Current Events > Wait are people hating The Last of Us Part II's ending for just stupid reasons?

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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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But why is that sex scene allowed when panty shots of my favorite anime waifus are censored?

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the vast majority of the people complaining havent even played the game, they just watched a few cutscenes on YouTube & probably watched a bunch of commentary videos from people who also havent played the game

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Jabodie posted...

But why is that sex scene allowed when panty shots of my favorite anime waifus are censored?

Well clearly because this is some SJW pandering agenda pushing crap.

Get woke go broke Sony!

Oh wait it sold how much?

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Some people love the plot, some people hate it, there's absolutely no middle ground whatsoever, and both sides think the other side is living on a different plane of reality. It just feels like a waste of time to argue about it
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Jabodie posted...

But why is that sex scene allowed when panty shots of my favorite anime waifus are censored?

Because going in dry in a rumored trans person is stunning and brave.

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The easiest way you can spot somebody who didn't understand the story is if they say "It's just a revenge story, revenge is bad" and that it makes no sense for Ellie to spare Abby in the end after killing so many other people.

The game literally hits you in the face with what happens when they reveal Joel's last conversation with Ellie. During that conversation, Ellie tells Joel that she doesn't know if she can ever forgive him but that she would like to try, signalling that she was ready to start healing their relationship. Then that closure is robbed from her when Joel is killed. The whole game is Ellie hunting Abby down to get that closure (which is first thought to be revenge, but revealed in the end to be forgiveness). Ellie realizes this in the end as she doesn't know if she can ever forgive Abby for killing Joel but that she has to try, for Joel.

It's literally a story about a daughter finding closure with her "father" when he is taken away from her prematurely but so many people don't get that and think it's about hitting you in the face with "revenge is bad" and how obvious that is when they miss the actual story that was revealed in flashbacks.

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bump

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Come on you anti-TLoU cowards lol.

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