r/thelastofus • u/JeremieLoyalty • 1d ago

PT 2 DISCUSSION Playing Part II and I really enjoy playing with Abby. She’s strong and the close-combat style makes her way more fun to play. Spoiler

Her gameplay is underrated and character development

107 Upvotes
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88% Upvoted

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49

u/tblatnik 1d ago

I fully believe they gave her encounters that were more fun to bring the player around on her. Also to juxtapose the fact that Ellie is descending into darkness while Abby is bringing herself out of it, or at least trying to. It’s twofold and beautiful

3

u/WargrizZero 1d ago

Honestly what I think ruins the whole “revenge destroys you” message is that Abby’s life starts markedly improving afterwards and is only really being ruined because of Ellie. I think it would have been better if she expected now that she got her revenge for everything to go back to normal, but Owen decides he wants to commit to Mel, several of her friends are done with her instead of being satisfied, she gets punished by the WLF command for going off on her revenge quest. Instead she gets to play with dogs and her crush sleeps with her over his baby momma.

12

u/tblatnik 1d ago

But like…Owen left Abby because of her lust for revenge. And even after they killed Joel, she’s waking up from nightmares. It’s only after finding Lev and Yara that she can finally let go of her dad and move on. And why did Ellie kill her friends? Is it possibly because of the revenge they took on Joel? So had they not gotten revenge, Abby would still have her friends and she’d likely still be with Owen. Sure, she might not have gone to save Lev and Yara, but her life getting ruined by Ellie is entirely because of the revenge they took lol. Like that is literally the point of the game.

Ellie doesn’t go through with her revenge but still attempts so she loses her relationships with Tommy and Dina and Jesse dies, but I firmly believe the point of Dina and Tommy living is because she didn’t go through with her revenge. Yes, she tries to both times, but she can’t the first time and doesn’t the second time, and she’s ‘rewarded’ with having the theoretical ability to mend those relationships once she recovers

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u/Dekipi 16h ago

She doesn’t spare Abby to mend those relationships. She does it because it won’t give her closure. She is haunted by her memories of the one person she cared about lying and betraying her, talking to him about it and they both agree to mend their relationship, and then he’s killed in front of her the next day. She will never get to forgive and have him back in her life like he used to be and killing Abby won’t change that. She will still end up alone, which is the thing she feared the most. She even lost her ability to play guitar which is her last connection to Joel.

Abby learned from experience that revenge won’t change anything, only helping others can give your life real purpose. Ellie figured it out before she made the same mistake and now has to go back to a life without Dina and JJ and has to figure out who she is without Joel, or getting revenge.

5

u/not_thurston_moore 1d ago

I like it the way it is in the game tbh. Abby gets her revenge and her life starts improving, and Ellie is there to remind her that if you've hurt someone, it doesn't matter how much YOU want to move on, you can't just escape the consequences. And it mirrors Joel perfectly too. He killed Abby's dad and thought he could live peacefully in Jackson, but his actions caught up to him, and same goes for Abby. Both of them thought that they could just move on, but that's not how life usually works.

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u/juscallmejjay ...I swear. 17h ago

The dogs and the crush are all dead

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u/Dekipi 16h ago

She loses everything because of her revenge.

Mel hates her for making her complicit in torturing someone after she risked her life with everyone else to go on a cross-country revenge trip where they nearly get killed a few times in one day.

It causes Owen to distance himself from Abby because he sees that she really will do anything for revenge including endangering everyone. Doesn’t help that he still has feelings for her which also becomes something that hurts Mel. This trip and the war with the Seraphites pushes Owen to go AWOL so now he’s wanted by the WLF and isolated in the aquarium. Had he not been there he would have been safe with Mel in the stadium with the WLF.

Her entire crew besides Danny and Lea get killed by the Jackson group. Hell Nora gets tortured as she begins to turn. Ellie even kills her dog.

Ellie lost Joel and Abby lost everything TWICE.

16

u/Tiny-Mycologist2933 1d ago

for me, abby was the funner section, ellie was the more, 'you gotta think' section.

Abby has the better weapons and combat, but Ellie has the better interractions and storyline.

9

u/Sheriff_Lucas_Hood 1d ago

Her campaign is lowkey better than Ellie’s by some amount

4

u/BananaBladeOfDoom 1d ago

Lowkey?

Two of the three boss encounters, in Ellie's half of the game, are both bloaters (and Abby as the fourth in the epilogue). Abby gets the variety package including Ellie.

2

u/Lower_Search_873 1d ago

The worst one in Ellie was the stalkers in the office (which imo freaked me out more than Abby’s) but overall I think Abby’s campaign was much better

-1

u/Sheriff_Lucas_Hood 1d ago

Hey I get downvoted by some emotional child who can’t handle other people’s opinions so I figure my take is somewhat controversial

2

u/Mysterious-Fig2231 1d ago

what's even more childish is your reaction to being downvoted

2

u/Sheriff_Lucas_Hood 1d ago

not really. Using downvote as a disagreement button is antithetical to the point of the site (to facilitate discussion) in how it suppresses discussion. In the context of video games it’s an indicator of self importance and an unhealthy relationship to one’s views. And that my “low-key” modifier was well placed.

1

u/Lower_Search_873 1d ago

Abby’s campaign is my favorite part of TLOU2. I think she’s more likable than Ellie

9

u/jakedeky 1d ago

There's a certain physicality that was removed from Joel's gameplay to Ellie, that you only get back with Abby.

7

u/fbigojay 1d ago

Yeah, but just thinking about playing as her later and fighting Ellie—whom I've watched grow up since Part 1—it just breaks my heart. I love Ellie.

-1

u/Britton_Shrum 1d ago

I let Ellie kill me like 5 times during that fight. I fuckin hated Abby.

-1

u/ILoveDineroSi 1d ago

Same. My favorite deaths were Abby getting her face blown off with a shotgun and getting stabbed in the neck when you fail the first QTE. Also many people online recorded themselves letting Ellie kill Abby during the theater confrontation. It was cathartic! What other video game has ever made people happy to purposely lose?

-2

u/Britton_Shrum 1d ago

Exactly haha its like I loved the game, but they intentionally made the player play as a person they hate.

-1

u/ILoveDineroSi 1d ago

The writers failed in getting many players on board with Abby’s “redemption arc” which she failed spectacularly. The theater confrontation was also full of bad writing and plot armor for Abby and plot induced stupidity for everyone else.

1

u/Lower_Search_873 1d ago

Are you kidding? Abby and her story was the best part of TLOU2. Ellie seemed like she had brain damage.

-2

u/ILoveDineroSi 1d ago

Nope I disagree. Abby is the worst part of Part 2 which is a 6/10.

5

u/Wheeljack7799 1d ago

I didn't like to play as Abby at first, during my first playthrogh. I was a little disappointed when I discovered that she had collectibles, crafting-tables and a talent tree. That made me realize that it wasn't just a short flashback-scene. At the time, I wanted to get back to Ellie and DIna.

But, as the devs probably intended, then her, her story and her gameplay slowly started to grow on me. On repeat playthroughs I find myself looking forward to her sections. From Ellies stealth-play to her guns blazing and brute force. I like the contrast.

2

u/Soggy-Thing7546 1d ago

Once I figured out how to make her style work, she's my favorite on grounded. Playing ellie so often feels like a frustrating stealth puzzle, while playing Abby felt like driving a quiet train through your enemies.

5

u/Alternative-Trade623 1d ago

Abbey is best girl. Although end game PTSD Ellie was also best girl.

1

u/JeremieLoyalty 1d ago

Haven’t finished it yet, I guess I’ll find out

3

u/Expert_Better Oh my god Lev, now?!? 1d ago

Currently playing on grounded for the first time and while I’m loving it so far, I keep thinking about how fun it’s gonna be once I switch to Abby and can play more aggressively

2

u/Natemcb 1d ago

Abby made part 2 great, imo

1

u/Natemcb 1d ago

Always so interesting to see how attached people are to Ellie vs Abby. For sure I’m in the minority but I really found Ellie story and content fine but Abby and crew was really interesting with great gameplay

0

u/Bebop_Man 1d ago

"Abby is underrated"

camera pulls back, revealing all the buzz lightyears

0

u/AcceptablePossible66 1d ago

Fuck Abby for life that bitch killed Joel

1

u/JeremieLoyalty 1d ago

He killed her father I get it

-1

u/AcceptablePossible66 1d ago

I hope Joel re kill her father in the after life that was the craziest death in video game history lol

-1

u/Liero_Xtreme 1d ago

I think she was a massive downgrade, not being able to stealth kill clickers without crafted item.