vpance
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Was Abby a trans that related to Lev or was it simply bad story telling to make Abby a more sympathetic character?
Laura Bailey who voices her is not trans so Abby is not trans. Those are the rules.
Was Abby a trans that related to Lev or was it simply bad story telling to make Abby a more sympathetic character?
Is it? So only trans VAs can voice trans characters?Laura Bailey who voices her is not trans so Abby is not trans. Those are the rules.
12 year old looking anime girls with big tiddiesI love the argument that the writers are just trying to manipulate the audience.
Yes. that is what stories are.
writers intentionally put characters into situations to create an emotional response.
So many of the "bad writing" criticisms/nitpicking can be applied to TLOU1.
-so joel's teenage daughter died and now he has to escort another teenage girl. so heavy handed!
-tess successfully survived for all these years and finally gets infected now??
-Bill is gay!? fucking SJW pandering.
-in winter, joel recovered just in time for him to rescue ellie? bad writing!
-blatant emotional manipulation by making it so the cure requires ellie's death.
-no cure? whats even the point of the game? it's just a pointless failed sidequest.
-joel shows no remorse for killing the doctor or marlene. what a psychopath.
I'm curious what these people consider a good videogame story.
Is it? So only trans VAs can voice trans characters?
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In 2020, if you don’t want to be cancelled then yes.
In other news, Kratos will become black in the next GoW.
Pewdiepie: "I have played so many mediocre games i don't even care anymore. It makes no difference another one. Another one bites the dust."
"6/10"
Also said:Also said :
Also said:
"Game does not have Big PP"
"Eat yummy snack"
"Why are we doing x thing?"
"Where did they say to go?"
"Where did Yara go?" After just seeing her shot
"Abby doesnt like bridges just like me"
"Floor gang"
Also beat the game with zero deaths
The Lev and Yara scenes were important because it illustrates that she is grasping for some purpose in her life. She fulfilled her goal of revenge but she was left empty, all of her focus had been on that and she had pushed her relationships to the side. She was involved in some cause with the WLF in a city she didn't care about. She and Owen had forgotten to "look for the light" as Fireflies. She becomes like Joel in all she has left in the world is a young surrogate as the cycle of violence takes a toll on her and everyone around her.I do wish they would have toned down the buffness of Abby but I just looked at her like a crossfit girl. There's even a brief scene where they walk past a gym full of people so it's explained at least. She also mentions in a flashback how she pushed some heavy weight and impressed Owen. Still, I liked the character and seeing her as the daughter of the doctor that was working on Ellie was a big surprise and gave her good motivation.
What killed it for me was the sub-plot of Yara and Lev. I thought it was completely pointless other than to shoehorn in some social commentary. It made zero sense for Abby to go on this big journey with people from a different group and just felt like filler or should have been DLC later on. I think really all you needed was the scene on Abby watching her dad die and then a few flashbacks to give her sympathy and that was enough to make you question what Ellie is doing.
If you are fan of TLoU, you are emotionally invested in the characters of Ellie and Joel. You understand why Abby did what she did but at the same time, you don't want to spend 10 hours playing as this other character that you really don't care about. Even though I actually liked the twist and liked Abby's motivation, I still ultimately wanted to just get back to Ellie and her story. This is where the game suffered the most to me. No matter how sympathetic they made Abby, I just wanted Ellie to get her revenge.
Abby's scenes felt like Uncharted to me and extra video-gamey. It was still fun and some of the set pieces were impressive but again, it's not what I wanted to be playing. 1-2 hours of Abby would have been enough. Cut her scenes drastically, take out the entire Yara/Lev subplot and I think you have a near perfect game.
All of the Joel, Ellie, Dena, guitar and slower moments of the game were fantastic. Part of me also felt like you didn't even need the infected this time around as a lot if felt forced just to give the game some action.
One more thing to note - I'm a PC gamer and some of the graphics made me jealous. Easily the best looking console game I've ever played. Also, HDR did absolute wonders for the game. From the pitch black basements to the bright, beautiful forests. It really added a ton to the atmopshere. If there's one thing I can give an absolute 10/10 to is the presentation and graphics. Amazing stuff.
That sounds really bad and boringIf they wanted to make this game a 10/10 story-wise, I would eliminate most of Abby's part of the story.... no playing as her at the start, you'd play from Joels perspective. You'd play as her later, just seeing the flashback of her father die and then you'd play a cut down version of her story with no Lev side-story (it's irrelevant for the plot unless they want the duo for a sequel...which will not go down well) just base her gameplay part around all her friends dying, her finding the bodies and then it builds up to her and Manny against 'The Sniper'........
Manny dies, she is traumatized and then finds Owen and the other one dead at the Aquarium.
Then it goes back to Abby at the theater..... she holds Jesse hostage (Tommy wouldn't be there yet)..... jesse gets shot but not killed..... Abby has the fight against Ellie.
Abby is about to kill Dina as in the original plot but she is shot..... camera pans to Tommy who just arrived. She crawl towards the knife she dropped, still chasing her revenge. Ellie walks over and pulls out Joels revolver but just before she shoots, she hands it to Tommy..... he executes her leaving Ellies hands clean.
I think it is a tighter story, has more meaning and less confusion.
I'd have preferred it... I think the game was needlessly long and Abby was still a terrible person. Without Lev, she would have killed Dina..... that is her true self. She deserved to die because she was a bloodthirsty vengeful person. Tommy taking the burden of killing Abby with Joels gun is much more poetic and leaves Ellie with a father-figure at the end.... it gives meaning to the flashback of her shooting with Tommy too.That sounds really bad and boring
Actually cuts out the best parts of Abbys storyI'd have preferred it... I think the game was needlessly long and Abby was still a terrible person. Without Lev, she would have killed Dina..... that is her true self. She deserved to die because she was a bloodthirsty vengeful person. Tommy taking the burden of killing Abby with Joels gun is much more poetic and leaves Ellie with a father-figure at the end.... it gives meaning to the flashback of her shooting with Tommy too.
It also leaves all the best parts in the game...while removing the bloat. Ellie can still see Joel playing the guitar before she hands the gun to Tommy... everything just works better that way IMO.
Not a single event playing as Abby made think oh "I totally get her character now", I didn't hate her either, I just didn't care about her at all by the end and I think ND wanted that the player felt something for her.Whether or not any one character was good or bad or deserved to live or die was not that interesting to me, which is my main beef with the storyline. Everyone does bad things in the apocalypse after all. But they spent so much time setting that up with Abby and her relationship with other side chars to try and get a bigger emotional payoff at the end.
Maybe I’d like it more with a better execution. The end part was certainly dragged out with all the walk and talk segments and a surprising number of combat portions, some good some annoying.
While I think its clear some people were empathetic to her I dont see it at all. And I feel like the goal of her was actually a subtle condemnation of Joel. Even if you do good things after, you can't erase the bad you've done before.Not a single event playing as Abby made think oh "I totally get her character now", I didn't hate her either, I just didn't care about her at all by the end and I think ND wanted that the player felt something for her.
Nonsense. first game clearly sets the goal for you to love them so that in the second one they could do bad shit to them and you feel like crap about, if you hate them then you probably would be cheering during Joel scene which isn't what Naughty Dog was aiming for. They clearly stated first game about love, second about hate, violence and blah blah blah.While I think its clear some people were empathetic to her I dont see it at all. And I feel like the goal of her was actually a subtle condemnation of Joel. Even if you do good things after, you can't erase the bad you've done before.
I dont think ND did as anything as simple as try to make any one character seem altruistic. If you hate Abby or empathise with her, both are correct. If you hate Joel and Ellie or love Joel and Ellie. Both can be correct
I personally see Abby as a fantastically realised villain, but not everybody sees that and that is fine
There are definitely people who expressed adamant hate of playing as Joel in the first game. I remember the discussion threads on this forum about the ending distinctly, and there was also a rage at Naughty Dog for making you kill the doctors without a choice.Nonsense. first game clearly sets the goal for you to love them so that in the second one they could do bad shit to them and you feel like crap about, if you hate them then you probably would be cheering during Joel scene which isn't what Naughty Dog was aiming for. They clearly stated first game about love, second about hate, violence and blah blah blah.
Hahaha yup. Acting is only allowed if you are the character you are playing.Laura Bailey who voices her is not trans so Abby is not trans. Those are the rules.
I found it really bizarre that she would just get up and leave her life to rescue these two people out of the blue. It seemed really out of character for her.
And that's assuming the Fireflies would be passing around the cure rather than holding on to it for power.There was never going to be a cure in the first game!
Let’s say at the end of the first game Joel doesn’t kill Dr Jerry.
Dr Jerry successfully cuts Ellie’s head open and makes a cure. Sure Jerry could have FOUND the cure and cured maybe one person. But how would he and the group extrapolate that into enough to make for the rest of the world? You need a science manufacturing plant and TONS of ingredients
There’s only four companies that make penicillin today in real life! How were they going to manufacture 10,000 vials of the cure in a post apocalyptic world?
There's an explanation to everything. It is...There was never going to be a cure in the first game!
Let’s say at the end of the first game Joel doesn’t kill Dr Jerry.
Dr Jerry successfully cuts Ellie’s head open and makes a cure. Sure Jerry could have FOUND the cure and cured maybe one person. But how would he and the group extrapolate that into enough to make for the rest of the world? You need a science manufacturing plant and TONS of ingredients
There’s only four companies that make penicillin today in real life! How were they going to manufacture 10,000 vials of the cure in a post apocalyptic world?
I can't believe people are still defending that endingGoes half way around the country to murder one person , gets spared twice, abandons her good relationship with Dina and finally threatens a child with a switch blade but only after the LAST second she's like "heyyyy this is actually wrong, it won't bring Joel back"! They have the "balls" to kill Joel but not the balls to commit to their own story of revenge. Ellie "broke the cycle" yet she still looses everything? What kind of message is that????
Overall 6/10 game
You can also question why she doesn't use the machine gun she gets lore wise at the final fight, why even give Abby a fighting chance if she's serious about getting revenge.I can't believe people are still defending that endingGoes half way around the country to murder one person , gets spared twice, abandons her good relationship with Dina and finally threatens a child with a switch blade but only after the LAST second she's like "heyyyy this is actually wrong, it won't bring Joel back"! They have the "balls" to kill Joel but not the balls to commit to their own story of revenge. Ellie "broke the cycle" yet she still looses everything? What kind of message is that????
Overall 6/10 game
While I think its clear some people were empathetic to her I dont see it at all. And I feel like the goal of her was actually a subtle condemnation of Joel. Even if you do good things after, you can't erase the bad you've done before.
I dont think ND did as anything as simple as try to make any one character seem altruistic. If you hate Abby or empathise with her, both are correct. If you hate Joel and Ellie or love Joel and Ellie. Both can be correct
I personally see Abby as a fantastically realised villain, but not everybody sees that and that is fine
Nice counter argument. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me. That second ending was completely unnecessary and served no purpose. She had already moved on with Dina on the farm. If you want to put that message of ending the cycle of violence and forgiveness then that would have been the perfect moment to say NO to Tommy. But ok, lets say the game is actually about he consequences of seeking out revenge. Ellie ends up sparing Abby's life yet she STILL loses everything even though she did the right thing. What kind of message does that send to the player? Why not kill Abby? You could still have that theme of revenge bad and it would at least made sense thematically.I can't believe people are hating on the ending my only explanation is that people clearly don't get it or they simply ignore the talk with Joel.
I mean yeah, you can call everything "bad writing" if you don't like it, but it's simply not that.
Nice counter argument. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me. That second ending was completely unnecessary and served no purpose. She had already moved on with Dina on the farm.
f you want to put that message of ending the cycle of violence and forgiveness then that would have been the perfect moment to say NO to Tommy
But ok, lets say the game is actually about he consequences of seeking out revenge. Ellie ends up sparing Abby's life yet she STILL loses everything even though she did the right thing. What kind of message does that send to the player? Why not kill Abby? You could still have that theme of revenge bad and it would at least made sense thematically.
Again, she could have forgiven Abby on the farm. She finally had a taste of the good life and it could have been a great reminder that she lost almost everything, Tommy is the one who tried to get her back into it. I still deal with PTSD from my previous abusive relationship of 3 years but I have learned to forgive and move on too without seeking petty revenge on her and then stop at the last minute.She actually didn't. She had PTSD, couldn't sleep or eat. I don't think you can call that "moved on".
You can still forgive someone but have terrible flashbacks of said killing. Coping with that PTSD and learning to forgive would have been more powerful imo but clearly she didn't as she almost gutted a kids throat to get Abby to fight her and you are expecting me to believe she would just forgive her like that in a second? Nah, they straight up made Ellie evil up until the last second.
What would she gain through killing her? She didn't gain anything by killing everyone of her friends. Abby realised it before Ellie that taking Revenge isn't helping or working. She lost any meaning by killing Joel.
The ending wasn't about Revenge, but about forgiving Joel. Ellie decided she could forgive Joel for what he did, so why not forgive Abby?
Again, she could have forgiven Abby on the farm. She finally had a taste of the good life and it could have been a great reminder that she lost almost everything, Tommy is the one who tried to get her back into it. I still deal with PTSD from my previous abusive relationship of 3 years but I have learned to forgive and move on too without seeking petty revenge on her and then stop at the last minute.
How do we know it's forgiveness rather than the realization that her cycle of revenge is causing more misery and grief than it's worth?She had to face Abby to really forgive her. The Moment she remembers with Joel is the reason, it shows she will never have the chance to tell him.
Forgiving someone is the first step, telling or showing that person is the second.
Have 3 left but I'll come back for them.... coins, cards and journal entries left.Doneski bros
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Not a single event playing as Abby made think oh "I totally get her character now", I didn't hate her either, I just didn't care about her at all by the end and I think ND wanted that the player felt something for her.
How do we know it's forgiveness rather than the realization that her cycle of revenge is causing more misery and grief than it's worth?
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Abby character and what was ND's intention.
Unlike a lot of people, I actually liked Abby and at first was wondering if the game was going to make you choose who dies at the end. I was dreading that because I was really starting to like her. That kinda changed when she ran off with the Saraphites. Her story arc and drive just wasn't interesting or make much sense at that point and I just wanted to get back to Ellie's story.
Going back to the original point of this post though is what is Abby supposed to represent? Her appearance and several moments in the game seem to hint at something that may or may not be there.
1. She is a biological female that works out like a Crossfit girl and there is nothing more to the story than that. They do walk by a gym once with other soldiers working out and there are several comments about her working out throughout the game. She simply found a purpose in helping Yara and Lev in the same vein that Joel suddenly had a purpose with saving Ellie.
2. She is a biological female that is transitioning to male. This is the one I keep thinking about. If you pay attention, she is getting bigger throughout the game. You could just say those were just gains from working but it could be transitioning. WLF has a lot of resources and doctors and she could be getting treatment. She seemed to relate to Lev and she literally left and killed WLF members to save him. At one point, it's mentioned "They are your people" and she replies, "You are my people". Just a throw away line or a hint that she is trans?
The anal sex scene and her appearance. She basically did not have any breasts at this point and Owen went straight for anal sex. It was rumored that the programmers were asked to design the characters in a way that wouldn't offend the trans community. Did this also apply to the sex scene where they simply made it an anal scene for inclusion or again, is there something more to it?
And finally, Abby's haircut and appearance change at the very end. Did the group that captured her cut her hair kinda like the Nazis would to the Jews to prevent lice? OR, did they cut her hair because she looked like a biological man and was transitioning? Did the group cut it as an insult since she was protecting a trans? Did she do it herself to fit in with the other men? This would mirror the shaving of Lev's head. Her body also changed and she had very little muscle mass left. Was this due to simply not getting to work out, or was she off the transitional drugs?
Final note - This is the girl that motion capped Abby. She is a Crossfit girl:
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A lot of Crossfit girls look like this so it simply may be a case that Abby is nothing more than a workout enthusist but seeing all of the hints, the developers leaving the game and so on, I just wonder if there is more there. At the very least, I think ND wanted ambiguity to get people talking.
How did you conclude the sex scene was anal? That position exposes both holes. The camera did not pan down so we as players can make a definitive conclusion on what type of intercourse this was.
Supposedly the script says it was anal. I don't know if it's true but I'm basing it off that and her painful reaction.
Prefer not to comment on speculation. Can you provide a source/link to the script? I would like to get to the bottom of this.
In the game Abby definitely says to Owen, “Hey, I’m pushing 185”-Supposedly the script says it was anal. I don't know if it's true but I'm basing it off that and her painful reaction.
Egyptians can build the pyramids without the tools we have today but you’re biggest concern is modern industrial manufacturing lolThere was never going to be a cure in the first game!
Let’s say at the end of the first game Joel doesn’t kill Dr Jerry.
Dr Jerry successfully cuts Ellie’s head open and makes a cure. Sure Jerry could have FOUND the cure and cured maybe one person. But how would he and the group extrapolate that into enough to make for the rest of the world? You need a science manufacturing plant and TONS of ingredients
There’s only four companies that make penicillin today in real life! How were they going to manufacture 10,000 vials of the cure in a post apocalyptic world?
Well said. People who wanted “Joel and Ellie fuck shit up 2” would never be happy with anything. Any deep understanding of the new story was lost the second Joel died and they realized the game they wanted would never happen.AngryJoe is having a stupid hateboner for the way Joel died and never recovered. Keeps talking stupid things he read online like probability of vaccine is not 100% as if it has any relevance to the plot. Basically he's experiencing hatred which is by design and I bet he will justify his emotional hijack with every argument he can find to say story is stupid.
AJ is entertaining but he has a shallow understainding of games and narratives, mostly focusing on gameplay, which probably is ok for his audience. His movie reviews are pretty awful for that reason.
His review will be pretty worthless as he never gave the game a chance, I expect 6-7.
Ugh. Apples and orangesEgyptians can build the pyramids without the tools we have today but you’re biggest concern is modern industrial manufacturing lol
Game literally shows them turning power plants back on, it’s not like they are in the Middle Ages. They don’t need to develop a billions vials today, enough to start an exponential wave. One factory leads to two, two leads to four, four leads to eight, etc.