Last of us 2 is an action adventure game that was developed by ‘Naughty Dog‘ and published by ‘SIEE’. There is a lot to say about this game. First of all we think it’s a very good game. The only reason we are writing about Last of us 2 is because of the many mistakes and huge misunderstandings from gamers and even those streamers and youtubers. Let’s take a look.
Let’s dive into what we liked about the Last of us 2. Firstly off course the game looks fantastic and that’s true especially with the first, the details, wind effects etc but it’s what gamers at this pint expect from all modern games now. The next gen games, especially with the Xbox Series X and PS5 should have awesome graphics regardless. So it’s nothing special but it’s still a point for Last of us 2. Next point is the details in animations and movement. They are excellent. When you are upgrading or modifying your guns on the table the guns have specific animations. Your character actually moves things around, cleans this, attaches this etc. That’s very good. Also what’s impressive is the fact that if you taut your bow while prone and rotate, your character actually moves how a real person with a bow would have to. From being on your belly to getting on your back etc. That’s very good.
The action in Last of us 2 is very good also. We have good stuff to say for sure. The hand to hand combat is reaction based and not spam the attack button. You have to pick your moments as in when to strike and when to dodge and time the dodge accurately. Skill is needed. The battle Abby had against the big woman with the hammer/spike weapon. It actually felt like a Lords of the fallen or dark souls boss sort of. She was larger and stronger and can kill you in like three swings. You had to time your dodges and attack carefully. That was cool. Now probably the best scene in the game was where Abby had to follow Yara with Lily (lev) in a dark forest with only the torch to provide light while the enemies are running around you picking when to attack like in a stereotypical shark movie. The lighting, the setting was excellent. Majority of the reactions we saw of players at that moment was they found it intense. Quickly one more thing. The battle between Abby and Ellie in the theatre was what Halo 5 Guardians needed which was an in game Master chief vs locke. Now let’s get to the main problem.
So many people hated and reviewed this game for childish reasons. Number 1 being that Joel is dead so let’s be babies, cry and hate the game. Number 2 being that you play as Abby, the one who killed Joel so people complained and whined through all the time playing as her. Number 3 being that Ellie didn’t get her revenge. There’s a few others but that’s the main bullet points really, be honest. Now listen to what we say. You won’t like us for this but we are always honest. Joel is the bad guy and did a lot of really bad stuff. Think about it, you really think someone can do all that messed up stuff, walk away and live a comfortable happy life and with no consequences? Seriously. Joel killed a bunch of people, most were innocent for one girl, DENIED HUMANITY A CURE, and lied to that same girl for a long time. So Joel kills, doesn’t care about humanity, selfish and lies to that one person he really really cares about. He also didn’t give Ellie a choice as to whether she wanted to go through with the surgery or not. That’s not a good guy. It’s like Ellie said, he screwed over a lot of people so there would be a lot of people who would want him dead. Then someone does get him and kills him for what HE has done. As the Bible says you reap what you sow. No one avoids that. Not even Joel.
Now yes the doctors and should have been upfront with Joel and Ellie about the whole thing. The doctor probably thought that when they know that Ellie will die, they will be like nope, not happening which was true for Joel but funny enough, not Ellie. You must be honest. X35 himself hates lies. If they were honest from the start Ellie would have agreed and there would be a cure. Also, Joel didn’t give Ellie that choice either. Joel did to Ellie what the doctors did to him. Again, they are no better. Some say that Joel doesn’t owe humanity anything and doesn’t have to let Ellie die and get a cure. That’s true but lame reasoning. This is why real life world has many problems. Many people don’t do good things out of the kindness of their hearts. Many are selfish. it’s about what they get out of it, or I do’t owe you anything or I don’t like them etc etc. Don’t mean to make this spiritual but look up what Agape love is. It’s greek. Basically it’s the love of God where you do good to someone not because they deserve it but because you have a good nature or you are good (simplifying it). Like giving to someone knowing they won’t be able to repay you. Forgiving someone who doesn’t deserve it. So overall Joel from multiple angles is the bad guy here, not a good man and people over look all that because they like him as they played as him and know him from the first game last of us. So no, we don’t have sympathy for Joel and he did in fact get what he deserved. Justice. How is there any justice in a apocalypse. Speak for yourself. When the world goes to crap not everyone becomes a moral-less person here you do whatever and whatever. many people will hold on to their Morales, right and wrong, their beliefs and still believe in helping others. So yes justice still applies, as there are people who would still believe in it. This links into the main point.
The issue of Abby. The most hated character in Last of us 2, really. Now we understand Abby. We know why she did what she did and overall we are on her side way more than Ellie’s side. Let us explain. People need to put themselves in Abby’s shoes. Remember that we mentioned justice. Now you have a home, safe, good community, about helping humanity. You come back and find out that some guy rolled up to your place, killed so many people, compromised the compound and killed your family. The person who did that you find is living a good life in a big town with electricity with their family and seen as a good guy. You telling us that if you found this as in he is right in front of you, you wouldn’t do anything? You wouldn’t want revenge? Don’t be silly. Most people online honestly admitted they would have done the same thing but childish people like angry joe don’t factor any of this just continue to complain and hate Abby and use that as an excuse to lower their scoring of the game. Joel dying to the people he wronged is justice. What Abby did is way more just than Ellie. When Abby killed Joel she let Tommy and Ellie go which was unwise but just. Just, because they had nothing to do with what Joel did which was Abby and Owens reasoning. They were innocent so they don’t deserve to die. This decision was also unwise because these two people can come after you, which they did. Like what Penguin said to Batman in the Telltale. Batman said he doesn’t kill and Penguin responded with “and that’s why you have so many enemies”. This applies here too. By them not killing Tommy and Ellie, they allowed the opportunity for them to come and get revenge. So Abby got punished for doing the right thing (sometimes it’s like this in real life). What’s worse is that Ellie and Tommy were spared and still went after them and killed Abby’s friends. Ellie, you do know that they could have and should have killed you and if they did, you wouldn’t be able to have any revenge whatsoever.
People complained that Ellie was portrayed as the bag guy in Last of us 2. When she is the bad guy. She was spared when should have been dead and goes on a blind revenge journey. During this journey she kills a whole bunch of people, even the people who were part of the group but didn’t kill Joel. She also killed a pregnant lady as well. All to get at ONE person. What’s just about that? Abby’s group came for Joel, found Joel and ONLY killed Joel who is a bad guy. The guy who killed Abby’s dad, who was the only guy who could make the cure. Ellie got mad at Joel for lying to her but she also lies to others like the big dude who agreed to give Ellie information on where Abby was if Ellie doesn’t kill him. She got the information and killed him anyway. Hypocrite. If only Abby killed you any Ellie… if only. Ellie also begged Abby not to kill Dina who was pregnant even though she already killed Mel who was pregnant. It was real big of Abby to actually let Dina live even after learning that Ellie killed Mel who was her pregnant friend. Notice that Abby was capable and did show more compassion to others than Ellie. This was shown with Yara and Lily. Even after Abby let Ellie live a second time, Ellie still want to get her and went after her. This is so stupid. Abby let you live TWICE. TWICE. Practically no one would do that. She should have killed her then but Abby did the only thing that can break a cycle of revenge… forgiveness. Or in this case, letting it go. There is a lot about Ellie we don’t like. Now the developers clearly wanted everyone to understand and side with Abby. This whole game is showing the what revenge will do to you and how ugly it is and makes you. Even the Playstation official website said, “Experience the escalating moral conflicts created by Ellie’s relentless pursuit of vengeance. The cycle of violence left in her wake will challenge your notions of right versus wrong, good versus evil and hero versus villain.” The goal was obvious. They spelt it out. It makes players wonder who the real villain is, how Ellie has gone too far and lost all morality. Last of us 2 wants to challenge players notions of right and wrong. Hopefully be honest about all this. It’s not about your feelings or whether you like Abby. It’s the facts and what they did.
Remember this isn’t a full review of Last of us, we mainly wanted to discuss the issue gamers had concerning Abby mainly while giving some good points about the game. So we won’t talk about a number of things. We put that idea of Gold glove in above he was one of the people who understood Abby’s side and her reasons. The flash backs and the order you play things in isn’t bad at all. We kept track of everything easily. It wasn’t complex or all over the place to us. It was simple. Present time, then fast forward, then flash back for memories, present, then in the past for Abby’s perspective, a flash back of her memories, back to the past of her perspective then to the present. Just summarising but it’e easy to understand. Now Last of Us 2 is an excellent game. It did what it set out to do successfully. Think about how many gamers got emotional, was moved and even got triggered. It’s suppose to be a journey. The playstation website said “Confront the devastating physical and emotional repercussions of Ellie’s actions”. It did this. She became the bad guy, the hypocrite etc. Not only that but we saw the consequences of her actions… she basically lost everything. Dina left her, Tommy is broken, Jesse is dead. All of that was preventable. She didn’t even get her revenge. Abby didn’t’t die. This means all that was for nothing. It was also a lesson for the players. Revenge, its consequences, loss, morality, emotions, understanding people, seeing things from a different perspective and a bit of forgiveness etc. Remember that Ellie who you aren’t mad at did what Abby did so if you aren’t mad at Ellie then don’t be mad at Abby. So stop letting your feelings get in the way and judge the game for what is is and not that Joel died. There’s so much we wanted to say but this post is long already.
So overall from what we have seen, Last of us 2 an excellent game. A journey for sure, prompts lots of thinking and relating. Not really suppose to be played twice. These cry baby you tubers like angry Joe need to grow up and do a better job at reviewing games. The developers Naughty Dog did an excellent job.
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