The Last of Us Part II Spoiler Discussion Thread

[kdslittlebro]

absolutely lol

edit: also crazy how much discussion and debate is taking place with this game, reviewers weren’t lying when they said this game would be divisive as fukk

That's why it's making more and more of a case for my favorite story ever. @MisterMajesty

I feel like Jesse was mostly a plot device, and that's ok. They can't flesh every character out, especially when ppl complain about the game being too long as is. I think they focused on the characters closest to Abby and Ellie. I can't speak on how "believable" their convos are or aren't because nothing really stuck out to me as inherently unbelievable during their interactions. They didn't delve into his psyche, but they made him a believable enough person. The main character trait they focused on was his care for his friends, and he never went back on that

I made a post on Joel earlier

I don't think ND was trying to make Abby out to be one way or another, I think they laid out her actions and let the player decide how they feel. I think they did a lot of that overall in the game, but ppl are taking their interpretations as fact there's too many different takes for ND to have had one singular thought. Imo she started out one way, and progressed a lot, especially in the Scars section. For me, the biggest evidence of that is how I felt about her in the theater playing as Ellie vs how I felt about her in the theater playing as her. The only thing I think they were 100% taking a stance on was that they both had their reasons to do what they did. And they were both absolutely consumed by it and lost everything.

Ellie was running on 100% emotion basically the entire game. That doesn't make for sound logic. Abby was definitely jarring physique wise, I said that from jump street. I took that as 1. she's on essentially a self-sustained military base with many resources, and 2. she was that dedicated to killing Joel's mf ass . The shyt she is doing gameplay-wise would look even wilder if she was the size she was on that pole at the end. Highly unlikely body, but it's the apocalypse shyt is different.

The scene where Mel got killed I thought she never found out she was pregnant until Mel was dead



I made a post literally right after I finished it in here about how I hated the ending. But I didn't think it was a bad ending. All those goons weren't faces in her notebook. Even when she killed Nora who she tracked down, her hands were literally shaking, and Nora basically gave her the greenlight with the oil she was spitting. When she had Abby underwater not fighting back, that's when she had to decide if it was really worth it or not. That end scene tied it all together for me, and the more I think about it the more I'm glad they went with that ending. For one it made me think about it more than any other game before, and for two it has sparked so much convo you never get out of a story.

I won't tell anyone they're right or wrong when it comes to art, but damn I love this story I know it won't happen but I hope ND never compromises their vision to please anybody that's not a writer on their game. I'd rather they try something and I hate it than they do what gamers expect.

 

[kdslittlebro]

Game is only divisive because people are emotional idiots

nikkas saw Joel get off, started seeing red and didn’t care to digest the rest of the game. Just started regurgitating what other loudmouth people on the internet are saying

I watched a review yesterday and dud articulated my thoughts, “you can’t even tell what the fukk the people that don’t like this game are mad about because they don’t even know what they are mad about”.

Like a breh said here earlier, if the story was some Kill Bill ride where Tommy dies and Joel and Ellie go across the country bodying people for it while telling each other shyt like “I’m gonna protect you” nikkas would be happy as shyt

I think it is a divisive story. There's nothing wrong with that. I think that's the beauty of it. ND made the player do some emotional and logical leg work themselves and didn't spell out everything for you. And you see how I'm riding for it in here that's why I'm enjoying the convos. shyt even myself last night would be arguing with myself today

 

[kdslittlebro]

Also, despite all our disgreement in here. Can we ALL agree, that the worst part of this entire game was that fukking sex scene?

shyt was atrocious

The worst part for me was sending Yara over that damn door, and that small ass arena combat section. I forgot about that part but I was literally angry for a cool min

 

[MisterMajesty]

Stuff

aight, you right my nikka. I'mma give the game a 2nd playthrough. But im still mostly jarred and somewhat put off by certain things (like staring at abby, and that fukking sex scene)

 

[HiiiPower]

I hated the ending. But I didn't think it was a bad ending.

I think a lot of people don’t understand comments like this but it does make sense

 

[The axe murderer]

Also, despite all our disgreement in here. Can we ALL agree, that the worst part of this entire game was that fukking sex scene?

shyt was atrocious

Can't no one tell me that shyt wasn't
shyt had banjos playing in the background while dude went in DRY.

 

[HiiiPower]

shyt had banjos playing in the background while dude went in DRY.

Rep

 

[Max.]

The real dina

 

[Woodrow]

dropping my thoughts on the ending here (thanks for the invite @kdslittlebro)...

I thought the story was amazing. I understand why so many don't like it, and there are moments that are tough to take initially (like fighting against Ellie as Abby). But by the time you make it to the end, it all felt like it makes sense. To me at least.

I think the final convo between Joel and Ellie sealed the deal for me. Everything pertaining to her justifications is right there:

• the need to go so far for revenge (because joel confirmed her life meant something... to him. and she had her reason for being alive taken away... again)
• what ultimately led her to walk away and leave abby be (joel saying he wouldn't change anything he's done, and ellie -- even though hearing it impacted her own self-worth -- deciding she couldn't/wouldn't live that way, consciously doing something she knows is wrong... which is why that flashback replaced joel's death right before she let abby go)
• ellie's decision to go her own path being confirmed by her loss of the ability to play the guitar (joel's path)

As far as Abby... she's no more a villain than Joel or Ellie. Joel killed her dad, and she avenged his murder. It's only controversial because we spent the last game developing a relationship with Joel and Ellie. But what Joel did was wrong! Ellie didn't want it. And the people he killed were for the most part innocent (even if we understand why he did it). They were about to commit a horrible act, but it was in pursuit of a noble cause.

The fact that Joel showed no remorse for what he'd done just because it allowed him to save Ellie is not an excuse. This decision came with consequences, and his time to pay up came due. imo, the decision to kill joel early, and the fact that the game forces you to deal with those consequences, makes sense BECAUSE of your relationship to Joel and Ellie. having a connection to our favorite characters doesn't make them safe, or even morally right, in this world. and if we're being real, there are plenty of times in the game where Abby comes across like she's EASILY the most morally centered of all the primary characters.

 

[Uchiha God]

This game and story are so good to me like. The parallels to the first game, and to the concurrent stories within this game. the juxtaposition between motivations and how it asks you to confront your bias regarding some characters.

nikkas wanted Ellie to off Abby because they dislike Abby, but Abby is literally Ellie if she had achieved “revenge”, which Abby successfully does by killing Joel, then spends the rest of the game trying to find redemption (which connects and is parallel to how Joel was and how he found redemption through Ellie in the first game. (Abby does it through Lev.) One of the first things brought to us when the game switches to Abby is how Abby’s relationships are falling apart in the wake of what she did to Joel. She can’t sleep, Mel has been avoiding her, so has Owen, etc.

In the first game, Ellie says her biggest fear is ending up alone, and she actively makes that happen in this game by endangering the people she cares about. The final third of this game she’s dealing with PTSD and goes after Abby as a means to escape, which prompts Dina to leave her. Once she gets to Abby, Abby isn’t even this bulky monster she’s built up on her head to justify her actions, just a frail/defeated girl trying to protect somebody else (Lev).



I think people should watch this review:



dude jokes throughout the review, but underneath the jokes. His overall sentiment echoes how I feel about the game in many regards.

 

[kdslittlebro]

This game and story are so good to me like. The parallels to the first game, and to the concurrent stories within this game. the juxtaposition between motivations and how it asks you to confront your bias regarding some characters.

nikkas wanted Ellie to off Abby because they dislike Abby, but Abby is literally Ellie if she had achieved “revenge”, which Abby successfully does by killing Joel, then spends the rest of the game trying to find redemption (which connects and is parallel to how Joel was and how he found redemption through Ellie in the first game. Abby does it through Lev.) One of the first things brought to us when the game switches to Abby is how Abby’s relationships are falling apart in the wake of what she did to Joel. She can’t sleep, Mel has been avoiding her, so has Owen, etc.

In the first game, Ellie says her biggest fear is ending up alone, and she actively makes that happen in this game by endangering the people she cares about. The final third of this game she’s dealing with PTSD and goes after Abby as a means to escape, which prompts Dina to leave her. Once she gets to Abby, Abby isn’t even this bulky monster she’s built up on her head to justify her actions, just a frail/defeated girl trying to protect somebody else (Lev).



I think people should watch this review:



dude jokes throughout the review, but underneath the jokes. His overall sentiment echoes how I feel about the game.

You know what I lowkey keep forgetting about talking about the story? Even with people shytting on the story, the gameplay behind it is damn near universally praised the fact that I loved the gameplay and the story fully. Naughty Dog hit a fukkin grand slam in my PS4 Pro

 

[HiiiPower]

Another thing I missed...The pearl Jam song they used.

“if I were to lose you, I would lose myself”

ellies whole arc

 

[The axe murderer]

Rep

I'm sorry bruh but I gotta clown this scene right here
This mf idea of foreplay is fighting abby and choking her in ways that would have manuel ferrera like

Abby was gonna give him that work if he didn't stop

I legit thought abby was gonna tell him to bend over its my turn

My man and all this shyt was motion captured too? I need to see the mocap for this scene

Scene looked musty as hell too. Looked like they smelled of cheeks, possum and sea water

My gf saw this scene and she made the face people do when they see they walk in on they grandparents doing it

Reminded me of deliverance

 

[kdslittlebro]

I'm sorry bruh but I gotta clown this scene right here
This mf idea of foreplay is fighting abby and choking her in ways that would have manuel ferrera like

Abby was gonna give him that work if he didn't stop

I legit thought abby was gonna tell him to bend over its my turn

My man and all this shyt was motion captured too? I need to see the mocap for this scene

Scene looked musty as hell too. Looked like they smelled of cheeks, possum and sea water

My gf saw this scene and she made the face people do when they see they walk in on they grandparents doing it

Reminded me of deliverance

Another rep

 

[The axe murderer]

Another thing I missed...The pearl Jam song they used.

“if I were to lose you, I would lose myself”

ellies whole arc