Abby evoked more sympathy for me than Ellie in Part 2 as time wore on. Until the end when they were both destroyed by their obsession.
The ending of Part 1 put Ellie into a situation with no easy resolution. She was driven down the darker path, just as Abby had been.
Not all stories are written to please an audience, to have happy conclusions all neatly wrapped up with a bow on top. Some are written specifically to challenge them, to evoke emotions, and to force them to think about the choices and dilemmas the characters experience. They can also challenge us to stick with favoured characters when they make bad choices, or become lost on their path to the point where we barely recognise them.
As I've written before, they're only videogames so by nature aren't the usual media to challenge the players that way, but rather to provide escapism. There isn't much escapism in Part 2 since the story traps the player/viewer whichever way they feel about the unfolding of the narrative. As a videogame the story is also of the melodramatic kind, but yet with enough complexity in the character relationships to make you care. An analogy I often think of is a brooding Batman comic book, with characters driven by a few bold, simple yet powerful emotions.
I haven't played either game, but have watched them several times as long movies or series. I think this is probably the best way to experience TLOU, to be a passive observer on the journey rather than an active part of it (because the player can't change the story anyway). Not all stories go the way you want, so if you stick with them regardless you're forced to either dismiss them or rationalise them.
It doesn't take much to pull TLOU/TLOU2 apart, since in real life we'd consider our beloved killers to be psychopaths without remorse. (Which is essentially what every game player is forced to be in games that require killing to complete). You have to gloss over all the deaths, and accept them as the videogame part of the experience, in order to believe in Ellie's PTSD by the end of TLOU2.
I don't know how accurate any review score is, but people seem happy to accept IMDB's 9.7/10 for TLOU. TLOU2 is 8.6/10, which indicates that regardless how dark and uncompromising the plot was, and how unliked it was to see the demise of a certain loved character, a lot of players opted to rationalise the events and appreciate the story.
TLOU2 spoke to me, and made me think about personal loss, and the ending still gets me whenever I find myself dwelling on it.
This series is my post-apocalyptic world of choice, so much so that I found myself putting other 1/6 characters into it. I'll buy any figures from it. If the two games are viewed as one extended narrative, then Abby is one of the three main participants.
I still don't expect anyone to make a 1/6 Abby, but I'd be over the moon if LIM did so.
