The story is excellent, but constantly following people around on horses becomes tedious. Everything with the Native Americans was less interesting than the earlier tasks. However, the side missions exploring Arthur's perspective of his honor and the impacts he has made on other's lives kept me interested in the game. Also, the world lacks some intrigue. Many features in the game went unused for me because I never felt the need or desire to use them. For example, after the first snow part, I went back into the mountains only once to kill someone. Why would I need to invest in warmer clothes? In no way am I saying the world created isn't beautiful. However, at times, the beauty experienced from a distance is as good, or sometimes better than seeing what awaits there.
I found the Mary storyline to be the most heartbreaking. After the last meeting in town, she said she would write to Arthur, and I was waiting for the letter. That was one of the only times Arthur seemed happy, and I wanted it to work so badly, so when her last letter arrived, it was devastating.
My biggest issue with the story was how quickly the ending transitioned to the epilogue. The conclusion would carry more impact if the credits played then, allowing players to live in that moment. Instead, the epilogue starts, and the focus instantly shifts to a different story. At first, the abrupt shift soured me on the epilogue. As the story developed, however, my feelings toward it did turn around. Also, it would have been nice to have a choice to concede to Abigail at the end because I would have. Although, with the already developed story from the first game and John's character, that choice probably wouldn't have made much sense canonically.

Also never personally played this, but I am definitely familiar with it. After spending the entire first game with Joel, Ellie's journey is so powerful. The player feels in one with how Ellie is feeling. When the shift to Abby happens, it becomes an entirely different game. Up to that point of the games, the story has been solely and entirely about Joel and Ellie. Outside characters came and went as they joined and left the Joel and Ellie universe, but now the experience was from the complete opposite perspective. The dozens of people Ellie killed became real, and both Ellie and the player have to decide how they will deal with this realization. good stuff.