I also saw many user reviews bombing the game simply because Ellie is gay and in a gay couple with another girl, hence decrying the whole game as gay, woke, sjw pandering, leftist fantasy, and things like that.

Why did you group them together? Xbox trolls are not the main cause, though I will not deny their contributions. There’s just as many if not more positive reviews from people who liked it. 

You aren’t even open to the possibility that the majority are people who liked LOU1? People are allowed to feel divided on the direction of the story and characters, on top of who you play as. The ending is not universally praised either (where as review copies werent the whole game people based their review on).  

That’s a shame. They will do nothing but take up the headlines and spotlight instead of those who legitimately feel divided. It’s sucks that there can’t be a constructive dialogue if everybody just assumes all the haters are just anti lgbt. 

Wait wait, are you claiming that the review copies just didn't have the back half of the game? My understanding was that they weren't allowed to discuss the back half in their review but they were still allowed to play that part of the game. 

Btw, not that weird of a request. Even as an amateur video game reviewer we got some review copies that came with the stipulation we not discuss story details beyond a certain point. Would have to look through my review list to try and remember which game specifically. 

No that’s what I meant. That their score could only be based on the first half right? That was my understanding. It’s not a weird request, but it’s the second half moments of the game that are largely responsible for the divisive aspects. 

No, their scores are based on the whole game, they just weren't allowed to speak on, or show, details from the second half of the game.

Ah I see, thanks for clarifying. That just creates more questions then answers. This really is like Star Wars Last Jedi with a clear disconnect between media and end users. 

My friend, go on the link I posted earlier and look at the reviews. Nearly all of them describe issues that make direct references to the game content. These people needed to buy the game and play it to make such a review, something I doubt a person with a pro-xbox agenda would do. Because it requires that they support a Sony studio with time & money.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/the-last-of-us-part-ii/user-reviews

To give you a sense of what's there, here is the first user review when ordered by helpfulness (default).

Be reassured that while there are a minority of people who might be acting with an agenda, and that's sad, it seems like the mass of reviews are from people who bought and played the game. Don't let someone who groups a handful of bad reviewers into one image mislead you, because then the person who constructed the image would be acting with a pro-sony agenda, and that would be just as bad if not worse because it's misleading. I'm not referring to StokedUp but to the person who constructed that image.

Be vigilant of the information you are being told, some seeks to divide people instead of uniting them for a cause. To demonstrate what I mean, console wars never came up with a nearly identical issue with Star Wars The Last Jedi, because in film that doesn't happen as much. Sure there are fans of Star Trek and Star Wars and some of both, but nobody blamed the low user score of The Last Jedi on fans of Star Trek, it wouldn't make sense.

Focus on the game, what made you love it, what made you not so much. And if you had an issue with something, don't be shy to say so if there is an issue. Whether you post a review or not is your personal choice, but don't let the companies ever dictate your preferences. I hated what they did to Star Wars, and I personally will certainly voice my discontent over it. The visuals were great, the new characters showed promise, but in the end the content fell flat and treated my beloved characters with contempt, and I was angry that they disrespected something I loved, in the name of an agenda or of Subverted Expectations, that lame word they use to justify uselessly killing characters we love to promote most-likely a feminist, anti white man agenda. If a character makes sense with a certain aspect, then great. But here, things are being designed from the ground up to further that agenda, an so the quality of the universe we are plunged into suffers for it. I only read about TLOUII, but I saw what happened to Star Wars so I understand if fans of the game are upset, and I think you should too. You should get away from pointing fingers at fans of other consoles and look at the actual probable root of the problem: that corporations are meddling into creative art, games and movies, and it's really nasty.

Though that comes with it's own can of worms, as one reviewer noted. As in, if they had had a game-breaking bug or something along those lines somewhere in the second half of the game, they would not have been able to report on it in their reviews due to this total embargo on the latter part of the game.

Yeah, you can do that if you want, or still like it regardless of bad writing

You have your own opinion regardless. I never said you had to express one like mine, but the user reviews are telling in the end.