LogFAQs > #961068497

How dare you, he had a family kinda thing has already been done in games anyways. Every time it's done, people are just kinda meh or not down for that life.

The immediate example in my head is No More Heroes 2. But it sorta works in NMH2 that a random minion you might've killed at one point was some big honcho's uncle because the point of No More Heroes as a series is to do a bunch of otaku shit and point out less explored flaws in the idea of playing video games. So when the game pulls shit like that, it kinda makes sense, and Travis, while a hero, is a pretty terrible guy who kills people as a job lol. NMH1 already played up the moral implication behind everything he's doing and how he's kinda treating it as a bit of a joke, even using some weird mail order weapon. But despite the series being within its rights with such a plot point being the focus of the entire game 2, people still weren't really that down with the whole idea. NMH1 just felt more focused in the end.

In TLOU2 though, you can clearly see the intention. It's a tearjerker plot point to force a sense of guilt. It just doesn't work as well because there's no adequate build up from even the last game, and the rest of the writing in the series isn't like this where there's absolutely no tell in a reasonable sense to see this plot coming, or at least make sense when it happens. They also base the entire game around the premise, so when it doesn't work, literally the whole game falls apart.

I just don't think it's done well, and I think people who defend it tend to defend it purely on the idea that it was a risky decision, and there was any sense of emotion within the story. But those are hardly criteria for good writing or direction. Flow or reason or well construed intent is far more important, and it misses on all those points.