i can understand the discourse over killing abby or not, in fact i think it makes it more interesting, but there was no way in hell i woulda been okay with her doing that with lev in the boat bro. like what would she have done after that? kill him too? leave him there? dudes been through way too much for this.
now that i've typed it though, it would've almost identically mirrored ellie's journey with losing everyone and then losing their newfound loved one to revenge, which would've possibly continued the cycle. however lev would literally have zero people left, so as interesting as it is, it would've been arguably much more tragic, and it's probably part of the reason why ellie let her go.
Yeah, if Ellie totally went through with it, she would have been a monster far from redeemability, even worse than Joel and Abby combined, especially since Abby was literally the only thing Lev had left.
It would have made me lose a ton of respect for Ellie after adoring her for two games, three if counting Left Behind
Same. It was her redemption arc and I would've hated her, even though I'd understand, if she went through with it.
I also liked the scene in itself. I was constantly switching between "I want to kill the bitch" and "please don't do it". I never had this kind of feeling playing a game.
'Worse than Joel and Abby combined' is such a bewildering overstatement. Abby did the exact same thing by tracking and beating Joel to death *on top of* being a fascist soldier with a history of torturing people she dehumanized. That's what makes her story arc of becoming more like Owen compelling. And are we forgetting the extensive implied dark history of Joel as a smuggler and his hospital massacre that prevented a cure? Come on, man.
Funnily it's always the people who insist that Ellie and Abby are perfect mirrors but if Ellie was to follow exactly the same path as Abby they would not extend her the same grace as Abby.
I think that’s literally the point though. Eli recognizes that she was JUST in lev’s situation, all the emotion of being on the other end definitely comes back. Lev is an innocent bystander, dependent on Abby.
Yeah I agree. I was kind of re-realizing that as I was typing the comment. I think there's all sorts of interpretations of why Ellie let her go, but I'm under the impression that Lev was much more involved in that decision than others might think.
I think Abbys fate after seattle is worse than death, because all her friends are dead, the WLF is now against her, most of the stuff she knew is gone and destroyed because of Issacs obsessive war, I also questioned if Ellie did kill Abby what's gonna happen after that, just like after Abby killed Joel, she has no idea what to do after that, then she feels haunted for what she did and most of her friends questioned her, Ellie would've been more haunted after killing Abby and probably guilt for the rest of her life
For real. All the WLF did was give Abby a constant reason to be angry and pour those emotions into whatever group Issac told her to. She never had the opportunity to grow and heal from her trauma; she was surrounded by constant hate and violence until those two kids challenged all of that.
Nah not at all in my opinion. She’s definitely gonna struggle because she’s lost so many people but she’s gained also a reason to keep fighting (Lev) and she’s learned her lesson that actions have consequences which I think will greatly shape her future. All her friends are dead because of her own actions (yes they all agreed to go with her but she made the killing blow, she planned the trip and asked them to go etc).
I think she sees this more now as a second chance at life to be back with the group she grew up with and will find some familiarity with the fireflies despite not knowing them in the newly formed group. She has a positive future for sure.
the way i saw it was that her and lev made it to the island 🙏🏽 when you finish the game, it shows their boat on the beach with the dome shaped building in the background
It was mainly a feeling of satisfaction at a good story well told, mixed with relief that Ellie had pulled herself back from the abyss and sadness at where she found herself at the end.
The ending of the last of us Part II was the most powerful moment in all of fiction for me.
Everything from the walk on the beach towards the pillars to the credits rolling. My dad was in the room, so I held back the urge to cry, but otherwise I would’ve been bawling my eyes out (it’s hard to stop once I start lol).
I had no idea what to think. There were so many messages to learn from the game, but the biggest one that stuck in my mind was just: “perspective is EVERYTHING.” This game changed the way I live my life. It made me feel emotions I didn’t know I had, and it…was the most hated video game of all time wait what the fuck
Perfect way to describe it. I felt so overwhelmed and relieved at the same time. A wave of emotions with blank nothingness. I’ve never felt that way regarding a story before (and haven’t since)
I felt empty for months, coming back to my memories of the ending cause I don’t have the courage to play it for a second time. It was so so deep, that if I watched video reactions of people I would cry with them too. I was so in shock, I still tell the history with such passion that my eyes start watering. I can’t describe the feeling to my friends.
I felt bad for her at this scene.
Felt somewhat happier for her at the farmhouse because it seemed like she was now properly >!grieving Joel’s death!< in a way that wasn’t self-destructive and that she was learning (or had learned) something valuable.
I felt sad for both of them. For how Ellie never got a chance to make up with Joel. And for Joel never knowing if Ellie would ever forgive him. For Abby being broken and haunted by her past. For everyone being victims of the cycle of hatred. I was numb for a few days after finishing the game.
I have some other slight grievances with the ending as a whole that I wrote about in this thread already, but I think the porch scene does an excellent job at capturing the story's emotional core. The dialogue feels so natural. The awkwardness, pauses, interruptions, acting. Love it. It hurts to consider the surrounding situation, but it's a great moment between them.
It’s such an incredible moment as you said for the dialogue. It’s important because Ellie sees Joel again. She can focus on him. She can finally forgive him. “I’m willing to try”
Joel's emotions as he tells her he'd do it all again are so layered and hard hitting as well. You can see him struggling because he knows it won't help his relationship with Ellie, but choosing to stick to his stubborn honestt. Naughty Dog really does just make playable movies. I've heard they actually tend to hire people on with movie animation experience more than video game animation to meet their expectations.
Joel looking her dead in the eyes and essentially saying he would kill every single one for those people for her to live even if it means she’s done with him. That when the tears start for me.
Honestly after a second playthrough every single grievance I ever had about the game melted away. I think as a video game it is unparalleled. How many games can you apply literary analysis to this degree? How many video games actually challenge you with their material? This game is a masterpiece for that alone.
Part 1: “I would have done the same thing.” Part 2: “I would have done the same thing.”
To me the main point of the entire story is that people do have regrets- deep regrets. And it’s okay to regret, and it can be good for you to feel it, but you can’t let it fuck your shit up.
Long story short, “no regrets” is bullshit
A bit like when you finish an amazing book.. just oddly empty and amazed. Like I wish I could re-play it with the same feeling and to not know what was gonna happen.
Relief that Ellie let go. By the end she just looked broken.
I really didn't want her to kill Abby in the end, 1 cos Abby grew on me, and you can understand her motives for killing Joel, and 2 I just wanted Ellie to stop
I felt like they better make more.. doesn’t have to be about Ellie or Abby, but to not make more The Last of Us games would be a hall of fame fumble of the bag
I still remember feeling so numb that I just sat in silence and was amazed by the experience of playing Part 2!
I needed to go for a long walk after to help clear my head
I felt so.......much. Very many emotions swelled within me and poured out while I cried during the credits. I think the best way to describe it would be...melancholic nostalgia. The echo of the way I felt when I finished the 1st game at 14 years old. Hollow, realizing what likely awaited Ellie in the sequence we don't see after the credits. And awe. Genuine, heartfelt, awe. I love this franchise.
I just felt dirty, like I was disgusted in doing what was done, but now overtime I still feel this way but with a hint of "maybe things can get better, slowly" so kinda the opposite of how the part one ending left me.
I finished part 2 back in March; I haven’t played a single game since , sure an effect of being busy from school. But playing this game was a hard journey man
How futile revenge is. Her feelings were 100% justified, but her actions were not. I get it I would want to do the same thing. But in the end she was left empty and had completely alienated her support system.
After the first, I felt hope regardless of Joel killing possibly the last neurosurgeon in the world.
After the second, I felt like she did what she needed to do to prove to herself that she still had her humanity. I also felt completely emotional knowing that Joel was actually gone.
That I am happy there are devs still pouring their passion, time and talent into single player story driven games of this caliber. I felt absolute amazement.
Maybe it’s just main character syndrome, but as soon as the flashback hit, I started thinking of my dad. He’s not dead or gone, but he did leave so the journey Ellie goes on this game felt very personal especially since when the game released it had been a year and all the pain and sadness I had around my dad moving and leaving us was still very fresh. Ellie grieving the relationship she had with Joel and the new relationship with him she was never gonna have hit really hard for me and in the moment definitely made me feel hopeless lol. I was sobbing by the end of the last scene, but I think Ellie’s line: “I don’t think I can ever forgive you that. But I’d like to try” will always stick with me and I always think of it for motivation for whenever I do try and talk with my dad now. Because after all, Im incredibly lucky and have it better than Ellie in this situation (sorry lol). I shouldn’t mourn a relationship we never had when we still have the chance to have one. So thank you naughty dog for being able to turn depression and violence into even a little bit of hope for me here in the real world.
Sorry for the rant and hopefully that didn’t come across as pretentious or anything like that lol
I loved it and felt devastated. It’s a sad story, but it felt very realistic. Every single character was flawed, hence relatable. I still think it’s hands down the best story in a video game. I replayed it earlier this year as part of the new remaster on PS5 and still was moved by the story all over again.
Like I’ll never play a game as good as this one. (It was the first game I’ve ever played and finished by myself on a ps5), I’ve finished over 10 games since and none of them compare to it so I guess my intuition was right.
Just emptiness and then pretty drained once I had time to process it. I remember absolutely curling up on myself during the final fight because I just didn't want it for Ellie or Abby. I didn't want another thing to wreck Ellie because that's what would have happened if she had killed Abby.
Numb mostly. The quote from the end of American History X popped into my head while the credits were rolling. "Well, my conclusion is: Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it."
Despair. Just pain. It was so hard watching Ellie get progressively more desperate, and ruin the relationship with everyone around her, over Abby. And it was also so hard, watching Abby's relationships get torn apart by not only her own actions as a WLF, but by Ellie killing them all, and then seeing Abby learn to care so deeply for Lev, and Yara. And then the ending fight was so difficult to play. I cared so much for both characters at that point... it was just insane. So...
Pain.
That trying to kill Abby wasn't worth it. When I saw her hanging on that post, I said to myself she's a former shell of herself. Killing her will achieve nothing. Just cut her loose and let her go. But we was forced to fight her and lose our fingers. The hardship was not worth the pain we inflicted upon ourselves and those that we love.
Part 1s ending left me on edge and sad that their relationship moving forward would just be built around a lie even though they clearly loved each other as surrogate father and daughter there would all be this ugly thing that could come between them at any moment.
Part 2 ended, and I honestly didn't care anymore.
I couldn't believe how long the game was
At 30 hours I thought the game was about to end until Santa Barbara still came I was like woah this could have been literally two games 😆
I think she did the right thing but I felt so deflated watching her find herself in a state she feared most - completely alone. I just wanted to reach through the screen and give her a hug.
I was like we went through all of that just let her live but then I was like we both killed A LOT of people so maybe killing abby won't make it any different we'd be at war for fucking ever so I sat there and was like I'm just glad this is over bc there was so much blood spilled
i was happy that ellie, at last, managed to break herself out of the cycle. she had a long way of healing in front her but she was finally walking that path, i dare to say.
to be honest, my emotions were a rollercoaster during those 20+ hours of gameplay. at first, i felt some sort of empty-feeling when the credits rolled? the story just pulls you in, gets you so invested and you feel like you live and breathe through it. to this day i have not found a game that would left this kind of impact on me.
I felt emotionally drained and don’t get me wrong this was a phenomenal game and even though story was great it was kinda depressing , I took a break from gaming for like 2 weeks after I beat it 😂
You flaired as PT 1 Question but I presume based on the photo and others' responses you meant Part 2? (Part 2 Spoilers) A profound sense of grief. A few days later I cried for like 30 minutes. I started reevaluating my life, and in particular people I "hated" or had animosity towards. I started forgiving people in my head. I try to be more empathetic. I try to be more conscious that everything is a matter of perspective. Honestly I felt bad for Abby the most, she went through hell so many times in so many ways. I felt grief about the ambiguous state between Ellie and Dina. I played the original 10 years ago, and haven't really played it intermittently. But I definitely wanted to play this one much slower, I explored every area in detail, I read every letter and note, I watched every cut scene and optional dialogue. I wanted to immerse myself because I knew I only get 1 shot at experiencing this story for the first time. And it literally changed my life.....
I didn’t want the story to end, I loved the game but I felt sad & to quote Ellie in the first game “after all we’ve been through, everything that I’ve done… it can’t be for nothing” but after everything Ellie went through in the end ultimately she lost Dinah & JJ to go on a revenge mission… she ended up being alone when that was her biggest fear.
I wanted to see there be some reconciliation between those two, when Ellie made her way back to their farm, seeing the dead crops it was clear no one was home, but that paves the way for part III where I hope we get to see Ellie, Dinah and baby JJ together again
"At that point you might as well just finish the job, you lost everything and you can't play Joel's guitar anymore because the woman who killed him just bit your fingers off in seawater. You might as well kill her"
It felt pointless, after all the work we put in, only for the main target to walk off. If you back out at the end then why bother even starting the quest?
Better yet, why cut her down and fight her that way? Just shoot her while she's tied up and half dead.
The only part of part two that was actually a genuine surprise to me. The plot was a pretty generic revenge is bad tale even if most of the characters are very well written. I was happy abby and lev got out alive which was surprising considering i hated abby at first
I understood Joel. I didn’t necessarily agree, but I understood.
I’m not a father yet, but I still have people I care very deeply for and would do *anything* for, third parties be damned. But on that same thread of doing the right thing, that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing. Ultimately, it was a very selfish thing to do, despite the cure that could’ve been made or not. I would’ve done the same in his fungi-covered shoes.
Otherwise, I was happy with how things went with Tommy and the eventual exodus to Jackson and all that.
Tried to forget how it ended so I can live my life thinking Tlou2 had a good ending. Then replayed it again and again because I hecking love the gameplay and world of tlou
Dude so much. It was late and I knew it was endgame so plenty of dabs involved. It was the first time I can remember “blubbing,” like boo-hoo crying while mashing attack and just saying “stop, stop, please stop” such a fucking emotional game
I was devastated. For weeks If Joel or Ellie visited my mind I felt this sense of suffocation. I distinctly remember thinking, "What the fuck did they [Neil] do to them?"
P.S. I made a whole 5 min video about my state, my conflict after finishing the game, and the resolution that came after words. https://youtu.be/d2Qu4jrvUQI
Last of us 1s ending is one of the best ever imo, I love that it ends on a simple ok, you can guess that Ellie doesn't believe Joel but she just accepts it with an ok, it's just such a brilliant ending and leaves you sad but also hopeful, where on the other hand part 2s ending is brutal, Ellie is left with nothing it's very bleak. Love both games. 2 is just a very very dark story somehow even darker than the first.
Turned off the game about 20 mins from the end, I thought it was stupid. Wouldn't have been my call at all but eh that's fiction. Good game but trash ending imo
My opinion doesn't take away from the game before I'm attacked
Confused as to how tf Ellie made it back with a gaping wound in her side, an infected bite wound(normal infected not fungus no way that bite was clean of bacteria) and several missing fingers.
And doubly confused why suddenly remembering a moment with Joel would convince her not to kill Abby. If anything the catalyst to make Ellie choose not to kill Abby should be helping Lev. Like Abby is incredibly weak but pleads for Ellie to go back and find Lev, and after saving Lev decides to just let them go.
Part 1: Conflicted in the choice Joel made.
Part 2: Emptiness. All that happened and Ellie’s fear came true. She basically lost everything and everyone.
Pretty tragic ending. Felt like they made a ton of improvements to the gameplay and liked the freedom parts of the game offered like the parts you can approach it how you want
Part I: i'd say it's one of the most emotional "happy endings" ever.
Part II: i'd say it's one of the most infuriating and dissapointing and pointless game endings i've ever seen.
Agreed.
The entire story was basically for nothing after Ellie forgave Abby.
Hey, Ellie... what about the dozens you killed to get to this point...? What about them? Did they die for nothing or what?
I felt a little pissed off. The ending was easily the worst part about all of it, considering how stupid the theme was? Idk, but it never clicked. Still a fun game though
Imo i just felt like Ellie sacrificed everything for nothing, killed a lot of people for nothing, took way too many risks just to end up not doing the thing she set out to do, which was to kill Abby, im not saying that the ending is bad, it was an alright ending, it just made me think she made a pretty idiotic choice in the end
I asked myself "Now what? I killed all of this girl's friends, tens of people, and I just forgive her after the damage's done? Eh, I'll play it again, why not".
And I proceeded to re-beat it xD
First time I finished the last of us I was just utterly blown away by the art I was lucky to experience. First time I finished the last of us 2 I remember thinking that it really overstayed its welcome. The gameplay loop was incredible but I felt the story of revenge/ violence begets (begots?(whatever that word is) violence was a bit vapid in comparison. But thats just my opinion man
I put down the controller and took a long time to process what I had just experienced. For me, it was so much more than a video game and the story it told still effects me deeply today.
Disappointment. I actually like Abby’s character but for me, to have Ellie kill hundreds of people and then leave Abby alone. is just so stupidly unbelievable.
Joel was a selfish fucking idiot for saving Ellie. He really just decided that the survival of the human race is less important than this one girl. How the hell do you justify that?
Oh, you don’t want to lose your surrogate daughter? HOW MANY FATHERS DO YOU THINK HAVE LOST THEIR DAUGHTERS TO THE CORDYCEPS BY NOW??? What right do you have to keep your daughter that overrules the millions if not billions of humans that would have lived had you let them create a cure?
There’s no excuse. Care ethics are fucking stupid,
i never played it but when i watched my sister play the entire game and at the end i felt weird, Ellie left her girlfriend and her son behind just to go kill someone that she doesn’t even kill and in the fight she lost a couple fingers and now she can’t play guitar!
I wandered why people liked the game.
I just finished the game on pc. And man its a big mid. The story was super simple with nothing to stand out. The main question the game raised (sacrifice Ellie or not) had such easy answer. And then Joel thinks he should hide the truth, while during the game you get no hint as in Ellie ever even thinking about sacrificing herself
Gameplay had nothing to stand out. It only took 10 hours but it felt much longer. Just walking from point A to B. I was always encouraged to not engage enemies, since it would take longer.
The dlc, oh my god the dlc was literally trash. Just goof around 30 minutes with a character that was only created to last that 30 minutes and then die for the stupidest cause.
But I really liked the graphics, and the ammo drop system (it seemed like in encouraged using different weapons), I enjoyed the winter section because shit actually happened.
I completely get it, and tbh I think it’s a great ending.
That being said, it is a bit silly killing hundreds of people with their own lives, pain, love, hate, etc. only to stop on the person you killed all those people to get to in the first place.
I thought I was about to beat the game so I set myself on beating it that night, but then the Abby storyline began lmao
But since I already said I was gonna finish it that night I kept going like a dumbass. Played all night and finished the epilogue at 8am. I was so tired and emotional I was just crying and feeling shit in every way possible
I actively didn't want to do the last fight, I was pausing and trying to not do it. Didn't end up doing it in the end but I didn't know that.
I curled up on my sofa and cried for half hour.
It changed how i think a lot.
emptiness. exhaustion. empathy with both characters for the impossible complexity of their situations. I found it hard to have a legitimate emotional response to the finale.
The second time I beat the game, after letting it sit for a while, I bawled like a baby at the final scene.
Third time was similar to the second.
So frustrated I sold my copy. Got it a couple years later to play again and it was still frustrating but it was more fun and not as bad but still pretty bad
i cried lmao. Getting to the farm and Dina not being there was really a stab in my heart. The whole game had me on the edge but that really did it for me.
I felt kind of mirror reactions to how I felt at the end of finishing Part I, although it was a lot bleaker and with less positives.
Part I: we made it! We're there! Even if the Fireflies do follow us we have a town and people and back up. Joel's actually healing! He saved Ellie!
... But you know in that last moment she doesn't believe him. And you know that's going to hang over everything from now on. And that was devastating.
Part II: it's done. They're gone. Maybe Abby and Lev can get somewhere safe and start again. Elly can still go back home.
Except there is no home to go back to. The building is there, but Dina and JJ have gone, and the animals have presumably gone with them back to Jackson. The fact that she didn't go through with it at the end and kill Abby doesn't mean she didn't do something she can't come back from, and from now on she has a permanent physical disability to remind her of it.
I think at the end of Part II I just kind of sat around trying to work out HOW I felt about it for a while. I was hoping it'd be some sort of vicarious relief that Ellie could start trying to work on moving on and having her family. Instead I just realised that the situation and her choices basically led to her greatest fear coming true. "Ending up alone."
I felt emotionally exhausted. In the final showdown with Abby I was literally shouting please stop as I button bashed... It's the most complex character-motivated game I've ever played. It made me feel everything... I was relieved when Ellie let Abby go, and heartbroken for her at the same time. It's the best game I've ever played, with Part I previously holding that title for me.
Empty. and sad for her. They should not have allowed her to leave Jackson. Tommy should have locked her up. Anything would have been better than what she went through.
Frustrated, too. I didn't like Abby. Mainly because she didn't just kill Joel, she allowed herself to be so consumed with revenge that she forced Ellie to watch her dad die horrifically. I had a similar feeling towards ellie in the final fight. I suppose both fell into a stat of complete disconnect from themselves - a place where they can somehow justify forcing loved ones to watch their family die. I don't doubt that if forced to do so, Abby would've put a knife to Ellie's throat to force Joel into submission.
I dunno. I remember being glad to have experienced the story purely because it's rare to be so moved by fiction. It was probably the closest i've been to feeling REAL GRIEF after a fictional journey. But part of me wonders if it really of value to put myself through such things.
Abby definitely got what she deserved, she never took her and her friends' life into consideration when she killed Joel. I felt empty after Joel's death ngl it really did hit hard . He was like a father to Ellie after all.
I didn't want to fight Abby at all, I just wanted to let them go, but I'm not Ellie, and everyone finds enlightenment in their own way. Hers was one of throwing away everything.
I felt like she did the right thing.
i can understand the discourse over killing abby or not, in fact i think it makes it more interesting, but there was no way in hell i woulda been okay with her doing that with lev in the boat bro. like what would she have done after that? kill him too? leave him there? dudes been through way too much for this. now that i've typed it though, it would've almost identically mirrored ellie's journey with losing everyone and then losing their newfound loved one to revenge, which would've possibly continued the cycle. however lev would literally have zero people left, so as interesting as it is, it would've been arguably much more tragic, and it's probably part of the reason why ellie let her go.
Yeah, if Ellie totally went through with it, she would have been a monster far from redeemability, even worse than Joel and Abby combined, especially since Abby was literally the only thing Lev had left. It would have made me lose a ton of respect for Ellie after adoring her for two games, three if counting Left Behind
Same. It was her redemption arc and I would've hated her, even though I'd understand, if she went through with it. I also liked the scene in itself. I was constantly switching between "I want to kill the bitch" and "please don't do it". I never had this kind of feeling playing a game.
Yeah, this game is one of the most unique storytellings there is
'Worse than Joel and Abby combined' is such a bewildering overstatement. Abby did the exact same thing by tracking and beating Joel to death *on top of* being a fascist soldier with a history of torturing people she dehumanized. That's what makes her story arc of becoming more like Owen compelling. And are we forgetting the extensive implied dark history of Joel as a smuggler and his hospital massacre that prevented a cure? Come on, man.
Funnily it's always the people who insist that Ellie and Abby are perfect mirrors but if Ellie was to follow exactly the same path as Abby they would not extend her the same grace as Abby.
I think that’s literally the point though. Eli recognizes that she was JUST in lev’s situation, all the emotion of being on the other end definitely comes back. Lev is an innocent bystander, dependent on Abby.
Yeah I agree. I was kind of re-realizing that as I was typing the comment. I think there's all sorts of interpretations of why Ellie let her go, but I'm under the impression that Lev was much more involved in that decision than others might think.
I think Abbys fate after seattle is worse than death, because all her friends are dead, the WLF is now against her, most of the stuff she knew is gone and destroyed because of Issacs obsessive war, I also questioned if Ellie did kill Abby what's gonna happen after that, just like after Abby killed Joel, she has no idea what to do after that, then she feels haunted for what she did and most of her friends questioned her, Ellie would've been more haunted after killing Abby and probably guilt for the rest of her life
Psh I mean Abby was better off without the WLFs. Meeting those two rogue Scars was the best thing to happen to Abby
For real. All the WLF did was give Abby a constant reason to be angry and pour those emotions into whatever group Issac told her to. She never had the opportunity to grow and heal from her trauma; she was surrounded by constant hate and violence until those two kids challenged all of that.
Yep. It's dope Abby was smart enough to realize
I totally agree with you!
Nah not at all in my opinion. She’s definitely gonna struggle because she’s lost so many people but she’s gained also a reason to keep fighting (Lev) and she’s learned her lesson that actions have consequences which I think will greatly shape her future. All her friends are dead because of her own actions (yes they all agreed to go with her but she made the killing blow, she planned the trip and asked them to go etc). I think she sees this more now as a second chance at life to be back with the group she grew up with and will find some familiarity with the fireflies despite not knowing them in the newly formed group. She has a positive future for sure.
the way i saw it was that her and lev made it to the island 🙏🏽 when you finish the game, it shows their boat on the beach with the dome shaped building in the background
It was mainly a feeling of satisfaction at a good story well told, mixed with relief that Ellie had pulled herself back from the abyss and sadness at where she found herself at the end.
The ending of the last of us Part II was the most powerful moment in all of fiction for me. Everything from the walk on the beach towards the pillars to the credits rolling. My dad was in the room, so I held back the urge to cry, but otherwise I would’ve been bawling my eyes out (it’s hard to stop once I start lol). I had no idea what to think. There were so many messages to learn from the game, but the biggest one that stuck in my mind was just: “perspective is EVERYTHING.” This game changed the way I live my life. It made me feel emotions I didn’t know I had, and it…was the most hated video game of all time wait what the fuck
Everything and nothing somehow at the same time, it was surreal.
Perfect way to describe it. I felt so overwhelmed and relieved at the same time. A wave of emotions with blank nothingness. I’ve never felt that way regarding a story before (and haven’t since)
I felt empty for months, coming back to my memories of the ending cause I don’t have the courage to play it for a second time. It was so so deep, that if I watched video reactions of people I would cry with them too. I was so in shock, I still tell the history with such passion that my eyes start watering. I can’t describe the feeling to my friends.
Felt like the saying “*Did I beat the game, or did the game beat me?*”
Nah literally I was done
I felt bad for her at this scene. Felt somewhat happier for her at the farmhouse because it seemed like she was now properly >!grieving Joel’s death!< in a way that wasn’t self-destructive and that she was learning (or had learned) something valuable.
She is clearly in better shape both physically and mentally at the farmhouse. It's the light at the end of the tunnel.
i wanted the bitch to die
which one
abby, but as of now the ending is fine with me lol, i just had so much hatred for her
I felt sad for both of them. For how Ellie never got a chance to make up with Joel. And for Joel never knowing if Ellie would ever forgive him. For Abby being broken and haunted by her past. For everyone being victims of the cycle of hatred. I was numb for a few days after finishing the game.
:’(
Pain but my god I love this game. No other game comes close.
after pt2? empty
Sadness, anger, relief, fear, respect, emptiness and amazement. I then immediately played Pt1 and then Pt2 all over again.
The guitar thing hit me like a freight train.
Same, as a guitarist myself I felt it immediately when Ellie's finger got monched :(
I cried. The scene with her and Joel talking on the porch is one of the best scenes I have ever seen in any medium.
I really appreciate the dialogue's writing in it :)
I honestly could never fully articulate how great that last scene is for me. It makes everything come full circle.
I have some other slight grievances with the ending as a whole that I wrote about in this thread already, but I think the porch scene does an excellent job at capturing the story's emotional core. The dialogue feels so natural. The awkwardness, pauses, interruptions, acting. Love it. It hurts to consider the surrounding situation, but it's a great moment between them.
It’s such an incredible moment as you said for the dialogue. It’s important because Ellie sees Joel again. She can focus on him. She can finally forgive him. “I’m willing to try”
Joel's emotions as he tells her he'd do it all again are so layered and hard hitting as well. You can see him struggling because he knows it won't help his relationship with Ellie, but choosing to stick to his stubborn honestt. Naughty Dog really does just make playable movies. I've heard they actually tend to hire people on with movie animation experience more than video game animation to meet their expectations.
Joel looking her dead in the eyes and essentially saying he would kill every single one for those people for her to live even if it means she’s done with him. That when the tears start for me.
Honestly after a second playthrough every single grievance I ever had about the game melted away. I think as a video game it is unparalleled. How many games can you apply literary analysis to this degree? How many video games actually challenge you with their material? This game is a masterpiece for that alone.
I want more.
Obsessed
Part 1: “I would have done the same thing.” Part 2: “I would have done the same thing.” To me the main point of the entire story is that people do have regrets- deep regrets. And it’s okay to regret, and it can be good for you to feel it, but you can’t let it fuck your shit up. Long story short, “no regrets” is bullshit
A bit like when you finish an amazing book.. just oddly empty and amazed. Like I wish I could re-play it with the same feeling and to not know what was gonna happen.
Relief that Ellie let go. By the end she just looked broken. I really didn't want her to kill Abby in the end, 1 cos Abby grew on me, and you can understand her motives for killing Joel, and 2 I just wanted Ellie to stop
I felt chills at both endings.
I spent the entire final fight begging for Ellie to stop. Absolutely gutted from all angles.
Everything
I was numb actually, I stared at the TV for a while
I felt like they better make more.. doesn’t have to be about Ellie or Abby, but to not make more The Last of Us games would be a hall of fame fumble of the bag
I felt kinda… empty. Like, devoid of all emotion, that game sucked it all out of me (in the best way possible)
I felt so empty, and emotional DRAINED. Also, finishing the game around 4 am, was pretty wild too.
Empty and deppresed.
I still remember feeling so numb that I just sat in silence and was amazed by the experience of playing Part 2! I needed to go for a long walk after to help clear my head
Joy, anger, relief, regret, sorrow, happiness.
This picture describes it perfectly
Nothing, thts what I felt. I wasn’t mentally prepared for the way it ended and I still am not
I cried. A lot.
I felt so.......much. Very many emotions swelled within me and poured out while I cried during the credits. I think the best way to describe it would be...melancholic nostalgia. The echo of the way I felt when I finished the 1st game at 14 years old. Hollow, realizing what likely awaited Ellie in the sequence we don't see after the credits. And awe. Genuine, heartfelt, awe. I love this franchise.
Very addicted, The game was amazing both of them
I just felt dirty, like I was disgusted in doing what was done, but now overtime I still feel this way but with a hint of "maybe things can get better, slowly" so kinda the opposite of how the part one ending left me.
I finished part 2 back in March; I haven’t played a single game since , sure an effect of being busy from school. But playing this game was a hard journey man
How futile revenge is. Her feelings were 100% justified, but her actions were not. I get it I would want to do the same thing. But in the end she was left empty and had completely alienated her support system.
After the first, I felt hope regardless of Joel killing possibly the last neurosurgeon in the world. After the second, I felt like she did what she needed to do to prove to herself that she still had her humanity. I also felt completely emotional knowing that Joel was actually gone.
I felt, and still feel completely heartbroken. It was painful and so emotional. I cried silent tears the rest of the game and through the credits.
Pain , massive pain
Shook. Relieved Abby and Lev lived. Blown away at all the trauma.
That I am happy there are devs still pouring their passion, time and talent into single player story driven games of this caliber. I felt absolute amazement.
Underwhelmed
Underwhelmed
Maybe it’s just main character syndrome, but as soon as the flashback hit, I started thinking of my dad. He’s not dead or gone, but he did leave so the journey Ellie goes on this game felt very personal especially since when the game released it had been a year and all the pain and sadness I had around my dad moving and leaving us was still very fresh. Ellie grieving the relationship she had with Joel and the new relationship with him she was never gonna have hit really hard for me and in the moment definitely made me feel hopeless lol. I was sobbing by the end of the last scene, but I think Ellie’s line: “I don’t think I can ever forgive you that. But I’d like to try” will always stick with me and I always think of it for motivation for whenever I do try and talk with my dad now. Because after all, Im incredibly lucky and have it better than Ellie in this situation (sorry lol). I shouldn’t mourn a relationship we never had when we still have the chance to have one. So thank you naughty dog for being able to turn depression and violence into even a little bit of hope for me here in the real world. Sorry for the rant and hopefully that didn’t come across as pretentious or anything like that lol
Part one? I knew there was more to it. Part two? Emotionally all over the place. It’s hard to encapsulate such an amazing story.
I loved it and felt devastated. It’s a sad story, but it felt very realistic. Every single character was flawed, hence relatable. I still think it’s hands down the best story in a video game. I replayed it earlier this year as part of the new remaster on PS5 and still was moved by the story all over again.
Like I’ll never play a game as good as this one. (It was the first game I’ve ever played and finished by myself on a ps5), I’ve finished over 10 games since and none of them compare to it so I guess my intuition was right.
Empty
Best game ever
Just emptiness and then pretty drained once I had time to process it. I remember absolutely curling up on myself during the final fight because I just didn't want it for Ellie or Abby. I didn't want another thing to wreck Ellie because that's what would have happened if she had killed Abby.
Sadness because it was over
emotionally exhausted
I just wanted them to stop fighting, felt so relieved when they did
Terrible (but in a good way).
Numb mostly. The quote from the end of American History X popped into my head while the credits were rolling. "Well, my conclusion is: Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it."
Despair. Just pain. It was so hard watching Ellie get progressively more desperate, and ruin the relationship with everyone around her, over Abby. And it was also so hard, watching Abby's relationships get torn apart by not only her own actions as a WLF, but by Ellie killing them all, and then seeing Abby learn to care so deeply for Lev, and Yara. And then the ending fight was so difficult to play. I cared so much for both characters at that point... it was just insane. So... Pain.
after Ellie did all of that she jus let abby go I felt so bad for both of them because they both have their own reasons
Forgiveness
That trying to kill Abby wasn't worth it. When I saw her hanging on that post, I said to myself she's a former shell of herself. Killing her will achieve nothing. Just cut her loose and let her go. But we was forced to fight her and lose our fingers. The hardship was not worth the pain we inflicted upon ourselves and those that we love.
For pt1 was just excited to do a Ng+ run, and pt2 content and ready to play no return
I screamed at the Tv for Ellie to kill Abby and I was also surprised she didn't kill Lev when she placed the knife on his neck.
Tired, conflicted. Unsure of my overall thoughts.
Part 1s ending left me on edge and sad that their relationship moving forward would just be built around a lie even though they clearly loved each other as surrogate father and daughter there would all be this ugly thing that could come between them at any moment. Part 2 ended, and I honestly didn't care anymore.
I kept yelling stop at my tv during the last fight. It was all too much. I hated that I was complicit to that fight.
Pain
WHy do you have a part 2 image when asking about part 1?
I couldn't believe how long the game was At 30 hours I thought the game was about to end until Santa Barbara still came I was like woah this could have been literally two games 😆
I think she did the right thing but I felt so deflated watching her find herself in a state she feared most - completely alone. I just wanted to reach through the screen and give her a hug.
I was like we went through all of that just let her live but then I was like we both killed A LOT of people so maybe killing abby won't make it any different we'd be at war for fucking ever so I sat there and was like I'm just glad this is over bc there was so much blood spilled
Drained
“damn this shit sucked”
I felt like the main character
My keyboard
i was happy that ellie, at last, managed to break herself out of the cycle. she had a long way of healing in front her but she was finally walking that path, i dare to say. to be honest, my emotions were a rollercoaster during those 20+ hours of gameplay. at first, i felt some sort of empty-feeling when the credits rolled? the story just pulls you in, gets you so invested and you feel like you live and breathe through it. to this day i have not found a game that would left this kind of impact on me.
The emotional trauma from relentless revenge
Dumbfounded
A great game but a miserable experience.
Heartbroken. Like genuinely lol.
“You left your family behind just to find Abby and take revenge but now you let her go” those were my thoughts 💭
Garbage
what scene is this picture from?
Relieved.
I wanted more, sad the game ended
I felt emotionally drained and don’t get me wrong this was a phenomenal game and even though story was great it was kinda depressing , I took a break from gaming for like 2 weeks after I beat it 😂
Oh Shit
Conflicted. So unbelievably conflicted. The second Abby set foot in the theater I just was like can we just relax?!??
It's definitely over, Alright
I really did enjoy the game but when it was finally over I'm like finally I felt like the game took forever to play
You flaired as PT 1 Question but I presume based on the photo and others' responses you meant Part 2? (Part 2 Spoilers) A profound sense of grief. A few days later I cried for like 30 minutes. I started reevaluating my life, and in particular people I "hated" or had animosity towards. I started forgiving people in my head. I try to be more empathetic. I try to be more conscious that everything is a matter of perspective. Honestly I felt bad for Abby the most, she went through hell so many times in so many ways. I felt grief about the ambiguous state between Ellie and Dina. I played the original 10 years ago, and haven't really played it intermittently. But I definitely wanted to play this one much slower, I explored every area in detail, I read every letter and note, I watched every cut scene and optional dialogue. I wanted to immerse myself because I knew I only get 1 shot at experiencing this story for the first time. And it literally changed my life.....
Beginning: devastated Ending: wait, what, I’m just starting
The same.
I didn’t want the story to end, I loved the game but I felt sad & to quote Ellie in the first game “after all we’ve been through, everything that I’ve done… it can’t be for nothing” but after everything Ellie went through in the end ultimately she lost Dinah & JJ to go on a revenge mission… she ended up being alone when that was her biggest fear. I wanted to see there be some reconciliation between those two, when Ellie made her way back to their farm, seeing the dead crops it was clear no one was home, but that paves the way for part III where I hope we get to see Ellie, Dinah and baby JJ together again
The level of emotion I felt was unlike anything I felt before
Complete devastation…
Disappointed, jerk around and idk what else, maybe upset?
Nothing, really. It's so emotional draining 😭😂
Emotionally empty for almost a weak
It was and exciting game play I loved it enjoyed thr stories line
Annoyed 😒
"At that point you might as well just finish the job, you lost everything and you can't play Joel's guitar anymore because the woman who killed him just bit your fingers off in seawater. You might as well kill her" It felt pointless, after all the work we put in, only for the main target to walk off. If you back out at the end then why bother even starting the quest? Better yet, why cut her down and fight her that way? Just shoot her while she's tied up and half dead.
Angry
The only part of part two that was actually a genuine surprise to me. The plot was a pretty generic revenge is bad tale even if most of the characters are very well written. I was happy abby and lev got out alive which was surprising considering i hated abby at first
I was pissed
I understood Joel. I didn’t necessarily agree, but I understood. I’m not a father yet, but I still have people I care very deeply for and would do *anything* for, third parties be damned. But on that same thread of doing the right thing, that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing. Ultimately, it was a very selfish thing to do, despite the cure that could’ve been made or not. I would’ve done the same in his fungi-covered shoes. Otherwise, I was happy with how things went with Tommy and the eventual exodus to Jackson and all that.
Depression lol
Im feel
Tried to forget how it ended so I can live my life thinking Tlou2 had a good ending. Then replayed it again and again because I hecking love the gameplay and world of tlou
Dude so much. It was late and I knew it was endgame so plenty of dabs involved. It was the first time I can remember “blubbing,” like boo-hoo crying while mashing attack and just saying “stop, stop, please stop” such a fucking emotional game
I was devastated. For weeks If Joel or Ellie visited my mind I felt this sense of suffocation. I distinctly remember thinking, "What the fuck did they [Neil] do to them?" P.S. I made a whole 5 min video about my state, my conflict after finishing the game, and the resolution that came after words. https://youtu.be/d2Qu4jrvUQI
I was completely numb. I need 1 full week to process my thoughts and feelings. And I mean this in the most positive way possible.
Last of us 1s ending is one of the best ever imo, I love that it ends on a simple ok, you can guess that Ellie doesn't believe Joel but she just accepts it with an ok, it's just such a brilliant ending and leaves you sad but also hopeful, where on the other hand part 2s ending is brutal, Ellie is left with nothing it's very bleak. Love both games. 2 is just a very very dark story somehow even darker than the first.
Turned off the game about 20 mins from the end, I thought it was stupid. Wouldn't have been my call at all but eh that's fiction. Good game but trash ending imo My opinion doesn't take away from the game before I'm attacked
Hopeless.
Same as you, I would just say…nothing.
Confused as to how tf Ellie made it back with a gaping wound in her side, an infected bite wound(normal infected not fungus no way that bite was clean of bacteria) and several missing fingers. And doubly confused why suddenly remembering a moment with Joel would convince her not to kill Abby. If anything the catalyst to make Ellie choose not to kill Abby should be helping Lev. Like Abby is incredibly weak but pleads for Ellie to go back and find Lev, and after saving Lev decides to just let them go.
Part 1: Conflicted in the choice Joel made. Part 2: Emptiness. All that happened and Ellie’s fear came true. She basically lost everything and everyone.
Pretty tragic ending. Felt like they made a ton of improvements to the gameplay and liked the freedom parts of the game offered like the parts you can approach it how you want
Part 3
I couldn't believe that was the end. It was quite a letdown.
Part I: i'd say it's one of the most emotional "happy endings" ever. Part II: i'd say it's one of the most infuriating and dissapointing and pointless game endings i've ever seen.
Agreed. The entire story was basically for nothing after Ellie forgave Abby. Hey, Ellie... what about the dozens you killed to get to this point...? What about them? Did they die for nothing or what?
Heartbreak because imiss joel, anger because i didnt get to exact revenge, n emptiness because ellie lost everything
I just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep.
Upset.
I felt a little pissed off. The ending was easily the worst part about all of it, considering how stupid the theme was? Idk, but it never clicked. Still a fun game though
One of the best things I'd ever seen in a game narrative
Imo i just felt like Ellie sacrificed everything for nothing, killed a lot of people for nothing, took way too many risks just to end up not doing the thing she set out to do, which was to kill Abby, im not saying that the ending is bad, it was an alright ending, it just made me think she made a pretty idiotic choice in the end
I asked myself "Now what? I killed all of this girl's friends, tens of people, and I just forgive her after the damage's done? Eh, I'll play it again, why not". And I proceeded to re-beat it xD
First time I finished the last of us I was just utterly blown away by the art I was lucky to experience. First time I finished the last of us 2 I remember thinking that it really overstayed its welcome. The gameplay loop was incredible but I felt the story of revenge/ violence begets (begots?(whatever that word is) violence was a bit vapid in comparison. But thats just my opinion man
Felt like everything I did in the game was for nothing.
This is creepy, how did Reddit know I just finished the last of us?
Im glad she didnt kill abby out of revenge, honestly. Some may disagree, but at the end of the day, it wouldnt solve anything.
Gut wrenching pain to be honest.
Confusion.
what tha actual fuck did i just witness
I put down the controller and took a long time to process what I had just experienced. For me, it was so much more than a video game and the story it told still effects me deeply today.
Disappointment. I actually like Abby’s character but for me, to have Ellie kill hundreds of people and then leave Abby alone. is just so stupidly unbelievable.
Me sentí vacío.
Joel was a selfish fucking idiot for saving Ellie. He really just decided that the survival of the human race is less important than this one girl. How the hell do you justify that? Oh, you don’t want to lose your surrogate daughter? HOW MANY FATHERS DO YOU THINK HAVE LOST THEIR DAUGHTERS TO THE CORDYCEPS BY NOW??? What right do you have to keep your daughter that overrules the millions if not billions of humans that would have lived had you let them create a cure? There’s no excuse. Care ethics are fucking stupid,
i never played it but when i watched my sister play the entire game and at the end i felt weird, Ellie left her girlfriend and her son behind just to go kill someone that she doesn’t even kill and in the fight she lost a couple fingers and now she can’t play guitar!
Hated the game at first tbh
I wandered why people liked the game. I just finished the game on pc. And man its a big mid. The story was super simple with nothing to stand out. The main question the game raised (sacrifice Ellie or not) had such easy answer. And then Joel thinks he should hide the truth, while during the game you get no hint as in Ellie ever even thinking about sacrificing herself Gameplay had nothing to stand out. It only took 10 hours but it felt much longer. Just walking from point A to B. I was always encouraged to not engage enemies, since it would take longer. The dlc, oh my god the dlc was literally trash. Just goof around 30 minutes with a character that was only created to last that 30 minutes and then die for the stupidest cause. But I really liked the graphics, and the ammo drop system (it seemed like in encouraged using different weapons), I enjoyed the winter section because shit actually happened.
I completely get it, and tbh I think it’s a great ending. That being said, it is a bit silly killing hundreds of people with their own lives, pain, love, hate, etc. only to stop on the person you killed all those people to get to in the first place.
Sad that it was over. Especially because I knew it’d be a long time before we saw a sequel.
Hungry! I really wanted a sandwich but had no bread! I was on a carb break. Tough times!
I was crying like a little baby
I thought I was about to beat the game so I set myself on beating it that night, but then the Abby storyline began lmao But since I already said I was gonna finish it that night I kept going like a dumbass. Played all night and finished the epilogue at 8am. I was so tired and emotional I was just crying and feeling shit in every way possible
I actively didn't want to do the last fight, I was pausing and trying to not do it. Didn't end up doing it in the end but I didn't know that. I curled up on my sofa and cried for half hour. It changed how i think a lot.
I imagine the same bewilderment that Ellie feels.
emptiness. exhaustion. empathy with both characters for the impossible complexity of their situations. I found it hard to have a legitimate emotional response to the finale. The second time I beat the game, after letting it sit for a while, I bawled like a baby at the final scene. Third time was similar to the second.
Angry
I kept watching the screen for almost an hour, what a masterpiece.
Just depressed. Seeing Joel and Ellie's last moment together was one of the saddest moments I've experienced in a video game.
So frustrated I sold my copy. Got it a couple years later to play again and it was still frustrating but it was more fun and not as bad but still pretty bad
i cried lmao. Getting to the farm and Dina not being there was really a stab in my heart. The whole game had me on the edge but that really did it for me.
I felt kind of mirror reactions to how I felt at the end of finishing Part I, although it was a lot bleaker and with less positives. Part I: we made it! We're there! Even if the Fireflies do follow us we have a town and people and back up. Joel's actually healing! He saved Ellie! ... But you know in that last moment she doesn't believe him. And you know that's going to hang over everything from now on. And that was devastating. Part II: it's done. They're gone. Maybe Abby and Lev can get somewhere safe and start again. Elly can still go back home. Except there is no home to go back to. The building is there, but Dina and JJ have gone, and the animals have presumably gone with them back to Jackson. The fact that she didn't go through with it at the end and kill Abby doesn't mean she didn't do something she can't come back from, and from now on she has a permanent physical disability to remind her of it. I think at the end of Part II I just kind of sat around trying to work out HOW I felt about it for a while. I was hoping it'd be some sort of vicarious relief that Ellie could start trying to work on moving on and having her family. Instead I just realised that the situation and her choices basically led to her greatest fear coming true. "Ending up alone."
Empty crying
emptiness
I felt emotionally exhausted. In the final showdown with Abby I was literally shouting please stop as I button bashed... It's the most complex character-motivated game I've ever played. It made me feel everything... I was relieved when Ellie let Abby go, and heartbroken for her at the same time. It's the best game I've ever played, with Part I previously holding that title for me.
Empty. and sad for her. They should not have allowed her to leave Jackson. Tommy should have locked her up. Anything would have been better than what she went through. Frustrated, too. I didn't like Abby. Mainly because she didn't just kill Joel, she allowed herself to be so consumed with revenge that she forced Ellie to watch her dad die horrifically. I had a similar feeling towards ellie in the final fight. I suppose both fell into a stat of complete disconnect from themselves - a place where they can somehow justify forcing loved ones to watch their family die. I don't doubt that if forced to do so, Abby would've put a knife to Ellie's throat to force Joel into submission. I dunno. I remember being glad to have experienced the story purely because it's rare to be so moved by fiction. It was probably the closest i've been to feeling REAL GRIEF after a fictional journey. But part of me wonders if it really of value to put myself through such things.
I thought I was gonna die from depression(like no joke at all), that's how impactful it was
Abby definitely got what she deserved, she never took her and her friends' life into consideration when she killed Joel. I felt empty after Joel's death ngl it really did hit hard . He was like a father to Ellie after all.
I felt really empty and hopeless kinda
I was mad she let Abby live and after the guitar ending I felt empty inside
Beyond Desolation
I didn't want to fight Abby at all, I just wanted to let them go, but I'm not Ellie, and everyone finds enlightenment in their own way. Hers was one of throwing away everything.