The Last Of Us Part II - Rant/Review

[@HiltonGoode]

Thank you all for getting this video over 10,000 views!!! Absolutely insane! I just uploaded a new video on Cancel Culture : Give it a watch! kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2m5anacq5V9eNE I hope you enjoy! Like my content? Give me a sub! kzbin.info/door/fLxLVPgmQtUc1TqtKoVvNQ

[@gwarscout1825]

First of all Joel and Tommy were in the horde's path along with Abby. So they were forced to unite. Second, the story is about the guilt Ellie feels about how she treated Joel, not revenge. I strongly recommend you stick to COD, it's more your speed. "LOU2 doesn't work...well, the first half does but not the second half."

[@connect2437]

I really hate those guys that are like ‘you just don’t understand. It’s about seeing that everyone has their own story and point of view’ Like OF COURSE, that’s obvious. I don’t think anyone doesn’t already get that. It’s like being taught about empathy by a narcissist

[@troypowers750]

And not to mention that Abby saw the conversation happening, knowing fullwell that Ellie was still unconscious.

[@tokkibeanie]

I didn’t like any of the characters. I felt this wasn’t even TLOU .

[@HiltonGoode]

Totally understand that.

[@miller-joel]

This was really bad fan fic.

[@jvinsantos6861]

Jesse is fine but idk why they immediately executed him when his character is just developing.. looks like ND really hates male on this game.

[@miller-joel]

@@jvinsantos6861 Tommy is the only one who survives, but loses an eye (no more sharpshooting), loses Maria, can't even go after Abby. Neil seems to think that you can't have strong female characters unless you destroy the male characters. I wonder where he got that notion?

[@Void_Dweller7]

@ifly fsx I’m guessing its *Anita Sarkeesian*

[@brandt6735]

This was a really good review. I agree. When you make characters unlikeable, you really just end up cheering for nobody.

[@HiltonGoode]

Yeah it surprised me how by the end of the game I legit didn't care about either of the game's protagonists. And thanks for the compliment!

[@infamouscrusader3363]

True. I really didn't care about anybody in this game.

[@arvindvk7587]

They took 7 years to come up with such a flawed narrative. What's sad is that the gameplay is top notch. Sucks it had to have such a story...

[@HiltonGoode]

Sad part is that it was honestly working for me at first, but the Abby section was so drawn out it ruined it all

[@poolplexer]

Gameplay isnt top notch in my opinion. Becomes very repetitive and boring quickly

[@johnP0908]

That's makes up probably 69% of the positive reviews, the graphics and the gameplay. with a hint of strong independent woman.

[@vypper]

Abby and lev relationship is fucking bizzare, why she cares so much about him? she even goes on a suicide mission to save him but WHY? the game doesnt give you a good reason for her to do so, if abby was trans and was treated badly in the past and felt sorry for lev because of that then it can work , but no abby was loved and respected by her friends, so why she goes to this length to save him? she even watched her friend die in front of her (manny) and she just brushed it off like it's nothing and went to save the kid like his the most important thing for her she even told him that he is her people!! at that moment i was like WHAT? i just didn't buy it. ofcourse i know why naughty dog did it, they were trying to mirror the relationship between joel and ellie from the first game but they failed because joel and ellie's relationship had time to grow in the first game, also joel had a legitimate reason to care about ellie beacuse she gave him a second chance to be a father again , but abby and lev's relaionship didn't have that at all.

[@HiltonGoode]

Good point. If Abby was able to relate to lev because she was also trans it's make so much more sense.

[@maulcs]

She mentions multiple times that they saved her life, but since when does she put any value on that? Joel saved her life and she didn't care in the slightest.

[@amax7773]

@@HiltonGoode Lev and Yara both asked Abby why she's helping them. She hints off both times it's because of guilt. Honestly, that's no where enough reason to help 2 kids on the enemy side. And it certainly doesn't convince me that she feels any real guilt or remorse. Definitely not convincing enough for me. A lot of things in this game aren't lol.

[@PhineaBlue]

​@@amax7773 Abby has nightmares because she left the kids and kinda links them with the memory of her father in the hospital. If she had nightmares about what she did to Joel, I'd buy it. I mean, the gruesome way she killed him would take a toll on most people. But this? This is the poor attempt to suddenly turn her into a caring character.

[@digimonalvatrax2738]

Jokers comparing this to Joel and Ellie.

[@wastelesslearning1245]

That’s the thing though Abby is worse. She feels no remorse while Ellie does. Abby will turn and kill her own WLF friends? Ellie lets Abbys friend have a non violent way out but gets attacked anyway: Abby relishes the fact she gets to kill Pregnant Dina. Abby gets saved in the end. She gets her revenge and saved for it. Abby gets her life saved by Joel, sees Joel has a daughter and still chooses to beet Joel to death no hesitation?! Ellie looses herself, everyone she loves in the end, and her fingers so she can’t play guitar. Joel would of killed Abby just for Ellie’s fingers. Joel literally tortured when he lost her; like hell she is acting in memory of Joel in the end.

[@omega-xis4746]

I invite you to rewatch Joel's death scene from Abby's perspective. If you look at her face you will see that she actually is hesitant. And after she kills Joel, she looks even more confused as if it changed nothing to her grief. How would you feel, if someone who you knew had slaughtered the person you love and a pregnant woman told you "no, she is pregnant", when you're about to finish someone who jumped you with a knife? Of course Ellie didn't mean to kill Mel, but how is Abby supposed to know, especially while so enraged by her loss ? Plus Dina's pregnancy wasn't visible at the moment so it could be a lie as far as she knows. Abby doesn't get saved for killing Joel. She loses all her friends and the man she loves. Abby gets saved because she spared Ellie when she had the upper hand.

[@GameDjeenie]

@@omega-xis4746 Hesitant ? Who in their right mind kill the very person that saved your life minutes ago from becoming a creepy mushroom zombie ? How about you ask him why he did that instead of immediately use violence ? It may be the post apocalyptic world but they are still human...

[@captainanyonebutteo9126]

Omega-Xis wow all her friends that are so forgettable that she turns on her own group for a bunch of kids from a rival faction. Abby is such a good person look how she plays with the dogs look at how her father was such a good man who saved a zebra. I personally don’t mind Abby. I don’t care about her though. Be cause no matter how many dogs they make you play with she is still a completely stranger. It’s bad writing.

[@garrycotton7094]

@@omega-xis4746 While you're right, the problem is the game doesn't get this across enough. We definitely needed to see more of the emotional remorse from Abby in order to sympathize. Also, whether Ellie killed a pregnant woman or not shouldn't factor in to Abby's decision if you want to make us empathize. Even if Abby believes Ellie did it intentionally, it just makes her as bad, hardly compelling me to empathize is it?

[@justwait9822]

@@garrycotton7094 I think abby's whole reason for going back for yara and lev is due to guilt she feels for what she did to Joel. I remember lev at some point asking her why she saved them and she says something like "to lighten the load". I dont think you are supposed to sympathize with abby because of her actions as much as empathize with the amount of trauma and pain that both her and ellie are going through that would make them perform such horrible acts.

[@Slattopus]

In my eyes Joel’s death was never justified to begin with because in the first game when they were going to perform the surgery on Ellie, a cure was NEVER GUARANTEED in the first place. They were going to extract what they needed from Ellie’s brain, killing her, and the Fireflies were not even 100% that a vaccine could even be made from what made Ellie immune. Also, I believe Joel acted in self defense in the first game because the surgeon (Abby’s Dad) pulled a scalpel on Joel and stated that he would not let Joel take her. I understand Abby’s fathers reasoning for doing so but I feel as though Joel was just defending his “daughter” and himself at that point. So Abby killing Joel never really was validated to me. Abby killing Joel definitely made me feel angry emotions and I wanted revenge just like Ellie, so I suppose it wasn’t a terrible way to jump start the plot. It’s just the way he is killed so shamefully and from behind with no honor to his death that just kinda sucks lol. Did my man dirty af

[@PhineaBlue]

You're right but many people think that he has to die because he is such a bad person. I wonder where those people have been after the first game was released. Besides a few people, I've never heard or read anyone being so hateful towards him before.

[@erickgm15]

The minute you play abby again I KNEW the game would try to make me sympathize with her. It was too damn predictable and doesn't WORK. Kill Joel off at the end after the build up and maybe it would work.

[@HiltonGoode]

See if Joel l died at the end, the story would have had to been changed drastically from a revenge quest to something else. Joel's death was the incididing incident for this story

[@liamdonegan2105]

It just showed you her perspective it didn’t say I’m Abby and I’m innocent it said I’m Abby and I’m not a blood thirsty villain

[@liamdonegan2105]

David Mutchler it did tho

[@weirwadefolk9088]

@@liamdonegan2105 ok fine... maybe for like 30 minutes NOT FOR 10 HOURS

[@lakshayrsg2414]

Even if the point is Revenge is bad, why Ellie lost everything but not Abby. Be equal for both. That's a bad story.

[@HiltonGoode]

Because I guess they wanted Abby to come out of this better than Ellie. No idea to be frank. Then again, she became a slave and that's pretty on par to loosing everything.

[@wastelesslearning1245]

That’s the thing though Abby is worse. She feels no remorse while Ellie does. Abby will turn and kill her own WLF friends? Ellie lets Abbys friend have a non violent way out but gets attacked anyway: Abby relishes the fact she gets to kill Pregnant Dina. Abby gets saved in the end. She gets her revenge and saved for it. Abby gets her life saved by Joel, sees Joel has a daughter and still chooses to beet Joel to death no hesitation?! Ellie looses herself, everyone she loves in the end, and her fingers so she can’t play guitar. Joel would of killed Abby just for Ellie’s fingers. Joel literally tortured when he lost her; like hell she is acting in memory of Joel in the end.

[@agustindetlefsen6944]

The devs wanted to show us how taking revenge can backfire to you in a way that can leave you with nothing but yourself, literally. Anyway, both Ellie and Abby get really hurt and misled, but as we couldn’t bond and empathize with Abby we didn’t realize that her losses are as important as Ellie ´s, its only a question of seeing it objectively. Ellie: her father, love affair, and physical health (fingers). Abby: father, love affair (Owen), and physical health (her gains lose by the very end of the game). However, Abby gets to forgive Ellie before Ellie does, so we see how Abby starts to flower again in her life (for example, by the appearance of lev in her life)

[@captainanyonebutteo9126]

Agustin Detlefsen The characters are so badly written and contradict themselves in game. Druckmann went on stream to explain the change in characters. That is bad writing. when you have to explain things out of game for them to make some sense it shows your story failed in providing points to push the narrative. No one gives a shit when Jesse dies Abby doesn’t give a shit about killing her friends from the wlf. Wtf is even the wlf why are they there. Don’t leave crucial parts of the story to be explained by notes that not everyone will see let alone read coz who cares about notes. A revenge tale can be powerful. Look at Kung fu pandas tai lung. The whole movie we heard tales and a build up of the warrior tai lung. We learns his story we sympathize with him. Th last of us is not a good revenge tale coz it doesn’t make sense. Ellie kills so many people who have nothing to do with anything plot related to get to Abby who she then ultimately saves wtf. In the boss fight people say Ummm it was the Joel flashback that made her show mercy. Umm no. She was gonna leave I’m the other boat until she had a flashback of Joel tried to kill Abby had another flashback of Joel stopped killing Abby. If you enjoyed the story I’m glad to hear that. I just wanna ask you one thing what makes a bad game in your eyes?

[@captainanyonebutteo9126]

sinchman1 if you listened to what those idiots are complaining about you’ll see that some don’t care that Joel died they care how Joel died with him being out of character.

[@jbauer1929]

BS to Neil Druckmann and Anita Sarkeesian for killing the Last of us franchise...

[@JNasty536]

The story in this game is a travesty and a spit in the face of fans everywhere who loved the characters and story of the first game... How they managed to so thoroughly take a steaming pile of shit on everything you loved about the characters in the first game is a miraculous achievement all on its own. I honestly wish I could erase this game from my memory so I can keep the memory of the first game in tact, untainted by this middle finger of a sequel... 2/10 at freaking best.

[@HiltonGoode]

Totally understand your frustration. Thanks for watching the video!

[@nickmiller1517]

Joel's death doesn't work because in the first game he was super cautious and trusted no one. Why on earth did he become very trusting to strangers and gave him his name? It makes no sense that he would die that way. I would've expected him to die trying to save ellie or something where he has to make a sacrifice. Then his death wouldve worked in my opinion.

[@JennaWindross84]

I completely agree with this. Joel dying would have worked if he'd gone out in a blaze of glory. This game made him look stupid. That's not even the reason this game is only ok for me. The change of character halfway through dragged so much and I didn't want to play anymore as I found her such an unlikeable character. The only WLF member I thought had any personality was Manny.

[@Bennyboy138]

Completely agree

[@kagetracer]

In the beginning I was pissed offs about Joel’s death and how gruesome it was but towards the end I just don’t care anymore especially since Ellie had a chance to kill Abby and didn’t take it. If Neil drunkmen decides to redo the game I may give it a shot but so far it seems he just cares about how much money it makes and not about the players playing the game

[@tonkinesenchill4240]

So imagine the game starts with Ellie’s flashbacks; the zoo, the birthdays, the good times with Joel. Next the flashback whereby Joel tells Ellie the truth and the two are amicable but estranged with huge brokenness between them. The playable game starts with Elle disappearing into the wilderness having not told anyone as she is determined to still find a surgeon for the cure having received a tip off, and as a proverbial fuck you; to Joel, Ellie is now heading for Seattle. Next we play as Abby, having heard about Jackson and a crew set on their way whilst in the background a crew has gone looking for Ellie. During the blizzard there’s only one easy route through to either side mid way through the journey (where the library is). Both teams and Ellie come across the library and seek shelter. A gun drawn stand off happens but both sides have a pregnant individual and the risk is too high. Joel drops his weapon with arms raised and convinces an emotionally torn up Abby to talk with him alone. Abby ends up stabbing Joel to death (or so we are led to believe) before quickly exiting the building with her crew, risking the blizzard. Ellie’s crew realise what must have happened and rush to Joel to find him supposedly dead. Ellie’s crew wait out the blizzard whilst Abbys crew manage to make it back having lost a soldier or two along the way. Ellie’s crew make their way to Seattle for vengeance and once there have a drawn out, bloody war until Ellie and Abby are all that’s left. It turns out tommy survived and fell back (believing that everyone else has perished) only to find that once back at Jackson Joel survived and came round much like he did in the first game. Ellie finds Abby and they fight, but exhausted they crumple to the floor, bloodied and battered but come to a realisation that they are both victims of Joel’s choices (making it possible to actually feel empathy for Abby). Abby tells Ellie that there’s still one person who can perform surgery for a cure and that she can let it all go, only if Ellie has the surgery because her fathers work would then, at very least, not go to waste. Ellie does it but actually survives and a cure is finally available. Due to Ellie helping create the cure for mankind and both believing that Joel is dead Ellie is allowed to leave with Abby making it clear she best not run into anyone from Jackson again. They both agree they won’t hunt each other down, and it’s over. Ellie eventually makes it to Jackson to find Joel alive. This story would shape the players understanding of revenge and a violence cycle as so many of both crews get killed but it could still end on a real, empathetic and logical conclusion, demonstrating that revenge is powerful but that forgiveness is even more powerful than revenge. Severe consequences and the futility of war and revenge all tied up in a heartwarming, un expected and universally loved conclusion. That’s a god damn story right there. Came up with that basic story structure in my kitchen in about 10 mins, straight off the top of my head whilst making coffee, is it better than what we got?

[@hazelcrisp]

No offence your story is kinda lame and basic. No risk, nothing new. I've seen it done before. It's very safe. At least the game took risk and tried something different to attempt to subvert player expectation. The first and second game went above and beyond expectations for good and bad. I'm impartial to both games but how well they did is up to you, but they tried to be innovative and overcome boundaries. Your story would suit a safe and not decisive Hollywood movie though.

[@slj3332]

I disagree with you on the part of Joel being selfish. If you've collected the recordings including the recordings from the hospital. It's implied that the fire flies for a long time. Have been doing this experimental procedure on people. Just like Ellie who are immune and it hasn't worked at all. Joel has formed a father daughter bond with Ellie. Joel's actions were justified. They would've killed Ellie and the experiment not work again. Her death would've been for nothing. Throughout the last of Us, while trying to survive from people trying to kill them and infected. Ellie is also completely out of character for this game. Joel and Tommy are dumbed down. These two men who; know how to survive, and Joel who knew that the guy in the first wasn't even hurt. And ran him down with a car. Who wouldn't give out his name to anyone. It took to the mid to end of the game for Joel to completely trust Ellie. Open himself to bonding with this little girl. Like a daughter to him. So the way he was killed. Was done purely for shock value and was stupid. The only characters you can care about is Joel and Tommy. Everyone else including Ellie are poor developed and unrelatability. Ellie was a cunt to Joel. About saving her life. Especially since Marlene had lied to them about what the procedure entails and hid that they would kill her. Their basically saying one person's life has less value compared to the lives of hundreds, thousands. The last of Us 2 They do push a lot of SJW Bullshit. Because it's heavily implied with group that tries to kill Abby. That conservative values are evil and any conservative Amish/ Christian is evil. This game was Trash. I'll stick to the first game. Ignore this one.

[@user-vvvv1]

Joel’s death doesn’t work not because people didn’t want him to die but because of the way they killed him which was filled with so much contrivances and plot holes. Joel has lived through the apocalypse for over 20 years and he’s seen a lot of shit, experienced a lot of brutality, and has survived it all. He’s learned to not trust anybody even if they’re on his side. Take for example in the first game when Ellie tells Joel she wants a gun to help him, he denies her this because he doesn’t trust her and figured she’d put him in way more risk by accidentally blowing his head off. Same with that moment after the Bill’s Town section where they’re driving in a car, Joel and Ellie spots an “injured “ man asking for help. Ellie tell him to pull over but Joel, being the experienced survivor he is, sees the ruse and drives through the wave of bandits. With that in mind IT MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER THAT HE WOULD WILLINGLY ENTER A ROOM OUTNUMBERED BY A BUNCH OF ARMED PEOPLE HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW AND TELL THEM HIS NAME AND WHERE THEY’RE FROM. It’s so ridiculous that he would do that, for Pete’s sake in the first game even Ellie knew better when she met cannibal rapist David. Another reason why it doesn’t work is because it’s just so convenient that of the two people who saved Abby last minute it just so happens that one of them was exactly who she was looking for. It was like Joel was served on a silver platter, apple in mouth and all right for her. The writer didn’t know how to write a series of events that would lead to Abby killing Joel so instead of being creative and figuring it out they opted to just say “eh fuck it, no ones gonna think about it anyway when they’re bawling their eyes out”.....It’s just too bad because that definitely didn’t go the way they expected and most people didn’t fall for it. But it seems it got someone so.....gg I guess...

[@HiltonGoode]

Yeah I've heard that complaint. The events leading up to Joel's death are incredibly contrived. I agree. But it didn't bother me while actually playing the game to be honest. I guess I just assumed they during the 4 year time jump, Joel grew acustummed to being around people and because of that, he let his guard down in the room with Abby and friends.

[@user-vvvv1]

@@HiltonGoode See but that's just assuming, I'm looking at what's actually shown so far and what we know from the first game. Hard evidence that rejects your claim. If you're argument was that he just got soft then I'm not sure that's a very strong claim, especially when compared to what I've pointed out. Also consider that he was with another person, Tommy, who's also survived the apocalypse and dealt with numerous threats and people. If Joel didn't catch on ( which is already a stretch) then what's the likelihood that Tommy wouldn't either. On too of that, they don't just be mindful of these strangers, no. They openly invite them to come to their town full of all sorts of resources and people and ELECTRICITY. They are in a very vulnerable position if too many people know about Jackson. So two wise savy survivors just forgetting everything they've learned over 20 years just when they meet a group that's actually out for them...isn't that alittle convenient? What's your reasoning, actual examples of what he's done in the second game that would led you to believe that? From what I've experienced he's not much different than how he was before. I mean in terms of how he feels when it comes to dealing with people, in the flashback after the dance when Ellie goes to talk to Joel he even says that given the choice to go back to when he saved Ellie, he'd do it again in a heartbeat. This only suggest that well... he's still the same guy as before. He doesn't trust no one, and loves only one thing.

[@user-vvvv1]

@@HiltonGoode it's fine if it didn't bother you but keep in mind this whole game is becaused of Joel's death. This was a KEY moment and they screwed it up. You even admitted that it was contrived, so with that in mind now this whole story is contrived and we've lost our suspension of disbelief. We're forced into a story we cannot buy into. Not counting any of the other flaws in the story, on the technical note of storytelling, this story doesn't work due to how much they have to railroad the characters into something they never would have done because of how well they've already been established previously. Look If you just assume anything about a well established character with no real evidence anything is possible. Spiderman fights crime for money and fame now, one can just assume he just got over the death of Uncle Ben and now he doesn't care. Geralt of Riveria is no longer a Witcher and now lives a life of celibacy and nomadic life, one can just assume he got tired of his old ways and decided to turn a new leaf. See, anything is possible with that logic.

[@TheAnonyomusGuy]

So can we talk about the fact that Abby's dad may have very likely been a complete hack, immediately after Sarah's death in the first game we jump 20 years and Abby's dad is said to be in his mid-30s too early 40s and no matter how you cut it he would have either been too young or too early in his college education to be a licensed surgeon with the skills to perform the surgery that they were going to perform on Ellie at the time that everything happened at the very best he'd have been three years into his eight years of required schooling to be a surgeon

[@Sydebern]

Also, he's a black guy in part 1 and a white guy in part 2.

[@superstd]

TheAnonymousGuy True , At most hes a pet doctor even then i dont trust him with a pet . Overall his story is also just weird when hes outside with a zebra, i mean why are you outside when you are a doctor which i assume are really a few . But they allow a pregnant women to go to battlefield so their stupidity is consistent though .

[@onechi]

My question is, who has time to care about sexual orientation when the world is overrun by zombies and the few survivors face certain death at every turn. What kind of writing is this?

[@dami3589]

Thank you!!!!!

[@HiltonGoode]

Thanks for getting this video over 1,000 views. If you like my vibe, consider subscribing to the channel! I'm trying to start uploading more video essay review type videos. kzbin.info/door/fLxLVPgmQtUc1TqtKoVvNQ

[@mimi-ig5kr]

to me joel's death didn't work because it was so early in the game and we barely even saw him. also he was beat to death with a golf club by some random girl who we didn't even know at the time. we didn't know why he died or what abby's motives were so i was just confused. after that they bury him and that's it; joel's pretty much on the back burner for the rest of the game

[@xitsa1473]

Easy ways that would fix this game: 01. Rearranging the order that things happen 02. Reducing the amount of time you play as Abby and making some more impactful scenes instead of dragging it for a long ass time 03. Making the way Abby finds Joel more believable. Let's say Abby actually finds Joel by accident, how would Abby's group know they're coming? They are all outside with the gate opened and ready to close it asap. After they enter the garage, Tommy's and Joel's backpacks just disappear , you can't find them anywhere in that scene. And also Tommy is blind for a minute during the whole scene, because it's convenient from his position to not see a huge girl with a shotgun, it's just unrealistic. 04. Giving characters more dept, I feel like Jesse was a great character and he was under-used as hell. Also Tommy could have been used in much better ways, quite sad he doesn't get involved as much in the game since he's the brother of the character who died as a plot-bridge. 05. Balancing Abby and Ellie. The game wants you to see Ellie as bad of a person as you see Abby, but it doesn't work quite well if you look at some aspects from both sides. Both are psycho killers, admit it they kill everyone in front of them with ease but the thing is, Ellie kills people she doesn't know while Abby kills people she knew for years. Ellie kills a pregnant woman and feels sick as fuck while Abby feels super proud to do it, thank god Lev was there. Abby always gets what she wants, but Ellie doesn't. The game makes it so Abby always comes on top, she gets her revenge and comes clean from it and Ellie gets punished for seeking revenge. During the scene where you fight Ellie as Abby, she could have killed here easily: She had a shotgun but decides to hurt big girl Abby with a stick instead of being smart, like she is, and shooting her legs out... the game makes characters dumb for some minutes in various points of the game just to create a plot that doesn't work because of these flaws. 06. Ellie & Abby final fight. I know the meaning of the ending scene and the whole game, but do you really think that a girl that lost her father figure will let the woman that killed him go when she even bit her fingers off IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT? Biting her fingers off would just make a person so driven by revenge to want to kill the person even more. I accept the story, just not the way it was executed and imo the best scene of this game is a flashback of Ellie's birthday, a freaking flashback... it took them 7 years to make a story that people and youtubers could sort it out and fix it by the top of their heads in minutes. I'm sorry Naughty Dog we know you took the risk and we're impressed by it, but you messed up badly.

[@Sonic_BoomFPV]

Only 6 BIG issues... easy fix 🤣🤣🤣

[@episodeuser1879]

I don't think Joel's death worked, because they had to make him out of character in order to make it happen

[@paranoyd70]

At first I thought it was just bad story-writing and that Druckmann made many mistakes...but then the more I re-watched previous interviews and paid close attention to what he said ("its not about fun"..."I want gamers to be angry"..."gamers are bigots"...etc) I began to realize that he didn't make any mistakes, he MEANT to piss people off. Think about it, how many dumb decisions are in the game? There are so many that its difficult to count. Nobody could make that many mistakes unless it was on purpose. Given that Druckmann thinks most male gamers are "bigots" & "misogynists", it makes more sense to consider the entire game to be a F-U and middle finger to all the fans that are male. Just think about every event in the game that pisses off fans and gamers, and notice that they are all anti-male in some way. Here are but a few...Killing off Joel who is a father-figure in the most disrespectful way possible (an NPC even spits on his corpse)...forcing players to play as Abby who is a female head on a roided up man's body (Abby is more manly than any male in the game, except for Joel, and look what happens to him)....not allowing players to get their revenge on Abby....portraying all males in the game as incompetent....killing off every male protagonist in the game...constantly throwing in ghey relations and sex-scenes that have zero baring in the plot...and I could go on & on. This was done on purpose to alienate the male gamers and insult us, I'm convinced of this. Just look at the tweet that Druckmann put out on father's day that depicted Joel throwing salt, seriously wtf?! If you can't see that for the insult that it was then you are naive.

[@97EDUB]

All the more reason to not support his dumb ass anymore. I don’t care if a part 3 comes out and takes those ass clowns 10 years to release it. Took seven years to create a trashy story and majority revolves around a character (Abby) that most of us hate.

[@klaasvansinter8826]

Well, if he wanted to make sure noone is going to buy tlou3 (if its ever released) he probably succeeded

[@randomserbianguy5677]

You have a point but to be honest, I really do believe that Druckman had such an ego that he thought people would love it like he does. The only problem with that is that nobody thinks like Druckman and so he kinda has to pretend like he's Rick Sanchez - so smart that he knew that we would knew that Druckman knew what the fans would want.

[@PhineaBlue]

@@randomserbianguy5677 I think so too. What would be his goal if he intentionally pissed players off? That no one buys his next game? I think he is extremely narcissistic and believes to be innovative. If I want something unique and out-of-the-box, I play a Yoko Taro game.

[@caseyhart4999]

It’s amazing people still call Joel selfish. He risked his own life to save the life of an innocent. His motivations are irrelevant. Just because he benefits from his “daughter” surviving does not make it selfish. By that logic the fireflies were also selfish because even though they were trying to “save the world” I could argue they were simply doing it so their own lives would improve going forward. Fact is they kind of forced Joel’s hand when they gave neither him nor Ellie any say in the matter whatsoever. They made up their mind already they were gonna kill Ellie and they didn’t want any resistance to that.

[@MarkT-ChildofGod]

It really hurts me how Ellie treated Joel when he tried to stand up for her against the old hag. Like really? Did you REALLY have to write these characters to be this unlikable? Man what the hell did Joel do to deserve this?

[@nonsequitur3455]

The Character Motivations are Too Inconsistent within the Poorly Executed Context. It's also trying to tell a story for just too many characters at once within the Main Story. There's just way too much overlap. The characters backstories gradually bog down and drag out an already broken Narrative Structure.

[@97EDUB]

It’s no wonder the damn game is like 20 hours. Just remove the gameplay and all you have is a terrible movie.

[@mravg79]

Legion Vision well more like a season with poor plot, the full cutscenes plus in game dialogue (while exploring) are so ring like 11 to 12h

[@mravg79]

I fully agree part one had less characters but they were better presented. And here the writing does not make sense, at least to me. Also it is very convenient for characters to be saved or dead at certain point for the plot which feels a forced.

[@chrizzce9322]

the only likeable character in this game is fat Geralt.

[@NichtNameee]

And the dog and Jesse but they get killed. What a shame. Shrugs

[@randomserbianguy5677]

fat Geralt moments were honestly better then 10 hours of Abby and even Ellie. I'd gladly play as fat Geralt for 10 hours if the game forced me to

[@wastelesslearning1245]

This is why the writing is bad. Ask someone what made the last of us one great. What made people like the series in the first place is dead now. They actively took what was good about the franchise and instead of playing to its strengths, gutted it, and replaced it with gratuitous and down right stupid suffering. Ask yourself now “Where can they take the trilogy?”. A good sequel would of expanded the possibilities for that question if not give a cathartic end. This removed possibilities entirely. Character growth/ Joel learning to be less jaded and live for something other then the sake of living. Ellie learning to have to do what she has to do to survive without sacrificing her wholesome humanity. Ellie and Joel were foils for each other that made each other grow and develop. Now Ellie is alone. That’s the thing though Abby is worse. She feels no remorse while Ellie does. Abby will turn and kill her own WLF friends? Ellie lets Abbys friend have a non violent way out but gets attacked anyway: Abby relishes the fact she gets to kill Pregnant Dina. Abby gets saved in the end. She gets her revenge and saved for it. Abby gets her life saved by Joel, sees Joel has a daughter and still chooses to beet Joel to death no hesitation?! Ellie looses herself, everyone she loves in the end, and her fingers so she can’t play guitar. Joel would of killed Abby just for Ellie’s fingers. Joel literally tortured when he lost her; like hell she is acting in memory of Joel in the end. There’s no banter worth a dam. If anything they regressed her characters. What you like Jessie? He’s dead? What he had a son? Dina doesn’t think so. Dina is boring. She only exist for melodrama. “Ooo I’m pregnant but hey I just met you and this crazy but here I’ll join you, and get my baby killed maybe.” Besides that she is there either as a yes man or to make Ellie explain something to the audience. If Dina and Ellie’s relationship was more then that, I would of liked it. Abby is a lame charichter barely any “growth” and she gives the writers an excuse the ruin Elly’s development. Even the guitar is ruined in this game. Joel would have killed Abby just for Ellie’s fingers. Abby is way more of a monster then Ellie. Ellie Gave Abbys friend a peaceful way out but they chose to attack her making it self defense. Ellie has regret. Abby has no regret. Ellie in this game is nothing like Ellie we and Joel loved in the first game. No Joel and Ruined Ellie; nothing left for Last of us 3. All they did is sour the first one’s ending and ruin the franchise by removing what was great in the first place; that takes no skill. Last of us 2 does not build off of 1, it soils it and wipes it clean so they can pretend it never happened. Pointless. Was this generic revenge is bad “we aren’t so different you and and I.” Story worth sacrificing all of what made the last of franchise good in the first places? Making the audience feel disappointment is not art which pains me to say because I pointed to the last of us 1 during the “are video games art” debate. What Ellie is missing fingers; they even ruined the last of us guitar!

[@HiltonGoode]

I agree with everything you said! And yeah...that poor last of us guitar...

[@Hero_Of_Old]

It makes me so sad how they completely trash these beloved characters

[@hamonryechinaski180]

This is a hate note to fans. ND are allowed to make a game that's aimed at different fans, they can make a game for people not invested in first game BUT they can't do that and advertise the game to fans of the original. All the trailers are aimed at the original fan base and it's clear they knew fans of the original wouldn't like it. That's why it's a car crash and why fans are even more resentful. Ellie isn't likeable, Abby is the worst, people we meet are shallow and contrasts starkly to first game. Similarl, the glimpse of light we get in first game is replaced with a bleak, depressing game that's frankly a grind. ND have lost the trust of a large part of the fan base that won't ore order in future. I'm staying away from anything Druckman

[@agustindetlefsen6944]

"Joel is probably one of the most complex character in the video games industry" Dutch: HOLD MY BEER

[@HiltonGoode]

"I HAD A GOD DAMN PLAN!"

[@randomserbianguy5677]

@@HiltonGoode Well I got Lumbago... it's very serious...

[@deadchanneldontwatch7347]

@@randomserbianguy5677 "Lumbago really..."

[@randomserbianguy5677]

@@deadchanneldontwatch7347 "Have some pity, will ya?"

[@aidalf1912]

The first last of us really had something special because of Ellie and Joel's father daughter dynamic. Did they really have to take the old overdone "revenge is bad" trope for the second one?

[@miller-joel]

4:04 No, it doesn't work, because it doesn't make any ****ing sense. There are so many problems with it, it's not even funny.

[@attlue]

The irony of Ellie pursuing and finding Abby after she told her "..don't every let me see you again.." ended with Ellie saving her life.

[@HiltonGoode]

WOW! Over 2 THOUSAND VIEWS! It's weird knowing this many people watched my video. Thank you guys so much. If you like my vibe, consider subscribing to the channel! I'm trying to start uploading more video essay review type videos. kzbin.info/door/fLxLVPgmQtUc1TqtKoVvNQ

[@PartStupid]

Abby is a monster and I hate how they made grown up Ellie emotionally dumber then 14 year old Ellie who handled complex emotional decisions pretty well. Granted they make Ellie a monster too but it all feels so forced. And Abby would be so much better if they made her conflicted even slightly in her actions... even if she was still going to kill Dina have it show on her face it makes her think and whinse at how awful it is. But no... she ENJOYS it. Sadistic. People say how Joel is also a monster.. fair enough but at least he never took pleasure in killing and only did it for survival reasons for either him or his people.

[@Revan-g7w]

I really hate abbyzilla in this game

[@HiltonGoode]

I don't blame you.

[@MartinKusimo]

Quite a few dislikes on this vid but this is actually one of the BEST videos I've seen on this game. I like when you mentioned the story is halted just for us to learn about and sympathise with Abby. And I think that is undeniably true, it takes us out of things, where we were and what we actually want to see for a seriouslyyy prolonged period and with characters we either don't like/ care about/ care as much for. Well spoken and great video!

[@HiltonGoode]

Thanks you so much for the kind words. That really means alot. This story could have been fixed if they looked at the script and realized, yeah this isn't gonna work, we need to remove some things and bloat some things, in my opinion.

[@MartinKusimo]

@@HiltonGoode No problem, keep it going! Seeing as you mention the script, I just want to let you know I have written and narrated an alternate story for TLOU2 on my channel. It's doing well but it's just over an hour long, so no rush and no worries if you don't check it out. Hope you don't mind me sharing this.

[@HiltonGoode]

@@MartinKusimo I don't mind at all. I'll check it out

[@matiaspereyra9375]

This was my proposition. Start the game with the musuem flashback.Then cut to the first Abby sequence after her father gets killed, and pace the entire Abby sequence to be more bearable. Abby learns that Ellie is still inmune and could still cure mankind as his father had dreamed. So not only is she trying to kill Joel, she's also trying to capture Ellie. Set up Dina and or Jesse the same way Sarah was set up in the first game. Have her or them get lost on patrol and stumble upon Abby and her gang. For one reason or another they get killed just as Ellie walks right in, or have them be kidnapped and killed purposefully as a way of luring Ellie and Joel out of Jackson. let the quest for revenge unfold but instead we get to play alongside Joel instead of Dina and enjoy the Joel and Ellie chemistry that made the first game outstanding. Along the way Ellie finally succumbs to her curiosity and learns that Joel lied about the fireflies which makes her abandon Joel. By the halfway point of the game Abby succeeds in finding Joel and then Abby finally kills and tortures Joel. Tommy and Ellie get wrecked, and retire back to Jackson for some time while Abby stops looking for a cure after regretfully having killed Joel and finds new purpose and meaning after the death of her freinds through Lev the same way Joel does Ellie. Tommy finally finds where Abby is and we go on the same ending sequence. By now Ellie has already tasted revenge and through Joels death realizes by the end that revenge only leads to even deeper lows. Along the way she learns why Abby killed Joel and she ultimatley scuffles with Abby but decides to forgive her. She doesn't lose her fingers so she can still remember Joel through her guitar. The only question lingering in the air is whether Abby will reveal Ellies inminity to more people in hopes that a larger group will finally be fulfilling her fathers dreams, while Ellie stays with Tommy in Jackson attempting to cope with her situation through his help

[@wesker1739]

Jesse was actually one of my favorite characters. Easily. dope ass character killed off out of the blue. This game shat on Ellie at the ending. She doesn't get her revenge, spares Abby, her girl leaves her. Elite got nothing. But yeah Jesse was a cool character . easily my favorite in the entire game. Killed off

[@mimi-ig5kr]

jesse didn't even get that many scenes to begin with and then all of a sudden they kill him and he's never talked about again. what a shame

[@superstd]

You need to add that ellie Saves abby before battling her and spare her . Moral of the story is ....actually i dont even know , lesbian bad trans good i guess ?

[@HejaWolf]

@@superstd or revenge is bad, yet revenge helps certain people? Either way, that's not good

[@PhineaBlue]

The moment he was shot I thought "Well, that was to be expected..." and didn't feel much about it tbh. Thinking back when Henry died, it still makes me sad. I was really devastated back then when that scene played out. Every character had a reason to be there and their fates really mattered to the player.

[@wesker1739]

The guy that had to kill his little bro when he turned and killed himself as well? Yeah that was sad. There was so many impactful moments in the first last of us. but this game? No. Besides the little flash back of Ellie and Joel. But other wise this game ain’t nothing a pipe dream come true with these lame ass agendas put in the game.

[@LammBoppers]

I really enjoyed this game, but I also really enjoyed listening to your perspective as well. Well done review!

[@ratchetthunderstud193]

I played this game, i was awarded no points and i am now dumber for playing it. May god have mercy on my soul :(

[@travis6694]

What’s up billy Maddison

[@mrtyrant1680]

A friend of mine asked me how I would write the game once: I answered : Okay, the story would start with a character named Leo, who's exploring an area near Jackson, but a small accident causes Leo to attract several infected towards him, causing him to have to run. He's cornered by them but it's saved by Joel and Tommy (a scene similar to Abby's but different.) The two take him to safe area and starts to question him. But then Tommy leaves Joel and Leo alone in the room to go check if the others had arrived. But as soon as he leaves the room, Leo shoots Joel in the back with a handgun with a silencer. And says: "You're Joel Miller, you don't know me, but I know you, you ruined my life once and now I'm ending yours." Before shooting him in the head. Afterwards, we play as Ellie hours before that happens. Where we see her having a good day with everyone, until we arrive at the scene where she and Tommy finds Joel corpse. Afterwords we see the aftermath similar to the one we see in the game. Later we play as Leo again, revealing that he's in a personal suicide mission. He made a list of four people that he wants to kill before he ends his own life. The lists are composed people who caused the worst moments on Leo's life. Joel was on the list due to something that he did during his time as a smuggler, which caused the death of several people close to Leo and caused him to being taken by a group of people. Throughout the game we found that Leo was taken by a group of normandies who adopted the Spartan lifestyle and they also would put a number of selected children through hellish training in order for them to become pawns for the group. (They had a habit of raiding and stealing from other groups and communities.) But an unfortunate even caused Leo to desert them. But they are chasing after him. He's trying to complete his list of kills before he commits suicide while he is being hunted by this group and by Ellie. Throughout the story, you would start to question why this group wants Leo so much. It feels like a waste of resources and people, but then during a confrontation with Ellie, it's actually revealed that Leo is also immune like Ellie. Which this group is aware of it and wants to use Leo for research. But as opposed to Ellie, Leo has absolutely no interest in a cure, due to him thinking that the world doesn't deserve to be saved. It would alter through their perspective each showing a different point of view. Ellie's perspective would portray a more positive view of the world, where Ellie is trying to get through her grief over Joel's death but with a lot of help and support from friends that she has from Jackson and Dina. Showing a more positive side of this crappy world, as they all go with Ellie on this hunt for Leo. Leo would show how bad things can get for someone. He goes through things way worse than Joel and Ellie went through on the first game. Him being this asshole killing machine, at first makes the player hate him but as the story progresses. Leo keeps getting more and more horrible shit happening to him which causes the player to sympathize with him a bit because he literally never gets a break. Then we would find out why he's like that, which is basically how the group that took him conditioned him to be, since he was a child after his original camp fell apart due to what Joel did. And the reason why he's so obsessed with killing the people on this list of his, is because, he literally has nothing else left to live for. All of his friends and loved ones are gone, and their deaths were caused by the people on this list and it's why he wants to kill them so badly.

[@xXMyDogisEmoXx]

Well said dude, I agree with most of what you said. I think Abby’s section should have been as long as Ellie’s was in the first game, not half of the game. The whole game after the switch depends on if the player grows to like and understand Abby, and it just didn’t land for me

[@HiltonGoode]

Thanks for the compliment and yeah the game really hopes that u as a player like Abby, but I just couldn't. It'd be like me betraying the first game.

[@Icenuts247]

It's been several months and I still friggin hate this sequel. My problems with the game: -Little focus on beloved characters Joel and Ellie. -Too much focus on new characters no one who loved Tlou1 cares to know about. -Abby is really unlikeable and her story arc with her sudden betraying of the WLF and taking Lev n Yara in with open arms after 1 day of meeting them is 🤦‍♂️. -Poor writing and poorly written characters. Characters we once loved are now the stupidest we've ever seen. Overly convoluted writing to get several main characters out of tough situations and keeping characters alive to push the revenge plot, i.e. a bullet to Tommy's bullet proof head was a "how tf did he survive that???" head scratcher. And so many more examples of stupid writing to that effect. -Abby is an unknown character that no one can really identify with and her out of no-where relationship with Lev and betrayal to the WLF makes no sense when Abby has been murdering Scars for several months if not years. -Joel and Tommy have never been so dumb, I mean, "this my bro, Joel!" to a buncha armed strangers walking around the outskirts of your town and u have zero suspicions of anything??? Tlou1, Joel and Tommy smart. Tlou2? Dumb as a box of rocks. -Ellie is so gdamn unlikeable here. I mean, she constantly craps on Joel showing no empathy or understanding to why Joel did what he did to save Ellie when Ellie knows Joel's own past situation with his daughter Sarah. Also, Ellie is just not Ellie of Tlou1 here. She's just so damn emo, bitter, and ungrateful the whole entire game that she loses all her charm and likeable-ness. -SJW and Wokeness, bcuz biggot sandwiches and seeing a buncha enemy NPCs that were Asian or a person of color or a woman. It's overly done. And where does Lev have the time to figure out she's a he while there's a pandemic wiping out all of humanity. Ughhh...just so nonsensical here, no one in their right mind has the time for gender identity issues when u don't even know where ur next meal is coming from. Blah, end of rant. I'm soooooo friggin disappointed with this game.

[@jameslanier2510]

-Joel and Ellie are the foundation of the story even when it comes to Abby's side. -So new characters aren't allowed? Lol what? -Why? Abby felt immense guilt after what she did to Joel. She was desperate to do some good to "lighten the load" as she explains to Lev, so she takes to protecting Lev and Yara. They're her opportunity for redemption. Also, are you arguing that she was wrong to not let Isaac execute a 13 year old boy? -There is no poor writing whatsoever. People can survive headshots. The bullet just has to miss the brain most of the time. (Sometimes a bullet to the brain can even be survived). As we later see, Tommy was shot through the side of the head and out his eye. That's why it's missing on the farm. -Again, Abby was protecting Lev as a way to find redemption for herself. She's desperate to do good to make up for the atrocity she committed. I can certainly identify with a character who feels bad about something they did and is desperate to find peace. -Tommy and Joel are really generic names. Plus, telling someone your name is a good way to build a bit of quick trust. Remember, part of the reason Jackson has patrols, apart from killing infected, is to find survivors to trade with and/or recruit. Plus, they needed to work together with Abby to survive the horde, and telling her their names builds comradery in an intense situation. -Which Ellie comes to regret. A major aspect of her motivation is her own guilt for wasting what little time she had with Joel. She has every reason to be mad at him. He robbed her of her agency and lied to her about it for years continuing to gaslight her after the fact until she forced him to tell the truth after she already discovered it herself. But yeah, Ellie wasn't charming and bubbly anymore after the hospital. This is exactly what you'd expect. Like Joel said, "Ellie needed her immunity to mean something." Turns out, it didn't. Ellie lost Riley, Tess, and Sam to infection. She wanted to make a vaccine to ensure it didn't happen to anyone else. Now, all hopes for a vaccine are lost. Riley, Tess, and Sam died for nothing. That's going to mess Ellie up. That should be obvious. -What? Okay this bit is just bizarre. You're straight up mad that Ellie said a corny line you'd expect from a teenage girl in the face of a half-assed apology from a homophobic old man? And then you're mad that there were too many people of color in a game that takes place in Seattle, which is very diverse? Also, trans people exist regardless of whether or not it's the apocalypse. As long as the concept of gender exist, there will be trans people. Gender identity is not a luxury of society. It's an innate aspect of the human experience. Not to mention though, Lev was part of an established community that grew their own food. None of your disappointments make any sense, especially that last one.

[@knurdyob]

great review, you're one of the few people who I almost fully agree with on the story (I liked that ellie becomes unlikable by the end because her hating abbie is just her exteriorizing her hate for herself and how she treated joel, at the end of the day the story is about resentment, it made sense for her to let abbie live, as a way of forgiving herself as well). Most people just hate the whole thing but I have to say the first half was great, and this is coming from a very big fan of the first game, and I really liked joel's death and the story in general with how it was intercutting the revenge story with the flashbacks, filling us in on what happened in that 4 year gap. But then I got to abby's part and it was so loosely related to the main conflict and uninteresting that it wasn't engaging at all, it ruined the experience. even though I thought in the last act the game kind of redeemed itself a bit when you go back to playing ellie's story, but still just wasn't enough to undo the damage by that point

[@minakohiashi8882]

I have an idea why can't the girlfriend die? Have the Revenge story be about Ellie trying to find her girlfriends killer. Ellie set off by herself with Jule catching up at the beginning or middle part of the story. Jule can still die but make it happen closer to the end of the game.

[@Linkforlife199]

The problem with Abby's section is that it tries it's hardest to make us feel sympathy for Abby through repeated flashbacks the the interaction with Lev, which they tried to recreate a Joel and Ellie moment. Abby's friends, none of them are redeemable in any way. Mel, here we have a pregnant medic, someone who, in an apocalypse, is throwing herself into danger and everyone around her is okay with it, especially when this is one of the WLF's top medics. Manny, he only brags about his conquests the night before. Owen, Abby's boyfriend who is the father of Mel's baby who has this sudden change of heart with the Seraphites because he was saved(?) by one, and then has a one night stand with Abby. There is one scene from Abby's section that I liked and hoped something would change in Abby's character to make my like her, but it didn't happen. That scene is where Mel called Abby a "Piece of shit and how she always has been". The flashback of Abby and her dad saving the zebra was hamfisted to make the player think "Abby good, she saves animals" after the game forced us to kill Abby's dog beforehand as Ellie (Ellie bad, she murders animals). That animal point is further driven into the player's head by how often Ellie has to kill dogs to get them from killing her, while the game forces you to play catch with the very same dog that the game forces you kill as Ellie in a scripted quick time event, twice. I hate to say this, but dogs in games isn't a new thing, as gamers we are taught that, if we see a dog, it is going to kill us, or at least sniff us out to warn other enemies to our presence, we are not going to feel bad for killing something that, given the chance, will rip our throats out. The problem with the "revenge is bad" plot point is that it falls short when one character gets their revenge and doesn't reflect on any of their actions, while the other one loses everything and doesn't even get their revenge in the end. The thing about the first game is that the character's drove the plot, and there wasn't one character that I disliked, in the second game, the plot drove the characters, and there were so many times that I was taken out of the narrative by either, the repeated flashbacks dragging the story on or at the split into Abby's section, having to completely start upgrading a new character from scratch. All during Abby's section, all I kept thinking was "when can I play as Ellie again?", hell, even when I died as Abby, all I thought was "oh darn, Abby died" in the most sarcastic voice possible.

[@axelfoley20]

The writing in this game makes me think it was done by a teenager going through their 'teen angst'. It was very weak, unrealistic and downright childish. The first game had decent writing but it wasn't without its faults too. For example: Tess being able to pull up Joel with one arm. Those things are forgivable when you have a story that pulls you in. This story seems to want to push you away and offend you or surprise you and subvert your expectations and I know I'm not the first one to say that last part but it's true. I agree, this game doesn't work. Sure it looks great but that is to be expected with a big budget game, I'm hearing somewhere in the ballpark of 100 million dollar budget, spread out over about 5 years of development too. So looks and sounds should be a given. The story is where this game went horribly wrong and I feel it's because Neil needs a counterbalance to his creativity and he didn't have that here clearly. That green writer from Hollywood, Gross, obviously did not have the nerve to stand up to Neil and tell him his ideas didn't work, or maybe she isn't good enough of a writer to know those ideas don't work. I've written, I've made movies (when I was younger) and I went to college for this and this was my intention, but it didn't pan out, to be in the movie business so I can confidently say that this story doesn't work. Who is going to follow someone in this type of world, or even our current day world, on a 3 plus year journey for revenge? I could almost see Abby doing that, even though that is a stretch. But the others following her would have to have been affected by Joel's actions too, in order to do this. A revenge tale like this doesn't work in this type of a setting. They should have continued with the story from the first. I mean what does the setting, with the infected, have anything to do with anything now? It's become wallflowers. I could see an element of the revenge story but the main story should have revolved around Ellie's immunity and the continuation of trying to create whatever serum from her immunity to save people. Another thing that utterly disgusted me is the false advertising and the implication that you are playing as Ellie and/or Joel in this game with literally no mention of this Abby character. These people are lousy and deceitful.

[@davidfigueroa6351]

What a disaster. ND destroyed this franchise

[@plumpynumnum7735]

Really well explained man love the video! I like how much you look into the writing of the game I myself love to break stuff down like this.

[@HiltonGoode]

Thanks a ton! I tried to hit as many points from the story that I could!

[@christhechilled]

I wish Joel death was handle differently differently. I don't care if its meant to be that way, the moment was handled poorly!

[@kingcorey8438]

The worst story, I tried to give it a chance. But after hour 20 I realized this story is absolutely horrible. Waste of 60$

[@Sonic_BoomFPV]

20 hrs in... near the end of the game... it's trash and not worth $60 🤔

[@peterslunchbreak4582]

Awesome video and congrats on getting (as of right now) 11,000 views. My personal belief was that the gameplay was top notch. I really enjoyed the sneak mechanics and combat aspects of the game. But as you said, there really isnt a likeable protagonist. The game went on and on and felt extremely drawn out. Plot was horrendous, which stinks a lot because I was obsessed with this game coming out. Overall, I really enjoyed your review and video format. All your effort earned you another sub!

[@jacobnapkins1155]

Damn felt almost the same exact way man. Plus pacing was a little weird felt like 3 games in one at points with the flash backs and leap forwards.

[@matteo8243]

I respect your opinion, yet I think that this game is a masterpiece on so many levels. On the Ellie vs Abby fights you feel the weight of your actions, you feel repulsion for the violence you (the player!) are committing, and guilty, cause you're the one who's beating Ellie or Abby up. That feeling IS revenge. You really don't want to do something, but you HAVE TO, in order to progress, to make justice, to end the pain. Even if you personally didn't like the game, I'm definetely sure that THIS is not a "not buy". I liked the fact that you explained your reasons, tho. Apparentely, people just can't get over Joel death.

[@thelaw2348]

Matteo And that’s all it is they can’t get over Joels death

[@mattjones7226]

Is it just me or does it seem like the cut scenes are too long? What I mean is: Scenes are supposed to have a "beat" to them. All the reactions and dialogue are dragged out unnecessarily just to pad the run time.

[@aaronpasache1847]

How to fix the game: Making Joel playable again Abby killing Dina or Tommy instead of him Instead of a vengeance plot, it would have been a forgiveness plot between father and daughter (in one scene, it looks like Ellie can't stand being with someone who lied to her and leaves him) Also, making Ellie less "feminazi" with that answer to her discovering to Joel's lie Totally cut Abby's story and everything else, or making just flashbacks of her Joel dying in a better way, and to make things more tearjerking, Ellie feeling guilty for being a jerk to him and forgiving him for what she told him, making him feel happy with himself, and remembering Sarah in his final moments And yeah, Abby kills him in this version too, but she dies after Ellie tries to save her The final scene is Ellie playing the guitar while she remembers the happy moments she had with Joel despite the their final moments for a lie

[@mimi-ig5kr]

this game was a fever dream. it was like playing a completely different game with different characters

[@shanemackey3300]

Ya lost me at joels death works, No joel no last of us, You cant fill in the hole that he would leave so im done with this video

[@riaali9429]

I get why Ellie has this kind of resentment towards Joel especially when he protects her at the party. Because...him protecting her without her consent is kinda the main reason why they're at a bad place. He took that choice away from her to protect her. But in her eyes its like everytime he protects her it reminds her of that moment. That choice that she didn't get to make because he always protects her. I do think they made Ellie a bit over the top in this game. But I get the basis of how she feels. Abby I understand her motives, I just didn't care. So the whole experience felt weird and a waste of time. The characters did things that didn't make sense or just seemed out of character just so they could force some hateful depressing narrative. The original tlou is MUCH better than this

[@moneybaggtrev9133]

They should of made Abby kidnap Ellie in other to get information bout Joel

[@BoardWalkToke]

When people say they didn't like Joel's death it's not so much that he died in a brutal way. Dying in a brutal way is fine. In this case It is supposed to push the narrative into this revenge story. The sad thing is that leading up to his death Joel honestly was....kinda stupid. Same with Tommy. It would have been better if Abby helped them initially so Joel felt more comfortable to say his name and be super nice. The argument that "Jackson" made him nicer doesn't work. We never got to see this development therefore it felt cheap and out of character. Also, People are upset by his death because of how bad the story can be overall. Him dying like this for a shallow story is shitty to watch. Everyone including Abby and Ellie were unlikable. That conclusion at the end of the game was 200 murders too late. Ellie is already a murdering psychopath. There is no going back. The flashbacks of younger Ellie were the best parts of the game but also the worst. It shows the contrast between the Ellie we used to know to this depressing, sad, and boring version of Ellie now. Ontop, of the fact that we don't get to make any decisions ourselves in the game. It's an okay story game. It's just not a good TLOU game.

[@welln0w]

I don’t care what anyone says I still believe both this game and the first are works of art and I wish I could have my memory burned so I could replay and them all over again

[@bdthemoody3406]

Frl, those games are a unique experience

[@HiltonGoode]

Glad you enoy both of em! I wish I felt how you felt about PART 2. More power to you!

[@welln0w]

@DULTIMATE Productions thank you for accepting my opinion

[@KidFriz]

I just finished the game yesterday really the only thing I enjoy about this game is the gameplay everything else is just ugh especially Abby's section like the story got stale and ended back where it started after they killed Joel cuz I don't care about Jesse it any other character that dies except Joel they didn't make a good enough connection to make me sad when they died. I was literally drowning in tears when Joel died but when Jesse Yara Mel or even Owen died it didn't change a thing for me I just simply didn't care.

[@GothicXlightning]

to me, a game been dark or depressive is never an issue especially if it supposed to be a zombie apocalyptic survival 'horror' type of world what you don't think it was dark and pressing when Joel's daughter got shot in the chest? it is because the game was extremely poorly handle and the horrible identity politics forced on this game what truly caused to Fail miserably the game should have been about Joel for at least 90% of it if he was meant to do, just save that moment for the very end and make him fall having some kind of heroic dignity to it like saving Ellie at the end just as he did in the original and don't have him go down like a complete TWAT to a Hulking Golf club user maybe have him getting killed by what it was left of the fireflies group or some kind of militia-gov remnants or something powerful then make part 3 truly all out about revenge with Ellie guess a simple concept like that which may seem a bit cliche could prove so much more reliable than the atrocity that naughty Bitch throw at their fans they were just too stupid to see how this could have work in so many different other ways

[@97EDUB]

Yet it took those idiots seven years to create it. Guerrilla games took almost that many years to create Horizon Zero Dawn and that game is amazing. I love that game more than the first Last of Us even though I like that game.

[@garrycotton7094]

There's also another thing that makes no sense and rewatching some of the clips with Abby and Ellie fighting in this video reminded me. Ellie BITES Abby in their scuffle. Should she not be infected?

[@ricardolujan5571]

Yeah i saw that too...but at that part of the game i didnt care... Nd dstroyed the old characters and do not respect it's own world rules...

[@dezrossjr.1629]

I had no problem with them giving Joel the Negan treatment like you said it had to be this way for our hatred for Abby to exist. I just dont like how they made Joel and Tommy seem stupid in order to fall into Abbys trap. I think that part could’ve been written better. Joel was a paranoid guy in the first game to the point where he never really shared his name with strangers. Youd think the events at the end of the last game would make him much more paranoid but it doesnt. Him and Tommy meet a woman out patrolling heading toward their town. They save her and before they even know who she is or her group are theyre offering their names, locations, even offered for them to come back to town to restock on supplies before knowing who they were. Very uncharacteristic for Joel. Even when Abby finds Ellie its because Ellie circles her location on a map and leaves it at the Aquarium which Ellie knew by this point was an enemy hideout. They didnt need to make the characters from the first game make these dumb decisions to get to the same points in the plot. I wouldve liked to see Abby work harder to get to Joel instead of him landing in her lap.

[@justwait9822]

There's no way for abby to have known that ellie didnt know mel was pregnant when ellie killed her. Ellie unzipped the jacket and it was easy to see that she was pregnant so it wouldnt be hard to conclude that ellie knew she was pregnant and still decided to murder her anyways.

[@HiltonGoode]

I agree, but Abby wanting to also kill a pregnant woman is where I have the problem. Abby wanted to do so INTENTIONALLY. Two wrongs don't make a right.

[@mouski4731]

i agree i went in knowing the story and the leaks and i was extremely disappointed . It doesn't even come close to the first one

[@howardsimmons8981]

Loved the game... I had no issue with the storyline. There is already a dozen people trying to tell you how you should feel about this game. It's a good game... Make your own choices .

[@HiltonGoode]

Nobody told me how to feel about the game. Opinions are opinions. I didn't like the game and that's my opinion. Lmao, to say that the reason I didn't like the game is because others told me not to is ludicrous. First off, no one told me not to like the game. Second off, I played the game, I didn't like it. Third off, I'm glad you liked the game, but you have to understand that some people didn't. You don't have to agree with my opinion, but you gotta accept it, and that not everyone will agree with yours. It ain't that complicated dude.

[@superstd]

Howard Simmons Wait you are fine with 8 month pregnant women going to battlefield climbing fences and ropes and shot rifles like its nothing ?

[@batsux2946]

There is a chapter in tlou 1 called "it can't be for nothing". Just this is enough to understand how disprectful is part 2. (btw, not canon...the surgeon was black and named Bruce, u can check it!) kzbin.info/www/bejne/hV6XlJKDZ7uHaNE

[@scheppusmaximusgaming]

im totally down with you about the ending. i was rooting for NOBODY in this game in the end. every likeable character was either changed or has died. i thought legit that when abby said dont let me ever see you again that this was the ending, and even tho this would also have been kinda weird what followed was just making me sick.

[@asiareeves154]

Your review was okay but I think maybe you should play it again with an open mind. I was mad my first time then my 2nd play through I got it. Abby went back for lev and Yara because they saved her life and she just abandoned them there with nothing to defend themselves with. They could’ve left abby to die in that house AFTER saving her from being hung. Later in the story Lev becomes her conscience almost and keeps her grounded. I don’t think the purpose was to show us that “revenge isn’t worth it” I think it was to show us we ALL make BAD decisions but we aren’t all bad people. Abby made a terrible decision of killing Joel. Ellie killed all her friends. Ellie then has PTSD and severe trauma from going after Abby. Abby lost the man she loved and the thing she loved which was being a soldier. She gained lev as a little brother and Ellie gained Dina and JJ. I liked it once I played it again and kept an open mind. I didn’t watch any spoilers so I didn’t know about leaks and things going on with the company so I took it at face value basically

[@joystickblaze]

The Last of Us Part 2, is a game imposed by SONY and ND, with the intention of enriching this post-apocalyptic world by laying the foundations of the series for HBO, nobody asked for this kind of experience with graphics and animations that are extremely realistic that It differs with a very loose script that is reflected in a story with so many gaps in the plot and full of tricks that forcibly trying to manipulate you and make you believe that you are facing something great, but at the same time that you add hours of gameplay, you realize It is built in the cheapest style possible, rewarding you only with the best it has, the flashbacks. They present you with little elaborate characters, flat and without credible attitudes, in the end, the Studio manages to destroy Ellie, Joe and Tommy, who do not behave rationally and do not respect the personalities established in the first installment. Here, in her attempt to shake the audience, Abby is now with us for long hours, Joel's substitute, but written in such a disappointing and simple way that the vast majority of consumers in this beloved franchise would not care or will miss.. Please ... Play The Last of Us and enjoy what it can be, a true work of art

[@thelaw2348]

The story is good IF 1. You’re not already in love with Joel as YOUR surrogate father figure 2. You care about the world of the last of us. 3. A strong sense of justice and objectivity. 4. You honor the agreement YOU made with the last game: Anybody can die not just people I don’t like( Henry and David dead on the floor). If you don’t have at least 3 of these 4 your not going to like this game. And if you don’t have at least 2 of the 4 you don’t deserve to like it. Yeah I said it and it’s time somebody did. The SMOKE.

[@theboilingfrog7348]

Good review. You deserve more viewers for this.

[@HiltonGoode]

Thanks a ton! More reviews and video essays to come!

[@johngoldfield6602]

Part 2 shouldnt have been about Abby.. her story is so offtopic from the first game and I hate how they barley introduce her in the trailers making everything look like it will be about Ellie and Joel again and then when we actually play the fucking thing everything is just about Abby, they even pamper her compared to Ellie, she gets better guns better crafting stuff better melee moves, even story wise they treat Ellie like a villain and like shit, so when you play as Abby she looks like a good guy in comparison, guilt tripping you with the dogs and getting to know her friends which were all killed in Ellie's route, I really hate the ending, they give Ellie a dead end while Abby gets a possibly better ending with lev and meeting up with the fireflies, I'm calling it now, they are trying to replace Joel and Ellie with Abby and Lev, the only branching story if they want a Part 3 is Abby and Lev going to go see the fireflies.

[@heidip1782]

Owen was the only one of abbys friends, I liked somehow. Probably because he didn't want to stay with the WLFs and wanted to see reason in his life. He wanted to find the fireflies because they tried to change the world to better. He never try to force Abby to something, even if he really wanted to be with her. Abby just rejected him for stupid reasons and behaved like an ass. The first part was not pointless because Joel and Ellie found each other and it gave reason to the story. They won something. In part 2 everyone lose everything

[@liamdonegan2105]

Owen was rly likeable also this game is amazing for many reasons

[@manavbhalla2861]

I think his death didn’t work well at all because the only purpose of the death is to enrage the player only to be able to not give him/her the choice in the end to kill or spare the killer. And to try and relate to the sadistic ruthless killer after that? I mean fuck Abby and fuck this game.

[@benjaminbethel5640]

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinks joel should have died the way he did.

[@Vion646]

I would say the only reason I didn't dig the way Joel died is because they made him seem so naive

[@trigonthelitch7491]

I can’t wait to see if *Ellie bad* gets a dlc

[@dtvivo]

Abby spoke to real fire flies but they were ambushed by slave traders just after leaving the place with the radio

[@vishnulachansin9023]

If they took this game and focused it on the damaged relationship between joel and ellie. I think it would be much better. It would focus on the father and daughter relationship mending together. I think that would make more sence then this BULLSHIT we got its the most confused game ive ever watched in my life. Im gratefull i never bought this game.

[@Xeno_G23]

How stupid is Naughty Dog's Directors. One of the first rule of a business is know your customers/audience. Part 2 didn't give any of Us (the customers) what we want. Story line sucked to the core. Didn't they know that the storyline makes what is great. Instead they went the controversial path and expect the audience/fans to love it?! Just because you try to subvert our expectation doesn't make it a good game.

[@MrXboy07]

They keep showing that it’s top seller in June when there’s no competition for it at all unless you count sponge bob. They trying to justify their horrible writing

[@Sonic_BoomFPV]

Lev didn't further the story? How much story would Abby have without Lev? 🤣

[@kylekissack4633]

They did say have an open mind...I played it threw twice I had to fully finish the greiving process for Joel just to appreciate the good in the game..still I hate the story's ending along with the pace and politcal B's makes it trash!

[@mravg79]

I think you need to go through the story one more time to realize that is was so poorly written that this is what causes you not to like the game. Not each game needs to be a fairy tale. I agree with it. Two examples - spec ops the line very strong messaging, multiple endings which you can think about, which one can be considered the right choice? Was there a right choice? This ambiguity is something common for our decisions in real life. Example: should a parent get a divorce and protect the kid from the spouse even though it is known that broken home will have effect on the kid? Which will we worse for the kids? No one knows when making this decision and only time will tell. Back to games brothers a tale of two sons even a bit predictable did not ended on a happy note. I liked this game. The last of us is IMO poorly written. Abby acts like a person with many psychological problems - her brutality and fact she wants to enjoy it puts her close to psycho. Joel’s death - come on golf club? If she wanted to make the point shotgun and shooting of limbs and head would be enough. Also her father was shot clean shot so why to torture the guy who did it? In front of her crew including pregnant woman? Who the f. does this? Who in their right state of mind leave witnesses especially if one of them is screaming her lungs out stating “I will f kill you, all of you” and they have a whole town which might go for revenge quest! But sure just for the convenience of the story let the witnesses live because if Ellie and Tommy die in first 2h what would the story be about. That is the problem there is a lot of this convenient or miraculous events which to me make little to no sense. So why Abby who did not even liked Mel and their last conversation was an argument wanted to take a pleasure of cutting Dinas throat? And why she would just stop cause for Lev? Come on he/she saw a lot of violence killed people with the bow, so this could be a lesson for him mo loose ends in a dog eat dog world but no Abby has a change of heart. Why during The time you play as Abby you care less? Because a character building post factum is done poorly here. It is done poorly for Abby and her crew: Owen, manny, Mel, Nora, also when the game wants you to present these people to you as human beings you know they are dead, you couldn’t care less. This game writing is terrible in my opinion and the solid gameplay will not save the game for me - average at best.

[@AbelAraya]

Not really sure why the hate for Abby seems warranted when she and Ellie are on the same path of destruction, but on opposite ends. Abby saves Yara/Lev because she feels guilty about killing Joel; she thought that killing Joel would stop her nightmares, when in fact it only intensified them. They saved her from hanging and she repaid the favor by “giving them a second chance” (Abbys words). If you have this animosity towards Abby for those reasons, I find it confusing how you can dismiss Ellie for doing almost the exact same thing. And let’s keep it a 💯 here: the only difference between Ellie and Abby is that one of them actually killed a purely innocent person. And it wasn’t Abby.

[@superstd]

Abel Araya You forget abby tortured the man who saved her life?

[@Christian-gr3gu]

Really got to disagree with joels death, the way he acted was completely out of character from the joel we know

[@rewvarath4565]

agreed!!!! Its too depressing

[@tviperjester3978]

thanks, don’t plan on buying based on the reviews.

[@kristopherthomas7166]

I feel like everyone that criticizes this game resents the game for forcing them to play as a character they hate and it comes off as a bit preachy and manipulative. We don’t want to like Abby. We want her dead for the way she made us feel when she just straight up savaged Joel. That’s the thing. We don’t like being told who’s side to be on but we already were with Joe in Part 1. We forgave him because we were on his side. Druckmann knew what he had to do to get us to hate Abby and he succeeded marvelously. Where he failed, and he knew he would so I wouldn’t call that his failure, but ours, is to easily accept hatred and he knew at least half of his audience would turn that hatred on him because they would be incapable of sympathizing with the devil he had created. We hate her so fiercely that when we’re told to forgive her and sympathize with her, we hate the messenger that tells us that. He’s explaining christianity. He even crucified Abby just to make sure we understood what he was doing. Then he had Ellie Baptize her before releasing her. Druckmann is obviously very knowledgeable about religious symbolism. It makes what he’s doing here transcendent of basic hero archetypes. You see what I mean? He made you swing the pipe into Noras skull but he didn’t make you feel guilty. That was us because we didn’t like looking at Ellie becoming the monster she was. Ellie didn’t have a choice and so therefore we didn’t have a choice but Ellie was just as conflicted by her actions as we were. Both the player and Ellie only had the illusion of choice and Druckmann is a genius for making us feel her conflicted feelings like that. He knew a lot of us would hate him for what he made us witness and do and he did it anyway. In an interview he said he doesn’t care about what the fans think. That’s because he respects his audience. He doesn’t care what you think, only that you feel. He wanted to make something epic enough that the fans of TLOU would never forget Joel and Ellie and to immortalize them, he had to martyr them. And he successfully achieved that. He wants us to love Joel and Ellie as much as he does, even if it means we hate him. It gets really meta. The 4th wall comes down and we don’t know what’s real or fiction anymore because it all feels to real and it actually viscerally hurts us to see what Abby did to Joel and Ellie. And then we have to be her, who we hate more than anything. Druckmann is an absolute genius because he forces us to reconcile that we don’t have any real morals or ethics beyond loyalty. We will hate who we’re told to hate and love who we’re told to love. You might think this is off because the game told you to love Abby and you refused to. The game controlled and manipulated our emotions the entire time. To “get it” you have to forgive the game and a lot of us can’t even see what the hell just happened to us. We can’t see it. We refuse to see it. To see it feels like a betrayal and we’re far more loyal than we are moral. And that’s the point I think Druckmann was trying to peel back and expose with this brilliant work of art.

[@zarafanai5925]

I feel like the story is fine.. Abby was fine.. Ellie was driven by vengeance which was understandable.. What doesnt work is how it was presented.. The whole story.. If the game began with abby then the 2nd half is us playing as ellie trying to kill abby.. Ending in the theatre and failing to kill her.. That would have been a better representation of the story they were trying to tell..

[@joycedates2059]

Year later -story would probably been more believable, if they had done a DLC for the last of us for Abby, like they did with Riley.

[@venetioskyrlis2905]

I really hate the the murder of the pregnant girl..

[@julioavalos2601]

I much play god of war then the last of us 2

[@introbe1]

If you don't like this story, I would suggest never reading anything by Cormac McCarthy.

[@travis6694]

Bro, all the pretty horses is amazing, also blood meridian.