For those unsatisfied, I guess, by the structure of this, the existence of a 6 hour spoilercast that breaks down the game into (what I can only assume to be - haven't listened to the Vice one) fairly minute detail, this didn't need to be that for me. Given who was on the Vice one (I just looked it up...), and when you have the people on there and the outlets represented on that one, as well as discussion of not only the game, but academic-style articles on the game, it would feel redundant for GB to try to replicate that kind of piece. Last of Us 2 is the sort of game that, for a lot of people, once finished people want to talk about their feelings of it and their interpretations of some of the bigger story events - and that's what this was, and I feel all it needed to be: The 4 staff members of GB that have finished TLoU2 getting out what they thought about it and speaking about specifics without spoiling things for others.
Could there have been more? Sure! But given all of the streams and everything else GB is doing while the lockdown is going on (and the other pieces on TLoU 2 that are already on the internet) asking them to take more time out of their non-streaming/non-'work' time for a larger, more 'critical' piece seems a little unfair to me - particularly as I'm not sure when this was recorded, so perhaps the hour-and-a-half window was all they had.
I will say as well, as someone who records a podcast remotely, trying to talk about anything, let alone something you feel a sense of passion about, without 'talking over people' etc. is incredibly difficult to do. And I do also feel that there have been dismissals of 'certain' perspectives in the gaming space for such a long period of time, so to criticise/take the piss out of Abby for being 'vocal' on this thing is also maybe a little unfair in some ways.
Regarding the game and some of the things mentioned in the podcast/video:
Ellie's version of 'Take On Me' was one of my favourite moments in the game, and is the second-best version of that song (behind Reel Big Fish's of course), and I was really confused why Naughty Dog would spend so much time getting the player to sympathise with Abby, given what she did to Joel (as my reaction to that was similar to Brad's), but by the end, it all made sense and I thought that Abby was 'redeemed' in some regards.
Ellie's impulsiveness and impetuousness do make her a bit unlikeable (and her choices disagreeable), but her age allows that to make sense, particularly given that she doesn't get much of a childhood (no-one really does in that world) - 18-21-year-olds have that 'trigger' that would likely see them to very similar things as Ellie did, so while it sucks, in a way, that Ellie leaves Dina to do what she does, it also makes sense to me. Especially when she feels what she feels and has the trouble getting over everything she experiences up to that point - she doesn't know how to 'fix' herself, so she chases down the one thing she thinks will fix her. It also has a self-sabotage vibe to me as well, the more I think about it - Ellie isn't able to let herself feel happy, or doesn't know what it is to feel truly happy and content with the life she has with Dina and JJ, as she feels she let Joel down. The very end, with Ellie coming back to an empty farmhouse and walking away after being unable to play the guitar, felt a bit empty to me, as I would have liked some closure between her and Dina (or just to have known what happened to JJ and Dina).
Lastly, @draugen, I'm totally with you on your view of the end of the first game and how it's explored further in 2! In retrospect, I wish the game did more with that idea in some way, be it through Tommy, Joel, or some other way.
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