I think my main problem with the game was that I think it would have played better if you played as Abby first. You play as her, get to know her and her friends, grow to like her, go to
spoiler
get revenge on someone who wronged you, and it all culminating with you killing Joel as the twist.
Then you have those really mixed emotions where a character you have grown to like did something you didn’t see coming (not too dissimilar to Breaking Bad). Then you switch to playing Ellie, but it would give you more empathy toward Abby’s situation.
I wonder if the show is going to make this change. Given the shorter time that the show has to build the story and connection, I think Season 2 should be Abby’s half of Part II, ending on that cliff hanger, with Season 3 being Ellie’s half of Part II.
All this being said, I didn’t hate Abby so much that I didn’t want to play as her or hated the game. I actually loved the game. I assumed any hate we had for her at that moment was to put us in the shoes of Ellie in such a way that in that moment, neither Ellie nor the Player knows why it was done. As the game progressed, you get those answers and you can then reflect on the whole of the narrative.
I also think playing as Abby first will give the audience a WTF moment when we discover that a main villain of an episode ends up being
spoiler
Tommy.
In the game, when that is revealed you understand why in that moment, but I think in the TV show it would be a better cliff hanger to leave the audience in the dark as to why.
Making you play as her just felt contrived. It would have been cool if Ellie and Abby had been thrown together, with them not knowing who each other was. They could have been a duo escaping a common enemy (the cult), and then suspicions slowly arise between the two before they realize who the other is.
It was hard to sympathize with Abby as a player since she didn’t exactly have the moral high ground. Her dad died after trying to hold a knife up to Joel who was trying to save his daughter, right? That’s not equivalent of turning Joel into mush in front of Ellie.
I’m just going to spoiler tag my whole reply since I’m on Mobile and it’s hard to format it perfectly.
spoiler
Yeah, but Abby doesn’t see it that way. She sees her dad as a doctor who could have saved humanity and who was killed by Joel, who by doing so doomed all of humanity.
Also, Joel didn’t have the moral high ground in saving Ellie at the expense of all of the Fireflies and Doctors. We swallow that pill as the audience/players because we feel connected to him and Ellie. That’s why I think playing as Abby first would make the player feel connected first, and then conflicted later, rather than hatred first, and empathy and understanding later.
Abby and Ellie teaming up like you suggest would make for a cool story also.
I think my main problem with the game was that I think it would have played better if you played as Abby first. You play as her, get to know her and her friends, grow to like her, go to
spoiler
get revenge on someone who wronged you, and it all culminating with you killing Joel as the twist.
Then you have those really mixed emotions where a character you have grown to like did something you didn’t see coming (not too dissimilar to Breaking Bad). Then you switch to playing Ellie, but it would give you more empathy toward Abby’s situation.
I wonder if the show is going to make this change. Given the shorter time that the show has to build the story and connection, I think Season 2 should be Abby’s half of Part II, ending on that cliff hanger, with Season 3 being Ellie’s half of Part II.
All this being said, I didn’t hate Abby so much that I didn’t want to play as her or hated the game. I actually loved the game. I assumed any hate we had for her at that moment was to put us in the shoes of Ellie in such a way that in that moment, neither Ellie nor the Player knows why it was done. As the game progressed, you get those answers and you can then reflect on the whole of the narrative.
I also think playing as Abby first will give the audience a WTF moment when we discover that a main villain of an episode ends up being
spoiler
Tommy.
In the game, when that is revealed you understand why in that moment, but I think in the TV show it would be a better cliff hanger to leave the audience in the dark as to why.
Making you play as her just felt contrived. It would have been cool if Ellie and Abby had been thrown together, with them not knowing who each other was. They could have been a duo escaping a common enemy (the cult), and then suspicions slowly arise between the two before they realize who the other is.
It was hard to sympathize with Abby as a player since she didn’t exactly have the moral high ground. Her dad died after trying to hold a knife up to Joel who was trying to save his daughter, right? That’s not equivalent of turning Joel into mush in front of Ellie.
I’m just going to spoiler tag my whole reply since I’m on Mobile and it’s hard to format it perfectly.
spoiler
Yeah, but Abby doesn’t see it that way. She sees her dad as a doctor who could have saved humanity and who was killed by Joel, who by doing so doomed all of humanity.
Also, Joel didn’t have the moral high ground in saving Ellie at the expense of all of the Fireflies and Doctors. We swallow that pill as the audience/players because we feel connected to him and Ellie. That’s why I think playing as Abby first would make the player feel connected first, and then conflicted later, rather than hatred first, and empathy and understanding later.
Abby and Ellie teaming up like you suggest would make for a cool story also.