = revenge bad abby = revenge good

This was def part of my take as well. What a lot of people thought was the rage I felt as a visceral guilt and emptiness.

Been telling people this for years 😂

Yeah the story is the process about grief and the vicious cycle of revenge

@@theoutsiderjess4869 yeah it’s a hard theme for a lot of people to live with while playing. It isn’t clean and doesn’t end with a Disney ending. It’s a very hard game to play if you’d had trauma in your life. That’s why it resonates so much with me.

@@theoutsiderjess4869 Absolutely! It's 100% about overcoming trauma - the reason why Ellie was so upset at Joel is because she was so traumatized by her journey (losing Riley then Tess then Sam + nearly being raped or eaten by David), and needed it all to be worth it. The reason why Abby kills Joel is because she thinks it'll make the nightmares stop but what actually helps alleviate her trauma is saving Lev and Yara. The reason why Ellie goes to Santa Barbara isn't because of Tommy (she was probably always going to go), but because she needed to find some way to overcome Joel's death. People who say that this game was telling a simplistic message about "revenge" missed the point entirely

My English teacher playing the last of us be like:

​@@katlyndobransky2419 wat

Not that deep lmaoo

@@SavyGaming905 I mean it makes sense and it wouldn't be surprising considering how much symbolism is packed into this game

Yeah I guess people were just fed up with a shitty world that felt like it was about to end to then isolate us all completely that the game with no happy ending or hero story to escape life was too much. When we are so exhausted like in 2020 we want to escape reality and go into a fun, loving, beautiful story world - like how people in the 50s after the war were watching happy romances in cinemas.

The timing was pretty unfavorable for sure. But i still think naughty dog should've put the Abby scenes earlier and make Joels demise somewhere around the mid part of the game.

@@diogitalk I don't feel like this would have benefited the game. The point is that you need to hate Abby right off the bat, and you struggle to sympathise with her character initially because, like Ellie, you don't know her story. All you know is she killed Joel and you need to avenge him. This is my favourite game of all time, but even I can't ignore that the pacing of the game struggles at several points. But to tell the story that they're telling, I don't think there's much they could do to help the pacing, and I truly think changing the order of events would hinder the story more than help it.

@@Jaesee fair enough

its one of the most realistic stories ever told in media in my opinion. In real life, people die like that everyday, and the grief and anger the fandom showed was true emotion, the same ellie feels in the game

two sides of the same coin. Abby collects coins. That's how much thought went into this game. Ellie collects hero cards where each character has a gauge of hero to villain, the same gauge that Ellie and Abby stands on.

Well it's a story about false assumptions really, isn't it?

it is a story that is the biggest example of "there are no black and white bad guys, they all are people to and have their reasons". Which is something I really REALLY enjoy. i love to see what makes people take especially the enemies and why they feel a certain way. even if it is a bad explanation I still rather have that then a guy being bad for the sake of it.

@@R4Y2k it’s a story of forgiveness think about it

@@lindseyharvey7285 Its even crazier to thino abt. Because the majority of the cards Ellie collects arent pure heroes/villains but mostly neutral, mirroring the real world where everything isnt actually black and white but shades of gray

One of my favorite scenes. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it

Yes, but that’s optional

It's too bad this was an "option." It should have been forced in the main story. Such an incredible scene. ❤🤘

@@yanomsain I have no idea how people could have possibly missed it, even on my grounded difficulty playthrough I went there, what's the point of not going to explore the area of seattle if you are playing the game.

Ï totally in love with Abbey Ï want everyone to survive 15:28

Oof. Whole video went right over your head didn’t it.

@@JamesEatWorld7758 that part in itself is pretty funny, you can acknowledge that and still understand the point of the video

@@isadora6092 people who absolutely love this game have the mindset that they're smarter than everyone else for some reason

@@greigns7781 Most people loved the game, it's the anti-woke crowd that hated it.

@@porter9494 i remember the anti woke calling abby a transgender bcs she have a muscle lol

I agree we have enough hate and ugliness in the world for a video game there should be some sort of a happy ending otherwise what's the point? Basically saying the video game is for an escape mechanism kind of like a movie I mean how many movies do you like where the main character that you've grown to like ends up being a complete psycho? It's it's just not what people look for in terms of escape if you ask me.

I think she already has.

I don’t think we need a part 3 , What I think we need is a sequel on what happened during that 20 year time skip and what Joel did to give Tommy nightmares, Which no doubt in my mind will happen as the plot is too good to let go.

​@@adino2909 never gonna happen, as long as Druckman is at the helm. He detests Joel and the first game. He's a man with a heart of slime and loves nothing more than to destroy and subvert.

​@@videogamesandfilm6821 he created it. Quit crying

Seriously. Joel kills so many people in the first game, some warranted, others perhaps not. It's not even that the game "punishes" Joel for being a bad person, moreso it shows that when you survive long enough in a world like this - this is usually the kind of end you come to.

And he goes down NOT being a survivor, but being a sitting duck who walked into an obvious trap.

People are also acting like he didn’t get a happy ending technically, he got to spend time with Ellie for years…

@@Person-eh9nr he died knowing that she witnessed it. The ending isn’t spending time with Ellie for years, the ending is seeing her screaming his name as he gets his brains bludgeoned out. So no, he kinda didn’t.

Hell, his ending could have been happier if she WASNT there, but he knew she was safe.

I agree she has to forgive herself before she can get over the Joel stuff. Killing Abby wouldn't have brought Joel back and would have just kept the cycle of violence going. Ellie had to break that cycle, even though it was a highly unrewarding ending. I tell a lot of people that The Last of Us isn't about Joel and Ellie It's about a young woman's journey growing up. She was a little girl in the first post-apocalyptic game. Now she's a full-blown woman in the second. The Left behind DLC was one of the best stories they ever told. It filled in so much about Ellie's personality Showed her bite backstory and her experimenting with kissing Riley. She was basically growing up and learning about her sexuality. Learning who she is as a woman. The Last of Us for me is, Ellie's story more than anyone else.

I picked up on that. My issue is it was a long and miserable journey just to tell me something I already knew.

@Frisbee yeah great. Killed a lot of people to get there though. All for a generic and predictable plot.

@Frisbee yeah, and every bit of that was generic and predictable

The secondary message, just like red dead 2 is “revenge is a fool’s game”

Congratulations!

I actually used the last of us part 2 for an essay I wrote for my Uni class. A personality analysis of Ellie. I love how video games are capable of having such complex themes and characters.

Shylock is from The Merchant of Venice, not Othello. The villain of Othello is Iago (arguably Shakespeare’s greatest villain!)

@@jl4968 my mistake haha. Still think Shylock is the better villain tho.

You confuse Merchant of Venice and Othello and got an A+?

what?

How does someone being immune to the virus help or change anything for a common person? Dina being pregnant has immediate, real-world repercussions for herself as well as her partner (Ellie). Ellie being immune is... good for her? Joel killed the only doctor who could do anything with that. That storyline is over. It's like you telling me you'll never go bald. Alright, cool. What do you want me to do with that information? Give you a medal?

@@clarkmichaels822 that's just bad writing the creators went stupid with TLOF 2 dumbest storyline in fictional history

Service a powerful story, or force a story? Did anyone in the history of gameplay ever play this game and not immediately realize what they were doing, roll their eyes, and hate it? Duh, obviously they're trying to show there's two sides to every coin. That doesn't change the fact that this girl tortured and murdered Joel, because he tried to stop her lunatic father, who was about to kill a 14 year old girl without explaining why or giving her a choice in the matter. IF THEY HAD JUST ASKED ELLIE they'd all still be alive. Abby deserved to die. Ellie didn't need half her friends beaten and killed, and lose 2 of her fingers to understand that she shouldn't harbor revenge in her heart.

@@mattm8441 If you're still hellbent on Joel and Abby, then clearly you still haven't completely digested the true meaning of the story, and more specifically Ellie's journey into madness. It wasn't just about forgiving Abby. It was about Ellie learning to forgive herself for not making up to Joel and not allowing herself to accept that what he did was out of the genuine goodness of his heart, despite the repercussions that it caused. Do you not realize that both the Fireflies AND Joel both didn't give Ellie a choice in the matter? Ellie is caught in a tug-of-war between people who are stupid enough to try and save the world, and a guy who will never let another daughter down again - with her stuck in the middle, neither of them in her mind taking her own actual wishes and thoughts into consideration. It's a loophole of trauma, and the effects it can cause. People really need to take a step back, flush themselves clean of all prior knowledge, and allow themselves a bit of perspective to understand what is truly at play with the story. Ellie makes it clear that with the knowledge she had, the entirety of the first game, she wanted to give herself up to something that she found was higher than herself. All the way until the end of Part 2, where she finally lets herself see the situation clearly (After everything is already done and there is no taking back the death caused), she would have been more than happy to die in that hospital bed, like Merlene said. It was the cycle of violence that caused her to see this in the first place, because her mind was so filled with rage against herself, and the world she was forced into. Throughout the entirety of Part 2, you constantly are given glimpses into her and Joel's past that she blissfully chooses to ignore, out of fear. Did you notice the dart boards, or The Turning arcade machine? It isn't just a generic revenge plot, it's a complex ladder of fueled self-hatred in a place where there are no happy endings, or kiss goodbyes, no matter how much you try or want one. To get to her destination, she had to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, blind to herself the entire trek.

@@mediumsoftdrink2866 just so u know man, people will not have the same opinions as you. I understand damn well all of it, still doesn't make me like the game anymore. This goes for all things, opinions will be different for all kinds of people so there is no need for anyone to bash others or anything like that.

@@timeless9499 Oh I’m aware that people have their opinions and they are allowed to have their opinions 100%, of course. Even if you understand it, you may not like it because it’s just not for you or too negative of emotions for some people, and that is 100% valid. There are a lot of valid criticisms about the game too. I’m not saying it isn’t. But if anything, I’ve seen the people who don’t like the game almost religiously bash it and the people who like it as if anybody who enjoys it are stupid for liking it and don’t understand anything about anything. It’s kind of insulting that it’s even been taken as far as death threats and serious personal attacks for a lot of people. I would never go that far over a simple video game story, but some folks are so pent up in their own “opinions” that their bias towards the game really shows in how they treat others when talking about it, and I feel it seriously detracts from understanding the actual story. My comment was in response to the above comment which I disagreed with and found wasn’t exactly what I saw when analyzing the story, so I was trying to explain my own opinion on what the game was trying to say, as I thought some of what they said was incorrect. Again, that is my opinion and they have every right to theirs. Everybody is going to see different things based on their personal bias and own life experiences, but it seems that some people who dislike the games story and call it shit and forceful really are hellbent on shitting on the game, and I don’t think it deserves it, just because somebody didn’t enjoy the direction it took, or it wasn’t what they personally wanted with the story. So because I enjoyed it so much I’ve been dabbling in comment sections to spread the talk about it and maybe change some minds or allow others to see things from a different perspective, which is really exactly what the games story is trying to do. Thanks for the balance tho and reminder that some people won’t budge, and that’s fine.

@@mediumsoftdrink2866 Yeah I agree. I feel that there are people on both sides that can take things way too far. I mean the death threats and such are crazy man. But I will let you know my reason for not liking the game which is probably a reason that most don't have, this about to get personal ngl. I have severe depression and my meds aren't working so I try to focus on happy things and such so that I don't spiral down into a pit. But I guess things like this game, even parts of the first game, bring me back down and basically just fill my mind with the same sadness I've been trying to distract myself from. So hopefully I feel better at some point so that I can enjoy these types of games. Because I know most people say that not everything has a happy ending and that people who are mad at this game obviously don't know that, but me of all people knows what its like to not have a happy ending. However, the gameplay in both games as well as the graphics and mechanics are wonderful, its just the story that doesnt sit right with me, since I know how bad people can be and how dark humans can be sometimes. But, this is probably just a personal reason unlike most people who have different reasons why they didn't like it. Thanks for being passive and not aggressive or anything. Have a good day man

And this right here is the exact point. Understanding and changing perspective. I got very lucky that the point of the video I wanted to make just so happen to be one big theme of the game. I had my idea for this video before giving this game a second chance, I did watch hours of essays and critiques but nothing compared to opening myself up to what the game wanted me to experience and I'm so glad I did. Thank you so much for watching and sharing your thoughts 😊 I'm so moved by the response to this and I was honestly expecting this video to get like 30 views so I'm so blown away and appreciative. I'm going to do my best to make more in depth content like this

@@TheGh0stType You're so damn right. Latching onto the thoughts and feelings of others can be fun but it doesn't really compare to forming your own opinions from your own personal experience. Not many people pick up on Abby's dreams and their significance or the idea that you're supposed to be feeling Ellie's deep hatred. Absolutely adored your perspective and articulate thoughts. Hoping your channel blows up haha subbed and can't wait for more content

@@TheGh0stType TLOU part 2 is garbage, F feminist / LGBT leftist woke nonsense. Nobody was asking for this f leftist college kids drama fest. The game is supposed to be about a post apocalyptic world where people fight for their survival vs a disease that is threatening to kill off mankind. But ohh NOOOO...somehow Niel CUCKMAN and his helper Anita Sarkeesian ( a well known crazy feminist ) were thinking that nah nah... people want actually Bigot sandwiches and stupidly written characters who do stupid things that dont make any sense considering their intelligence and behavior that was established in the first game. Nah nah logic and being consistent be damned, because people don't care about a good written story, nah... people care about feminism and LGBT and bigot sandwiches. ( sarcasm ) Man who in his/her right mind can defend this garbage game??? Only people who are also far leftists crazy people brainwashed by cultural marxism . Have fun working the rest of your life in starbucks ( you wannabe communists ) because that's all you get with your stupid feminist dance course degree. ___________________ I hope Niel cuckman makes a part 3... now that Joel is dead and Ellie as a character is ruined , the game is done, but i hope Cuckman is so delusional that he thinks people actually liked Abby and he makes a part 3 about Abby... lol man will that game be a huge financial floppy, man i hope he really is that stupid.. i would lol so hard. 99,8 % of gamers and TLOU fan base are not interested in your crazy WOKENESS. But keep making it , people will vote with their wallets. And no matter how many FAKE AWARDS you give those WOKE games and movies, fact is people dont consume that shit. Thats why when the story of TLOU part 2 came out , the game went instantly on discount, because people stopped buying that shit. It only sold at the beginning because people were hyped and were thinking the story is actually good based on the first game. But then , the more and more game play people started to see on youtube , the more people stopped buying that shit game. LOL a new game goes on dicount right after 1 or 2 months it came out... lol ...whata flop

@@tanelviil9149 Hard cope

Kind of a shame you needed a video game to learn all this...Maybe go meet some real people Life will deal you all these moments, in real time.

when the game came out I thought abt this a lot. and the only explanation I can come to is there was a lot of people who didn’t understand that Joel’s choice at the end of part 1 was not supposed to be heroic. and I think that everyone just thought we were on the same page. naughty dog assumed we all got that Joel was a good character, not a good guy. but a large group I think played the first game and finished it thinking. “yup, saved my daughter. I see no problems”. we all would’ve done what joel did, that’s what makes the writing so good. too good I guess bc it split everyone down the middle lol

I feel like the main reason i ( and a lot of other people) didnt enjoy the game as much as they should have (cus putting my feelings aside its a great game and i can now appreciate it for what it is) is the fact we didnt get to see ellie actually forgive joel and their relationship get better again either before joel dies or through flashbacks. I dont think it would change too much about the rest of the game but atleast u give ur players an emotional conclusion and some closure about Joel and Ellie before killing him.

@@connerdearing I don't think that people had a misconception of Joel being heroic. Most people both real friends and people I've talked to online had the same reaction to part 1 as I had. Realizing that you were actually playing as "the bad guy" but humans are able to understand that people are only as good as the world at the time allows them to be so compared to most other people you could deal with a lot worse people than Joel. Yes he talks about that he has done some bad things in his life to survive, but you are able to judge him by the standards of the world he is living in. Just like if you watch a show or movie about when Roman empire was at it's highest, you understand that by todays standards not a single person would be considered good. Their empire was built on conquering other countries and taking the soldiers who were still alive, and the rest of their men, women and children as slaves. Or take the Spartans, 300 is not a very historically accurate film but if you know the real history of the Spartans, you might not be on the side of the Persians empire building but you wouldn't be on the side of the Spartans either. I think a big reason why so many people felt the shock from part 2 is because you had been waiting for 7 years to find out what happened after the cut to black in part 1. And in the marketing while there was a lot of speculation that Joel had died in the game after just that first teaser annoucement CGI trailer. All the trailers and marketing made it seem like we were going to at least be getting Joel for a significant part of the story before he would die. I'm not gonna say that I called that he would die so soon, but with Ellie being on a revenge quest and all the gameplay showed her, I didn't think he would last for more than 25% of the game. Even though you do get to spend more time with him in backflashes, just dying the way he did was very hard to accept. And the game now has done a very risky move because onces the shock is over you are ready for revenge, but after half the game and you finally get there. Suddenly you have to replay half the game as the person you want to be fighting against. It's a bold move but it hinges on if by the time you don't get to the theater and even though as I did cared greatly for Lev, I didn't want to fight Ellie and I wanted Ellie to kill me. Then they didn't pull off what was clearly their goal, because at the time I honestly wished that Ellie would kill Abby and then have Lev return with them to Jackson since I really did like his character. If you make me care more about the companion character than you have made me be able to care about the character I'm playing as they have failed their bold move. Not for everyone of course, you clearly didn't have that problem, and as someone who has 100% the game I have went from someone who hated Abby to still not wanting anything to do with her but I learned to accept this is where they wanted the story to go. Another similar example would be Negan from the walking dead I stopped watching not long after, but I know people were furious when Rick let him live. And it was not until the last couple of seasons that they were able to forgive him, some are able to enjoy his character for being that grey person you both hate and can't keep your eyes off. Yes JDM is such a good actor and brought such insane life into the character that people did love to see Negan but many wanted to see him the same way people wanted to see Cersei on GoT, she's a great character but at the end you want her to lose. Abby didn't have to become a good or likable character for people to be able to forgive her for what she did, but the problem was she just was not nowhere near as interesting as the other characters. She felt more like she was a vechile that you used to protect the people you did care about by beating the crap out of humans and infected with her bar hands if you needed to. When it comes to the tv show I'm not expecting them to change it and let Joel live or anything like that, I would however want them to not do what the game did and kill him off in episode 1. I think it will be much smarter to do whatever adapations needs to be done for the story to function as a tv show when it comes to their backstory but tell them in a different order so that you can build up an understanding of Abby, flesh her character out more so that when it happens you still feel the heartbreak so you don't get to the ending and get frustrated that Ellie doesn't get to finish the job.

Joel didn't doom humanity, the fireflies were incompetent terrorists, this is shown throughout the entire first game

@@levelcheap2435 looking at the way he was talking about it at the start of the 2nd game. He didnt agree

Seriously! It’s a very decisive game don’t get me wrong. But the emotions this game put me through no other game has done before, and for that. This is what makes this game one of the greatest of all time. I’ve been telling everyone this game is going to age like fine wine.

@@marcushopkins8558 no it wont. But it‘s still okay to like these Games. There are people who love the Transformers movies and think the overall Story is great. So you‘re not alone with opinions like that. Feel free.

@@blackwolf4653 And i think it’s great that you don’t like it. people sometimes just don’t like to appreciate such unique tales like these, it may be hard for you and there’s no judgment. feel free

@@damimami5144 yeah… i just wished for more intelligent writing. Everything else was 10/10. Gameplay, Music….

@@blackwolf4653 to each their own i always say.

thanks for sharing, since its release i guessed that way more critics would change their mind on it as time went on than fans would in reverse. I love hearing about takes like yours bc man this game has so much to offer, always glad to hear when someone else gets some of the positives from it that i got :)

@@TheFreshTrumpet Same man, I hated this game so much at first, after playing through one more time i like it now but i do not love it though, like it's an 8/10 while part 1 will always be a 10/10 for me

In my opinion if a sequel game takes year to win over fan of the original that means it was written poorly

It’s also little things that people who just love the game miss, after a part one of everyone having trust issues, everyone literally introduces themselves way too much, Ellie leaves a map? Really, they wrote these characters way less intelligent than part 1

@@losreyes8175I mean, the people at Jackson had been living for years periodically accepting new people into their settlement. We also find out Joel traded with others for coffee. It was the norm for them at that point. And remember, Joel in the first game trusted Sam and Henry again even after being betrayed by them once. Why would he not trust someone who hasn’t wronged him yet, after 5 years of peace? As for the map, Ellie dropped it in the struggle and at the end was too shaken up to think about anything. Tommy and Jesse had to snap her out of her daze so she would leave. It wasn’t a “dumb decision”, she didn’t see it and then leave it behind on purpose. She wasn’t mentally in the right place to even think about it.

Same here. That last battle my wife and I were audibly saying 'Ellie stop it, stop it'

Very cool contrast between Joel in the first game and Ellie in the second. Both with a goal in mind but for Joel that goal was driven by his love for Tess and eventually Ellie. While Ellie thinks that her goal is driven by her love for Joel, its actually just blind hate for the person responsible for killing Joel

Yes exactly! She loses Jesse, tommy is literally shot in the head and now crippled, Dina leaves her, all because she couldn't let go of her vengeance. She wasted all her time hating Joel and missed the last few moment of his life with him. And because of her anger, she loses her two fingers so she can't even play the guitar Joel left her. She's consumed by her guilt for wasting the last few moments of Joel's life. It's great story telling. I get the anger at the game, but it's misplaced. Those who hate it aren't processing the grief of losing Joel, the same way Ellie didn't.

The story was hot garbage yo. All of it.

@@KenSamaGomenasai cool

I might have forgotten to mention it in my video (there's a lot I wasn't able to mention) but I believe it was Laura Bailey the actress for Abby who said Ellie's at the beginning of her journey when abbys end. Or something to that degree and it stuck with me, so you're 100% correct!

Abbys found "something to keep fighting for" being lev, Ellie will find that, I'm sure of it 💙

See you in 2030 when part 3 comes out.

Don't know about that chief. It's a tough thing to sell when the game treats ellie's vengeance being worse than abby's

Ellie was such a beloved character in the first game. This version of her kind of soiled my opinion of her. Not because she's good or evil, I've loved both. I wanted to kill Abby, but I didn't want to see Ellie kill herself over it. By the end, Ellie felt...sapped. It felt like such an injustice to her and Joel.

It was done so well but I don't feel like it was a success because of how much was lost in the game. Like a hollow ending.

I liked Owen and I appreciated that he had empathy for others. But honestly he seems to lack empathy for Mel! Cheats on her and leaves to the aquarium without even telling Mel? Who's pregnant with his kid!

​@@mariah.dyou gotta remember the history him and Abby had though, she's known Owen since they were with the fireflies and they've been in love since, that doesn't just go away. It was just pushed to the side because of Abby's obsession with killing Joel

Also when he dies he’s just tryna get the gun,I think he wanted to talk and reason with Ellie,he could have struck her and he was a trained soldier.he never wanted any of this

Yeah, I appreciated Owen more on my second play through, the first time I was so blinded with pure rage I loved all of their deaths. But when he says "listen it's not worth" to Ellie before he gets shot, I feel he truly means it.

Owen was a great character, people screaming he was a scumbag for wanting to be with Abby while Mel was pregnant … well … “he who casts the first stone”

Same. It was such an emotional gut punch that, as much as I loved it, it took a real toll on me emotionally. I want to replay it, but I've got to work myself up to it again. It's like watching Schindler's List - great movie, but not one I want to rewatch often because it's hard, bleak going.

Try grounded mode. It was a whole new experience for me.

yeah definitly a one time thing...

For me it is a matter of liking the story and experiencing it. I really like the story, but not because it is a fun story or a good story. it is depressing, emotional and really though provoking at times. Especially the parts where 2 conflicting views reach each other and class. Like the religion of the scars or the quest for revenge on someone that at first feels like a bad person to the bone but seeing her perspective makes you think about people you may have had a conflict with in real life and now think "was there a reason why they thought so differently from me?" But in the end if you don't let your emotions of good and bad overrule what the game wants you to experience, you get away with so much more then just a really well calculated story.

I think the choosing sides theme is something the story challenges you on. If you’ve picked a side, your already missing the point. Abby has completely justifiable reasons to kill Joel, and throughout her story you learn that she is a human being who helps and hurts people. The same goes for Ellie, who is justified in wanting to kill Abby, but you quickly see how much death she is willing to deal in seeking revenge for a single person’s death. Everyone is flawed in this world, and that’s okay. We are just passengers in their stories and it seems like many people had a problem with there not being easy heroes or villains in the story.

Its absolutely not about spoilers

Yeah I didn’t get it spoiled either. It was incredible. I anticipated Joel’s death but not so early. Incredible game

How was Joel acting out of character. The Joel in the sequel is a different Joel than the first game. In part 1 he’s a disconnected killer that’s lost everything and will do anything to survive. In part two he’s found a surrogate daughter. He’s found a will to live and now he’s not just surviving but thriving, hence his guard being down and him being a lot more docile. It wasn’t forces at all: it was a natural progression. I disagree completely

​@MELE STRANGE yes, he is a different Joel, a Joel that is stupid with a brother that's become even more ridiculously stupid than Joel. It's bad writing, there's no getting away from that.

@@videogamesandfilm6821 stupid how? People bring up Joel giving his real name when he first meets Abby and her group. But they forget Joel also gave out his real name when he had another life and death situation….when he met Henry and same. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a domesticated Joel would give out his real name. People just have selective memory when it fits their own biased narrative.

@MELE STRANGE what the hell are you talking about? The context is completely DIFFERENT!

@MELE STRANGE Joel and Tommy are out on Patrol to search for enemies that might endanger Jackson. They are highly unlikely to bend over to accommodate some random people in any situation like this, and they are highly unlikely to go out in pairs in the first place.

Im so amazed by the amount of different experiences everyone seems to get from playing this game… The first thing I did when i finished it was to play it again, I got so invested in this immersive story and its characters I felt like not wanting to leave…

Wow! Thank you for the compliment! I really appreciate it

(tlou2 fan btw) ah so you have terrible taste

@@laszlokortvelyessy1999 why are you even here in this video if you are so closed minded?

I think that's accurate and well worded and adds to the reason she didn't kill Abby in the end.

Yea but that’s too emotionally deep for most people to grasp so well you know it’s trash 🗑

@@SGhosht To be fair, you have to have a very high EQ to understand tlou2. 😴

There's a lot I wasn't able to cover, maybe in the future I'll make a separate video going further. Personally the rattler section felt very tacked on. It wasn't as strong as Seattle until you get to the ending.

@@TheGh0stType agreed but it was just a nice section of discovery with lev until inevitably it gets shut down. Personally I think the game is brilliant the perfect sequel and as much as we all just wanted more of the first game and I’m with you I went in completely blind nothing spoiled for me and I think that helped me accept it more

@@dereksmidl8352 it definitely was a journey and I am glad I was able to get over my initial judgment and play the game fully and as more time passes I think the more I accept it. Even since recording this I think my opinion of the game is more positive. With that said I hope this isn't where the story ends for these characters. I dont know what story they would tell but I selfeshly want more.

@@TheGh0stType agreed and I was afraid they’d ruin the first game by making a sequel and they excelled so so have faith in them to do it yet again somehow

The game sort of gives you this hopeless feeing at every end, so why would it be different for Abby? Elie lost just about everything special she had, so why would Abby be different in this regard. The prologue should have shown Abby reaching whatever other place she was heading towards, only to find out overrun and ransacked, without any shadow of hope. Her new mission, the thing she fought so “bravely” to acquire ends up being a dead end. She killed herself and that punk kid Lev with her actions, only slowly as they both are too injured to progress and they die a slow and painful death. Naughty dog and Neil cuckman enjoy nihilism, right? What better way to nihilistically end their game as to make everyone suffer and have a shitty end. Not only elie, but everyone. It is only fair, right? None are good people, so none deserve a good ending. That’s their logic, so let’s be consistent.

When I first played this I was definitely more on ellies side rather than my second play through

@nos_astra 100% agree. I also wonder if your reaction to the end of Part I plays a role. I always hated killing all the fireflies as Joel, and even though I was devastated when he died, I wasn't shocked in the slightest. And I was also iffy on the whole revenge quest...when she separated from Jesse I was like, "what's the point anymore?" So so curious about Part III. Agree that I don't really wanna play as Ellie either!

Sorry but, you fundamentally don’t understand why myself and many others hated this game

@@dickhanson957 and you don't understand his interpretation of the game, not everyone has to agree...

@@aroidpapa no, I do. And I agree with that interpretation. I just didn’t like it. It wasn’t because I thought Ellie’s quest for vengeance was justified.

But it does not feel real. Its story acted and not lived by characters

I think there are a lot of us that absolutely love this game. Maybe we're not as loud as the contingent that hates it for some reason. But we're here.

The gameplay is so awesome. Even with the bad story, it's still amazing.

@@ParagonGorilla bad story?

One of my favourite parts about Part II is how it was willing to constantly drop the kiddy gloves when it comes to portraying violence and brutality in its cutscenes as much as it’s gameplay. You could say a lot of things about the story, but jarring isn’t one of them. In Part I, whilst the game lets you blow off the limbs of both people and Infected in full gory detail, the times that it goes off that in the cutscenes feel kind of out of place IMO like with David’s death. While it is completely understandable why they never show us the aftermath, it can feel like a huge cocktease considering how horrible he was to us in the game and how the game was willing to show so much violence before that. Part II does no such thing. You get to see how monstrous the act of killing Joel is by showing it to you close up, and even in a freeze frame in the end. The closest it does is not letting you see Nora’s wounds after being brutalized by Ellie, but even then the game is still immersive primarily due to the elements working in tandem with each other, like the music that gets louder and louder the more you beat Nora and you having to do the attacks yourself. It reminds me of Michael Haneke’s Cache (a strong, STRONG recommend by the way), where there are scenes of brutal violence that leave you to fill the blanks of how the violence is connected to story by stewing in those scenes where the violence happens, rather than the other way around. In Part II, the immersion is consistent throughout and I love it for that.

@@mackielunkey2205 I think this is one of the reasons the game is hard to digest for some people. It's brutal and the game exists in a depressing world and the game is depressing. I personally love the atmosphere the game creates, it actively made me feel in line with the characters which is hard to pull off. I don't blame people who don't enjoy it but I feel like a lot of people write it off, labeling it as a simple revenge story when it's doing so much more.

You're too kind! Thank you so much! These games are really something special!

Well said

Why would you watch this if you haven’t played it yet?? Ffs. Way to ruin one of the best games ever made for yourself 🤦‍♂️

I really appreciate that! Thank you

watched your video and i have to say, good job....but your wrong, why "Last of us part 2" stuck with us was because of Naughty dogs betray and false advertisement, and worse the character assassination of Joel, he isn't Joel because he doesn't act like Joel, Joel doesn't give his name out, Joel knows what a trap is, he knowns not to trust strangers....im sorry, but i disagree.

@@GunManGunHand Actually, the people of Jackson were already accepting new people into their town and trading with others. Joel and Ellie had been in that town for around 4 years by the time Part II takes place, and the last scene between Ellie and Joel proves that Joel had started trusting people as well as he said that he had traded things to people who were passing through for the coffee he was drinking.

I totally agree. It wasn’t even necessary revenge is bad it’s more like revenge damages not only the person you seek revenge against but yourself and your loved ones. That PTSD is complex and can be all encompassing and not rational. I didn’t find Abby to be incredibly redeemable especially since at the end of the game she could have attempted a conversation or outright apology before or after the fight like you know exactly what Ellie is going through SAY SOMETHING.

What's funny is the same gamers who hate this game and think all of the positive reviews were paid for are also the same gamers who would say ''The LOU is great look at all the positive reviews''. If a game they like gets a good review then that reviewer is a good reviewer. If a game they don't like gets a good review then it's obviously a big conspiracy and that reviewer s cks.

@@williamgregg6339 Yea exactly! Like I had a friend who spouted off the same bs woke/revenge is bad/punishing players/etc but I'm like how far are you into the game AND THEY HADNT EVEN PLAYED IT just repeating reddit talking points

@@chelsieo1342 - Wow they admitted they didn't even play it? Usually they lie. Everyone was super excited for the game until they found out about Joel dying. Once they found out all of a sudden they are saying Abbey is a transexual and the game is woke and it will be bad. Then everytime it got a good review that review must be paid for. Someone should explain to them what a opinion is because they obviously don't know what one is.

Well in order to even try to have a conversation and think critically about the game in the first place, you first have to sift through the 99% of people hating the game for politically motivated reasons first. And unfortunately, most people just side with the initial mob rather than look and see things for themselves.

You forget they lied in the original marketing campaign? That's the bs. Anyone can put whatever spin they want on the game. Sure it looks great graphically, game play mechanics, but no. They greatly damaged this franchise and lost a huge chunk of the fan base

@@tyemaddog bro thinks naughty dog is the first company to dishonestly market their product. COD is a money making Titan and any dishonesty they’ve had throughout the years is easily swept under the rug. That isn’t to say it’s not bad but as usual people just hating on naughty dog. You thought Joel was gonna be playable and he wasn’t. And the story this game was trying to tell us all the better for it

@@brandonclarke436 I don’t want to fuel whatever this is turning into but COD is nowhere near LOU. Don’t get me wrong, I love both games but story wise they don’t even play the same. It’s why when LOU initially many said they felt like they were playing a movie. That can’t be said for COD, regardless of installment I’m playing to shoot and carry out missions. For Last of Us, I’m playing for the story and it’s gameplay comes very close to second. COD doesn’t integrate in the same way as LOU. Both games did false marketing but Activisons’ reasons are not the same as ND.

@@alexwilliams2276 I 100% agree that COD is nothing like TLOU

@@brandonclarke436 If you agree TOU is nothing like COD then why did you bring it up???

Thanks so much I really appreciate it!

I agree

Play more games 💀

​@@EpicMinecraftFail i've played most big releases for the past 20 years and this is easily the best story-driven game. what's better?

@@jonjino literally almost everything else, you said 20 years, the whole uncharted franchise, legend of zelda, The last of us part 1, Red dead 1 and 2, golden eye(for the nintendo64) , The witcher, shadow of the colossus, Kingdom hearts, Final Fantasy, Gta franchise, God of war franchise, Bloodborne, Resident evil 4, Mass effect franchise, hell even the fps shooters back then were better, Bioshock, killzone, resistance, and so on, i just named a few, because you asked, but i dont want to start anything, i know some of these are also open worlds and rpg's, but they all got a story to tell, and they were better in my opinion, if you say just linear narrative then take Tlou part 1, Red dead 1 and 2, they were by far better(my opinion) [Edit] i know Red dead 1 and 2 are also open world games, but their Story is just to good

@@OA.111 You are off your head if you think Uncharted has a better story than The Last of Us 2. Media is created to explore themes and challenge us, just because it upset you that Joel died doesn't make it a bad story, it's supposed to hurt its not a Disney movie

@@DGTLCLANGAMING Hahah, there it is, "just because Joel died", i knew that line was going to be in your comment, you blind defenders just want to think that Joel is the only reason, because if it just were for Joel than the whole f*ing story were atleast a bit better, but sadly that aint the truth buddy, i could write you a whole book of things, that didn't make sense ore were way of in this game, there are so many wrongs and things that just are not logicall, it's as if the first game never happened, but f*ck it im gonna write some of the things down that made this game a pile of shit for me, aswell as many others( you call haters), ore else this game wouldn't be the most controversial game out there, first of all it's crazy how much they tried to demonize ellie and succeeded, but look Abby is good, throughout the whole fu*ing game they just shittet on the main characters, so they could implement Abbys character in the f*ing game, and don't get me started on her ass, she f*ing has so much plot armor throughout the whole game, not just her, but she has the most and it's so obvious how they trie to manipulate the players in liking her, with little things like peting dogs on her side but when you play as ellie you kill them merciless, things like that throughout the whole game, and like i said these characters have so much plot armor, all of them could've died easily within the first 3hour's like Joel did, at the beginning of the story, you see where this shit is going, they have this revenge shit so up their asses, it's ridiculous. Plus those characters were not a bit entertaining, no one cared about them, why should we, oh just because Joel killed her f*ing npc father at the end of the first one, that f*ing idiot would've killed a f*ing child for a cause, thats not guaranteed, all of them Fireflies, Abby to, how she encouraged him, if it were Abby instead of ellie, i bet my whole life that he would never let his child die, for something that may not even happen, and no im not saying it was good what Joel did ore that he was a nice person, bt it was neccesary, i would do the same to save my daughter/surrogate daughter doesn't matter, he was atleast a better character than her if not a person, but who is in a world like The last of us's, no one is,they do horrible things to survive, and Abby nor her friends are any different, she didn't even once felt remorse for the shit she did throughout the whole game, her friends died because of her, and they had it coming anyways, did they really think, they kill a father infront of her daughter and brother, let them live, and then all is going to be good,they had it coming, Mel that bitch didn't even give a f*ck about her child ore else sge wouldn't be on the f*ing front throughout the whole game, Owen that cheating piss of shit, ore manny none of them were good character ore characters that we gave a f*ck about, the whole pacing of the game is so off to, there are to many things, but i'm not going to say all of em, ore else, like i said, i could write an whole book, if you want you can watch Tissan Young he did summon all up, then you maybe see why we(you call haters) just don't like the game, you could also watch angryjoe's review about it, if you don't want to, i don't give a flying f*ck buddy

Seeing the situation of the horde that swarmed them and the lifestyle of Jackson i would understand why they would have their guard down and give their names. Traders and outsiders are common to Jackson. Joel specifically has had time to be a normal person/dad again and it speaks to the power of his love for Ellie that he changed (he jokes more, drinks coffee, plays the guitar etc..). Just compare how he lives at the beginning of p1 vs p2 flashbacks is proof of that. Plus Abby already knew his name before that point, it would have been useless to lie.

@Thelolinator872 Trust me when I say this, I knew you would say something like that, but using a character like that knowing it grows on everyone to be cut down that easily as a plot device for a buff ass chick (because that's a thing now in an Apocalyptic events you need a gym to get toned as a chick) with an NPC father no one cared or knew about is a major no for the audience, what could've been a better plot point was choices, him saving Abby and then on the road the choices you make in relation with her determines whether you have Abby forgive Joel or kill him later, that whole bullshit about 5 years adapting to a comfortable life then just trusting all your information to the outside world is beyond me, I don't give a fck how comfortable my life is, you never trust no one on the outside

@@corrollasful im not saying i think he would just trust them with his whole life he just gave his first name. how is he supposed to know that would set off this group of ppl (that some already introduced themselves to them) off. how many people he must have introduced his name to at Jackson and how many ppl know his name anyways i dont understand why that is the point you try to make. And Abby only exists as a point the game tries to make of the greyness of morals/ right and wrong the world creates in ppl now. She isnt as interesting if everyone liked her and gained sympathy first for her leading up to killing Joel. The point is to hate her from the beginning of the game then see her side. And it worked cuz people are still mad lmao

​@@corrollasful Dude, it's a video game, chill 😂

@Jesusis_King03 Ya bro don't trip, if someone spits on your burger that you actually "bought" and you take a bite and find out later, I'm gonna say Dude chill it's just a burger 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you! I really appreciate that!

We could have had the sequel sooner if Neil Drunkwoman didn’t get jealous of the first games writer and take the hob for himself 🤌

“Overlooked” no they can see it, they just think it’s badly done

How well written? 😂😂😂

That was a lie Neil Druckmann said they’re both about love

@@TheJoker-bz3msYou’re gonna have to prove why the second game was about love. Because it’s most certainly not.

For me, both games are about how love is complicated. Love isn't magically always a good thing, it doesn't always makes us do nice things, it won't save us. Ellie's hatred for Abby was because of her love for Joel, Abby's hatred for Joel was because of her love for her dad. Both of them threw themselves into a meatgrinder for love and the hatred that came from that love.

@@beakfast6978 You don't go on a killing spree because the person they killed was someone you had no strong feelings for one way or another. The only reason Ellie did what she did was because she loved Joel, and the only reason Abby did what she did was because she loved her dad. It's why the first trailer gave away that Joel was going to die: who else did Ellie care about so much that she was going to 'kill them all'?

How they killed Joel and the ending were both good.

@@krasmasov6852 maybe for you, but not for most

@mastercreas5774 Nah nope. Don't pretend your personal opinion is shared by most

@@krasmasov6852 so long as you do the same

​@@mastercreas5774Nah. I'm always right

That's a good point, I'd also like to say that if Abby was "hot" in a traditional sense, people wouldn't have been bothered by the sex scene. It's kind of funny actually. Sex scenes are okay when they exist only to tittilate the viewer/player, but if it exists solely for the characters and not for the viewer/player then some players complain.

I hate this idea nowadays that art needs to be universally liked. Lowest common denominator bullshit like the Marvel movies. Good art asks questions without offering the answer. People who want art to answer itself are assholes.

Big agree, also, while it does show how smart and introspective Ellie is (to an extent) she knows NONE of Abby's story, other than joel killed the fireflies. The 8ish hours as abby mean nothing to her plotline, and that drives me crazy

@@KiraAotsuki yeah, Ellie doesn’t know any of this, Abby’s perspective is purely for the player in a story about Ellie. The fact that it comes at the climax of the story and splits the falling action of Ellie’s story away by 8 hours also doesn’t help. If they wanted to keep this in then put it in side by side, play a mission as Abby then one as Ellie catching up, it would add more to the emotional value rather than seeing characters you killed hours ago again, whom you have no emotions towards because you forgot all about them.

It was almost as if Ellie's flashback sequences were done for damage control after they were like, "oops, maybe, people won't like that we murdered Joel (we're already neck deep in production before we realized this)"

I think there were honestly more people who loved it than notz they just weren't the loudest voices complaining on Twitter and RU-vid and whatnot. I have 4 friends who played it and only 1 of us disliked it. It's personally my favorite game of all time

@@lightningmonky7674 I agree with you. It's a double-edged sword when all I heard or saw was the opposite of what I thought to be a fantastic sequel to the story. The first is love, and this is hate; the next would be redemption or something of the sort. Having the cure finally brought to the right hands.

​@@darktitoangel what you fail to see is that part 2 completely destroys the legacy of part 1. It doesn't matter if you like it or not, both Joel and Ellie were character assassinated, to the point where the first game might aswell not exist. This game would work better if part 1 didn't already exist.

@@videogamesandfilm6821 I couldn’t have said it better myself. I finished part one again and the bond that was created by Joel and Ellie the struggles they went through both surviving going through multiple losses throughout there journey was SHITTED ON in part 2 and I can never support this game. I played it. Without being biased graphics. Amazing. Sound affects. Amazing. Little details like rocks cracking when the horses walk over it. Beautiful. Story telling? A DISGRACE. To the point like you said last of us part one shouldn’t even exist because the developers made us fall in love with the characters if you choose to play the game then all of a sudden no justice for Joel just… well you all know what happened and the game didn’t feel the same. Even Ellie as a character who loved video games,puns,had a personality and was a curious monkey is a dark Karen who just is filled with rage and needs a tampon. Hurts that Joel and Ellie’s story had to end like that