That's the very reason some people did not like playing the game, it felt like it was manipulating the player to feel a certain way about each character by having Ellie butcher dogs and countless people, while Abby pets dogs and fights the sadist cultists, all while telling us these people are just survivors like the player but it doesn't feel that way, no matter how many names are thrown around by random NPCs, especially when the last faction you fight are a bunch of piece of **** slavers that torture people for fun, as I said, there's a massive gap between their message and the actual game, violence begets violence yet I do notthig but kill people and dogs the whole time, the only moments of levity are flashbacks that are sparse and don't really progress the story in the present.
I can't rationalise Ellies trajectory in the game but I can see where they were going with it, I feel they should've balanced her gameplay more, because it's really just killing, solving puzzles, more killing and then guitar mini games, and as far as her PTSD, it feels it's only related to Joel and not the countless people she murdered, I think it would've been a genius idea if in the PTSD sequence when Ellie is going down the stairs of the chalet she saw all the NPCs she killed in Seattle (inspired by MGS3 obviously), it would drive home their message and show how truly affected by her actions she was, but it didn't feel that way at all.
RDR2 for example executes the idea of someone struggling with their actions of violence better, Arthur Morgan had been an vicious outlaw his whole life, the gameplay reflects his state of mind but also allows the player to influence some of his actions, when he is diagnosed with tuberculosis, the player is put on a spot, where do we go from here? Do we continue to be a vicious outlaw or do we try to do some good before Arthur checks out? The story directly influences the player, makes them question their actions and gives them the option to seek closure and redemption, in fact the final chapter has a lot of side quests the player can look for that have Arthur helping strangers, including those he wronged earlier in the game, all the while Dutch, his mentor and leader, keeps trying to pull him down a dark path of more worthless violence, that's why a lot of people loved the story of RDR2 it gives the player agency over what road Arthur ultimately chooses and doesn't force them to get redemption, and I do have problems with that game too but what I'm saying is it executed the same ideas TLOU2 presented way better, at least in my opinion.
And I also have to touch on the fact Ellie mentions in her journal her last talk with Joel and it's the memory of that that makes her spare Abby, why did she need to go on the hunt for Abby again and get herself almost killed to whatever conclusion she reached at the end? The game should've stuck to the idea her and Joel never got to have that moment she desperately needed, throwing that there in the end, even tho I did love the scene, feels disingenuous and makes the whole journey based on the lie that she hated Joel up until his death.
I feel like the series has to end on a third game as well, reason being TLOU2 put the narrative in a box with it's message, it won't make sense to have one or two more games of Ellie killing people to reach some goal, so I agree that Part 3 needs to follow Ellie on her road to redemption and end her story, and have Abby in it as a side character with maybe a small playable section, I still find her and Lev's relationship to be too rushed for it to work in an organic manner, and her quest for revenge is pratically effortless compared to what Ellie goes through so the parallels don't make sense to me, especially since Abby actually murdered Joel and a bunch of other people and seemed pretty much unaffected mentally by those acts as opposed to Ellie who seemed to be in a constant state of depression up until the very end of the game, which is why I hope TLOU3 offers her and the player the agency to go seek that redemption, I'm curious how do you think a third game will play out? For me a perfect and ambiguous ending like the first 2 games would see Ellie eventually join forces with Abby and sacrifice herself for a cure, finding her closure and then ending the game with a sweet flashback of her and Joel leaving the question of wether or not a cure was made up to the player's interpretation, but I'm sure it won't happen like that seeing how Joel now seems to be hated by his creators and a portion of the fanbase, go figure.
