I should start by saying I think the first Last of Us was probably my favorite video game ever. No story comes close, and I really enjoyed stealthily avoiding clickers and giving them a good shiv. The gunplay wasn't great, but otherwise, I thought it was just incredible. So I was expecting a LOT. Gameplay-wise, I think its just as good if not better than the original. Im going totally on memory as I only played it once and never touched it again. Which, is due to the story. While the first game was SUPER.....rough(I remember thinking I couldnt take the emotional toll to play through it again) I ended up playing through it a total of 3 times. This game...I just didnt enjoy any of it. Ellie seemed a lot different from the first game, and trying to like Abby after knowing what she did proved too difficult for me. I really just hated playing as either of them. Ellie seemed to waste the life given to her, almost self-destruct mode. Which if she was going to go that route, then just give your brain up. For those that think Joel was evil for his choice in the first game, Abby would therefor have to be every bit that evil. It just wasn't fun, and I get that games' stories aren't always fun (see the first game), but this just felt like torture.

Of all the remarks I've read on here, this one (and @epicurean's) resonate the most with me. I loved the story in the first game! It doesn't try to be anything crazy. It's just a simple telling of a man and a little girl who grow close during an escort mission (amidst a "zombie apocolypse"). Combine this with addictive & immersive combat system, and you have one of the greatest games of all time. Following this up was already a massive feat...and I believe the writer(s) behind Part 2 recognized this.

My perspecive on this game's story: It doesn't seem like the writer(s) had a clear idea on how to continue it in a meaningful manner. Even if I do believe Joel being killed off was a solid way to move things forward (with all the innocent ppl he killed in the first game, it was inevitable somebody was gonna be after him), the lead up to his death fails to explain why Joel's death was a natural consequence of his actions from the first game, and, as a result, comes off as a little bit cheap. Combine this with a very same-y (refined) combat system, and you get a game which struggles to justify its existence. Lacking past the motivation, I wasn't gripped at all by the story, especially when most of the emotional impact consisted of (i) discovering somebody is pregnant, or (ii) Ellie having a bleeding heart upon murdering the team of ppl who killed Joel (yet she has no remourse for the scores of soldiers she killed along the way).

I will confess that I have only gotten up through the start of the Abby portion of the game, but I don't have any intention to finish it. Seems like most of the story has already concluded, plus I already sunk 25hr into Ellie's section (i play on Survivor Mode, which means being very slow in sneaking up behind every enemy...hence the bloated playtime). 

According to r\TheLastOfUs2 (on Reddit), Ellie's homosexuality was an attempt by Druckmann to push his "pro-woke" agenda lol.

That's exactly what Ellie wanted, she says so at some point. Joel made sure she couldn't...

Joel and Abby's story are very different. Joel was replacing a lost daughter, Abby was out to avenge her murdered dad.

Ellie changed after Joel took her choice away, a lot of TloU2 shows the rift it created between Joel and Ellie. It also shows Joel never really paid any attention to Ellie's personal feelings as he was still thinking Ellie was into Jessie... Despite Ellie dropping plenty hints.

I played through the first one three times as well, no playing part 2 for the second time. Different from the first time, now playing with hindsight I notice a lot more compared to the first time when Abby and company were just unknown extras until the second half.

You skipped half the story... That all comes out during the second half.

But indeed, it's still a video game with a stupid kill count for action sake.

maybe i should clarify...I understand Abby's intentions in killing Joel (i actly looked up "Abby TLoU1?" when Joel was killed at the start of the game to see if I was just forgetting who this person was, just to learn abt how her dad was killed at the hands of Joel). What I'm saying is that it I don't believe it was very well executed. Idk how to write stories, so im not gonna act like i do, but i felt it was a little odd that some random person who hadn't even appeared in the first game was the one who got their vengence on Joel. It's been a year since i last played...but was there really nobody they could've used as seeking vengence? I appreciate the decision to stray away from Part One, but it feels just a bit too detatched at times.

Being that you've finished the game, I'm curious: Is there much else worth seeing in Abby's portion of the game? All it comes off as to me is an attempt to make the player feel sympathy for these characters who killed Joel, and drill the beaten-to-death theme of moral amibiguity. (Is Ellie or Abby more justified? Are neither justified? Etc.)

Well part of it is a flashback of the hospital encounter in Tlou1, the missing part.

Full of spoilers duh :)



It also gives more fuel to Joel's point of view, confirming they knew Ellie would not survive the surgery. Yet Ellie said she was prepared for that, willing to make that sacrifice. Hence she feels 'lost' in part 2. She lost her purpose and the one person she learned to trust lied to her and betrayed her.

For video games, moral ambiguity is not a beaten-to-death theme at all. It's a brave move by ND to dive into the world of greys instead of keeping it black and white. No hero vs villains like any other video game. Sure some games have a sequence with some moral ambiguity, but I can't think of any other game where it's the central theme, while showing the story from 2 different perspectives.

I'm curious what did you initially think of the ending of TloU part 1? I lost respect for Joel at the end, although he was kinda not given the choice. But then lying about it to Ellie, what an ass. The rift between Ellie and Joel in part 2 felt fully justified.

Btw, you don't have to kill all those 'extras', you can sneak by and leave them be. I've been sneaking by many encounters on my second play-through. So it's up to the player to be a mass murderer ;) (But then I start shooting for fun when my inventory is full, it's still a game!)

Abby > Ellie

@firebush03 

"Ellie having a bleeding heart upon murdering the team of ppl who killed Joel (yet she has no remourse for the scores of soldiers she killed along the way"

I just got to the part where Ellie confronts Nora. The 'sudden' bleeding heart she displays there is an important turn of events. From basically killing in self defense she has been doing all the time (enemies are all non hesitant to kill her) she kidnaps, pursues and then tortures Nora for information.

The emotional toll and moral price she pays for that is written all over her face, very powerful sequence. The game forces you to press square to advance the torture, all while focusing on Ellie's facial expression.

It makes a lot of sense. She goes deeper and deeper in the cycle of revenge killing rather than kill to survive.

And this time it made more impact on me as I was sneaking by the Scars and the soldiers while getting into the hospital. There is one mandatory confrontation, dude with a huge hammer coming after Ellie. Then she's already upset for killing Nora's friend in the basement, reflex after she resists.

But true, if you methodically kill everyone along the way, then it can feel a bit arbitrary. But still the move from "self defense" to torture is a big turning point in the game.

I'll be on the way to the Aquarium tonight, where things further escalate.

Loved the game & story. Got very invested in the characters. Just wish it was a little less padded