tandozer17
5 reviews liked by tandozer17
It’s very good, but when you start playing as Dante the entire game kinda fell apart, while still being fun, Nero is unbelievably fun
This review contains spoilers
The Last of Us Part II is a misunderstood masterpiece.
God, I don't even know where to start. It just makes me sad to see how many people hate this game. I understand it's not what people were expecting. But putting the bias of the love for the first game aside, I truly believe this game deserved all the praise it got.
I really only want to talk about the most controversial aspect: the story. I don't care what anyone says, it's genius. It hurts, man. Killing off Joel was a crazy and risky decision by part of the writers, as he was the protagonist of the first game. Even if his death was a plot device, it wasn't nonsensical or insignificant. Joel's death not only moved the plot forward, but it also allowed Ellie to have insanely good character development.
Ellie is the ultimate way for the game to transmit its message to the player. Her journey for revenge only ends up making her lose everything she had. She is a completely different person by the end of the game and I love that. She is excellently written and I will stand by that until I die. She genuinely became one of my favorite protagonists by the end of the game.
You can't talk about the story without also talking about Abby. One of the singlehandedly most controversial and hated characters in gaming ever, but I still think she's an amazing character. By the end of her campaign, I did not feel a single bit of hatred for her. Quite the opposite, actually.
Abby is a heavily misunderstood character. People forget that, in the apocalypse, there are no heroes or villains, only survivors. What Abby did to Joel was horrible, but wasn't what Joel did to the world horrible too? Nor Joel or Abby were morally correct, and that's okay. Abby is human too, and her campaign made sure to show this. I genuinely believe that if you hate Abby, you do not understand the circumstances that not just her, but the world of The Last of Us as a whole are in.
And finally, the ending, and alongside it, the theme of the game: the cycle of revenge. Ellie, after choosing to go back and find and kill Abby, just when she's about to win over her, decides to let her live. She decides to break the cycle. As much as people will get mad for Ellie not killing Abby, the truth is, if it wasn't this way, then the game's central theme wouldn't really make sense. It's not just about revenge, but about forgiveness. Learning how to forgive is something we as humans overlook too much. Maybe it's not about forgiving our dad's killer, but about forgiving others for things we sometimes never let go of, even though we should.
After all of this, Ellie comes back home, only to find out her girlfriend, Dina, and their son have abandoned her. Ellie lost it all. She lost Joel, she lost Jesse, she lost Tommy. And now, she lost Dina, and her son, too. She became so obsessed with the idea of revenge that she only ended up hurting herself and those around her. And now, she's alone.
Finally, Ellie goes upstairs to her guitar. The guitar, an instrument capable of playing beautiful tunes. And now, the only thing she has left. The only thing connected to Joel that she has left. She plays it, but, because she lost two fingers in her fight with Abby, it doesn't sound well anymore. Those two fingers she lost represent all the horrible things Ellie has done, and the guitar is her life. She thought that after avenging Joel, her guitar would sound happier and more vibrant. But, the only thing that this pursuit of revenge caused is that nothing in her life sounded the same to her.
God, I don't even know where to start. It just makes me sad to see how many people hate this game. I understand it's not what people were expecting. But putting the bias of the love for the first game aside, I truly believe this game deserved all the praise it got.
I really only want to talk about the most controversial aspect: the story. I don't care what anyone says, it's genius. It hurts, man. Killing off Joel was a crazy and risky decision by part of the writers, as he was the protagonist of the first game. Even if his death was a plot device, it wasn't nonsensical or insignificant. Joel's death not only moved the plot forward, but it also allowed Ellie to have insanely good character development.
Ellie is the ultimate way for the game to transmit its message to the player. Her journey for revenge only ends up making her lose everything she had. She is a completely different person by the end of the game and I love that. She is excellently written and I will stand by that until I die. She genuinely became one of my favorite protagonists by the end of the game.
You can't talk about the story without also talking about Abby. One of the singlehandedly most controversial and hated characters in gaming ever, but I still think she's an amazing character. By the end of her campaign, I did not feel a single bit of hatred for her. Quite the opposite, actually.
Abby is a heavily misunderstood character. People forget that, in the apocalypse, there are no heroes or villains, only survivors. What Abby did to Joel was horrible, but wasn't what Joel did to the world horrible too? Nor Joel or Abby were morally correct, and that's okay. Abby is human too, and her campaign made sure to show this. I genuinely believe that if you hate Abby, you do not understand the circumstances that not just her, but the world of The Last of Us as a whole are in.
And finally, the ending, and alongside it, the theme of the game: the cycle of revenge. Ellie, after choosing to go back and find and kill Abby, just when she's about to win over her, decides to let her live. She decides to break the cycle. As much as people will get mad for Ellie not killing Abby, the truth is, if it wasn't this way, then the game's central theme wouldn't really make sense. It's not just about revenge, but about forgiveness. Learning how to forgive is something we as humans overlook too much. Maybe it's not about forgiving our dad's killer, but about forgiving others for things we sometimes never let go of, even though we should.
After all of this, Ellie comes back home, only to find out her girlfriend, Dina, and their son have abandoned her. Ellie lost it all. She lost Joel, she lost Jesse, she lost Tommy. And now, she lost Dina, and her son, too. She became so obsessed with the idea of revenge that she only ended up hurting herself and those around her. And now, she's alone.
Finally, Ellie goes upstairs to her guitar. The guitar, an instrument capable of playing beautiful tunes. And now, the only thing she has left. The only thing connected to Joel that she has left. She plays it, but, because she lost two fingers in her fight with Abby, it doesn't sound well anymore. Those two fingers she lost represent all the horrible things Ellie has done, and the guitar is her life. She thought that after avenging Joel, her guitar would sound happier and more vibrant. But, the only thing that this pursuit of revenge caused is that nothing in her life sounded the same to her.
Destiny
2014
Before I get started with this review, I'm giving a content warning for talks of: suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and abuse. Nothing overly heavy and explicit, but these things will be mentioned. Destiny is best reviewed anecdotally, and I want to properly explain why this game means so much to me.
I got into this series around June 2015 (I was about 17 years old), and it quickly became my go-to game on a daily basis. Around summer of that year, my primary friend group started experiencing a whole slew of problems. My closest friend at the time was experiencing some alarming suicidal thoughts and revealed that he had been self-harming, and had disappeared for about a month or so before returning. My other friends were fragmented and disjointed with a plethora of other problems (ranging from relationship issues, to problems with other friends, to problems at home, etc). I was the friend that had a lot of this dumped on them, aka, the mom/therapy friend. It was a massive drain on my mental health to the point where I couldn't function socially. The worst part is, my friends were so preoccupied with their own problems that nobody cared, and once their problems found a bit of resolution, they still didn't care (bad friends, trust me, I know now).
As a result of my friends Really Going Through It, on top of my parents being rather abusive, I practically retreated into playing Destiny. I played it every single day for years. I played when I got home, and I played until late at night. I played with my clanmates, and even though I didn't know them personally, they were always happy to have me, and I knew that the second I got home I could always expect a party and game invite to join them.
I understand my attachment to Destiny is unhealthy. I understand full-well that this is objectively not a 5-star game; however, I cannot rate this anything other than 5 stars. When a game and the people who play it with you do a better job of being your comfort and support than your IRL friend group, then you'd likely understand. I remember so many positive memories about this game, that I feel I need to share:
- I remember the person (who is no longer active online), helped me in the demo and later through the vanilla campaign (I hope you're doing well, Jaydee!)
- I remember when I was brand new to the game and my clanmates got a whole bunch of people together to help me run through Vault of Glass for the first time (with Plan C being my first exotic weapon)
- I remember when my clanmates asked me if I wanted to join them in their first ever run-through of King's Fall, and it being the quintessential moment that really solidified my place in our friend group
- I remember helping them figure out the mechanics of the raid, and I remember being in my menu when I heard my one clanmate go "Oh Sht!" as we all turned around to see Oryx towering over us, followed immediately by us panicking over what to do
- I remember being in the revamped Crota's End raid with my clanmates while the Deathsinger's song was counting down, and my bestfriend just barely made it in time and we all started screaming and crying over it and the loot we got
- I remember all of us nervously closing our fireteams while we tried to attempt (and later succeed) a Flawless Raid
- I remember 4-5 excruciating hours of Skolas (mind you this was after the burn modifiers were removed so you couldn't immediately kill him), and finally defeating him and getting the rewards and milestone I needed for my Moments of Triumph
- I remember when Xur finally* sold Gjallarhorn for the second time and it started trending on Twitter
- I remember doing the Outbreak Prime quest with my clanmates, being a bunch of confused nerds in the puzzle rooms
- I remember finding a bunch of new players out in the open and offering my help to all of them, letting them know they could ask me anything and I'd be happy to help them (and some of them accepted!)
- I remember getting trolled (and later trolling others) at the piston jumping puzzle in King's Fall
- I remember when Trials of Osiris glitched, put 2v1 me and my clanmate versus another clanmate, and then the next round pitched both clanmates against me (still have no idea what that was about, haha)
- I remember going Flawless in Trials and my one teammate literally quit the game right then and there, and he never came back (good riddance, honestly!)
- And I will never, ever forget booting up Destiny 2 for the very first time, late at night with a bunch of my clanmates, and all of us being incredibly sentimental over the legacy screen telling us who we completed activities with in Destiny 1
I have so many more memories I could list, but I'm sure you get the idea. Destiny is a 5 star game not because of all the technical nonsense that makes it what it is, but because it offers a unique and wholesome experience for everyone who plays it. I sincerely would not be here today if it weren't for this game, and the least I can do to show my eternal gratitude is to give it 5 stars and a heartwarming review on here.
Destiny is the game I call home, and I hope you all have a game that you can consider the same. ^_^
I got into this series around June 2015 (I was about 17 years old), and it quickly became my go-to game on a daily basis. Around summer of that year, my primary friend group started experiencing a whole slew of problems. My closest friend at the time was experiencing some alarming suicidal thoughts and revealed that he had been self-harming, and had disappeared for about a month or so before returning. My other friends were fragmented and disjointed with a plethora of other problems (ranging from relationship issues, to problems with other friends, to problems at home, etc). I was the friend that had a lot of this dumped on them, aka, the mom/therapy friend. It was a massive drain on my mental health to the point where I couldn't function socially. The worst part is, my friends were so preoccupied with their own problems that nobody cared, and once their problems found a bit of resolution, they still didn't care (bad friends, trust me, I know now).
As a result of my friends Really Going Through It, on top of my parents being rather abusive, I practically retreated into playing Destiny. I played it every single day for years. I played when I got home, and I played until late at night. I played with my clanmates, and even though I didn't know them personally, they were always happy to have me, and I knew that the second I got home I could always expect a party and game invite to join them.
I understand my attachment to Destiny is unhealthy. I understand full-well that this is objectively not a 5-star game; however, I cannot rate this anything other than 5 stars. When a game and the people who play it with you do a better job of being your comfort and support than your IRL friend group, then you'd likely understand. I remember so many positive memories about this game, that I feel I need to share:
- I remember the person (who is no longer active online), helped me in the demo and later through the vanilla campaign (I hope you're doing well, Jaydee!)
- I remember when I was brand new to the game and my clanmates got a whole bunch of people together to help me run through Vault of Glass for the first time (with Plan C being my first exotic weapon)
- I remember when my clanmates asked me if I wanted to join them in their first ever run-through of King's Fall, and it being the quintessential moment that really solidified my place in our friend group
- I remember helping them figure out the mechanics of the raid, and I remember being in my menu when I heard my one clanmate go "Oh Sht!" as we all turned around to see Oryx towering over us, followed immediately by us panicking over what to do
- I remember being in the revamped Crota's End raid with my clanmates while the Deathsinger's song was counting down, and my bestfriend just barely made it in time and we all started screaming and crying over it and the loot we got
- I remember all of us nervously closing our fireteams while we tried to attempt (and later succeed) a Flawless Raid
- I remember 4-5 excruciating hours of Skolas (mind you this was after the burn modifiers were removed so you couldn't immediately kill him), and finally defeating him and getting the rewards and milestone I needed for my Moments of Triumph
- I remember when Xur finally* sold Gjallarhorn for the second time and it started trending on Twitter
- I remember doing the Outbreak Prime quest with my clanmates, being a bunch of confused nerds in the puzzle rooms
- I remember finding a bunch of new players out in the open and offering my help to all of them, letting them know they could ask me anything and I'd be happy to help them (and some of them accepted!)
- I remember getting trolled (and later trolling others) at the piston jumping puzzle in King's Fall
- I remember when Trials of Osiris glitched, put 2v1 me and my clanmate versus another clanmate, and then the next round pitched both clanmates against me (still have no idea what that was about, haha)
- I remember going Flawless in Trials and my one teammate literally quit the game right then and there, and he never came back (good riddance, honestly!)
- And I will never, ever forget booting up Destiny 2 for the very first time, late at night with a bunch of my clanmates, and all of us being incredibly sentimental over the legacy screen telling us who we completed activities with in Destiny 1
I have so many more memories I could list, but I'm sure you get the idea. Destiny is a 5 star game not because of all the technical nonsense that makes it what it is, but because it offers a unique and wholesome experience for everyone who plays it. I sincerely would not be here today if it weren't for this game, and the least I can do to show my eternal gratitude is to give it 5 stars and a heartwarming review on here.
Destiny is the game I call home, and I hope you all have a game that you can consider the same. ^_^
Destiny
2014
Had to be there.
Bugsnax
2020
pretty good