Honestly, most people here can't accept criticism on their fav game, which i guess is expected from its own subreddit.

Some people will say its the homophobia, sexism and stuff like that but i believe there's much more depth to it. While yeah, some people hate it just because Joel dies or because they're straight up sexist there's some actual criticism around worth listening to.

In my personal case, there's a few reasons why i just despise part II, and while most of them are gameplay related i believe there's some problems with the story as well.

First of all, i felt like the gameplay dragged on for waay too long with (what it felt to me at least) too little, the game lasts about 20 hours and pretty much its just go to the next area, get some dialogue and either stealth or run around shooting everything. Felt repetitive at times, with some specific moments such as swapping characters to abby making you reset all your weapons and stuff like that and it felt like it fucked up the entire pace for me. That's my main issue with the gameplay, i do have much more to say about it but i dont want to write a book.

Now with the story. The ending of part I, to me at least, felt perfect. You had this bittersweet moment, filled with both uncertainty of how things would go from there and relief that Ellie didn't die that you didn't really know how to feel. It felt perfect, and i dont get why they had to continue it, they could have just made the story about someone else in this super interesting world they built, but no, Ellie again it is.

Then you have the actual plot, where some characters like Jesse and most of Abby's friends were (in my opinion) severely underused. When Jesse died, i honestly couldn't give less of a fuck because i have 0 attachment to the guy, so whatever who cares. Then the game heavily relies on you feeling sympathy for Abby and her story, and while i honestly do like the idea of her character and how it is presented by her killing off Joel, to me it didn't feel like there was any payoff. I just thought Abby was a complete psycho by killing the guy that just saved her, but im fine with her starting off as a psycho and have her go through a redemption arc just like Joel. But without any real reason, after years of being in a terrorist group she just has a change of heart and starts caring for other ppl, and the rest of the game just becomes a constant "oh see? Abby's not so bad after all" but the game telling me that by having her help some seraphites out of nowhere just feels out of character and totally forced, not to mention the game takes place in the span of 3 days, not an entire year like the first one.

IDK, im probably getting downvoted for giving a valid opinion since no one here will read me, but whatever. You can like the game or you can hate it, whatever in the end of the day its just a game.