Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Submit Your Comment For The Deepest Dive On The Last Of Us Part II - The Ending (Patreon)

Published:
2020-07-13 15:22:03
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

If you're playing The Last of Us Part II along with us for The Deepest Dive, now's your chance to submit a comment for us to read during our gigantic game club discussion airing on Wednesday on YouTube and the Patreon-exclusive podcast feed. The Deepest Dive for The Last of Us Part II features Ben Hanson, Jeff Marchiafava, Suriel Vazquez, and HyperDot developer Charles McGregor.

Leave a specific comment below sharing your favorite moment, character, visual detail, building layout, crafting item, or anything under the sun for Seattle Day 3-The Ending. You can also leave a comment about your overall take on the game. We're expecting a lot of comments and want to get to as many people as possible, so please only leave one comment. You're welcome to read the other comments to see if you're the first to comment on this specific detail to raise the odds of being included in the discussion. As always, the more specific the better. 

Let's create the best, most thorough discussion of The Last of Us Part II on the internet together!

Files

Comments

T1M3C0P

First off, what a fantastic game and experience this was. Never before has a game made me go from loving it, to hating it, to absolutely loving it again as well as this one did. I must admit, i was one of the people who hated playing as Abby at first, but i quickly learnt to love her. I loved the chemistry between her and Lev and by the end i didn't want Ellie to get her revenge at all. Especially during the final fight. The second Ellie put that knife to Lev's throat i knew she had gone too far. I actually let Ellie kill Abby a few times during their first fight, but this time it was the other way around. I let Abby kill Ellie a few times before i finally decided to play it properly with a small hope that we didn't actually end up killing Abby. That is something i never thought would happen. At the beginning i couldn't wait to finally kill Abby, and by the end i wanted nothing bad to happen to her. I don't think a game has ever made me feel like that ever before. I will be surprised if any game tops this as Game of the Year for me at this point. Hell, i might even call this my Game of the Generation. Sorry for a bit of a rambly post and keep up the great work guys. Looking forward to the next Deepest Dive. This was a lot of fun.

TommenDotGif

Overall, I really enjoyed the game. It does some things masterfully. I went in blind with no spoilers, so the switch to Abby was a huge surprise for me. By the end of the game I ended up liking Abby as a character, however I have this nagging feeling that I think I would have enjoyed it even more if the switch came before the first Ellie/Abby confrontation. I know Ellie is set up to be very unsympathetic by the end of her section, especially with the Nora interaction, but with the history of an entire game behind her, I was still rooting for her and wanted to see her story through. When the theater section happens and it cuts away from her for ~15 hours, I spent a huge chunk of that time thinking FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO BACK TO ELLIE! I think this means I might actually enjoy my second playthrough more than my first because I can focus on Abby's story a little more. Do you think your opinion of the game would be different if the switch came right after the aquarium section? Regardless, it was definitely an interesting choice and made for a heavy, deep and nuanced narrative. Great job Naughty Dog, and thank you for the deepest dive!

Sarah Morgan

Yara's Death/Abby turning on the wolves to protect Lev was my favorite moment in the entire game. I was on the edge of my seat, terrified for these two characters I had grown to love EVEN MORE than Joel and Ellie. Abby started her journey driven by revenge, and by the end was willing to sacrifice her life for an innocent kid — even if it meant turning on the people she had once taken up arms with. I would love to have the chance to play another 30 hour game that followed Abby and Lev on their next adventure. Its so hard for me to wrap my head around how anyone could play this game front to back and still not think Abby was a great character.

DarkFishDays

In Santa Barbara as Ellie, I had a moment where a Stalker appeared to be hiding in tall grass. It was crouched with only its head poking out. For a moment I thought I was looking at a tree stump. But then like a shark fin in water, it moved through the grass towards me. I yelled “Oh hell no!” and jumped back. I wonder if that moment was coincidence because Stalkers move low to the ground and it just happened to be in tall grass, or do they have environmental awareness and favor areas where they can’t be seen? Either way, I kept a closer eye on tall grass.

Chandler

I finished this game in the first week so the weeks between episodes of the deepest dive were painful. It's been more than worth the wait because each episode had SO much that I missed in my own playthrough. When Ellie gets impaled by a tree I jokingly thought "that's going to get infected" then as I thought about it more I realized that Ellie must be immune to all infection. Think about it, when she was bitten by an infected she was fine. If she was only immune to the weird fungal virus thing then surely she would be infected with something else, right? If a healthy human being took a big bite out of someone else, an infection would be likely, but with the dirty decaying mouths of the infected it's practically guaranteed. Ellie would not have cured just the main virus, but she may have made the human race immune to all infections. There's so much more I could write about, but I'll try to keep it very brief: I don't think I've ever played a game where the playable character's arc is a downhill journey. Everyone deserves what happened to them. From Nora saying Joel "screamed like a bitch" to Manny spitting on him. Joel ironically deserved his fate the least. He killed to save a life and was tortured to death for it. How dare you say Mel isn't beautiful. Ellie once again leaves a guitar out to be destroyed by the elements. This time it's for symbolic reasons as she's finally moving on from Joel's death, but I still find it funny since it's something you mentioned in an earlier episode. Sorry this was long, byeee!

Jose Gabriel

I would like to point out how good the characters' breathing sounds in this game. The acceleration and deceleration sounds realistic when encounters get intense and when things calm down.

Marc S

I think Ellie attempting to play guitar with her missing fingers was such a powerful scene and was a good window into her mental state at the end of the game. Ellie uses her guitar as a way to hold on to her memories of Joel and it’s such a sad moment when you pick up the guitar for the last time and realize that she will never be able to play their song the same way again just like she will never get the chance to fully mend her relationship with Joel. However, instead of dwelling on it, she leaves the guitar behind and walks away. It truly felt bitter sweet, like she will never get her old life back again, but she is finally allowing her self to leave this behind and live her new life.

BeatenDownBrian

I’m curious how everyone felt about the final chapter, as well as the final confrontation with Abby? While I enjoyed the game overall, the ending felt forced, and somewhat rushed to me. Abby and Lev are placed in the most sympathetic situation imaginable, and while in the end Ellie finally chooses to break the cycle of violence, it rings hollow when moments before she was apparently willing to kill Lev to get what she wanted. Much like when you fight Ellie as Abby, it felt like a cheap way of making you commit what they spent so much time trying to convince the player they didn’t want to do, without actually following through on it. I think they could have cut that fight, and just had them go their separate ways at the end, while still achieving the same result of Ellie losing everything. In my opinion, they could’ve slightly expanded the last stint as Ellie, using the extra time to paint the Rattlers as the most brutal group we’ve seen, with perhaps Ellie seeing that brutality first hand with them being the ones to take her fingers before she finally encounters Abby.

CalebMurray

So I want to talk about the scene the catapulted this game far and above anything else as my current GOTY. But first I want to preface this by saying that I'm a pretty stoic person when it comes to games not to say I don't have emotional responses but they mostly take place inside my mind. But this scene the scene following the Ellie bossfight ( which was an incredible idea in its own right ) when Abby started smashing Dinas head into the ground and pulled her around and put her knife too her neck. I was do the whole Nathan Drake "No! No! No! No! No!" While thinking in my head "Don't make me hate you again Abby! Please don't make me hate you again". Then a battered Ellie pleads for her to let Dina go and that she is pregnant. My anxiety starts to drop a little bit until Abby just coldly says "good" at which point I literally wordlessly screamed out loud. The Levs scared and confused "Abby?" Which pulls Abby to her senses and she just leaves. I saved and quite as soon ad a had the chance to such an intense scene.

Jose Gabriel

The game left threads, not unanswered but no longer answerable. Ellie never fully forgave Joel and can’t tell him when she does, Abby got her revenge but caused her to lose even more, and what I found notable was that no apologies were given in the end there were probably still hard feelings that both had to suck up. It’s hard to parse my emotion as the player but as a fan of basketball, I can liken it to Kobe Bryant’s death. It was incredibly dark and tragic and there is nothing I can do about it, as that is how life made it to be (well in the case of the game that’s how Neil F’ing Druckman made it to be). If I step out of my emotions I truly do appreciate how the story made me feel this way As for the gameplay, I do think it could have been shorter as Abby’s missions felt very back and forth. As a fan of Metal Gear I kind of dug the final battle between Ellie and Abby. The only thing missing was for a hanging sack of treasure to fall and squash one of them. Overall I had fun playing the game.

Marckuzz

I'm just gonna say 4 things but i could say a lot more so here it goes. 1. When Abbie was fighthing Ellie i never felt this type of stress while playing a game, i couldn't believe Naughty Dog was actually forcing me to potentially kill Ellie, a character i love, just the fact they actually had the cojones to do that, i gotta give props to them, for people that say Naughty Dog games should just be tv shows, i highly disagree, there is no way a tv show would ever make this uncomfortable and giving me the urge to turn off the console just because i didn't want something to happen. 2.The moment when Ellie was sitting on the tractor with JJ looking at that beautiful sunset, that almost looked like heaven, all i could think, was that i thought this game didn't feel right for Ellie to end up happy, that she didn't deserve heaven and while i was watching that sunset and thinking those things, i almost started crying, just because of the guilt i felt for thinking that and i actually was happy Ellie had PTSD, because it felt right for the game that i played, i felt like such a horrible person, did anyone else feel that way, or am i just a horrible person for thinking that, i'm sorry Ellie. 3.Fun fact the rough drafts of songs Ellie has in her journal in the game, one of them actually exists it's called, Shawn James - Guardian (Ellie's Song), Shawn James is also the creator of the song of the first trailer for the game, where Ellie is singing and the rough drafts in the journal were his idea to put in the game. I'll put the link to the song in the youtube comments. 4.I'm just gonna give my raw emotions of the ending when i finished, even though my feelings have evolved, when Ellie decided to forgive Abby, i had this feeling of emptiness within me and i think it matched perfectly to what Ellie was feeling, she was alone, sad, broken and empty and it was perfectly shown by that beatiful shot of her staring at that thick fog, that wall of emptiness and at the final flashback, realizing that all this time this game was about forgiving Joel and that Joel is a mirror version of Abby and Ellie was a mirror of Lev in the first game and that by forgiving Abby, there now exists a version of Ellie and Joel out there in the world, trying to live a good and happy life, it just broke me and i started to cry like a baby while the credits rolled.

Travis Wayne

Yara has suddenly been shot point blank by a WLF member. Then the deep music swells, the camera pulls in as an anguished Abby rolls up on the WLF member... he blocks her punch. The lightning strikes and reveals the pain and anger in Abby's eyes. “Abby!?!" he says in shock. Thunder rolls as Abby absolutely dismantles the WLF member to the ground. *Chills*. Abby doesn't back down from Isaac, protecting Lev at any cost. Yara saves them both by taking out Isaac in her dying breath. Lev in tears: "Those were you're F'ing people!". Abby:”…YOU'RE my people!". She is now definitively independent from the WLF and her true character shines through. This moment is not only cinematically powerful, but is the entire essence and heart of the game. Abby's story (and the game as a whole) relies on this moment. It comes together in a huge way. It's where the themes of the story all click into place. It's easily my favorite moment in the game and I'd go as far to say it's the most narratively powerful moment in a AAA video game, especially given the context. The Last of Us Part 2 rivals some of the greatest movies with its cinematography and is an actual gaming masterpiece in my eyes. I wasn’t a big fan of the first game, but Part 2 has completely changed that.

Jose O.

I didn't like this game, no disrespect to the team at naughty dog i think the performances and graphics for this game are phenomenal. Overall I have 3 major problem/ points that made me dislike the game. Point#1; The way they tell the story. I didn't like the whole flashbacks within a flashback nonsense. I know it's not that hard to keep up with the story, but to me this whole flashback nonsense seem kinda messy. Point #2 also has to do with the story in which it's to short or seems kinda rushed. They introduce and kill characters without giving the player enough time to get to know them or even grief from them. An example of this is when you're playing as Abby and Manny gets shot right in the face. The game doesn't give you enough time to grief for Manny or doesn't even go back to see how Abby is reacting to the sudden death of her friend. Another example is after the whole Abby and Ellie fight in the theater it cuts to black and puts Ellie and Dina on a farm in the next scenario. While playing through this section i thought Ellie was dreaming, the whole farm scene looked so dream like and out of nowhere. The game never gives you enough time to see how Dina's relationship with Ellie grows to the point in which they do get a farm together. Point#3 characters don't act like they're in a post zombie world, an example of this how Joel and his brother just give up all this important information to Abby and her gang at the beginning of the game. Another example is at the end of the game when Tommy comes to the farm to demand to Ellie to go out and "finish the job". Even though he is literally limping because of what Abby did to him and at the beginning of the game is begging you not to go after Abby.

absurdziggy

This section cemented this game in my top 3. There are so many things about this section, but I wanted to focus directly on dissociation from our Playable Character and the emotions I felt as a result. The opening of the game established our objective. Revenge. But as we continued towards that goal, the justification for our revenge obfuscated. We lose are anger for revenge as Ellie through extreme violence and then humanize Abby even more by playing her perspective right afterwards. When we watched Joel die, I was angry. But when we played as Ellie in the boss fight against Abby, I was furious. I died four or five times because I would not smash the “x” button to cut Abby. Negative interaction in games isn’t new: (eye ball surgery in Dead Space 2) but this is the first time I’ve actively avoided doing what I’m prompted to do on the screen. I liked Abby by this point. She brutally killed Joel but I didn’t think she deserved to die. And when we were holding her under the water as she fought back? You can see her face under the water, struggling for air. I hated Ellie so much at this point. This reminded me of that scene in Saving Private Ryan where the guy slowly gets stabbed. It was really upsetting to watch someone slowly drown while they were actively fighting back. The blood the coated Abby started to wash off under the water, and I thought “they’re actually going to kill her, full Heart of Darkness ending”. Maybe Ellie understands killing Abby won’t bring Joel back. But her acceptance or forgiveness of Joel washes away her anger. I believe that’s why the blood washed off Abby, sort of like a messed-up baptism or symbolic of Ellie letting go of her hate. The end of this game was perfect. We sit with boss fight, but Lev and Abby are still alive. Ellie returns home to an almost empty house and tries to play guitar. She can only play partial chords with her Golem/Smegal hand, Dina’s gone with J.J. and Tommy will most likely hold a grudge. It was a real chaotic neutral ending. Some positive things happened alongside some repugnantly negative things. No light side/dark side ending, we listen to Joel play the opening of Helplessly Helpless and get context for Ellie’s forgiveness. Beautiful finish in my book. Finally, Ben, I remember you saying something like “we go to the Serephite island, no way Isaac isn’t the last boss”, and Jeffum with “Ellie and Abby teamup”. This game felt so fresh, we move into the cinema as Abby to hear “Isaacs dead” over the radio before Abby and Ellie try to kill each other. This game was consistently unpredictable, truly unique.

Habeeb Adejare

This final stretch of the game has made me consistently dream ‘No!’ So many times. I would have been satisfied with the game ending with Ellie staring at the map that Tommy brings and just fading to black with her dealing with her PTSD, but Naughty Dog had to go “Clockwork Orange” with removing her ability to enjoy one of the few things left to her (not knowledgeable about instruments, but can she get a left-handed geetar?). I was not ready to deal with more moral complexities at the end, so I was glad that the Rattlers were just straight up bad guys that I didn’t have to question whether it was okay to kill them or not. I really enjoyed the fact that at the end Abby and Lev turned mirrored Joel and Ellie from part one, especially with trying to find the fireflies again. As a side note, I don’t think this was mentioned in the previous episode, but when you are Abby at the skyscraper level If you go near a ledge Abby starts to shake and the camera moves back to let you feel her vertigo. One last thing, was anyone else reminded of the Neo-Nazis from the last season of Breaking Bad when dealing with the rattlers?

CalebMurray

Sorry for the second post Ben had to cut my first one short. I was trying to get everything in during a short work break. I also wanted to bring up what imo is quietly one of the best lines in the game which is Dinas pleading " We have a family now. She doesn't get to be more important than that." Just slayed me.

Marty Cawley

Joel and Ellie’s final conversation together is a moment that will stick with me for a very long time. “I was supposed to die in that hospital. My life would have f***ing mattered. But you took that from me.” “If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment, I would do it all over again.” “I don't think I can ever forgive you for that. But I would like to try.” She mattered. I can't believe I'm saying this, but when Ellie finally chose to try to forgive Joel, I was weeping. And I’m not using that word lightly. No work of art has even gotten a reaction that large and intense out of me. It's my favorite work of art of all time. (No, I have not seen Hamilton, but I’ll change that soon!) It’s impossible to distill my thoughts down to one Patron post, so I ended up writing out almost 7 pages of my thoughts and feelings about this game, and I’m still going. That’s something I’ve never done before after completing a game, but it has been very therapeutic. I’ll spare everyone my rambling thoughts, and besides, I need to get back to my survivor playthrough!

Juan Cabrera

Hello Minnmax, Can you guys give me your take on Santa Barbara. So the fireflies that answered Abby on the radio are legit right? That wasn't a rattler trap? I saw some quote from a neil druckman interview that said that the ending menu screen is supposed to signify Abby and Lev made it to that dome shaped building the fireflies were based out of. Thoughts? Great deep dive by the way!!!

Jeff (GazpachoManRandyCabbage)

Most games are power fantasies, and TLOU2 still is undeniably. It’s fun and gives you a playground of violence to mess around in. But it confronts that more than most if not all games do and for that I appreciate it. I LIKE that it made me do things I didn’t want to because it made me feel things (for better or for worse) that other games don’t and I wish more did. Movies and TV often try to convey a sense of regret, sadness, confusion, fear, dread (Oldboy, The Proposition, etc etc) but games don’t often go to these depths for obvious reasons. I don’t think it 100% succeeds but I wonder if there would have been less backlash to TLOU2 if more games tried to do this at a big budget scale (misogynist and homophobic internet rage aside). Do you see this game starting any trend of games pushing into more confrontation of violence as opposed to straight power fantasies as a result of this? Do you even want games to do that? (Last note, nothing scared me in this game more than fighting Ellie as Abby. Ellie definitely killed me more than the rest of the game combined. That felt...fitting)

Jeff (GazpachoManRandyCabbage)

Did you like Santa Barbara? Or do you think that would have played better as a start to Last of Us Part 3? Why do you think they felt the need to add in a short 3rd location with 3rd faction that seemed more like faceless baddies? I loved the location change but it did feel like it would work better as DLC to bridge to a part 3, or start of Part 3..

Adam Zimmer

I was really shocked coming upon Abby on the beach in Santa Barbara and seeing her emaciated and braidless form (which upon reflection is reminiscent of the story of Samson). What stuck with me most after finishing the game was that despite the fact that these characters who I had grown to care about all survived, they all emerged so physically and emotionally damaged that it was hard to feel happy about their survival. But ultimately this collecting suffering is exactly what makes Ellie's decision to spare Abby feel so impactful. I remember Hanson wondering if some of the incredible praise from Dan Trachtenberg was hyperbole, but after finishing the game I honestly agree with him.

Whuaha

Ill keep this short. I loved the game and I couldn't help compare parts of it to Brokeback Mountain. From Ellie's relationship with Dina, to the way Ellie grabs and smells Joels jacket, down to the ending. That same feeling of being unfulfilled, the sense of loss... not being able to say goodbye top a loved one ONE LAST TIME. The composer of some of the pieces, Gustavo Santaolalla, really brought all these parts nicely together.

James Martin

Loved the game. Incredible. I am not one to cry at games/movies - basically never - but my only weakness are father/child relationship stuff & when the tough character finally cracks. The flashback ending with Joel and Ellie got me because it did both, so beautifully. In Ellie's diary she mentioned all she had was 'that last conversation' and we assume that to be the one where she told him they were "done", which is heartbreaking. To find out that their last conversation was actually a happier one was amazing, but also heartbreaking in a different way as their reconciliation was cut short. Complex, nuanced, amazing stuff.

Shawn Mills

Hello Computer Loving Clickers, I thought it was interesting that nearly all of Ellie's actions to find Abby are revealed to be useless in this section. If she had followed Jessie's plan to find Tommy she would have had a better chance at finding Abby since she ended up getting sniped at by Tommy while Ellie was at the aquarium. I also thought it was interesting that the scene with Tommy and Ellie seemed to mirror their scene from the beginning when Ellie is trying to convince Tommy to go to Seattle and hunt down Abby. In both scenes one character accuses the other of not caring enough about Joel to do anything and it leads to the other setting out to find revenge.

Chree McGee

Thank you guys so much for this, the most thorough discussion of The Last of Us 2, I've been really loving it so far. I've been thinking about how amazing the Abby section of the game is. Every day for her, you have one or two amazing set pieces: Day 1 has the atmospheric woods sequence, Day 2 has both the Sky Bridge/ Skyscraper descent, AND the Rat King, and then Day 3 has both the war of the Wolves and Scars, AND the drag out brawl between Ellie and Abby. When comparing these days to Ellie's more somber and low-key days, do you think the game just is building to those big moments, or do you think the game is "bottom-heavy" so to speak?

Zachary P Gregg

Hey everyone, Anyone else disliked Tommy's ending? What should of been a sweet surprise of Tommy surviving, quickly turned sour when he tries to convince Ellie to track down Abby after he got some new intel. This seems to go against almost everything he has done in the series; 1) Risking his life to save Joel and Sarah on Outbreak Day 2) Trying to create a better world with the Fireflies, and then with Maria at Jackson County 3) Leaving Jackson County to avenge Joel, seemingly just to protect Ellie 4) Immediately organizing the return trip to Jackson County once, briefly, reunited with Ellie, Dina, and Jesse. Tommy seemed to be content with leaving Abby in Seattle, until she showed up and shot him. Trying to send Ellie back after Abby appeared entirely selfish for a character that seemed to try anything to protect his family and others.

Collin Rothermel

Right at the beginning of this section, while still in the aquarium, Yara mentions to Abby that Lev would’ve been claimed as a wife by one of the elders of the Serephites. As if i didn’t like them already, this one sick comment was enough to cement my hatred for the cultists and make me want to hunt them down going onto the island. I was much less stealthy in this section and instead wanted to hand out justice to Lev’s oppressors

Jason Wojnar

Am I the only one who laughed out loud when Ellie was hanging upside down because her hair in that moment made her look like a troll doll from Toy Story? It was a much needed moment of levity. Great game overall, and resolves many of the pacing issues present in the first game and Uncharted 4. While the narrative hits hard and is one of the best in the medium, to me, the first three Uncharted games are still king among Naughty Dog's catalogue. Being between twenty and thirty hours, can we safely say this is the single biggest linear action/adventure game of all time?

Chris Lytikainen

Holy Pacing, Batman. Did anyone else feel narratively disconnected with that ending? I saw what they were going for a mile away in terms of breaking the cycles of violence, it just felt too convenient for me. I'm still really bothered by the fact that Ellie throws her life away twice and doesn't really follow-through, I get that the overall point for her character this go-around is to break that cycle of violence and forgive Abby. It just left me feeling really dissatisfied. I hate to be that guy that says, "It's not the ending I wanted!" In a whiny voice, I just wanted The Last of Us to fully delve into the darkness at the end like it had been for most of the game, instead of a turn towards the light. Also, who loves that touch of Ellie losing her pinky and ring finger symbolizing as a final severing of her ties to Joel, as she can no longer play guitar. What did y'all think of that moment?

PrimeSpcts

I know this is supposed to be about the last section, which I did like, but I recently started a new game +. While the Abby sections did start to win me over on my first play through, during my new game + I immediately disliked her again when I got to the part where she starts torturing Joel. My question: she tells Joel to guess who she is, and he takes a moment, and says "why don't you just say whatever speech you have prepared and get this over with." Do you think Joel knows who she is? Does he know what's coming, and why? I wouldn't have put this together on the first play through since I didn't know yet who Abby was. And apologies if this was covered previously. My memory = not so good.

Carl Grenier

For all the efforts that the game spends trying to humanize the two enemy factions (WLF much more so than the Seraphites), the last faction introduced felt cartoonishly evil. The Rattlers are just portrayed as a bad group of people that do bad things for... no clear reason. They setup nasty traps, capture people and put them in cages and then if they don't obey, suspend them on a cross on the beach until death and have infected pets. They don't have a single good quality. I usually don't mind that in games, but it felt jarring when the other factions are humanized to better convey the message that everyone can be good or bad depending on perspective and motivation.

Joebeezer

Team Ellie or Team Abby?

Simon Milich

Given where the game ends, with Ellie having lost so much in the pursuit of revenge, where do you think a potential sequel would go? Neil has said he'd either look at doing a new IP or making a part 3 in the future, and I'm not sure if we'd follow up Abby and Lev's journey to the Fireflies or see what Ellie does next. I don't know if Tommy would want Ellie back in Jackson, although I'd imagine that's more up to Maria and Dina if she still thinks she has a place there. Either way, I think Naughty Dog did an amazing job with this game, and I'd really like to see how they top this one.

The Diddler

Did anyone else get tired of the gameplay loop? I love this game, but I wish it was about 2 hours shorter. However, I don't know which section(s) I would cut/trim down.

Sean K L

Yo -- loved TLOU2, even with nitpicks easily one of my favorite video game experiences of this generation. Anyone else make the mistake of rolling credits and then immediately diving into reactions and reviews? The first video I loaded up was a reaction compilation of "high profile" streamers, the majority of whom got to the Ellie-Abbie confrontation at the resort and demanded some variation of, "Ellie, kill that bitch!" You may be shocked to learn that critical analysis did not improve in the comments of said video. I guess my question is, do you guys think this game was wasted on a lot of capital-G Gamers? My fear is that Naughty Dog will take stock of the loudest segment of negative players and play it safer on TLOU3 (like a Last Jedi-Rise of Skywalker situation). Also, dying to know, which game ending did Jeffum prefer: TLOU2 or RDR2?

Fred Dinovo

I can't decide if I like or hate learning so late in the game just why Ellie was so bent on revenge.  Finding out through the course of the game that her and Joel haven't had much of a relationship since he confirmed what happened with the Fireflies. Then the last time they see each other, the night of the dance, they talk it through and decide to start mending their relationship. Abby took that away the next day before they could even start. 

Vasco Marques

I left the game with one question. What happened between Tommy and Maria? Do you think it’s related with Tommy’s thirst for revenge, which took him to Ellie and Dina’s? Or something different, like Tommy cheating Maria with Ester? Who’s Ester? The first scene we see in the game with Joel and Ellie together, the Pearl Jam song scene, was an adaptation from a short stageplay that happened some years ago, which portrayed this conversation but added an romantic interest for Joel. What if Tommy felt the urge to be close to Joel again and searched that proximity through Ester?

RushingSomewhere

Hi MinnMax, I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about the ending. But I think almost everyone can agree that we all really care about Lev. I only almost cried when Lev was in pain: 1) Yara gets shot dead, and Lev says “those were your people”. Abby grabs him and says, “hey. You’re my people!” 2) Abby and Lev finally get on a boat to leave the Seraphites’ island, and Lev wraps his arms around himself and starts quietly sobbing. Abby takes her jacket off and puts it around him. 3) In Santa Barbara, when Ellie is looking for Abby among the Rattler’s hanging prisoners, I saw Lev first and I thought he was dead. I had to drop the controller and take a sec. I kinda wish that Lev played a more active role in the final fight. I wanted Ellie to stop herself for Lev’s sake, just like Abby stopped herself for Lev’s sake. I might just be projecting though. Stephen “Oh-lu-nigh-K”

John Griffin

The aquarium gave me flashbacks to a trip I took to an abandoned water park in Vietnam last year. The real thing was even better than the pictures. It is the most "Last of Us" thing I have ever seen in real life. Thuy Tien lake Abandoned Water Park. Check it out.

CTE Potato

Not many people are mentioning the battle on the island- but lord, that was a technical marvel and just so gorgeous and intense! After that, I had been so certain that Ellie would die, and that at the end of Abby’s playthrough you would be forced to kill Ellie at gunpoint just the same as you killed the doctor in the first game. And then the scene where you stalk Ellie had me losing my mind. Genius but painful- wanting to fail- to lose, as you hunt her. Also, probably the hardest part of the game tbh. And then you think Dinah is going to die, lord. And then I never so deeply just wanted a game to end for the happy ending, on the farm, Ellie with her family, but no, here we go, back out into the world. The ending, IMO, chef’s kiss. Greatest work of art of all time?

Josh Han

I loved this game, I think this with TLOU 1 makes a perfect story end. By the end I felt more connected to Abby than Ellie and I think that speaks volumes for the story and how it took a character that is the "villain" in the beginning and made her empathetic for the end. Ellie's decision to leave her comfort with Dina to "finish" was one of the saddest part for her character. I do have a couple complaints overall, the biggest is that I felt like there is this huge story hole where why didn't the firefly doctors 1) spent more time evaluating Ellie to see if there is a way to learn about the virus without killing her and 2) if that HAS to be the only solution, why make that decision without her consent? they tried to paint the dr as someone that has to make the tough decision and understood the cost (a young girl's life) but to me it really misses the beat because he NEVER asked for her consent, he never told Ellie what it would cost and what it would mean. I think part of why joel did what he did to save her is because she wasn't part of the decision. They just made it, after seemingly a day or 2 of "testing". This is like the biggest hole I just dont connect on the story element and wish they did it better.

Christian Jimenez

Will you be listening to the official Last of Us 2 Podcast? And other spoiler discussions like GameInformer or Easy Allies, what would it take to have a follow up discussion in a few months (maybe GOTY) look back on the game.

Joshua Turner

Did you anyone else stick around to listen to the radio in the theater? The WLF confirmed that Isaac is dead & were trying to figure out what happened to the backup units as they were losing the war. Pretty safe to assume that Team Jackson (and even Abby!) took out a large chunk of the WLF that would've otherwise been well equipped to handle the ambush on Seraphite Island. It also shows just how much tunnel vision Isaac had when it came to the Seraphites. He still went ahead with that attack knowing their numbers were rapidly depleting. Assuming the WLF indeed lost on the island, what is now to become of the civilians left at the stadium? Do the Seraphites finish the job? Do the WLF disband? This war has been a fascinating subplot which was made better learning that Ellie indirectly affected it.

Jared Duddy

This game made me more emotional than anything I've ever played, but one character I overlooked for a while was Tommy. All his life he's only cared about protecting his family and his community. He was even ready to leave Seattle at the end of Day 3. When we see him again at the farm, he's nothing more than a hollow shell of the man he used to be. After getting shot in the head, he's been stuck in this never-ending state of anger and can't think about anything other than revenge. It ruined his marriage and probably his position as a leader in Jackson. At first I was angry at Tommy for bringing up a past trauma to Ellie, but then as I realized he would be broken for the rest of his life, he seemed like one of the most tragic characters in the game. If Joel and Ellie never entered his life 5 years ago, he'd have a happy marriage and be living a quiet life in Jackson.

Direful

Obviously there's a lot of controversy about this ending. Lots of people are concerned that the story seems to take a very circuitous route toward a message of "violence is bad". And it does so by forcing the player into a narrow set of unethical circumstances and then blaming them for their actions. My biggest issue is that the end of this game is largely nonsensical. Ellie trudges ALL THE WAY TO California because she is reminded of Joel at the barn dance. When she is faced with a weak and tortured Abby, Ellie decides to kill her. And then decides not to kill Abby because she remembers her last moment with Joel. I believe there is a subplot in The Last of Us II: Ellie is a schizophrenic. Her motivations and intentions at any given time are murky at best, and she seems to literally base her actions in the next moment simply based on the things she remembers in the moments previous. Is it possible the narrative function of flashbacks actually has a negative effect on the story by hiding Ellie's history and making it seem as though her thinking is illogical and based on the last thing she remembered?

Brad Grenz

I love when Ellie uses her immunity as a superpower. The best example is when she was caught by the Rattlers and one of them is trying to intimidate her with the hanging clicker, only for her to turn the tables by suddenly lunging into its reach, taking her captor with her. Sure, she got bit, but he got GOT.

Jeff (GazpachoManRandyCabbage)

Breaking News! From the GI Pod today with Neil and Halley. Neil confirms Jurassic Park not mentioned by name due to legal issues.

Will

Hey Ben, I'm not sure if I missed deadline for comments yet, but I figured I would send one in anyways. How do you think you would feel about the game if they switched the order you played the two halves of the campaign in? I personally think it would have been more interesting if they would of had you grow an attachment to Abby and her friends, and then have you go back through with a character you already loved from two other games and kill the people you just grew to like. Also, it would have been a huge twist to show up in the theater and see that it was Ellie of all people who was killing your friends. Now that probably means we couldn't know that Abby killed Joel at the beginning of the game, or even that Ellie and Joel were in the game, but I think it could have worked if Ellie would of mentioned Abby killing Joel during the fight, and then we could switch over to Ellie's section after the boss fight and seen it happen there. It would have helped me care about Abby's section much more, which kinda fell flat for me at times because I already knew the people she cared about were going to die anyways.

Preston Willke

It seems that this game is being evaluated on its own merits where it should really be considered a continuation of TLOU. Do you think in the future we'll see it as one total story like the Mass Effect Trilogy or will it continue to be individual stories?

Andy H

I wasn't a fan of the third quarter of the game (or the Ellie boss fight), but I thought the ending was perfect