Hemish posted:

Well, what a game. My playthrough took 31 hours and I'm kind of bummed that I don't have more time in this universe and these characters.

I avoided all the leaks, only got spoiled that a trans character existed (didn't know who) when I decided that I needed to stay off gaming websites I usually frequent and I know better than to check a SA thread expecting to not get spoiled by accident, by morons or some poor sap who messes up their spoilers tag. I don't even watch movies/games trailers to avoid any spoilers so everything was new to me while playing. It was great. I pretty much read the whole thread and it's been discussed a lot and lots of people are sharing their interpretations of events/endings/etc... so I'll do something different while touching a bit on those parts.

I was always a PC gamer but owned pretty much all consoles of each generations even if I ended up not playing much and somehow missing big games sometimes. In 2017 I think I was looking at PS4 games and I don't know how The Last of Us Remastered got on my radar but it did and it blew me away. I got really attached to Joel and Ellie through the journey in this hosed up world and interesting universe/setting and while I don't have children, I don't think I was too far off Joel's age at 36 when I played it and I really "bonded" with Ellie like he did. He wanted nothing to do with this at the beginning while Ellie was just this NPC to me but as you go through this journey, I changed alongside Joel. The banter, dialogue, events really make you care for Ellie. I mean poo poo, I don't know if Joel does that right away as I can't remember but at some point I noticed that when you stealth and take cover, when you're in the same tile as her, Joel kind of shield/cover Ellie with his body. Also, at some point in the game, Joel gets sick and they gave me control of Ellie for what I thought was a few minutes of just a segment but no, you play as this 14 -15 years old having to survive by herself and doing bad poo poo in the process. That's when I knew Ellie was now part of my fictive family while immersed in this world.

All of that to say that I came in Part 2 caring about this older Ellie before the game even started. I played the first game so I knew that she can't be a normal person in this world on top of all the bad poo poo that happened to her and what she did to survive. That's why, in Day 3 or post day 3, when you take control of Abby, I was a bit miffed that I couldn't continue playing as Ellie and since I didn't like Abby in the first place, I had an "awww poo poo" moment. The fact that you start from scratch to level her up and how long Day 1 as her was taking made me realize they'd make me play all 3 days to catch up to Ellie's story. I didn't like that I couldn't play with all my new cool toys I now had with Ellie but mostly I wanted more Ellie stuff since I wasn't invested in Abby like Ellie when it happened in the first game. Both Ellie and Abby are not nice persons so even knowing what happened with Abby, I didn't switch gear and think Abby is the "good guy" and Ellie is now the villain, it didn't change my stances that both are hosed up. I knew those ex fireflies were not totally evil like the last group you encounter in California so it didn't make me care more about Abby and her friends but I ended up enjoying day 2 and 3 with her. I really liked her design, though, I was always amazed at how buff and strong she was and kept thinking it ruled as I can't remember playing this kind of women who can bench press a 180lbs man before. I like how she almost turns into Joel protecting youths but can people really bond that strong in 1.5 day? I liked her progression in that regard but the time frame on it doesn't work for me.

That's also why, without going into more details or spoilers, when Ellie she does stuff that seems wrong or erratic (or not like you'd want to play as a player), I kinda get it and I can easily explain it because she's hosed up mentally (all that trauma) and doesn't know any different. Am I the only one in this situation where you know Ellie was flawed before Part 2 starts so you just roll with it? I see a lot of mention of people changing opinions after the spoiler stuff above.

Ending spoiler : That's why I like the ending but like the first game, I really want to continue the story and see where it would go. I care for Ellie and I was sure she was going to die or totally turn from the light for good so I was really relived when she stops herself from killing Abby when she finally sees Joel's normal face and not his hosed up post golf club one for the first time since his brutal killing and that's when you know she now just gave up her revenge for good. Tommy is a bastard for doing this to Ellie and guilt her to rekindle her mission but with all the trauma, PTSD and stuff, I don't think she would be able to let go at the dream house without the ending we got. Yeah, Dina's dream life on that farm is ruined but her vengeance is over so she can either stay broken in all other aspects or she can try to heal a bit. She also lost her last piece of Joel to this quest, the guitar playing, it broke my heart a bit when she finds out she can't play but for me is when she leaves Joel's guitar behind before leaving the house that clinched it and it clicks that this drat quest for revenge robbed her of everything she had left of Joel aside from memories.

Future game wish : If they make a third game, I'd like to have a bit of hope this time where Ellie was able to heal somewhat, maybe joined with Abby/Lev to find a cure (not a vaccine) to heal people who haven't turned or to get rid of infected growth/spores to start cleansing the world. Heck, a quest to start healing the world would be nice. Maybe Ellie is 35 and you play as her protégé... Characters trying to go against this world where every factions just kill each other with no real thoughts, trying to bring real change (fail if you want to keep the depressing world but at least have a pure motive for the game objective this time).

Well this turned out way longer than I thought and I guess people won't read when they see this wall of text. I play a lot of games and rarely they make me want to talk about them as much as this one. Sadly, none of my friends are interested in these kind of narative games so I have nobody to discuss them.

This game looks amazing, sounds amazing, is long, a good story all things considered as I've read worse stuff and games often have low bars on that front, stealth but I suck so I need to adapt when I get caught/exploration/crafting is totally my jam, etc... I wouldn't say 10/10 because its not perfect but I'm glad I played a sequel for The Last of Us and it didn't suck for me so I really appreciated those 31 hours which is what a game is for in the end.