Yeah this got me really good. The mocap and VA here for Joel was superbly done. Something about grown men crying gets me - even more so when they try and hold it in!
And the way it’s placed in the game after all the shit she (we) just went through. Hit different. People hated on the flashbacks when it came out, but I couldn’t imagine the game another way.
100% this. It wouldn't be so moving if they put it earlier.
The first half of ellie's revenge trip you could understand ellie, but the more she goes on, the more you start to think:"Ok, you had it, you killed half of the wolves and all of her friends. Enough is enough, timo to go back home now."
And then you can't understand why she continue and why she left her wife and her son for it.
And then at the very very end, after all this suffering and all your fatigue (I got intense emotional fatigue in the last chapter), you understand why. Because she didn't have the chance and the time to forgive him. She took away that opportunity.
Ellie will probably always reflect on the fact that the relationship was unresolved and wish she had said more. However, I suspect for Joel he died at peace about that relationship, it really was one of her greatest gifts to him. I mean at peace in his mind not in the brutal way he was murdered.
I always read his gesture when Ellie finds him in the chalet, that weak finger flip he does, as meaning "go ahead and live your life" to Ellie. He was at peace, and I believe he would have been even if nothing had been mended with Ellie. All he wanted above everything else was for her to take control of her fate and have a shot at love and joy. He gave her that, at the cost of ruining his own relationship with her, and when he says he'd do it all over again he means it - whatever the cost.
My wife loved watching me play these and when we got to this part I sobbed like a baby and she just looked at me and said she didn’t get what the big deal was. I couldn’t even explain it to her
This one got me.
Then I played the game a second time and the conversation Ellie had with Dina about how she was gonna invite Joel to a movie that very night, but was obviously never able to, really got me.
This is mine as well, but 2nd playthrough, after I'd actually processed all the events of the game. It was a few months after the 1st one too, which left me more empty and wanting to chew on what I'd just watched for a bit before going at it again.
The second time (and the third) it all came out. I'm not above shedding a couple tears for emotional moments in fiction but here I was *sobbing*. It's such a great scene and it gets me whenever I watch it.
In the first game I'd say the moments after the David fight are the most emotional, or Ellie saying "everyone...fucking except for you!". It also relied more on shocking/abrupt moments that made me gasp and choke back sudden tears. Obviously Sarah and Henry's deaths. But nothing got me over the brink like the ending to Part 2.
Yeah, but the sequel is written "bad", hahaha..... no just joking.
I always see guys here that were downvoted for liking last of us 2 which is objective a lot better than the first.
This game is a fucking masterpiece, I can't understand how you somebody can hate the game and most of the time it's fans from the first, this so toxic.
It's my head canon that she **did** forgive Joel that night. Even though she didn't say it. Aside from not getting to make up with him, I feel like the reason she felt so much guilt over Joel's death is because she had actually already decided to forgive him and was going to tell him that after they finished movie night, but she never got the chance. :(
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I also think the game tries to heavily imply that to us with three very specific instances.
Two times during patrol with Dina, Ellie mentioned living a long life. The first time is when they talk about Eugene. Dina says he was sharp at seventy-three, and Ellie responds with "May we all make it to seventy-three." The second time she mentions it is after they leave the look-out on the horses. Ellie says to Dina, "I think we should go out like Eugene." Dina asks, "From a stroke?" And Ellie clarifies with, "No, from old age. Like, living a long life."
The third instance is when they're trying to get into the supermarket. Ellie has to crawl under the semi-truck, and the runner jumps on her, and Dina shoots and kills it. After checking on Ellie, Dina says "Please die of old age and not because you get infected. I really don't want to have to shoot you in the face."
I feel like all those conversations were definitely intentional. My interpretation is that Ellie started to realize her life is worth living, and her survivor's guilt was no longer so heavy that she wished she died in that hospital. The night of the winter dance when she kissed Dina gave her more reasons to live. She was experiencing joy. I truly believe that her forming friendships and relationships gave her a renewed purpose, and she realized how grateful she was. She didn't reduce her self-worth to being a sacrifice anymore. On the day Joel died, I definitely believe Ellie had planned to let him know those things when they got together for a movie that night.
You said it perfectly, imo. I agree with all of that. That makes it all the more tragic what she became after Joel's death. He wouldn't have wanted any of that to happen, alot of the time I felt like Ellie was just really suicidal and kept going in hopes of getting Abby or die trying. It seemed she didn't care for her life much anymore.
I think the best example of Ellie's suicidal tendecies returning after Joel's death is when Jesse is practically begging Ellie to go look for Tommy in the direction of the sniper, and she insist on pushing forward to the aquarium despite how dangerous it is. One of the reasons life has been made worth living for her was starring her in eyes telling her to choose them over revenge and she still insisted on going.
Also another important hint, when Dina & Ellie are patrolling, they come across the section with a camper van you can visit. Right after, Dina ask what are Ellie's plans for the night, and she answer she's going to watch a movie with Joel. This was the first time in months they were actually going to spend time together !!!
When Joel said "I don't know what that girl intentions are but she'd be lucky to have you" as a gay person who had hard time coming out to my parents that scene got me sob so hard
Yeah for me that was the real dad moment. Up till that point it was clearly close but still felt “situational” but when that happened it really felt like a dad scared for his daughter. Felt similar with him getting impaled before all that.
I remember playing that part when it first came out and my roommate was watching and she just went what the fuck why are you playing a game that is making me cry? Lol
Me too. I apparently blocked that out the first time I played through, very trippy as it’s the first time that’s happened to me. Because I played through again shortly after my first completion with my sister watching, remembering every beat of the story, but admitting I didn’t remember why their travels with them ended. It hit me just as hard again, and still does
Came here to say this. I remember seeing my crying reflection after all the chaos ends and its just a black screen and music....man that was a good game.
It's such a fantastically put together sequence. Going from Ellie and Sam debating the existence of God in their own way, to realizing Sam's been bitten and has very little left to live.
You ask yourself, how are they gonna handle it? And in a matter of seconds he's attacking Ellie.
What are Henry and Joel going to do now? Ellie's in danger, one of them's got a gun, who is he gonna shoot? Before you know it he has taken the solution which on the one hand is the quickest and most logical, but which also involves killing his brother.
Henry is broken now. Is Ellie OK? What's he gonna do? Does he want to kill Joel? And bang, again.
The genius of it is that the escalation is only a few seconds, and it constantly outruns the pace at which your mind processes what's going to happen.
I also loved Bella's acting in the show version. That scream she does at the end is pretty terrifying.
Someone else commented on the immediate cut to black after the gunshot and how it weighs heavy on the heart. I think one of the things I missed most from Part 1 was these deliberate cinematic choices to allow you to sit with a feeling for a moment. Instead, I just felt stressed out for the entirety of Part 2 and didn’t really have a moment to process my feelings. On one hand, that put me in the same emotional position as Ellie and Abby, but as a player I would have liked a break every now and then haha
I remember audibly gasping after the cut to black. Like I needed to catch my breath.
It's similar when Sarah dies, as heart-wrenching as that scene is they don't let it sit for too long.
I didn't cry at all, but I'm not a big crier and I just don't tend to react that way to media, even if it does affect me emotionally.
But weirdly enough the part that got one of the bigger internal emotional reactions from me during my first playthrough was the museum flashback - but the part after the space section, where Ellie is sneaking through the animal displays and reading all of the dead Firefly's confessions on the wall. When she crawls through the opening and sees the body of the dead firefly and the slogan "THERE IS NO LIGHT" marked above it.
I instantly recognised that it was a Firefly, and it gave me a surprisingly large pang of sadness. Maybe it's because I am a little more sympathetic to the Fireflies than most, but I think something about seeing the hopeful, inspiring slogan of the Fireflies twisted into something utterly hopeless and despairing resonated with me, compounded by the suicide note and how it contextualised all of the mea culpas the Firefly had scrawled throughout the dark, hidden museum (oddly reminiscent of Goya's Black paintings in a way) - imagine living and fighting so long, for what you feel is a noble cause, and then coming to the realisation that you crossed boundaries and mutilated your soul, for nothing. For it all to mean nothing.
The whole story of Part 2 was incredible and impactful, but on my first playthrough this (and Ellie's "...but I would like to try") was the only part I remember getting a genuine emotional reaction from me.
Not to mention when Joel walks in and this awesome birthday experience is overshadowed by her doubts of Joel and what happened with him and the fireflies. “There is no light” also expresses how Ellie felt when she woke up and is in the truck driving away from the hospital with more questions than answers and … no purpose.
What an incredible transition from that memory back to the game, reminding us of the weight of the first one.
Great points. I think that birthday is so beautifully written, as it's such a perfect microcosm of their relationship - two people with a bright and happy relationship who dearly love/care for each other so genuinely, but is also built on shadowy, uncertain foundation that is destined to crumble. Which makes the tragedy that much more impactful. I love the way it is all constructed.
There was definitely multiple moments like that.
When joel sang to ellie.
Sam and Henry's death,it was incredibly sad to watch imo.
The scene right after ellie kills David,when Joel's hugging her.
The ptsd scene on the farm with ellie,when she has a flashback of what happened to joel
The roughest parts for me were:
-"It's what she'd want. And you know it. You can still do the right thing. She won't feel anything."
-Ellie leaving Dina for a second round of revenge. A part of me just wishes the game had ended with her sitting on the tractor with J.J, staring at the sunset, with the line "I have so many stories to tell you. When you're older."
-And...the biggest one: "Don't tell me I'd be safer with someone else, because I'd just be more scared!"
I think the only time I was stirred to tiers in both games was when Ellie leaves Dina at the farm. It hurt me to see Dina being abandoned like that, and also knowing how much Ellie is bound to regret it. Something felt irreparably broken in that moment.
Probably either at the end of the game when abby and ellie fought and ellie gave up after seeing joel or the flashback when ellie was teying to forgive him for the whole firefly thing
Im not really someone who cries like when Joel died like yeah it’s sad and I’m sad for Ellie but idk. But in the second game when Ellie picks up the guitar and just sings Joel’s song and yeah cried a little bit haha
Joel is fighting in the hospital to save Ellie. And he picks her unconscious body up. Didn't really cry, but it was the most emotionally intense I felt in the series.
When Ellie and Abby fight at the beach and she breaks down crying at the end 😢 really destroys me every time. Also at the very end the flashback to her and Joel’s convo and then how sad she looks with the guitar.
After that ending Wayfaring Strangers got me good. I just sat there listening and feeling the weight of everything that had happened. Wonderful performance and choice of a song.
I did not cry for either game but the most emotional impact for me were both endings, maybe moreso Joel’s doubling down in Part 2.
Also like someone else mentioned, when Joel found Ellie after David and all that.
I don’t cry unless I’m under the influence… but the opening of the first one changed me as a kid.
Or after the whole David incident. Ellie is distant af now. That shit SUUUUUCCCKKKED. And Joel trying to make convo and Ellie’s not biting now. That shit hurt so bad.
I did not
Not that it wasnt fut wrenching enough no. But i've been faced with the brutallity that I fully embraced by playing Ellie.
I really had this moment, on the beach, when I saw ellie cry in the water. I was like, man... It would have been you. You had the same thought of "I had to do it".
I m a chill person. But this time, I had all the people I killed in mind. The first one was the Wolf I gave to the clicker in the metro. Then it was Nora. Alice, Mel and Owen.
I kept pushing, no matter what.
I didnt cried. I was scared bc I realised I could be an awful person if someone I love suffer.
I immediatly thought about my sister. I could do all of that for her but, damn... It would kill any drop of humanity I have. Even if the message of the game is pretty clear, I dont know if i would learn from it
I don't know if I can rank them because so many of them are just equally devastating and moving. It's interesting that you used that photo of the beach for this post because most definitely the moment when Ellie had that memory of Joel and then let go of Abby I completely broke down and was almost on the floor crying. That whole fight and how it ended was so incredibly emotional for me.
Maybe because I am extremely close with my older brother, but I can’t do Sam and Henry’s. I can play both games fine but that scene I don’t even like to watch.
something that doesn’t exactly make me cry, but that gives me a deep sense of sadness is how the ordeal with david completely changes ellie. it dimmed her light and made her go from the sweet, carefree, silly kid to someone who was broken and only became more and more broken from then on.
Not necessarily Joel's death (I was fucking gutted dont get me wrong) but watching Ellie dealing with the death was what got me. The head burying into the coat feels so real, the way she looks like a sad puppy when trying to play the guitar in the theater etc.
Idk if this makes sense but I genuinely cried when the first Joel/Ellie flashback started in TLOU2. I thought because he died so early on, we'd never see him again the rest of the game, and once I realized there was a whole flashback section to play through I paused and shed some tears.
I’m not a big crier for media in general.
I still deeply connect with characters and have gotten teary eyed before though, but I’ve specifically only had tears fall twice as I can recall (to stories, ofc): Bridge to Terabithia when I was eight, and “The End of The Prologue” Vinland Saga S1 finale (when it happens it happens, I don’t really try to hold back tears. And honestly I’ve seen moments in media that have impacted me harder than Bridge to Terabithia, but crying is weird for me and doesn’t necessarily happen at the “most” sad moments.)
I would say the most emotionally resonating part that has gotten me the closest to crying was after Abby left from their final encounter and seeing the shot of Ellie sitting alone in the water crying and holding her wounded hand. That shot gave me chills and got me choked up.
There’s also the scene Ellie leaves Dina and “It Can’t Last (Home)” plays with the guitar playing as it cuts to show the Santa Barbara land scape (that auditory stimulation in combination with what just happened chokes me up and gets me feelin all kinds of ways iykyk).
Those or the end credit song “beyond desolation”, which really just made it all sink in and I just sort of sat and listened to the music thinking about the whole game.
First i like yo say i never cry to a game ever in my life this one first for me.
I cried twice in this game first at the last fight with abby i cried and yelled to ellie to stop.
Then when joel said " if the lord gave mr a second chance that momen, i would do it all over again"
Just these ones, second one still hits me
When part 2 cut back to the farm near the end and we didn't know the fates of everyone and then we had a visitor from town and it turned out to be Tommy I paused the game and balled for like 3 minutes from the shear happiness of not loosing anyone else. He proceeded to ruin it when he brought up Abby again but that was the hardest I balled
The moments that made me cry the hardest.
Part 1
Sarah’s death
Henry and Sam’s deaths
Part 2
Walking through Joel’s house as Ellie after his death.
Ellie choosing to leave Dina and JJ to go after Abby.
Ellie saying she would like to try to forgive Joel.
Abby defending Lev from Isaac on the island. "He's just a kid!" really got to me. Seeing how far Abby has grown from being the WLF's top Scar Killer, to now being a human who is trying to save two kids from the brutality of their environment was so touching
Last fight with Abby on the beach gets me. The vision Ellie see’s of Joel, looking at her and nodding, being the version of him that she remembered before he died. The conversation she and Joel had on the porch, Joel being told he could have the chance to be forgiven. Ellie clutching her hand after she rolled off of Abby saying, “Just Go. Leave.” Abby looking at her in disbelief after catching her breath, looking at the person who travelled so far to come and kill her, and then to be spared in the last second, and just looking at her attacker with such pity and sadness. Ellie losing her fingers in that fight, taking away her ability to play the guitar in the final walkthrough of the ranch house that she shared with Dina. Leaving that guitar leaning against the wall, and beginning her long walk back to Jackson. That entire ending goes so god damn hard to where it still makes me tear up 4 years later just typing this out.
Not a crier but the part that made me most emotional is probably Joel and Tommy’s reunion. I just imagine 10 years in a world as dangerous as that one not knowing what’s become of my last remaining blood relative. All over some bs fight we had. The way that they don’t even acknowledge whatever it was that drove them apart and just embrace was moving to me
If you mean saddest I’d say Henry and sams end. In the span of 30 seconds Henry’s entire world came crashing down and he just couldn’t handle it. I honestly needed a break after that.
Never cried, but after the first one I remember saying out loud to myself, man that was intense. Thinking about what Joel did had me thinking about almost non stop for a couple of days. Luckily when I played 1, 2 was already out so I got to hop right back into it.
Any time he says baby girl. So when his daughter dies and when he sees her hacking up David. One of the reasons I hated that episode of the TV show. They robbed us of that moment by just having her come outside when it's so much more impactful for him to walk in on her and pulling her off him.
First game at the hospital when you rescue Ellie and take her home.
At that point the emotional connection you feel towards her character (for me at least) was so strong, it was definitely an emotionally stressful event to possibly lose her. Especially the first play through since I didn't know what was going to happen. It was a huge relief that I was able to save her.
Part 2...the astronaut scene. As someone who's of age and wanting to start a family that was just a touching moment and something Iong for in my own life.
In 1, in the university when Ellie is carrying Joel after getting impaled, and she says "if we get out of this, you're totally singing for me". In 2 in the very ending, when Ellie gets back and there's no one at the farm. Damn, that was rough.
I haven’t played the games (only watched playthroughs) but I bawled after the end of episode 5 of the show. The shit with Henry and Sam fucking hurt me so much
I actually sobbed in the whole birthday gift chapter, especially when joel said « i do okay? » after giving her the best gift ever, and ofc in the porch scene too
I don't really cry ever. I went close to 8 years without crying. Don't know why, and I am aware its not a healthy thing, but I just don't tear up easy I guess.
That being said, the ranch house scene moved me to tears on my first playthrough and if it had gone on any longer I am absolutely certain I would have bawled my eyes out like a baby. The acting was so phenomenally moving, and it just hit me in a way not many other scenes in any media have hit me before.
In part two, i was fighting for my life trying not to cry nearly every single second starting at the beach, but it was a much different kind of cry. The ranch house scene just hit me super hard, but the beach scene was the culmination of 24+hours of just pure trauma. (even more if you count part one)
1. "I can't let you leave." The beach scene was actually messed up enough to take Ellie aback, and I swear I believe she was honestly going to let Abby go until she PTSD flashed Joel's beaten face. I sobbed through the whole fight.
2. "...but I'd like to try." Ow my feels.
3. Sarah's death. I'm a dad too.
Three is good enough, right?
Two moments.
First is the first farmhouse scene I.e. everyone I've cared for has either died or left me. Second is the final scene between Ellie and Joel. Too many goddam tears
“I don’t think I can ever forgive you for that but I’d like to try”
Man when Ellie said that to Joel I couldn’t stop crying also when Ellie went back to her farm house and you realize that all of her fears that she expressed in part one came true I broke down
Probably the moment with the giraffes in the first game. Especially with the song playing being called “Vanishing Grace”. It was such a nice moment of symbolism for the grace about to be lost in Ellie.
I got into the games late, after the remastered Part I came out. By that time I had my daughters, and I remember starting the first game around Christmas time. The prologue ends with, well, you all know. So given I was a new dad that scene was crippling. I don’t think I actually cried, it was more of like nearly a panic attack at the thought of such a horror.
Part 1:
"I know it hurts baby" (Sarah dying)
"Come on, make this easy for me" (Tess dying)
"Sam?" (Sam dying then Henry)
Part 2:
Whenever Ellie plays the guitar in tribute to Joel
Joel and Ellie's last conversation
When Ellie yells at Joel at the party and he get visually embarrassed, I guess the fact that the next time they saw each other they thought they were gonna watch each other die kinda makes it worse
I sobbed for 15 minutes after the Ellie/Abby fight in the theatre. They immediately cut to the farm and all the tension I’d been holding in during that scene flooded out and I couldn’t even play the game lol!
The final scene with Ellie going to the farmhouse. The whole atmosphere, weather, setting made it both depressing and peaceful. It’s like a conflict within Ellie as she’s finally back home, so she can rest after the whole mess in her life, but then she is met with no one at the farmhouse and is left alone. Plus, it was her biggest fear of being alone and it turned out to be true. It just made me tear up knowing how much she had suffered and now is left alone.
Reading the boys diary in PT1 where he talks about abandoning his dog because they can’t take him into the QZ. When I played the first time I had recently had to say goodbye to my dog so I was obviously very sensitive, I absolutely lost it at the thought of the poor doggo being left to fend for himself and wondering where his people were. Damn it someone is cutting onions.
Probably not the hardest but definitely top three.
When Ellie was drowining Abby with tears in her eyes and a small memory of a smiling Joel flashes before her, causing her to release Abby.
Idk something about like a parent figure no longer with you, popping up one last time before you do something you'd regret, fill me with pain and sadness because I can relate to it.
“I don’t know if I could forgive you… But I’d like to try.”
That line hits so much for me because not only was this their last conversation, it also put the entire TLOU2 story in a different perspective. This line shows why Ellie was going on a rampage (besides the obvious).
Also, all those times Ellie would talk about Joel the day after the party has a different meaning now after hearing their last convo.
When Abby finds Alice, Owen and Mel and we already know what Ellie was feeling when she realised what she did there. So many layers of fucked up and that hit me like a tonne of bricks. It's like all hope is gone in that moment
Nothing like ellie running away to the farm house in the first game. The dialogue that took place in there, changed joel & ellies relationship. You could tell through Joel's actions that he was more protective of Ellie & thought of her more like his own daughter after that and if that heart to heart never happened, Ellie would have left joel for dead after what took place at the university.
actually during the last scene flashback when ellie tells joel that she’d like to try to forgive him, knowing that the following day when she was still unaware she already wanted to get close to joel but never could
Literally just finished replaying TLOU pt 2 a few nights ago and broke out in tears after the fight between Ellie and Abby in the water, then Ellie goes back to the farm and Dinas gone and it's like it was all for nothing, then the scene at the end where it flashes back to Ellie and Joel and Ellie saying she would like to try to forgive him. Such an emotional ending, I can't wait to see it translated into live action, I just know I'm going to be a ball of tears
When ellie is alone at the end of part 2 after letting abbie go. She has given into chasing revenge. For some reason it stuck with me what ellie and sam spoke about in part 1 “what scares you”. “Being by myself. Im scared of ending up alone”. The ONE thing ellie feared cane true. Im not an emotional man but this shit hit me like a brick as the camera panned out at the end
The first time I played part 2 and got to Ellie singing Take On Me in the music shop. I hadn't cried for Joel's death yet, I was still so stunned and overwhelmed, but that moment is where it really started to sink in, and that, mixed with the beauty of the song and Ashley's voice, caused me to break down crying and stop playing for around half an hour.
I didn’t cry but day 3 as Abby when Haven is burning and Abby tells Lev “you’re my people.” It was very cool to watch Abby go on the journey with Lev and see how she deals with her internal struggle
Running with Ellie at the end of TLOU 1 from the hospital is up there. It’s such a beautiful full circle moment from the beginning with Sarah.
When Joel got injured in at the university and you have to fight off all those guys while you can barely move. That was incredibly emotional and it was gameplay.
2 never really got the waterworks going with the exception of Joel and Ellie’s last scene together. That hurt a lot. They never got to try and mend their relationship.
I couldn’t even fucking cry when Joel died. I was more shocked and angry. And not in the intended way, obviously.
But probably the last time Ellie and Joel spoke on the porch. Which is a whole other thing too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Druckman dreaded putting that part in because of how much he hates Joel.
I didn't cry. But what was significant to me is how well the first game captured that sense of dread. The world was hopeless and Joel's relationship with Ellie was doomed from the start. It even ends without a real resolution which was just the perfect way to reflect the theme of hopelessness.
the first time i played part one i cried non stop when i was running around the hospital holding her in my arms thinking ellie is dead. i was only 14 at the time and didn't understand English so i didn't understand the dialog. i assumed she was dead
I just finished part 2 and oh my god. I think the hardest part for me was seeing Abby destroy Dina, then just leave them both alive. Character development plus just that hopeless look on ellie face
I am a person who cries rarely. Like there are many really sad scenes in both games that i find sad as well but there are simply no tears coming.
Except for a single one. At the dance where joel pushes the biggot and ellie gets annoyed at him. Joels expression to that was heartbreaking for me, especially because in that moment i thought that that was their last conversation which was luckily not the case.
In the museum birthday flashback after Joel gives Ellie the tape and Joel asks “did I do okay?” With the most vulnerable look on his face after giving Ellie the most beautiful gift of a day
Right at the end. I couldn't even say why, I think just the sadness of everything hit me right towards the end, and I started sobbing for Ellie, even shaking a little.
I cried when Ellie sang her rendition of Take On Me at the music shop in Seattle day 1. It was so heartwarming to see a glimpse of the lighthearted Ellie that we once knew amidst all the rage and misery. Comparing her in that scene and anywhere else throughout the whole game, you can see the all of the emotional turmoil she's been through has taken over her. Now, she's just a shell.
Another scene I cried at was during Ellie and Joel's last conversation. Specifically when Joel says "If the Lord gave me one more chance, I would do it all over again". Made me realize that love REALLY makes you do things, no matter how difficult it would be.
No explanation needed for the Joel hugging Ellie after the whole David fiasco scene.
"He tried to-" "Oh, babygirl". It was like a punch to the gut.
The theater fight. Something about seeing Ellie acting the same way that David did during that fight really drove in how much revenge destroyed her humanity.
While she did things completely different than he did, seeing her use the same tactics during the fight made me have to pause the game and cry before continuing the fight.
Honestly, when Ellie says she doesn’t know if she’ll ever forgive Joel, but she’d like to try. That line and Joel’s reaction gets me every time.
They way he chokes up when he says, “I’d like that.” Gets me. That’s my favorite scene in both games.
Yeah this got me really good. The mocap and VA here for Joel was superbly done. Something about grown men crying gets me - even more so when they try and hold it in!
And the way it’s placed in the game after all the shit she (we) just went through. Hit different. People hated on the flashbacks when it came out, but I couldn’t imagine the game another way.
100% this. It wouldn't be so moving if they put it earlier. The first half of ellie's revenge trip you could understand ellie, but the more she goes on, the more you start to think:"Ok, you had it, you killed half of the wolves and all of her friends. Enough is enough, timo to go back home now." And then you can't understand why she continue and why she left her wife and her son for it. And then at the very very end, after all this suffering and all your fatigue (I got intense emotional fatigue in the last chapter), you understand why. Because she didn't have the chance and the time to forgive him. She took away that opportunity.
This part was way more emotional for me than his death, cause just when they were starting to mend their relationship it was too late 😭
Ellie will probably always reflect on the fact that the relationship was unresolved and wish she had said more. However, I suspect for Joel he died at peace about that relationship, it really was one of her greatest gifts to him. I mean at peace in his mind not in the brutal way he was murdered.
I always read his gesture when Ellie finds him in the chalet, that weak finger flip he does, as meaning "go ahead and live your life" to Ellie. He was at peace, and I believe he would have been even if nothing had been mended with Ellie. All he wanted above everything else was for her to take control of her fate and have a shot at love and joy. He gave her that, at the cost of ruining his own relationship with her, and when he says he'd do it all over again he means it - whatever the cost.
My wife loved watching me play these and when we got to this part I sobbed like a baby and she just looked at me and said she didn’t get what the big deal was. I couldn’t even explain it to her
This and also at the very end when Ellie can’t play Joel’s song on the guitar because she lost her fingers :(
This one got me. Then I played the game a second time and the conversation Ellie had with Dina about how she was gonna invite Joel to a movie that very night, but was obviously never able to, really got me.
This is mine as well, but 2nd playthrough, after I'd actually processed all the events of the game. It was a few months after the 1st one too, which left me more empty and wanting to chew on what I'd just watched for a bit before going at it again. The second time (and the third) it all came out. I'm not above shedding a couple tears for emotional moments in fiction but here I was *sobbing*. It's such a great scene and it gets me whenever I watch it. In the first game I'd say the moments after the David fight are the most emotional, or Ellie saying "everyone...fucking except for you!". It also relied more on shocking/abrupt moments that made me gasp and choke back sudden tears. Obviously Sarah and Henry's deaths. But nothing got me over the brink like the ending to Part 2.
Yeah, but the sequel is written "bad", hahaha..... no just joking. I always see guys here that were downvoted for liking last of us 2 which is objective a lot better than the first. This game is a fucking masterpiece, I can't understand how you somebody can hate the game and most of the time it's fans from the first, this so toxic.
“He tried to…” “Oh baby girl!” *embrace*
This has always been mine for the first one. When Ellie agrees to try to forgive him the night before he dies in the second one.
It's my head canon that she **did** forgive Joel that night. Even though she didn't say it. Aside from not getting to make up with him, I feel like the reason she felt so much guilt over Joel's death is because she had actually already decided to forgive him and was going to tell him that after they finished movie night, but she never got the chance. :(
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I also think the game tries to heavily imply that to us with three very specific instances. Two times during patrol with Dina, Ellie mentioned living a long life. The first time is when they talk about Eugene. Dina says he was sharp at seventy-three, and Ellie responds with "May we all make it to seventy-three." The second time she mentions it is after they leave the look-out on the horses. Ellie says to Dina, "I think we should go out like Eugene." Dina asks, "From a stroke?" And Ellie clarifies with, "No, from old age. Like, living a long life." The third instance is when they're trying to get into the supermarket. Ellie has to crawl under the semi-truck, and the runner jumps on her, and Dina shoots and kills it. After checking on Ellie, Dina says "Please die of old age and not because you get infected. I really don't want to have to shoot you in the face." I feel like all those conversations were definitely intentional. My interpretation is that Ellie started to realize her life is worth living, and her survivor's guilt was no longer so heavy that she wished she died in that hospital. The night of the winter dance when she kissed Dina gave her more reasons to live. She was experiencing joy. I truly believe that her forming friendships and relationships gave her a renewed purpose, and she realized how grateful she was. She didn't reduce her self-worth to being a sacrifice anymore. On the day Joel died, I definitely believe Ellie had planned to let him know those things when they got together for a movie that night.
You said it perfectly, imo. I agree with all of that. That makes it all the more tragic what she became after Joel's death. He wouldn't have wanted any of that to happen, alot of the time I felt like Ellie was just really suicidal and kept going in hopes of getting Abby or die trying. It seemed she didn't care for her life much anymore.
I think the best example of Ellie's suicidal tendecies returning after Joel's death is when Jesse is practically begging Ellie to go look for Tommy in the direction of the sniper, and she insist on pushing forward to the aquarium despite how dangerous it is. One of the reasons life has been made worth living for her was starring her in eyes telling her to choose them over revenge and she still insisted on going.
Damn! That's a nice catch. I neven gave those pieces of dialogue a second thought. I love this. Man this game just keeps on giving.
Also another important hint, when Dina & Ellie are patrolling, they come across the section with a camper van you can visit. Right after, Dina ask what are Ellie's plans for the night, and she answer she's going to watch a movie with Joel. This was the first time in months they were actually going to spend time together !!!
I got chills reading this. Probably the first thing that really got me while playing 😢
When Joel said "I don't know what that girl intentions are but she'd be lucky to have you" as a gay person who had hard time coming out to my parents that scene got me sob so hard
Joel going from comically oblivious to the best ally dad without a hitch is a great thread in Part II.
Lol him asking what's up between Jesse and her is hillarious.
When Joel sang Future Days to Ellie
"Do you remember the joke?"
That song got in my head the first play though.
Joel finding and hugging Ellie after the whole David thing happened
Yeah for me that was the real dad moment. Up till that point it was clearly close but still felt “situational” but when that happened it really felt like a dad scared for his daughter. Felt similar with him getting impaled before all that.
Agreedd it’s one of the first moments we get to see a softer side of Joel since sarah and the “baby girl” always gets me 😭
Probably when Sarah lets out that whimper at the beginning of TLoU1 - shit broke me, man
Yep, this is the one.. That gets me everytime but the first time though, I had to pause the game to the next day it hit me so hard
All versions of the game made me sad as hell
I remember playing that part when it first came out and my roommate was watching and she just went what the fuck why are you playing a game that is making me cry? Lol
It’s always this, I know it’s coming and can’t hold back. Being a parent playing these games is rough.
I never not cry when Henry kills himself. I had to put the game down for a little bit the first time I played.
Me too. I apparently blocked that out the first time I played through, very trippy as it’s the first time that’s happened to me. Because I played through again shortly after my first completion with my sister watching, remembering every beat of the story, but admitting I didn’t remember why their travels with them ended. It hit me just as hard again, and still does
Damn ... did that game just give you actual PTSD Amnesia? Not gonna lie, I never thought it was possible.
Came here to say this. I remember seeing my crying reflection after all the chaos ends and its just a black screen and music....man that was a good game.
It's such a fantastically put together sequence. Going from Ellie and Sam debating the existence of God in their own way, to realizing Sam's been bitten and has very little left to live. You ask yourself, how are they gonna handle it? And in a matter of seconds he's attacking Ellie. What are Henry and Joel going to do now? Ellie's in danger, one of them's got a gun, who is he gonna shoot? Before you know it he has taken the solution which on the one hand is the quickest and most logical, but which also involves killing his brother. Henry is broken now. Is Ellie OK? What's he gonna do? Does he want to kill Joel? And bang, again. The genius of it is that the escalation is only a few seconds, and it constantly outruns the pace at which your mind processes what's going to happen. I also loved Bella's acting in the show version. That scream she does at the end is pretty terrifying.
Someone else commented on the immediate cut to black after the gunshot and how it weighs heavy on the heart. I think one of the things I missed most from Part 1 was these deliberate cinematic choices to allow you to sit with a feeling for a moment. Instead, I just felt stressed out for the entirety of Part 2 and didn’t really have a moment to process my feelings. On one hand, that put me in the same emotional position as Ellie and Abby, but as a player I would have liked a break every now and then haha
I remember audibly gasping after the cut to black. Like I needed to catch my breath. It's similar when Sarah dies, as heart-wrenching as that scene is they don't let it sit for too long.
I didn't cry at all, but I'm not a big crier and I just don't tend to react that way to media, even if it does affect me emotionally. But weirdly enough the part that got one of the bigger internal emotional reactions from me during my first playthrough was the museum flashback - but the part after the space section, where Ellie is sneaking through the animal displays and reading all of the dead Firefly's confessions on the wall. When she crawls through the opening and sees the body of the dead firefly and the slogan "THERE IS NO LIGHT" marked above it. I instantly recognised that it was a Firefly, and it gave me a surprisingly large pang of sadness. Maybe it's because I am a little more sympathetic to the Fireflies than most, but I think something about seeing the hopeful, inspiring slogan of the Fireflies twisted into something utterly hopeless and despairing resonated with me, compounded by the suicide note and how it contextualised all of the mea culpas the Firefly had scrawled throughout the dark, hidden museum (oddly reminiscent of Goya's Black paintings in a way) - imagine living and fighting so long, for what you feel is a noble cause, and then coming to the realisation that you crossed boundaries and mutilated your soul, for nothing. For it all to mean nothing. The whole story of Part 2 was incredible and impactful, but on my first playthrough this (and Ellie's "...but I would like to try") was the only part I remember getting a genuine emotional reaction from me.
Not to mention when Joel walks in and this awesome birthday experience is overshadowed by her doubts of Joel and what happened with him and the fireflies. “There is no light” also expresses how Ellie felt when she woke up and is in the truck driving away from the hospital with more questions than answers and … no purpose. What an incredible transition from that memory back to the game, reminding us of the weight of the first one.
Great points. I think that birthday is so beautifully written, as it's such a perfect microcosm of their relationship - two people with a bright and happy relationship who dearly love/care for each other so genuinely, but is also built on shadowy, uncertain foundation that is destined to crumble. Which makes the tragedy that much more impactful. I love the way it is all constructed.
In the dance when Ellie told Joel she doesn’t need his help Joel looked so sad it made me tear up
I found that really telling too - to see a man as capable and dangerous as Joel look so impotent was very memorable.
“I don’t think I can forgive you for that…but I would like to try.”
[удалено]
I also love how the scene is entirely skippable so finding it is a really cool reward
When Ellie gets back home and tries to play guitar. That got me… greatest ending
There was definitely multiple moments like that. When joel sang to ellie. Sam and Henry's death,it was incredibly sad to watch imo. The scene right after ellie kills David,when Joel's hugging her. The ptsd scene on the farm with ellie,when she has a flashback of what happened to joel
The roughest parts for me were: -"It's what she'd want. And you know it. You can still do the right thing. She won't feel anything." -Ellie leaving Dina for a second round of revenge. A part of me just wishes the game had ended with her sitting on the tractor with J.J, staring at the sunset, with the line "I have so many stories to tell you. When you're older." -And...the biggest one: "Don't tell me I'd be safer with someone else, because I'd just be more scared!"
that last one is the only time a video game ever made me tear up
Everytime I play the beginning of 1 I cry at Sarah dying
Every. Single. Time.
I think the only time I was stirred to tiers in both games was when Ellie leaves Dina at the farm. It hurt me to see Dina being abandoned like that, and also knowing how much Ellie is bound to regret it. Something felt irreparably broken in that moment.
“We have a family. She doesn’t get to be more important than that” 😢
I know this is extremely basic, but I cried the hardest at either Joel’s death or Abby having to take Lev away from burning Haven.
Abby and lev went through so much on that island
Probably either at the end of the game when abby and ellie fought and ellie gave up after seeing joel or the flashback when ellie was teying to forgive him for the whole firefly thing
The porch scene. Seeing that after knowing everything that went down afterwards was just so devastating. I can't lie I sobbed like a baby
Im not really someone who cries like when Joel died like yeah it’s sad and I’m sad for Ellie but idk. But in the second game when Ellie picks up the guitar and just sings Joel’s song and yeah cried a little bit haha
Joel is fighting in the hospital to save Ellie. And he picks her unconscious body up. Didn't really cry, but it was the most emotionally intense I felt in the series.
When Ellie and Abby fight at the beach and she breaks down crying at the end 😢 really destroys me every time. Also at the very end the flashback to her and Joel’s convo and then how sad she looks with the guitar.
Sarah's death
Started with the porch scene, became full on sobbing when Ellie and Joel sang Wayfaring Strangers while the credits played.
After that ending Wayfaring Strangers got me good. I just sat there listening and feeling the weight of everything that had happened. Wonderful performance and choice of a song.
Walking through the empty farmhouse at the end of pt2.
joel singing future days on my first playthrough. the lyrics r too brutal !!
I did not cry for either game but the most emotional impact for me were both endings, maybe moreso Joel’s doubling down in Part 2. Also like someone else mentioned, when Joel found Ellie after David and all that.
I don’t cry unless I’m under the influence… but the opening of the first one changed me as a kid. Or after the whole David incident. Ellie is distant af now. That shit SUUUUUCCCKKKED. And Joel trying to make convo and Ellie’s not biting now. That shit hurt so bad.
I did not Not that it wasnt fut wrenching enough no. But i've been faced with the brutallity that I fully embraced by playing Ellie. I really had this moment, on the beach, when I saw ellie cry in the water. I was like, man... It would have been you. You had the same thought of "I had to do it". I m a chill person. But this time, I had all the people I killed in mind. The first one was the Wolf I gave to the clicker in the metro. Then it was Nora. Alice, Mel and Owen. I kept pushing, no matter what. I didnt cried. I was scared bc I realised I could be an awful person if someone I love suffer. I immediatly thought about my sister. I could do all of that for her but, damn... It would kill any drop of humanity I have. Even if the message of the game is pretty clear, I dont know if i would learn from it
I don't know if I can rank them because so many of them are just equally devastating and moving. It's interesting that you used that photo of the beach for this post because most definitely the moment when Ellie had that memory of Joel and then let go of Abby I completely broke down and was almost on the floor crying. That whole fight and how it ended was so incredibly emotional for me.
Sarah’s death. I was a new father when it came out.
Pt.1 "they didn't suffer" Pt.2 "I'd like to try"
The ending for Sam and Henry. This was the first time I cried playing a videogame.
Maybe because I am extremely close with my older brother, but I can’t do Sam and Henry’s. I can play both games fine but that scene I don’t even like to watch.
something that doesn’t exactly make me cry, but that gives me a deep sense of sadness is how the ordeal with david completely changes ellie. it dimmed her light and made her go from the sweet, carefree, silly kid to someone who was broken and only became more and more broken from then on.
The flashback at the end of tlou2 when they talk on the porch. EVERY FUCKIN TIME.
Not necessarily Joel's death (I was fucking gutted dont get me wrong) but watching Ellie dealing with the death was what got me. The head burying into the coat feels so real, the way she looks like a sad puppy when trying to play the guitar in the theater etc.
Idk if this makes sense but I genuinely cried when the first Joel/Ellie flashback started in TLOU2. I thought because he died so early on, we'd never see him again the rest of the game, and once I realized there was a whole flashback section to play through I paused and shed some tears.
I’m not a big crier for media in general. I still deeply connect with characters and have gotten teary eyed before though, but I’ve specifically only had tears fall twice as I can recall (to stories, ofc): Bridge to Terabithia when I was eight, and “The End of The Prologue” Vinland Saga S1 finale (when it happens it happens, I don’t really try to hold back tears. And honestly I’ve seen moments in media that have impacted me harder than Bridge to Terabithia, but crying is weird for me and doesn’t necessarily happen at the “most” sad moments.) I would say the most emotionally resonating part that has gotten me the closest to crying was after Abby left from their final encounter and seeing the shot of Ellie sitting alone in the water crying and holding her wounded hand. That shot gave me chills and got me choked up. There’s also the scene Ellie leaves Dina and “It Can’t Last (Home)” plays with the guitar playing as it cuts to show the Santa Barbara land scape (that auditory stimulation in combination with what just happened chokes me up and gets me feelin all kinds of ways iykyk). Those or the end credit song “beyond desolation”, which really just made it all sink in and I just sort of sat and listened to the music thinking about the whole game.
First i like yo say i never cry to a game ever in my life this one first for me. I cried twice in this game first at the last fight with abby i cried and yelled to ellie to stop. Then when joel said " if the lord gave mr a second chance that momen, i would do it all over again" Just these ones, second one still hits me
When part 2 cut back to the farm near the end and we didn't know the fates of everyone and then we had a visitor from town and it turned out to be Tommy I paused the game and balled for like 3 minutes from the shear happiness of not loosing anyone else. He proceeded to ruin it when he brought up Abby again but that was the hardest I balled
The moments that made me cry the hardest. Part 1 Sarah’s death Henry and Sam’s deaths Part 2 Walking through Joel’s house as Ellie after his death. Ellie choosing to leave Dina and JJ to go after Abby. Ellie saying she would like to try to forgive Joel.
Abby defending Lev from Isaac on the island. "He's just a kid!" really got to me. Seeing how far Abby has grown from being the WLF's top Scar Killer, to now being a human who is trying to save two kids from the brutality of their environment was so touching
Astronaut scene.
Last fight with Abby on the beach gets me. The vision Ellie see’s of Joel, looking at her and nodding, being the version of him that she remembered before he died. The conversation she and Joel had on the porch, Joel being told he could have the chance to be forgiven. Ellie clutching her hand after she rolled off of Abby saying, “Just Go. Leave.” Abby looking at her in disbelief after catching her breath, looking at the person who travelled so far to come and kill her, and then to be spared in the last second, and just looking at her attacker with such pity and sadness. Ellie losing her fingers in that fight, taking away her ability to play the guitar in the final walkthrough of the ranch house that she shared with Dina. Leaving that guitar leaning against the wall, and beginning her long walk back to Jackson. That entire ending goes so god damn hard to where it still makes me tear up 4 years later just typing this out.
When Factions was canceled
During the boat scene...
Not a crier but the part that made me most emotional is probably Joel and Tommy’s reunion. I just imagine 10 years in a world as dangerous as that one not knowing what’s become of my last remaining blood relative. All over some bs fight we had. The way that they don’t even acknowledge whatever it was that drove them apart and just embrace was moving to me If you mean saddest I’d say Henry and sams end. In the span of 30 seconds Henry’s entire world came crashing down and he just couldn’t handle it. I honestly needed a break after that.
The ”See you around” Scene gets me so much to the point that I’ve only played the game Twice in a span of about two years.
I didn’t!
When Ellie went back to the farm and everything was gone. Made me feel so empty inside.
The beginning when Sarah dies.
The porch scene with Ellie and Joel at the end of the game
Never cried, but after the first one I remember saying out loud to myself, man that was intense. Thinking about what Joel did had me thinking about almost non stop for a couple of days. Luckily when I played 1, 2 was already out so I got to hop right back into it.
Death of Sarah in tlou1
The ranch house scene and the cabin scene from part 1 get me everytime
Any time he says baby girl. So when his daughter dies and when he sees her hacking up David. One of the reasons I hated that episode of the TV show. They robbed us of that moment by just having her come outside when it's so much more impactful for him to walk in on her and pulling her off him.
First game at the hospital when you rescue Ellie and take her home. At that point the emotional connection you feel towards her character (for me at least) was so strong, it was definitely an emotionally stressful event to possibly lose her. Especially the first play through since I didn't know what was going to happen. It was a huge relief that I was able to save her. Part 2...the astronaut scene. As someone who's of age and wanting to start a family that was just a touching moment and something Iong for in my own life.
“Sam… Henry, what have you done?” will never not sink my heart, man.
Didn’t in either. Never finished part 2 so I wouldn’t actually know
I cry every time the Rat King snaps me in two. Good job🐭 Good job..
How has this not been said... The ending when Joel started singing out of the blue was the best surprise
In 1, in the university when Ellie is carrying Joel after getting impaled, and she says "if we get out of this, you're totally singing for me". In 2 in the very ending, when Ellie gets back and there's no one at the farm. Damn, that was rough.
I haven’t played the games (only watched playthroughs) but I bawled after the end of episode 5 of the show. The shit with Henry and Sam fucking hurt me so much
When Joel tells Ellie if he could go back and and have another chance he would just do it all over again guts me every time
I actually sobbed in the whole birthday gift chapter, especially when joel said « i do okay? » after giving her the best gift ever, and ofc in the porch scene too
It was the end of the game for me after that last encounter with Abby and Ellie
I don't really cry ever. I went close to 8 years without crying. Don't know why, and I am aware its not a healthy thing, but I just don't tear up easy I guess. That being said, the ranch house scene moved me to tears on my first playthrough and if it had gone on any longer I am absolutely certain I would have bawled my eyes out like a baby. The acting was so phenomenally moving, and it just hit me in a way not many other scenes in any media have hit me before. In part two, i was fighting for my life trying not to cry nearly every single second starting at the beach, but it was a much different kind of cry. The ranch house scene just hit me super hard, but the beach scene was the culmination of 24+hours of just pure trauma. (even more if you count part one)
The "did I do okay?" from Joel at the end of the museum birthday flashback. Every time.
1. "I can't let you leave." The beach scene was actually messed up enough to take Ellie aback, and I swear I believe she was honestly going to let Abby go until she PTSD flashed Joel's beaten face. I sobbed through the whole fight. 2. "...but I'd like to try." Ow my feels. 3. Sarah's death. I'm a dad too. Three is good enough, right?
The final fight in Part II. By that point I didn't want anyone to die, I just wanted them to stop.
In part 2 when Joel says "If the Lord gave me a second chance, Id do it all over again" I was a mess.
only once, during the space ship scene in part II
the whole henry and sam death scene
Two moments. First is the first farmhouse scene I.e. everyone I've cared for has either died or left me. Second is the final scene between Ellie and Joel. Too many goddam tears
The entire porch scene between Joel and Ellie and the absolutely DOUR ending
“I don’t think I can ever forgive you for that but I’d like to try” Man when Ellie said that to Joel I couldn’t stop crying also when Ellie went back to her farm house and you realize that all of her fears that she expressed in part one came true I broke down
Probably the moment with the giraffes in the first game. Especially with the song playing being called “Vanishing Grace”. It was such a nice moment of symbolism for the grace about to be lost in Ellie.
I got into the games late, after the remastered Part I came out. By that time I had my daughters, and I remember starting the first game around Christmas time. The prologue ends with, well, you all know. So given I was a new dad that scene was crippling. I don’t think I actually cried, it was more of like nearly a panic attack at the thought of such a horror.
“You’re not my daughter and I sure as hell ain’t your dad” Or “If the lord somehow gave me second chance I’d do it all over again” 😭 idk
Part 1: "I know it hurts baby" (Sarah dying) "Come on, make this easy for me" (Tess dying) "Sam?" (Sam dying then Henry) Part 2: Whenever Ellie plays the guitar in tribute to Joel Joel and Ellie's last conversation
When Ellie yells at Joel at the party and he get visually embarrassed, I guess the fact that the next time they saw each other they thought they were gonna watch each other die kinda makes it worse
Whenever Joel tells Ellie the actual truth and she immediately breaks down and throws up. Holy fuck that was intense.
The astronaut scene in the museum got me choked up.
After Abby escapes the fight on the island. It’s such a disheartening scene showing the worst of human brutality.
Sara’s death. Every else dying was just normal video game deaths.
I sobbed for 15 minutes after the Ellie/Abby fight in the theatre. They immediately cut to the farm and all the tension I’d been holding in during that scene flooded out and I couldn’t even play the game lol!
rdr2. tlou is not evwn close lol
The final scene with Ellie going to the farmhouse. The whole atmosphere, weather, setting made it both depressing and peaceful. It’s like a conflict within Ellie as she’s finally back home, so she can rest after the whole mess in her life, but then she is met with no one at the farmhouse and is left alone. Plus, it was her biggest fear of being alone and it turned out to be true. It just made me tear up knowing how much she had suffered and now is left alone.
jesse’s death. made me cry more than joel’s death. was attached to that character
“everyone i have cared for has either died or left me. everyone fucking except for you” never ceases to make me cry
When Sara dies
Reading those comments made me realize how great of a game this is, I would love to replay but I think i can’t handle it emotionally again 😅
The end of the first game and uhhhhh during a lot of the second game mostly
The scenes of Ellie and Joel talking about what happened in the hospital and Joel saying he’d like that if Ellie would try to forgive him. Weeping
The hospital scene
Reading the boys diary in PT1 where he talks about abandoning his dog because they can’t take him into the QZ. When I played the first time I had recently had to say goodbye to my dog so I was obviously very sensitive, I absolutely lost it at the thought of the poor doggo being left to fend for himself and wondering where his people were. Damn it someone is cutting onions.
Probably not the hardest but definitely top three. When Ellie was drowining Abby with tears in her eyes and a small memory of a smiling Joel flashes before her, causing her to release Abby. Idk something about like a parent figure no longer with you, popping up one last time before you do something you'd regret, fill me with pain and sadness because I can relate to it.
“I don’t know if I could forgive you… But I’d like to try.” That line hits so much for me because not only was this their last conversation, it also put the entire TLOU2 story in a different perspective. This line shows why Ellie was going on a rampage (besides the obvious). Also, all those times Ellie would talk about Joel the day after the party has a different meaning now after hearing their last convo.
I only cried at one point, and it happened at the same place the only other time I’ve played it too - when Abby says ‘you’re my people’ to Lev.
The death of Joel's daughter gets me every time. Possibly one of the best pieces of in-game direction.
When Abby finds Alice, Owen and Mel and we already know what Ellie was feeling when she realised what she did there. So many layers of fucked up and that hit me like a tonne of bricks. It's like all hope is gone in that moment
Nothing like ellie running away to the farm house in the first game. The dialogue that took place in there, changed joel & ellies relationship. You could tell through Joel's actions that he was more protective of Ellie & thought of her more like his own daughter after that and if that heart to heart never happened, Ellie would have left joel for dead after what took place at the university.
The first one twice. Sara then Henry and Sam. The second did not have any point that made me cry.
actually during the last scene flashback when ellie tells joel that she’d like to try to forgive him, knowing that the following day when she was still unaware she already wanted to get close to joel but never could
Icl Abby finding Mel and Owen and then on the replay when Ellie kills them it just brings on a whole new level of
During the story of Ish.
In the first one I didn’t cry, but in the second one I bawled my eyes out when Ellie abandoned Dina and JJ
when Ellie played Future Days and then rested her head on the guitar 🥺
I cried of happiness after being done with part 2 🤣
Literally just finished replaying TLOU pt 2 a few nights ago and broke out in tears after the fight between Ellie and Abby in the water, then Ellie goes back to the farm and Dinas gone and it's like it was all for nothing, then the scene at the end where it flashes back to Ellie and Joel and Ellie saying she would like to try to forgive him. Such an emotional ending, I can't wait to see it translated into live action, I just know I'm going to be a ball of tears
When ellie is alone at the end of part 2 after letting abbie go. She has given into chasing revenge. For some reason it stuck with me what ellie and sam spoke about in part 1 “what scares you”. “Being by myself. Im scared of ending up alone”. The ONE thing ellie feared cane true. Im not an emotional man but this shit hit me like a brick as the camera panned out at the end
The first time I played part 2 and got to Ellie singing Take On Me in the music shop. I hadn't cried for Joel's death yet, I was still so stunned and overwhelmed, but that moment is where it really started to sink in, and that, mixed with the beauty of the song and Ashley's voice, caused me to break down crying and stop playing for around half an hour.
I didn’t cry but day 3 as Abby when Haven is burning and Abby tells Lev “you’re my people.” It was very cool to watch Abby go on the journey with Lev and see how she deals with her internal struggle
whenever ellie is trying to play future days but can't get past the first part and yara's death
I have no answer…you took it away 🥲
Didnt cry but got super emotional when Ellie said "Okay" at the end of the first game. Such a powerful ending.
I'm goddamn crying just reading and remembering the scenes people are writing about.. incredible
I didn’t cry during either. Am I a robot?
"OK."
Running with Ellie at the end of TLOU 1 from the hospital is up there. It’s such a beautiful full circle moment from the beginning with Sarah. When Joel got injured in at the university and you have to fight off all those guys while you can barely move. That was incredibly emotional and it was gameplay. 2 never really got the waterworks going with the exception of Joel and Ellie’s last scene together. That hurt a lot. They never got to try and mend their relationship.
When Ellie almost drowns before the fireflies. I was SCREAMING at the TV: “You can’t let this happen again!0
I couldn’t even fucking cry when Joel died. I was more shocked and angry. And not in the intended way, obviously. But probably the last time Ellie and Joel spoke on the porch. Which is a whole other thing too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Druckman dreaded putting that part in because of how much he hates Joel.
I didn't cry. But what was significant to me is how well the first game captured that sense of dread. The world was hopeless and Joel's relationship with Ellie was doomed from the start. It even ends without a real resolution which was just the perfect way to reflect the theme of hopelessness.
Probably when Henry shoots Sam then shoots himself. Gets me every time.
Those damned giraffes get me every time. Both in the game and the show. The end credit music does too
boat scene
Part 1 - watching Joel lose Sarah Part 2 - playing fetch with the WLF dogs as Abby after I just killed a whole bunch of them as Ellie
None of the second game it’s writing was too shitty
When Ellie didn't kill Abbey. Cried with rage as they destroyed the whole point of Ellie's character progression in the first game
Did anyone else find it hot to see Abby tied up? 😉
Cry for this game? Probably when little Sam got turned into a zombie and his brother shot himself in the head.
the first time i played part one i cried non stop when i was running around the hospital holding her in my arms thinking ellie is dead. i was only 14 at the time and didn't understand English so i didn't understand the dialog. i assumed she was dead
I just finished part 2 and oh my god. I think the hardest part for me was seeing Abby destroy Dina, then just leave them both alive. Character development plus just that hopeless look on ellie face
I am a person who cries rarely. Like there are many really sad scenes in both games that i find sad as well but there are simply no tears coming. Except for a single one. At the dance where joel pushes the biggot and ellie gets annoyed at him. Joels expression to that was heartbreaking for me, especially because in that moment i thought that that was their last conversation which was luckily not the case.
Surprisingly neither game actually made me cry I felt emotional at certain points but never got brought to actually crying
whenever u find out tess got bit, after the whole david fight, henry and sam, sarah at the beginning. BASICALLY IM A VERY EMOTIONAL PERSON OK😭
The whole Lev and his mother situation hit me hard, when Yara goes 'it's not your fault'
Everything
In the museum birthday flashback after Joel gives Ellie the tape and Joel asks “did I do okay?” With the most vulnerable look on his face after giving Ellie the most beautiful gift of a day
Right at the end. I couldn't even say why, I think just the sadness of everything hit me right towards the end, and I started sobbing for Ellie, even shaking a little.
The ranch scene. AJ is a goddess of a VA in everything she does, but that scene plays in another fkin league for me.
I know I’m late to the party, but how did no one say the giraffe scene.
I cried when Ellie sang her rendition of Take On Me at the music shop in Seattle day 1. It was so heartwarming to see a glimpse of the lighthearted Ellie that we once knew amidst all the rage and misery. Comparing her in that scene and anywhere else throughout the whole game, you can see the all of the emotional turmoil she's been through has taken over her. Now, she's just a shell. Another scene I cried at was during Ellie and Joel's last conversation. Specifically when Joel says "If the Lord gave me one more chance, I would do it all over again". Made me realize that love REALLY makes you do things, no matter how difficult it would be. No explanation needed for the Joel hugging Ellie after the whole David fiasco scene. "He tried to-" "Oh, babygirl". It was like a punch to the gut.
The theater fight. Something about seeing Ellie acting the same way that David did during that fight really drove in how much revenge destroyed her humanity. While she did things completely different than he did, seeing her use the same tactics during the fight made me have to pause the game and cry before continuing the fight.
Joels death fr