The Last of Us Part 2 Has a Great Story (Analysis, Video Essay, Review)
Spoiler Alert. Please share, like and sub if you enjoyed the video. I'm going to be uploading various videos analyzing/reviewing games, films, and whatever interests me.
The Last of Us Part II has been nothing except divisive. I take a look at the game through a positive lens. This is a game review/analysis/video essay.
Last of Us 2 footage from Chris Smoove: • The Last of Us 2
Spec Ops: The Line footage from Gamer's Little Playground: • SPEC OPS: THE LINE All...
Skyrim footage from ProstoOsen: • Skyrim - Intro PC ver...
Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 1 footage from Cryaotic: • Cry Plays: The Walking...
Shoutout to MrAlexTech: / @mralextech
Introduction: 0:00
Abby and Ellie: 1:32
Dissonance from Interactivity: 15:13
Problems: 20:03
Conclusion: 22:30
If you want a fair (in my opinion) but negative look at the game check out YongYea's review here: kzhead.info/sun/frOPeJqkapyXeYE/bejne.html Do you agree with my overall assertions made in the video? How did you feel about the story?
I feel like this is the new mgs2 . But with an even more unjust public opinion cause nowdays a lot of youtuber and sites capitalize on this stuff . This time critics were a lot more fair than others .
Yeah I’m sure YongYea, a well known woke fool, is going to have a “fair” negative opinion on the game. But maybe I am mistaking your use of the word fair for “unbiased”
TLOU2 has a good narrative, but not a good game narrative as it refutes the interactivity of the medium. We'll kill 100's if not a thousand people to get to Abbey but by the time we get to the person responsible the game will let Abbey go. If there were one thing I'd change, and it would be a small one, it would be trusting the player to choose to kill or spare Abbey during the climax. Giving into petty revenge or asking us to recognize that we are the same and have suffered the same and suffered enough. After all, the mechanic is the message. Or at least it should be.
"People aren't always perfectly consistent" - truer words have not been spoken.
People don't get retconned in real life
@@waidaracabudu1827 Yes they do. And this game doesn't retcon anything.
You made some interesting points about the theme of revenge and this might be one of the most thoughtful opinions about the games themes (w/out adding non-sense). I have read/watched. With that said, this game is asking a lot form the player here. The original game had a really rich world with themes as well, but the game worked without requiring the player to realizes or analyze them. And when you played the main charter (Joe) - the gameplay also helped make that bond between them stronger throughout the game. I remember playing Winter and when the game switches to Ellie how impactful that felt (questing if Joe was even alive). Just by simply playing as another charter. And when the game alternates between Joe and Ellie. There was this feeling the agency built with pure gameplay around it. It was almost 7 years between The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2. And when I seen Joe brutally murder (beaten to death) the main charter of the game I adore. It was such a strong imagine - that it disconnected me from the story. So now I'm paying two charters that I don't care about, so I'm playing the game at face value and it was ruff.
It took a while for my slow brain to figure out, what you meant by "Joe" and "charter" but yeah, I agree with you.
@@nnnnmhughuuhhjiijj9457 I'm dyslexic, so I did not even catch that :( I totally meant to write was character (not charter). I forgot that I wrote this comment, but I was so disappointed with this sequel. It felt like people behind this game - where more interested in making "art" than making a good game. That's why this game feels so pretentious when all said and done.
Great video. After watching both of your videos out so far I subscribed. I hope to see a lot more like this in the future :)
Great and incredibly reasoned video, dude. Commandments! I watched your MGS one first and then found this. Subscribed. P.S. please release more content!
This video should blow up. It's really good. Super high quality!
I always knew Joel is going to die by the hands of the remaining fireflies. So it didn't surprise me in this aspect. The "enemies" perspective, with the friendly interaction between those we hurt while playing with Ellie, it was what shocked me the most but positively. I never saw Abby as a villain but as a human being. That's what the game wanted.
Wish we lived in a world that this did not leak.
would be interesting to see how people viewed the game differently...
@@jackdonsurfer Ya a lot of people I follow went into the game expecting to hate it. I wish I did not get spoiled on it myself, would have been something far different I feel if I did not know what was coming.
@@PixxelTrixx kinda hard to avoid spoilers though, I had heard that Ellie died (which ended up not being true) but you have to be deliberate about avoiding that kinda stuff
@@jackdonsurfer If Ellie died, I would have revolted. The best thing about The Last of Us is that we started loving Ellie as Joel did. By the end of Last of Us main game + DLC = Ellie emerges as the the true protagonist of the series.
I enjoyed The Last of Us but this made me appreciate it just a little more so thank you.
Ever since I did my own video essay on the last of us part 2 I have been recommended a shit ton of other video essays and let me tell you, yours is by far the best. I honestly wish this video would get more views because a lot of people would rather hate blindly than hear stuff like what you say in this video. Good luck man
I really appreciate it. I'll try to check yours out when I've got some time, I think the discussion around the game has been fascinating.
Just watched the twin snakes one and this back to back and immediately subscribed. My journey with TLoU2 was a bit different (like how I was on board with Ellie's want for revenge for much longer), but I really do think It's an amazing piece of storytelling (however I think It wouldn't have worked If the gameplay wasn't so enjoyable). HOWEVER I will still hate It for the funko pops as well as Troy and Neil being fucking pricks about a ton of shit (more specifically the Schindler's List and the Jason Schreier debacles).
You did change my opinion on Ellie sparing Abby at the end. The main reason I didn't really like the story of TLoU2 is that, for me, it cheapened the story of the first one. In the first game, when Joel tells her to forget about the Fireflies and go back to Tommy's, Ellie said that all that they've been through couldn't be for nothing and that's how I feel at the end of TLoU2. Even though Joel took the oportunity of curing humanity from Ellie, at least they got something from the events of that game: Joel had real reason to live again and Ellie had a family but at the end of the second game Joel is dead and Ellie seems to be dead in the inside. What do you think of that scene of Ellie leaving the guitar behind and walking into the forest? As I said, I feel like he has no reason nor will to live anymore but maybe you see it otherwise. Also, I watched this and the MGS video and you earned a new subscriber :)
I appreciate it; I will say that this was my first time attempting to write anything like this, and if I wrote the script today it would definitely be different. I still love the game and its story but the ending guitar scene and Ellie's decisions on the beach were worth more discussion than I initially explored. In retrospect, I think that the game is most prominently about grief; how an inability to cope with loss and tragedy can create villains out of heroes who perpetuate a cycle of retribution and death. From that lens, I think Ellie leaving the guitar is a sign that her resolution to handle Joel's death in a healthy way requires that she removes herself from the physical remnants of her past. Right before she decides to leave for Santa Barbara she plays the guitar, which invokes a memory that seemingly pushes her over the edge. It seems like the memories spurred from her playing didn't act as a positive reminder of Joel's love but instead a vitriolic motivator, and she understands that it's best just to move on. Druckmann intentionally left the context around that scene ambiguous; I don't have the game with me so I can't check if Ellie leaves any notes in her diary, but Ellie's relationship with Dina, how much time has passed, if Ellie just returned from California or if she's revisiting that house for the first time in a year or so aren't answered. If I had to make a guess based upon the tone, I felt like she just got back from SB where she then sees that Dina moved out, and walking away also symbolized her necessity to create a new future like Abby has done with Lev. Again, there might be some notes that disprove that, but that would be my interpretation on face value.
3:23 4:52 in my opinion this goes to the thing if ellie is a good guy or a bad guy, becuase abby only kill one person (joel) for justice or revenge, when ellie kill a bunch of people for justice or revenge 7:00 the cicle of violence is so big (or constant), that at some point you don't even know why is happening 7:22 why was mel (a pregent woman) on this mission with abby and manny 8:10 honestly i would say (because of when ellie gets attack while fixing her, by a small group of wlf runaways and they think ellie is one to, the say that isaac can go to hell and they are going back), that in a certain way abby could be in a cult to 15:07 in a way i think you could be right, that ellie could be the game true antagonist, but i also would say that the antagonist could be perspective in it self (like on attack on titan) or even the cure
Wow this is so amazing, evens for a game i never play
I haven't played either of these games so I'm just an observer ahah. Can't really add anything. But I understood this a lot more than some other videos and posts I have seen about it. Dunno why. I hope you go far. I mean I'll be waiting for your videos. It's more recent but Jakey's video on this game is really good too. As expected from him d: Lastly: with your current avatar I hope you've seen Super Bunnyhop's MGS3 video, HAH. You might enjoy it.
Yeah I really like Super Bunnyhop's videos on Metal Gear. I'm gonna try to find a way to make a video about the series at some point but I don't want to just repeat what he or Matthewmatosis or Steak Bentley have already said. I've got some ideas though...
There are obvious similarities between Spec Ops The Line and this game. Like the city of Seattle that is in a very similar situation to Dubai, an isolated city where 2 factions are in war for god knows how long, the arrival of the protagonist blinded with personal motives and who thinks he is above all this chaos when he is exactly like the people he is killing
People don't scoff at the ending because Ellie merely acts inconsistent. Her actions are beyond that to the point of incredulity. Hyped up on adrenaline, in pain, Ellie somehow has an epiphany and pulls and complete 180 mid-fight. You can't handwave that as "well people act inconsistent sometimes." It's poor writing. A conclusion that, like most profundity TLOU2 chases, isn't earned. It's callow writing beats its themes into you harder than Abby did Joel's skull.
@@ontheturningawaysomeone's butthurt that TLOU2's plot is regarded as trash..
Imo LOU 2 should've been part 3. LOU 2 should've been one last adventure with Joel and Ellie, and have the first 2 hours of part 2 be the last 2 hours. BTW I do like LOU 2, just think it's one game to early.
I recommend playing through Nier: Automata if you havent yet. It explores similar themes and more in a less direct way. Both are pretty compelling
I've heard quite a lot about that one, I'd like to get around to it at some point
@@jackdonsurfer yeah it has quickly become one of my favorite games of all time. the less you know going into it the better
Do not play Automata before the first one, and do not play the remake.
@@eandjproductions2 Why do you say don't play the remake? It's not out yet and from what I've seen it doesn't seem like it deviates much from the original.
@@snayk60 The remake completely changes the main character so it really isn't the same game anymore. One of the most important aspects of the original was the relationship of Nier and his daughter. They just made it anime garbage to appeal to Automata fans. It's pretty much saying Twin Snakes is able to replace the original, no it doesn't and it's a shame if someone actually thinks that. They're ruining a true classic and I don't care if the creator says "brother Nier" is canon it's worse.
I'll Subscribe and Stay Subscribed the Second i See Metal Gear Solid Content on here.
I've got an idea for a Metal Gear video that'll probably be 3 or 4 down the road. Might as well subscribe now so you see that video in your feed whenever it comes out... 👀
@@jackdonsurfer Good, Good.
Hi Jackdon, this was a fantastic video and a really appreciated perspective of the story. While I don't agree with it, it's still welcoming to see other takes on it. I'd highly love to recommend you check out The Closer Look's video essay on the game, as it covers a lot of the same ground, but more importantly, he offers up a great alternative story I think is worth taking a listen to. Visit kzhead.info/sun/gNqNdqplfGetnq8/bejne.html if you ever get the time! Thanks for your hard work, and keep it up. I'd love to see more of your content!
This is a levelheaded review. I loved the game for what it is , instead of being I wanted it to be. It succeeded on it's own terms, and the naysayers did not like it, which is fair, because it did not align with the narrative they created in your head. With all the hate the game got, my big takeaway is that you never make a work of art part of your identity because then you will take it as a personal attack and that leads to unfair, biased, and ignorant opinions.
"This isn't a revenge story..." - it is, until the last minute. That whole dreaming of him when she is trying to drown Abby is something that I can't imagine could happen before she had time to calm down. If she actually did get her revenge, she would know that chances that anyone would want to get revenge on her or people around her would be slim. When she left some alive, they can always change their minds and want to get that revenge... That's the reason why in the past, whole lineages were murdered because of this reason, to be sure. On the other hand, I never cared for any of these characters, both games are weirdly uninteresting (gameplay, story and character wise) for me, so... Partly it's so unbelievable to focus on a load of unimportant bollocks in a world where humanity is on the brink of extinction that I just can't care about characters having nightmares because somebody died/care about their sexual needs... when the whole world turned into heap of crap and their main problem should be how to survive and start again.
There are a few reasons to hate it seeing Joel getting beaten by a golf club was a sad sight indeed like an old lion getting mauld by hyenas the story it self pacing characters just didn't land besides trying is there a credit due ?
No. They messed up the story and turned it into something that resembles a bad fanfic.
I think the player’s input made the game’s theme more impactful. It hit its mark with me. Other people just didn’t get it. Ellie’s actions weren’t SUPPOSED to be identified with because she was acting for all the wrong reasons. I think many player’s intense hatred of Abby is directly projected from playing as Ellie. You see her as a monster because ELLIE sees her as a monster. But then the game flips on its head and YOU are Abby. Then what? Is Ellie still the one you root for? If so why? Because you knew her longer? Like her more? Why? The game asks all these questions and gamers who aren’t ready for that answer lash out at the entire game. This game was meant to make you fight with your own sense of morality and see just how pointless everything becomes when vengeance (brought on by trauma or not) is your sole purpose. It also shows how just about ANY horrific action can be justified depending on who you identify with or care about. And that is a PROBLEM. I LOVED this game and I can’t wait to play it again.
@@Pan_Z I respect your opinion. I will disagree with your view on Abby though. She was literally face to face with the man that shot her dad in the face. Of course she seems like a different person than the rest of the game in that moment. But Abby was able to do what Ellie couldn’t. Abby was able to let go and move on in the end to create a new life. Ellie wasn’t able to do that. Also, the reason Ellie’s brutal actions seem “out of nowhere” to you is because you empathize with her. You aren’t able to see the slow decline into damn near insanity over Ellie’s inability to cope with Joel’s death. Ellie was the villain by the end of this game.
@@Pan_Z Not Avatar Aang 😭😭😭 And her not bashing the pregnant lady’s head in was meant to show that she had developed beyond vengeance. Ellie didn’t, which was why she killed the other pregnant lady. Everything plays out the way a good narrative should. It’s just that people don’t like the outcome of the story.
@Pan Z I don't think saying that most of Ellie's sins result from circumstance is entirely fair. At the end of the day, she made the effort to visit both Seattle and Santa Barbara with no righteous goal whatsoever. Everything she does, from the failed interrogation attempt in the aquarium to her brutal treatment of Nora, is a result of her seeking vengeance. Some of the background info that establishes those events is definitely wonky at times (after Abby spends a few hours trekking through dangerous enemy settlements to reach Owen, even getting captured by scars, having Mel just be at the aquarium the next morning was strange) but I felt like I understood the two through each other, if that makes sense. We essentially see Ellie degrade into Abby from the opening while seeing Abby begin to find her way out of it. Like I say in the video, I didn't feel like the point of the story was: Abby good, Ellie bad; it was more about seeing two characters go through similar arcs at different points, and both perform heroic and villainous acts throughout the story to reflect that. Abby isn't just painted out to be a hero; her brutalization of Joel wasn't exactly well intentioned, and she totally would have killed Dina had Lev not been there, for example. And by the end of the story I'm still not entirely sure I liked her and I didn't really view her as hero per se, but I was ok with that. Similarly, Ellie isn't just a villain either; people hated having to play catch with a dog as Abby because it was emotionally manipulative, but Ellie pets a dog at the beginning as well, and she still was willing to let go of Abby to get Dina back to Jackson even though she was clearly conflicted about it. I just think that because we see these characters most prominently at different points in their arcs (Seattle Ellie is the descension, Abby Seattle is the ascension in a way) players feel like Druckmann was biased towards one character over the other, and I didn't see the mirrored structure of the plot as a mere attempt to pass judgement onto the characters but rather a creative way to show how an inability to cope with grief can lead to unhealthy obsessions that tear our lives apart.
@@jackdonsurfer This. All of this. There were no “good guys.” In this one. No one to truly root for on a moral standpoint. So we have to root for the character who is closest to that, and by the end of the game that is undeniably Abby.
Players who hate this story (myself included) are not to blame for not understanding what the devs went for since the storytelling was done that poorly. For example, you can't just expect the audience to see that joel has changed when we only perceive him being very cautious (1. lecturing Jesse. 2. telling ellie to always keep her mask on. 3. Jesse worrying he didn't find Joel even if there was a blizzard going on... leting us now that he would keep his post even under extreme conditions). In the end, being cautious was not a character thing.... it's because of experience. He could have become the sweetest guy ever and still keep his guard up. Players are not stupid, we all understand that Druckman hates Joel and wanted him off. And Abby is a poorly writen character! she never aknowledges that Joel was a father who needed to protect his child, although she (Abby) was driven by the love of her father as well. Did Abby ever blamed herself for the death of her friends? She has such a big heart for forgiving Ellie but did she (abby) aver asked for ellie's forgiveness for torturing/murdering her father?? There are so much going wrong in almost every level of this story...! I can understand why you like it and I agree with some of your points but the storytelling is utterly wrong and pretentious.
I feel so much hate in this comment, ironically the same thing the game is trying to warn against. The player should be able to tell that Joel has changed by the end of the first game, his actions at the end are things he NEVER would have done when the journey began. And as said here people aren't always consistent, even I as a grown man have done things that are not only completely against the kind of person I am but are things that to this day I still regret. Joels death is actually more tragic this way because he's trying to be more compassionate and less pessimistic, a better person, and it gets him killed. But it's also a bit comforting too in a sad sort of way to know that he died a loving compassionate man rather than the ruthless, cold hearted monster he once was. Also why are you so convinced that Drukman hates Joel? Are you even aware that he's the creative director for both this and the first game, in every interview and BTS video I've seen he clearly expresses so much love and passion for both Joel and Ellie, he doesn't hate him at all. I know a lot of people wanted Joel to go out in an epic, heroic, blaze of glory because they happen to like him but just because that didn't happen doesn't mean his death was poorly handled. You don't have to like it of course, you're more than welcome to your own opinion and I won't try to change it but don't assume you know what someone else thinks or how storytelling works if you think the player shouldn't have to understand what the story is doing. Any other media platform would never have that said about it.
@@MrEffectfilms hey man, glad you took the time to replie. first of all) I have no hate for this game...only frustration. secondly) yes, Joel had changed at the end of the first game...but only in some ways...The game didn't show us Joel being more friendly towards strangers. If anything, he went as far as murdering Marlene just in case she would come after Ellie...letting us know he'll spent the rest of his life looking over his shoulder, fearing someone else could descover Ellie's secret. In a matter of fact, we haven't ever seen Joel being nice to anyone he doesn't know. Even in the case of Abby, Joel might thought there was in danger a person he knew from Jackson (he has was on patrol, after all) . So yes, he open himself to Ellie but the world is still a dangerous place...and, of course, having a child to look after makes you waaaaay more suspicious. 3) "...because he's trying to be more compassionate and less pessimistic" I don't understand where you get that from. It may be true or it may not...the story never showed us (or implied) that. 4) I'm convinced that Druckman hates his own character because of the way he mishandles him and the way he shits all over his character arc. 5) I was fully aware Druckman created the character of Joel but I'm not convinced now... Did he really created him?? Or did Starley or someone else?? Don't get me wrong, I just happen to have worked in a few creative teams (for storytelling) and I know how other members can really shape up a character and add on to his development. So, no, I don't believe Druckman can write or develop a character wihout any serious help from other, more creative people. 6) it doesn't matter what you say in interviews. I judge from the art itself. I know a lot of creators and very few of them can really express with words what they express through their art/craft so I rerally trust what comes out of their mouth...especially if they are proven liars!! 7) Why do you suppose I needed Joel to go out "with a bang"? I don't care if he dies or how he dies! I only care it makes sense! Have you seen Game of Thrones?! many people hated how Eddard and Rob Stark died but almost none complained!!! That's because their deaths made sense no matter how cruel or unfair they felt. Druckman used cheap tricks to make the audience feel whatever he thought the plot needed but he utterly failed and got called out for it!!! That's what he gets for considering his fans idiots! 8) I don't care on changing your opinion either but I happen to know how storyteling works (although I'm not great at it) since I make a living out of it. 9) "Any other media platform would never have that said about it." That's not true, on the contrary.
I can understand why people didn't like the story/game. But I also can see why the story/game is good. A lot of people turned to a bad review as soon as Joel died. But it's honestly a very realistic story. Sometimes life doesn't have a happy ending, and no one ever knows what's going to happen. Especially in a world like The Last Of Us. It's an actual honest revenge story, and in reality, nothing genuinely fulfilling ever comes out of it. Though there are a lot of lessons that come out of it. Though the game wasn't perfect. It was packaged and put together very well. So was this video :)
For me the problem was how manipulative the plot was and that overarching message of "Violence never leads to anything" is kinda ruined by the game forcing you into commiting atrocities, and forcing events to happen to further it's narrative. (Like how they send out an 8 month pregnant DOCTOR in the middle of danger enven though she, in this context, is one of the most precious assets they have, among other convoluted and contrived plot threads)
It's fine to have a non happy ending, but the way to tell it can be an issue. Like the saying, the journey is better than the destination. Things like the forced cutscenes to then make tell you "you did this", while not even giving us the choice can make the game's messages feel contrived. The game does have good messages, but it comes off as shallow which could ruin the intent. But well, that's just my opinion.
@@JohnSmith-vi2wz You do realize the entire point of storytelling is to manipulate our emotions right? No novel ever actually happens, it's just words on a page. No movie ever happened, it's just actors acting in front of a camera. Game's aren't going to always let you choose each and everything you do, especially if it goes against what the character you're playing as would do. YOU may not want to kill someone but if it's what your character wants to do in a story driven game then that's what's going to happen. Every game can't be Bioware or CD Projekt and let you choose everything you do. The first game was just as manipulative, when first seeing Joel and Ellie no one cared about them at all, but through a set of scripted, pre ordained scenes and circumstances we all came to love them and their relationship with each other. That's manipulation through story and every good story does this.
Joel was defending himself in the first game. The (now presented) good and saint father of Abby, was trying to kill a teenager without asking her at all just for the possibility of a cure. If Ellie in the first game was asked BEFORE the "failed" operation, Joel would have been a murderer, but she was asleep all the time and didn't know anything. Maybe Joel was selfish, but the Fireflies was "the baddies" in the story. Ellie and Abby suffered PTSD and it's easy to say "they were inmature". If any of us sees someone killing our loved ones in front of us, I certainly assure you neither of us would be "mature" to say "wall, that things happens in life and I must go on with my own". I gave you a like for the respectful way of explaining, but I don't agree with you at all. A game, in my opinion, MUST make the experience good for the player who paid so much money. If you want to subvert the expectatives in that way, you must accept the hate you provoque by lying to the players. The second game cheats in various moments. The game shows Abby's "daddy" helping animals like he was a good man. The game tries to hurt the payer's feelings with the gamer girl killed by Ellie, but the player didn't pull "the trigger" in this moment because it was scripted. This game tries to blame the player for playing, killing and stealthing but this is a game and that's what we make in games, we make things we wouldn't do in real life.
No one in real life would kill for revenge, and is not because you can't is because you just won't. We have morals and conviction that are hard to express through a video game, simply because... they can, and they will. just because they aren't real doesn't mean they can't have real emotions and that's what this game is trying to represent, real human emotions, is not just a "revenge is bad" story, if you feel cheated that really is on you, not on the game.
What the fuck, why is this video isn't famous? This video is a master piece
Killing Joel was “stunning and brave decision”, but what if NaughtyDog decide to kill Ellie instead? Just admit you would all hate it
I would hate it but it would still be a bold choice.
The last of us 2 has a great story. I just think the pacing and flashbacks could be arranged better. Like, many people aren’t willing to understand or empathize with Abby since, well y’know. (And that included me) but I was willing to give it a chance and I got a great character! I just wished it was handled better. That’s kinda what happens when pacing or an arrangement of a story could ruin an otherwise good character.
I personally think that the flashbacks actually add a lot to the story if you went in unspoiled... because it isn't told in a linear fashion, the motivations of the characters aren't made clear until the end. I originally thought that Ellie didn't know about Joel's rampage at the hospital and she didn't understand why anyone would want to kill him, but it ended up being a lot more complex than that. It was cool to see my own perception of the characters change based upon what information the game had withheld, because that mirrors how the characters ruthlessly go after each other with complete disregard for the stories and complexities that they all have
no it doesn't
I think it has a good story but it was poorly executed in such a way that a lot of it just comes off as bland.
Story was stupid, no redeeming characters in game
I guarantee you that this isn't a good game, let alone a great story. The amount of things wrong with the characters and story are so monumental that I'd have to lobotomize myself to think this is good. Abby is a piece of shit homewrecker who gets off scotfree murdering Joel and nearly murdering Ellie and Dina. Ellie's an insufferable brat who forgot her character development from the first game and the "Left Behind" DLC. Joel and Tommy are a pair of dunces who let a group of young upstarts get the jump on them because they "got soft." None of this characters are good or interesting, and the "defenses" of this game are laughable at best, and disingenuous at worst.
Loved your Pokemon video and then saw this and instantly subscribed. Last of Us 2 is so unjustly hated and I honestly like it even more than the first game. Mostly because of how it's more ambitious with it's narrative.
Exact same here!
This game is shit CASE CLOSED
I have to disagree hard. The game asks you to sympathize with the killer of a fan favorite. It asks you to feel sympathy for someone who’s introduction makes almost anyone hate them with a burning passion. It doesn’t work, and prevents people from feeling any connection to the narrative, which is why so many people don’t like this game. There’s no connection to it, there’s no reason to care what happens, and when you don’t care about a story, it goes from gripping and emotional to feeling like a massive waste of time
The game is asking you to empathize, not sympathize, two of which are different. You can hate Abby for her actions, but you have to at least understand why she did it, rather than being dismissive. The narrative worked for me because it is a test of empathy that forces you to look at different perspectives, and the characters were compelling that I wanted to see what happened next.
The story terrible and pretentious and the gameplay was the typical 3rd person action/walking simulator like half of every console game in the last 10 years
Another great video I agree with! I hope you keep making more videos. I love your video essays. I 100% agree with your video essays on TLOU2 and MGS Twin Snakes.
I 100% agree with this. This definitely isn't a widespread opinion, but I 100% felt the same way you felt and had the same opinion you had after playing TLOU2. I agree that it's a masterpiece. The Last of Us 1 and 2 are two of my favorite games of all time, and I agree that TLOU2 is a misunderstood masterpiece. Your analysis of the game and its story and plot is spot on. I feel like most people don't get it or misunderstand it. This is probably the best TLOU2 analysis I've seen on KZhead. Great video!