LogFAQs > #941276488

MAJOR SPOILERS

I just finished the game hours ago and I've avoided EVERYTHING about it online since that first trailer. So I've been in the dark, but saw a bunch of ridiculous review bombing and stuff. I've seen some actual criticisms on the story that hold water, but the vast majority seem to be...just sort of flat out wrong. It's not an opinion on good or bad, but rather the "point" or theme of the story along with the ending.

This is basically:

1. The game is just about revenge.
2. Ellie not killing Abby is lame.

Those are both very stupid takes I'm actually seeing pop up a surprising amount. A legitimate critique would be something like the pacing being poor, or the two halves of the Seattle section weren't connected enough. There's some discussion to be had there, but I'm not really seeing it.

The theme of the game starts out about revenge, but it's not a simple "revenge=bad" narrative like I'm seeing it be dumbed down to. I wouldn't even say revenge is the main takeaway in the overall game. Forgiveness and closure are both far more prevalent. Eliie struggles to get her revenge on Abby who kills Joel to get revenge. That's the basics if you just read the leaks or watched cutscenes without context it seems. But the whole thing isn't just "oh wow look at all the death and pain caused by revenge". That's apart of it because of course it is, but it all just ends up running parallel to what happened between Joel and Ellie. The final flashback of the game really drives this home. Ellie has Abby beaten, but we see a glimpse of Joel in a scene where she agrees to try and forgive him for the ending of the first game. Moving past that and seeking closure. Abby robs Ellie of that when she kills Joel the very next day and that starts off the entire plot. Ellie will never have closure with her father figure, so she needs to replace that by avenging him. She fails and can't live with that back on the farm. At this point everyone besides Abby that murdered Joel is dead. Ellie learned that Joel killed Abby's father to save her. Abby had Ellie, her girlfriend and their unborn baby all dead to rights and after losing everything, chose to let them go. At this point, revenge really has nothing to do with it. Ellie's struggle is with closure. That's why she tracks Abby down, rescues her, but still can't let it go. She fights her until she has her beaten and on the verge of death. She doesn't stop because "Wow. Revenge just ain't worth it. Killing hundreds of others to get to my main target, but then letting them go sure is a fun trope." If you got that from that scene, I'm not sure what to tell ya. It wasn't that at all. Ellie now has the option to forgive Abby. She's beaten her. She's won. She's not stopping because she got beaten to a pulp and was shown mercy like in Seattle. She can finally stop because she's gotten closure.

There's also a ridiculous amount of people upset that Joel died and how he "deserved better" like some sort of hero's death? That is also not only stupid and untrue, but would be extremely ill-fitting of the tone of both Last of Us games. But this isn't about that, this is just the ending.

I'd love to discuss this with anyone that disagrees. Sorry for calling you stupid with a somewhat clickbaity, antagonistic title.

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