In Defense of The Last of Us 2

boi im scared y'alls mental health

No hate from me. It's just a game and I liked it👍

Honestly, I enjoyed it 😗

Abby is NOT a Trans character. She was born a female, and remained a female the entire game. you think that during the Apocalyptic future as this is set in, they'd have the resources for trans people to transition? You're delusional. IMO.

I appreciate that in this discussion they highlighted that the story can exist and be valid while also not being for everyone. Most stories aren't, when you get right down to it, but mass media with the kind of budget and marketing behind it that TLOU2 had doesn't typically go for anything but the broadest, most generally-relatable themes. When something doesn't, well... we get this. It's a game worth talking about, in both its successes and failures.

Thinking of a game for awhile after you beat it isn't always a good thing. Sometimes a game upsets you enough to stick on your mind. In this case I feel like most of those feeling are in part due to The Last Of Us one. It makes you care about how the characters were affected more than this game would've done on it's own. The part with the no time to mourn defense I disagree with is that this is completely dependent on the developers setting it that way. The direction and pacing is up to them, not events that occur in this fictional world they created. I would say that it was definitely more on them with the advertising. Sometimes you need to cover up certain details to mislead you audience, but you have to own that no matter how audiences take it. Ultimately trailers are used to showcase what you're in store. Can't fault the audience for being upset that they didn't get what you showed them. But I don't think people would've taken it better if there weren't leaks. There's a reason people were angry and it's not that they got the info early. People were forced to play a character who just brutalized and executed Joel in a pretty gruesome way. You might have sympathized with her later but a lot of people didn't despite beating the game. Angry Joe put it best. Abbey was a cool sympathetic character if you just exclude the 5 minutes she spent killing Joel. If they just restructured the story better the game would only have benefited. It was confusing switching around all the time. Following two parallel stories that coincided with Joel's death it would've been more understandable for the audience than how it occurred.

What about the game being too long (20-30 hours depending on how much time you spend looking for collectibles and other shit) and not ending when it should have (On the farm)?

This comment includes significant spoilers for the game, so if you don't want spoilers, please don't read this and play through it yourself. This comment is also super long. This is an excellent video, you both make unique points, and it was an entertaining watch. I played the game and still don't know which side of the fence I sit on; I think at the end of the day naughty dog made something that told a story well. In terms of gameplay and graphics, the game was on point, it felt natural to play, the infected were terrifying, the combat was hard, you as the player had many different ways of fighting, and it just looked so beautiful. I think it did an excellent job in making you play the "villain" and turning the hate you feel for Abby into an understanding of why she did what she did and for some people (including myself) compassion for her. I also think Ellie not killing Abby was necessary for her grief, I don't think she didn't kill her because she forgave Abby, I think she didn't kill her because she realised her need to focus on Joel's life rather than this constant need to seek revenge, (to mostly face her own grief) especially considering the fact she didn't agree with what Joel did and only just before he died did she forgave him, and wanted to try to repair the relationship they had. However, I think the way that they told the story which I thought was a good one, wasn't up to par with the first. There was a constant back and forth, which honestly mostly felt very fetch quest-y and unnecessary. It seemed more like a chore in parts than an experience, and it just wasn't as smooth as the first game in story transitions. (I would like to clarify it was not the whole time. I think they tried to put you in both shoes. For example, when I got to the hospital as Abby, I stroked Bear whom I had played catch with for maybe ten minutes when I had the chance earlier in the game, realising that I had explicitly slaughtered these people and blew Bear up with a trap not hours before. This interaction made me realise what I did as Ellie, how many people I had effected and how these people who were just fodder and in the way, were three dimensional. I am mostly just talking about the transitions between "chapters", I felt as though it happened in both Ellie's and Abby's stories a few times.) The game honestly made me cry, made me frustrated, angry, and in the beginning, I absolutely hated Abby, and I was looking forward to killing her. Still, by the end, I had grown a considerable fondness for Abby and wanted to play as her more I could so I could learn about her character and where she was going to go. I became upset with Ellie for leaving Dina and JJ when they were right there for her to love and cherish, but I think it was necessary for her. I think the ending was how it should be, but even having all these emotions while playing this game, I still don't know if I liked it or not. Don't get me wrong I highly enjoyed playing it maybe 95% of the time, and if I got asked to rate it, I would most likely give it an 8/10, but at the end of the day, I couldn't tell you if I LIKED the game. And I think to me, that makes it a game that fulfilled its purpose, and I'm happy with that. I'm so glad to let the experience sit a while. These are my own opinions; you don't have to agree with me. I just enjoyed the video and wanted to throw my two cents into the mix. I apologise if this doesn't read well, I don't usually comment on videos.

Oh, there is so much to say and some things i just don't agree with... But i should start with, i haven't bought this game, i am not going to, i did not like how the first one played (i tried it, but i didn't pay for it) and from what i've seen on the second one it is not better. Saying people have to buy and play it to form an opinion is a just not something i can agree with, it is $60 (or more) im not ever spending that to find out if i might like it, that is just nonsense. The reason I think you don't have to play it to form an opinion is that it is just a slightly interactive story, there is no option to change or impact the story in any way, if you try to do something different you'll still end up with the same cutscenes and predetermined outcomes (Something I also really dislike in games that I do enjoy playing, like Ass Cred) . I've watched streamers that I like play it, and because of all the controversy it has been interesting. You can say it's a bold move to force people to play as Abby, but i think it is playing a risk where you didn't have to, she tortures and murders one of the beloved main characters from the first game (Where the focus was the relationship between 2 survivors and how they navigated all those obstacles against their survival), you are bound to get A LOT of hate from a lot of people that might have been fans of the first game. I was totally onboard with the player initially getting this perspective, and while i found the scene with Joel being murdered way over the top, once I found that you have to play as Abby again to get to the end of the story, i understood why the writer was getting so much shit (Even if a lot of it is completely over the top). I think if it was a movie or a series (it is a pretty long game if you do everything) they could probably much easier get away with telling the story from the villains side, but having to actively play with her and enable her actions is something else entirely (I can't tell how people come away from this not thinking she is the worst). I think overall Joel ending up dead was "fair" in this game universe, but what is unfair to the players that loved the pair, and sided with his choice to protect Ellie is force people to play as his brutal murderer, that is just something a lot of people won't enjoy, and guess what if they got up to this point it is very difficult to get a refund... I do realize a lot of the people giving the creators hate for this choice haven't bought it either, but it seems a lot of the criticism of this choice in particular does come from people that played the first one, as in, "fans of the "franchise" " My overall takeaway is, it is always an option to not buy it, there are far more important things to spend $60 on than just trying something out, especially when bleakness is everywhere in the real world already. Please don't argue for people to buy it as some weird gatekeeping Inside Gaming, can't have the gamers need to speak with their wallets when game studios are shitty (Or story writers decide to be, that is an opinion of course) and also say you can't criticise something before you bought it.

Sending death threats because somebody LIKES A GAME?! This is why "gamers" are oft painted as immature, whiny, violent assholes. There is no objectively good or bad game. It's all opinion, perspective, personal experience, timing, etc. If you LOVED your time with E.T. for the Atari 2600, you're not wrong(I would be shocked and confused, but I won't say you can't like it). If you absolutely hated playing Breath of the Wild from start to finish, you're not wrong. Why can't we just respect opinions and leave it at that? Sheesh.

The issue I'm most concerned with from people who didn't like the game for XY or Z reason is that they go from outlet to outlet to punish people for liking the game, including Inside Gaming but not just them. Dunkey's review got bombed, Girlfriend Reviews got bombed, any video that covers this game at all gets bombed if they have any opinion approaching neutral to liking the game. If you're not shitting on a game like leafyishere, you get actively PUNISHED for your opinion on subjective art. This is a MAJOR problem, and it stifles free speech on this game because people are afraid to even cover it honestly, and what kind of environment is that? A shitty one. If the games message didn't land and you didn't find the story beats interesting, that's fine. You can watch a lets play, but there's a fundamental element from watching a game you don't get from watching a let's play. I can watch michael play ultimate chicken horse all day, but that doesn't mean I've fully experienced the game. Or I could shit on another game's story for not following how I imagined or wanted it to (I didn't want this story, but I liked what we got anyway). You can watch a let's play and get the story beats just fine, but no let's play actually puts you into the decision making process and you don't feel gameplay by watching a video. People who play the game will have a fundamentally more complete understanding of the product. It's not gatekeeping it's advice, it's encouragement, and it's just honesty man.

I really enjoyed this, even though I've yet to play TLOU2. It was refreshing to see a host change their opinion in realtime and sets a good example for those who watch videos like this. I hope this series keeps up as I think it provides a healthy balance to the other reactionary videos about game news or recent releases that are found here.