The Last of Us Part 2 - Releasing June 19th - GAME LEAKED - BE WARNED OF SPOILERS

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

27 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

  Hide contents

Frankly, that's one of the biggest disservices, and one of the biggest misjudgements of why the first game's narrative was so excellently crafted. Even with Joel's decision at the end, it was never a situation where Joel was outright evil for what he did. It was very much a shade of grey scenario in which you are allowed to judge from everything else around the game if what he did was right or not.

You went through this whole journey with Joel and Ellie, seeing how utterly disastrous the world had truly become. I am someone who very much believes that everything in the original game served a purpose to lead up to that finale, and to let you decide on if Joel's decision was truly as evil as we thought.

On the bare concept - he's a villain. A vaccine would've saved humanity, but that's looking at the situation as absolutely simply as possible. That's the information you're given at the very start of the original - Ellie is immune, Ellie is the cure.

But the rest of the game gives you more and more context as you continue on to make you as world-weary, and the question presents itself - how feasible is a cure?

This is twenty years into the zombie outbreak, a world where law has all but fallen apart and disappeared, almost every city has been taken over by murderous groups of psychopaths who won't wish to return to the old way of life.

Even the Fireflies - despite their cited role as "saviours" as shown as far more villainous as the story goes on. Not only are they referred to as terrorists for their constant attacks on military zones that claim lives, but throughout the story, it becomes more clear just how absolutely inept they are as a group. 

The group that was originally meant to get Ellie out of the city was dead lone before you got there, at the university, one of their leading doctors gets himself infected because he was so fucking stupid that he released several monkeys that had been injected with the fungus disease in order to help test a vaccine, and later when you get to Salt Lake City, the Fireflies are shown as anything but the saviours they were shown as before.

When Joel and Ellie walk up to their doorsteps, their first immediate reaction to Joel preforming CPR is knocking him out. Alright - fair enough - there's a lot of dying swan acts in this world, as shown with the Bandit encounter earlier in the game, so you can make an argument that they could've believed it was an act. 

However, when Marlene confirms the situation, they were still ready to murder Joel for no good reason. The man who journeyed a full year in a zombie wasteland to bring them Ellie, and instead of the agreed upon guns and ammo they were meant to give him, they were going to immediately kill him. Hell, if it took Joel and Ellie a full year to venture from Boston to Salt Lake, how the hell did the fireflies even plan to distribute a vaccine? How were they planning to ensure the vaccine wasn't just stolen from them by a band of bandits? 

But then there's also the other things - like wishing to immediately murder Ellie on the very small off chance that her brain could be used for a vaccine - not even a full day after getting their hands on her. Not even bothering to ask for her consent or permission to go through with this, not even waking up her and allowing her to say goodbye to Joel, or have some time to live before going through with the operation. These total psychos immediately jump to murdering Ellie for her brain, in which a cure very possibly could've been destroyed from this action alone. 

It's these kind of things that made the original more nuanced, that made the narrative more interesting, and even more than that - a very interesting conversation piece. It gave us a scenario that makes Joel sound like an outright villain from a quick glance, but upon further inspection with all of the context, it shows both the failings of Joel, the failings of the Fireflies, and shows that neither side is particularly right. What the Fireflies want to do is admirable, but they also act out of sheer desperation, and without careful planning.

And it's also why TLoU2 is such a major disappointment in this aspect to me. They get rid of that shade of grey element, they remove that discussion piece from us, we never get closure or a climax to it. The game outright shows the Fireflies as being "in the right" at every single turn while vilifying Joel at every turn. Outside of three moments in the entire game, the Fireflies are shown to be a great heroic faction torn down by Joel, while Joel is shown to be a psycho who destroyed humanity, removing the shades of grey aspect altogether.

I don't even mind Joel dying for his actions in Salt Lake City, because I think what he did was still wrong, if understandable but TLoU2 showing it off as Joel being a total villain while the Fireflies are a great faction who definitely would've saved the world just doesn't work for me at all. It kind of shits on the original ending of TLoU.

 

Not to mention

Spoiler

Of how Last of Us 2 goes on great records to still show how horrible a group the Fireflies were.

There's that journal of the dead member horrified by his colleagues' actions, just for the starters.

Also, so Joel going against the Fireflies paints him as the villain,  but Abby,  using their resources and beyrayingvthrm herself, gets her painted more heroically. Ick.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Nina Cortex Jovahexeon said:

Not to mention

  Hide contents

Of how Last of Us 2 goes on great records to still show how horrible a group the Fireflies were.

There's that journal of the dead member horrified by his colleagues' actions, just for the starters.

Also, so Joel going against the Fireflies paints him as the villain,  but Abby,  using their resources and beyrayingvthrm herself, gets her painted more heroically. Ick.

 

Spoiler

The only time to me they truly highlight in TLoU2 that the Fireflies were not a good group was in the final flashback when 

Spoiler

Joel outright states that if he had the chance, all over again - he would have done everything the same way, saving Ellie and damning the consequences.

And even that's ruined by the total lack of closure we get, because instead of allowing Ellie to understand what it's like being in Joel's shoes when she and Dina have JJ, instead she fucks off for another revenge scheme.

 

 

[Jango]

18 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

  Hide contents

Frankly, that's one of the biggest disservices, and one of the biggest misjudgements of why the first game's narrative was so excellently crafted. Even with Joel's decision at the end, it was never a situation where Joel was outright evil for what he did. It was very much a shade of grey scenario in which you are allowed to judge from everything else around the game if what he did was right or not.

You went through this whole journey with Joel and Ellie, seeing how utterly disastrous the world had truly become. I am someone who very much believes that everything in the original game served a purpose to lead up to that finale, and to let you decide on if Joel's decision was truly as evil as we thought.

On the bare concept - he's a villain. A vaccine would've saved humanity, but that's looking at the situation as absolutely simply as possible. That's the information you're given at the very start of the original - Ellie is immune, Ellie is the cure.

But the rest of the game gives you more and more context as you continue on to make you as world-weary, and the question presents itself - how feasible is a cure?

This is twenty years into the zombie outbreak, a world where law has all but fallen apart and disappeared, almost every city has been taken over by murderous groups of psychopaths who won't wish to return to the old way of life.

Even the Fireflies - despite their cited role as "saviours" as shown as far more villainous as the story goes on. Not only are they referred to as terrorists for their constant attacks on military zones that claim lives, but throughout the story, it becomes more clear just how absolutely inept they are as a group. 

The group that was originally meant to get Ellie out of the city was dead lone before you got there, at the university, one of their leading doctors gets himself infected because he was so fucking stupid that he released several monkeys that had been injected with the fungus disease in order to help test a vaccine, and later when you get to Salt Lake City, the Fireflies are shown as anything but the saviours they were shown as before.

When Joel and Ellie walk up to their doorsteps, their first immediate reaction to Joel preforming CPR is knocking him out. Alright - fair enough - there's a lot of dying swan acts in this world, as shown with the Bandit encounter earlier in the game, so you can make an argument that they could've believed it was an act. 

However, when Marlene confirms the situation, they were still ready to murder Joel for no good reason. The man who journeyed a full year in a zombie wasteland to bring them Ellie, and instead of the agreed upon guns and ammo they were meant to give him, they were going to immediately kill him. Hell, if it took Joel and Ellie a full year to venture from Boston to Salt Lake, how the hell did the fireflies even plan to distribute a vaccine? How were they planning to ensure the vaccine wasn't just stolen from them by a band of bandits? 

But then there's also the other things - like wishing to immediately murder Ellie on the very small off chance that her brain could be used for a vaccine - not even a full day after getting their hands on her. Not even bothering to ask for her consent or permission to go through with this, not even waking up her and allowing her to say goodbye to Joel, or have some time to live before going through with the operation. These total psychos immediately jump to murdering Ellie for her brain, in which a cure very possibly could've been destroyed from this action alone. 

It's these kind of things that made the original more nuanced, that made the narrative more interesting, and even more than that - a very interesting conversation piece. It gave us a scenario that makes Joel sound like an outright villain from a quick glance, but upon further inspection with all of the context, it shows both the failings of Joel, the failings of the Fireflies, and shows that neither side is particularly right. What the Fireflies want to do is admirable, but they also act out of sheer desperation, and without careful planning.

And it's also why TLoU2 is such a major disappointment in this aspect to me. They get rid of that shade of grey element, they remove that discussion piece from us, we never get closure or a climax to it. The game outright shows the Fireflies as being "in the right" at every single turn while vilifying Joel at every turn. Outside of three moments in the entire game, the Fireflies are shown to be a great heroic faction torn down by Joel, while Joel is shown to be a psycho who destroyed humanity, removing the shades of grey aspect altogether.

I don't even mind Joel dying for his actions in Salt Lake City, because I think what he did was still wrong, if understandable but TLoU2 showing it off as Joel being a total villain while the Fireflies are a great faction who definitely would've saved the world just doesn't work for me at all. It kind of shits on the original ending of TLoU.

 

That's absolutely it. While I didn't fully agreed with what Joel did at the end of Part 1, everything he (we) lived and saw untill that point places him in that little grey area. In that case, I think I would have taken the same decision (but knocking out the doctor instead of murdering him, Jesus) unlike the many decisions I'm forced to do / watch in Part 2. The fireflies were useless, and we shouldn't take them for granted to create something as delicate and important as the vacine. So yes, it made sense. But Part 2 threw that in the trash. The way things are going in Part 2, with Ellie NEVER backing down, I'm pretty sure she's gonna die at the end... Oh boy.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Jango said:

 

  Hide contents

That's absolutely it. While I didn't fully agreed with what Joel did at the end of Part 1, everything he (we) lived and saw untill that point places him in that little grey area. In that case, I think I would have taken the same decision (but knocking out the doctor instead of murdering him, Jesus) unlike the many decisions I'm forced to do / watch in Part 2. The fireflies were useless, and we shouldn't take them for granted to create something as delicate and important as the vacine. So yes, it made sense. But Part 2 threw that in the trash. The way things are going in Part 2, with Ellie NEVER backing down, I'm pretty sure she's gonna die at the end... Oh boy.

 

 

Spoiler

Frankly, the worst thing about it is even Joel's big mistake of killing Abby's father? It's completely. self. defence. He threatens to stab Joel, right before he was about to murder his surrogate daughter without her permission. I'm nearly sure in the original game that if you don't kill that doctor, he does end up killing Joel with that scalpel. 

So even on the action that they really drag Joel through the mud in this game for, it makes no sense. That one was legitimately a live or die decision, and that's even shown because you can spare the other two doctors who didn't attack.

It's a big reason why Marlene absolutely should've been Abby's mother. Marlene's murder makes more sense as a motivation for revenge, because Joel legitimately did kill her in cold-blood. She could've shot him dead at the bottom of the lift, and instead, she gives Joel one more chance to stand down.

Marlene begs Joel to spare her, only for Joel to kill her on the small off-chance that Marlene would somehow track him back to Jackson, and try to steal Ellie from the heavily fortified city. If your mother was killed on such flimsy justification, then Abby would have a lot more of a reason for killing Joel, or at the very least - we'd absolutely empathise with her more.

But Abby's dad is an absolute brain dead hypocrite. When questioned if Abby was the one on the operating table, it's implied he would do everything to stop Abby from being killed, wanted to murder someone without their permission, wanted to immediately go straight to murdering the one remaining hope of humanity on the off chance that her brain might have the cure, and then decided to hold a knife to a pissed off father who had already gone through an army of fireflies prior to that point.

 

[Jango]

7 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

  Hide contents

Frankly, the worst thing about it is even Joel's big mistake of killing Abby's father? It's completely. self. defence. He threatens to stab Joel, right before he was about to murder his surrogate daughter without her permission. I'm nearly sure in the original game that if you don't kill that doctor, he does end up killing Joel with that scalpel. 

So even on the action that they really drag Joel through the mud in this game for, it makes no sense. That one was legitimately a live or die decision, and that's even shown because you can spare the other two doctors who didn't attack.

It's a big reason why Marlene absolutely should've been Abby's mother. Marlene's murder makes more sense as a motivation for revenge, because Joel legitimately did kill her in cold-blood. She could've shot him dead at the bottom of the lift, and instead, she gives Joel one more chance to stand down.

Marlene begs Joel to spare her, only for Joel to kill her on the small off-chance that Marlene would somehow track him back to Jackson, and try to steal Ellie from the heavily fortified city. If your mother was killed on such flimsy justification, then Abby would have a lot more of a reason for killing Joel, or at the very least - we'd absolutely empathise with her more.

But Abby's dad is an absolute brain dead hypocrite. When questioned if Abby was the one on the operating table, it's implied he would do everything to stop Abby from being killed, wanted to murder someone without their permission, wanted to immediately go straight to murdering the one remaining hope of humanity on the off chance that her brain might have the cure, and then decided to hold a knife to a pissed off father who had already gone through an army of fireflies prior to that point.

 

I mean, yeah, he threatens to kill Joel, but we know he would never be able to do it, even if he really wanted it. And I don't think the doctor kills Joel, IIRC, if you simply walk into the doctor the game triggers a scripted sequence where Joel stabs him with that very scalpel. So yeah. No choice for that one. It was kind of an ass pull decision by ND, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since I haven't finished the game yet, but so far, I'm really not impressed. Just the beggining of Part 1 does more to me than everything I've saw so far in terms of drama.

[Wraith]

35 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

  Hide contents

Frankly, the worst thing about it is even Joel's big mistake of killing Abby's father? It's completely. self. defence. He threatens to stab Joel, right before he was about to murder his surrogate daughter without her permission. I'm nearly sure in the original game that if you don't kill that doctor, he does end up killing Joel with that scalpel. 

So even on the action that they really drag Joel through the mud in this game for, it makes no sense. That one was legitimately a live or die decision, and that's even shown because you can spare the other two doctors who didn't attack.

It's a big reason why Marlene absolutely should've been Abby's mother. Marlene's murder makes more sense as a motivation for revenge, because Joel legitimately did kill her in cold-blood. She could've shot him dead at the bottom of the lift, and instead, she gives Joel one more chance to stand down.

Marlene begs Joel to spare her, only for Joel to kill her on the small off-chance that Marlene would somehow track him back to Jackson, and try to steal Ellie from the heavily fortified city. If your mother was killed on such flimsy justification, then Abby would have a lot more of a reason for killing Joel, or at the very least - we'd absolutely empathise with her more.

But Abby's dad is an absolute brain dead hypocrite. When questioned if Abby was the one on the operating table, it's implied he would do everything to stop Abby from being killed, wanted to murder someone without their permission, wanted to immediately go straight to murdering the one remaining hope of humanity on the off chance that her brain might have the cure, and then decided to hold a knife to a pissed off father who had already gone through an army of fireflies prior to that point.

 

Spoiler

For me, if it was Marlene it wouldn't have made a difference. Marlene is just as complicit in allowing the procedure to go ahead and thus just as much as a hypocrite herself. There's no way to clean up this situation to make it seem more reasonable because it's not designed to be. The Fireflies , as a unit that includes Marlene, put Joel's family in danger for a cause they thought was worth the sacrifice. Joel retaliated. Now, the fireflies have hit back in a sense, but because the Fireflies will always be the ones that made the first move I don't see a version of this game where Abby isn't a controversial character. She's flying the flag of a group that was proven to be largely incompetent and underhanded in the first game and killed one of the franchise's most beloved characters. Some people will always react to her with disgust, and I think that's alright. 
 

 

[DabigRG]

I reading through some comments--particularly a conversation between Ryan and Wraith--as I catch up, but I'll go head and ask what is the general consensus on the game here? Favorite characters/parts, least favorite characters/part? Suggestions on how it could've better vs what it did right?Those sorts of things.

 

[Lady Poca]

On 7/12/2020 at 2:01 PM, DabigRG said:

I reading through some comments--particularly a conversation between Ryan and Wraith--as I catch up, but I'll go head and ask what is the general consensus on the game here? Favorite characters/parts, least favorite characters/part? Suggestions on how it could've better vs what it did right?Those sorts of things.

 

Well for starters... Give Joel a better death

[DabigRG]

33 minutes ago, Lady Poca said:

Well for starters... Give Joel a better death

Heh.

Like what for instance?

[Jango]

I finished the game yesterday. Most of the things about the story that bothered me before made sense after beating the whole thing. I decided to take a few hours off and then I started watching some Youtubers I like reviews of it. 

Marcus' review is the one I agree the most, 100% actually. Part 2's story is good, but it could've been much better without the back and forth dynamic. The characters' motivations, actions, arcs, everything is fine, but because the whole thing is arranged in an unorthodox way, it slows the game down and many scenes end up loosing some impact. The story is good, but the way ND decided to told it? Not the best it could've been. By the end of the game, yeah, I could finally see the bigger picture, but damn, they really picked one of the worst ways to tell this tale. I think in that case, Part 1 story wins, simply because it's told better most of the time.

The gameplay tho', is fantastic, eventhough it's not that innovative, it's just tight and fun to play. Murder never felt so good. Graphics, music, voice acting are also obviously superb. 

 

 

[DabigRG]

Okay, for the sake of actually doing something at the moment, I'm going to catalog my thoughts as I was watching the story here as I think of a way to summarize and add on my thoughts overall.

Round 1(Beginning through Dinosuar) 

Spoiler

• I can see where the criticism of the game being a bit boring comes from. I was honestly pretty disinterested until Dina's introduction.
• Of the cast thus far, I think Dina and to an extent [Asian esque guy who the internet might call simp] are the closest to being characters I feel any positivity for. There's a couple of reasons for that, but in this case, they're the only characters who are enjoyable or sympathetic(urgh). For the most part: it's not so subtly confirmed from the old dancing cutscene-trailer not in the game that she likes to flirt and even sleep around, which the second to last scene before I stopped confirmed to a fridged yikes...!
• To address the cast as a whole though, what the hell has happened? Dina is the character to keep me engaged for much of the run because she's actually around to bring some consistent life to the screen. [Chill guy]? Disappears after getting cucked. Joel? We'll get to him. Tommy? Basically ten steps ahead after things get going. Abby? Later. [Abby's leader]? Thought he randomly turned ruthless too before noticing the subtitles. I mean went from a community of about twenty plus a group of seven to two lesbians on a horse and the occasional gang member at turf war? I remember the first game was 50% Joel and Ellie, but where is everyone and why are they such dead air?
• Let's talk about Abby. Plot aside for a second, seeing that it was Laura Bailey yesterday was interesting, as I might not have been able to tell since she mainly sounds like a Deep Southern Ellie. And I know Joel isn't that tall a man realistically, but it's still striking to see her outdo him physically and the blonde braided ponytail was amusing to actually see in-game(even if it telegraphs the Shadow Archetype angle more). The giveaway opinions on her made it to fill in the already partially done blanks, so I knew she'd become the main antagonist and have a pretty good idea what her motivation was(heh...). So at first, I was thrown off but intrigued to see how Abby was interested in the move to have her be introduced as a playable character before she assumes that role and the interaction with [her leader] was good way to not only play on the hypothetical audience's ignorance by emulating a similar relationship to our other PCs(erm), but also hint at some distrust that sets up whatever's going on with her. But oh my goodness, that leaves the room shockingly fast and has remained that way for most of this, contributing to the feeling of not only meh pacing, but questionable storytelling in general.
• So hitting the "big" point that was predictable as all get out, Joel gets it in the beginning. So maybe I was fooled by that old teaser after ANF plus one commercial on Toonami, but I didn't think it would happen this early and/or would've assumed that he'd be on the revenge quest before Ellie's refusal to let go causes him to meet his fate; in the lead up to that, I would've thought we'd have another Ellie&David segment of the story that would eventually pay off with it as well, given the "shouldn't have given their names talk I glimpsed earlier." Talking about his characterization though, wasn't Joel a grizzled distrustful butterstick and a bit of a selfish cynic?
• To hammer in my point about agreeing with Pat on this story though, the fact that it's practically Tess's original role as the MAIN Direction really does keep me from investing. I realize it could partly be because I once again didn't play through the first game, but I honestly don't care for Joel--the first game was basically "The Ellie Game" to me in part due of that. I generally avoid thinking that way in the past, but I'd be lying if I felt anything about his at least dignified death and while he does come across better in a few scenes here, it doesn't register as anything beyond a tad strange. That said, and I just thought of this in the next point, why wasn't there a mourning/burial sequence for what was the previous protagonist?
• I feel like Tommy, [Mr Stole my girl,] and to a lesser extent Maria and even Biggot-Sandwich-tender could've been in this more? I kinda forgot Maria was in the first game, but her vibe as a firm voice for right could've been used a bit more as a mother figure for Ellie and was an appropriate consoler for when her Brother in Law was lost in the blizzard. Tommy despite seeming cool is so majorly intangible as a character right now--he's Joel's older brother who we learn had quite a violent history of his own causing him to leave a trail of carnage for Ellie&Dina to follow, but at this point it's been a bit since they seemed close to him and I'm just wondering if he's got reverse rubber band AI leading him to his own death at this point. And finally, I really do feel for Abby's ex-boyfriend, as he's responsible and a certain limit of understanding while seemingly existing to get Mako'd and then is just gone before he can among others can react to Joel's death. While it might've caused some drama and detracted from the peculiarly minimal romance of the trip, he could've went along to try to keep them somewhat in line but it's pretty much impossible since they'd have traveled about a state away.
• Quick Question: who is Leah? I realize I might've looked down or checked out for a bit, but the next thing I knew, they find a photo in the back of a Wolf truck or something and say "That's her." When the hell did they see her and why would they be after her and not Abby at that point in their trek? And in regards to the WLF in general, once they find her arrowed body in her hotel room with a walkie talkie suggesting she's high profile, Ellie says fuck her and upon finally picking out Abby among her collection of photos, they outright say they got three of them already. Was this the Asian dude that vouched for not killing Ellie upon recognizing her & then deciding to choke out Dina for some reason? And the dude Tommy tortured alongside some other rando, right?
• Getting to the black heart of this series, I do not like what Ellie is, I have to say. I realize she might not have been the most amazing character in Part 1 and that is a story about vengeful emptiness, but she is just so prone to aggression and dismissiveness from nearly the word go present day. She's also so dead, as my feelings about Dina shows, which the somewhat corny flashbacks with Rosé glasses really hammers home. Abby suddenly leaving the plot after her Joel In One really doesn't do her any favors, as the game gave us a taste of the only other perspective for the conflict before taking all but the vaguely greasy plate away.
• Finally, let's talk about the flashbacks, as the game starts with one and the last scene I watched was a suddenly extensive second one. They're are there to provide down good vibes for the previous main characters and levity to the otherwise bloody meandering plot, which was actually kinda needed with the latter. All that is to say, they have a bit of a tone problem: these seem to go out of their way to slightly overidealize Kenn-- I mean Joel into this deadpan, yet jovial and warm man who did nice things for the girl he didn't even want to smuggle. The second one that I ended my stretch with is basically a 30 minutes tangent about Jurassic Park with a bizarre astronaut fade at the end, which was needly enjoyable in places but also a testament to how this story has terrible motion. And the first sets up what very much appears to be a thematic device, with Joel playing a guitar while singing "If I were to lose you, I'd lose part of myself," that is foreboding af and it doesn't help that Ellie doing it again in the theater coincides with fridge horror per the exchange Aron posted earlier.

Round 2 (Movie Theater to Halfway Point)

Spoiler

• Funny how some of the things I complained about got addressed pretty quick: they pinpoint Tommy's next location, Jesse returns ala Luke at Howes, Abby was actually the focus of their objective now, the flashbacks have some actual meaning/relevance, and generally stuff was actually happening.
• So with Dina pregnant and sick, Ellie strikes out on her own for a bit in search of Nora, who I think was the girl I kinda felt bad for--is she the one who was ordered to bandage Joel's leg? Regardless, I was engaged by the fact that even she seemed to resent Joel enough to say so at gunpoint, the implication that she was in a position to gonna have to report something Abby did(more on that latter), the extended runaround she gives Ellie which was exciting as it was a bit hilarious, her realization of Ellie's identity once both were breathing spores, and even her maintained [on-screen] resolve when she was at the end of her rope(trailer shot). Although I have two questions, one of which I'll ask here: how exactly did she break and tell Ellie when to find Owen if she was starting to gurgle the last time we see her?
• The Seraphites aka Scars made quite an impression in the three sections we see them. Funny how a group of cultists wielding axes and...whatever the hell they were throwing is at war with the normal military esque WLFs, but distinguished nonetheless. I almost thought that fat bald guy was a boss, but then Ellie could chop him down within ten seconds with an axe of her own. I'm assuming they're the ones who painted that lady on a wall and carved the little doll from before? Wonder what that's about.
• Kinda forgot Stalkers were a thing since they didn't stick out much aside from the body horror, but low and behold a trio of them lock eyes with Ellie and...run away, which she helpfully explains. Are they what evolve into Clickers or what?
• I'm gonna say that the flashbacks, while much better in relevance this time, as a whole fell badly placed thus far--we went from having two(counting the intro as a flashback, btw) book end my previous impression to having one every two or three major sections. Take the one about the teens for instance--I like that this one (overall) has more appropriate emotion worked in, but this really should've been somewhere between Ellie telling Dina she got bit and their arrival at the movie theater. I realize that's still a big gap, but that goes to show how weird the pacing is--put that friggin "Big ol Boy" sidetrack somewhere near the start of their journey since these flashbacks seem to be sweltering in accordance to the mood and we'll be probably be solving two problems.
• To talk about Ellie for a bit before I wrap up, she's gotten better as she gets worse. Thanks in part to the flashbacks, she has a bit more of the wit that she's mostly lacked since the previous game: her remarking that she was wondering if Bloaters were in Seattle was a well placed example. That said, she continues to be brusquely hardheaded, reckless, and even unspokenly selfish. She fucks up her own mission at the end of the stretch there because she can't her head on straight just short of being able to save her life and kills key people she didn't need to before they can give her the information. That's the problem with characters like this and its all by design considering what this is about.
• Moving onto a positive, boy was it good to see I talked up Jesse and to an extent Tommy. The former's clear head and even temper was just what was needed to stabilize things a bit, with him quietly picking up on Ellie's rude tunnel vision since he knows her and opting to assure her he'll be fine as he does the sensible thing of meeting with Tommy. And his reserved good-humored helped bring some reasonable levity in getting Ellie to ease up a smidge to her normal dryness, which that the conversations in the scavenging had a bit more life to them than Dina leveling out after they left the synagogue. It was also nice to briefly hear his perspective on Joel, the mission, and his realization that Dina is pregnant. Unfortunately, this bit of goodness wasn't to last... 
• Gotta give some conditional credit for the Ferris Wheel area. It's not there for all that long compared to other locations, but I gotta say I was surprised at how the rain storm combined with approaching from the darkened sea give a neat noisy yet empty atmosphere. For better or worse.
• Since I guess I can't save it for last, can we address Owen and Mel--specifically, how weak it is that they get murdered when they do? Now the issue isn't that they're ultimately confronted together, but that these are characters we knew to be major or even main players since the first parts of the game. Not gonna lie, was patiently waiting on more of them which I chose not to mention before and Owen seemed like he'd be intriguing overall, but fuck. And do I even need to say how this being Mel's introduction and sendoff is just bad?
• Let's talk about the WLF(wolf?) as we wrap up, since they're our main antagonists. The flashback where Joel tells the truth has a member mention that she's trying to decide which of the two divisions of the Fireflies she'll be joining--if the WLF is one half, does that make the Seraphites the other half(since I recall a soldier dreading of being surrounded if they don't join the recall soon) or is there another group that has yet to be introduced? Also, I characteristically took a quick peak or two at TV Tropes at one point, which alongside a house Ellie chooses to scavenge in and the lead in to confronting Nora sets this Isaac leader to evidently be a piece of work even in this story.
• Finally, let's hit on the cutoff point since it'll allow me to once again criticize the focal point of this story: Abby. So thanks in part to looting the photos from Leah, Ellie now has her sights set on Abby and even claims she'll let her comrades live if they help her find her--they don't believe her and I kinda don't either(hi PSP girl), but whatever. Now she had her goalpost that she was ironically heading straight for...which ends up zeroing in on her just after she makes enough fuckups to agree to turn back. Again, where the hell is she for most of this story and now what was going on for Nora to have to report yet decline to give away her position until her final words(for some reason); pfft, how the hell did she not only find Ellie so fast, but also get into the theater if it's barred with a metallic chair? I did see that the next scene is backstory for her(how old is she ?), so I can only assume they were going for a "Who is that mysterious butch?" thing, but maybe I'd actually be with that if the story didn't basically forget about her for so long. Oh, also she seemingly kills Jesse and disables Tommy before succinctly telling Ellie how much of stupid waste she is, so mixed signals there guys.

Round 3 (Zoo to WLF Headquarters)

Spoiler

• So we have a flashback of Abby from...4 years ago I think it said? This is the start of what seems to be an entire section dedicated to exploring her character--brace yourself. I am gonna maintain that these flashbacks probably could've been better placed, cause can anybody say plot dump? At the very least, the one with Owen could've been placed in the earlier parts of the game since it connects to nothing beyond Joel still on her mind.
• The first flashback takes place...4 years ago, where Abby goes into what appears to be an old zoo area looking for her dad, who in turn is tracking pregnant Zebra they ended up having to free from some wire before Owen comes to get him about a girl arriving in the tunnels(!). I quite like what we see of Jerry, as rushed as it is: he's a fun but intelligent man who plays hooky due to his love of natural life as well as to create teachable moments for Abby and even seems to approve of signs that her and Owen like each other. Despite or rather because that, we also see that he is a dedicated man when it comes to doing his job in what was to be the fateful conversation with Marlene, using scientific terms to disassociate the matter and do what he can to convince her that they have to do what they need to to save humanity, but then having to steady his own breath once she leaves the room even with Abby approving her choice of the hypothetical question he earnestly couldn't answer the same way.
• We learn that Abby killed Joel because, surprise surprise, her dad was the head doctor he killed to get Ellie back--not only that, but he was the only doctor left capable of making a cure. So despite the possibility of finding more immune patients, the Fireflies entire mission was a effectively lost cause and so they disbanded into separate groups. This domino effect is what motivated her, Owen, and much of their group(the Seattle 6?) to track him down and give him what they feel he deserves, with Abby doing the honors because of how personal the matter is. We briefly cut back to the moment in question from her perspective, btw, which in conjunction with the first few seconds we saw of her implies she's had her own deep-rooted issues further pushing her to for this.
• We then cut to her group's whereabouts weeks after Joel's death, where they are in some compound getting lunch before deploying on a mission. She goes along with a ladies man named Manny Alvarez as well as Mel, who is a visibly present medic who still accompanies the two and their K9 when they ambushed by the Scars and have to walk to their destination. Mel and another soldier getting wounded in the fight causes them to go meet with Nora in the medical ward, who alongside their leader Isaac informs them that Danny died about allegedly being betrayed by Owen protecting a Seraphite. This section was... interesting, as it's basically a day in the life of our villains during what assumed was concurrent with Ellie and Dina arriving at the wall. Manny was sort of a fun guy for what teasing he has with Abby and Villains episodes like this do generally give off a vibe of how down to earth your antagonists can be when they are not being formidable threats.
• I guess if I'm gonna continue addressing our new main character for however long this is gonna go for(this is a halfway point, holy fuck), Abby is alright I guess. She kinda has this weird mish-mashy parallel with her dad, Owen, and even Mel/Manny that is reminiscent to peculiar extents with Ellie's relationships with Joel, Dina, and even Jesse--no mixed messages there, I assure you. As if I couldn't tell the moment we saw her, she's clearly meant to be a reflection of Ellie except hard from revengeance and stuff. For real though, she's not that interesting or enjoyable in her own right, so I stand by my point on possibly treating her like an enigma.
• I'm struggling to be glad we got some actual development of Mel since...well you know. So she's a knocked up combat medic and thus Joel's execution doesn't sit right with her(more on that in general actually) even though she's Blue Diamond about him; I think she was the one who felt conflicted about him in the moment rather than Nora btw, who was also nice to see again. I'm not sure why she went on the mission other than maybe having something to prove, but hey at least she was there.
• Owen is...cool? I mean he's kinda fun and teasing and stuff, but idk, I guess I expected something more to him than "Dreamy White Boyfriend" or I guess Luke on sugar. There is still clearly more going on with him present day with him starting a family with Mel despite his history with Abby , his disagreements with both in the present, and the notion that he betrayed Danny for a Seraphite, but thought there'd be more in general.
• We are introduced to the leader of WLF, Isaac--who I was surprised to see is black, for some reason. Gonna give it to this guy that he seems so tired yet a tad foreboding despite most of what we see of him: he's an old man with white hair rimming his head(like a long faced Steven), he had this very slight sashay(is that the word?) to his walk that I thought I was seeing things at first, he talks a bit sluggishly yet sternly, immediately pinpoints Nora's part when Abby tried being discreet, sits on his desk eating an apple while calmly discussing Owen being a traitor, and he's so slightly taller than even Abby without being a tower. There's also we heard he gave Nora "that fucking look" when she tried to ask more about Danny and the very slight discomfort in Abby's face when he puts his hand on her biceps in a fatherly manner as he says he needs her for the big move; oh and his introduction in the shadows of a room where he was interrogating a Scar he tells his guard to not let fall asleep as he gets up. This guy is understatedly creepy and likely planning no good even as he promises to give Owen the benefit of the doubt.

Round 4 (Family Boat to Fairground)

Spoiler

• So Abby predicts that Owen must be hanging around the fairground since it was his favorite hangout when off duty or rather skipping training. And after some searching, she finds him in the boat where a family once stayed and finds out what happened, as well as his plan going forward.
• Traveling to a place signifying a previous truce called Martyr's Point for supplies, Abby gets captured by the Scars, though not before tearing Ms. Trenchbull's ear off. She is then dragged into the night forest to experience what Ellie witnessed in the Seraphite's introduction,in a sequence that is raw and unsettling in its cultist atmosphere. She is only propped up to eventually be hanged and the acolyte(who I assumed was the axe wielder, but is probably who knocked her out) stops short of poking her inguinal area with her knife when two of her followers bring forth a girl named Yara, one half of an "apostate" duo. The leader orders that they "clip her wings"(and yes I had a hard time looking), but they only get half way when the two get arrowed and she draws a pistol like a hypocrite to try and fend off the marksman before getting thigh choked by Abby and an axe in the brow from the Yara. After nearly getting hung as a realistic result, Abby is cut down on Yara's vouching and the trio flee from attracted "demons" to find a safe place for the siblings to recover before heading back.
• Feeling guilty for leaving them alone(and nothing else), Abby goes back to retrieve the two and brings them to Owen, now joined by Mel and [her dog], for medical treatment. Finding that Yara has compartment syndrome, Abby teams up with widest case of gender confusion in a time Lev to get her medical supplies for surgery as quickly as possible. After an informative and honestly fun character building adventure up a friggin skyscraper, Abby finally reaches the hospital, which is currently being cleared out on Nora's supervision(prior to Ellie's arrival) and soon gets arrested for claiming to be on a mission for Isaac when she's been missing for more than a day. After escaping to the lower floors of the place where the world ended and dealing with an amalgam of long forgotten infected(and it's stalker breakaway), she and Lev escape via boat to help Yara.
• With Yara's surgery going through successfully, trouble in exile arises with Mel breaking ties with Abby for quite literally screwing her over and Lev takes off for the Scar Island in an attempt to rescue their mother before escaping to friggin California, so Abby and the now one armed Yara head off to stop him from getting himself killed. Splitting up due to sudden gunfire in what is obstensibly Seraphite territory, Abby reunites with sole surviving Manny as the two navigate their way to deal with a trespasser who took out all but two of his squad(if even that). Thanks to Yara showing once again how hardheaded kids can occasionally save your life, Abby shakes off a terrifying realization about the sniper who took an involuntary dive in order to take a speed boat to the Island of the Scars.
• So with the synopsis out of the way, let's hit on the characters again starting with Abby. So this is very much a case where I'm enjoying the story being told around the character with less for the character herself: she's gotten better here, especially with her interactions with Lev, but Abby by herself is kinda eh. Like am I having trouble following this new story? No, I'm pretty consistently with it. Do I like or rather feel bad for her? Well, for the slightly greater part, no. Again, I'm into the action and peril and stuff just fine, but as I'll probably touch on when I get to the sniper, I was oddly numb when she's in the prize corner closet thing having hints of PTSD(?) with blood on her face. And when Owen is briefly being a serious brand of sarcastic about what it'll take to "grow up" and Mel is going off on her after helping the kids, I can only muster a neutral "...Yeah."
• It turns out that Owen, much like Jerry, really liked to play hooky after joining the WLFs, but was still able to carry on the actual fight well until an Old Scar who was clearly done fighting back finally caused him to bow out, which unfortunately resulted in Danny getting shot when he pulled a gun on Owen for passing the buck(what was he thinking?). Now Owen intends to desert to [place with Spanish name we later learn is on the opposite pole of the west], putting aside fighting over land he doesn't care about and even getting revenge for his own murdered family. We also have...follow up on the implications that he and Abby like liked each other in things like how he is hesitant to add her name to his & Mel's scoreboard when she beat the high score(which he probably erased once she left) and in her feeling woe-some about not having someone make her a stocking. Ignoring that the UST is now U-less, I guess I'll rule that Owen, while maybe not what I expected originally, is a pretty realized character here. I could use more about his family, how he came to join the Fireflies, and maybe another thing I'll touch on in a bit, but his place in things has been rather covered. Though the fact that a majority of this is posthumous narrative wise could have me in a complacent standpoint.
• To touch on Mel for what we can, I kinda feel a little bad for her and/or can take her side. Her being a medic likely colors her viewpoint on things, which makes her willingness to step in as an actual part of the fight kinda notable. That rings twice over now in realizing that she likely did that while pregnant no less with the intention of mending the wound with her baby daddy/husband's ex-girlfriend who was cross with her for not being fully comfortable with how they ultimately handled Joel. Like I guess if you look at her from a writer's standpoint on how audiences tend to feel about characters like her in these plots, I suppose you could see a little cynicism, but veh. Point blank period, she gets it kinda bad throughout this story despite seeming like an all around good person and we know relatively little about her individual background too.
• I'll talk about Yara's mother and the Seraphites together since while we learn a lot about the Scars, there also isn't much to say about them individually that won't be covered with Lev, who I'm sure is something of a breakout anyway. So the Seraphites originally arose around some female prophet who came, amassed a devout following, and then died, with the Scars of now operating under a twisted version of her teachings in their fights with the dick WLFs. This includes stuff like whistle commands to communicate, hanging soldiers in the forest while simultaneously slashing & gutting them, parents being taken care of by their children as well as being punished for their sins, and hints of a caste system that labels deviations as apostates. And among their ranks are an Ezio esque acolyte(are they the same character) who whips out a gun when her two flunkies are killed, a hammer wielding Hilda who begs for mercy when it's taken from her(mixed thought on that, but is she the same one who got her ear bitten off?), and the siblings' mother, who so devout enough as to not only potentially escape punishment for the apostates who took care of her, but is likely entirely willing to kill Lev if given the chance--lovely people these turned out to be. Also, special shout out to the Scar giving condolences to a brother with the exact same vocal performance, which made me think he was straight up talking to himself in the script.
• Next, we tackle the duo of Lev and Yara, who in a surprising twist on how these sorta duos usually work from my vague recollection are not only siblings, but opposite gender as well--I think, which gets into a bit of confusion, not gonna lie. The two are being hunted by their own people because Lev was so eager to fight for them (alongside her...)that he shaved his head and the initially furious Yara decided to runaway with him--this was conversation back when Ellie first witnessed the Scars, was it not? She ended up getting captured not long after Abby and had her left arm bashed with a hammer in a difficult to watch moment, but had enough resilience to finish off the leader, vouch for saving Abby, lead the trio's escape, and after having her arm amputated by Mel to prevent gangrene, still goes along with Abby through a sewer system to save her brother from their mother. Okay, so with her general screentime mostly out of the way, let's talk about the apostate formerly known as Lily. First off, I really like Lev: I thought he was just gonna be the bald girl protector of Yara(who I felt would be the character we'd be primarily concerned about), but next thing you know, we're traveling up to, on, and inside a skyscraper while bringing more out of Abby than any other character has. It is so interesting yet natural that he is his young age(not sure how old, though) is so dedicated to his people as to end up infuriating them proving it and being very aware that they have corrupted the prophet's(Sera?) learnings, yet still earnestly carrying their beliefs as a regretful exile--a level of ideological depth that can only I think James from TFS attempted to get across. And again, he was just a entertaining yet [word for able to take seriously] character throughout the sidequest with things like asking what a pun is, admitting that he's cursing for the first time, acknowledging that the Seraphites are kinda selective in their stance on things like technology, asking what the awkwardness between Abby & Owen is about, and pointing out that he can see the hospital from up high in what could just as easily be a troll.
• To actually address the elephant in the room as a separate point, show of hands: who assumed Lev was a girl at first only to be taken offguard when Abby refers to him as a little boy? And then one I was actually thinking about it, I noticed that his voice is very much a female and assumed it was just a not quite as good AJ situation. But then we get his backstory and I'm spinning around in circles: so he was once known as Lily and was to be the wife of some leader figure(probably not the one in the woods), but became an apostate when he "shaved his head[...]like one of the men." Okay.., what is he? Is he a girl who chose to be a boy or is this just the deal of one of those unclean faux-religious cliques? I know it's at least a metaphor for being trans, most likely, but fuck on the literal details.
• Finally, the sniper and Manny. So this really speaks to just how different the story has gotten and yet reminds you of what fucking mess this is. I haven't talked much about Tommy since the beginning due to him not really being around or doing all that much--the flashback with the teens is probably the most we got of him. We still don't get much of him overall here for understandable reasons, but that said, man did the 30 second realization that it was he that took out Manny's squad hit and it hit me afterwards that probably could've killed Lev and Yara when they happened by. Now I knew he had to survive unscathed somehow, but that sequence was mostly effective for how minimal it was. That also unfortunately meant Manny, who I actually thought would die on the way to find Owen, wasn't getting off of that pier and that's a sad shame since Manny was a cool guy who had quite a bit behind him despite us learning little about him(was he even there when they found Joel?).

Round 5 (Seraphite Island to Ending)

Spoiler

• So Abby and Yara arrive to [the unnamed] island, home of the Seraphites, where upon witnessing the latter say a brief prayer to the prophet, Abby quotes her father's old saying "When lost in the darkness, look for the light"--one of the many sayings throughout this story that I admittedly overlooked. Anyway, while small & insignificant enough to not show up on a map, the island is actually quite large enough to require a full trek across due to the invading WLFs executing Isaac's plan. We learn from Yara that there are only a thousand of their people left, half of which are trained for combat though most of the others will fight if need be. We also see that they are indeed more attuned to using firearms than they generally do on the battle field, with what's at stake entirely justifying it; what isn't justified of course is how at least one of them, a large dark skinned wielding an battleaxe, still go out of their way to attack Lev on sight when, again, the boy was very much willing to fight for them. Indeed, the entire escape from the island sees both sides attacking Abby, forcing her to defend herself against her former comrades and the siblings' people. Ultimately, it's unknown whether their people survive the siege or not, though it's very likely no one truly won that night.
• Once the two finally arrive at the siblings' former home, they find Yara and Lev's mother as expected...except already dead. Clearly traumatized with what happened, Lev explains that he attempted to convince their mother, but she just continued to yell at him and even chased him in outrage. This ended with her hitting her head on the table when Lev shoved her in self-defense, though I did briefly have to question why it looks like she's bleeding quite a bit from her neck(as an aside, I noticed that Abby in some instances doesn't stab people and just chokes em out--is that meant to suffocate them quietly or just knock them out?) Nonetheless, the siblings reconcile and agree to get off of the burning isle...until Yara is shot/stabbed dead by a WLF soldier, who Abby understandably beats down no sooner than him recognizing her.
• Low key, Yara was death flagged not far from her surgery, either due to Lev running away in the first place or from how, like Mel, we learn or get relatively little about her individually. I was kinda hoping she'd somehow be spared, what with already being mutilated and Lev already having been traumatized with having to kill his mother; I'm honestly having a hard time thinking of a reason why she had to die there narratively since you could just as easily have the soldier about to make the kill when Abby grabs him, they don't encounter an old ally of hers to give her choices some dramatic resonance, and it's not like Lev does much past that point that she could've got in the way of. Either way, it was pretty lame for her to just get off'd and I don't understand why would they let her run off that way with one arm & a lot of fatigue.
• Speaking of major characters who could've had more and just gets killed, what a waste Isaac was--Who even shot him, btw? This codger was only in two scenes despite his status and looking at him as a villain, I'm kinda not sure why TvTropes called him a Complete Monster(I haven't read most of that for spoilers, of course). Sure, you get the vibe he's way over it & all and threatening to shoot Abby if she doesn't move out of the way of "that" is one of the shittiest moves someone can make(ahem), but its honestly not like the other stuff we see him contemplate is really all that unfathomable. And most of Abby's campaign goes to show that the Seraphites are really no better than them despite what you might've thought up till that possible point--with or without their lack of a distinct leader. If anything, the WLF vs Seraphite conflict kinda feels like an extension of Ellie's crusade, where both sides are just compromising their beliefs and concerns in the name of killing the other guy no matter what.
• So what I thought was the final act of the game is Abby & Lev finding the carnage at the Fairground and then going after Tommy & Ellie at the cinema. I honestly forgot Ellie dropping the map would be the reason Abby was able to home in on them so quick was one of the cleverer things about the way the story was framed and the two have to enter a window due to the front door indeed remaining blocked by the chair. Its kinda like GTA IV and V, where the other playable characters just seem to pop in and out of specific moments as needed until you possibly get to play as them, in which case you get to see exactly how they manged to do what they did.The infiltration gets further props due to Abby briefly looking over the balcony of a different theater, where she otherwise would've surely picked off Ellie and Jesse, before walking around to restrain Tommy at the snack bar. The moment this would logically lead to(and one a few people thought would happen in ANF, as I recall) is a boss fight against none other than Ellie herself, easily the highlight of this last stretch. I kinda had a minor laugh in the obvious realization that, yeah, Ellie would get curb stomped by this bitch in a straight fight...which is exactly why they have Ellie opt to briefly run until she can force a switch in approach before the actual battle can begin. It's also interesting how, at least from what I can tell, you can't reliably use Listen Mode to see where she is and have to rely almost solely on sound to know where she is and the battle in general relies on stealth taking advantage in the environment, fighting dirty to do turn the tide, one fake out tactic from Ellie, and the fact that Ellie is sorta armed to the teeth(and with them too) to work.
• Still, Abby naturally manages to break Ellie's arm after a pretty brutal sequence of grapples wears both of them down and is in the process of one again beating her into the ground when Dina intervenes, only to be arrow'd through the shoulder and have her own head slammed into the floor before Abby responds to Ellie's plea that she's pregnant by preparing to slit her throat. I honestly thought that was gonna be it for Dina, who all but disappeared after Ellie killed Owen and Mel, and my eyelids were ready for the moment Aron quoted came up when The Goat simply called Abby's name, which fortunately causes her to reconsider killing someone [else] who has nothing to do with their conflict and somewhat unfortunately leave telling Ellie that she never wants to see her again.... Gotta say that I was both a tad elated and very much worried that Lev came along for what appeared to be the completion of the cycle. On one hand he has a right to be there after the few people on Abby's side who also saved his sister; on the other, it's a conflict he has no connection with and he could very well join Manny in getting killed over Abby's shit. Thankfully, he isn't involved much and what he does do is minor but important garnish--a cool side character doing cool side character things, with his own unique elements not being forgotten. This involves him being ordered to keep his bow trained on Tommy from a different angle before Abby before him onto the floor and leads to a smaller touch in how Lev is completely out of Ellie's line of sight, which while perhaps a bit unnecessary still a decent job at bridging the perspectives. And he stays out of the fight proper until Dina intervenes at the very end, in which case he intervenes twice to keep the two from killing each other.
• So we're actually gonna talk about almost wasted character Tommy again because, man oh man, it's kinda necessary and I feel some kinda way bout that. So Tommy is technically the one to kick off the whole Revenge for Joel storyline in the first place, with his stealing a horse and some weapons putting Jackson on lockdown and forcing Ellie & Dina to have to go through Maria in order to follow. And throughout the proceedings of the plot, he was going around hunting, torturing, & killing any WLF he could get his hands on in order to track down the Seattle 6 and we learned before that was necessary that he used to do quite his share of intense stuff back when he too was a Firefly, where he honed his particular technique in the first place. This culminated in him killing most of Manny's squad(including Manny himself) before getting dunked by Abby & Yara, then showing up too late to stop Ellie from fucking up their objective ultimately getting the smarter Jesse & seemingly himself killed. Though having him not remark how Abby got a literal child involved was a minor wasted opportunity in a moral sense(on both ends, as I'm about to get to), I'll instead be more interested in asking how did he NOT die from getting shot in the neck for stopping Abby from shooting Ellie? Well, regardless of whatever explanation there is, he unfortunately shows up alive and well to intentionally act as one last call to action...
• So after getting their shit wrecked among a plethora of other repercussions, Ellie retired out to the country on a farm where she and Dina care for with Jesse's super fat-faced baby(not that that's bad, he's still a precious gift), dance to hokey hoe-down records, raise a flock of sheep, and have the occasional PTSD episode while thankfully not hurting little JJ(who's exact name is probably uncomfortable either way). After returning home from a long hunt, they have company in the form of NephewUncle Tommy, who is separated from Maria for obvious reasons, but says he has good news: a woman built like an ox and a kid with scares along his face were sighted on by one of his contacts and this is their chance to finish this. Saving that rant for later, let's once again focus on what Thomas here is doing: he is basically pressuring Ellie into STILL going after Abby (and quite possibly Lev, from whom he took an Arrow to the Knee) because "he can't and she made him a promise." More so than with Mel, I'm totally with Dina on telling him to get along and not come back with that shit, especially with what happened to ALL of them the last time. Like, I understand it was his brother and he led the original charge, but still, what the fuck Tommy? Either fight your own goddamn battles or just accept that you lost and fuck off with at least dozens of WLFs dead by your hand to tide you over. Of course, because she can't eat, sleep, or hear things drop apparently and I guess her life with Dina isn't good enough, Ellie chooses to walk out and head to Catalina Island.
• Before I go off any further, let's hit on the last few flashbacks now that Ellie is playable again. I was surprised to see that rodeo scene for early marketing was in the game after all, given it's slightly higher production value. I'll at least give this scene some credit in that it's structurally one last time to see many of Ellie's allies in Jackson make one last reappearance before the events of the game, for better or worse. This includes Seth, who as we already know told Dina to tone it down since it's a family event and then called her a dyke when she snipes back; remind me, was this part in that old teaser or was it cut out for promotional sake and/or added later? Anyway, the point of this flashback and the one near the actual ending is to resolve how Ellie felt about Joel leading up to his death, confessing that she feels like he took away her chance to have her life mean something. Which was necessary and from a storytelling standpoint, you needed that exact moment to be the last real note, but alas it could've just been placed another 40 minutes or so earlier in ending the game more naturally. Skipping ahead to the ending because I honestly don't have anything to say, she returns to an empty house to play guitar, have that one last flashback and then leave it behind to head off to what I'm "sure" is Last of Us Part III.
• To quickly summarize the final act(and acknowledge its villains since I doubt anyone's talking about it), Abby & Lev use the radio in an old basement to contact the Fireflies and get captured by a group called the Rattlers on their way out. Straight way, we learn next to nothing about these guys other than their capturing people for some reason and even keeping infected as pets, as well as being gorked enough to loss it when laughed at, threaten each other over minor setbacks, and give conflicting orders when under attack--so if the WLFs can be likened to the Delta(which I only now realize I didn't say), let's call these guy's A [discount] New Frontier: California Edition. Some time later, Ellie tries her hand at being clever by invoking irony in using Abby's map(which is on what I guess is her sailboat) to track the two and ends up getting strung up & bleeding from impalement on some large thorn I guess; becoming delusional from blood rushing to her head and being lost, she is eventually cut down by the group called The Ratters and after taking advantage of strung up a Clicker(which was totally there the whole time, we promise) to take care of one guy, she uses his carbine to inadvertently intimidate The Dawg into giving her directions before killing him anyway. She then infiltrates the Rattler's hideout, causing riot by freeing the prisoners, who stop short of gunning her down for being bit to inform her that Abby & Lev were hung from the pillars for trying to escape. This leads to the final confrontation between Ellie and Abby, in the somewhat unusual location that is the tiding shoreline between some motorboats. Except this time, Abby has evidently been starved enough to have some bulk waste away, which means she's literally forced on the receiving end of a beat down that has her looking & nearly dying like Jane and then finally in the process of being drowned...before Ellie lets her go and escape on a boat with Lev.
• Boy, is the real finale of the game not only rather unnecessary, but it's based on a combination for stupidity and for lack of a worse word, dickheadedness. First off, let's get it out of the way that Abby realistically should've killed Ellie since she actually deserves it(though you could argue poor Jesse was the price) and Ellie should've just took the loss as well as accept that she got Jesse killed & nearly lost his family too. Now granted, I'm sure they were just taking care to reach the end of the game with something of an upturn for Ellie after karma arguably inverted on her and an Ellie & Abby vs Isaac/Rattler-Leader & each other conflict might've been a bit much for what I guess is still being personal, but still. Second, Abby and Lev's quest to find the remaining Fireflies(which I barely recalled being suggested, even forgetting it was Owen; there are two hundred of them and growing, btw) could've just been a DLC or even a hook for another game. As I'll get to when talking about our protagonists(because I refuse to call either a heroine), it's quite frankly another much more interesting plotline that deserved way more time than being squeezed in as what might as well be an excuse plot for a FOURTH act to this already long af story. Third, I'm honestly struggling to justify talking about what happens, as it and the villains sorta holding it together are kinda pointless; it just makes me reiterate how this could easily have been the focus of another game, leaving this one to fucking end on a better note. And finally, despite what I among many would have thought, Ellie still doesn't kill Abby at the last second and lets her sail with Lev while she sulks in the tide, so it really is a fuckin waste of time. What was the point?
• Bringing it all home because I'm tired, let's hit on both of our playable characters & protagonists, Ellie Williams and Abigail Anderson...and how I didn't like either of them. To refresh what I said about Ellie back in my first impression, I guess I liked her enough from what I saw of the first game, regardless of whether she's not an amazing character, but that naturally does little to nothing for me here. She spends nearly this entire game being a dead acting, feckless monomaniac out on a not very engaging revenge quest that gets somewhat more enjoyable/respectable characters killed/hurt and the payoff to it all is dragged out on top not really adding up to anything beyond making her look uselessly selfish. Outside from being a pretty good boss fight, the fact of the matter is she did all that, got her ass kicked, and throwaway a chance to live in peace so she can finish the job--NOT! Yeah, after threatening Lev's life to make Abby fight to the death and losing two fingers in the process, she backs off of killing her and returns to an empty home where we effectively confirm that this was all about satiating her ego by proving her life means something. Yeah, her arc, while not awful in concept and even in its vague outline, sucked--so much so that the game just gets rid of her for most of the second half to tell something resembling an actual story. I don't know what they're gonna do for Part III if it gets greenlight cohesively, but here's hoping she/it's better than this.
• And finally we get the fake out antagonist turned surprise main character, Abby Anderson, who is the better of the two with context, but not by much when it comes to the content of her character. You see, "Sexy Abby" here bears the honor/criticism of backporting her story into being nearly the entire second half a sequel where she is introduced killing the original main character and ending up at the [eventual] top of the third playable character's shitlist. Which is fine and all if you don't really hold that up as important, but then we get to the fact that Abby isn't as well characterized as Ellie originally was or maybe even as Joel: she definitely has the better story [of this sequel], but it's very much everything around her that makes it good. Because unfortunately, I don't think we really get much chance to know who Abby herself is beyond all the things we see her do with the other characters as the greater story has effectively been kicked off. The freshest point was get is the interquel flashbacks with the final parts of the first game, where she's already a teenager with hints of her vague strong & serious shtick still present and her feelings with Owen being alluded to during her conversation with Jerry--the most we get are her being more practical minded than her bunny ears wearing dad, maybe a hint that she underwent similar education as Ellie, her saying she'd want him to go through with the operation if she was the one who was immune. But we don't really get anything else about her personal life/interests before finding her dad dead and it's straight into being a big buff soldier from then on. And while she gets to be in more enjoyable scenes than Ellie, I can really only recall a few where I was at least partly about her. And because she's a mirror for Ellie herself in this specific story, she also has semblances of the "bringing my shit onto the people around me and getting them killed" going for her: special mention to the rather telling way the scene at the Aquarium was framed, where she is way more upset by Owen's death than the pregnant Mel, whom she only sorta tries to avenge as an afterthought when she learns Dina is also pregnant.