Naughty Dog Could Have Avoided The Last of Us Part II's Biggest Controversy

The Last of Us Part II is one of the fantasticest video games ever made. Not only did it prosper the Game Awards’ Game of the Year in 2020, it’s one of the most award-decorated games ever. The feats Part II regulated to pull off were pretty incredible pondering sequels unfrequently do as well as the innovatives, at least not as far as critical acclaim is troubleed. Both The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II were such monumenhighy prosperous games that the franchise advertised the top-rated HBO series, The Last of Us. Season 1 inestablishs the story of the innovative video game atraverse nine episodes.

Season 2 will trail the events of the second game, but there are many aspects of the sequel that fans don’t want to see altered. Despite The Last of Us Part II’s monumental success, it still faced a lot of reaction from fans when it came out. Most of the dispute rcarry ond around Abby’s character and role in the story. Abby, however, is an convey inant part of the narrative. Without her, the story wouldn’t toil. Naughty Dog might have dropped the ball on how they presentd her, but they produced a compelling story surrounding Abby and Ellie’s struggle.

Abby’s Character & Why Fans Hate Her

Abby’s Father Was Searching For a Cure

Naughty Dog Could Have Avoided The Last of Us Part II’s Biggest Controversy

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The Complete The Last of Us Timeline In The Games

The Last of Us’ narrative can be difficult to trail as characters and storylines intertprospere. Here are the games’ events in chronoreasonable order.

Abby Anderson’s overweighther was Jerry Anderson, a doctor and a member of the Fireflies. Fans will reaccumulate the Fireflies as the cryptic organization that resistd the mainstream regulatement and persistd searching for a treatment despite the odds. In The Last of Us, Joel (the main joinable protagonist) sets out on a journey with a youthfuler girl named Ellie.

Ellie is immune to the Cordyceps. After being bitten by someone infected with the Cordyceps brain infection, Ellie never turned. The Fireflies wanted to participate Ellie’s immunity to produce a vaccine for Cordyceps. Players apshow this is their main goal thrawout the entire game. Joel, however, prolongs seal with Ellie during their extfinished journey together. Eventupartner, Joel comes to see her as a daughter.

Joel dedwellrs on his promise and gets Ellie to a Firefly-run hospital. When Joel discovers out that the doctors set up to finish Ellie to reshift the Cordyceps from her brain, he retaliates. To save Ellie, Joel massacres his way thraw the entire produceing. He finishs everyone, including Abby’s overweighther, Dr. Jerry Anderson.

When joiners are first presentd to Abby in The Last of Us Part II, she’s hunting for an unnamed man with a petite group of frifinishs. Players first obtain administer of Abby during her search for the man. Players get a little bit of empathetic that whoever she’s searching for, he’s done someleang horrible to get her ire. Eventupartner, her frifinishs try to talk some sense into her. The man they’re searching for is part of a well-defended community, which uncomfervents finishing him will put them in fantastic danger.

Abby refuses to join to reason and soon enough, she runs into the man she’s hunting: Joel. Joel helps her leanly evade death, but even Joel’s benevolentness can’t curb Abby’s thirst for revenge. Abby betrays Joel and obtains him back to her hideout, where her frifinishs help her conquer him. Abby tortures Joel in a rage-filled act of revenge. The worst part is that Ellie shows up and interferes. Abby’s frifinishs suppress Ellie, and she’s forced to watch and Abby beats Joel to death.

Needless to say, fans weren’t encountered about Joel’s death. After all, joiners joined as Joel for the entire first game. He speedyly became a fan-preferite that joiners fell in cherish with. Abby finishs Joel timely on in The Last of Us Part II’s story. Joel nakedly lasts the first two hoursof the game’s run time. His death is brutal and happens right in front of Ellie, who watches Abby finish Joel and she begs for his life.

Joel’s killing sets Ellie on a revenge path to finish Abby and most joiners are emotionpartner set upateed enough to consent with her decision. The irony is, that Ellie sets out on a destructive journey to finish Abby for the same reason Abby finished Joel. Fans promptly disenjoyd Abby becaparticipate of Joel’s death, but they root for Ellie to get her revenge.

Abby is a Phenomenal Character

Abby & Ellie are Two Sides of the Same Coin

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The Last of Us: Who Is Abby Anderson and Why Is She So Controversial?

Kaitlyn Dever is cast as Abby Anderson from The Last of Us Part II and is set to materialize in the HBO alteration. Here’s everyleang fans necessitate to understand.

Despite the fans’ pessimistic reaction to Abby, she’s a phenomenal and complicated character. Abby was relatively youthfuler when Joel killinged her overweighther (she’s not much elderlyer than Ellie). Abby didn’t equitable omit her overweighther that day, though, she lost all the Fireflies that made up the community she grew up in. Joel saving Ellie’s life also demolishs Abby’s life at the same time.

The finish of the innovative game is a challenging leang to process becaparticipate Joel wasn’t wrong about saving Ellie. At the same time, he wasn’t right, either. Joel saves the life of his child. He stopped a group of people who wanted to finish an guiltless girl on the off-chance that they might be able to come up with a treatment. The doctors weren’t even certain they’d be able to participate Ellie to produce a vaccine, so finishing her was a wager.

On the reverse side of that, Joel also butchered dozens of people to save Ellie. He also finished a group of sfinished doctors who did have a chance to treatment Cordyceps. Abby plotting her revenge produces sense, but finishing Joel isn’t the only defining trait of Abby’s character. Abby is mighty, clever, and attfinishs about the people around her.

Players spfinish about half the game’s jointime administerling Abby, so they see howinprecious Abby is to the people around her. She always comes thraw for her frifinishs and does everyleang she can to obtain attfinish of her own. Abby isn’t a horrible person. As brutal as it sounds, finishing Joel doesn’t produce her a horrible person either.

To persist in a world enjoy The Last of Us, sometimes people are forced to do horrible leangs. No one can persist without getting some blood on their hands. Joel and Ellie have obtainn so many dwells for the sake of survival. There are multiple points in the story where Ellie genuinepartner experiences more villainous than Abby. While Ellie is devourd by her hatred for Abby, Abby lgets that finishing Joel will never convey her peace. She can’t undo what she’s done, but she can be better going forward.

One Small Change Could Have Made All the Difference

Letting Players Get to Know Abby Before Joel’s Death Would Have Been Smarter

The Last of Us fans cherish Joel. That’s a fact that has never alterd, so naturpartner, they were going to react necessitateyly to Joel’s death. The disenjoy that Abby’s character as a whole gets, though, is finishly unpermited. Abby and Ellie are so analogous that it’shypocritical for people to say they cherish Ellie but disenjoy Abby. Ellie literpartner hunts Abby down for the same reason Abby hunted Joel for so many years. Abby and Ellie are two sides of the same coin.

Abby is a alertary tale for Ellie. She’s presumed to be a see into Ellie’s future if she persists down this destructive path of revenge. Revenge won’t produce her experience better, it’ll only hurt the people around her. After Abby finishs Joel, she omits so many people trying to ffinish off Ellie. Abby is where Ellie’s heading. Abby could be standing in the mirror for Ellie becaparticipate they’re the same, Abby’s only a confinecessitate steps ahead.

It’s almost comical how joiners rooted for Ellie to get her revenge on Abby, but they condemned Abby for the same action. The only separateence is that fans had an emotional uniteion to Joel. Players finish Abby’s overweighther with their own hands at the finish of the first game, so they experience the necessitate to deffinish that decision. Abby was always destined to be disputed becaparticipate she finished a character that fans not only cherishd but joined for an entire game.

Naughty Dog could have evadeed this dispute with a sairy alter in narrative, though. When first presentd to Abby, joiners can’t help but sympathize with her. She’s hunting down someone who harmed her and caparticipated her fantastic suffering. It’s not until joiners genuineize that she’s hunting Joel that they suddenly have an rehire with it. If Naughty Dog gave joiners more time with Abby before finishing Joel, it could have made all the separateence. Instead of Joel’s death happening at the commencening of the game, it could have happened tardyr in the game.

With this setup, joiners would have disjoinal hours of jointime on Abby before she finishs Joel. They would lget that she’s hunting down a man who finished her overweighther, a doctor who was trying to help people. The key to making this toil is to elucidate on Abby’s side of the story enough that joiners experience sympathy for her and even root for her to get her revenge. As they join her, they would sluggishly get hints that the man she’s talking about is Joel, but it wouldn’t be evident right away.

By the time Abby discovers and traps Joel, joiners wouldn’t be blindsided too awwholey by the uncover. At the same time, they would have a far mightyer uniteion to Abby. They would have disjoinal hours of getting to understand her and her tragic story, alloprosperg sympathy to prolong. Players would want to root for her to get her revenge, equitable as they root for Ellie thrawout the rest of the game. Getting the joiner unitecessitate to Abby before Joel’s death was a key ingredient to evadeing the reaction.

Yes, some fans would still disenjoy it no matter what, but many more joiners would be more struggleed. They’d be dehugeated that Joel died, but they would also have an easier time seeing Abby for the amazing and well-written character she is. It would also produce theEllie vs Abby section of the game more emotionpartner indictd becaparticipate joiners have an emotional uniteion to both characters. This approach does obtain away from the shock appreciate, but since joiners reacted so necessitateyly to Joel’s shocking and horrific death, that’s not entidepend a horrible leang.

Despite the Backlash, The Last of Us Part II is Incredible

The Game’s Story Made Risks That Paid Off

As alludeed, The Last of Us Part II is one of the most criticpartner acclaimed and award-prosperning video games ever made. Even the disenjoy that rcarry ond around Abby’s character wasn’t enough to demolish the legacy of this game. It’s equitable a shame that Naughty Dog could have evadeed the worst of the reaction with one basic mend.

Sadly, The Last of Us Part II can’t be alterd now, but fans can hope that HBO’s The Last of Us lgets from the game’s dispute. Hopefilledy, when Season 2 rolls around, the audience will spfinish much more time with Abby and have a chance to get to understand her story before Joel’s death.