everything i hear about TLOU2 just reminds me of how much i hated TWD s2 for being full of cheap emotional manipulation instead of just letting me play a game like the first one but about the sidekick girl character instead
tlou2 just sounds like yet another story mining brutality against and suffering of women (especially queer women) for the acclaim of cishet male creators lol
it's not even bad to have suffering in your story. like, it's normal to have your hero suffer at their lowest point so that they can overcome it and come out on top at the end
but there is. a level at which it's normal in a narrative, and then there's TLOU2.
TLOU2 is like they went "we're not going to play it safe, we're gonna be edgy and take the risks!" but then didn't actually understand what it means to do that
male protagonist: kills five million people in a quest for revenge narrative: beautiful! bold! love it! you're doing amazing! female protagonist: does the same narrative: ummmm, actually sweetie, maybe you should just calm down? ~lol violence isn't the answer~
Journalists: "OK. Let's talk about your sexual harassment allegations and how you're making your devs watch videos of actual dismemberments for hours and giving them literal PTSD"
Naughty Dog: "TLOU2 is a bold, emotional story about how violence isn't something to be celebrated, it's a horrifying cycle of death and pain that destroys everyone it touches"
I didn't much care for TLOU and there's absolutely a huge misogynistic component to TLOU2's weirdness but I do feel obligated to say, the original was definitely not pro-Joel on the violence thing
like "PROTECT MY DAUGHTER" is his perspective but by the end of the game he's slaughtering tons of people who are trying to save the world because of it
and yeah the reason the constant suffering of Spec Ops works is because it's all in service of answering the question that the game is asking at its core: what kind of person do you have to be to be the protagonist of a Call of Duty-alike?
with TLOU2 it seems like the game's core question is trying to be "is revenge worth it?" but instead of asking the question and then presenting its case, it just goes "no. why would you ever think otherwise, idiot?"
except it also doesn't seem like it ever stops to ask if the antagonist's revenge was worth it, even though you play as her for half the game watching Ellie kill all her friends, so like
Wii Sports Resort is the Sophie's Choice of video gamesbut if feel bad game goodyou answered your own question
A Good Gameunless she suffers a ludicrous amountbut there is. a level at which it's normal in a narrative, and then there's TLOU2.
"i see,"
narrative: beautiful! bold! love it! you're doing amazing!
female protagonist: does the same
narrative: ummmm, actually sweetie, maybe you should just calm down? ~lol violence isn't the answer~
anyway here's an ellie funkopopit's not on joel's sidething if doing all of the violence didn't just likeVaguely Bittersweetlove itif Crash 4 outsold TLOU2fuck ellie's happiness specifically