I'd like to voice my opinion on #TheLastofUsPartII
I loved every goddamn second of it. The narrative, the gameplay — everything's spot on. I don't care what the so-called critics say, I want to applaud @Naughty_Dog for what they've done with the sequel.

First, I'd like to say I am in awe as to how they've developed Ellie from an easy-going and a bit carefree teen (though with certain personal fears) into a dark, complex adult with bared edge of emotion, with deep fear for her loved ones on the surface of her eyes, //

// which might not be easy to spot, without careful attention to her emotional expressions, but when you do pay attention, you see how she fights with herself from within even before the infamous revenge quest. How she struggles to come to terms with a lot of stuff, that //

// we, as those in safety, would never understand completely. She struggles to even allow herself to love, at first, despite clearly wanting to taste the life of a normal person. She struggles with her inner desire to live, and the desire to matter — which //

// has been taken from her. The guilt she feels towards the Fireflies, the deep family connection she has with Joel (lemme remind you, Ellie was raised by Marlene, not a relative) and the overwhelming edge of emotionality she experiences as a young adult //

// make her a character you see in yourself. In those around you. We might not fear the CBI pandemic but we too encounter struggles, which bring about the same development to people.
The story is (and has to be) amplified to the extremes: the violence, //

// the aggressiveness, the hatred, the forgiveness, the protectiveness, the love — all of it entwines inside of Ellie and we get to experience her as a complex and difficult to understand from a get-go character. And this is the result of the brilliant work of @Naughty_Dog //

// developers and storytellers. We get to see another edge to an already well depicted (in #TheLastOfUs ) character which also allow us to explore her more.

Not to mention (but I will, of course) the fact that we've got a gay female character in the lead role — and her sexuality is simply a part of her, and not the central point of the narrative. I don't know how to explain it to those who have never encountered it, but //

// being gay doesn't make your life _only_ about being gay. You get to grow, to make mistakes, to search yourself in areas of life — all while being attracted to the same sex people. Simple as that. Sometimes it influences your choices: you'd prefer safe space //

// full of LGBTQIA+ people, to a lesser safe company of Heterosexual People, but even that highly depends on a particular person.
Speaking of that, we get Ellie being attracted to women and in love with a woman all while she seeks revenge for her adoptive father's death.

Being gay neither stops her, nor endorses her — she's just gay and that's all.
Which brings us to the second point I'd like to mention in this long ass thread: the Joel's story.
I don't know how to put it into words for it to sound right, but his death has been //

// a matter of time. Yes, I _do_ adore Joel (I've played #TheLastofUs myself after all) and I would wish for him to be alive.
However, as one author said: To make a tragedy, you break something beautiful and frame the pieces (c).

For #TheLastofUsPartII 's narrative to commence Joel, no matter how heart breaking that decision might have been, had to die.
I completely get why people are upset about this turning point of events — we all love Joel, and his grim yet caring figure is something we'd //

// prefer to keep as he'd grown on us.
But life isn't like that.
Life rarely gives you a choice — and Joel has already made his choice.
And every choice is a cause, and every cause has an effect.

His choice has been to save Ellie and, at the same time, to doom the humanity — which, well, is not even confirmed: Ellie's sacrifice might have become a futile death in a search of unrealistic future; or it might not have. That's the duality of "the choice" — you pick one //

// and you don't know what comes after that. No one can guarantee anything.
In case of Joel's choice, the consequences were brutal — revenge-driven Abby took it upon herself to torture and slowly kill the murderer of her father.

And that brings us to Abby, the third major point of this thread.
Abby _is_ a great character. This is stupid to even argue about.
Unlike Ellie, Abby was introduced in #TheLastofUsPartII for the first time — we knew nothing about her past or her motivations when //

// we got to play as her in the blizzard of the Jackson County area.
She is introduced as an antagonist, and it is a purposefully done move — for Ellie, which side we take from the start, she _is_ in fact the antagonist.

What y'all seem to miss in your blind quest for hating Abby is that we are _purposefully_ made to hate her at the start. We _have to_.
But as we explore the new Ellie in the first part of the game, we explore Abby (a completely new character) in the second part _the same way_. //

// And her narrative is _in no way_ prolonged or dragged out.
Her narrative is just right for the game — we learn about her motivations, about her reasonings behind her actions. And we learn about her conflicting personality — just as we do about Ellie.

Abby is a human being, with fears, traumas, inner conflicts and, without a doubt, hopes and dreams.
We start her part of the gameplay in the safe place – the Stadium – and learn about her surroundings. And as we progress, everything gradually becomes worse — just as //

// it happens with Ellie's storyline.
Still doesn't ring a bell? The game is not only about revenge — it's about the parallels between the two protagonists (or two antagonists, depending from which side we look).

Neither of them are safe from sin — both Abby and Ellie do unspeakably violent stuff to foreign people around them.
And in case of Ellie the collateral damage is bigger, because she is blinder than Abby (yet, but she too gets to grow up).

The @Naughty_Dog narrators do that specifically — these two plots are here to show just how differently the actions might be perceived according to circumstances.